PSYCH Exam Study Guide PDF

Chapter 1: Psychology: The scientific study of mind and behavior Most of existing knowledge we have in psych is based on WEIRD samples - Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic research participants Psychological perspectives and unifying themes of psychology Explaining b...

Chapter 1: Psychology: The scientific study of mind and behavior Most of existing knowledge we have in psych is based on WEIRD samples - Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic research participants Psychological perspectives and unifying themes of psychology Explaining broader patterns of behavior Evolutionary perspective: result of evolutionary adaptations Cultural perspective: how cultural context affects people’s thoughts and preferences Understanding current thoughts and feelings Cognitive perspective: mental processes that underlie perception, thought, learning, memory, language and creativity. Emotional perspective: the human capacity to feel, express; perceive emotions plays an important role in decision making, behavior, and social relationships. Identifying the roles of the body and brain Biological-neuroscience perspective: biological Acknowledging both stability and change in behavior across time and situations Developmental perspective: change as they age Personality perspective: relatively stable over time Social perspective: immediate social contexts influence thoughts, feelings, and behavior Clinical perspective: cause and treatments of psychological disorder, improving human well-being, daily functioning and social relationship. Chapter 1.2 Overconfidence effect: the tendency to be overly sure of what we know Confirmation bias: the tendency to seek out, pay attention to, and believe only evidence that supports we already are confident we know Chapter 1.3 Original Two Branches of Psychology: Clinical: is concerned with the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness and psychological disorders - Began with Sigmund Freud and his definition of psychology at turn of 20th century,  - had medical examination rooms - would treat people with disorder Scientific: The study of the mind and behavior using the scientific method - Discovered by Wilhelm Wundt and William James - scientific experimentation Since then have merged as psychologists use scientifically supported treatments to help psychologically distressed clients, as required by the American Psychological Association. Little Albert Experiment: Performed by Watson and Rayner in 1920 Tried to study phobias Trained a baby to associate a rat with a loud and scary noise - The baby developed a fear response to anything that was furry and white - Researchers never retained the child because Little Albert and his family disappeared Today researchers must adhere to strict ethical guidelines chapter 1.4 Pseudoscience: a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly thought to be based on valid science. Empirical: based on astute observation and accurate measurement. Such measurement may result from sophisticated and cutting-edge technology, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Chapter 1.5 Pop Psychology: often based on out-of-date or invalid research, unproven propositions, and misinterpreted data or observations. In addition, it is often oversimplified, even if it is not entirely inaccurate. Critical Thinking: “purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed” thinking that seeks to examine evidence, evaluate conclusions, solve problems, make decisions, and formulate reasonable and accurate conclusions Chapter 1.6 (Evolutionary perspective and cultural perspective) Nature: biological forces Nurture: culture, education, and surrounding Chapter 1.7 Our conscious understanding: directly shapes our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors unconscious mental processes: cannot directly observe or influence. Chapter 1.8- Focusing on the Brain and the Body: Biological–Neuroscience Perspectives Biological–neuroscience perspective: The psychological perspective seeks to understand the biological underpinnings of how humans think, act, and behave. Chapter 2: Variables: Measured variables (dependent variable) - Observed and recorded Manipulated variables (independent variable) - the variable that is being measured and changed Operational definitions: To determine levels/values of each variable ○ To operationalize a measured variable is to turn the variable into a number Validity: - The accuracy of a conclusion or decision - Construct validity: questions how well the operationalization used in a study capture the variables of interest - Reliability: a threat to construct variability. It’s the degree to which a measure yields consistent results each time it is administered. - External validity: when the sample in the study can generalize to the population of interest (whom did they study?) - Internal Validity: the ability to rule out alternative explanations for a relationship between two variables (can we rule out alternative explanations?) How to Support Causal Claims - Are the two variables correlated? - Did the causal variable come first in time before the effect? - Are there other plausible explanations for the patterns of results observed? - MUST SUPPORT ALL THREE QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED A CAUSAL CLAIM High Quality Research: - False