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43 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
What is a mediator?
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A process or event within the individual which comes between a stimulus and a response
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What is a cognitive map?
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This is Tolman’s term for the mental representation of learned relationships among stimuli
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What is insight?
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This is a sudden change in the way one organizes a problem situation; typically this is characterized by a change in behavior from random responding to rule-based responding
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What is a mental set?
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In Gestalt theory, this is the cognitive schema an individual uses to organize their perception of a particular situation, such as a problem.
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What is the availability heuristic?
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This is the tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples of instances.
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What is information processing?
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This is a term borrowed from computer science by cognitive psychologists to describe the mental functions which occur between stimulus and response.
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Associated Concept: PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING [PDP] (T&W, p. 320)
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What is learning?
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In cognitive psychology, this is the process of gathering information and organizing it into mental schema
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What is memory?
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This is the retention and use of prior learning.
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Associated Concepts: Recall, recognition, relearning, priming (G&H, p. 155)
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What is sensory memory?
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This is a modality-specific transient form of memory which serves as a buffer between the senses and short-term memory.
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Associated Concept: attention (G&H, p. 158)
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What is short-term memory [STM, working memory]?
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This is the component of memory which handles retention over relatively brief intervals of up to approximately fifteen seconds.
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Associated Concepts: chunk (G&H, p. 158), encoding (G&H, p. 159), maintenance rehearsal (p. 159), serial position effect (T&W, p. 327)
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What is long-term memory [LTM]?
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This is the component of memory which is involved with retention over relatively long periods (hours, days, weeks or longer).
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Associated Concepts: storage (G&H, p. 159), elaborative rehearsal (G&H, p. 160), procedural memory (G&H, p. 161), semantic memory (G&H, p. 161), episodic memory (G&H, p. 161)
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What is repression?
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In Freud’s theory, this is a defense mechanism in which impulses, memories or ideas are forcibly blocked from the conscious mind.
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Associated Concept: psychogenic amnesia (T&W, p. 338)
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What is decay?
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In memory, this is the spontaneous loss of information with the passage of time.
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What is displacement?
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In memory, this is forgetting due to new incoming information pushing out the previous contents.
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Associated Concept: source amnesia (T&W, p. 306)
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What is interference?
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According to associationism, competition between items with can hamper learning and produce forgetting, a phenomenon known as this.
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Associated Concepts: retroactive interference (G&H, p. 165), proactive interference (G&H, p. 165)
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What is unlearning?
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This is an alternative interpretation of the interference theory of memory which holds that the build-up of interference can lead to the breaking of associations, and therefore the destruction of memories.
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What is availability?
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in memory, this is the principle that remembering is determined by whether the information exists in LTM or not; forgetting implies that the information is destroyed.
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What is accessibility?
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in LTM, the principle that remembering and forgetting are dependent on effective retrieval; without the proper cues, information which exists in LTM may not be __________ (the term).
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What is context-dependent forgetting?
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This is the failure to retrieve information from LTM due to the absence of appropriate contextual cues.
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What is state-dependent forgetting?
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This is forgetting related to changes in context associated with informal cues of physical and mental state, as opposed to the context defined by the external environment.
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What is false recognition?
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This is a form of memory error, whereby the presence of familiar cues leads one to believe the stimulus matches a previously experienced stimulus.
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What is reconstruction?
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In memory, this is the process of remembering by actively creating a whole out of partial information.
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Frederick Bartlet's 1932 study (G&H 169)
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What are mnemonics?
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This is the study and use of techniques for improving memory (the term is derived from the Greek word for memory).
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Associated Concept: Deep Processing (T&W, p. 331)
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What is problem solving?
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This is the process of determining appropriate actions in order to overcome obstacles that interfere with reaching a desired goal.
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What is a convergent problem?
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This is a problem which has a single solution, and all elements lead toward that solution; also called closed-end or well-defined problems.
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Associated Concept: Divergent Problem (G&H, p. 176)
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What is cognitive ethology?
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This is the study of cognitive processes in nonhuman animals.
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What is persistence of set?
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This is a phenomenon in problem solving, identified by Gestalt psychologists, in which a mental set developed in a previous problem is maintained even though it is no longer appropriate, and tends to interfere with solving a current problem.
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What is a think-aloud protocol?
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This is a transcript of the comments made when an individual is asked to describe their thoughts and behavior while working on a task such as problem solving.
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What is initial state?
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In problem solving, this is the situation at the outset of a problem, including any existing constraints such as time limits or restrictions on permitted actions.
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Associated Concepts: goal state (G&H, p. 180), operator (G&H, p. 180)
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What is a heuristic?
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This is a guide to thinking; in problem solving, these provide information strategies which are usually better than random search, but less effective than algorithms.
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What is creativity?
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This is the capacity to produce something which is both unique and useful.
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What is a learning set?
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This is a learned strategy or set which enables the individual to deal efficiently with problems of the same type; similar in meaning to the Gestalt concept of mental set, except it emphasizes that the set develops as a result of experience.
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What is language?
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This is a system of communication based on symbols or gestures which can vary across individuals and allow for new forms and meanings.
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What is social cognition?
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This is the mental processes involved in the way people perceive and react to social situations.
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What is attitude?
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This is a personal belief of an evaluative nature, such as good or bad, likeable or not likeable, which influences our reactions towards people or things.
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What is cognitive dissonance?
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In Festinger's theory, this is a state of tension created when there are conflicts between an individual’s behavior and beliefs, or between two beliefs.
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What is attribution theory?
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This is a theory dealing with the inferences we make about the causes of our own behavior, and that of other people; the interpretations made are called attributions.
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Associated Concepts: fundamental attribution error (G&H, p. 193), self-serving bias (G&H, p. 193), confirmation bias (T&W, p. 290)
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What is the cognitive appraisal bias?
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This is a theory of emotion which argues that our emotional state is based on our assessment of the situation and its significance to our well-being.
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Associated Concept: egocentric thinking (T&W, p. 290)
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What is a concept?
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This is a mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties.
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What is assimilation?
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In Piaget’s theory, this is the process of absorbing new information into existing cognitive structures.
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Associated Concept: accommodation (T&W, p. 279)
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What is object permanence?
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This is the understanding that an object continues to exist even when you cannot see it or touch it.
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Associated Concept: sensorimotor (T&W, p. 282)
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What is explicit memory?
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This is conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of an item of information.
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Associated Concepts: recall (T&W, p. 317), recognition (T&W, p. 317)
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What is implicit memory?
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This is unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced by the effect of a previous experience or previously encountered information on current thoughts or actions.
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Associated Concept: priming (T&W, p. 318)
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