Social Sciences and Psychology Flashcards
(169 cards)
1
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Gestalt principles
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Proximity; Similarity; Enclosure; Symmetry; Closure; Continuity; Connection; Figure/Ground;
2
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Information Processing Theory
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Idea that humans process the information they receive like a computer: mind has attention mechanisms for bringing information in; working memory for actively manipulating information; and long-term memory for passively holding information so that it can be used in the future
3
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Nocturia
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Need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night
4
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Mechanisms to Aid Memory Retrieval
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Serial recall; primacy and recency (things at start and end of list)
5
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Sensory memory
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retained just long enough to be transferred to short term memory; or discarded if attention is not being paid. Iconic=visual; echoic=hearing; haptic=touch
6
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Procedural vs Declarative Memories
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Types of long-term memory. Procedural- how to perform tasks. Declarative- memories that are consciously recalled
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Semantic vs Episodic Memories
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Types of declarative memory. Semantic- memory of facts. Episodic- memory of events
8
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Implicit vs Explicit Memories
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Implicit- unconscious. Explicit- conscious
9
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Korsakoff Syndrome
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Memory dysfunction: amnesia; invented memories; apathy caused by thiamine deficiency and common in alcoholics
10
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Memory decay
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Belief that memory fades due to passage of time; more relevant to short term memory; rehearsal keeps in tact
11
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Interference (memory)
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interaction between new material and old (ex. Professor can’t memorize student names b/c he’s already memorized so many)
12
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Source monitoring error
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mind constructs memory by assembling all sources and can have difficulty separating them (ex. Crime witness believes they saw a crime but only read about it)
13
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Long term potentiation
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persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity
14
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Theory of language development: Nativism
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(ie the nativist hypothesis) characteristics are hard wired at birth; language is not learned. No human society has not used language; children just pick it up naturally
15
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Theory of language development: Empiricsm
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language is a learned behavior acquired during early years
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Theory of language development: Interactionism
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language develops from interaction of biological; cognitive and environmental influences (a more broad definition)
17
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Causal inference
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one event caused another
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Anaphoric inference
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connects objects/persons from one to another sentence (ex. John took the aspirin. He is better. He is referring to john)
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Instrumental inference
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inference about the tools/methods used (ex. John took the aspirin. He must have swallowed it not snorted)
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Predictive/forward inference
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inference about the outcome of an event (ex. John took an aspirin. He will soon get better)
21
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Wernicke’s area
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Understanding written/spoken language (as opposed to producing)
22
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Broca’s area
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Producing language. Broca=boca=mouth=speaking
23
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Piaget
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Stages of Cognitive Development
24
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Piaget’s stage of cognitive development: Sensorimotor
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Age 0-2: simple reflexes; egocentric; experience world through 5 senses
Learn: object permanance, cause-and-effect, language
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Piaget's stage of cognitive development: Preoperational
Age 2-7: egocentric; lack of logical thinking and presence of magical thinking (making causal relationships where there is none). Engage in pretend play. Struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people
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Piaget's stage of cognitive development: Concrete Operational
Age 7-12: Understand concepts attached to concrete situations. Can see multiple points of view. Understand time and space; but not as independent concepts. Know conservation. Less egocentric.
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Piaget's stage of cognitive development: Formal operational
Age 12+: abstract reasoning/problem solving
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Availability Heuristic
Making judgements about event probabilities based on how easily examples come to mind Ex. Reads about several lottery winners and believes he is more likely to win it
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Escalation of commitment (Heuristic)
increased investment in a decision based on cumulative prior investment Ex. Might as well buy a 5th lottery ticket to get some payout
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Representative Heuristic
Making judgments about something based on its similarity to a prototypical example of that category; stereotyping
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Belief perserverance (bias)
Bias. Unwillingness to admit that foundational premises are incorrect even when shown convincing evidence to the contrary
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Confirmation bias
We love to agree with people who agree with us
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Ingroup Bias
overestimate the abilities and value of our immediate group at the expense of people we don't really know.
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Gambler's Fallacy (bias)
mistaken belief that; if something happens more frequently than normal during some period; it will happen less frequently in the future
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Hindsight bias
the inclination; after an event has occurred; to see the event as having been predictable; despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it
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Components of emotion
physiological arousal; an expressive behavior and experienced thoughts/feelings (Order/relation depends on theory)
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James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Stimulus-\>ANS arousal-\>interpretation-\>emotion. The physiological change is primary; and emotion is then experienced when the brain reacts to the information received via the body's nervous system. One patern of arousal-\>one emotion.
