Psych Midterm Review PDF

psych midterm review Week 1: Research Methods Research Foundations Scientific Method: Empirical process to answer questions accurately and avoid intuition. Levels of Analysis: Psychological approaches (e.g., social, cognitive) offer varied perspectives on behavior. Para...

psych midterm review Week 1: Research Methods Research Foundations Scientific Method: Empirical process to answer questions accurately and avoid intuition. Levels of Analysis: Psychological approaches (e.g., social, cognitive) offer varied perspectives on behavior. Paradigm: Framework of assumptions guiding the kinds of questions asked and research approaches used. Core Scientific Principles: ○ Parsimony: Prefer simpler explanations. ○ Generalizability: Findings should apply to similar cases. ○ Conservatism: New theories require strong evidence. Evidence and Data Anecdotal Evidence: Based on personal experiences or observations; lacks generalizability and scientific rigor. Raw Data: Unprocessed data collected in a study, analyzed later to interpret trends or outcomes. Research Process 1. Theory Formation: Develop or adopt a theory. 2. Hypothesis Generation: Form a testable prediction based on the theory. 3. Method Selection: Choose an appropriate research method (e.g., experiment, case study). 4. Data Collection: Gather data using tests, surveys, or observations. 5. Data Analysis: Use statistics to interpret patterns and support/refute hypotheses. 6. Reporting: Publish findings for peer review. 7. Theory Revision: Update theories based on new evidence. Experimentation & Variables Variables: ○ Independent Variable: Manipulated by the researcher. ○ Dependent Variable: Observed/measured effect. ○ Confounding Variable: A variable that could influence the outcome, complicating causal interpretations. ○ Control Group: Receives no manipulation; serves as a baseline for comparison.  ○ Experimental Group: Receives manipulation of the independent variable for testing its effect. Design Types: ○ Within-Participants: Each participant experiences all conditions; reduces participant differences but introduces the Practice Effect (improvement due to experience rather than the manipulation). ○ Between-Participants: Different groups for different conditions, requiring control for confounding variables. Sampling and Bias Sampling Methods: ○ Random Sampling: Ensures generalizability by randomly selecting participants. ○ Random Assignment: Places participants in groups randomly to minimize bias. Participant Bias: ○ Placebo Effect: Changes in behavior due to belief in treatment rather than treatment itself. ○ Social Desirability: Tendency to respond in a way that is expected of us. Experimenter Bias: Researchers may unintentionally influence results; countered by double-blind studies. Blinding: ○ Single-Blind Study: Participants do not know if they’re in the experimental or control group, reducing bias. ○ Double-Blind Study: Neither participants nor researchers know group assignments, preventing participant and experimenter bias. Data Analysis Descriptive Statistics: Summarize data using mean, median, mode, and standard deviation. 3 measures of central tendency Inferential Statistics: ○ T-tests: Assess if differences between groups are statistically significant (p < 0.05 indicates significance). ○ Statistical Significance: Likelihood that results are due to actual differences rather than chance. Correlations and Observational Research Correlation: Measures strength and direction of the relationship between variables. ○ Correlation Coefficient: Ranges from -1 to +1, where 0 means no relationship.  ○ Causation vs. Correlation: Correlation does not imply causation; other factors may influence the relationship. Common Research Errors Type I Error: False positive—claiming a finding when none exists. Type II Error: False negative—failing to detect an actual effect. Replication: Repeating studies to verify findings and build reliable theories. Week 2: Classical Conditioning Learning Learning: Enduring change in behavior from experience. Non-Associative Learning Non-Associative Learning: Changes in response to a stimulus without forming associations with other stimuli. ○ Habituation: Decreased response to a repeated, inconsequential stimulus (e.g., ignoring background noise over time). ○ Sensitization: Increased response to a repeated, potentially harmful stimulus (e.g., heightened awareness of pain after an injury). Associative Learning: Classical Conditioning Classical Conditioning: Learning a contingency between two stimuli that are paired. Pavlov's Experiment: Dogs learned to salivate (CR) to a metronome (CS) after pairing with food (US). Key Terms Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Naturally triggers a response (e.g., food). Unconditioned Response (UR): Automatic response to US (e.g., salivation). Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Originally neutral, but triggers a response after association with US. Conditioned Response (CR): Learned response to the CS. Acquisition Acquisition: Process of forming a contingency between CS and US through repeated pairings.  Contingency: CS reliably predicts the US, leading to the CR. Extinction Extinction: Reduces CR when CS is presented repeatedly without US. ○ Extinction occurs due to a learned inhibitory response. Spontaneous Recovery: Sudden return of the CR after extinction and rest period, showing contingency isn’t fully erased. Reacquisition: Faster learning of a contingency after extinction, suggesting some memory of the association remains. Generalization and Discrimination (Covered in Both) Generalization: Similar stimuli to CS can elicit CR (e.g., fear of different dog breeds after a bite). Generalization Gradient: The degree to which stimuli similar to the CS elicit the CR; strongest response is to the original CS. Discrimination: Differentiating between stimuli, responding only to the original CS. ○ CS+: Predicts presence of US (e.g., shock). ○ CS-: Predicts absence of US, helping fine-tune responses to specific stimuli. Homeostasis and Compensatory Responses Homeostasis: Body maintains balance (e.g., temperature). Compensatory Responses: Learned biological responses to maintain equilibrium when anticipating a change (e.g., drug tolerance). Higher-Order Conditioning Higher-Order Conditioning: A neutral stimulus (e.g., a light) is paired with an established CS (e.g., a bell) to elicit the CR without the original US, creating a layered contingency. Unique to Chapter Reading Contiguity: The closeness in time/space between CS and US affects learning strength. Inhibitory vs. Excitatory Conditioning: ○ Inhibitory: CS predicts absence of US. ○ Excitatory: CS predicts presence of US. Asymptotic Responding: CR plateaus when maximum response level is reached through conditioning. Unique to Module  Conditioning and Phobias: Explains phobia formation; therapies like Implosive Therapy and Systematic Desensitization help by gradually reducing fear. Week 3: Instrumental Conditioning Instrumental Conditioning Basics Definition: Instrumental Conditioning (also called operant conditioning) involves learning the relationship (contingency) between voluntary behaviors and their consequences​. Developed by: Thorndike (Law of Effect) & Skinner (Operant Behavior). Key Principles The Law of Effect: Behaviors followed by positive outcomes are "stamped in" and are likely to be repeated, while those followed by negative outcomes are "stamped out." Operant Behavior: Voluntary behaviors that operate on the environment to produce a specific consequence. Types of Conditioning & Consequences Reward Training: Presenting a positive reinforcer to increase the frequency of a behavior (e.g., giving a treat to a dog for sitting). Escape Training: Removing a negative reinforcer to increase a behavior (e.g., completing homework to avoid chores). Punishment Training: Presenting a negative reinforcer to reduce the frequency of a behavior (e.g., scolding a child to stop misbehaving). Omission Training: Removing a positive reinforcer to reduce a behavior (e.g., taking away a child’s toys to stop bad behavior). Acquisition Complex Behaviors: Shaping: Gradual reinforcement of steps towards a target behavior. Chaining: Linking smaller actions in sequence to complete a task. Simple Behaviors Autoshaping: learning without direct guidance; organisms learn the contingency between a behavior and its consequence without explicit training Generalization & Discrimination  Generalization: Applying learned responses to similar stimuli. Discrimination: Learning to respond only to specific cues (e.g., green light signals reward, red does not). ○ Discriminative Stimulus (SD): Signals when the contingency is valid, such as a green light signaling that pecking will lead to food​. ○ S-delta: Indicates when the contingency is invalid, such as a red light signaling no food reward. Reinforcement Schedules Continuous Reinforcement: A behavior is rewarded every time it occurs. Partial Reinforcement: Reinforcement occurs only some of the