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PSC 1 exam 2
UC Davis PSC 1 exam 2
285
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
02/16/2016
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Term
Nonassociative learning
 Definition
responding after
repeated exposure to a single stimulus, or
event
Term
Associative Learning
 Definition
linking two stimuli, or
events, that occur together
Term
Observational
 Definition
acquiring or changing a
behavior after exposure to another individual
performing that behavior
Term
_______ and _______ Are Simple Models of Learning
 Definition
Habituation and Sensitization
Term
Habituation:
 Definition
a decrease in behavioral
response after repeated exposure to a stimulus
Term
Dishabituation
 Definition
an increase in a response
because of a change in something familiar
Term
Sensitization
 Definition
an increase in behavioral
response after exposure to a stimulus
Term
Stimuli that most often lead to sensitization are
those that are
 Definition
threatening or painful.
Term
How Do We Learn Predictive
Associations?
 Definition
We learn predictive associations through
conditioning, the process that connects
environmental stimuli to behavior
Term
Psychologists study two types of associative
learning:
 Definition
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Term
Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning
 Definition
a neutral object
comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a
stimulus that already produces that response
Term
Neutral stimulus
 Definition
anything the animal can see or hear as long as it
is not associated with the reflex being tested (e.g., a ringing bell)
Term
Unconditioned stimulus (US):
 Definition
a stimulus that elicits a response,
such as a reflex, without any prior learning (e.g., food)
Term
Unconditioned response (UR)
 Definition
a response
that does not have to be learned, such as a
reflex
Term
Unconditioned stimulus (US):
 Definition
a stimulus that
elicits a response, such as a reflex, without any
prior learning
Term
Conditioned stimulus (CS):
 Definition
a stimulus that
elicits a response only after learning has taken
place
Term
Conditioned response (CR):
 Definition
a response to a
conditioned stimulus; a response that has been
learned
Term
Acquisition
 Definition
the gradual formation of an
association between the conditioned and
unconditioned stimuli
Term
CR is stronger when there is a very
brief delay
 Definition
between the CS and the US
Term
Extinction
 Definition
a process in which the conditioned
response is weakened when the conditioned
stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned
stimulus
Term
Spontaneous recovery
 Definition
a process in which a
previously extinguished conditioned response
reemerges after the presentation of the
conditioned stimulus
Term
Extinction inhibits the associative bond, but
does not
 Definition
eliminate it
Term
Second-order conditioning:
 Definition
a CS becomes
associated with other stimuli associated with
the US. This phenomenon helps account for
the complexity of learned associations
Term
• Stimulus generalization
 Definition
learning that occurs
when stimuli that are similar, but not identical,
to the conditioned stimulus produce the
conditioned response
Term
Stimulus discrimination:
 Definition
a differentiation
between two similar stimuli when only one of
them is consistently associated with the
unconditioned stimulus
Term
Classical Conditioning
Involves
 Definition
More Than 2 Events
Occurring at the Same Time
Term
– Contiguity was not sufficient to create
 Definition
CS-US
associations
Term
Classical conditioning is a way that animals
come to
 Definition
predict the occurrence of events that
prompted psychologists to try to understand
the mental processes that underlie
conditioning
Term
– Robert Rescorla argued that for learning to take
place, the conditioned stimulus must
 Definition
accurately
predict the unconditioned stimulus
Term
Rescorla-Wagner model:
 Definition
a cognitive model of
classical conditioning; it holds that the
strength of the CS-US association is
determined by the extent to which the
unconditioned stimulus is unexpected
Term
Classical conditioning helps explain many
behavioral phenomena such as
 Definition
phobias
Term
Fear conditioning
 Definition
the process of classically
conditioning animals to fear neutral objects
Term
– Freezing
 Definition
may be a hardwired response to fear that
helps animals deal with predators
Term
The “Little Albert” Research Method
 Definition
eventually, the pairing of the rat (CS)
and the clanging sound (US) led to the rat’s
producing fear (CR) on its own
Term
Operant Conditioning (Instrumental
Conditioning):
 Definition
a learning process in which the
