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IntroPsychMidterm
OpenYale Course Midterm study cards
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Implicit | Automatic, natural, unconscious |
| Explicit | Learned, conscious |
| Neuroscience | Study of the mind by looking at the brain. |
| Developmental Psych | Psychology studied from childhood through adulthood as to development, growth and learning. |
| Cognitive Psych | A computational approach to the mind as to language and objects. |
| Social Psych | Study of how we act in groups. |
| Clinical Psych | Study of mental health and illness. |
| Why study multiple personality disorder? | Helps us define what "self" is. |
| Psychopathy | Lack of moral understanding. |
| What makes up the way we are? | Genes, environment, interaction. |
| Capgras syndrome (or delusion). | The person thinks that friends and loved ones have been replaced by identical impostors. Can lead to violence. |
| Cotard Syndrome | Person believes they are dead physically or figuratively, and/or are putrefying. |
| Folk theories, Flat Earth, "Natural" | Opposite of scientific approach |
| Psychology | The science of behavior and the mind. |
| Wilhelm Wundt | "Founder" of psychology. |
| Descartes/dualism | Material Body and Immaterial Soul |
| Dualism - Body | Actions controlled by Body and not by soul (except thoughts) |
| Dualism - Soul | Thoughts controlled by Soul |
| Limitation of Duality/Descartes | Descartes puts thoughts (soul) out of the bounds of science (so it's a limit to psychology's birth) |
| Hobbes | Materialism - no spirit or soul, only a mechanism. Physiology (empiricism). |
| Physiology | Empiricism - everything is mechanical. |
| Magendie | Reflexes |
| Sechenev/Pavlov | Reflexology - every behavior is a reflex caused by environmental stimuli. |
| Empiricism | Human behavior and thought derive from sensory experience (physical and solar environment). |
| Association by Contiguity | 2 stimuli/sensations happening close in time or at same time elicit thoughts of each other. |
| Nativism | Knowledge and rules of operation native to the mind (inborn). |
| a priori Knowledge | Inborn operational rules (Darwin defined these as part of survival development (behavioral tendencies/anatomical changes all the FUNCTION of behavior) |
| a posteriori Knowledge | Acquired (one needs a priori to get posteriori) |
| 3 Biological analyses of behavior/experience | Neural, Genetic, Evolutionary |
| 5 Experiential analyses of behavior/experience | Learning, Cognitive, Social, Cultural, Developmental |
| Phineas Gage | Pipe through head, no immediate effect, later behavior matching damage to frontal/prefrontal lobe. |
| Proprioception | Awareness of one's own body. |
| Epistemology | The theory of knowledge. The nature, scope and limitations of knowledge. How do we know what we know? What is knowledge? ...etc. |
| Hippocrates | The first philosopher/doctor to say Brain = Mind (rather than heart = mind) |
| Neurons | Nerve cells in the brain. |
| 3 types of Neurons | Sensory (senses) Motor (muscles and glands) Inter- (carry messages in central nervous system and organize them) |
| Parallel Axons | Tracts - nearby clusters of neurons and axons carry similar or related functions - easier to map the brain. |
| 6 parts of Neuron | Cell body, cell nucleus, dendrites, axon, myelin sheath, axon terminals. |
| 2 Nervous System Hierarchies | Sensory - perceptual hierarchy - somatosensations derived from whole body. Motor - control hierarchy - cranial and spinal nerves - skeletal or autonomic (skeletal moves/autonomic modulates like heartbeat - automatic) |
| Autonomic Nervous System behavior | Sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) Parasympathetic (conservation of energy) |
| 2 Spinal Cord tracts | Ascending (up to brain) and Descending (down to muscles) (some reflexes controlled only by spinal cord - no brain) |
| Brainstem parts bottom to top | Medulla, Pons, Midbrain |
| Brainstem function | Instinctive behavior patterns (where it resides in brain)-balance, breathing, heart-rate |
| Thalamus | Sits atop the brainstem. Is a relay station for Sensory and Motor pathways. |
| Cerebellum | Wraps around Brainstem. Controls fast, coordinated movement and skills - like sports and musical instruments. Happens too fast for thought. |
| Basal Ganglia | Sits both sides of Thalamus. Controls slower deliberate movements like walking or pickup up objects, including ADJUSTING hand as it moves (direct feedback). |
| Limbic System | Hippocampus, Amygdala. Separates old brain from new brain. |
| Hippocampus | Wraps around basal ganglia. Controls basic drives and emotions, smell, emotions into action along with Amygdala. |
| Amygdala | Attached to front of Hippocampus and is another part of the Limbic System. Controls basic drives and emotions, smell, emotions into action along with Hippocampus. |
| Hypothalamus | At front of Limbic System, just below front of Thalamus. Regulates internal environment of body - influences autonomic nervous system, certain hormones, hunger, thirst, sleep, metabolism. |
| Cerebral Cortex | Outer bark of brain, largest 4 main lobes. |
| 4 lobes of brain | Frontal (front) Temporal (inside lower) Parietal (top/back) Occipital (lower back) |
| 2 sensory areas of brain | Motor - band vertically behind frontal lobe. Somatosensory - band just behind Motor and in front of Parietal Lobe. |
| Corpus Callosum | Neural axons which connect left and right hemispheres of brain. |
| Left side of Brain is generally associated with... | Verbal skills on this side of brain... |
| Right side of Brain is generally associated with... | Spacial skills on this side of brain... |
| Which side of brain comes up with conscious narratives for our actions, even if irrational... | Left side of brain can narrate in this way... |
| Aphasia | Language Damage (left) |
| Broca's area | front side - speaking/understanding complex sentences |
| Wernicke's area | mid side - problems with appropriate words, use connectors and no nouns... also trouble understanding bigger words...also sentence my have structure by missing words to make sentence meaningless |
| new neurons grow (especially where?) | yes, hippocampus |
| Francis Crick Astonishing hypothesis | a person's mental activities are entirely due to the behavior of nerve cells, glial cells, and the atoms, ions, and molecules that make them up and influence them. |
| Why is Dualism now considered wrong? | The mind is what the brain does (physical) and is not the soul. The mind is material. |
| Dendrites Positive | Excitatory |
| Dendrites Negative | Inhibitory |
| Axon | Path of firing |
| Modulation of Sensation in Neurons | Number and Frequency of neurons firing |
| Gap between Axons | Synapse |
| Chemical that jumps synapse | Neuro-transmitters |
| 2 types of Drugs that affect Neuro-transmitters | Agonists-increase neuro-transmitters Antagonists-slow down neuro-transmitters |