(Feel sad because you're crying)
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Cannan-Bard Theory
Perception of emotion-\>Conscious emotion and physiological changes. Emotional stimulus causes limbic system to arouse the ANS; create behavior and emotion simultaneously. Physiological response and emotional feeling are separate: expression from hypothalamus; feeling from thalamus.
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Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
Event-\>arousal-\>Reasoning/cognitive labels-\>Emotion. Experience arousal, look around, find a reason for it, feel emotion. Arousal in a mob=anger, arousal at concert=joy
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Evolutionary Theory of Emotion
emotions evolved because they were adaptive and allowed humans and animals to survive and reproduce
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Appraisal of stress
Stage 1: appraisal of situation. Stage 2: appraisal of self-ability to cope with stressor.
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Serotonin
obsessions; compulsions; memory
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Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
Causes cortisol release
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Components of attitude
Affective/emotional; cognitive; behavioral
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Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
you are more like to agree to requests if you have agreed to an easier one first (ex. can I use your car to go to the store? Actually can I use it for the weekend?)
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Cognitive dissonance theory
discomfort from holding conflicting attitudes that is solved by reducing the importance of an existing attitude via a) acquiring new information; b) changing an attitude; c) ignoring conflicting information; or d) add new cognition
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Freud (Psychoanalytic) theory of personality: Oral focus
Birth-1 year. cause orally aggressive (biting things) or orally passive behavior (smoking; kissing)
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Freud (Psychoanalytic) theory of personality: Anal focus
1-3 years. cause anal retentive (obsessively neat) or anal expulsive (excessively disorganized/defiant)
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Freud (Psychoanalytic) theory of personality: Genital focus
3-6 years. genitalia focus that can cause an Oedipus complex (desire to sexually possess the parent of opposite sex)
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Freud (Psychoanalytic) theory of personality: Dormant
6-puberty. dormant sexual feelings that can cause sexual unfulfillment
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Freud (Psychoanalytic) theory of personality: Mature sexual fixation
Puberty-death: mature sexual feelings that can cause unsatisfactory relationships; impotence
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Psychoanalytic theory of personality
Id, ego, superego. 'Slaves to the subconscious'
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Humanistic theory of personality
people are responsible for their own free will /urges and are motivated to fulfill their own potential (as opposed to others). Does not reduce people to behaviors and drives. Focus on present. Maslow and Rogers.
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Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Physiological \> Safety \> Belongingness \> Esteem \> Self-actualization
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Trait theory of personality
Personality is interworking of various traits. Cardinal traits- dominate throughout life; rare and develop late (ex. Narcissism). Central traits- basic foundations of personality (ex. honest; shy; anxious). Secondary traits- attitudes under specific circumstances (ex. Shy in crowds)
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Social-cognitive perspective on personality
learning and replicating the actions of others determines behavior. People choose environments based on personality, and personality dictates how they will interact with environment. Locus of control is important idea.
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Behaviorist perspective on personality
personality is learned based on complex interactions between individual and environment; only observable/measurable behavior. Heavily based on operant and classical conditioning. Good behavior earns tokens
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Biological perspective of personality
Biological factors determine behavior. Closely linked with trait theory
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Drive
excitatory state produced by homeostatic disturbance (ex. the disturbance of thirst drives one to drink)
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Theory of motivation: Drive-reduction theory
internal physiological need to minimize drive. Primary drives are innate, secondary drives (money) conditioned:
1. Drive essential
2. Stimuli and responses detected
3. Response made
4. Need satisfied-drive reduced
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Theory of motivation: Incentive theory
people are driven by external positive incentives and driven away by external negative incentives (ex. Chasing money, drinking alcohol)
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Theory of motivation: Need-based theory
motivation is based on satisfying various basic (ex. food/sex) to complex (ex. morality; self-esteem) needs
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Theory of motivation: Cognitive theory
we are motivated through active cognitive processing of various needs (ex. A balance of study time to get grades but not be a nerd)
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Sensitization
repeated stimulus causes response amplification (ex. getting irritated by someone saying like too many times)
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Pathways to persuasion
Central (actual message) and peripheral (background clues)
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Social facilitation
tendency for people to perform better when in presence of others (ex. running faster against competitors than against the clock)
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Deindividuation
decreased self-evaluation when others have same attitudes/behaviors (ex. members of lynch mob have decreased moral compass)
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Bystander effect
people don’t help a victim when others are present because of a diffusion of their own responsibility (ex. someone else can give $$ to homeless)
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Social loafing