consequences of an action determine the
likelihood that it will be performed in the
future
Term
Law of Effect:
 Definition
any behavior that leads to a
“satisfying state of affairs” is likely to occur
again, and any behavior that leads to an “annoying
state of affairs” is less likely to occur again
Term
Shaping
 Definition
an operant-conditioning technique that
consists of reinforcing behaviors that are
increasingly similar to the desired behavior
Term
Primary reinforcers
 Definition
satisfy biological needs
such as food or water
Term
Secondary reinforcers
 Definition
events or objects
established through classical conditioning that
serve as reinforcers but do not satisfy
biological needs (e.g., money)
Term
Reinforcement—positive or negative ____ the likelihood of a behavior
 Definition
increases
Term
Positive reinforcement:
 Definition
the administration of a
stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior’s
being repeated
Term
Negative reinforcement:
 Definition
the removal of a
stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior’s
being repeated
Term
Interval schedule
 Definition
Reinforcement is provided after a
specific unit of time
Term
Ratio schedule
 Definition
Reinforcement is based on the number of
times the behavior occurs
Term
Ratio reinforcement generally leads to____ responding than does interval reinforcement
 Definition
greater
Term
Partial reinforcement can be administered according
to either
 Definition
the number of behavioral responses or the
passage of time
Term
Partial reinforcement can also be given on a
 Definition
fixed schedule or a variable schedule:
Term
Variable schedule
 Definition
Reinforcement is provided at
different rates or at different times
Term
Fixed Interval schedule (FI):
 Definition
occurs when
reinforcement is provided after a certain
amount of time has passed
Term
Variable Interval schedule (VI)
 Definition
occurs when
reinforcement is provided after the passage of
time, but the time is not regula
Term
Fixed Ratio schedule (FR):
 Definition
occurs when
reinforcement is provided after a certain
number of responses have been made
Term
Variable Ratio schedule (VR)
 Definition
occurs when
reinforcement is provided after an
unpredictable number of responses
Term
Positive punishment
 Definition
the administration of a
stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior’s
recurring
Term
– Negative punishment:
 Definition
the removal of a stimulus
to decrease the probability of a behavior’s
recurring
Term
Many psychologists believe that____ reinforcement is the most effective way of
increasing desired behaviors
 Definition
positive
Term
Behavior modification
 Definition
the use of operantconditioning
techniques to eliminate unwanted
behaviors and replace them with desirable ones
Term
Token economies
 Definition
operate on the principle of
secondary reinforcement. Tokens are earned for
completing tasks and lost for bad behavior. Tokens
can later be traded for objects or privileges
Term
• The neurotransmitter_____is involved in
addictive behavior and plays an important
role in reinforcement
 Definition
dopamine
Term
Behavior modification
 Definition
the use of operantconditioning
techniques to eliminate unwanted
behaviors and replace them with desirable ones
Term
Vicarious learning
 Definition
learning the
consequences of an action by watching others
being rewarded or punished for performing the
same action
Term
Memory
 Definition
the nervous system’s capacity to
retain and retrieve skills and knowledge
Term
Encoding
 Definition
the processing of information so that it can be
stored
Term
Storage:
 Definition
the retention of encoded representations over
time
Term
Consolidation
 Definition
the neural process by which encoded
information becomes stored in memory
Term
Retrieval:
 Definition
the act of recalling or remembering stored
information when it is needed
Term
Multiple brain regions have been implicated in
memory:
 Definition
Hippocampus
– Prefrontal cortex
– Temporal lobes
– Cerebellum
– Amygdala
Term
hippocampus and learnin
 Definition
spatial memory
Term
pre frontal cortex
 Definition
working memory
Term
temporal lobe and memory
 Definition
declarative memory
Term
amygdala
 Definition
fear learning
Term
cerebellum
 Definition
motor action learning and memory
Term
Long-term potentiation (LTP )
 Definition
strengthening of a synaptic connection, making
the postsynaptic neurons more easily activated
by presynaptic neurons
Term
– The word potentiate means to
 Definition
strengthen
Term
The finding that the NMDA receptor is involved
in LTP led researchers to examine
 Definition
genetic
processes that might influence memory
Term
memory is
distributed among
 Definition
different brain regions.
