Term
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Definition
| a permanent change in someone’s behavior due to an experience |
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Term
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Definition
Classical Conditioning- an associated type of learning. An organism/animal/person associates two different types of stimuli and these can be very different- ex) you may hear a scary movie sound track in another setting and feel scared when you hear it later. Ex) pets and canopener (because it reminds them of food)
• Pavlov- credit most for development of classical conditioning. Looked to see if a neutral stimulus could trigger a response
• Model
o UCS-UCR
• Unconditioned stimulus: food: → Unconditioned response: production of saliva. It’s unconditioned because it’s not yet learned! Bell does not produce saliva.
• During conditioning, we bring something before the UCS and UCR (like a bell) This is the learning process.
o CS-CR
• After conditioning, the conditioned stimulus ( bell) can produce the Conditioned response (saliva) |
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Term
| Stages of learning in classical conditioning: |
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Definition
• Stages of learning:
o Acquisition- how do you make this link or association between one stimulus and a response? You have some kind of repeated pairings and depending on how many you have, you may acquire on association- REALLY requires on number of times you have it. Ex) You eat a food, it makes you feel sick, and you vow never to eat that food again. Food requires few numbers of time. Very quickly. Other things, it may take repeated pairings (like for Pavlov’s dogs)
o Extinction- “unlearning”- your pairing disappears! The association goes away. You need a certain amount of stimulation or reinforcement in order to maintain the learning. (If Pavlov continued to ring the bell and didn’t produce food, dog would stop salivating)
o Spontaneous recovery- you have acquired the pairing, it has become extinct, and then a period of time goes when you stop hearing the triggering stimulus, then you hear it, and you remember it once again (low level learning).
o Generalization- the extent to which similar but different stimuli can different things trigger the response (how specific does the response have to be?) Generalization suggests it doesn’t need to be that specific. A harmonica might trigger same effect as a bell.
o Discrimination – opposite of generalization. Some people can be quite specific about what the stimuli is. Ex) Mothers can distinguish between their child’s cry and another child’s cry Ex) You can wake up from your own alarm clock but not your roommate’s alarm clock |
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| Classical conditioning in action and applications of classical conditioning |
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Definition
• Classical Conditioning in Action: Ex) Taste aversions or phobias. People on Hudson river landing flight may never fly again from the one bad experience.
• Applications of Classical Conditioning
o How do we help people with phobias? We help them to make new associations.
o In health environments, you can help people make more comfortable in hospital environments through classical conditioning |
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| Updating Pavlov's findings: |
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Definition
o Cognitive processes -tends to be less effective with human adults. In some cases, we don’t form an association because we are able to think and reason about it, and the thinking interrupts the conditioning. With animals and small children, cognitive processes don’t interfere. EX) drug antibuse- if you drink while on antibuse, it makes you sick. It’s given to alcoholics. It is meant to help alcoholics form the association that drinking makes you feel sick so they stop drinking. However, it doesn’t work that well- instead, they associate it with the pill, not the drinking.
o Biological predispositions- Pavlov assumed that you can create any association you want, but that’s not true. Biological predispositions make it much easier for some people to make associations so we’re not equally apt to make associations. Ex) We have a disposition to make reactions based on food, more so the other senses – we went out to dinner, ate clam chowder, and got sick, we’d blame it on the clam chowder, not the smell of candles or the music you heard playing Ex) People become phobic about some objects more than others like snakes, dogs, rats, etc.
o Contributions-
• He showed that organisms adapt to their environment. We learn and get better!
• We can study an internal process like learning. |
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Definition
Operant Conditioning (Instrumental conditioning)-rewarded behavior is likely to occur. Ex) A dog does tricks from training through giving treats. Use of reinforcement. (In classical conditioning, pairing comes before the association- bell comes before the food. In operant, pairing is after- reward is given after the behavior).
• Skinner- he is credited with operant conditioning- most associated with this type of learning
• Reinforcement- There is a reward given. Often, food. Does not need to be though. Children might get a sticker. With animals it pretty much has to be food.
• Shaping- when you are trying to help the organism make an association, you reward closer and closer approximations of the behavior. If you want to teach the dog to shake hands, you need to reward if initially, it just lifts its paw. Later, you might require that it be higher before getting the reward. Finally, it needs to meet your hand before it gets the reward. |
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Term
| Principles of Reinforcement: |
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Definition
Positive vs. Negative
Primary vs Secondary
Immediate versus Delayed
Continuous versus Partial
Reinforcement Schedules
Punishment versus negative reinforcement |
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Term
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Definition
| o Positive vs. negative reinforcement- Very important because people often think that negative reinforcement is punishment and it is NOT. Negative reinforcement is also good and desirable. Ex) Your parents are trying to get you to earn high grades. You could motivate your adolescent using both positive and negative: Positive would be a reward for having good grades. Negative would be taking away something undesirable- you could tell them that if they got good grades, you don’t have to do your chores. |
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Term
| Primary vs. Secondary reinforcers |
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Definition
| o Primary vs. secondary reinforcers – Primary reinforcers are things that are innately good. For animals, it’s basically food. As you get older, there are secondary reinforcers (in an of themselves have no money but they allow you to get something else) – Like money or grades. |
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| Immediate versus delayed reinforcers |
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Definition
| o Immediate versus delayed reinforcers- Immediate is reinforcement that comes immediately after the behavior. With animals, you need immediacy so they make the association. But delayed reinforcers work for adults- we come to class and study for a later pay off when we get our grades in December |
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Term
| Continuous reinforcement versus partial reinforcement |
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Definition
| o Continuous reinforcement versus partial reinforcement. If every single time the subject does something well they receive a reward, they get continuous reinforcement. However, in most cases in life, you only get partial reinforcement which means that sometimes the behavior is reinforced and other times, it is not. Ex) every time you speed, you don’t get a speeding ticket. But you do get one sometimes! This is partial reinforcement. |
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Term
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Definition
o Reinforcement schedules:
• Fixed-ratio schedule- you get a reinforcement after a fixed number of times. If you produce 100 cars on a production line, you get a reward. (number of acts)
• Variable-ratio schedule- you’ll get a reward after some number of responses, but you don’t know what that number is. Ex) Pulling the lever on the slot machine. (number of acts)
• Fixed-interval schedule- getting a reward after a fixed period of time (Amount of time)
• Variable-interval schedule – you’re going to get reinforced for studying when there’s a surprise test, but you don’t know when the test will happen (amount of time)
*Fixed is better if you want somebody to make the association!