| Apraxia | Motor control issues |
| Agnosia | Recognition (psychic blindness) |
| Prosopagnosia | Face-blindness |
| Sensory Neglect | Don't know you have a part of your body |
| Aphasia | Language issue (talking or understanding) |
| Acquired Psychopathy | Damage caused loss of what's right and wrong |
| The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Mechanism or humanistic/spiritual values |
| Freud - repressed unconscious memories defend against what? | Anxiety (defended against by what? - Freud...) |
| Freud - Humans social stance is... | Asocial and only pulled together by sex aggression. |
| Karen Horney - Humans social stance is... | Social, need for security, to soothe anxiety. |
| John Bowlby Object Relations Theories is... | How you are treated by parents - if inconsistent you seek approval... |
| Alfred Adler main concept | Drive to feel competent based on helplessness and inferiority of childhood... |
| Ann Freud concept | Defense mechanisms - to escape anxiety in consciousness |
| 5 Defense mechanisms | Repression, Displacement (with sublimation), Reaction formation, Projection, Rationalization |
| Repression | (Basis for other defense mechanisms)- repression is when anxiety-producing thoughts are pushed or kept out of the conscious mind, but can leak in and get distorted by the conscious to be more palatable. |
| Displacement | Redirected unacceptable unconscious desire, like suckling for older kid, so kid chooses lollipops. Also "sublimation," where aggression is best as a trial lawyer instead of beating people up. |
| Reaction formation | Conversion of a frightening wish to its opposite - hates mother unconsciously so consciously feels intense love for her//acts homophobic because unconsc. is attracted to men. |
| Projection | Put own feelings onto others. Feel unconsc. angry, so we say other person is angry. |
| Rationalization | Can't face own feelings so explain away with opposite explanation - can't face sadistic feelings, beats kids, then says it's fatherly duty... |
| Vaillant's "mature defense" | Suppression - means and avoidance of negative thinking but the negativity is conscious and available, like in humor... |
| Psychodynamic Therapy Concept | Mental problems arise from unresolved mental conflicts - contradictory motives and beliefs. |
| Resistance | Forgetting, arguing, cancelling appts. - can show progress toward unconscious... |
| Transference | unconscious feelings about someone can be experienced consciously toward the therapist - also can be a breakthrough or opening... |
| Psychodynamic "Cure" | Unconscious emotions move to conscious so change can occur (instead of constant conflict). |
| Humanistic Therapy | 1-People have ability to make adaptive choices in their behavior for survival and well-being. 2 - people need to feel accepted and approved of by others |
| Carl Rogers theory | Humanistic - each person decides what is true and worthwhile for a meaningful life. Client-centered |
| 3 Freudian Unconscious elements | Id, Ego, Superego |
| Id | Pleasure Principal |
| Ego | Self - mediator of id and superego, reality and logic (at least consciously) |
| Superego | Guilt, internalization of society's moral standards |
| Psychosexual Stages | Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent, Genital |
| Oral stage | 1st year (breast feeding - don't wean too early or you may fixate...) |
| Anal stage | 1 to 3 yrs - anus pleasure, toilet training - mistakes can lead to compulsion... |
| Phallic stage | 3 to 5 years - genital fixation, masculinity in males, attention in females, oedipus... |
| Latency stage | 5 years to puberty - repress sexuality (because of oedipus?) |
| Genital stage | Puberty through adulthood - culmination behavior is either healthy or not or combo? |
| Regression | additional defense mech. of retreating to an earlier stage of development... |
| Hysteria | a symptom used to keep things unconscious - but if memory is released, catharsis can happen |
| Catharsis | explosive release of unconscious memory (release from hysteria...) |
| 2 types of dreams | Manifest - what you know Latent - hidden symbolism |
| What is a criticism of Freud? | He is not wrong and perhaps not right, so perhaps not scientific (like astrology can't be wrong) |
| What is still accepted of Freud today? | The unconscious. |
| Skinner on Language | Behavioral and learned |
| Who attached Skinner's language concept and why? | Chomsky because Skinner was too simplistic and unscientific. |
| Learning | Experience at one time alters behavior at another time |
| Classical Conditioning | A form of learning based on the formation of new reflexes |
| Reflex | stimulus-response system mediated by the nervous system |
| Stimulus | An event in the environment |
| Response | The behavior result of a stimulus |
| Habituation | Decline in magnitude of response to stimulus after several repeats |
| BEFORE CONDITIONING Neutral stimulus----no response Uncond. stimulus---Uncond. Resp. DURING CONDITIONING Neutral stim---uncond. stim--uncond. resp. AFTER CONDITIONING Conditioned Stim.---Condit. Resp. | Classical Conditioning Chart |
| Extinction | Giving conditioned stimulus with no pairing of unconditioned stimulus (food) and cond. response goes away over time. |
| Spontaneous Recovery | After extinction, response can come back partially |
| Generalization | Cond. Response can happen to similar conditioned stimuli to the original |
| Discrimination training | can fine tune generalization to get back to specific stimulus/response training by withholding food reward. |
| John Watson | Father of Behaviorism |
| Compensatory Reactions | The body feels a stimulus and prepares and compensates - like drugs or being pushed, etc. Conditioned Stimuli trigger responses that prepare us for a biologically significant event. |
| Operant Conditioning | Responses that produce an effect, like hitting a lever and getting food. Operant = instrumental |
| G.L. Thorndike | Puzzle boxes - "Law of Effect" - Responses that have a satisfying effect occur more frequently than unsatisfying |
| BF Skinner | "Skinnerbox" - Reinforcer is reward |
| Partial Reinforcement | Fixed Ratio (nth), Variable Ratio (nth average), Fixed Interval(time), Variable interval (time averages). |
| Punishment | Opposite of reinforcement |
| Positive Punishment | adding a punishment to decrease response |
| Negative Punishment | removing reward to decrease response |
| Discriminative Stimulus | stimulus that teaches discrimination of when reward will come (tone on-food when press, tone off-no food when press) |
| Reward Contrast Effect | Good food vs. bad food reward rats learn difference and respond in kind. |
| Overjustification Effect | Reward given for something already enjoyable - then taken away - interest level on enjoyable act drops BELOW where it was before experiment. |