Term
medial
temporal lobes, is responsible for the
 Definition
formation of new
memories
Term
The actual storage occurs in the particular brain regions
engaged during the
 Definition
perception, processing, and analysis of the
material being learned
Term
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model emphasizes that
memory storage varies in
 Definition
duration and
capacity
Term
Sensory memory
 Definition
very
briefly stores sensory information in close to its
original sensory form
Term
Visual sensory memory is called
 Definition
iconic memory
Term
Auditory sensory memory is called
 Definition
echoic memory
Term
Sperling concluded that sensory memory persists for about
 Definition
one-third of a second and then progressively fades
Term
Working Memory
 Definition
Is Active
Term
short-term memory is
 Definition
working memory
Term
Working memory:
 Definition
an active processing system that keeps
different types of information available for current use
Term
nformation remains in working memory for about ____ to ____ seconds unless you actively prevent it from disappearing by thinking about
or rehearsing the information
 Definition
20 to 30
Term
_____,______, and ______ make distinct and independent contributions to
updating the contents of working memory
 Definition
Retrieval, transformation, and substitution
Term
Chunking
 Definition
organizing information into meaningful units to
make it easier to remember
Term
Long-term memory
 Definition
relatively permanent
Term
The distinction between working memory and longterm
memory has been demonstrated by studies that
investigated the
 Definition
serial position effect
Term
Serial position effect
 Definition
the idea that the ability to recall
items from a list depends on the order of presentation,
with items presented early or late in the list remembered
better than those in the middle:
Term
Primacy effect
 Definition
better memory for items at the beginning of the list
(reflects long-term memory)
Term
Recency effect
 Definition
better memory for the items at the end of a list
(reflects working memory)
Term
Information is most likely to be transferred from
working memory to long-term memory if it is
 Definition
repeatedly retrieved or deeply processed, or if
it helps us adapt to an environment:
Term
Evolutionary theory
 Definition
helps explain how we
decide in advance what information will be
useful:
Term
Craik and Lockhart’s levels of processing
model
 Definition
more deeply an item is
encoded, the more meaning it has and the
better it is remembered
Term
Maintenance rehearsal:
 Definition
repeating the item over
and over
Term
Elaborative rehearsal
 Definition
encodes the information in
more meaningful ways
Term
The more an item is elaborated at the time of
storage,
 Definition
the richer the later memory will be
because more connections can serve as
retrieval cues:
Term
Schemas
 Definition
cognitive structures that help us
perceive, organize, process, and use information
Term
Information Is Stored
in
 Definition
Association Networks
Term
Collins and Loftus’s model of networks of
associations where
 Definition
each unit of information
about an item is a single node in the network
Term
The closer the nodes
 Definition
the stronger the association
between them and therefore the more likely it is that
activating one node will activate the other
Term
Spreading activation models:
 Definition
Stimuli in
working memory activate specific nodes in
long-term memory, making retrieval easier
Term
Retrieval Cues Provide Access
to
 Definition
Long-Term Storage
Term
Retrieval cue
 Definition
anything that helps a person (or
a nonhuman animal) recall information stored
in long-term memory
Term
Encoding specificity principle
 Definition
the idea that
any stimulus that is encoded along with an
experience can later trigger a memory for the
experience
Term
Memory may be enhanced by
 Definition
Context-dependent memory
State-dependent memory
Term
State-dependent memory
 Definition
when a person’s
internal states match during encoding and recall
Term
Context-dependent memory
 Definition
when the recall
situation is similar to the encoding situation
Term
Long-term memories can differ
 Definition
in how they
are acquired and how they are stored and
retrieved
Term
Explicit Memory
Involves
 Definition
Conscious Effort
Term
Fundamental differences
 Definition
exist among
episodic and semantic memory, explicit and
implicit memory, and prospective memory:
Term
Implicit memory
 Definition
the system underlying
unconscious memories
Term
Explicit memory
 Definition
the system underlying
conscious memories
Term
Declarative memory
 Definition
the cognitive information