*Variable makes it difficult to stop the behavior- because every time could be the pay off |
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Term
| Punishment versus negative reinforcement |
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Definition
| o Punishment versus negative reinforcement- punishment is something bad. Ex) Your grades were so bad, you have to mow the lawn every weekend now. (Additive) Or it can take away something desirable Ex) your grades were so bad, you can no longer drive the family car. |
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Term
| Updating skinner's approach |
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Definition
o Latent learning- research suggests animals can learn without reinforcement. If you give a rat an opportunity to explore a maze, they’ll still find the end. Learning can still happen without the reward- reward is not required.
o Overjustification- in some cases, there is something desirable that children do, but suddenly if that desirable thing is given a reinforcement, the use of the reinforcement can undermine intrinsic interest in the activity. Ex) Schools reward kids for reading a certain number of books. But reading should be intrinsically enjoyable! Research has shown that the external reward all of the sudden decreases motivation for doing it. (Why would I read a book for free? I want a reward for it like before) It decreases the intrinsic reward.
o Biological predispositions. – Animals cannot be trained to do everything. Pecking is something pigeons do to eat anyways, so you can take advantage of that and motivate them to peck- but if you asked a pigeon to flap their wings in order to get wings, they are not motivated. They don’t associate wing flapping with eating. |
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| Applications of skinner's approach |
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Definition
o School- Reinforcement. Children when learning to read get stickers for finishing books. Grades.
o Work- Raises or promotions or bonuses. Your bonus is based on how many hours you work during the year.
o Home- parents often try to use reinforcement to shape children’s behavior. Rewarding doing chores, potty training, etc. In some cases, parents reinforce the wrong things
o *careful not to over justify or reinforce the wrong things!! (kid has temper tantrum because he wants candy, so parent buys him candy…) |
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Term
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Definition
• Algorithm- a logical rule or procedure. It guarantees that you solve the problem. Ex) To unscramble a word, try every single letter in every single combination in every single way. You will eventually solve the problem. Very inefficient…Best in cases in it won’t be too time consuming (like math).
• Trial and error- attempting different strategies. Guessing at different solutions. Really almost at random.
• Heuristics- Combination of algorithm and trial and error. Try to rely on some rule of thumb strategies to make the problem solving easier. Ex) We know that some letter combinations never come together. So when unscrambling “psychology”, we would never try two y’s next to each other. Or SG.
• Insight- A sudden realization of the answer. It just comes to you. It’s not a particular strategy. Sometimes, it’s the only method. Ex) Camel story. |
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Term
| Obstacles to problem solving list: |
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Definition
Intuition
Overconfidence
Expectations of order
Confirmation bias
Hindsight bias
Fixation
Framing
Contrast effect
Representativeness
Availability
Belief Perseverance |
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Term
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Definition
| • Intuition- gut instinct or a hunch. Often, effective, but often, misleading. Ex) Boston is actually south of paris. |
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Term
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Definition
| • Overconfidence- confidence that isn’t warranted. Most people overrate the reliability of things- we don’t much about how much we know. Ex) Space shuttle- challenger. |
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Definition
| Ex) Someone has three boys. Think that the next one will be a girl! Not true. Look at three sets of coin flips that all have same probability- but the mixed heads and tails one looks most probable. Not true. |
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Term
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Definition
| once you have a theory about something, you look for confirming information. Ex) I think people who go to Amherst do very well in life. Look at people speaking at graduation, seek out successful people. We don’t look for the bad examples! We look for the information that supports our beliefs. |
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Term
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Definition
| once you know the outcome of a given event, you tend to think of that outcome as inevitable. Ex) invasion in Iraq. At first, thought it was a good idea for national defense and pretty much supported it. Now that it has gone poorly, we claim that we knew it was a bad idea to begin with. |
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Term
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Definition
• Fixation- when we get focused on a particular solution. We get tunnel vision. Consequences:
o Mental set- you have a problem to solve and you continue to repeat solutions that have worked previously but do not work anymore. Ex) we have trouble solving dot problem because we are not willing to allow for our lines to leave the edges, and that we have to get to the center of the dot
o Functional fixedness- perceive objects in the world as having a fixed purpose or use. Ex) trying to unscrew a flashlight and you can’t find a screwdriver. You could really use a knife but you wouldn’t think to use it because you don’t think of solutions beyond their immediate purpose. |
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Definition
| we are often influenced about how things are presented. VERY subtle. Ex) People dramatically prefer 95% fat free to 5% fat! |
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Definition
| we often think about something not just about their objective state but about what we are comparing it to. Ex) Seeing an outlet mall. We have perception of a major bargain. We see a sweater that has a price tag of 200 dollars which is crossed out and it’s now for 60. You think it’s a great deal! Had that sweater just said 60 dollars, you’d be like “eh” . |
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Definition
| we decide if something fits a category based on how well they exemplify that category. You ignore how statistically likely or probable it is. Ex) Bill is short, slim, and likes to read poetry. Is Bill more likely to be a truck driver or a professor at an ivy league? We vote for professor. But statistically: odds of being a truck driver are way higher. |
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Term
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Definition
| how readily does something come to mind? Often, things come to mind much more readily than other things. Ex) Fear or airplanes because planes crash and that causes a media storm. In reality, the riskiest mode of transportation is walking. |
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Definition
| attitudes actually maintain or strengthen themselves in the face of disconfirming evidence. Ex) Real suicide notes versus fake suicide notes. Students were told how they did. 1/3 told that they got all of them right. Another told that they did averagely. Another told that they did terribly. (all fake feedback). But, if you took a real test, how good do you think you’d be? If you were told you’d be good, you thought you’d do well. And if you thought you had done poorly, you think that you’d do poorly. |
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Term
| Group processes leading to judgement errors |
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Definition
• Group polarization- as groups discuss something over time, they actually become more extreme in their views (or more polarized). This means that groups can make riskier or more extreme judgments than do individuals.