| 5 ways Play differs from non-play | 1-Context is impossible-attack yarn as prey where no prey would ever be 2-Drive state absent-no real fear, anger, hunger 3-Repetition-don't usually attack more than once 4-Differing sequences-fight, play, run from yarn 5-Social play signals-play face |
| Exploration learning | Learning environment safety, reducing fear, latent learning simultaneously while actively learning. |
| Observational learning | Watching someone else with stimulus and goal (press lever for food). Or, act aggressive or gentle. |
| Food Aversion (specialized learning) | Uncond. stimulus - Nausea comes much later than in classical conditioning. Stimuli are restricted - smell and taste work but looks don't scare us. |
| Food Preference (specialized learning) | Rats and humans self-select varieties at slow, tested pace to fit nutritional needs. (doesn't work with processed or sugar-laced foods) |
| Social Learing in Food (specialized learning) | eating what others in the group eat. |
| Innate biases | Snakes, rats, spiders - can be taught observationally. But blocks and flowers as stimuli did not work. Cannot fake or teach non-innate bias fears. |
| Imprinting | Bird babies following first face as mother. If wait too long, chance is lost. But if happens is IRREVERSIBLE. |
| Place Learning | Birds hiding seeds (spatial memory/hippocamus), salmon returning to river (smell) |
| Evolutionary use of the Unconscious | Deception - complex lies we tell ourselves and others create signals for survival. It is best when we send those signals without us knowing about it. Others sense it. |
| 3 foci of Behaviorism | 1-Learning - everything is experience-no human nature. 2-Anti-mentalism - Internal mental states unscientific because unobservable. 3-No Species Differences-rats' learning same as humans. |
| Evolutionary use of Habituation | Adaptive mechanism to keep us focusing on new objects and events. |
| Classical conditioning | The learning of an association between one stimulus and another stimulus. |
| What is the new theory of timing in classical conditioning? | Putting cond. stimulus BEFORE unconditioned stimulus causes PREPARATION. (old way was simultaneous) |
| "Law of Effect" | More response if rewarded, less if not. |
| Shaping | rewarding for each behavior CLOSER to goal, and adjust until you get the behavior |
| Slot Machines | Partial reinforcement effect - and/or - variable ratio |
| Is everything learned? (actually) | No - some things are innate. |
| Are mental states unscientific? | No - other sciences us unobservables - complex organisms need to be observed with internal representations. |
| Do animals need reinforcement/punishment to learn? | No - innate exploration exists - rats do it anyway - only faster with food. |
| Positive Reinforcing | Giving something positive (increases good behavior) |
| Negative reinforcement | Removing a negative(increases good behavior) |
| Phobias are both... | classically conditioned and/or evolutionary |
| Chomsky negative on Behaviorism? | Behaviorism in humans too vague because it is unfalsifiable. |
| Chomsky OK with Behaviorism how? | In non-verbal animals and for training purposes and learning mechanisms. |
| Kinesthesia | Your internal feeling of your own body |
| What can babies do at 42 minutes old? | Learn, see, smell, imitate! |
| Habituation in babies | They look at new stimuli longer than what they are used to. |
| Babies interacting vs. controlling environment | Want to control more |
| Babies and detail | Find unique properties of objects |
| Babies and encouragement | Babies do not need adults to encourage examining things |
| Joint Visual Attention | Babies watch for cues from adults and their objext |
| Social Referencing | Babies look at caregiver's expression for clues as to danger of own actions |
| Core Physical Principals - Empiricists | Locke/Berkeley say it is learned |
| Core Physical Principals - Nativists | Descartes/Kant say it is innate |
| "Selective Looking" experiments for "Core Physical Principals" | Object permanence - show baby possible act and impossible act and baby stares longer at impossible act - has concept of object permanence. |
| 2 learning theories of children by whom? | Piaget - child acting on physical world Vygotsky - child interacting with others, sociocultural |
| Piaget's schemes | Mental blueprints for actions |
| Piaget's Assimilation | New experiences incorporated into existing schemes. Must be related to existing scheme. |
| Piaget's Accommodation | The expanding of a scheme to allow for the assimilation. But assimilation should be for something not TOO easy and should require accommodation for mental growth. |
| Piaget's Operations | Reversible actions - On/off/on - child can think about this with Operational Schemes. |
| Piaget's 4 stages/schemes of development PART 1 | Birth-2y-SENSORIMOTOR SCHEMES-thought and overt action are the same. 2y-7y-PREOPERATIONAL SCHEMES-ability to symbolize objects/events that are absent/use saucepan as raygun-No reversible action knowledge (really?) Not able to do milk/2 glass experiment. |
| Piaget's 4 stages/schemes of development PART 2 | 7y-12y-CONCRETE OPERATIONAL SCHEMES-Reversible actions, also know that ball of clay is same size as sausage roll of clay. Correct about milk/2 glass experiment. 12y-adult-FORMAL OPERATIONAL SCHEMES-Conservation of substance/theories/like unbeating egg |
| Piaget's "Scientist Child" | Child learns by acting on objects and environment |
| Vygotsky Language role in kids | As communication, then as symbols for thinking |
| Vygotsky Private Speech in kids | Ages 4-7, speech becomes internal for planning, then as adults words dissolve into pure mental symbols |
| Vygotsky Collaboration and Dialogue in mental development | Converse socially first, then privately internally. "ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT" is diff between what child can do alone and can do in collaboration with a MORE COMPETENT OTHER. |
| Vygotsky Apprentice Conceipt | Child learns to perform and function by behaving in a way valuable to his culture. |
| Explicit Memories | We know them |
| Implicit Memories | We don't know them but they affect behavior, like riding a bicycle. |
| Semantic Memories | Explicit memories of word, fact, belief meanings. |
| Episodic Memories | Explicit memories about events in life-2yrs old a little/more between 3-4. Must be able to encode memory into language, and that usually means talk by child AND adult. Self talk will not encode memory. |
| Premack | We divide things into THINGS WHICH MOVE and THINGS WHICH DON'T and we assign psych properties to former and not latter. |
| False Beliefs | Inability to believe something which is not true - Age 3. But at age 4 you can (Maxi puts cup in blue cab, leaves, mom comes in moves it to red cab, maxi back -- 3 yr thinks maxi will look in red, 4 yr thinks maxi will look in blue. |
| Pretense | Make-believe play. Age 2 to 4 understand fake play even if don't understand false belief, especially if done in make-believe voice. |