time, leading to more persistent behavior​. ○ Fixed Ratio (FR): Reinforcement after a set number of responses. For example, an FR-10 schedule rewards every 10th response​. ○ Variable Ratio (VR): Reinforcement after an average number of responses. For example, in a VR-10 schedule, reinforcement might occur after 6, 8, or 12 responses, but the average remains 10​. ○ Fixed Interval (FI): Reinforcement after a fixed amount of time has passed, regardless of responses​. ○ Variable Interval (VI): Reinforcement occurs after an average amount of time has passed​. Additional Concepts Observational Learning (Bandura): Learning by watching others without direct experience (e.g., imitating behavior). Week 4: Problem Solving and Intelligence Unit 1: Introduction to Intelligence Definition of Intelligence: Intelligence is the cognitive ability for tasks, learning, reasoning, memory, and adaptation. Constructs like intelligence require an operational definition for measurement. ○ Operational Definition: A clearly defined description of a construct (such as intelligence) for observation and measurement. ○ Edwin Boring: Intelligence is "whatever intelligence tests measure." ○ Robert Sternberg defines intelligence as “the cognitive ability of an individual to learn from experience, to reason well, to remember important information, and to cope with the demands of daily living.” Sternberg’s Types of Intelligence:  ○ Analytic Intelligence: Involves analysis, evaluation, and judgment (often referred to as “book smarts”). ○ Creative Intelligence: Entails developing new ways to approach problems. ○ Practical Intelligence: Relates to applying abilities to everyday problems (sometimes called “street smarts”). Unit 2: Problem Solving Problem Solving: Demonstrates intelligence through efficient resolution of issues, both social and mathematical. Reasoning: ○ Deductive Reasoning: Moves from a general theory to specific conclusions. ○ Inductive Reasoning: Uses specific facts to reach a general conclusion. ○ Both types work together to build knowledge and understanding. Functional Fixedness: A cognitive bias that hinders seeing alternative uses for familiar objects, often requiring creative thinking to overcome. Types of Problems: ○ Well-defined Problems: Clearly stated starting position, rules, and end goal. ○ Ill-defined Problems: Starting position, rules, and end goal are not clearly stated; most everyday problems are ill-defined. Heuristics: Mental shortcuts that reduce cognitive load and help make efficient decisions. ○ Availability Heuristic: Judgments about the frequency of events based on how easily examples come to mind. ○ Representativeness Heuristic: Judgments about probability based on how similar an event is to an ideal example. Unit 3: A History of Intelligence Testing Reliability: Consistency of test results over time. ○ Test-Retest Method: Examines score consistency on the same test taken at different times. ○ Interrater Reliability: Degree of agreement between multiple observers witnessing the same event. Validity: Measures whether a test assesses what it intends to. ○ Predictive Validity: The extent to which test scores predict future behavior. Historic Intelligence Tests: ○ Francis Galton: Considered the father of intelligence testing. ○ Alfred Binet: Created the first valid intelligence test. ○ Spearman: Proposed the concept of general intelligence (“g”), which underlies specific types of intelligence. ○ Gardner: Advocated for multiple intelligences. Modern Intelligence Tests: ○ Tests like the WISC and WAIS are commonly used, providing standardized IQ scores where 100 represents the mean. Unit 4: Factors Influencing Human Intelligence Genetic & Environmental Contributions: ○ Strong genetic link; environment (education, nutrition) also important. The Flynn Effect: Rising IQ scores over time, potentially from improved living conditions and education. Unit 5: Piaget and Cognitive Development Schemas: Frameworks to interpret the world. ○ Assimilation: Integrating new info into existing schemas. ○ Accommodation: Adjusting schemas for new info. Piaget’s Four Stages: ○ Sensorimotor (0-2 yrs): Interaction with the environment; understanding object permanence. ○ Preoperational (2-7 yrs): Egocentric thinking; challenges with logical reasoning. ○ Concrete Operational (7-12 yrs): Logical thinking, but struggles with abstract ideas. ○ Formal Operational (12+ yrs): Abstract and hypothetical thinking. Unit 6: Biases and Heuristics Confirmation Bias: The tendency to seek information that supports