Positives: when a study's results are significant but the underlying effect size is zero, or when a null hypothesis is incorrectly rejected - HARKing: hypothesizing after the results are shown - Can mislead researchers about the strength of evidence - P-Hacking: when researchers try different methods to find a p-value under.05 - Can lead to researchers avoiding meaningful information because it does not support their cause Random assignment vs Random sampling - Random assignment- random method to decide what GROUP a participant will be selected into - Random Sampling- every person in a population has an equal chance of of being selected Descriptive Statistics - describe characteristics of a batch of scores such as its distribution, central tendency, or variability. - Frequency distribution- bar graph - Mean- central tendency (average) - Median- central tendency (middlemost score) - Mode- central tendency (most common score) - Standard deviation- variability, how much on average the scores vary around its mean Correlations and Differences - Effect size- number of the estimated strength of the relationship between 2 variables - R= correlation coefficient - R= -1.0 perfect negative - R= 0 zero relationship - R=1.0 positive correlation Types of Research - Descriptive- measuring how people typically think/feel/behave - Limitation: can't test the relationship among variables - Strength: measure many variables - Correlational- measuring how variables are related - Limitation: can't identify causal relationships - Strength: can measure many variables - Experimental: test whether one variable causes another - Limitation: only examine a few variables (that not all can be manipulated) - Strength: can establish a causal relationship Ethical Principles - Autonomy: Informed consent in participating in research  - Beneficence: The proposed research is evaluated at its risk and benefits to participants and potential benefit to society. - Justice- Research is not conducted disproportionately on one segment of the population. Should represent the people who will benefit from the research 3 R’s - Replacement- find replacement for animal use in studies - Refinement- modify the experiment to eliminate animal use - Reduction- fewest animal subjects as possible Theory Data Cycle - Gathering data that are compared with a theory - To help determine whether a theory is right or wrong 1. Theory: a set of statements that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another 2. Hypothesis: the specific outcome the researcher expects to observe in a study if the theory is accurate 3. Data: records of observations - Usually in a numerical form, collected from people Chapter 3: Neuroscience: The study of how nerves and cells send and receive information from the brain, body, and spinal cord. Biological, chemical, and electrical processes of the brain all fall into the field of neuroscience. Neuron Structures: - Axon: Transports electrical impulses to other neurons via the terminal branches - Myelin Sheath: Layer of fatty tissue covering the axon, ensures that signal gets there fast and with less resistance, acts as an insulator of axon - Glia: Cells that make up the myelin sheath around neurons to insulate, support, and nourish neurons - Cell Body/Soma: Collects neural impulses, contains the nucleus, provides life sustaining functions for cell - Dendrites: Receives chemical messages from other neurons Action potentials: - Definition: Rapid change in voltage created by a neuron when stimulated to surpass a critical threshold, serves as basis for neural signaling and neural communication Stages of Action potential: - Depolarization: When a neuron’s voltage becomes more positive, first phase of action potential (happens when ions flood a neuron) - Voltage Threshold: Voltage necessary for a neuron to start action potential - Repolarization: Reversal of ion flood, membrane returns to resting potential  - Refractory period: Period of time required for a neuron to return to resting state before it can fire another action potential Neurotransmitters: - Chemical messenger released at terminal branch to allow communication between neurons - Bridges gap between neuron transmission by converting electrical signal into a chemical signal - Inactivation: Neurotransmitters must stop in synapse so as not to bombard the targeted neuron 3 methods to remove transmitters: 1. Diffusion: Transmitters drift out of synapse into ‘nothingness’ 2. Degradation: Chemical reaction breaks down neurotransmitters 3. Reuptake: Reabsorption into presynaptic terminal branches Three classes of neurotransmitters 1. Amino Acids: - Most abundant neurotransmitter - Glutamate: Important for neuronal excitation - GABA: Important for neuronal inhibition and muscle tone 2. Monoamines - Helps with fight or flight and reward responses - Norepinephrine: Fight or flight response activation - Dopamine: Reward and pleasure - Serotonin: Happiness, well-being, appetite, sleep 3. Acetylcholine - BOTH inhibitory and excitatory signals - Supports health and skeletal muscle, cognitive function Two Brain Hemispheres concepts: - Corpus Callosum: Bundle of nerves that help communicate and send signals between both brain hemispheres - Contralateral: The system of “opposite side” communication/organization between brain hemispheres - Split-brain procedure: Severing the corpus callosum to reduce spread