o When you’re in a group, you may hear other arguments that also support your views.
o People confirm your arguments and add to your confidence
• Groupthink-
o Group tends to be similar (homogenous) with strong leadership. It is isolated from other groups and it’s a very cohesive group.
o When you have groupthink you have symptoms:
• Over estimation of the group
• Close-mindedness
• Increased pressure towards uniformity
o Consequences
• Defective decision making
• Increased likelihood of failure |
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Term
| What can help us solve problems |
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Definition
• Awareness- knowing the common errors should help us to solve problems better!
• Gesturing- if you gesture and use your hands, it’s actually freeing up some kind of cognitive space and the gesturing is like a place holder that allow you to solve things more effectively. |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
Encoding (Acquisition)- what you code and put in memory
• Types of encoding:
o Automatic processing- information that you encode in your memory without effort. Happens automatically (ex. Facts about the first day of class)
o Effortful processing- requires attention and conscious effort (ex studying for a test) |
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| Strategies for improving encoding: |
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Definition
o Rehearsal- the amount of time spent learning things. Ex) Flashcards before an exam, retyping your notes.
o Overlearning- you learn it so well, you know it cold. It stays with you over time. It’s rehearsal PLUS a huge amount of extra effort.
o Spacing effect- you remember something better if you study it over time
o Serial position effect- know the ones at beginning and end better and then we remember the ones in the middle. We know the ones that govern during important events (remembering presidents)
o Polyanna Principle- we remember things we like more than things we don’t like
o Encode meaning- we give personal meaning so they are easier to remember (baseball enthusiast about baseball statistics)
o Encode imagery- if we have images of things in our mind, it’s easier (fire is easier to remember than “concept”)
o Mnemonic devices- trying to encode particular pieces of information though a memory aid (first letter from every word, ex, ROYGBIV)
o Method of loci- you can get trained by studying different facts and fit them in your mind to different locations- when you take a test, you take a “mental walk” through campus
o Vivid stories- if you have a list of vocab words, construct a story to make them interrelate vividly. |
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Term
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Definition
• A. sensory memory storage- initial storage of sensory information
o Iconic memory (photographic)- momentary sense memory like sight, by remembering the layout of the page
o Echoic memory- remember things that you have heard
• B. Short term memory storage- you store it for a limited amount of time and information ex) remembering a phone number you just looked up- capacity is 7, + or 1 2 digits. (5-9 digits).
• C. Long-term memory storage- can you maitain it over time- we have way more capacity than we use. If you maintain it, you can keep huge amounts of information in your brain (ex- learning a world language)
• Strategies for Improving Storage
o Chunking- if you group them, you can learn letters more easily- make multiple letters into two words. Remembering and grouping in distinct units.
o Hierarchies- organize in broad categories and more narrow fact subdivisions (ex- outlines!) |
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Term
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Definition
• recall- a means of pulling out the info you know is in your brain. Ex) write down the names of the dwarves
• Recognition- just recognie the names from information given. *Easier!
Strategies for improving retrieval:
o Primes (mnemonic devices, methods of loci, vivid stories)- activate your memory and trigger the information
o Context effects being in the same location as when you learned something- also true that moods can have the same effect as a context clue- power of scent, for instance |
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Term
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Definition
• Interference- two types of information become difficult to learn at once (ex- taking both French and Spanish)
o Proactive- when learning something before makes it difficult to learn stuff after
o Retroactive- something you study 2nd interferes with your memory of the 1st
• Motivated forgetting- some people do not want to remember some things Ex) If you ask people about their sexual encounters, women will say fewer than reality and men will say more than reality
• Repression- Freud believed that we bury anxiety provoking incidents and we have no memory of it. Research suggests that this is not true- some people remember that stuff quite well.
• Misinformation and Imagination effect
o Ex) List of words and we wrote down sleep when she didn’t say it- we remember words that fit in the schema. People fill in the information- their memory is being constructive.
o Source amnesia- people often forget where they learn something |
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Term
| Why is language important |
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Definition
| Language is tangible evidence that people think. |
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Term
| 3 basic building blocks to create a language: |
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Definition
• Phonemes- basic sounds. Different languages have different sounds. In some cases, the sounds are the same as the letter. In some cases, two letters can make the same sound (c and k)In some, a combined letter formation creates a specific sound (ch). English has about 40 basic sounds.
• Morphemes- the smallest unit that carries meaning. Sounds don’t carry meaning. In some cases this can be the same as a letter or a sound, like the letter I. In other cases, letters are not morphemes: P. In some cases, you need a group of letters: is. There are also units that have meaning that aren’t specific words: -ing, -ed.
