Final study guide.doc

Kevin Baughman Psychology 200 Study Guide for Optional, Cumulative Final (Exam 1 and Exam 2 Material) Part I (Exam 1 Material) Listed below are several philosophical ?debates? that are relevant to psychology. Describe each. Free will vs. determinism ? Does everything have a cause or is it a result of a person?s independent decisions. The mind-brain problem ? Is there really a mind if it is not composed of specific matter. Two views: dualism, which holds that the mind is separate from the brain but somehow controls the brain and monism, which holds that the conscious experience is inseparable from the physical form. The nature-nurture issue ? How are differences in behavior related to either heredity or environment. Use the philosophical debates to complete the following statement. Because scientific research relies on the assumption that behavior is predictable, psychologists assume _determinism_. Conclusions can be made either by deduction or induction. Describe each and specify whether nearly all scientific conclusions depend on deduction or induction and why. Deduction ? deriving a conclusion from premises already accepted. Induction ? inferring a general principal from observations although the conclusions are never certain. Nearly all scientific conclusions depend on Induction because it is hard to get definite concrete results when working in the scientific field. List the contribution that each of the following people made to the field of psychology. Wilhelm Wundt ? established first lab dedicated solely to the study of psychology (1879), set precedent by collecting data, elements of psychology: sensations and feelings, and he used introspection (which is when you ask people to look within themselves and report sensations) Edward Titchener ? He was a student of Wundts, founded structuralism which is an attempt to describe the structures that compose the mind (ie sensations, feelings, and images). John Watson ? founder of behaviorism, which is, a field of psychology that concentrates on observable, measurable behaviors and not on mental processes. William James ? founder of American psychology, focused on what the mind does rather than what it is, functionalism ? an attempt to learn how people produce useful behaviors. Sigmund Freud ? trained as psychiatrist, made psychotherapy popular with analysis of patient?s dreams and memories, but his theory is weak. Mary Calkins ? grad student at Harvard, studied memory, denied PHD because of ?male only tradition.? Dorathea Dix- est. hospital for individuals with mental illness. Cecil Sumner ? first African American to receive PHD in psychology from a black university (1920) W. E. B. Dubois ? often credited with being the first black psychologist, double consciousness ? seeing oneself from the perspective of the culture of the majority and from the perspective of the black community. What is the principle of parsimony? According to this principle, a preferable theory is _Falsifiable_. Most complicated Newest Most consistent with previous observations Fewest and simplest assumptions The following concepts are important for conducting research in psychology. Describe and provide an example of each. The concept of the ?N of one problem? ? a researcher must have a large enough sample in order for the results to be valid. Can solve this problem by using a sample such as a cross cultural sample. Operational definition ? a definition that specifies the operations used to produce or measure something, ordinarily a way to give it a numerical value. For example, an operational definition could try and measure the effects of violent television programming and aggressiveness in the respective teen viewers of that program. Demand characteristics - cues that tell the participant what is expected of him or her and the results that the experimenter hopes to find. For example, if a researcher tells the participants what the purpose of the study is, then they might feel obligated to give the experimenter such results. Experimenter bias ? the tendency of an experimenter to distort or misperceive the results of an experiment based on the expected outcome. A researcher may extrapolate the results of his experiment where his hypothesis is not even applicable. Blind observer ? someone who can record data without knowing what the researcher has predicted. For example, a random person who is simply recording results without being cognizant of the purpose of the results. Placebo ? a pill with no pharmacological effect. For example, if there are two groups in an experiment, one group will get the real pill and the other will get a plain, ineffective pill. Single-blind and double-blind studies ? single blind: either the observer or the participants are unaware of which participants receive which treatment. Double blind: both the observer and participants are unaware of which participants receive which treatment. Random assignment ? the process of assigning a particular participant to a certain group using system of random assignment. For example, drawing names out of a hat or using a random values table. A researcher is interested in the effects of completing crossword puzzles on memory performance in older adults. She recruits older adults to participate in her study and randomly assigns them to