| Most children competent with language by what age | age 3 to 4 competency with (before tying shoes) |
| Morphemes | Symbols, smallest meaningful unit of a language which stand for objects, events, ideas, characteristics, relationships |
| Content Morphemes | nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs (main meaning of sentence) |
| Grammatical Morphemes | articles (a, an the), conjunctions (and, but), prepositions (in, of) - some prefixes (re-) and suffixes (-ed) |
| What does it mean to say Morphemes are arbitrary? | Morphemes need not connect to object - Dog and Chien are not related to an aspect of the dog. |
| What does it mean to say Morphemes are discrete? | Morphemes need another morpheme added to it to gradate it - like big must become bigger to change it. If you change to Huge, it is a different morpheme. |
| Why are nonverbal signals different from morphemes? | Nonverbal signals are not arbitrary - actions look like what they are. Also not discrete - big can be said out loud as BIG so pronunciation changes its meaning instead of added morpheme. |
| Hierarchy of Language (4 parts) | 1-Sentence 2-Phrases 3-Words(Morphemes) 4-Vowels & Consonants (Phonemes) |
| Are grammatical rules learned implicitly or explicitly | Implicitly - we don't have to be able to state or understand the rules. |
| Early Speech Sounds - define | Babies treat speech as special - choose it over music - choose mom's voice over other voices. |
| Cooing and Babbling equal what phonemes? | Coos = vowels Babbles = consonants |
| Babies and native language - how/when do they distinguish phonemes? | Up to 6 mos. babies distinguish ALL phonemes all languages. After 6 mos. they only distinguish own language. This is why Americans can't roll r's in French well, or Asians can't say l's easily. |
| Which comes first, word comprehension or word production. | Word comprehension precedes... |
| Word Categories | 2 year old can extend meaning of a ball to apply to all balls, etc. |
| Overextending of words | Saying all round things are balls. Because child does not know words for other items, and also sometimes applies one or a few prominent features of 1st object to others. |
| Grammatical rules for child (plurals and past tense) | Child may use s and ed endings incorrectly a lot, but knows the rules. (comprehends before producing usage correctly) |
| Innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD) | The mind - Universal Grammar is an innate property of the human mind. Critical period is 1 - 10 yrs old. |
| Creole/Pidgin | Mixed language created from 2 mixed cultures - a new grammar is often created as a full language within one generation. |
| Language Acquisition Support System (LASS) | The social world baby is in. Motherese and frequency of interactive talk helps baby learn faster. But also other cultures who DON'T talk to baby carry baby everywhere and babies learn from listening to others - just as fast. |
| Piaget milk in 2 glasses test is what concept? | Conservation (test for it) |
| Piaget "Genetic Epistemology" | The origins of knowledge. |
| Assimilation example sucking | Suck breast then suck bottle |
| Accommodation example sucking | Change way mouth sucks bottle after sucking breast |
| How do we explain baby development? | Neural maturation and accumulation of knowledge. |
| Social predictors for babies | Babies stare longer at surprising social and illogical action. They learn to predict logic and illogic in social settings. Also don't understand deception. |
| Baby Development of Freud/Piaget | General Changes in how we think |
| Baby Development of Chomsky/Fodor | Separate Modules - modular is separate and partially pre-wired systems for social and physical reasoning. Innate knowledge and constrained development. |
| Mindblindness | Inability to understand or recognize what is or could be in another person's mind. |
| Autism | Condition, mostly affecting boys, about 1/1000, lack of social connectedness, language impairment, mindblindness, treating people as objects. |
| Simon Baron-Cohen | Psychologist specializing in Autism: "Males are just slightly autistic versions of females." |
| Modules | People, objects, artifacts (used in sociology, intuitive biology) |
| D'arcy Thompson's answer to why we study development? | "Everything is the way it is because it got that way." |
| Stephen Jay Gould's answer to why we study development? | "Is a zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes?" The answer is in embryonic development. |
| Darwin quote on language: | "Man has an instinctive tendency to speak..." |
| All languages share 3 things | Syntax-rules for combining (grammar) Morphology-words Phonology-basic sounds |
| Number of grammatical sentences under 20 words? | 1 x 10 to 30th power |
| Instinctive free will in language is: | We can create and understand sentences we never heard before. |
| Top-down processing in language | We fill in gaps - when we know what something is we hear it that way. |
| Ferdinand de Saussure | The arbitrariness of the sign (morphology). We can assign any sound for any thing. |
| Average speaker knows how many morphemes? | 60,000 - 100,000 Multi-language person can know 300,000 |
| Willhelm von Humboldt | "The infinite use of finite media" Combinatorial system using recursion. Fred likes Wilma. Barney thinks Fred likes Wilma, etc. Infinite. |
| Chomsky and language development | It's like growing organs (but you must interact) |
| Language birth to 4 mos. | Preference for melody of own language (even at 4 days), but sensitive to ALL phonemes. |
| Language 7 mos. | Babbling |
| Language 12 mos. | First words, actions, properties, word order. Lose openness to all phonemes of different languages - preference for only own language now. |
| Language 18 mos. | Learn words faster, 2 word sentences, function morphemes like a, the, of in, appear for kids. |
| Language 7 yrs. to puberty | Ability to learn language recedes and to master new language recedes. |
| Phenomenal vision | What you see that you construct with sight. |
| Relational vision | What you see that you interact with in some way. |
| Photoreceptors | Light sensitive cells |
| Transduction | The stimulus from the environment which generates electrical changes in neurons. |
| Cones | Deal with bright light - 6 million |
| Rods | Deal with dim light - 120 million |
| Rhodopsin | The photochemical eyes' rods use |
| Subtractive color mixing | Pigments absorb certain wavelengths |
| Additive color mixing | Using colored lights to mix colors |
| Three primary law | 3 colors mixed from 3 parts of wavelengths can match any color seen by eye |
| Law of complementarity | Pair of wavelengths can be found that when combined produce white |
| Dichromatic vision | blindness of one color, usually red or green |
| Trichromatic theory | RGB receptors |
| Opponent-process theory | Opposite colors excite different neurons differently. (this is why we see opposite when bright color is suddenly taken away) |