• Grammar- system of rules that is used in a given language.
o Semantics- set of rules that let you derive meaning. Ex) If I add –ed to the end of the word in English, it means it happened in the past. Adding the letter “s” to the end means it is plural. If I say “pre” it means before.
o Syntax-how do you order words in a sentence. Varies considerably from language to language. (White house, casa blanca) |
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Term
| Stages of Acquiring Language |
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Definition
Stages of Acquiring Language: Children learn to speak extremely fast in comparison to other things. Evidence of the power of thinking! All language stuff happens earlier for girls than boys.
• Babbling stage- 4 months. Make lots of noise and utterances but it’s all nonsense. All babies everywhere sound exactly the same! Babies who are deaf babble exactly the same. It simply represents what physical sounds children can make. At 10 months, the babbling becomes much more focused on the sounds that babies hear in their environment. Babies who are deaf stop babbling at 10 months because it’s probably not rewarding to them.
• One-word stage- Age 1. Single words, and word is often a single syllable and is something that has some meaning to the baby. Ex) dog, Ma, Da, ball – easily produced sound.
• Two-word stage- Age 2. Telegraphic speech. Short utterances that convey a huge amount of meaning. “Me cookie.” “Big doggy.” Children are still using the correct ordering of words- correct syntax!
• Sentence stage- Sometime after age 2 (for some, closer to the 3)- children begin using longer sentences. Start putting words together in more complex ways to infer greater meaning. |
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Term
| Explaining language development |
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Definition
Explaining language development: Controversy between theorists. Competing views. Distinction between nature and nurture.
• Behaviorist (Skinner)- operant conditioning. Children learn to talk the same way they do everything else:
o Imitation: Children see people talking- family, television,- and they attempt to imitate what they have heard or seen.
o Reinforcement: There is a reward to speaking-
• 1. getting exactly what you want!
• 2. Parents get happy to hear their names or words, parents clap and smile
• Linguist (Chomsky)- thinks that the behaviorist perspective is very naïve.
• Major critiques:
o Speed of acquisition- acquisition is SO fast. In a high spurt, they can learn 50 new words a day. Unlikely that each word gets an individual reinforcement!
o Uniqueness of expression- children make speech errors even though they have heard it correctly- the make up words that they haven’t heard because they are following rules- they “feeded the deers” or saw the “mouses”
o Predictable pattern- adding “ing” and “ed” to words comes in a specific temporal order. They order words correctly- white house. They have a keen sense of how to use grammar. Parents are not teaching 2 and 3 year olds grammar!
• Language acquisition device (LAD)- we have an innate ability to learn language where we are pre-wired with the LAD. It’s a portion of the brain in which we are programmed to learn universal grammar. Whatever language we are exposed to, we will quickly and readily understand it. So we learn language in a different way than learning a sport, for instance. There’s something unique about language. |
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Term
| Comprehending Word Meaning |
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Definition
• Context- a clue for children. They hear it in different contexts to become more familiar with the meaning of the words. “miggums” are olives, from different contextual information.
• Social interaction-children cannot learn language from simply hearing it without social interaction. You need them to speak it, not just listen to it! (for a first language).
• Motherese- the specific way in which we make sounds and utterances to babies. There’s a particular contour with a higher pitch on the words you want to accentuate. You need to accentuate the word in the sentence. |
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Term
| Importance of Early Learning |
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Definition
| - there is NO controversy that early exposure to language is absolutely essential. Children who do not hear any language for their first few years they never gain the ability to speak in a fluent way in any language. Those who are exposed to multiple languages in early life have a better ability to produce those different sounds with the correct accent. |
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Term
| Can Animals Exhibit Language? Honeybees |
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Definition
| • Honeybees- research showed that if a bee leaves the hive and finds a flower, typically he’d go back to the hive, and more bees would follow him back to it. The bee communicates through following. Key thing: in a series of studies, they found that if you trap the leader bee after returning to the hide, all of the other bees find exactly where the nectar was!!! This suggests that something happened within the hive- the bee conveyed a message about where it was. Even this evidence doesn’t show that there’s real language use, just evidence of communication. Actually perhaps a dance that occurs in the hive. |
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Term
| Can Animals Exhibit Language? Apes |
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Definition
o Signs of apes learning language- raised a chimp from infancy as if he was a deaf child. They taught him how to sign using his hands. After four years, he could make 132 signs. After 27 years, he could make 240 signs. He could also put together “sentences” to say something like “ big orange”. Also able to produce signs that he had not seen- he knew word for apple and all the color words, so when he received orange, he said “orange apple”.
o Signs of apes not learning language
• 1. Although he got 240 signs, it was with considerable effort. After 27 years. A two year old typically knows a thousand words…
• 2. He can make these signs but he’s not doing it of his own free will! They are HEAVILY reinforced. Children do not require CONSTANT reinforcement all the time. This is more like pigeons pecking seeds on the piano- doesn’t mean that they can play piano!
• 3. Poor grasp of syntax, unlike a 2 year old child. A child at three knows that “you tickle” and “tickle you” are different- a chimp would not.
• 4. A lot of the signing appears to simply be an imitation.