existing beliefs while ignoring contrary evidence. Availability Heuristic: Making decisions based on readily available information, often leading to overestimation of rare events. Representativeness Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on prototypes, leading to stereotypes. Week 5: Language Unit 1: Introduction to Language Language is a uniquely complex form of communication exclusive to humans, characterized by being regular (ruled by grammar), arbitrary (words do not resemble their meanings), and productive (limitless combinations). The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis posits that language influences thought and perception. Evidence from the Piraha tribe supports this, while counter-evidence (e.g., understanding relatives in French and Korean) challenges it. Unit 2: Structure of Language Grammar: Unique to each language, grammar dictates how morphemes and words combine. Overregularization: Errors made by children as they learn grammatical rules but fail to master exceptions.  Morphemes: The smallest units of meaning, whether sound (in oral languages) or sign (in sign languages). E.g., "tablecloth" contains two morphemes: "table" and "cloth." Phonemes: The smallest units of sound that vary in number and type across languages. Transparent orthographies exhibit consistent letter-sound correspondences. Semantics: Refers to word meanings, with context influencing interpretation. Development of Language Comprehension Segmentation Problem: Infants face challenges in separating continuous speech into individual words. Mastery of this speech segmentation skill early on can predict a larger expressive vocabulary in childhood. Infant-Directed Speech: Higher pitch and exaggerated changes in tone used by adults help infants distinguish sounds, improving both receptive and expressive vocabulary. Receptive Vocabulary: Words that children understand but may not yet speak. Receptive vocabulary develops before expressive vocabulary. Expressive Vocabulary: Words that children can actively speak. Production Infant Language Development: Infants communicate initially through crying, then babbling, with rapid language development occurring between 1.5 and 6 years. Early Language Skills: Early skills include understanding social interaction cues, as shown in the still-face procedure. Pragmatics: Skills allowing effective social communication develop as infants engage in cooing and vocalizing with caregivers. Cooing: Infants start cooing around 12 weeks, making sounds like “oo” and “ah.” Babbling: Babbling and cooing lay the groundwork for future vocabulary growth. Holophrastic Phase: Children use single words to express entire meanings (e.g., “milk” to mean “I want milk”). Naming Explosion: Rapid vocabulary growth occurs between 18-24 months. Fast Mapping: Children quickly learn new words, sometimes after just one or two encounters. Theories of Language Development Innate Mechanism Theory Chomsky's Language Acquisition Device (LAD) posits an innate mechanism for language development, supported by spontaneous sign language development in deaf children. support comes from the spontaneous development of sign language in deaf children, preference for speech sounds Universal Phoneme Sensitivity: Infants can distinguish phonemes from multiple languages, a sensitivity that decreases by age one as they focus on native language sounds. Head-Turn Procedure: This method tests phonemic sensitivity in infants, showing that they can distinguish sounds across languages.  Perceptual Narrowing: Over time, infants lose the ability to distinguish phonemes not used in their native language. Social Learning Theory Suggests language is acquired through imitation and reinforcement but faces criticism for not fully explaining rapid language acquisition. Imitation and Reinforcement: Language is learned through social interaction, imitation, and positive reinforcement. Case of Genie: Genie’s limited language development due to social deprivation highlights the importance of social learning in language acquisition. Criticisms: Some argue that language is too complex and is acquired too quickly to be explained solely by learning. Additionally: Error Patterns: Children often make errors (e.g., overregularizations) that are not modeled by adults, indicating these mistakes are not simply imitated. Reinforcement: The patterns of reinforcement observed are considered insufficient to account for the speed and depth of language acquisition in children. Early Language Errors (10-18 