retrieved from explicit memory; knowledge that can be
declared
Term
Episodic memory
 Definition
memory for one’s personal
past experiences
Term
Semantic memory:
 Definition
memory for knowledge
about the world
Term
Implicit memory consists of
 Definition
memories that
exist without our awareness of them and that
do not require conscious attention
Term
Procedural (motor) memory:
 Definition
a type of
implicit memory that involves motor skills
and behavioral habits
Term
Prospective Memory Is
 Definition
remembering to do
something at some future time
Term
Without a retrieval cue
 Definition
remembering requires
conscious effor
Term
Schacter identified what he calls the seven sins
of memory:
 Definition
– Transience, blocking, absentmindedness, and
persistence Misattribution, suggestibility, and bias
Term
Transience, blocking, absentmindedness, and
persistence
 Definition
are related to forgetting and
remembering
Term
Misattribution, suggestibility, and bias
 Definition
are
distortions of memory
Term
Transience Is Caused by
 Definition
Interference
Term
Transience
 Definition
forgetting over time
Term
Proactive interference
 Definition
interference that occurs
when prior information inhibits the ability to
remember new information
Term
Retroactive interference
 Definition
interference that occurs
when new information inhibits the ability to
remember old information
Term
Blocking:
 Definition
the temporary inability to remember
something
Term
tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is an example of
 Definition
blocking
Term
Absentmindedness
 Definition
the inattentive or shallow
encoding of events
Term
This type of memory loss is not one of Schacter’s
seven sins
 Definition
amnesia
Term
Amnesia Is a Deficit in
 Definition
Long-Term Memory
Term
– Retrograde amnesia:
 Definition
a condition in which people
lose past memories, such as memories for events,
facts, people, or even personal information
Term
Anterograde amnesia
 Definition
a condition in which
people lose the ability to form new memories
Term
Persistence
 Definition
the continual recurrence of unwanted
memories
Term
People Reconstruct
Events to Be
 Definition
Consistent
Term
Memory bias
 Definition
the changing of memories over
time so that they become consistent with current
beliefs or attitudes
Term
Groups’ collective memories can
 Definition
seriously distort
the past
Term
Flashbulb memories
 Definition
vivid episodic
memories for circumstances in which people
first learned of a surprising, consequential, or
emotionally arousing event
Term
Flashbulb Memories Can Be
 Definition
Wrong
Term
Any event that produces a strong emotional
response is likely to produce a
 Definition
a vivid, although
not necessarily accurate, memory
Term
Von Restorff effect:
 Definition
A distinctive event may be
recalled more easily than a trivial event, however
inaccurate the result
Term
Source misattribution
 Definition
memory distortion that
occurs when people misremember the time, place,
person, or circumstances involved with a memory
Term
Source amnesia
 Definition
a type of amnesia that occurs
when a person shows memory for an event but
cannot remember where he or she encountered
the information
Term
The absence of early memories, or childhood
amnesia, may be due to
 Definition
lack of linguistic
capacity as well as to immature frontal lobes
Term
• Cryptomnesia:
 Definition
a type of misattribution that
occurs when a person thinks he or she has
come up with a new idea, yet has only
retrieved a stored idea and failed to attribute
the idea to its proper source:
– This mistake can later lead to an accusation of
plagiarism
Term
Loftus’s studies on suggestibility concluded that
people can
 Definition
“remember” seeing nonexistent objects
Term
Suggestibility
 Definition
the development of biased memories from
misleading information
Term
Eyewitnesses might
 Definition
inadvertently develop stronger
memories for inaccurate details due to reconsolidation, as
when retelling their stories to police, friends, and relatives
Term
Children are particularly susceptible
 Definition
false
memories being induced
Term
The legitimacy of repressed memories continues to be
debated by contemporary psychologists, many of
whom argue that such memories may be implanted
by suggestive techniques
 Definition
such as hypnosis and
guided recall
Term
Cognition
 Definition
the mental activity that includes
thinking and the understandings that result
from thinking
Term
Thinking:
 Definition
mental manipulation of
representations
Term
We use two basic types of mental representations:
 Definition
Analogical representations
Symbolic representations
Term
Symbolic representations
 Definition