• 5. The people demonstrating these signs are the people who raised them for birth. Pretty subjective. Could an objective onlooker interpret this data the same way…probably not.
o Conclusions
• Apes seem to have modest abilities to acquire language by human standards. They clearly have considerable cognitive abilities. |
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Term
| • Language influences thinking |
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Definition
o Language and culture- distinction of types of words that we have in different cultures. Language represented in the culture are a reflection of the cultural values. In English, there’s a lot of focus on the self. There are a number of words about self-focused emotions. Japanese put emphasis on interpersonal relations- sympathy, shame. More words in the language of Japanese that tie into interpersonal relations than self, an opposite in English.
o Language and self-concept- language influences how we think about ourselves. Research done with people who have been bilingual from birth. If you interview them in different languages, they describe themselves differently as a function of the language of the interview.
o Gendered language- weird demarcations of gender names- “girls” can be used through high school and college. But “boy” turns into “guy”. A some people say woman, but most people say girl and guy. So we make age distinctions for males that we don’t for women. But we take a lot of care indicating if a woman is married- all males are Mr. Females are either Miss, Ms. Or Mrs. Depending on marital status. Apparently, a woman who is ms. Is “assertive ,achievement oriented, cold, unpopular, married but unhappily”
o The bilingual advantage- at one time, it was very hip in Canada to put children in a French immersion school while speaking English at home. Indicated that they did very well and became bilingual, did better on achievement tests than others. But is it helpful for them to learn English? For instance, if you speak Spanish at home, and go to an English only school, is it fair? Would it be fairer to instruct them in their native language? (French example is just a correlation- it could be about socio economic, or other factors!) There is definite evidence that bilingual children have an enormous benefit- but there is a lot of correlation and not causation |
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Term
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Definition
• Modeling- watching people. It’s untrained! Children do it by imitating TV shows or older siblings.
• Bandura- Al Bandura brought kids into a lab setting and watched an adult punch a giant inflatable doll and say specific phrases. Children mimicked almost exactly what they did.
o This has lead to many changes, like eliminating cigarette ads on TV, or hard alcohol being drank
o Children can mimic an adult and/or cartoon animals! Again has lead to violence restrictions on TV shows
Applications of observational learning:
• Negative- We imitate negative behavio (imitates abuse, or racism). Leads to negative health behaviors (children smoke if parents do)
• Positive – children imitate altruism- if they do it, often their parents did it. |
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Term
| Thinking without language: |
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Definition
| • In some cases, people think without using language. Some people think in terms of languages and pictures. Ex) People who play sports don’t think about what they’re doing through language, but through visualization / imagery |
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Term
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Definition
What is Intelligence? It’s how we deal with the world.
• 1. Cognitive ability – can you learn things, memorize, problem solve
• 2. Can you learn from experience and then adapt your behavior?
• 3. Can you think rationally, act purposefully
Is it about speed? There’s controversy. There’s an inherent assumption that speed has to do with intelligence- but in some cultures, it’s all about deep, slow, provoking thought. For instance- decision to get married to have a baby or get married- better slower. |
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Term
| Is intelligence culturally defined? |
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Definition
Is intelligence culturally defined?
• In some senses, it might be a function of the culture you’re in. What’s intelligent in US might not be intelligent in Africa! Also a controversial question.
• There are some problems (half water lilies) that are culturally neutral. Many are not culturally neutral
• If you familiarize students with subjects that tests cover, it helps- ex) NYC kids visiting farms. Subtle factors can affect test scores. |
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Term
| Is intelligence one general ability or several specific abilities? |
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Definition
• Multiple intelligences- academic problem solving skills, practical intelligence, creative intelligence- people have different strengths. Many different categories.
o And many different tests for each intelligence.
• Emotional intelligence- developed by Amherst grad! Do you have a sense of emotional awareness in a situation? Can you regulate your own emotion and understand and empathize with emotion? |
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Term
| Does creativity equal intelligence? |
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Definition
| No, not necessarily. Generally, people who do well on intelligence tests, they do well on creativity tests as well. It at first seems to be correlated. But after a certain level of intelligence, the association disappears. People who are highly highly intelligent does not mean that they are super creative. People who are especially creative does not mean that they are especially intelligent. In general, there is a correlation, except for at the extreme ends. So there is more to creativity than intelligence. These are what lead to creativity- these help foster creativity amongst people with a base level of intelligence. |
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Term
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Definition
• 1. Expertise: A well developed base of knowledge. You need the foundations.
• 2. Imaginative thinking skills- people who are creative tend to be very imaginative- they can see things in new ways, recognize patterns, and make connections
• 3. Venturesome personality- gutsy, daring personality helps. People who tend to be creative can tolerate ambiguity- they can persevere and come over obstacles. It’s okay if they don’t reach a solution quickly. They are willing to struggle for some time.
• 4. Intrinsic motivation- are you motivated by enjoyment, interest, satisfaction, challenge? People who are creative work on things because they love to work on them- not because they are told that they will receive a reward.
• 5. Creative environment – sparking ideas with other people ! People work in environments with other people to stimulate each other. |
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Term
| Is intelligence a function of nature or nurture? |
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Definition
Is intelligence a function of nature or nurture? Two types of studies: adoptions and twins
• Adopted children and natural parents correlate more highly in intelligence than adopted children and their adoptive parents (indicates nature)
• Twins studies –‘
o Nature arguments? Identical twins reared apart have highly correlated intelligences! Strong argument for nature. Siblings reared apart have a significantly high correlation in contrast to those who are unrelated and reared apart. Also for nature>
o Nurture arguments? Identical twins reared apart are less than those reared together- environment does matter. Unrelated children reared apart is much less than unrelated children reared together, who have a decently high correlation- no common genetic link, yet have correlating nurture.
o So they are both influential factors! Both matter. |
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Intelligence from genetics versus environment • Genetic influences
People who share the same genes tend to have some correlation of intelligence
• Environmental influences
Rearing together leads to similarity in IQ
Look at group care like orphanages- when adopted, they tend to have low IQs. After being in a stable, nurturing environment, the IQ grows. |
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Definition
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Term
| o Programs that try to increase IQ: (part of environmental influence) |
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Definition
• Head start programs- designed to give small children a head start and advantages. Designed for low income kids. Takes those with disadvantaged home life and helps them acquire skills to help them in school. Children who do the program show gains on intelligence tests. Less likely to be held back a grade, placed in special ed, etc.