| Contours and exaggeration | to see objects our brain exaggerates the contrast of contours to help us detect objects |
| Lateral inhibition | neighboring neurons to certain shades are inhibited near change points |
| Elementary stimulus features (sight) | Any object's properties which stimulate vision identification. Seen by "feature detector" neurons. |
| Anne Treisman - Feature integration theory of perception | Parallel processing of primitive features (color, shape) Serial processing of of integration of features, spatial objects, secondary objects |
| Gestalt Principals of Perceptual Grouping 1 | We perceive whole organized patterns and objects - "The whole is different from the sum of its parts." |
| Gestalt Principals of Perceptual Grouping 2 | PROXIMITY-3 sets of dots instead of 21 SIMILARITY-lines versus dots in group CLOSURE-things behind things GOOD CONTINUATION-wiggly X we see 2 lines. COMMON MOVEMENT-groups seen as 1 if move together GOOD FORM-simple uncluttered form seen as 1 (crosse |
| Unconscious Inference - Herman von Helmholts | Take visual features and whole and infers what is present. We infer contours to try and make most sense of vision (relates to "good form") |
| Illusory Lightness Differences | Challenges the Inhibition model of illusory controls at the neuron level. |
| Top-down control | Brain feedback to sensory areas |
| Bottom-up control | Sensory areas send input to brain |
| The 2 streams of visual processing | What (objects)-eye to occipital down around to temporal Where/How (spatial/movement/interaction)-eyes to occipital up around to parietal |
| Visual Agnosia | can see but does not know what he is seeing |
| Visual Form Agnosia | Can't see shape |
| Visual Object Agnosia | Can't identify item |
| Damage to What area of seeing | Can't see it but can grab and handle it. |
| Damage to Where/How | CAN see it but can't move toward grabbing or handling it easily |
| Irving Biederman-Recognition-by-components theory | 36 geons, or shaped components, form all objects |
| Visual recognition basis of Context | Far away tree you can recognize leaves. But not without seeing tree because too far and small. |
| Visual recognition basis of Motion | Still frame of body with lights on it in dark not recognized. Then just 2 frames of movement is instantly recognized |
| Eye convergence | eyes turn in to focus on object and give depth, but only useful very close |
| Binocular disparity | each eye sees object slightly differently due to spacing of eyes - and brain processes into one object and depth is created |
| Pictorial Cues | Occlusion, relative image size, linear perspective, texture gradient, horizon, lighting |
| Size constancy | Size and distance are readable even in objects we don't know, because of distance cues |
| Unconscious Depth Processing | The reason optical illusions in 2d on paper trick us (size, etc) |
| Why don't apes have similar language to us? | We split 5 to 10 million years ago. Time enough for evo change. |
| Reading is different from language. | More difficult and not natural and fully learned. |
| Preference for own language begins when? | In utero |
| Perception (Bloom) | Is hard, involved educated (unconscious) guesses about the world |
| Attention (Bloom) | we attend to some things and not others, miss a surprising amount, attention helps choose what gets in from all the sensory input |
| Memory (Bloom) | many types, the key is organization and understanding, can't trust some memories, even sometimes wrong about Past AND NOW. |
| A.I. Minsky | "People are meat." So he assigned Vision to a grad student - but vision is too complex and not part of the "meat" idea. |
| Inferring 3d from 2d info | Very Hard, mathematically impossible, so we solve it with unconscious assumptions about how the world works. |
| Shadow | When we see an object in shadow we assume it is brighter than it is because we are not really seeing it as its actual brightness so how do we know? We fill in the logic. |
| 3 broad memory ideas (Bloom) | Autobiographical Language Physical |
| Amnesia 2 types | 1-Amnesia about past 2-Amnesia hindering forming NEW memories |
| Sensory Memory Residue | Lasting effect of event in senses Longer echoic effect in sound than other senses - how we keep up with passages |
| Long Term Memory | Stored history about location, events, autobiography |
| Long Term Memory Explicit/Implicit | Conscious - what I had for dinner Unconscious - ride a bike |
| Encoding Storage Retrieval (Recall and Recognition) | Getting new info in Hording the info Getting info out (pull out and recognize) |
| Involuntary Attention | Naming colors |
| Involuntary Attention (harder) | naming colors of letters when written as other colors (experiment) |
| Change Blindness (in attention) | attention to one thing can limit attention to others so you may miss a major change or event |
| Permanent Learned Attention | Can't be unlearned - reading, seeing, listening |
| Priming | Memory primed by previous experience, outside of episodic memory. Must be part of semantic memory of concepts, unconscious, associations, etc. Subliminal flashing is a type of priming. |
| Priming with Anmesiacs | Prime amnesiac, then ask them to guess and they will remember better because many amnesiacs have episodic damage, not semantic |
| Memory | The change within an individual, brought on by learning, that can influence the individual's future behavior. |
| Consciousness | The experiencing of one's own mental events in such a manner that you can report on it to others. |
| Modal-model of the brain (info-processing) | sensory input->SENSORY MEMORY BOX (unattended info quickly lost)->attention->WORKING MEMORY BOX(short-term)(maintenance/rehearsal circle)(unrehearsed info quickly lost)-><-encoding/retrieval(back and forth)=>LONG TERM MEMORY BOX (some lost over time) |
| Sensory Memory | prolongation of all 5 senses 1 sec for sight 10 secs + for hearing Mostly unconscious but if we use attention it is stored (may be stored somewhat anyway) |
| Working Memory | Short-term and conscious perceive, feel, compare, compute, reason. Fed both sides by sensory AND long-term memory (past experiences) - lots of info in and out of consciousness. |
| Long Term Memory | Fed by Working Memory - Unlimited and dormant until called upon (as retrieval) (and always encoding is rehearsed/attended/needed) |
| Control Processes (memory) | Attention-flow of info from sensory(lots) to working memory (limited because busy!) Encoding-move from working into long-term, memorizing/non-deliberate (like reading or ideas) Retrieval-long term back to working-remember/recall-active,automatic,trigger |
| Pre-attentive processing | way of dealing with sensory competing needs - unconscious determines relevance to survival and top-down processing helps from working memory, like a gate |
| Selective Listening and viewing | Conscious attention sorting sensory input |