either complete crossword puzzles or to read selected novels for two months. At the end of the two months, she gives the participants a memory test. Identify each of the following: Control group ? there is none Experimental group ? both groups are experimental Independent variable ? the crossword puzzles or the novels. Dependent variable ? performance on the memory test. What is the purpose of the Institutional Review Board (IRB)? The purpose of the IRB is to assure procedures for informed consent, ensures safeguards for participant?s confidentiality, and evaluates procedures and prevents risky procedures. Describe each of the following types of population samples AND provide an example for each. Random sample ? this is difficult to achieve, everyone in the population has equal chance of being selected. For example, a group of individuals, with equal probability of being chosen, that were randomly selected by computer generated results. Representative sample ? this is a sample that represents the population of interest according to some specified characteristic. For example, if a study is being performed on pregnant women the representative sample will consist of females only. Cross-cultural sample ? groups of people from at least two cultures. For example, a study consisting of Chinese people and Canadians. Convenience sample ? a group chosen because of its ease of study. For example, if a researcher just stands at the entrance of a mall with a clipboard obtaining answers from shoppers. What does it mean for a correlation to be positive? To be negative? (HINT: It has nothing to do with being good or bad!) Provide an example of each of the following: Positive correlation ? as one variable increases the other also increases Negative correlation ? as one variable decreases the other variable increases Illusory correlation ? an apparent relationship based on observations of weakly or unrelated variables. For each of the following lobes of the brain, describe the location and the functions associated with each. Frontal ? located in the front of the brain, contains primary motor cortex and prefrontal cortex. Primary motor cortex: important for planned control of fine movements. Prefrontal cortex: anterior sections of frontal lobe, contributes to certain aspects of memory and decision making. Occipital ? located at rear of the head, specialized for vision. Cortical blindness can result from damage to occipital lobe, which is when you have no conscious vision, no object recognition, and no visual imagery. Temporal ? located on the right and left sides of the head, main area for hearing and some complex aspects of vision. Parietal ? located anterior from the occipital lobe, specialized for body senses including tough, pain, temperature, and awareness of the location of body parts in space, in this lobe the primary sematosensory cortex exists (this cortex contains cells that are sensitive to touch in different body parts. What physiological changes are associated with the activation of the sympathetic nervous system? What physiological changes are associated with the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system? Which system is activated in response to a situation that stimulates a flight-or-fight response (e.g., getting a speeding ticket, getting chased by a bear)? Sympathetic nervous system ? controlled by a chain of cells lying just outside the spinal cord, increases heart rate, sweating, and other processes important for vigorous fight for flight activities, it inhibits digestion, sexual arousal, and other activities not important to emergency situation. Parasympathetic nervous system ? controlled by cells at the top and bottom levels of the spinal cord, decreases heart rate, increases digestive activities, and in general promotes activities of the body that take place during rest and relaxation. The sympathetic nervous system is activated in response to a situation that stimulates a flight or fight response. What is the sematosensory cortex? How is this cortex related to touch? Some areas of the body are given more area on the sematosensory cortex. What do larger areas on this cortex indicate about these parts of the body? Take a look at the map of the sematosensory cortex. A person who loses an arm is most likely to feel phantom sensations in response to stimulation of the _elbow_. A person who loses a foot is most likely to feel phantom sensations in response to stimulation of the _leg__. Sematosensory cortex ? a strip in the anterior portion of the parietal lobe, has cells sensitive to touch in different body areas. Larger areas are devoted to touch in the more sensitive areas, such as the lips and hands, than to less sensitive areas, such as the abdomen and back. What area of the body controls the muscles of the face? What area of the body controls the muscles from the neck down? Muscles of the face ? Pons and Medulla Neck down ? spinal cord If damage to the sematosensory cortex prevents the sensation of touch, then what role, if any, does the amygdala play in the ability to be aware of touch? After loss of input to the somatosensory cortex, a person loses all conscious perception of touch but still reports a ?pleasant? feeling after a gentle stroke along the skin. That is, the person responds emotionally, due to the amygdala, to