• Early learning programs- for high income kids that are designed to take high income kids and give them an early advantage. Exposed to opera, classical music, history, etc. to stimulate their brains early on. |
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Term
| conclusions about nature v nurture |
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Definition
| *Evidence that exists for biology is very limited because environment seems to matter so very much. People lower biologically can benefit tremendously from an environment, and people who are higher biologically can still suffer from an environment |
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| Is intelligence stable or does it change? |
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Definition
| Birth weight, head size, speed of toilet training, NO. But, boredom in infancy tends to be a sign of IQ. Performance at age 3 is highly correlated to adult hood. SAT scores correlate highly with other aptitude tests- so there must be some stability across intelligence (of course in these cases, environment is staying the same as well). |
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Term
| Is intelligence neurologically measurable? |
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Definition
• Brain size: More or less a total wash. Bigger brains are smarter? It’s hard to do these studies well- there is a weak association with big brains and intelligence. You cannot tell correlation versus causation!! It could be: as you get more intelligent, your brain gets bigger. OR, people with bigger brains have the ability to be more intelligent. We don’t know which way the direction goes.
• Brain function- gave people problem solving tasks while attached to a brain scan- those who are highly intelligent in a given domain show less brain activity. This suggests that those who are highly intelligent don’t need to use as much energy to solve a problem. Also true for expertise, beyond intelligence. |
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Term
| Modern tests of mental abilities: |
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Definition
• Aptitude tests- SAT I. Tries to determine someone’s aptitude or future ability. It’s a prediction. Pretty good predictor of GPA during first year of college. Better short term predictors, whereas LSAT are better predictors for success further in the future. Sort of testing what you know but often testing a general problem solving ability.
• Achievement tests- SAT IIs. How you’ve done in the past. How much you have learned up to this point. |
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Term
| What causes group differences in Intelligence? There are group differences in intelligence. |
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Definition
• Genetics- EDifferent people have different IQs and abilities and that’s just how it is. Described for differences in ethnicity and in gender.
• Environment-
o Ethnicities: but the environment matters a lot- issues with the genetics argument. Ex) Asians tend to all score higher. But if you look at the number of hours that Asians spend in highschool, you see that they spend around 30% more time in school, and study about 30% more. So not differences in biology necessarily, but in environment. Gap between African Americans and whites has been narrowing and narrowing- this is hardly evolution.
o Gender: boys do better than girls in general. So are there advantages genetically for men versus women? Naturalistic study- measured how parents talked to their sons versus their daughters about the science exhibits in a museum. Boys receive way more time hearing explanation of the exhibit than girls! They talk a ton more to boys! So therefore, just because boys do better, doesn’t mean that boys are genetically better.
• Stereotype threat- if people in stigmatized groups take a test and are told that they might not do well based on race or gender, they do worse than if they were not told that. Ex) gave math test to all stanford students. To one group, said it was a practice test and another to test group differences. Males did the same. Women did the practice one just fine, but the one that determines group differences, women did much worse. Women who are worried that taking the test will reveal that they fit the bad stereotype do worse. Interesting, because on SAT, one of the first things you fill out is gender and ethnicity! It primes you to think in that way.
• Test bias- even when trying to be neutral. Ex) all math problems in SAT used to be about baseball. Some tests had other words that were culturally biased- words used were “cup and saucer”- it’s a pretty elitist question.
• Conclusions- People in general have complained about SATS. SATS were designed to try to help level the playing field! It used to be about connections and people you know and SAT wanted to equalize opportunities. Maybe they aren’t as good predictors as they could be, but it’s very difficult to look at them a totally equal way with students from different backgrounds. Essentially, they need to be considered in light of other things, like recommendations, essays, etc. |
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Term
| Extremes of intelligence: |
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Definition
• The challenged- below 70 IQ- difficulty adapting to life- mentally retarded. 1% of population. Downes is most common. Varying opinions about how to care for these people. Trend towards institutionalizing is now not common at all- maybe a specialized classroom or a special ed school.
• The gifted- high end of IQs. 3-5% of children based on varying criteria. In some communities, they are put in special classrooms. But there’s concern about how they are identified- we mainly have white/asian white middle/upper class ones. Are we measuring something objective or just picking out based on other factors? |
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Term
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Definition
Theories of Motivation- Motivation is a need, desire, or dirve that serves to energize behavior towards a goal
• Drive-reduction theory- If you experience an unbalanced equilibrium, you feel a need. This provides a drive to do something about it and solve the problem so you engage in a behavior to satisfy that need. Problem: People often satisfy a need but don’t feel peace with it! Over eating, thrill seekers
• Maslow’s motive hierarchy- we have physiological needs and those are most important, like food, water, oxygen. Then we have higher level needs: safety (nurturing, money). Belongingness and love by acceptance and affection. Esteem, through respect. Self-actualization- maximizing one’s potential Once we accomplish the basics, we move up the hierarchy. This means that if you’er worrying about the low levels (a homeless person) you can’t worry about the higher level motives. |
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Term
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Definition
• Physiology of Hunger- bodily mechanisms that make us feel hungry:
o Stomach contractions- stomach growling is a common assumption. But recent research has shown that there’s not a great link between people feeling hunger and contractions! Not that great of a predictor.
o Body chemistry- a drop in level of glucose means your hunger will increase.
o Brain and setpoint- everybody is born with a set point that is their ideal weight. Thought to be determined at time of conception. Acts like a thermostat-If you’re not eating enough, your metabolism slows (why it’s hard to lose weight!)- if you’re eating too much, your metabolism would pick up- to try to keep you at the set point. It’s limited when you go to the extremes of each of these.
o Genetics – correlation between identical twins in terms of weight even if reared apart! This could include the set point, of course. High correlation between weight in parents and weight in children. Adoptive children are much more correlated with weights of biological parents’ weight than adoptive parents’ weights. |
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Definition
o Culture- cultures prefer different kinds of foods, how much they eat, and when they eat. It’s a function of where we are and who we are raised by.
o Mood regulation- stress, depression, boredom, celebrations. Women do this more than men.