| Stroop interference effect | The colored words test with words written differently than colors are seen, mus decipher |
| Attention physiology | Unattended stimuli DOES activate brain. Attention MAGNIFIES that area of brain. |
| Working Memory = | Active conscious thought and short term memory |
| Phonological Loop | Holding verbal information, digits remembers, span of short term memory |
| Spatial Sketchpad | Visual and spatial - mental images of items used in memory |
| Central Executive | Coordinates mind's activities and bringing in of new info from sensory and long term memory |
| Dual tasking | Easier to dual task phonological and visuo-spatial than to do 2x one of them. |
| Words in brain | Working memory of words is similar area of brain to actual speaking and listening to words |
| Visuals in brain | Visual-spatial is similar area as actual vision and "what" and "where/how" pathways. |
| Visual and Verbal Brain | Prefrontal Cortex lights up when either of these is held - area is hub of Central Executive portion of working memory |
| Memory Maintenance Rehearsal | hold info in working memory |
| Memory Encoding Rehearsal | Goes into long-term memory storage |
| Memory Elaborative Rehearsal (Elaboration) | Understanding meaning or attempting to - we remember more when prompteb by meanings than by simple visual or sounds related to words only. |
| Chunking (organizational memory) | Large numbers of items grouped together in smaller units, sentences for EADGBE, etc |
| Expert Memory (expertise effect) | use logic of expected info from long-term memory for efficient chunking of new info. Architect can remember whole idea and design/novice can't. Same with chess moves for pro player. |
| Hierarchical Memory | Organizational technique |
| Visualization Encoding (memory) | Add visual info clues to verbal info to encode better - example, the mental walk, attach landmarks to each item to remember and walk the landmarks, look at each and recall. |
| Anterograde Amnesia | Loss of capacity to form new long-term memories after accident |
| Retrograde Amnesia | Loss of capacity to recall long-term memories before accident |
| Labile memories | Easily disrupted memories |
| Solid memories | Not easily disrupted memories |
| Consolidation (of memory) | The transition from Labile to Solid memory (at accident, memories closest to memory are lost and less so as go back in time) |
| Mental Associations memory retrieval | Long-term retrieval using associated memories (which are primed)/the stimulus is a RETRIEVAL CUE for that memory |
| Aristotle's Association by Contiguity (memory) | Associated because they occurred together in the person's previous experience (napkin and plate) |
| Aristotle's Association by Similarity (memory) | Associated because they have one or more property in common (apple and rose are red) (but is a derivative of contiguity because was contiguous at some point) |
| William James Metaphysical memory philosophy | Man's ability to separate properties from the object and link to other objects - SUNSET=HERO'S DEATH but for a dog SUNSET=DINNER TIME |
| Network Models of memory organization | Vast network of mental concepts linked by association, like a web. Closer (more related) links feed faster. |
| Elaborative Rehearsal (encoding) for memory | adding complex connections to item to cue or prime. Montpelier capital of Vermont. Mont is like mountain, which vermont has. Also sounds like mountain peeler, so wind peels snow off mountain. Vermont has snow. This works. |
| Contextual Stimuli (for memory recall) | Rooms, smell, settings helps recall priming if originally studied in that context. |
| Memory Construction Distortion | Encoding a memory is fragmented and we fill in gaps based on what happened or what we THINK happened. As time passes, harder to distinguish actual and what we THINK happened. Called DISTORTION. |
| Bartlett - Pre-existing beliefs - schema and script | SCHEMA-generalized mental representation or concept of any given class of objects, scenes, events SCRIPT-is a schema involving events in time (birthday is games, cake, sing, candles, presents...) |
| False Eyewitness Memory | Suggestibility AFTER the fact shapes memory - film of car accident - when viewers later asked about "crash" or "impact," description different - broken glass, speed higher for "crash." |
| False Childhood Memories | More subject to suggestion especially if paired with visual imagery suggestion, not just verbal or thought suggestion. |
| Source Confusion (false memory) | Actual memory is confounded by cross-examiner and retelling, etc. |
| Social Pressure (false memory) | Person EXPECTS you to remember, so you do, even if vague. You turn it into an actual memory the more you repeat it. Also possible to get pressured that a real memory is WRONG and did not happen. |
| Multiple Memory Systems - EXPLICIT | Explicit (1)episodic-own past experience, personal, memory of self dong it "THINKING BACK TO IT" (2)semantic-Not tied to experiences, like word meanings, schemas, facts, ideas acquired THROUGH experience. "JUST KNOW IT" |
| Multiple Memory Systems - IMPLICIT | Implicit (1)procedural-motor skills, habits, unconsciously learned rules, practice (2)priming-Sensory input activation from long-term memory - unconscious. |
| Multiple Memory Systems - facts | Explicit Semantic and both Implicits are OLDER than Explicit Episodic. Also, damage in HM proved in testing that Explicit and Implicit memory damage can be separate. |
| Long Term Memory | HUGE CAPACITY, but we don't remember everything in there. No one knows how big. |
| Short Term Memory | Limited, held in consciousness. |
| Understanding encodes memory best | Beyond maintenance rehearsal, add meaning and understanding and it lasts. Elaborative Rehearsal and Retrieval works here - make it detailed and hard - SEARCHING STRATEGIES. |
| Flashbulb memories | Like 9/11, big memories, the more you talk about them they can change subtly |
| Romantic love similar to infant/parental | security and anxiety-avoidance marital success is understanding of the other's unexpressed emotional needs |
| Peter Salovey - Love's 3 components (need all 3 to qualify) | INTIMACY-felling of closeness, connectedness, bonding PASSION-drive that leads to romance, physical attraction, sex COMMITMENT DECISION-one loves another and commits to maintain love |
| Peter Salovey - Why we love who we love -7 ideas (Big 3) | Proximity (close in space) Similarity (opposites don't attract) Familiarity (people we know) |
| Peter Salovey - Why we love who we love -7 ideas (More interesting 4.1) | Competence (with blunders/pratfall effect) Physical Attractiveness (attractive person's opinions have more impact on us) |
| Peter Salovey - Why we love who we love -7 ideas (More interesting 4.2) | Gain-Loss Effect (GAIN-love over and over is tiring/mild love grows we respond)(LOSS-always negative can't hurt over and over/start high then neg HURTS MISATRIBUTION OF AROUSAL (the chemical rush of the moment can affect love/caffeine/climbing mountain) |