months): Overextensions and Underextensions: Errors where specific words are used too broadly or too narrowly. Telegraphic Speech: Begins between 18-24 months, using short phrases with essential information. Overregularization: Mistakes in which children apply grammatical rules too broadly, reflecting increased language complexity. Animal Communication Human vs. Animal Language: Animals such as bees, birds, and primates show basic communication, but it lacks human language’s flexibility and grammar. Attempts to Teach Language: Chimps like Washoe and Kanzi showed limited language abilities using sign language and lexigrams but did not achieve the full grammatical structure of human language. Week 6: Categories and Concepts 1. Key Definitions Category: A group of real-world objects or events that share similarities. Concepts: Mental representations of categories that help organize information and simplify cognitive processing. 2. Purpose of Categorization Communication: Simplifies complex ideas by using single words or categories. Classification: Groups dissimilar items together, allowing for generalization, such as categorizing all breeds under "dog." Understanding: Assists in assessing situations and making appropriate responses, like understanding an animal’s behavior. 3. Theories of Categorization Classical View: Defined categories with rigid boundaries, though largely outdated.  Family Resemblance: Modern basis for categorization, suggesting members of a category have overlapping features rather than a strict definition. Prototype Theory: We compare new items to an "ideal" category member, or prototype. Membership is graded, meaning some items fit the category better than others, with borderline members showing weak fits. Exemplar Theory: All past experiences of items (exemplars) are stored in memory, and new stimuli are categorized by comparison to these. This is linked to the Old Item Advantage Effect, where familiar items are categorized faster than new but similarly typical items. 4. Typicality, Categorization Tasks, and Expert Illusions Typicality: Measures how representative an item is within its category. Higher typicality items (like a robin as a bird) are often recognized faster. Sentence Verification Task: A research method where participants verify if a statement is true (e.g., "A robin is a bird") to gauge typicality and response speed. Illusion of the Expert: Experts may assume a task is simple because they perform it easily (like tying shoes), overlooking the complexity for novices. 5. Types of Categories Ill-Defined Category: Lacks strict rules for inclusion (e.g., furniture), relying instead on flexible, typical traits. Well-Defined Category: Defined by strict rules (e.g., a bachelor as an unmarried man), though it may still have exceptions. 6. Essentialism Belief in inherent, unobservable properties that define category membership, especially for natural kinds like animals, which retain their categorization despite outward changes. 7. Development of Categorization Skills By age three, children generalize information within categories (e.g., knowing one dog likes treats and assuming all dogs do). Children also understand innate properties, where certain traits are considered unchangeable. 8. Categories in the Brain Anomia: Disorder where individuals cannot name objects despite recognizing them, often category-specific. Object Agnosia: Disorder affecting object recognition even with normal vision, suggesting specific brain regions manage different category types. 9. Levels of Categorization Superordinate (general, e.g., Animal): High accuracy, low detail. Basic (e.g., Dog): Most quickly recognized. Subordinate (specific, e.g., Dog breed): High detail, low accuracy; expertise enhances speed here. 10. Concept Representation & Typicality Effect Prototypes: Ideal or average representations that summarize a category. Typicality Effect: Demonstrates faster responses to typical items (e.g., “a dog is a mammal”) compared to atypical ones (e.g., “a whale is a mammal”). 11. Learning Approaches  Abstraction vs. Exemplar: Abstraction involves rule-based learning, while exemplar learning focuses on specific examples. Abstract learners excel at generalizing concepts to new situations. 12. Applications and Stereotyping Animal Categorization: Baboons can categorize objects by food or non-food, indicating categorization is widespread across species. Stereotyping: Categorization contributes to social stereotyping, where assumptions are made based on group affiliation.