of seizures to other brain hemisphere - Right side brain functions: Perception, emotional tasks, reading facial expressions, big picture ideas - Left side brain functions: Verbal communication, conceptual tasks, details, etc. The Limbic System - Connects older parts of brain with younger parts of brain - Hippocampus: Memory, particularly spatial memory - Amygdala: Registers emotional significance of events, specifically fear - Thalamus: Sensory relay station, visual input of outside world goes to thalamus, all senses pass through except olfactory system (smell) Different ways to study brain: Single cell recordings:  Measurement of electrical activity of a single cell Helps localize and identify individual neurons playing an important role in specific abilities Electroencephalography (EEG) Recording of electrical waves in brain and neurons generating electrical signals Often used to diagnose brain states, can help predict seizures Gathered using electrodes on scalp Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Records magnetic fields produced by electrical currents Helps with timing neuronal activity fMRI scans Taking many MRI scans in sequence Tracks oxygen in blood flow to brain Allows to see what is happening inside brain Tool for functional mapping of where things are Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Injection of glucose in bloodstream Glucose is tracked as it moves to brain Reveals brain activity in specific brain parts Cerebral cortex: The evolutionarily younger part and outermost layer of the brain responsible for cognitive skills, complex emotions, and complex mental activity. Neurons: cells that make up the brain Motor neurons: neurons in your brain send messages to the whole body so you can interact with your environment (motor: movement) Sensory neurons: neurons that carry information from within your body and the outside world to your brain (6 million motor and sensory neurons total) Interneurons: Connection of other neurons. They interpret, store, and retrieve information about the world (then make informed decisions before you act) Genes: The basic physical and functional units of heredity; made up of DNA. Nervous system: network of neurons that run throughout your brain and body - Think of the body as an “extension of your brain” (brain: top level of your N.S.) Neurodiversity: The appreciation of the inherent differences among individuals in how their brains function. Spinal cord: the major bundle of nerves in your spine (connecting the body and brain) Nervous System: Central Nervous System (CNS): Consists of brain and spinal cord and exchanges information between the brain and body. Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Composed of the sensory and motor nerves that travel throughout your entire body and is divided into two parts–the Somatic Nervous System and the Autonomic Nervous System. ○ Somatic Nervous System: Allows you to feel external sensations and is related to voluntary commands. ○ Autonomic Nervous System: Allows you to feel internal sensations and is related to involuntary commands. The autonomic nervous system further branches into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Sympathetic Nervous System: Acts on blood vessels, organs, and glands in ways that prepare the body for action, especially in life-threatening situations. Parasympathetic Nervous System: Acts on blood vessels, organs, and glands in a way that returns the body to a resting state by both counteracting and complementing the actions of the sympathetic system. Endocrine System: A network of glands (hormone-secreting organs) that release blood-borne chemicals, hormones, into your bloodstream. Adrenal glands (top of kidneys) produce 50 difference hormones (fight-or-flight: adrenaline and cortisol; boosting your energy (HR, BP, and blood sugar levels) Regulates our most basic biological states, such as metabolism and regulating blood sugar levels via the pancreas, which allows our body to produce energy and stay alive. Hypothalamus: Located near the centermost part of your brain and plays an important role in governing many survival-related behaviors. The pituitary gland modulates hunger, sexual arousal (through the pineal gland), and sleep (+ testosterone, estrogen, and oxytocin (relationships and reproductive functions related to giving birth)) Your gut (stomach and intestines) have gut microbiome (100 trillion microorganisms) - Regulate mental states and behavior (anxiety, depression) In every lobe, there is a primary sensory area (first cortical region to receive signals from its associated sensory nerves) Primary motor cortex: responsible for voluntary movements (connecting with motor neurons that make the body move) Cortex surrounding the primary somatosensory and motor cortex: association cortex (which integrates information coming in from the senses with existing knowledge (Goldman-Rakic, 1988)) Limbic system: Bridges the newer, higher brain structures that do complex mental functions with the older and lower brain regions that regulate your body and its movements - Memory - Motivation - Emotion Basal ganglia: group of interconnected structures (older subcortical motor system: planning and executing movement; damage-> Parkinson’s disease) Thalamus: located between the basal ganglia and looks like two large symmetrical eggs - In the middle of the brain and receives