| Consummate love and monogamy - more than one partner possible? | Evolutionarily - Yes Socially - No |
| Evolutionary Psychology is like | reverse engineering - the mind evolves, not behavior, but the mind controls behavior |
| Artificial Selection (vs. natural) | Existed for years as breeding before Darwin introduced natural selection |
| Mutations role in natural selection | Generally hurtful to survival, but sometimes helpful, multiplied which increases offspring and passed on |
| Environmental Change | A force for natural selection. Environment changes, so we adapt, if it did not change we would not need adaptation. But Environment DOES change. Does NOT cause mutations. But promotes natural selection |
| Evolution has no foresight - 3 ideas | No future plan No route - Amoeba and humans of equal value as best adapted to environment No Morals - nature is neither good nor bad |
| Functionalism | Why we do what we do is Survival. Funtionalism tried to attempt to explain behavior in terms of what it accomplishes for the behaving individual. |
| 2 Explanations of Behavior | Ultimate-evolutionary level, what the behavior does for survival (songbirds sing at mating time in spring because it's mating time) Proximate-mechanism of immediate conditions (songbirds sing spring because earlier sunrise stimulates brain & testosterone |
| Limitation of functionalist thinking | Some traits are not useful |
| Vestigial characteristics (good and bad at times) | grasp reflex may be neutral or good hunger for sugar can be hurtful |
| Some traits side effects of nat. selection for other traits | Belly buttons for umbilical cord Art/culture/music for mating or communication |
| Genetic Drift | Traits with no real need, like nose shapes or schizophrenia in Sweden |
| Evolved Mechanism Weaknesses/strengths | Guilt-good for preserving relationship but bad if crippling |
| Inductive Reasoning | Infer new principle by clues, like wake up, see wet ground, must have rained. |
| Availability Bias | Using info most available to us, like murders on rise because on news. We never think of heart attacks because not reported as much. Also letter D experiment (always guess as 1st letter instead of 3rd, even though 3rd is more prominent-1st easier/avail) |
| Confirmation Bias | Our proclivity to say Yes, so science experiments should strive to DISCONFIRM. |
| Predictable World Bias | We are strongly predisposed to see order in the world where there may be none (superstitions and gambling hope) |
| Deductive Reasoning | Logical proof if certain premises true, like mathematics (we are biased to use Inductive over Deductive, i.e. use real world knowledge BEFORE doing the math) |
| The Astonishing Hypothesis | Behavior and Mind is THE BRAIN |
| Natural Selection | Darwin's Dangerous Idea |
| Paley | Theologian who coined Creationist Design |
| 2 problems with creationism | 1-pushes back question of where did creator come from 2-evidence for evolution-fossils/vestigial characteristics/continuity with other animals-also occasional poor design (God makes mistakes?) |
| Evolutionary Psych and Darwin | Our cognitive mechanisms evolved for survival and reproduction, shaped by natural selection to solve certain problems. |
| Evolution of brain (9 uses) | Perceiving world Communicating Nutrition & Rest Select/Attract Mate Learn Physical/social environment Make Decisions Choose Allies/Enemies Figure out desires/beliefs of others |
| Misconceptions about evolutionary psychology 1 | Why do we eat? Because we are hungry and it tastes good (proximate - psychological) Ultimate might be survival, but that is not psychological. Same with spreading seed - we don't WANT to psychologically - proximate is horny/psychological. |
| Misconceptions about evolutionary psychology 2 | Protect our children-Ultimate is evolution to protect genetic heritage Proximate is psychological based on emotion and love |
| Ashley Montague on learning | Man has no instincts - all is learned, everything is adaptive WRONG |
| Why everything is NOT adaptive | evolution distinguishes between adaptations/by-products/accidents/mistakes/evolutionary dead-ends. Debate is more what is adaptive vs. what is a mistake sweets(mistake)/snake-fear(adapt)/arts (unsure) |
| Menand | Everything is biological but after that it's all up for grabs because people are more interesting than that and evolution/bio may not answer things like culture/art |
| Why Study Evolution? 1 | It is relevant, interesting, tells us what's innate or not, can address ancient/modern problems/chess and adapt/not-adapt timelines/truths. Chess is NOT adapted - too modern. |
| Why Study Evolution? 2 | What sorts of differences in humans show up in psychology - study through evolutionary theory - age, sex, culture - also morning sickness and fish sick vs. alcohol no-sick - alcohol too new |
| Sibling Non-Attraction ideas | Proximity/Similarity-why we don't lust after siblings/evo-bio says built-in incest-avoidance/is Ultimate(deep)/Proximate is just the "EEWW"factor. Being raised together/seeing Mom care for sib. |
| Heuristic | Experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning and discovery. "Rule of thumb." |
| Rationality and Heuristics | A new concept is that we are NOT rational thinkers, but have evolved instead to reason using rough & ready heuristics. Not always good... |
| 4 Heuristics we use to solve problems (1) | Framing Effects (& loss aversion)-How a question is framed, we hate loss, choices relative to a reference Ignorance of Base Rates-describe a nerd and ask if he is engineer or lawyer - people say engineer even though he is lawyer |
| 4 Heuristics we use to solve problems (2) | Availability Bias-murder/shark attacks on news more so more dangerous than potato salad (wrong) Confirmation Bias-we try to confirm hypothesis rather than deny |
| William James on psychological science | Our natural actions seem obvious, but are worth studying and NOT obvious from a psychological science point of view |
| Spock | A wrong theory of emotions - without emotions we do nothing at all... |
| About emotions and why they are good | 1-emotions are evolved mechanisms that set goals and priorities 2-shaped by cultural context/different triggers and baselines 3-BUT have universal roots Phineas Gage example of why emotions are good - he lost many of his (or control of them) |
| Faces | Universal, implicit, not learned, even the blind use their faces like everyone else. Some subtle cultural differences only. |
| Smile types | Greeting-"Pan Am" smile-fake-hello Happiness-Full up to eyes-"Duchene Smile" Coy/appeasement smile-(some evidence) Smiles are CONTAGIOUS |
| Fear | A non-social emotion (can be social), but fear of falling off a cliff is not social |
| Universal Fears (ancestral/ancient) | Spiders/snakes/heights/storms/large animals/darkness/blood/strangers/humiliation/deep water/leaving home alone |
