Psych 1X03 Exam Review + Notes 1-12 PDF

lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Psych 1x03 exam review and notes - topics 1-12 Intro to Psych (McMaster University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by Hero HWServices (t19QY1Cud...

lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Psych 1x03 exam review and notes - topics 1-12 Intro to Psych (McMaster University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Quizlet Link: https://quizlet.com/ca/633357180/intro-to-pnb-exam-flash-cards/?x=1jqt PSYCH 1X03 – Exam Summary CHAPTER 1 – RESEARCH METHODS Module – RESEARCH METHODS I Scientific Method: 1. theory – a general set of ideas about how the world works. 2. hypothesis – a testable statement guided by theories that make predictions between two variables in the theory. 3. research method – how the hypothesis is tested. 4. collect data – taking measurements of the outcomes of the test. 5. analyze data – discovering trends/relationships between the variables. 6. report findings – publishing articles in scholarly journals. 7. revise theories – including new information and revisions to theories (usually due to a paradigm shift). paradigm shift – a dramatic change in the way we think. Hypothesis In-Depth: - anecdotal evidence – evidence gathered from others or self-experience. - problems with anecdotal evidence: a single experience might not properly represent the theory. personal experience might not represent others. cannot be sure about one factor affecting the results. - experiment – scientific tool used to measure the effect of one variable on another. - independent variable – manipulated by the scientist. - dependent variable – observed by the scientist. - experimenter usually controls the level of the independent variable; also measures this effect on the chosen measure of the independent variable. Control Groups: - helps to further manipulate the independent variable while measuring the effects on the dependent variable. - experimental group – receives a manipulation of the independent variable. the control group does not receive manipulation. allows for one to compare the dependent variable for both groups. - both groups should be as similar as possible in order to minimize differences; as a result, if a difference is found, then it is likely that the manipulation of the independent variable was the cause. Experimental Designs: Within-Subjects Design: - manipulating the independent variable within each participant to minimize the effect of external variables on the dependent variable. - minimizes the effect of subject differences on the dependent measure. - can be time consuming and costly; practice effects may become an issue. practice effect – improved performance over course of an experiment due to becoming more experienced. Between-Subjects Design: - One group receives experimental manipulation, while the other is the control group. - Confounding Variable – a variable other than the independent variable that has an effect on the results. Sampling: - results from specific group(s) of participants cannot be generalized to other groups. - population – the people one is trying to learn about. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - sample – members of the population that data is collected from. - The best sample is a random sample. 1st Step – Random Sample: - choosing a sample at random from the entire population. - reduces bias towards a specific group; hard to achieve. 2nd Step – Random Assignment: - assigning subjects to either the experimental or control group at random to avoid any biases that may cause differences between the groups of subjects - also avoids bias Conducting an Experiment: - placebo effect – effect that occurs when an individual exhibits a response to a treatment that has no related therapeutic effect; influences a range of independent variables o also a form of subject bias which influences the results of the experiment - participant bias – when a participant’s actions in an experiment influence the results outside of the manipulations of the experimenter - blinding – when participants do not know whether they belong to the experimental or control group, or which treatment they are receiving. - experimenter bias – actions made by the experimenter to promote the result they hope to achieve. - bias can be reduced… o if the experimenter does not know whether each participant belongs to the experimental/control group. o double-blind experiments – experiments in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know which group each participant belongs to. Module – RESEARCH METHODS II Working with Raw Data: - statistics allow one to summarize, interpret, and present the data we have collected. - descriptive statistics – presents information that gives an overall idea of the results of the experiment; mean, median, mode. Histograms: - visual summarizations of data (pie chart, bar graph…); type of graph used to report the number of times groups of values appear in a data set. x-Axis = bins - frequency distribution – type of graph illustrating the distribution of how frequently values appear in the data set. shows data given every possible outcome of an event. In most cases, higher values are more frequent in the experimental group. - normal distribution – a distribution with a characteristic smooth, symmetrical, bell-shaped curve containing a single peak. shows data for a given measure. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Measures of Central Tendency: Mean: - tells us where a data set is centered; average value of a data set. - calculated by adding together all of the points in a data set and dividing by the number of items in the set - influenced by outliers; extreme points, distant from others in a data set. Mode: - value that appears most frequently in the set. - tells us one of the most typical responses when looking at a data set; it can be used for non-numerical data. Median: - centre value in a data set when the set is arranged numerically. - says where the middle of the data set is, but is not influenced by an outlier. - all of these measures only focus on the centre/typical value, not others around that point. Measures of Variability: - reviews the spread and distribution of a data set. - standard deviation – a measure of the average distance of each point from the mean. smaller spread = smaller SD, larger spread = larger SD - some variability in results is due to chance. Inferential Statistics: - allow us to use results from samples to make inferences about overall populations. - scores without any manipulation follow a symmetrical distribution. - t-test – can be used to compare the difference between the data from the control and experimental groups. considers each data point from both groups to calculate the probability that two samples were drawn from the same population. Statistically significant means that the control group belongs to the general population, and the experimental group belongs to a separate population receiving treatment. - p-value – expresses the probability calculated by the t-test. usually best if there is a 2000 words; uses longer sentences. 6 years Understands >10 000 words; continues to develop sentence structure; fast mapping. Makes cooing sounds, turns head toward voices, imitates sound, babbles = milestones in language development Universal Phonemic Sensitivity: - ability to discriminate between virtually all phonemes even before an infant learns language - conditioned head-turn procedure examples: a familiar phoneme is presented (repeatedly) – the infant loses interest, infant has habituated to the sound of the phoneme. a novel phoneme is presented (following a familiar phoneme) – the infant shows no interest, the infant is unable to discriminate between the phonemes. novel phoneme is presented (following a familiar phoneme) – the infant turns their head, infant can discriminate between the phonemes. - perceptual narrowing – loss of universal phoneme sensitivity; occurs when individuals begin to specialize in a language; suggests that this phenomenon is somewhat inherent, but shaped by early experiences losing the ability to distinguish between contrasts in sounds not used in native language our perceptual abilities are influenced by the stimuli to which we are exposed. - Infant-directed speech – when people talk to infants, they tend to speak in a higher pitch, and exaggerate changes in pitch and use of rhythm exaggerated changes in pitch helps infants discriminate between vowel sounds, aiding in the learning of vowel sound categories. Early Language Skills: - still-face procedure – an adult looks at an infant while maintaining a neutral facial expression. 2 – 3-month-old infants will become distressed; shows that they have some sort of expectation about how face-to-face interactions should go. - cooing – pre-linguistic behaviour; parents can practice “conversational skills” by cooing back, or vocally responding to them. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - pragmatics – the skills that allow children to communicate effectively in a social situation develop throughout childhood and adolescence. holophrastic phase – occurs at ~1 year; a single word is used to indicate the meaning of an entire sentence naming explosion (word spurt) – when vocabulary expansion hits a rapid increase (~18 – 24 months) fast mapping – children learn the meaning of a word following 1 – 2 encounters with it (~6 years). Receptive & Expressive Vocabulary: - expressive – words that children use to speak. - receptive – words that children understand, but do not necessarily use yet. Further Characteristics of Language Development: - overextensions – using a specific word for a broader set of related items; include both semantic and syntax errors. - underextensions – a general term is used for a particular thing. overextensions in production persist longer than overextensions in comprehension - telegraphic Speech – short phrases that only contain crucial information that they are trying to communicate (like a telegram). - over-regularizations – syntactic errors which involve using a grammatical rule too broadly. Theories of Language Development: - social learning theory - innate mechanism theory (language acquisition device). - Evidence against it is the use of overextensions! Ex: saying gooses instead of geese Interactionist Theories of Language Development: - combined role of nature and nurture. - children are biologically prepared for language, but also require extensive experience with language in the environment for adequate development. three influences on language: ○ biological maturation of the brain ○ social interaction ○ cognitive preparedness. MODULE - language is: regular, arbitrary, productive. regular – regulated by the rules of grammar. arbitrary – sounds assigned to concepts are random; words arbitrarily represent meaning productive – can be combined in many ways. Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis: - Language influences our perception of the world, alongside how we think. Ex: Piraha tribe’s simplistic numbering system. counter-evidence – relative labels in different countries. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Structure of Language: - morpheme – smallest unit of sound that contains some sort of information; can be a single word, or a multiple morpheme word. each provides a chink of information about a word. Ex: Table, table cloth, table s - phoneme – smallest units of sound in a word; the broken-down sounds of a morpheme; ck-, ai-, kn-, oo- … - syntax – rules that dictate how sentences should be composed; grammar. - Syntax can be hard to explain to others who don’t speak that language - semantics – meaning of a word (noun, verb, etc…). Language Development in Infants: Babbling: - drawn-out sounds made up of repetitive vowels/consonants in combination. - inflection/rhythm makes it seem like a question/response. - combinations eventually become real words. Language Explosion: - 1 ½ - 6 years: major increase in vocabulary, mastery of various aspects of language; syntax complexity improves. Segmentation Problem: - someone speaking another language can sound like it’s being spoken quickly. - infants who have good speech segmentation skills have larger expressive vocabularies as children can lead to screening tests to predict future language development issues. Universal Phonetic Sensitivity: - ability of infants to discriminate between various sounds that they might encounter in a test - infants can distinguish more phonemes than adults. - children develop phonemic sensitivity based on the language they grew up with. - head-turn procedure – measures perception of phonemes. - infants perform equally as well as native speakers when distinguishing between foreign phonemes. o disappears by the end of their 1st year living. - Adults need more practice than infants to find phonemes in a new language. Theories of Language Development: Social Learning Theory: - children learn language through imitation/operant conditioning; “nurture” component of language. - lack of early social interaction leads to a less-developed set of language skills. counter-argument – children learn language too quickly to be solely influenced by social interaction. Overextensions & Underextensions: - overextensions – rule applied too broadly; improper grammar, using a specific label for too general a group - underextensions – rule applied too specifically; meaning only applies to one object/thing. Innate Mechanism Theory: - also known as a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) – innate mechanism that helps for language to develop Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 based upon universal rules; only humans. - all languages follow fundamental, underlying, rules; ex. sign language. - infants’ brains are wired to listen to speech, even if they don’t understand language. Animal Communication: The Waggle Dance – Bees: - communicates the location of food for other bees. - waggle phase – distance of waggle = distance of food; angle of waggle = direction of food. - return phase – returns either to left or right, forming a figure-8 pattern. Washoe: - demonstrates differences in animal vs. human communication. - could use signs to communicate, but not systematic grammar. Sarah: - taught to use symbols to communicate, and answer simple questions. - could not combine phonemes, or form sentences. Kanzi: - used lexigrams to communicate. - used full immersion (learning by observation) instead of classical conditioning. - could communicate some novel requests, but had limited grammar. - Language is a defining characteristic of human cognition. LECTURE - language – complex system; allows us to share details/emotions with others. - rules of making a language: grammar (clear rules) – syntax/morphology. lexicon – meaningful descriptions. Neuroscience of Swearing: - activates the right hemisphere (area associated with negative emotion). basal ganglia – where swears are produced. amygdala – where we “hear” them. 4 Categories of Swearing: supernatural – religious; emotions of awe/fear. body effluvia/organs – emotions of disgust. disease/death/sickness – emotions of dread. sexuality – negative emotions; exploitation, incest, jealousy… QUIZTERM CONTENT – THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING JOURNAL - cramming, rereading, highlighting; considered ineffective strategies. - curricula are more focused on providing content – not showing students how to effectively learn it emphasis on what needs to be learned, not on how one should learn the content. - Current textbooks do not cover effective learning strategies. strategies taught to professors have little benefit in any event. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Learning Strategies Addressed: - practice testing – self-testing/ taking practice tests on material that will be learned. - distributed practice – making a study schedule that spreads content out over time. - interleaved practice – a practice schedule that mixes different kinds of problems or content reviewed in a study session. - elaborative interrogation – creating an explanation for why a fact is true. - self-explanation – explaining how information relates to each other, or the steps of problem solving. - rereading – restudying text material at least once more after an initial read. - highlighting & underlining – marking important parts of content when reading through it. - summarization – creating summaries of the content. - keyword mnemonic – keywords/mental images associated with the content. - imagery for text – forming mental images of text materials while reading. Most Effective Strategies: - practice testing and distributed practice. - help students regardless of age; enhance learning/comprehension of a large range of materials, boost student achievement. Practice Testing: - boosts long-term memory; unlike simply reading a text, when students correctly retrieve an answer from memory, the correct retrieval can have a direct effect on memory. - practice tests can help students make better decisions about what needs further practice, and what does not helps students make better decisions about what needs further practice, and what does not students benefit most from tests that require recall from memory, not tests that ask them to recognize an answer if retrieving information from memory, does not require creating a bank of test questions to serve as practice tests students should be encouraged to take notes in a manner that will foster practice tests. - as the material becomes more complex, teachers should encourage students to write down the answers when they are testing themselves. - students should continue to test themselves until they correctly recall each concept at least once from memory The more closely the practice questions tap the same information that will be tested on the in-class examination, the better students will do. Distributed Practice: - massed practice – practicing something multiple times in succession, and then moving on to something else while repeating the same process. - students will retain knowledge and skills for a longer period of time when they distribute their practice, compared to when they mass it, even if they use the same amount of time massing and distributing their practice learning feels more difficult when using distributed practice, but it is essential for keeping knowledge over longer periods of time. - D.P. used in real life through various situations, yet many do not use it to work towards mastering the course content. - each study block will be smaller than an all-night cram session, and would involve studying (and using practice tests) for material that was recently introduced in class, and for material studied in previous sessions repeating key points in a lecture emphasizes the most important content, along with giving students distributed practice. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Strategies with Much Promise: Interleaved Practice: - distributing practice across a study session, while varying the order of the content you study improves student achievement, specifically in problem solving. - those who interleaved did 3x better on an exam than those who mass practiced. slows learning, but leads to greater retention. - require distributing practice, which is proven to benefit one’s studying. - also forces students to identify and evaluate problems, while massed practice allows one to pass over that aspect interleaved practice does not seem to help in areas surrounding language and grammar. Elaborative Interrogation & Self-Explanation: - elaborative interrogation – explaining why a certain piece of content is true, even if the explanations are not entirely correct. - self-explanation – relating new information to knowledge that one already knows; explaining to yourself why you made a particular decision. The success rate of solving problems did not change for those self-explaining compared to those who don’t; though it did change for the better when approaching a new problem. - both methods encourage students to actively process the content they are studying, and compare it to prior knowledge. - majority of research conducted on elaborative interrogation has been conducted on isolated facts instead of bunches of content. - to take full advantage of self-explanation: you need to self-explain and not paraphrase what they are learning. - issues: those who have no idea about this new content could find it difficult to use elaborative interrogation as a result, not as useful for younger students who may not have as broad of an academic career as someone who is older. Less Useful Strategies (Most Used by Students): Rereading and Highlighting: - 84% of students studied by rereading their notes/textbooks. - any benefits of rereading may not be long-lasting, nor may it enhance one’s understanding of the content by focusing on individual concepts while highlighting, students may have spent less time thinking about connections across concepts. Summarization: - paraphrasing the most important ideas within a text. - shows some success in helping undergraduates learn, but needs extensive training in order to work effectively. Keyword Mnemonic & Imagery for Text: - imagery – developing internal images that help to elaborate on what one is studying. - increases retention of the material being studied, especially when being tested shortly after; however, only lasts a short time, and cannot be widely applied. Tips for Using Effective Learning Strategies: - give a low-stakes quiz at the beginning of each class, and focus on the most important material. - give a cumulative examination, which should encourage students to restudy the most important material in a distributed fashion. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - encourage students to develop a “study planner”, so they can distribute their study throughout a class, and rely less on cramming. - encourage students to use practice retrieval when studying instead of passively rereading their books and notes encourage students to use practice retrieval when studying instead of passively rereading their notes encourage students to elaborate on what they are reading, such as by asking “why” questions mix problems from earlier content with new ones (if applicable), so that students can practice identifying problems and their subsequent solutions. - tell students that highlighting is fine, but only the beginning of the learning journey. MODULE Where to Study: - multi-tasking – simultaneous completion of two or more tasks. - brains are not wired to multi-task; we switch between multiple tasks, and perceive it as being more efficient, even though it decreases overall efficiency. - “impairments associated with using a cell phone while driving can be as profound as those associated with driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08%.” - to counter distraction: find a quiet location with little to no distraction. keep snacks nearby so you don’t need to get them. keep devices away from your work area. use special software to keep you on track if you use electronics. if you take a break, focus on that; if you’re working, focus on that. Pomodoro Technique: - 25 minutes of focussed working, without distraction, with 5 minutes of break after each “session” after 4 cycles of this, take a 30-minute break. - the goal is to go long periods of time without task switching, while preventing burnout. When to Study: - spacing effect – by distributing learning over time, one can learn content in less total study time; founded to Hermann Ebbinghaus. - a distributed approach to practicing harnesses the spacing effect; allows more learning per unit time. How to Study: - sleep strengthens memories and promotes problem-solving. - repeated exposure – rereading, highlighting… 81% of students use this strategy. leads to rapid learning in the short-term; helpful if cramming the night before an assessment, and if said assessment involves low memorization. intuitive way to study, and makes us feel like we’re learning. - retrieval practice effect – describes how studying some information, attempting to retrieve it from memory, and then re-studying it, leads to better long-term memory than the equivalent amount of time simply studying active memory search – using retrieval practice strengthens the connections between the new bits of knowledge and the correct answer; creates a more coherent network in memory that is less vulnerable to being forgotten. - tips: cover up your notes while retrieving. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 space out your retrieval practice. 3x3 rule of thumb – studying until you can retrieve the information three separate times within the same study session; then retrieving the information three times over multiple study sessions. ○ has a good balance between spending the least amount of time studying, and retaining the information on a long-term scale. mixed practice – mixing up topics while studying enhances learning. desirable difficulties – slow down learning at first, but ultimately improve understanding and long-term memory. CHAPTER 6 – CATEGORIES MODULE - attention – helps to focus a limited amount of mental resources on important parts of an active scene - memory – helps to recall specific thoughts/behaviours which tailor to your current situation - without the cognitive ability to categorize, every sensory experience would be completely unique. Functions of Categorization: - classification – groups different objects into the same category. - understanding – identifying the intentions of a situation. - predicting – uses past experiences to know what to expect. - communication – uses specific words to describe ideas efficiently. - illusion of the expert – the feeling that a task must be simple for everyone because it is simple for oneself. Rules: - humans have an internal representation of categories that is independent of the rules we try to define people are not able to define simple rules for more complex categories. - the number of people who can identify rules for categories decreases as the complexity of the category rises. Prototype Theory: - we categorize objects by comparing them to an internal “best” representation of a given category; average of your experiences. - new objects compared to the average representation in prototype theory. - category members that are closer to the prototype are categorized quicker and easier than atypical category members. - cannot explain why internal representations change over time. - a single case is blended into the averaged prototype; has little to no effect. - explains simple categorization better than exemplar theory. Exemplar Theory: - we categorize objects by comparing them to every previously-stored experience (exemplar) in a given category; store a lifetime worth of experiences. - any increase to the number of relevant examples would improve categorization performance. - Each creates its own exemplar Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Development of Categorization: - children as young as 3 are able to understand general categories. - category membership – members of the same categories share similar characteristics. - children can understand hypothetical categorization as well. also have an understanding of the innate properties of a category. Animal Categorization: - Baboons can be taught to classify objects with high accuracy, and how to classify using more abstract rules (same vs. different). - Animal categorization may not necessarily demonstrate language ability. Dermatologists Study: - showed that diagnostic accuracy was highest for conditions that the dermatologist had seen and diagnosed recently, supporting the exemplar theory. ARTICLES Don’t Know Much of Biology: - showed a group of college students a long list of words in order to see how quickly and accurately the volunteers used movement and naturalness to classify these things as living or nonliving. - had trouble classifying plants, and moving things in a general sense; both college students and professors with specializations in Biology have this issue. - children have an urge to see the world as designed and simple, and to be the centre of it all We tend to associate motion with life, although they are not always paired. Are Our Brains Wired for Categorization? - visual cortex’s organization around processing animate and inanimate objects is similar in sighted and blind people. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - wiring system that connects different areas of the visual cortex with appropriate regions in the rest of the brain is innate; does not have to form gradually based on visual inputs. - organization of the brain has to be understood in terms of our evolutionary history. LECTURE - ability to form concepts/categories allows efficient navigation through the world. - 3 Levels of Category Distinction: basic – most common; most abstract level that objects have similar shapes; about the same reaction time for an expert and a novice. superordinate – more general; high accuracy, low predictive power. subordinate – more specific; low accuracy, high predictive power. - expertise determines speed of category verification. - new exemplar is classified by its similarity to the prototype. - typicality influences verification times. - prototypes can be directly formed through instruction, or indirectly through inductive learning. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 CHAPTER 7 – ATTENTION TEXTBOOK - flashbulb memories – vivid experiences; have a “live” quality feeling. - we remember what we pay attention to, and our attention is shaped by what we remember - psychologists are studying how attentional processes are guided by: focussing limited mental resources on the immediate task. monitoring ongoing stimuli to evaluate their potential significance and shifting the allocation of mental resources when necessary. Tools to Measure Attention: - cocktail party effect – despite competing background noises, a listener can focus on a single channel, and still pick out relevant salient information from the background. - dichotic listening paradigm – headphones worn; different messages played to each ear. participant has to shadow (repeat) what is said in the attended ear. Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing: - bottom-up processing – stimulus-driven mechanism in which attention is captured by salient change in the environment; automatically-captured attention; automatic nature. - top-down processing – purposefully capturing attention; one can strategically direct their attention to match their expectations from experience through memory; controlled nature. Orienting and Spatial Cueing Paradigm: - orienting – the act by which attention moves across a scene. - spatial cueing paradigm – allows the experimenter to measure shifts in attention in the absence of eye movements - overt attending – where you are attending is also where you are looking. - covert attending – where you are attending is not where you are looking; invisible shifts of attention measured in the efficiency with which targets are detected at cued locations. - inhibition of return (IOR) – occurs when you try to redirect your attention to a previously attended location, where a target was not found. if the time between the cue onset and the target is greater than 300 ms, you are slower to detect the target at cued locations than uncued locations. prevents your gaze from revisiting areas that are irrelevant to your attention. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Visual Search Paradigm: - models how we search for items in our environment. - pop-out effect – bottom-up capture of attention due to the salience of the physical attributes of the target time it takes to respond is independent of set size; processing of items happens in parallel - conjunctive search – trying to find a target based upon multiple features. response time increases with set size. - contextual cueing: schemas – a representation depicting the range of plausible objects and likely configuration of those objects within particular scenes. suggests an implicit memory mechanism, since your memory for the global spatial configuration of the display from your memory provides context in finding your target. Unattended Items: - some participants who took part in the dichotic listening paradigm reported no explicit memory for unattended message content. - word meaning may be processed pre-attentively (before attention is committed). Inattentional Blindness: - our limited attentional processes can be susceptible to missing out on important/salient information we are faster at detecting the change if we know which part of the image is changing. - change blindness paradigm – illustrates the important role of attention in perceiving change. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 The Stroop Task: - automatic process of word reading interferes with the ability to name the coloured ink when the word and ink colour are incongruent. - not all complex processes require attention; numerous experiences/practice with tasks allow us to perform them almost automatically. Models of Attention: - spotlight model of spatial attention Filter: - early-selection theory: broadbent’s model: physical characteristics of sensory information are briefly stored/analyzed. incoming information goes through a bottleneck which selects a limited amount of the information to pass on for further processing. - attenuation theory: treisman’s model: unattended information is “turned down”; all information passes through, but with different “weights” depending on whether the information is physically similar to the target or not. - late-selection model: filter placed after all of the incoming information has been analyzed for physical/semantic content only selected information is maintained, so the unselected information fades. - Attenuation and late selection may be able to account for the cocktail party effect. MODULE - phenomenon -> model -> hypothesis - selection – act of attending to an object to select it apart from the unattended objects; ex. light flashing in periphery. - attention (alternate definition) – one’s conscious ability to attend to the information that is relevant to our goals - irrelevant information acts as “noise” that makes it difficult to attend to the important information - when irrelevant information overwhelms us, we get distracted. Automatic and Controlled Attention: - automatic processes – involuntarily capturing attention through being triggered by external events; fast, efficient, obligatory. - controlled processes – voluntary, conscious attention to objects of interest; slow, effortful (due to more cognitive effort); ex. driving (changing lanes, stations, etc…). - our attentional resources are limited, and must be controlled carefully. - salient information – found in automatic processes; information that captures our attention automatically, intentionally or not. - consciously effortful tasks can become automatic through practice. The Spotlight Model (Michael Posner): - attentional “spotlight” focuses on one part of the environment at a time. - can be consciously directed across a visual scene; can also be taken over by unconscious processes that quickly grab your attention. - objects within the spotlight = faster reaction time, higher accuracy. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Cueing Paradigms: - Using a target can ease the fluency of processing at that location. - test the automatic processes of attention. - participant determines whether a star appears in the left or right box on a screen. box that flashes may not contain the star. - the flashing box automatically attracts the attentional spotlight to the cued location. if target is in cued location: attention will amplify the perceptual processing of the target (detected quickly). if target is in uncued location: target detected slower, since attentional spotlight is directed elsewhere. - attention does not immediately rely on sight; attentional spotlight can still miss important information. Filter Models: - audio cues are used to filter target sounds from background noise. - cocktail party effect – the ability to separate target sounds from background noise is based on physical characteristics (gender, pitch, speech speed…). - filters suppress noise; spotlights enhance stimuli. information -> filter -> further processing. Single Filter Model (Donald Broadbent): - attentional filter selects important information based on physical characteristics; allows the information to continue on for further processing. - information that does not pass through the early physical filter is deemed “unimportant”. - accepts less information than the dual filter model. Dichotic Listening Paradigm: - different messages in each ear; attended ear messages must be shadowed back to the experimenter - subjects remember nothing about unattended information. - information going through the attended ear goes to deeper processing. Dual Filter Model (Treisman): - two filters: one physical, one semantic. physical – information processed based on physical cues; weighs the importance of incoming stimuli against physical cues. semantic – information processed based on meaning; accounts for: Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 ○ weights assigned by the physical filter, deeper meaning, relevance of stimuli, then chooses which information should be attended to. explains Broadbent’s findings from D.L. Paradigm, alongside how breakthrough and Von Wright’s findings apply. - Semantic filters can override the physical filter’s decisions, through considering the meaning of information. - breakthrough effect – participants remember unattended information, especially when it is highly relevant (ex. name). - cocktail party – can be explained by both single and dual filter models. - both filters – decreased processing of irrelevant information. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 The Stroop Task: - requires you to focus your attention on ink-colour (relevant to task), while ignoring the word itself (irrelevant task). congruent items – contain matching word/colour dimensions; “red” written in red. incongruent items – contain mismatching word/colour dimensions; “blue” written in green. - congruent elicits a faster response than incongruent. - attention is facilitated by stimulus relevance. congruent trials – facilitates colour naming performance. incongruent trials – interferes with colour naming performance. - proportion congruent manipulation – change the ratio of congruent: incongruent trials. 