• Responsiveness to external (as opposed to internal) cues. – People often pay more attention to external cues to hunger than internal ones. We should eat because we are hungry (internal)- but people often ignore internal cues and rely on external cues (eating when we’re not hungry!) Often, this leads you to eat when you shouldn’t (if it smells so good, or if your first serving was so good you’d like a second) Ex) One of best ways to get people to order dessert is by showing a dessert tray.
• External studies can also tell you not to eat- brownies in shape of dog poop- most people do not eat it even though internal tells them they want it.
• This acts as a predictor of obesity- those who are overweight are more responsive to external than internal. Ex) Study- whether full or hungry, obese people eat the same number of crackers regardless |
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Definition
o Types of eating disorders- physiology and psychology of hunger go awry
• Anorexia nervosa- drastic reduction in food intake – usually women- intense fear of becoming obese- feel fat when they are emaciated. Their weight is much lower than it should be for their height. Low blood pressure, heart problems--- it is starvation
• Bulimia nervosa – recurrent episodes of binging and then vomiting, excessive exercise- damage to throat and esophagus, cardiac problems, can be a bit harder to diagnose because you’re pretty much a normal weight
o Causes of eating disorders
• Biological/genetic factors- correlation in twin studies- if one twin is anorexic or bulemic, if reared apart, the other is too- the hypothalamus may be damaged meaning that typical hunger cues don’t work as they should
• Environmental factors- families of girls who are anorexic are often high achieving, perfectionistic, competitive- come from families with depression or mood disorders
• Social-cultural factors- society influences norms about eating and weightloss- American culture has a great emphasis on thinness. As a result, it may lead to a desire to be thin even in cases when it’s not healthy for an individual- media influences what women think people find attractive |
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Definition
• Physiology of sex- important because it leads to procreation!
o Sexual response cycle- increase in arousal as sexual contact gets more intimate and people’s bodies react in terms of physiological response in terms of erection, lubrication, heart rate- very predictable in terms of body responses to sexual desire
o Hormones- sexual response cycle doesn’t occur for pre-pubescents. Sex hormones have two main factors: they activate male and female sex characteristics. Also, lead to the possibility of producing a child. Ovulation, for instance. Male hormone levels are consistent, but female hormone levels vary over the month. |
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Term
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Definition
o External stimuli- anything that is erotic in the world, like porn, a story, seeing someone attractive. Very good predictor of arousal.
o Imagined stimuli- big predictor as well. The body organ most in charge of sexual desire is your brain. Thinking sexual thoughts.
o Gender differences – big gender differences in both! Porn ends up being bought by men. Women aren’t into it. Men are much more responsive to external stimuli. Difference between reproductive strategies too:
• Females- want security by man. Are attracted to men who show their resources to them.
• Males- want women who can reproduce. Evaluate women based on youth, health and beauty (for fertility’s sake)-
• Controversial- neither side comes out looking very good- and very hard to prove.
• Different idea about casual sex too- very few women would want to have casual sex. 75% of men agreed. The other 25% just had a scheduling conflict. |
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Definition
• Understanding sexual orientation: All cultures have a small portion of homosexuals. Same as predominance of right hand versus left hand.
o The brain- there’s something different about the brain – hypothalamus- somewhat larger in hetero men than in women or homo men.
o Genes- men who have twin brothers who are gay are more likely to be gay themselves, raised together or raised apart.
o Prenatal hormones – hormone levels in a pregnant woman’s body during gestation may influence sexual orientation (could explain impact on twins)_ exposure to testosterone is thought to increase the likelihood of homosexuality. These three are all potentially interrelated.
o Environmental factors- people who had bad parental relations, victims of abuse, bad dating or sexual experiences turned gay. No evidence for this at all.
o Should the cause matter? If you find a cause, it might lead people to find a “cure” or “treatment.” Would in utero homosexual indicators make that child undesirable? |
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Term
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Definition
Achievement: Desire to experience accomplishment, mastery, high standards. People vary to great degrees.
• Sources of achievement motivation
o Parents- reward achievement. Praise achievement. Emphasis on the role of effort- “you tried really hard”
o Birth order- first borns and only children tend to do better in school and on intelligence tests. More likely to achieve admission to prestigious colleges. Parents have more time and energy to motivate…. But first children tend to be less popular and socially accepted with more friends.
• Second and third need to get the first born to like them- more socially adept!
• Types of motivation
o Intrinsic motivation- things you want to do because they feel good for you and not for other reasons. This is better.
o Extrinsic motivation – doing something to get a reward. Less about internal enjoyment.
• Gender differences- men are higher than women in achievement motivation.
o Biological- men are predisposed to achieve evolutionary, they needed to go hunt and bring back food
o Social learning – cultural differences and societal differences. If teachers give different feedback based on genders, or if parents have different expectations |
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Term
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Definition
| Physiology, behavior, and conscious experience (thoughts and emotions) |
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Term
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Definition
• General arousal- often accompanied by specific states- faster breathing, blood pressure increases, changes in body temperature
• Individual differences in the experience of arousal- everyone feels it differently. It’s not universal. Key way in which they differ: people vary in how much they feel emotion. Some people like calmness and other people like to experience the arousal.
• Physiological states accompanying specific emotions- Some evidence that different types of arousal in response to different emotions. But generally it looks about the same at a physiological arousal level.
