Psychology Chapter 2 Quiz

Learning

• Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from practice, experience, or training.
• Key elements of learning include changes in behavior, changes occurring through practice or experience, and a relatively permanent effect that lasts for a long time.

Theories of Learning

• Connectionism (Thorndike): Learning involves forming connections or bonds between stimuli and responses.
• Classical Conditioning (Pavlov): A neutral stimulus gains the ability to elicit a response because it's paired with an unconditioned stimulus. This learning is through association.
• Operant Conditioning (Skinner): Learning occurs through consequences. A behavior that's followed by a reinforcing consequence is more likely to be repeated, while a behavior followed by a punishing consequence is less likely to be repeated. This learning is a three-part sequence: antecedents, behavior, and consequences.
• Consequences: Provide reinforcement (increasing the likelihood of behavior) or punishment (decreasing the likelihood of behavior).
  • Positive Reinforcement: Increases behavior by adding a desirable stimulus.
  • Negative Reinforcement: Increases behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus.
  • Primary Reinforcement: naturally rewarding stimulus
  • Secondary Reinforcement: becomes rewarding through association with primary reinforcement
  • Punishment: Decreases behavior by adding an unpleasant stimulus or removing a desirable stimulus.

Elements of Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response.
• Unconditioned Response (UCR): The automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus.
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the UCS, now triggers a conditioned response.
• Conditioned Response (CR): The learned response to the conditioned stimulus.

Laws of Learning

• Readiness: Learning occurs when the learner is psychologically and physiologically prepared.
• Exercise: Repetition and rehearsals aid learning.
• Effect: Consequences of a response influence whether the behavior will occur again (favorable/satisfying or unfavorable/unsatisfying).

Memory

• Sensory Memory: Brief storage that immediately follows initial stimulation of a receptor. Holds many items; very brief retention (visual: 3 seconds; auditory: 0.2 seconds). Needs attention to transfer to working memory.
• Working Memory/Short-term Memory: Holds information we are currently aware of or consciously thinking about. Limited capacity (7-8 items); brief storage (about 30 seconds).
• Long-term Memory: Preserves unlimited items of information over long periods; unlimited capacity and duration (thought to be permanent).

Sensory Memory Types

• Iconic Memory: Visual sensory memory (holds visual information up to a second)
• Echoic Memory: Auditory sensory memory (holds auditory information for 1-2 seconds)
• Haptic Memory: Touch information
• Gustric Memory: Taste information
• Olfactic Memory: Smell information

Memory Processes

• Encoding: Transforming sensory input into a code.
• Storage: Encoding information into a form that is retrievable over time.
• Retrieval: Recovering stored information from memory storage.

Memory Models

• Information-Processing Model: Stages include encoding, storage and retrieval.

Memory Theories

• Encoding Failure: Failure to properly encode information, hindering its retrieval.
• Interference: One memory interfering with ability to retrieve another, new memories interfering with old memories (Retroactive); old memories interfering with new memories (Proactive).
• Motivated Forgetting: Consciously or subconsciously keeping undesirable memories out of awareness.
• Retrieval Failure: Inability to locate stored information, even if it exists,
• Decay: Memories fade away over time if not frequently used.

Forgetting

• Retrieval Failures: Difficulty in accessing stored information.
• Encoding Failures: Information was never fully encoded.
• Interference: Other memories or events interfere with retrieval.
• Motivated forgetting: Conscious or unconscious suppression of unpleasant memories.
• Decay: Fading of memory over time due to disuse.

Other Learning Models

• Observational Learning (Bandura): Learning by observing others and imitating their behaviors.

Other Theories of Intelligence

• Spearman (g factor): General intelligence (g factor) influences performance across different tasks.
• Thurstone: Multiple intelligences, separate abilities.
• Gardner: Multiple intelligences including verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.
• Sternberg: Three types of intelligence: analytic, creative, and practical.

Emotions

• Elements of Emotions: Bodily response, expression, and feelings.
• Theories of Emotions:
  • James-Lange Theory: Emotions follow bodily responses.
  • Cannon-Bard Theory: Emotion and bodily reactions occur simultaneously.
  • Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Emotions need both arousal and a cognitive interpretation of that arousal.
  • Evolutionary Perspective: Emotions are functional for survival.
• Areas of Emotions: Facial expressions, brain regions and pathways, autonomic nervous system.
• Classification of Emotions: Primary emotions, mixed emotions
• Motivations: Internal states that activate and direct behavior.
• Theories of Motivation: Instinct, homeostasis, arousal, incentive, Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Personality

• Personality: Enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals from one another.
• Theories of Personality:
  • Trait Theory: Identifying and measuring individual personality characteristics (e.g., Big Five model).
  • Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud): Personality is formed from conflicts among the id, ego, and superego.
  • Humanistic Theory: Focuses on individual's experience, choices, and potential.
  • Neo-Freudian Theories: Emphasize social and cultural factors in personality development.

Assessing Personality

• Methods:
  • Objective Tests (inventories): Written self-report questionnaires.
  • Projective Tests: Ambiguous stimuli, interpreted to reveal unconscious motives.
  • Behavioral Assessments: Observing and recording behavior in certain situations.

Important Concepts

• Locus of Control: Extent to which individuals believe they can control their own lives (internal and external factors).
• Self-Efficacy: Belief in one's ability to succeed in a specific situation.