PSYCHOLOGY FINAL MIDTERM ONE MOST MISSED TOPICS Experimental designs or experiments permit cause and effect inferences Experiment research design characterized by random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable Random assignment randomly sorting participants into two groups Experimental group the group of participants that receive the manipulation Control group the group that doesn t receive the manipulation Independent variable variable that the experimenter manipulates i ii iii iv v Dependent variable variable that the experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation has an effect For an experiment to be valid the independent variable must be the ONLY difference between the experimental group and the control group Operational definition a working definition of what a researcher is measuring Frontal lobe forward part of cerebral cortex responsible for motor function language memory and planning Motor cortex part of frontal lobe responsible for body movement Prefrontal cortex part of frontal lobe responsible for thinking planning and language Broca s area language area in the prefrontal cortex that helps to control speech production Parietal lobe upper middle part of the cerebral cortex lying behind the frontal lobe that is specialized for touch and perception Temporal lobe lower part of cerebral cortex that plays roles in hearing understanding language and memory Somatic nervous system part of the nervous system that conveys information between the CNS and the body controlling and coordinating voluntary movement Autonomic nervous system part of the nervous system controlling the involuntary actions of our internal organs and glands which along with the limbic system participates in emotion regulation Sympathetic nervous system division of the autonomic nervous system engaged during a crisis or after actions requiring fight or flight Parasympathetic nervous system division of the autonomic nervous system that controls rest and digestion Illusion perception in which the way we perceive a stimulus doesn t match its physical reality Sensation detection of physical energy by sense organs which then send information to the brain 1 Perception the brain s interpretation of raw sensory inputs Transduction the process of converting an external energy or substance into electrical activity within neurons Sense receptor specialized cell responsible for converting external stimuli into neural activity for a specific sensory system Sensory adaptation activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected Psychophysics the study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics Absolute threshold lowest level of a stimulus needed for the nervous system to detect a change 50 percent of the time Just noticeable difference JND the smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect Weber s Law there is a constant proportional relationship between the JND and original stimulus intensity Depth perception ability to judge distance and three dimensional relations Monocular depth cues stimuli that enable us to judge depth using only one eye Binocular depth cues stimuli that enable us to judge depth using both eyes MIDTERM TWO MOST MISSED TOPICS Law of effect principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behavior results in a reward the stimulus is more likely to give rise to the behavior in the future if a behavior leads to reward the organism will increasingly behave the same way in the future to continue getting a reward Insight grasping the underlying nature of a problem suddenly understanding a solution to a problem Skinner box small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviors to be recorded unsupervised Reinforcement outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior Types of Reinforcement Positive vs Negative Reinforcement vs Punishment Positive Reinforcement presentation of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior adding a stimulus to increase a specific behavior Negative Reinforcement removal of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior removing a stimulus to increase a specific behavior Punishment outcome or consequence of a behavior that weakens the probability of the behavior Positive Punishment adding a stimulus to decrease a specific behavior Negative Punishment removing a stimulus to decrease a specific behavior Discriminative stimulus stimulus associated with the presence of reinforcement 2 Stimulus discrimination learning to tell the difference between two different types of stimuli Schedule of reinforcement pattern of reinforcing a behavior Continuous reinforcement reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs resulting in faster learning but faster extinction than only occasional reinforcement Partial reinforcement only occasional reinforcement of a behavior resulting in slower extinction than if the behavior had been reinforced continually Long term potentiation LTP gradual strengthening of the connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation Na ve physics a set of beliefs possessed by infants a basic understanding of how physical objects behave For example they know that objects that are unsupported should fall CHAPTER 13 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Social Psychology study of how people influence others behavior beliefs and attitudes for both good and bad Social comparison theory theory that we seek to evaluate our abilities and beliefs by comparing them with those of others Mass hysteria outbreak of irrational behavior that is spread by social contagion Social facilitation enhancement of performance brought about by the presence of others Attribution process of assigning causes to behavior Fundamental attribution error tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people s behavior Conformity tendency of people to alter their behavior as a result of group pressure Parametric studies studies in which an experimenter systematically manipulates the independent variable to observe its effects on the dependent variable Deindividuation tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behavior when they are stripped of their usual identities Groupthink emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking Group polarization tendency of group discussion to strengthen the dominant positions held by individual group members