| Not Universal Fears (new) | Guns/cars/electrical outlets |
| Altruism (social emotion) | Animals are NOT merely survival machines. Kindness would not be needed otherwise. We take care of offspring to reproduce, but are also kind to non-kin. |
| Disease organisms | Colds (sneeze), toxoplasmosis (rats less afraid of cats, cats eat rats, spread disease), syphilis (causes arousal), rabies (dogs bite other dogs) |
| Altruism 2 | If evolution happens at genetic level - selfish genes lead to altruistic behavior - because there is no distinction between oneself and another |
| Haldene's Math (altruism) | Would you lay down your life for your brother? No, but you would for 3 brothers, 5 nephews, 9 first cousins. |
| Lions and genes | New lion takes over pride, kills or chases males, kills babies, and females actually spontaneously abort - to protect new leader's genes |
| Altruism to Kin | Humans-babies are cute to us/baby-face bias in adults. A baby's cry is balanced to get attention but not annoy too much to get it killed |
| Baby's respond to Parents | Skinner - cupboard theory - needs food. Bowlby - comfort and fear of strangers Harlow - cloth mom vs. wire mom (comfort) |
| Display rules of facial expression | Management of expressions is cultural Expressions seem universal So the LANGUAGE of emotions may be cultural but not the expressions. |
| Species-typical Behavior | Evolutionary but ALSO influenced by learning |
| Elbesfeldt "Eyebrow Flash" | Happy surprise to see you. Blind kids do it too. Cultural differences in use like dialects, but we all recognize it in own culture more easily |
| Species-typical Behavior and LEARNING | Walking & Talking are species typical, but to an extent must be learned to fully develop |
| 4 behavior analysis questions | 1-What env. conditions needed for full devel. 2-What internal mechanisms involved in producing it 3-What consequences has it in daily life 4-why did evolution choose these genes |
| Homology in species specific study (best for psych study) | Homology is any similarity that exists due to the different species common ancestry (share genes so similar in construction) |
| Analogy in species specific study (OK for psych just for inferences about ultimate function) | Analogy is any similarity which comes from CONVERGENT EVOLUTION, 2 different species develop common characteristics (birds, bats, insects) (share gross form/func but not detail/mechanism) |
| Greeting Smile (apes) | To say "Don't Attack" - eventually became "Let's be friends." |
| Happy Smile (apes/humans) | All is safe, playing. People laugh louder and more when aggressively playing to signal all is safe. |
| Emotion | A subjective feeling that is mentally directed toward some object. |
| Self-conscious Emotion | Directed at self at object. Pride, shame, guilt, embarrassment. |
| Affect | The feeling associated with the emotion. Pleasure or Displeasure OR Arousal or Not (activation or deactivation). |
| Free-floating emotion | No object emotional feelings, or MOODS |
| Plutchnik | 8 primary emotions cone. (not agreed-upon, emotions too subjective and descriptions affected by culture and language) |
| Emotions serve/cause | Serve adaptive functions for evolution and reproduction. Cause peripheral bodily changes in heart, blood, muscles, etc. |
| William James on Emotion | Peripheral Feedback Theory-body changes first then CAUSES emotions-body reacts to stimulus first. |
| Schachter's Theory of Emotion | Cognition PLUS feedback (James +1) |
| Ekman on Emotion | Facial expression feedback - force a smile, feel happy. |
| Amygdala and Emotion | Assesses emotional significance of stimuli. CORTICAL (slower) eyes back to visual cortex to amygdala with processing SUBCORTICAL (fast) eyes directly to thalamus to amygdala before processing |
| Removing Amygdala causes what? | Psychic Blindness - can see things but indifferent to significance. |
| Subcortical reactions | 1-Flashed images 2-Also if visual damaged, image can still get to amygdala and cause emotional reaction-this may account for irrational emotions and conscious reasoning may not help. |
| Prefrontal Cortex and Emotions | Essential for conscious experience/reaction to emotions (unlike amygdala unconsc.) Prefr. Labotomy destroys conscious/emotions/organize lives. Prefr. Right - neg emotions Prefr. Left - positive emotions |
| Social Dilemma | Benefits the individual/hurts the group |
| Social working/contribution | Individual cooperation/solution |
| One Trial Prisoner Game | 2 players either confess or stay silent. |
| Iterative Trial Prisoner's Game | Play more than once - best to cooperate each time. |
| Cooperation a group size | Larger group, less cooperation Smaller group, more and harder work |
| Tit for Tat | Winning strategy to the prisoner game. First time you meet, cooperate. Rest of time, do what other did to you previously. |
| Promoting Cooperation | Accountability, reputation, reciprocity. We automatically help without considering reciprocity because more efficient to just help. |
| Altruistic Punishment | All players benefit and usually stops cheaters (bats not sharing blood) Neuro images show anger at cheater and pleasure at cheaters' punishment |
| Ultimate Games (cheaters) | $100 - Proposer asked to split anyway he wants, but if not taken neither gets anything. If Responder is offered less than 50%, he usually walks, neither win (punishing proposer for "cheating") Rational person easier to exploit (if they take less). |
| Personal/Social Identity | 2 different aged people introduced as part of "same town" will cooperate more than if not or as individuals as diff. age. Groups are more hostile than individuals |
| Altruism to babies | Babies don't imprint magically, but attach over time. |
| Isolation in young age | psychosis - monkeys showed signs and one killed own baby - early attachment is critical |
| Non-kin altruism | Grooming/warning cries/shared child care/food sharing/reciprocal altruism - benefits outweigh the costs |
| Altruism beats cheaters how? | Gene A - bats accept blood/share blood Gene B - accept blood/don't share Gene B WINS, but is BEATEN because bats punish cheaters - otherwise altruism would not evolve - but it does. |
| Social emotions of the prisoner's dilemma | Gratitude and Liking of those who cooperate and motivated to be nice in future. Anger and Distrust to those who betray us/we do same in future Guilt when we betray someone who cooperates, so we behave better in future. |
| Violence | Murder mostly based on insult, curse, petty infraction. In warring societies turning cheek not adaptively positive. Differs culture to culture. |
| Cultures of Honor | Can't rely on law. Resources easily taken. Excessive violent retaliation essential to keep resources. American south, Scottish Highlanders, Bedouin, Cowboys |
| All emotions - | Not noise but complex motivational systems crafted to deal with natural and social environment. |