abstract mental
representations that do not correspond to the physical
features of objects or ideas
Term
Analogical representations:
 Definition
mental representations that
have some of the physical characteristics of objects; they
are analogous to the objects
Term
Concepts Are
 Definition
Symbolic Representations
Term
– Concept:
 Definition
a category, or class, of related items; it
consists of mental representations of those items
Term
Prototype model
 Definition
a way of thinking about
concepts: Within each category, there is a best
example—a prototype—for that category
Term
Exemplar model:
 Definition
a way of thinking about
concepts: all members of a category are
examples (exemplars); together they form
the concept and determine category
membership:
Term
It assumes that, through experience, people form a
fuzzy representation of a concept because
 Definition
there
is no single representation of any concept
Term
Schemas Organize
 Definition
Useful
Information About Environments
Term
Schemas and scripts may lead us to think and
act in
 Definition
stereotypical ways
Term
– Stereotypes:
 Definition
cognitive schemas that allow for
easy, fast processing of information about people
based on their membership in certain groups
Term
Scripts
 Definition
are schemas that dictate appropriate
behavior
Term
Schemas and scripts are adaptive in that they
 Definition
enable us to make quick judgments with little
effort
Term
Thinking enables us to do the following
 Definition
Decision making
Problem solving
Term
Decision Making
Often Involves
 Definition
Heuristics
Term
Normative decision theories
 Definition
attempts to define how people should
make decisions
Term
Descriptive decision theories:
 Definition
attempts to predict how people actually
make choices, not to define ideal choices
Term
Heuristics
 Definition
shortcuts (rules of thumb or informal
guidelines) used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions
is needed to make decisions
Term
Anchoring:
 Definition
the tendency, in making judgments,
to rely on the first piece of information
encountered or information that comes most
quickly to mind
Term
Framing:
 Definition
in decision making, the tendency to
emphasize the potential losses or potential
gains from at least one alternative
Term
Availability heuristic
 Definition
making a decision
based on the answer that most easily comes to
mind
Term
Affective forecasting
 Definition
the tendency for people to
overestimate how events will make them feel in the
future
Term
The Paradox of Choice
 Definition
When too many options are available,
especially when all of them are attractive,
people experience conflict and indecision
– Although some choice is better than none, some
scholars note that too much choice can be
frustrating, unsatisfying, and ultimately
debilitating
Term
In problem solving we often need to revise a
mental representation to overcome an
obstacle with
 Definition
– Restructuring:
Mental sets
Functional fixedness:
Term
Restructuring
 Definition
a new way of thinking about a
problem that aids its solution
Term
Mental sets:
 Definition
problem-solving strategies that have
worked in the past
Term
Functional fixedness
 Definition
in problem solving, having
fixed ideas about the typical functions of objects
Term
Insight
 Definition
the sudden realization of a solution to
a problem
Term
Language
 Definition
a system of communication using
sounds and symbols according to grammatical
rules
Term
Morphemes:
 Definition
the smallest language units that have
meaning, including suffixes and prefixes
Term
Phonemes:
 Definition
the basic sounds of speech, making them
the building blocks of language
Term
A language’s syntax is
 Definition
system of rules that
govern how words are combined into phrases
and how phrases are combined to make
sentences
Term
Semantics
 Definition
is the study of the system of meanings
that underlie words, phrases, and sentences
Term
Fluid intelligence
 Definition
intelligence that reflects the
ability to process information, particularly in novel
or complex circumstances
Term
Crystallized intelligence
 Definition
intelligence that
reflects both the knowledge one acquires through
experience and the ability to use that knowledge
Term
Multiple intelligences
 Definition
the idea that there are
different types of intelligence that are
independent of one another
Term
Sternberg theorized that there are three types
of intelligence
 Definition
Analytical intelligence
Creative intelligence
Practical intelligence
Term
Analytical intelligence
 Definition
being good at problem
solving and other academic challenges
Term
Creative intelligence
 Definition
solve novel problems—to think in