the touch without knowing why. What is brain plasticity? Give an example to illustrate this concept. Brain plasticity is physical brain change with experience. Changes are especially prominent at the microscopic level of axons, dendrites, and synapses, but sometimes, changes are visible to the unaided eye. For example, one part of the temporal cortex (devoted to hearing) is 30% larger in professional musicians than in other people. With age, people lose sensitivity to _high_ frequency sounds first. This is demonstrated by older adults? (or people with hearing loss) inability to hear the __phone__ ring. What is hyperopia? What is myopia? A person who has which one of these disorders of the eye is more likely to need bifocals with age? Why? Hyperopia ? when a person is farsighted Myopia ? when a person is nearsighted A person with myopia will need bifocals with age What role does each of the following play in the sensation of pain? Sustance P ? responsible for senation of severe pain Expectations ? can increase or decrease sensation of pain, gate theory of pain: pain messages pass through a ?gate? that can block the messages. Endorphines ? endorphins weaken pain sensations Activation of her anterior cingulate cortex - emotion Move a book up and down in front of you and try to read the words printed on a page. Now hold the book at arm?s length and move your head up and down and try to read the words printed on a page. Which one is easier? What sense accounts for your ability to read the words even when they are ?moving?? When you move your head up and down it is easier to read the book. The vestibular sense can account for this phenomenon. What are cones? Rods? What is the function(s) of each? What causes the blind spot? Cones ? adapted for color vision, daytime vision and detailed vision, the fovea consists solely of cones Rods ? adapted for vision in dim light Blind spot ? retinal area where the optic nerve exits List the monocular cues to perception. List the binocular cues to perception. Monocular cues ? linear perspective, depth from motion, peripheral vision, relative size, and motion parallax Binocular cues ? retinal disparity and convergance Part II What is a genotype? What is a phenotype? Phenotype ? any observable characteristic or trait of an organism. Genotype ? the genetic constitution of a cell, organism, or an individual. Describe the five genetic principles listed below AND provide an example of the principle. Dominant-recessive genes ? dominant genes: a single copy of the gine is sufficient to produce its effect. Recessive: its effects appear only if the dominant gene is absent. For example, the gene for brown eyes is dominant and the gene for blue eyes is recessive. Sex-linked genes ? genes located on the X chromosome. For example, the most common type of color vision deficiency depends on an X linked (sex linked) recessive gene. A man with that with that gene on his X chromosome will be colorblind because he has no other X chromosome. Sex-limited genes ? occurs equally in both sexes but exerts its effects mainly or entirely in one or the other. For example, both women and men have the genes for facial hair, but men?s hormones activate those genes. Genetic imprinting ? genetic phenomenon by which certain genes are expressed in a parent of origin specific manner. For example, both prater willi syndrome and angel man syndrome both involve chromosome 15 and it is either from your mom or dad. Polygenetic inheritance ? refers to inheritance of a phenotypic characteristic that is attributable to two or more genes and their interaction with the environment. For example, height varies among many different people. Describe Harry Harlow's research with the cloth and wire monkeys. Discuss the implications of his work for understanding attachment. Harlow set up an experiment to study attachment. He separated young monkeys from their mothers and assigned monkeys to different kind of ?mothers,? either a cloth, comfortable one or a wire, cold, uncomfortable mother. The wire mothers were in place to feed the baby monkeys. Harlow noticed that when the monkeys were looking for comfort or fest scared they would run to the cloth mother not the wire one. This reveals the importance of ?love? from parents and that feeding is not the only important factor in the formation of the mother-child bond. Describe the following research designs AND provide an example to illustrate each. Cross-sectional ? it is time efficient; it compares groups of individuals of different ages at the same time. For example, we could compare the drawing abilities of 6 year olds, 8 year olds, and 10 year olds. Longitudinal ? follows a single group of individuals as they develop. For example, we could study one group of children as they age from, say, 6 to 12. Sequential ? researchers start with groups of people of different ages, studied at the same time, and then study them again at one or more later times. For example, if we study the drawings of 6 and 8 year olds now and then again in 2 more years. What is habituation? What is dishabituation? Dishabituation ? when a change in a stimulus increases a previously habituated response Habituation ? decreased response to a repeated stimulus An infant is looking at a screen that is displaying different shapes and after