75% congruent, 25% incongruent = increased Stroop effect. 25% congruent, 75% incongruent = decreased Stroop effect - high congruence tests bias attention to task-irrelevant information. if a strategy develops for congruency trials, it would cause one’s results to suffer on incongruent trials; larger Stroop effect. - low congruence tests bias attention to task-relevant information ex: actively ignoring the words since most will not match the colour = low Stroop effect. - automatic evidence – word reading influences performance, even when the word is ignored - controlled evidence – adopting consciously-controlled word reading strategies can change the Stroop effect word reading = automatic process (fast). Visual Search Tests: - test how we use everyday attention; looking for a specific target within multiple distractions - set size – the number of items to search through. - set size effect – increase in difficulty as set size increases. - Single-feature search task – looking for only one particular feature to identify the target. - pop-out effect – single feature; object of a visual search is easily found, regardless of size; ex. colour. - conjunctive search task – identifying a target defined by 2+ features. - contextual cuing – helps to search more efficiently; gained through knowledge of our environment. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 LECTURE - vigilance – ability to maintain attention. - change blindness – even with directed focus, attention limits lead us to miss information. - attention is a dialogue between bottom-up and top-down processing. bottom-up – external environment; facts, surroundings… top-down – internal thoughts; bias, ideas… - hemi spatial neglect – paying attention to only half the world; affects reality, memories damage to the right parietal lobe. the left hemisphere attends to the right side; the right hemisphere attends to both sides. if the left parietal lobe is damaged: the right still accounts for attention of both sides. CHAPTER 8 – MEMORY MODULE Problems with Memory Metaphors: Data: - stored data is identical to inputted information. - retrieved data is identical to inputted information. Memory: - stored memory includes personal details and interpretations. - retrieved memory may be altered or lost. - forgetting – stored memories are frequently lost as time passes. - data does not equal memory. several people watching the same event will usually remember it differently. memories can change, and be forgotten over time. The Basics of Memory: - Psychologists study how memory is acquired, encoded, stored, and retrieved. acquisition & encoding -> storage -> retrieval - cue-response mechanism – one memory acts as a cue to trigger another memory. Herman Ebbinghaus: - memory is a serial learning task. - each word connects the word before and after it; like pearls in a necklace. - our ability to recall recently encoded information decreases rapidly over time. ability to recall words was highest immediately following learning. - forgetting curve – total forgetting always increases; rate of forgetting decreases over time. - models – describe/organize data; make specific hypotheses that are studied through controlled experiments in lab - basic memory task: encoding phase – subject learns a list of items, words, or pictures. retrieval phase – subjects are tested for their memory of the items presented during the encoding phase recall test – generate as many items as one can remember; not given any external cues. recognition test – several items shown; asked to mark whether each item is new or old. Multi-Store Model: Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - proposed by Atkinson & Shiffrin. - memory is composed of short and long term storage systems. - short-term memory buffer – available for a short period of time; not stored permanently; information can be transferred to long term memory through rehearsal. - If LTM and STM represent separate stores of memory that interact dynamically, changes caused by manipulating specific variables can be isolated. George Miller: - short term memory capacity – 7 ± 2 items. - organizing items into meaningful chunks expands the capacity of short-term memory. The Serial Position Curve: - memory is strongest for items at the beginning and end of a list. - primacy effect – occurs when there is increased rehearsal of early items over later ones. items at the beginning of the list enter STM first, and have the most opportunity to be rehearsed. greater chance of being transferred into LTM - the middle of the list has less opportunity for rehearsal/LTM transfer than those at the start. - recency effect – least opportunity for rehearsal/LTM transfer, but recall is high. more recent items replace the previous items to occupy short-term memory. Improving Primacy: - the primacy effect is enhanced when using a longer time interval, relative to a shorter time interval between presented items. - increasing time between item presentations increases: amount of times each item can be repeated. probability of items being stored in long-term memory. performance recalling the first couple of items. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Diminishing Recency: - manipulation that causes most recent contents of the STM to be replaced/disrupted neutralizes the Recency Effect disrupting the short-term memory buffer affects the Recency Effect. - performing a distracting task diminishes the Recency Effect. distractions require STM resources; causes the most recent items to be disrupted from the STM buffer. Levels of Processing Principle: - memory performance depends on the level at which items are encoded; improves for increasingly deeper levels of processing. - The more we try to organize and understand the material, the better we remember it; paying attention to surface details leads to poorer recall. Shallow Level: - encode physical characteristics. - encoding requires little effort. - poor memory performance. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Deeper Level: - encode semantic characteristics. - encoding requires significant effort. - better memory performance. - when processing was manipulated during encoding…: shallow / physical – is the word in capital letters? moderate / acoustic – does the word rhyme? deep / semantic – does the word fit in a sentence? Encoding Specificity: - memory encodes all aspects of an experience; the context that we learn information in is encoded along with the information itself. - environmental cues are encoded together with memories for items and events. - preserving encoding context improves subsequent recall of a memory. Memory Illusions and Fluency: - loftus – our susceptibility to false memories indicates that memory is a reconstructive process. - repeated imagination of any event can lead to the event being falsely remembered; can confuse false events with actual events. - memory is reconstructive; open to re-interpretation. - (processing) fluency – ease with which an experience is processed; some experiences are more fluent than others. - familiar experiences processed more fluently than novel (new) experiences. - attribution – judgment tying together causes with effects; used to make sense of fluency time between exposure and recall affects our attributions to fluency. - memories exist by reconstructing them when we need to remember them. - Bartlett – memory is building blocks that are made up of perception and experience. TEXTBOOK 3 Processes of Memory: - encoding – how information initially enters into memory; highly dependent on attention. - storage – how the record of memory is maintained over time; can be modified. - retrieval – recovering stored information; dependent on retrieval cues (information that triggers memory) cues integrated during memory encoding. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Sensory Memory: - transient maintenance of perceptual and physical information from the recent past; not limited by attention. - iconic memory – visual information; represented by the visual system. - echoic memory – auditory information; represented by the auditory system. - sensory memory decays at an extremely fast rate. Short-Term (Working) Memory: - unrehearsed selected information stays in STM for ~20 s; rehearsed (repeated) information stays for longer. - chunking – information is organized into sets of familiar groups of items; increases STM. Working Memory: - upgrade to the original conceptualization of STM; has three stores: phonological Loop – maintains information that can be rehearsed verbally. visuospatial Sketchpad – temporarily represents/manipulates visual information. episodic Buffer – draws on the other buffers alongside other stored LTM. - central exclusive – coordinates and manipulates information that is maintained in the buffers; allows for working memory to be more flexible than short-term memory. Long-Term Memory: - Once information is transferred from STM into LTM, new information is organized according to prior knowledge. - concepts that are more closely related are more directly connected. - information transferred both ways; ex. remembering the past (LTM to STM). - past memories largely linked to attention (top-down control). - schemas – mental frameworks for interpreting the world around us based upon prior experiences. Long-Term Memory Systems: - declarative memories – memory from factual information. - semantic memories – information not tied to a specific place or time. - episodic memories – tied to a particular place and time. - non-declarative memories – learned actions and procedures, skills, implicit memories; difficult to explain. The hippocampus is vital for STM memory and trace formation, but LTM processes are apparent throughout the cortex. The hippocampus is still important for the coordination of memories for activation in consciousness. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Effect of Rehearsal: - free-recall paradigm: participants study a list of words presented one at a time; each word represents a specific spot in the list. greater recall of words at the beginning and end of the list. - primacy effect – reflect retrieval of words from LTM. - recency effect – retrieval of words from STM. - STM relies on rehearsal; LTM does not. - sensory memory perceives sensory information which is selectively held online by STM and with rehearsal through STM components may be transferred and stored in LTM. Levels of Processing: - memory not divided into separate stores; more like a continuum. - items encoded at a deeper level last longer in memory than at a shallower level. - vague model; does not go in-depth about what a “deeper” level is. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Enriched Encoding: - mnemonic strategy – information encoded with yourself in mind is better remembered than if you had someone else in mind; also known as the self-referent effect. - reflects the deepest level of processing. Encoding Specificity: - effectiveness of the context as a cue is largely dependent on the specificity of its relations to the item; memory is better for items encoded and retrieved in the same environment. Transfer-Appropriate Processing: - memory is aided when similar processes are engaged at encoding and retrieval. - words processed in semantic sentences are better remembered than those in rhyming sentences. Forgetting: - reduces the potential interference from out-of-date memories; allows for more efficient remembering of current information. - memory savings – difference in the time it takes to memorize a list at test vs retest (Ebbinghaus). - decay theory – memories fade with time; explains STM loss, but not LTM loss. - interference – a cue that was once associated with one memory is now associated with another, making it more difficult to retrieve the original memory. Proactive Interference: - interfering information was learned prior to the specific memory; Ex: old memory from French interfering with the retrieval of one’s newer memory for Spanish words. - experimental group reads list A and B; control group reads B. proactive interference in play if the experimental group remembers fewer words than the control group. Retroactive Interference: - new information interferes with the retrieval of old information. - experimental group studies list A and B; control group studies list A and are distracted. Both groups recall words from list A; retroactive interference occurs if the experimental group remembers fewer words than the control group. Temporary Forgetting: - tip-of-tongue state – often occurs for people’s names and common words. - words that induce this state in the past will do so in the future; word is more associated with error-prone processes each time it’s in this state. Repression: - Freud – horrific memories can be repressed as a defence mechanism. Memory Errors: - misinformation effect – creation of false memories by incorporating new erroneous information with an old memory. Source Confusion: Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - source monitoring – process by which we make attributions about the origins of memories. - source monitoring error – failing to recall exactly where you learned this information. - false fame effect – incorrectly judging a name as being famous because it seems familiar (fluently processed). - Participants that immediately proceeded to the second phase more accurately attributed the feeling of fluency to having seen the names on the list earlier. - reality monitoring – ability to discriminate real memories from those that are imagined. CHAPTER 9 – FORMING IMPRESSIONS: - conscious/unconscious judgments you make lead to social perceptions. Attribution Theories: Correspondent Inference Theory: - uses the variables listed below in order to infer about a situation. degree of choice, expectation, intended consequences. Expectation: - whether a behaviour is common or atypical. - uncommon behaviour gives one more information than common; more information available to infer a cause to said behaviour. Degree of Choice: - considering to what degree a person had a choice in the way they act. - Ex: being assigned to a certain topic in a debate, vs. genuinely believing in that stance. - strong degree of choice = unassigned; choice of the person. Intended Consequences: - intentions and motives behind a certain behaviour. Covariation Theory: - personal or situational circumstances that can be attributed to one’s behaviour; determined through 3 variables. consistency, distinctiveness, consensus. 1. Consistency: - Does one usually behave like this in this particular situation? Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 2. Distinctiveness: - Does one’s behaviour vary depending on the situation? - if yes = situational; if no = dispositional. situational – driven by the situation. dispositional – driven by the individual (inherent qualities of said person). 3. Consensus: - Do others behave in a similar manner when presented with this situation? - if yes = situational; if no = dispositional. situational – this situation similarly influences everyone. dispositional – due to each individual’s disposition. Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE): - tendency to over-value dispositional factors for observed behaviours of others while under-valuing situational factors. - rely more on dispositional factors than situational factors for interpreting behaviour. - usually used when determining the cause of someone else’s behaviour rather than your own. - Fundamental attribution error – behaviour of others is due to dispositional factors. - actor observer effect - considering the situational factors of your own behaviour; assume the individual’s behaviour is typical. Cultural Differences: - american 8 & 11 year olds – attributed behaviour to personal/situational causes in the same ratio. - american adults – attributed behaviours to personal factors more often than situational. - indian 11 year olds & adults – more situational than personal attributions. - FAE diminished in collectivist societies; less focus on individual behaviour, more on relationships/roles in society. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Self-Serving Bias: - tendency to perceive yourself favourably. - above-average effect – dispositional causes for your successes; situational causes for your errors. o ex. card game – if you win: attribute it to personal strategy; if you lose: attribute it to poor dealing. - positive events – “actors” select dispositional explanations; observers select situational explanations. - negative events – “actors” select situational explanations; observers select dispositional explanations. - we are biased in believing we are above average on things that matter to us. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Cognitive Heuristics: - accelerate the processing of social situations; helps to make quick decisions about information from the environment. - representativeness heuristic – how one’s behaviour fits with a certain prototype -> key is a stereotype - probability is often discounted in favour of a representative prototype. - availability heuristic – considers the experiences most readily available in memory. - availability of flaws in memory influences our perception of an experience. Relationships: - attractiveness – has a positive impression on you; increases your desire to share their company. - four factors: proximity, familiarity, physical attractiveness, and others' opinions. Proximity: - functional distance – how often do individuals get to interact? - more likely to become attracted to those you live/work closely with. anticipated interaction = higher ratings. - physical proximity – physically close to someone. - functional proximity – interacting with someone. Familiarity: - more positive towards familiar than unfamiliar stimuli. - mere exposure effect – tendency to be more positive toward things that are familiar, even if only seen a few times Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 in the past. - more familiar faces = more attractive; mirror image. - high frequency = more positive. Physical Attractiveness: - how physically attractive he/she is. - used as an indicator of personal characteristics; ex. attractive children are rated more intelligent than unattractive children. Others’ Opinions: - we are attracted to those who like us back, especially when we have low self-esteem. - also influenced by how a person has previously thought of you. TEXTBOOK - Harlow – effect of isolation on monkeys. suffered emotional disturbances; rarely moved; those who eventually became mothers abused their infants. Fundamental Attribution Error: - situational attribution – depends on the situation; ex. being late for a meeting because you did not want to be rude and leave a conversation. - dispositional attribution – depends on the traits of the person; ex. being late for a meeting because you are typically disorganized. - fundamental attribution error – over-estimating dispositional attributes, and under-estimating situational attributes. - more likely to make the FAE for others than for ourselves. Self-Serving Bias: - we are biased to a good evaluation of ourselves. - successes = true abilities (dispositional attribution); failures = fluke of circumstances (situational attribution). Actor-Observer Effect: - making/keeping assumptions based on what other people do, even if they have no control over their position. Cognitive Heuristics: Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Representative Heuristics: - judging an outcome to occur if it is similar to the population from which it was selected. - allows us to disregard the more ideal option in favour of our own impressions of something. - Those with more knowledge in a certain field were still just as likely to let the representativeness heuristic influence their impressions. Availability Heuristics: - probability estimates are affected by how easy it is to think of examples. - slovic et al. – asked participants if two different events were more likely to result in death. o stroke vs. accidents – people voted accidents to be more likely, even though the risk of stroke is much higher. accidents – more coverage on media; most readily available to an individual. The False Consensus Effect: - your thoughts are similar to others; makes us overestimate how much others agree with us. - believe that more people share our views than they do, even if it is a “minor” belief. Stereotypes: - illusory correlation – occurs when individuals believe that two variables are related, even if there is no relationship. Implicit Association Test (IAT): - categorization task where individuals categorize stimuli into four different categories using two response keys; two categories require one response key, in two different instances. participant views two categories requiring the response as related: IAT is fast and accurate. o two categories require different responses – IAT performance is slow with more errors. - Greenwald et al. – were faster at categorizing words in the compatible pairing (positive – white, negative – black), than in the incompatible pairing (positive – black, negative – white). LECTURE - stereotypes (cognition) – beliefs about attributes that are thought to be characteristic of members of particular groups. - prejudice (affect) – a negative attitude or affective response toward a certain group and its individual members. - discrimination (behaviour) – negative behaviour towards members of a particular group based on their membership in that group. - type I thinking – allows for appropriate behaviour in various scenarios. - type II thinking (slow, thoughtful) better for making impressions. - in-group – positive attitudes; heterogeneity. - out-group – negatives attitudes; homogeneity. - representativeness – what prototype does this person fit? - availability – what recent or salient exemplar does this person match? - implicit processes (automatic)– occur outside of your awareness, without conscious control. implicit association task – reveals natural associations in the participants. implicit association toward race = increased amygdala activity. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - explicit processes (controlled) – occur with conscious direction and deliberate thought. - William’s Syndrome – amygdala less reactive to social fear associated with reduced racial, but not gender bias. Solution to Unconscious Bias: PSYCH 1X03 – Exam Summary CHAPTER 10 – INFLUENCE OF OTHERS MODULE 1 - common sense does not always equal research findings. Presence of Others: - Norman Triplett – first formal study of social psychology. - observed that cyclists raced faster when competing against each other in a group vs. against a clock. - co-actor – another individual performing the same task. - audience – a group of people watching an individual perform a task. - social facilitation – increased performance that occurs in the presence of co-actors or an audience. Zajonc’s (zye-ontz) Resolution: - presence of others increases arousal to improve performance on well-practiced tasks. - simple tasks which you have mastered, with plentiful practice – performance is enhanced - complex tasks that are foreign to you, with little practice – performance is hindered. Social Learning Theory: - popularized by Albert Bandura; suggests that we learn appropriate behaviours by modeling and imitating the behaviour of others. - different from basic conditioning because you do not require explicit reinforcement to imitate said behaviours. Bobo Doll Experiment: - children were asked to play with toys, with an adult in the room modelling passive or aggressive behaviour towards a Bobo Doll. - those who viewed an aggressive play model were more likely to subsequently display aggressive behaviour to the doll, with no explicit reinforcement. - children mimic observed behaviours, even when inflicting harm to other people. Conformity: Autokinetic Effect Experiment: - conducted by Muzafer Sherif; had a perceptual illusion where one had to track where a dot moved. - trick is: did not actually move; eyes mistake movement of the image on your retina as actual motion of the light. - if in a group over several days: results converged with what the other group members thought, even if the “starting Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 points” differed; example of norm formation. - norm formation – leads to convergence in behaviour, even in the presence of outliers. Ex: laugh tracks in shows – hearing the laughter may convince you that the dialogue is funnier than it is. Asch’s Stimuli: - individuals had to identify which of the 3 comparison lines matched the standard line given. - one subject, surrounded by six other confederates; they answer before the subject does. - 75% of subjects conformed to an incorrect answer for at least one trial; 37% of the average responses conformed to an incorrect answer. - subjects doubt their own perceptions when it conflicts with that of others. normative function – the role of others in setting standards for our conduct based on a fear of rejection. comparative function – the role of others in providing information about an ambiguous situation. Group Dynamics: - James Stoner – risky shift effect. groups make riskier decisions than individuals before the group discussion part of the experiment. o sometimes it is opposite, where the individual makes “riskier” decisions than the group. - group polarization – group decision-making strengthens the original inclinations of the individual group members; leads to more extreme views. - group consensus is pushed to the extreme of the individual members’ decisions. - groupthink – a group decision-making environment that occurs when group cohesiveness becomes so strong, it overrides realistic appraisals of reality and alternative opinions. coined by Irving Janis; “mob mentality”; groups overestimate their might and right. groups think they are unquestionably right and all other groups are wrong. rationalized group decisions; high pressure to conform. Preventing Groupthink: - be impartial – group leader should remain neutral. - critical evaluation – allow group members to disagree; playing “devil’s advocate”. - subdivide the group – make separate decisions, then come together to discuss the differences between them. - give a second chance – in order to reveal any further doubts/issues. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 The Bystander Effect: - Kitty Genovese – was murdered in NYC; ~30 witnesses that did nothing to help her out. - two decisions to action: one must decide whether the situation is an emergency. if it is an emergency, should I be the one to respond? - the more people present, the less likely a single person takes to realize an emergency. - Latane and Darley – released smoke into a room of individuals to see how long it would take for them to report it. took longer for individuals in groups to report it than solely individuals. - collective ignorance – when everyone in a group see nobody responding in a situation, they conclude that the situation is not an emergency; basing their decision on the behaviour of others around them. - to test the 2nd decision – subject was placed in a room, talking over an intercom. the planted individual started saying that they were having seizures. most rapid responses came from subjects that thought that no one else was available to take action. as the number of participants increased, the probability for taking action decreased. - diffusion of responsibility – in deciding whether we have to act, we determine that someone else in the group is more qualified. - to avoid bystander effect: be direct about asking for help. - seeing someone else helping increases the probability that you will help in a later situation; helpful behaviour is contagious. - social loafing – individuals seem to be less motivated when working in a group than when working alone; special case of diffusion of responsibility. - Ingham – had blindfolded subjects play tug of war “with other people” (even though they played alone); found that subjects pulled 18% less when they thought they were pulling in a group vs. alone. - Latane, Williams, & Harkins – blindfolded subjects put on headphones and were told to clap/shout as loud as they could. subjects made less noise as group size increased; subjects reported that they did not change their sound. - responsibility is diffused for both emergency situations and collective efforts. MODULE 2 Obedience: Milgram’s Experiment: - Teachers administered “electrical shocks” to a Learner whenever they got a set of words wrong. - learner was an actor, and shock was not actually administered; however, the teacher did not know that - more answers the learner responds incorrectly to, the more intense the shock is. - The teacher is told to continue giving shocks, even when the learner is clearly “in pain”. - 65% of subjects continued to the end of the experiment. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - people display strong obedience, even to minimally powerful figures of authority. - you are not always an accurate judge of how you would behave in a given situation. - prestige of an institution influences the level of obedience in subjects. - proximity between teacher and learner influences obedience levels in subjects. closer to learner = less obedient. - proximity to the experimenter influences the teacher’s obedience to shock learners. closer to experimenter = more obedient Cognitive Dissonance: Festinger & Carlsmith: - told participants that an experiment will be exciting; turns out it was not, but then they asked the participants to tell the next one that it WAS exciting. paid the person $1 or $20. Those who were paid less had greater dissonance between attitude and behaviour. those who were paid more told themselves that the money was the motivation for their behaviour. - subjects paid $20 in the Festinger & Carlsmith study had an easier time telling the next subject how fun the experiment was compared to those paid $1. - dissonance – inconsistency between attitudes and behaviour that produces an uncomfortable feeling. must be insufficient justification for a behaviour in conflict with the attitude. - to reduce dissonance: adjust your behaviour or your attitude. - attitudes are less likely to change when external motivations over-justify the behaviour. Stanford Prison Experiment: - participants were either set up as guards or prisoners; the prisoners were mock arrested, and sent to a mock prison. - study only lasted 6 days out of 2 weeks due to the sadistic behaviour of the guards, and the emotional trauma of the prisoners rapidly increasing. - deindividualization – in a group situation, the loss of a sense of personal responsibility and restraint; ex. covering one’s face makes it easier to perform anti-normative behaviours. Persuasion: - Most persuasive communicators have high credibility, are attractive, and are relatable to their audience. - speech style influences perceived trustworthiness; a straightforward and concise speech style can make you sound more persuasive. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 Goethals & Nelson: - similarity – more persuasive for personal lifestyle choices. - credibility – more persuasive for objective fact. - one-sided argument – most effective with an audience that initially agrees with your standpoint. - two-sided argument – most effective with an audience that initially disagrees with your standpoint. two-sided = acknowledging both your and the opposing opinions, and then presenting arguments as to why your position is better. - central appeal – well reasoned, factual, two-sided arguments; effective for academic audiences. - peripheral appeal – well presented, easy to understand messages; effective for non-academic audiences. Techniques in Persuasion: - foot in the door effect – a gradual escalation of demands increases obedience. asking for a small request made subjects agree to a larger, typically denied request. every request is considered in relation to the previous request, rather than the first. - low ball technique – an escalation of the terms of an agreement after someone has already agreed to comply. agreeing to an experiment makes subjects more likely to attend them. TEXTBOOK Self-Perception Theory: - we do not necessarily have a special insight into ourselves. - Strack, Martin, & Stepper – had subjects hold a pen in-between their teeth (smile), or their lips (frown). those who had the pen in-between their teeth found that a cartoon was more amusing. Cognitive Dissonance: - if an obvious reason for doing something does not present itself, we will make up a justification for it. Persuasion: Communicator: - source of persuasion; trustworthiness can trump expertise in some cases. - as reputation dissipates, so does communicator effectiveness. Message: - one sided argument – effective when the audience initially agrees; preaching to the choir - two sided argument – more effective when the audience initially disagrees. - messages are usually more effective when associated with a good feeling. - little fear = no impact; too much fear = doubt in the credibility of the communicator Audience: - academic – well-reasoned, factual, 2-sided argument. - non-academic – well-presented, easy-to-understand argument. Techniques in Persuasion: - foot in the door – getting your target to agree to something up front; committed = more likely to follow through. - low ball – getting your target to agree to something small, then later escalating the terms. - door in the face – asking for something completely unreasonable, then greatly scaling back your request. - using “buzzwords” to label a product as trending. - advertising luxury products towards our desire for prestige. Obedience: Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - humans have a tendency towards obedience to authority. - decreases with reduced prestige and perceived experimenter power. Conformity: - norm function – founded by Sherif; having your own opinion be swayed by that of others in a group. - conform – adjust our behaviour/thinking to coincide with a group standard. - normative social influences – we want to be approved by the people we associate with. - informational social influences – open to learning/gaining information from a group. - conformity levels decrease with reduced group size, and when dissention occurs within a group. The Influence of Groups: - norms depend on culture, or on the social roles one holds. Roles: - individuals internalize roles given to them, and take on their respective attitudes. Crowds: - deindividualization – losing sight of one’s individuality, and acting as part of a crowd - large groups provide a sense of anonymity; you may be more inclined to partake in malicious behaviours if you feel as though no one is watching you. Acting in a Group: - Zajonc – presence of other people increases arousal. simple task arousal = improved performance; complex task arousal = decreased performance. Social Loafing: - we expend less effort when we believe our contribution will be averaged among others. - individuals do less work in groups than by themselves. Group Dynamics: - group polarization – groups tend to strengthen original inclinations. Group Conflict: - Robber’s cave study findings: within a group, children settled into their roles, and became a cohesive unit. when another group was introduced: there was hostility between the two due to the emergence of competition. when working together towards a common goal: the hostility disappeared. Groupthink: - occurs when: the group is highly cohesive, and shut off from non-group members. a leader is directive and subordinates are not encouraged to challenge the leadership. when the group is under pressure to make a decision. Helping Others: - altruism – unselfish regard for the welfare of others; willingness to risk your life to help others. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - norm of reciprocity – we are expected to reciprocate when someone else treats us well; returning the favour. - norm of social responsibility – as a member of society, we are expected to contribute to its welfare in a responsible way. - empathy-altruism hypothesis – altruism results from empathy. - negative state relief model – we help because we would feel distressed and guilty if we didn’t. Bystander Effects: - more people = less individual responsibility, more anonymity, loss of individual identity. - taking action in front of a group makes one self-conscious, so they wait for someone else to do it. - we wait for the expert to step in. - people consider a cost-benefit ratio. - Eagle & Crowley – female bystanders are equally as likely to help male/female individuals; male bystanders are more likely to help female individuals. - we are more willing to help those who are in need due to problems beyond their control than those whose need arose from their own doing. Zimbardo & The Heroic Imagination Project: - teaching individuals the various mechanisms surrounding bystander effects will prevent them from making those mistakes in emergency situations. - heroes – socially centered (interact in a positive way with others on a daily basis). - key of this project: to get people to think of themselves as capable of being a hero. Harming Others: - aggression – behaviour that is intended to harm someone else; is not socially justifiable. Learning to be Aggressive: - witnessing violence desensitizes us to it Aggression and Gender: - relational aggression – personal interactions; done to make others dislike someone. - hostile aggression – directly confrontational; ex. hitting someone. - males tend to display hostile aggression, while women show relational aggression. LECTURE: - sunk cost trap – unrecoverable investments of resources leading to further investment; ex. staying in a terrible movie because you paid for it; don’t want to lose out. - Ben Franklin effect – ask a person who has negative feelings toward you for a favour. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|47027708 - top-down processing cannot be switched off. Downloaded by Hero HWServices ([email protected])