new and interesting ways
Term
Practical intelligence
 Definition
refers to dealing with
everyday tasks, such as knowing whether a
parking space is large enough for your vehicle
Term
Emotional intelligence (EI):
 Definition
a form of social
intelligence that emphasizes the abilities to manage,
recognize, and understand emotions and use
emotions to guide appropriate thought and action
Term
Savants
 Definition
Savants have minimal intellectual capacities in most
domains, but at a very early age each savant shows an
exceptional ability in some “intelligent” process
Term
Genes and Environment
Influence
 Definition
Intelligence
Term
Many environmental influences affect human
intelligence such as
 Definition
Prenatal factors:
Postnatal factors:
Term
Environmental Factors
 Definition
-Socioeconomic status (SES)
-enriched environments enhance
learning and memory
-Schooling
Term
Stereotype threat
 Definition
apprehension about confirming
negative stereotypes related to one’s own group
Term
• The dramatic rise of IQ scores during the last
century has been called the
 Definition
Flynn effect
Term
Attachment:
 Definition
a strong emotional connection
that persists over time and across
circumstances
Term
Attachment is
 Definition
adaptive; attachment is a
dynamic relationship that facilitates survival for
the infant and parental investment for the
caregivers
– Attachment behaviors begin during the first
months of life, but may vary somewhat, depending
on cultural practices
– Attachment motivates infants and caregivers to
stay in close contact
Term
Secure attachment
 Definition
the attachment style for a
majority of infants. The infant is confident enough
to play in an unfamiliar environment as long as the
caregiver is present and is readily comforted by the
caregiver during times of distress
Term
Insecure (anxious) attachment
 Definition
the attachment
style for a minority of infants. The infant may
exhibit insecure attachment through various
behaviors, such as avoiding contact with the
caregiver, or by alternating between approach
and avoidance behaviors
Term
Research shows that secure attachments are
related to better
 Definition
socioemotional functioning
in childhood, better peer relations, and
successful adjustment at schoo
Term
Insecure attachments have been linked to
 Definition
poor outcomes later in life, such as depression
and behavioral problems
Term
Piaget 4 stages of development
 Definition
– Sensorimotor
– Preoperational
– Concrete operational
– Formal operational
Term
• Piaget believed that each stage builds on the
previous one through two learning processes
 Definition
Assimilation
Accommodation
Term
Accommodation
 Definition
the process by which we create
a new schema or drastically alter an existing
schema to include new information that
otherwise would not fit into the schema
Term
Assimilation
 Definition
the process by which we place new
information into an existing schema
Term
Sensorimotor Stage age
 Definition
(Birth to 2 Years)
Term
Sensorimotor stage
 Definition
the first stage in Piaget’
s
theory of cognitive development. During this
stage, infants acquire information about the
world through their senses and motor skills:
Reflexive responses develop into more
deliberate actions through the development
and refinement of schemas
also Object permanence
Term
Preoperational Stage age
 Definition
(2 to 7 Years)
Term
Preoperational stage:
 Definition
the second stage in
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
During this stage, children think
symbolically about objects, but they reason
based on intuition and superficial
appearance rather than logic
Term
Preoperational Stage lack of conservation skills
 Definition
is thought to be
due to a key cognitive limitations of the
preoperational period such as Centration: and egocentrism
Term
Centration
 Definition
this limitation occurs when a
preschooler cannot think about more than one
detail of a problem-solving task at a time
Term
Egocentrism
 Definition
this is the tendency for
preoperational thinkers to view the world through
their own experiences
Term
Concrete Operational Stage age
 Definition
(7 to 12 Years)
Term
Concrete operational stage
 Definition
the third stage in
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
During this stage, children begin to think
about and understand logical operations, and
they are no longer fooled by appearances
Term
According to Piaget, the ability to understand
that an action is reversible enables children to
begin to understand concepts
 Definition
such as
conservation of quantity
Term
Piaget believed that children at this stage
reason only about concrete things (objects
they can act on in the world).