signals from sensory systems besides the olfactory (smell system) - Damage -> loss to touch, blindness, and/or memory loss Hypothalamus: sits below the thalamus - Integrating internal bodily signals: associated feelings & behaviors - Regulate specific functions like hunger, biorhythms, reward seeking, and aggression Chapter 3 Neurons *In the neuron, it's an ELECTRICAL message *Outside the neuron (in the synapse) it's a CHEMICAL message *Neurons are essentially a bunch of messengers Dendrites ○ receive chemical messages from other neurons soma/body ○ collects those messages, decides whether to fire out a new message axon ○ shoots an electrical message down action potential myelin sheath ○ insulates the axon to help conduct the message (the insulation)  terminal branches ○ send chemical message out to the next neuron Synapse ○ the gap in which the message crosses as it goes from one neuron's terminal branch to the next neuron's dendrites Neurotransmitters Nervous System Central nervous system spinal cord brain Peripheral nervous system somatic nervous system ○ related to voluntary commands -> commands we choose to do ○ soma means "body" ○ senses the body but also controls conscious movements ○ includes skeletal muscles autonomic nervous system related to involuntary commands -> not in your control maintains opertaions that are going on inside the body ex. heart beating ○ sympathetic nervous system ○ parasympathetic nervous system Two Hemispheres, One Mind (ref 3.8) contralateral control when you touch something with your right then your left hemisphere controls the hand and interprets the info ○ vice versa Parts of the brain: Prefrontal cortex: Forward-most region of the frontal lobe Supports executive functions,such as inhibitory control, that allows us to control our behavior Cerebral Cortex: The top level of the brain and it’s outermost layer  Supports cognitive skills, complex emotions, and complex mental activity, including mind and self The evolutionary and developmentally the youngest part of the brain 3 Primary Portion of the brain visible in the womb: Forebrain Midbrain Hindbrain 5 Subdivisions/Lobes Occipital Lobe Contains primarily the visual cortex Parietal Lobe Contains the primary somatosensory cortex Supports sense of touch and a map of the body’s skin surface Frontal Lobe Contains the primary motor cortex Plays a critical role in movement, thought, planning, decision making, and self control. Generates language (Broca’s area) Temporal Lobe Understand language (Wernicke’s area) Hear (auditory cortex) Insular Cortex Covered by the overlying neocortex Supports sense of taste Allow perception of the body’s organs Nervous Systems Central Nervous System (CNS): consists of the brain and spinal cord Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Consists of the nerves that connect the parts of the body to the brain  Works bidirectionally, relaying information to the brain carrying signals out to the body. There are main 2 divisions: Somatic Nervous System and Autonomic Nervous System Somatic Nervous System Governs voluntary movements Autonomic Nervous Systems Prepares the body for action through the sympathetic nervous system. Maintains the functioning of the organs,blood vessels, and glands Parasympathetic Nervous systems: maintains/returns the body to resting conditions Subcortical brain: Hypothalamus- master controller; integrates internal bodily signals with their associated feelings and behaviors (regulates specific functions like hunger, reward seeking, aggression, body rhythms) Thalamus- communicates information to and from all sensory systems except for the olfactory (regulates alertness and consciousness) Amygdala- responsible for registering the emotional significance of events Basal ganglia- responsible for planning and executing movements (bridge the motor regions of the cerebral cortex with nuclei that communicate with the spinal cord-> sending signals to muscles to act (Parkinson’s affects greatly) Hippocampus- Crucial for certain aspects of memory, the ability to navigate the environment, and to think about the future Endocrine system: Endocrine system- network of glands that secrete hormones into bloodstream->regulate body’s activities Hormones- chemical messengers that travel through bloodstream Adrenal glands- on top of kidneys, produce cortisol and adrenaline for the fight or flight response  Hypothalamus- links the nervous system and the endocrine system together via pituitary gland Pituitary gland- controls all other glands (master gland) Thyroid gland- regulates energy metabolism Parathyroid glands- regulates calcium in blood and bones Pancreas- regulates blood sugar levels Ovary- secretes female sex hormones Testis- secretes male sex hormones Chapter 4: Psychophysics: A field that focuses on the relationship between the physical characteristics of environmental stimuli and our mental experience of them Parts of the eye: Cornea: the transparent covering of the eye Pupil: hole in the iris that absorbs electromagnetic energy (light) Iris: the colored part of the eye Lens: covering of the eye that can bend light Retina: surface on eye that contains photoreceptors ○ Rods: responsible for sensitivity, black/white information, and dark adaptation ○ Cones: responsible for color vision and color sharpness Fovea: back of the eye that contains a dense amount of cones Rods: - 120 million