• Social facilitation/social inhibition-arousal increases your dominant performance. Whatever you have a tendency to do, arousal will heighten that tendency. If you’re not very good, it should make you be worse (your dominant performance). Responses to arousal depend on your ability in the first place. |
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Term
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Definition
• James-Lange theory
o Event→physiological and behavioral reaction → emotion
• Cannon-Bard theory- direct opposition to James-Lange
o Event → SIMULTANEOUSLY both the behavioral reaction and emotional experience
o So, do you really need to have the physiological reaction first in order to experience emotion?
o Ex) paralyzed world war II soldiers- for those with no physical feelings below the neck, they reported having way reduced feelings of fear. On the other hand, they were highly aware of feelings of sadness. Cannon-Bard says; we feel sadness by crying which they can feel. Fear is from heartbeat which they can’t feel.
• Schachter’s two factor theory- There is a missing component from both JL and CB- cognition, or how you think about something. It’s the thought process involved in this.
o Your physical behavior ←> cognitive interpretation of the arousal. Together, they lead to the experience of an emotion. IF you have physiological arousal for any reason, you look to the situation to figure out why (cognition) and this leads to the emotion.
o Study: told people a study was about impact of drugs on vision and gave them a shot. In some cases, it was a stimulate, epinephrine. After you’ve waited, we will do the vision test- but you need to wait 30 minutes. Independent variable: one group was told that they would receive epinephrine that will make you feel aroused, a second was told they were getting epinephrine but not how it would make them feel, a third was told they were given epinephrine but were given false side effects, and the fourth group was given no drug and not told about side effects. They are put in a room with a confederate for 30 minutes- in one condition he is happy and in another he is angry. Then they do their vision test but first, how are you feeling? What is the role of physiological arousal (anyone with epinephrine) versus what is the role of cognitive interpretations? Group 1- attribute it to epinephrine and experience no emotion. Group 2 or 3- interpret feeling not from the drug but as an emotion- happy with happy confederate and mad with mad confederate.
o Sanderson and coffee- she felt arousal so she cognitively interpreted it- this lead her to figure out her emotion! It’s actually from coffee, not from emotion.
• Facial-feedback hypothesis – your facial expression doesn’t capture the emotion. The facial expression can influence what you feel! Also can be true about other physiology- hunched over walk. Subtle effect. |
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Term
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Definition
• Fear- adaptive to experience. Survival method! Figures out how to get you out of bad experiences.
o The role of experience -
• Personal experience- creates fear. Getting bitten by a dog as a child leads to a phobia of dogs. It happened to YOU.
• Modeling- you watch somebody else have a bad experience. You project and think it could happen to you! In some cases, you can just watch people pretend to act horrified.
• Biological predispositions- evidence that we’re not equally likely to be afraid of everything. More likely snakes than caterpillars. More likely afraid of things that could cause us harm.
o The role of biology
• Individual differences- huge with fear. Some people are afraid of a lot of things, some very few. Influences future job- firefighter, army, police officer, soldier…
• Biological factors – certain part of the brains are in charge of feeling fear – for some this might be more active than others
• Genetic factors – identical twins are more similar in terms of fear, reared apart |
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Term
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Definition
• Anger- a low level of madness. People become angry several times a week. It’s especially common when we feel that someone has done something unjust or if they are mild inconveniences that really don’t have any blame (doesn’t have to be interpersonal)
o Causes
• The catharsis hypothesis- people who are angry need to be able to release it. Anger builds and eventually you have to let it go. Suggests that anger must be released. “Hit your pillow not your child”
• Problems with catharsis- suggests that this is a bad idea to release anger in particular ways. Once you act out your anger, you don’t feel calm and relaxed afterwards! Often, you feel more angry, guilty, sad! It doesn’t serve a kind of release and can cause more.
o Constructive ways of handling anger
• 1. Waiting. Count to ten. Reduces arousal before acting.
• 2. Be Constructive . Rather than punching, go for a run or write in a journal. Lets you express your emotion that is not interpersonal. |
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Definition
Happiness- psychology focuses more on the negatives.
o Benefits of happiness-
• leads to more altruism,
• more satisfaction with life
o Predictors of happiness
• Money does not predict happiness. If you get above baseline poverty, there is no association between money and happiness. Age is not a predictor. Children are not a predictor of happiness. In fact, married couples who don’t want kids and don’t have them tend to be happier.
• Big predictor: healthy relationships—marriage. People who are married are happier than those who are not married.
o Principles of happiness
• Adaptation-level principle- However happy you are, that’s how happy you’re going to be. We adapt to whatever happens to us. We often think…if this one thing would just happen to me, I’ll be happy forever! Not true. Also encouraging in that if something really bad happens, you will adapt to that as well. Whatever situation you are in, you will adapt to it.
• Relative-deprivation principle- often, people in high school felt very smart if they got into Amherst- then, you go to Amherst, and everyone else is smart too! Suddenly, it’s much more anxiety provoking. What goes through head is “What are OTHER people doing or making” Ex) Sarat’s salary. What’s relevant is how much you make in comparison to everybody else. Related to contrast effect. |
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Definition
• Nonverbal communication- crying, facial expressions, laughing, body posture
• Detecting deception- when people are lying to us, they verbally say the lie but we can pick out a lie based on lack of correlation to nonverbal communication- nonverbal cues leak through.
• Cultural similarities in understanding nonverbal emotions- you need to be able to communicate emotion without speaking (language barriers!)- important evolutionary to understand expressions without communicating verbally.
• Cultural differences in meanings of emotional expression- hand gestures that express emotion (middle finger) allow us to communicate emotion but in different cultures, different hand gestures mean different things. “A-OK” symbol can mean “you’re nothing” in France. In Brail it means “let’s have sex”
• Cultural differences in emotional displays – different cultures have different norms about how appropriate it is to convey emotion. In some cultures, it’s better to be stoic and conceal your emotions and in others, it’s good to express it. |
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