 Definition
Concrete Operational Stage
Term
Formal Operational Stage age
 Definition
(12 Years to Adulthood)
Term
Formal operational stage
 Definition
the final stage in
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
During this stage, people can think
abstractly, and can formulate and test
hypotheses through deductive logic:
Term
The body and mind start deteriorating slowly at
about age
 Definition
50:
Term
socioemotional selectivity theory
 Definition
as people
grow older they perceive time to be limited,
and therefore they adjust their priorities to
emphasize emotionally meaningful events,
experiences, and goals
Term
socioemotional selectivity
 Definition
older people show better
memory for positive than for negative information.
Term
deterioration of brain in old ppl
 Definition
frontal lobes shrink
Term
Valence
 Definition
indicates how negative or positive
emotions are
Term
activation of emotions
 Definition
indicates how arousing
they are:
Term
Arousal:
 Definition
physiological activation (such as
increased brain activity) or increased autonomic
responses (such as increased heart rate, sweating,
or muscle tension)
Term
James-Lange Theory
 Definition
people perceive
specific patterns of bodily responses, and as a
result of that perception they feel emotion
Term
Cannon-Bard Theory
 Definition
mind and body experience emotions
independently
Term
Schacter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
 Definition
A label applied to
physiological arousal results in the experience of
an emotion
Term
Facial expressions,
 Definition
like emotions themselves,
provide adaptive information
Darwin argued that the face innately
communicates emotions to others and that
these communications are understandable by
all people, regardless of culture
Term
Display rules
 Definition
rules learned through socialization that dictate
which emotions are suitable to given situations
Term
For understanding emotion, the most important
limbic system structures are the
 Definition
insula
amygdala
Term
The insula
 Definition
receives and integrates somatosensory
signals from the entire body
Term
when is the insula most active
 Definition
Imaging studies have found that the insula is
particularly active when people experience disgust
• The insula is also activated in a variety of other
emotions, including anger, guilt, and anxiety
Term
The amygdala processes the emotional
 Definition
ignificance of stimuli, and it generates immediate
emotional and behavioral reactions
Term
People with damage to the amygdala do not
develop
 Definition
conditioned fear responses to objects
associated with dangerous objects
Term
Information reaches the amygdala along two
separate pathways
 Definition
fast path and slow path
Term
fast path
 Definition
sensory information travels quickly
through the thalamus directly to the amygdala for
priority processin
Term
slow path
 Definition
sensory material travels from the
thalamus to the cortex (the visual cortex or the auditory
cortex), where the information is scrutinized in greater
depth before it is passed along to the amygdala
Term
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
 Definition
(most basic to most complex)
-physiological
-safety
-belonging and love
-esteem
-self actualization
Term
The ability to delay gratification is predictive of
 Definition
success in life , More socially competent and better able to handle
frustration
Term
The ability to delay gratification in childhood has been
found to predict higher
 Definition
SAT scores and better school
grades
Term
ccording to Mischel and Metcalf, the most
successful strategy to delay gratification
involves turning
 Definition
hot cognitions into cold
cognitions— mentally transforming the desired
object into something undesired:
Also, proactively removing the temptation
Term
Hot cognitions
 Definition
focus on the rewarding,
pleasurable aspects of objects
Term
Cold cognitions
 Definition
focus on conceptual or symbolic
meaning
Term
Metcalfe and Mischel proposed that this hot/
cold distinction is based on
 Definition
Metcalfe and Mischel proposed that this hot/
cold distinction is based on
Term
The amygdala and the nucleus accumbens are
important for_____ while the prefrontal cortex performs
 Definition
motivating behavior ; such as the control of thought and of
behavior, and helps us make choices that may
optimize survival
Term
Eating Is Influenced by
 Definition
Time and
Taste
Term
Flavor and variety motivate eating. Animals,