cells - Specialize in sensitivity(nighttime vision) Cones: - 5 million cells - Specialize in acuity(daytime vision) Trichromatic Theory: theory that three receptors work together to create the color experience through color mixing Long wavelengths = red Medium wavelengths = green Short wavelengths = blue The colors: Achromatic color = don’t result in a distinct color ○ Black = absorbs all light ○ White = reflects all light ○ grey color = reflects the portion of the light spectrum that we see Blindspot: absence of color Conditions: Myopia: nearsightedness, trouble seeing things far away Hyperopia: farsightedness, trouble seeing things close up Monochromacy: color blindness Dichromacy: can’t tell certain colors apart Color purity: Decreases as more wavelengths of light are combined Opponent-Process Theory: Color afterimages as perceptual opposites  - Waterfall illusion: look at a waterfall for a minute and then look at the foliage causes it to look like rocks are moving upward Ganglion Cells transmit visual information from the eye to the brain - The ganglion cells in the retina are not directly stimulated by light. Instead, they are stimulated by inputs from rods and cones, as well as by one another Ventral pathway: - Travels along the temporal lobe - “What” - Damage → impairs recognizing what an object is while leaving intact the ability to say where it is Dorsal pathway: - Ultimately joins the parietal lobe - “Where and how” - Supports location, depth, and motion and influences how we interact with objects - Damage → can see and recognize an object without knowing where it is our how to grasp it Phi Phenomenon: Quick flashes of light perceived as fluid motion Parts of the ear: Outer Ear: - Ear Canal Middle Ear: - Ossicles Inner Ear: - Cochlea - Basilar Membrane - Cilia(They capture sound signals and send them to the brain) - Auditory Nerves Absolute Threshold: The smallest level of tone you can detect Difference Threshold/Just-Noticeable Threshold: The minimum change in the stimulus for an observer to detect change 50% of the time Weber’s Law: Quantifying the perception of change Example: You would notice when someone adds a 1-pound weight while holding a 10-pound weight. However, if you were holding a 100-pound weight, you would need to add significantly more weight in order to notice the difference McGurk Effect: (The TikTok Video that we saw during class) A change in auditory perception induced by incongruent visual information. We perceive audio through our eyes first, then the auditory perception is secondary Olfaction: Sense of smell. When you damage the olfaction, you get anosmia. Signal Detection Theory: Provides a representation of an individual’s responses. measure the ability to differentiate between information-bearing patterns and random patterns that distract from the information. Weber’s law: The perception of a stimulus change is proportional to the magnitude of the stimuli, is now known as Weber’s law. This law can be applied to our perception of any magnitude change. Chapter 5: 5.1 Consciousness - moment by moment awareness of the external environment + thoughts & feelings Introspect - process of examining one's own thoughts or feelings Metacognition - ability to think abt one’s own thinking Inverted spectrum problem - 2 people might not be seeing the same thing but neither person will know Synesthesia - ppl experience info from one sensory system as if it were coming from multiple senses 5.2 Arousal - level of a person’s wakefulness/arousal Awareness - perception of knowledge of something Selective attention - the act of focusing one’s awareness onto a particular aspect of of one’s experience & excluding everything else Inattentional blindness - a failure to perceive info that is outside of one’s attention Change blindness - form of inattentional blindness, in which a person fails to notice changes in a visual stimulus 5.3 Perceptually decoupled - the ability to disengage attention from perception Automaticity - ability to perform a task without conscious awareness or attention Weber’s law - the ratio of change: weight is what is constant  From Lecture Psychomotor Vigilance test: snap only when you get a 0 → get worse at it with less sleep sensitive to sleep deprivation: sleepier people snapped at the wrong times more Insomnia: persistent falling or staying asleep Narcolepsy: Uncontrollable “sleep attacks” (collapse) - Sometimes due to brainstem abnormalities 5.4 Cognitive Unconscious: various mental processes that support everyday functioning without conscious awareness or control Subliminal Perception: a form of perception that occurs without conscious awareness 5.5 Default mode network: an interconnected system of brain regions that are active when the mid is alert but not focused on any particular task Global workspace hypothesis: conscious awareness arises from synchronized activity from across various brain regions. 5.6 Circadian rhythm: a regular, 24 hour pattern of bodily arousal. Also known as the biological rhythm or clock 5.7 Beta waves: high frequency, low amplitude electrical waves in the brain that occur in a rhythmic pattern and are associated with being aware and actively thinking. Alpha waves: low frequency, high amplitude electrical waves that occur in a rhythmic pattern and are associated with deep stage 3 sleep. Delta waves: very low-frequency, high amplitude electrical waves that occur in a rhythmic pattern and are associated with deep stage 3 sleeping. 