some time, looks away from the screen. This is an example of _habituation_. If the infant returns her interest to the screen when a new assortment of shapes is displayed, then this is demonstrating _dishabituation__. Complete the table below by addressing each of the following: List the stages of Piaget?s theory of cognitive development and the approximate ages associated with each stage. Match each of the following characteristic ways of thinking to the stage of development during which each is acquired: Imaginary audience Egocentrism Concept of conservation Object permanence Provide a specific example for each of the characteristic ways of thinking listed above. Stage and ages Milestone Example Sensorimotor (birth to almost 2 years) Behavior is mostly simple motor responses to sensory stimuli Object permanence Preoperational (2 -7 years) Lacks operations or reversible mental processes Egocentrism Concrete operations (7 -11) Children perform mental operations on concrete objects but still have trouble with abstract or hypothetical ideas. Concept of conservation Formal operations (11- onward) Development of mental processes that deal with abstract, hypothetical situations. Imaginary audience Marcia describes an individual?s identity status as the intersection of crisis/exploration and commitment. List the four identity statuses as defined by Marcia AND describe the relevant issues of crisis and commitment for each. Provide an example to illustrate each of the statuses. Identity achievement ? is the outcome of having explored various possible identities and then making one?s decisions. For example, deciding on a career or making decisions about your marriage. Identity diffusion ? those who have not yet given any serious thought to making any decisions and who have no clear sense of identity are said to be in this stage. For example, this would be someone who is just not actively concerned with their identity at the moment. Identity moratorium ? people seriously considering the issues but not yet making decisions. For example, someone who is experimenting with various possibilities and imagining themselves in different roles before making a choice. Identity foreclosure ? is a state of reaching firm decisions without much though. For example, a man might be told that he is expected to go into the family business with his father. What is operant conditioning? What is classical conditioning? Operant conditioning ? is the process of changing behavior by providing reinforcement after a response. In operant conditioning the subject?s behavior determines an outcome and the outcome affects future behavior. Classical conditioning ? the process by which an organism learns a new association between two paired stimuli ? a neutral stimulus and one that already evokes a reflexive response. (Pavlov) When Jeff feeds his dog, Darwin, the bag of food makes a rustling noise. After some time of hearing the rustling of the food bag paired with the presentation of food, Darwin starts to salivate as soon as Jeff touches the bag and hears the bag rustling. Then Jeff notices that Darwin starts drooling in response to anything that rustles, including when he opens an envelop. What type of conditioning does this example illustrate? - classical Identify each of the following: Unconditioned stimulus ? dog food Unconditioned response - salivation Conditioned stimulus ? anything that rustles Conditioned response - salivation What does it mean that a reinforcement or punishment is positive? What does it mean that a reinforcement or punishment is negative? (HINT: It has NOTHING to do with whether or not it is good or bad.) If it is positive something is added. If it is negative something is removed. Define each of the following concepts and match each to the correct example: Positive reinforcement ? an addition of a stimulus in order to increase the future probability of the most recent response. Negative reinforcement ? the removal of a stimulus in order to increase the future probability of the most recent response. Positive punishment ? addition of something to decrease the probability of a response. Negative punishment ? the removal of something to decrease the probability of a response. Positive reinforcement A person gets a speeding ticket Negative reinforcement Giving a candy bar to a child who is throwing a tantrum Positive punishment Taking away a child?s chores for a week because she made an A on a test Negative punishment A teenager loses his driving privileges for a week for missing curfew Describe the following schedules of reinforcement AND provide an example for each. Continuous reinforcement ? reinforcement for every response of the correct type Fixed ratio ? reinforcement following completion of a specific number of responses Variable ratio ? reinforcement for an unpredictable number of responses that varies around a mean value Fixed interval ? reinforcement for the first response that follows a given delay since the previous reinforcement Variable interval ? reinforcement for the first response that follows an unpredictable delay (varying around a mean value) since the previous reinforcement Define and provide an example for each of the following concepts: Personal memory ? also known as episodic memory which is memory for specific events in a persons