including humans, will
 Definition
stop eating relatively
quickly if they have just one type of food to
eat, but they will continue eating if presented
with a different type of food:
Term
Sensory-specific satiety
 Definition
animals eat more when
presented with a variety of foods as they quickly
grow tired of any one flavor
Term
What people will eat is determined by
 Definition
combination of personal experience and
cultural beliefs; it has little to do with logic and
everything to do with what we believe is food
Term
Culture Plays a Role in eating because
 Definition
Local norms for what to eat and how to prepare it
Religious and cultural values
Taboos
Term
Sexual response cycle
 Definition
Excitement phase
Plateau phase
Orgasm phase
Resolution phase
Term
Excitement phase
 Definition
occurs when people contemplate
sexual activity or begin engaging in sexual behaviors
Term
Plateau phase
 Definition
pulse rate, breathing, and blood pressure
increase, as do the various other signs of arousal
Term
Orgasm phase:
 Definition
involuntary muscle contractions
throughout the body, dramatic increases in breathing
and heart rate, rhythmic contractions of the vagina for
women, and ejaculation of semen for men
Term
Resolution phase
 Definition
dramatic release of sexual tension
and a slow return to a normal state of arousal
Term
Sexual scripts
 Definition
are cognitive beliefs about how
a sexual episode should be enacted
Term
The depiction of sexual behavior in movies
and other media shapes
 Definition
shapes beliefs and
expectations about what sexual behaviors are
appropriate and when they are appropriate
Term
The best available evidence suggests that exposure to
hormones, especially androgens, in the prenatal
environment might play
 Definition
some role in sexual orientation.
Term
Researchers found that altering the expression of a single
“master” gene reversed the
 Definition
sexual orientations of male and
female flies.
Term
Some research suggests the _____ may be
related to sexual orientation
 Definition
hypothalamus
Term
Prospective memory
 Definition
remembering to do
something at some future time
Term
Implicit memory:
 Definition
the system underlying
unconscious memories
Term
– Explicit memory:
 Definition
the system underlying
conscious memories
Term
Declarative memory
 Definition
the cognitive information
retrieved from explicit memory; knowledge that can be
declared
Term
Maintenance rehearsal:
 Definition
repeating the item over
and over
Term
Elaborative rehearsal:
 Definition
encodes the information in
more meaningful ways
Term
Serial position effect:
 Definition
the idea that the ability to recall
items from a list depends on the order of presentation,
with items presented early or late in the list remembered
better than those in the middle:
Term
• Primacy effect:
 Definition
better memory for items at the beginning of the list
(reflects long-term memory)
Term
Recency effect:
 Definition
better memory for the items at the end of a list
(reflects working memory)
Term
Prospect theory
 Definition
– a person’s wealth affects his or her choices
– loss aversion: Because losses feel much worse than
gains feel good, a person will try to avoid
situations that involve losses
Term
syntax
 Definition
system of rules that
govern how words are combined into phrases
and how phrases are combined to make
sentences
Term
Semantics
 Definition
the study of the system of meanings
that underlie words, phrases, and sentences
Term
General intelligence
 Definition
the idea that one general
factor underlies intelligence
Term
socioemotional selectivity theory
 Definition
as people
grow older they perceive time to be limited,
and therefore they adjust their priorities to
emphasize emotionally meaningful events,
experiences, and goals
Term
Cantril's Self-Anchoring Scale
 Definition
Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered
from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of
the ladder represents the best possible life for
you, and the bottom of the ladder represents the
worst possible life for you. On which step of the
ladder would you say you personally feel you
stand at this time?
Term
For psychologists, emotion (sometimes called
affect) has three components
 Definition
-physiological
-behavioral
-cognitive appraisal
Term
Moods:
 Definition
diffuse, long-lasting emotional states.
Rather than interrupting what is happening, they
influence thought and behavior
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