5.8 Unihemispheric Sleep: a pattern of sleep in which only one half of the brain experienced sleep, while the other half remains awake 5.9 Insomnia: a sleep disorder involving chronic difficulties with falling or staying asleep Sleep apnea: a person’s breathing in interrupted because of obstructions in airway or problems with the brain’s control of breathing Chapter 6: Vocabulary Learning: an enduring change in behavior resulting from prior experience Associative learning: a form of learning that involves making connections between stimuli and behavioral responses ○ Operant conditioning: a mechanism by which our behavior acts as an instrument or tool to change the environment and, as a result, voluntary behaviors are modified Nonassociative learning: a form of learning that involves a change in the magnitude of an elicited response with repetition of the eliciting stimulus ○ Habituation: a form of nonassociative learning by which an organism becomes less responsive to a repeated stimulus ○ Sensitization: a form of nonassociative learning by which an organism becomes more sensitive, or response, to a repeated stimulus Dishabituation: the recovery of a response that has undergone habituation, typically as a result of the presentation of a novel stimulus Classical conditioning: a passive form of learning by which an association is made between a reflex-eliciting stimulus and other stimuli Unconditional stimulus (US): a stimulus that produces a reflexive response without prior learning  ○ Blocking: phenomenon whereby a prior association with a conditioned stimulus prevents learning of an association with another stimulus because the second one adds no further predictive value ○ Conditioned taste aversion: response where individuals are more likely to associate nausea with food than with other environmental stimuli Unconditioned response (UR): the response that is automatically generated by the unconditioned stimulus Conditioned stimulus (CS): a stimulus that has no prior positive or negative association but comes to elicit a response after being associated with the unconditioned stimulus Conditioned response (CR): a response that occurs in the presence of the conditioned stimulus after an association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus is learned Acquisition: the initial learning of an association between the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli during classical conditioning Generalization: the tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus, so that learning is not tied too narrowly to a specific stimulus Discrimination: learning to respond to a particular stimulus but to to similar stimuli, thus preventing overgeneralizations Extinction: an active learning process in which there is a weakening of the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance of an extinct behavior after a delay Preparedness: the species-specific biological predisposition to learn some associations more quickly than other associations Law of effect: the idea that behavior is a function of its consequences—actions that are followed by positive outcomes are strengthened, and behaviors that are followed by negative outcomes are weakened Reinforcement: a consequence that increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated Punishment: a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated Primary reinforcers: a consequence that is innately pleasurable and/or satisfies some biological need Secondary reinforcers: a learned pleasure that acquires value through experience because of its association with primary reinforcers Positive reinforcement: the presentation of a positive stimulus, leading to an increase in the frequency of a behavior Negative reinforcement: the removal of a negative stimulus, leading to an increase in the frequency of a behavior Positive punishment: the presentation of a negative stimulus, leading to a decrease in the frequency of a behavior Negative punishment: the removal of a positive stimulus, leading to a decrease in the frequency of behavior Premack principle: the idea that activities individuals frequently engage in can be used to reinforce activities that they are less inclined to do Shaping: the process by which random behaviors are gradually changed into a desired target behavior  Instinctive drift: an animal’s reversion to evolutionarily derived instinctive behaviors instead of demonstrating newly learned responses Continuous reinforcement schedule: a reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is rewarded every time it is performed Partial reinforcement schedules: a reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is rewarded only some of the time Fixed-ratio schedule: a reinforcement schedule in which a specific number of behaviors are required before a reward is given Variable-ratio schedule: a reinforcement schedule in which an average number of behaviors are required before a reward is given Fixed-interval schedule: a reinforcement schedule based on a fixed amount of time before a reward is given Variable-interval schedule: a reinforcement schedule based on an amount of time between rewards that varies around a constant average Superstitious conditioning: a form of operant conditioning in which a behavior is learned because it was coincidentally