life. For example, remembering when you dropped your grandmothers vase. Autobiographical fact - Generic personal memory Self-schema ? beliefs and ideas people have about themselves Define childhood amnesia. When adults describe their earliest memories, at what age did the events they recall typically occur? Childhood amnesia ? the scarcity of early declarative memories Adults usually recall memories from as early as age 3.5 What is source memory? Provide an example. Source memory ? describes the process involved in making judgments about the origins of one?s memories. For example, when Becky thought she had gone to old time pottery but really it was phoebe from friends. Describe each of the following five systems of rules for language. Provide an example for each. Phonology ? sound system of a language, basic unit of a sound is a phoneme. For example, the ?spr? in spring. Morphology ? units of meaning involved in word formation, morpheme: unit of sound; conveys a specific meaning. For example, ?research? and ?researcher? Syntax ? meaningful word combinations that form sentences/phrases (word order), there are some language differences but also commonalities. For example, ?beautiful fish? and ?pescado bonito? Semantics ? meaning of words/sentences. For example, the sentence, ?the fish is beautiful? tells us that the fish looks pleasant. Pragmatics ? appropriate use of language in different contexts. For example, taking turns in converstions. Define implicit and explicit memory. Implicit ? an experience influences what you say or do even though you might not be aware of the influence Explicit ? someone who states an answer regards it as a product of his or her memory Complete the following table. Identify whether the following types of memory are implicit or explicit memory. Define and provide an example for each. How does each change with age? Type of Memory Implicit/Explicit Definition Example With age? Procedural Implicit Memories of motor skills Walking and talking Less likely to be affected by aging than explicit Priming Implicit Reading and hearing a word over and over will increase the likelihood of you repeating that word or something similar to it ?The tiger and the zoo? paragraph we read in class Less likely to be affected by aging than explicit Semantic Explicit Memory of general principles and facts Nearly everything you learn in school Relatively unaffected by age Episodic Explicit Memory for specific events in a person?s life What you had for dinner last night declines Define telegraphic speech, overextension, and underextension as they related to language development. Provide an example for each. Telegraphic speech ? is speech during the two word stage of language acquisition in children, for example, some really young kids say stuff like ?me want cookie? Overextension - a word might be used to describe different objects, for example, the word ?drink? is a generalized term for any liquid that you would like to consume Underextension ? this means that they use a general word to mean on extremely specific thing, such as, ?dolla? meaning ?doll? Define the following types of attention AND provide an example for each type. Sustained ? maintain attention to a selected stimulus. For example, if you are studying for a test and a noisy group walks in you must keep focus on what you are studying. Selective ? focusing on relevant aspects while ignoring irrelevant aspects. For example, if you are at a party and you only want to pay attention to what one person is saying to you. Divided ? concentrating on more than one activity at a time. For example, talking on the phone while driving. Define fluid and crystallized intelligence. Provide an example of each. Discuss how each of these types of intelligence is affected by age. Fluid ? ability to reason abstractly, thinking in novel and flexible ways. Declines with age. For example, if you are engineering you must be able to come up with rational, logical conclusions. Crystallized ? accumulated information and verbal skills. This type increases with age. For example, the variety of skills and knowledge you obtain throughout the course of your life. List and describe each of Gardner?s type of intelligences. Language ? amount of words you know Math ? this tests whether you are skilled in math or not Music ? your musical talent Spatial ? remembering where you parked your car in a parking garage Body ? ability to workout and stay in shape Social (interpersonal) ? good ?people? skills Self (intrapersonal) ? knowing who you are and to a certain extent Natural ? this is more of the general intelligence Describe Spearman?s theory of intelligence. According to this theory, would a person be more likely to excel in some subjects while failing at others OR to excel in some subjects while generally performing well in other courses, too. He took the psychometric approach that is the measurement of individual differences in performance. To perform well on any test of mental ability, spearmen arugued, people need a ?general? ability, which is called g. It can not be defiantly determined if a person would be more likely to excel in some subjects while performing generally well in other courses or more likely to excel in some subjects while failing at others because Spearmen said ?it depends? solely on the person.