reinforced, but has no actual relationship with reinforcement Latent learning: learning that occurs without either incentive or any clear motivation to learn Insight learning: a form of learning that occurs without trial and error and thus without clear reinforcement Observational learning: a form of learning in which a person observes and imitates as a behavior from a model Imitation: the purposeful copying of a goal directed behavior Social learning theory: a theory of how people’s cognitions, behaviors, and dispositions are shaped by observing and imitating the actions of others Mirror neurons: neurons that are active both when performing an action and when the same actions are observed in others Cultural transmission: the transfer of information from one generation to another that is maintained not by genetics, but by teaching and learning Vertical transmission: the transmissions of skills from parents to offspring Horizontal transmission: the transmission of skills between peers Diffusion chain: a process in which individuals learn a behavior by observing a model then serve as models from whom other individuals can learn Big Ideas Classical conditioning with Pavlov ○ Ivan Pavlov used apparatus to measure dog salivation when consuming food ○ When given food, would automatically salivate (reflex with no prior learning) ○ After many repetitions, dogs salivated from other stimuli that occurred around same time food was presented, such as sight of food dish, sight of Pavlov, or sound of footsteps to deliver food ○ Pavlov realized dogs were associating relevant sights and sounds with the food, changing salivation response - form of learning Classical conditioning is fundamental for survival  ○ When something good or bad unexpectedly happens, brain tries to learn cues to predict outcomes for the future ○ Brain selectively learns associations more useful for predicting the future ○ Brain has evolved internal mechanisms that guide us to form associations that are adaptive More valuable to our ability to survive and reproduce Brain cannot unlearn associations, but they can go “extinct” if the CS is no longer associated with the US ○ Relearning is more rapid than original conditioning practice Contiguity and contingency are critical for learning association between events Little Albert experiment ○ Albert was not scared of mice, but once it was paired with loud noise, Albert began to cry and developed a fear of mice ○ Generalization - Albert also feared other white furry objects such as rabbits Conditioned taste aversion can help solve problems in farming and healthcare ○ Example: Farmers selectively poison carcasses of livestock left intentionally for predators to eat, which induces taste aversion that deters further predation Operant conditioning uses learning to make things happen in the world ○ Example: Cat was placed in box that had a string which would reveal fish and freedom At first, cat would meow, purr, run in circles Cat eventually learned to pull string and saw reward Each time cat was placed in box, would still do other things but was quicker and quicker to pull string Cat eventually learned to pull string as soon as entered in order to get reward ABCs of operant conditioning ○ Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence Positive reinforcement: frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed by a reinforcing stimulus being presented ○ Adds something to increase or reinforce a behavior Negative reinforcement: increases probability of a behavior by avoiding or removing an outcome ○ Removes something to increase or reinforce a behavior Positive punishment: presentation of negative stimulus, leading to decrease in frequency of behavior ○ Getting scolded by teacher for being on cell phone in class Negative punishment: removal of positive stimulus, leading to decrease in frequency of behavior ○ Teacher taking away phone after using it too many times Reinforcement schedules ○ Most useful: Variable ratio  Latent learning is the ability of the brain to learn without any clear incentive (example: our brain maps our surrounding space - “cognitive map”) Reinforcement learning happens little by little, but it is possible for us to learn spontaneously How we learn from observing others ○ Eliminates trial and error process ○ Increases rate of learning, decreases risks ○ When observed behavior is rewarded or punished, we learn consequences as well Social learning ○ Attention, retention, motor reproduction, reinforcement Brain and learning from observation (mirror neurons) ○ Deficiency in function of mirror neurons may be central to social cognition disorders Humans are different than other species because humans go out of their way to teach one another Cultures are abe to evolve by continuously building on accumulated knowledge from prior generations ○ Cultural transmission - the transfer of information from one generation to another that is maintained not by genetics but by learning ○ Vertical transmission - transmission across generations ○ Horizontal transmission - social learning within the same generation, such as among peers Cultural learning can be spread from one group to another even if the original group is not in contact with other groups directly ○ Diffusion chain: individuals learn a behavior by observing a model and then serve as models from which other individuals can learn