people deliberately exerting less effort when they work in a group (ex. not pulling 100% in a tug of war)
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Social control
mechanism to regulate behavior and attain conformity (like peer pressure)
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Group polarization
groups make more extreme decisions than an individual would have (ex. KKK members are more racist when together than apart)
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Groupthink
disagreeing groups have a desire for harmony and will pursue this harmony until everyone agrees (ex. 12 angry men)
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Anomie
social instability due to society not providing norms
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Folkways; mores; taboos
Routine/casual norms; strict moral behaviors; taboos that invoke disgust
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Ritualism
Rejects cultural goals but believes in norm methods to achieve them (ex. farmer works hard but does not care for money)
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Retreatism
reject both the goals and the methods (ex. alcoholics)
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Deviance theory: Differential association
deviance motives are learned from interactions with others (ex. robbing is fun and I have never been caught so I’ll do it)
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Deviance theory: Labeling theory
deviance is not inherent but due to the majority labeling the minority (ex. labeling someone a robber will make them act that way)
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Deviance theory: Strain theory
social obstacles prevent people from reaching societal goals so they find other ways (ex. robbing because you don’t have an education)
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Deviance theory: absolutist approach
defiance is inherent in the individual (ex. nature)
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Deviance theory: interactionist approach
defiance is not a real thing; simply a name that a society gives to a very relative behavior (ex. some cultures perform incest)
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Self-efficacy
Confidence in ability to complete tasks
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Erikson's theory of identity development
every person must pass through a series of eight interrelated stages based around crises
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Erikson: 0-2
1. Age 0-2- crisis: trust vs mistrust (ex. can I trust to put this food in my mouth)
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Erikson: 2-4
2. Age 2-4- crisis: autonomy vs reliance (ex. can I poop on my own)
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Erikson: 4-5
3. Age 4-5- crisis: initiative vs homeostasis (ex. can I get away not brushing teeth)
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Erikson: 5-12
4. Age 5-12- crisis: industry vs inferiority (ex. can I make it in the world)
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Erikson: 13-19
5. Age 13-19- crisis: identity vs not knowing (ex. who am I?)
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Erikson: 20-39
6. Age 20-39- crisis: intimacy vs isolation (ex. can I love?)
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Erikson: 40-64
7. Age 40-64- crisis: generativity vs stagnation (ex. can I make life count)
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Erikson: 65+
8. Age 65-death- crisis: ego integrity vs despair (ex. did I make life count?)
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Kohlberg theory of moral development
differentiates stages bases on how ideals that are held
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Kohlberg: Preconventional
Infancy: we do right things solely to avoid punishment (obedience stage). Pre-school: we do right things for rewards they offer (self-interest stage)
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Kohlberg: Conventional
School age. 1: we do right things to secure peer approval (conformity stage). 2: we do right things to preserve social order (authority and social order)
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Kohlberg: Postconventional
Teens: we do right things for mutual benefit they bring (social contract stage). Adults: do right things b/c they are morally just (universal principles stage)
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Fundamental attribution error
placing too much emphasis on the internal factors of attribution theory (ex. the world is a bad place because everyone in it is evil)
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Aversive vs dominative prejudice
Trying not to be prejudiced vs trying to be
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Ethnocentrism
judging another culture based solely on the values of your own (ex. cannibalism is wrong because I was taught that is was)
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Iron law of bureaucracy
People gain power/authority and eventually pursue the goals of the bureaucracy rather than the administrative groups they were assigned to (ex. education unions lobbying for better pay of teachers instead of focusing on teaching the kids
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Sociology
study of social behavior; its origins; development; organization; and institutions
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Social exchange theory
Social change and stability is achieved through negotiated exchanges that come with rewards and punishments (operant conditioning on macro scale)
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Rational choice theory
Social processes are based on rationality (ex. you will make decisions that provide more utility to your livelihood)
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Functionalism
positive view that society is a complex system with many parts working together to promote solidarity and stability (ex. the military)
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Conflict theory
individuals/groups have different amounts of resources and those with more use their power to exploit groups with less
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Symbolic interactionism
Society ascribes meaning to behaviors which we in turn decide to obey or not based on our own interpretive processes (ex. society says smoking is bad so we don’t do it; but some individuals decide to because a coolness factor overrides health implications)
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Social constructionism
Society creates social realities and models of the social world primarily though language (ex. a black vs white distinction when we are nearly genetically identical)
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Teacher expectancy
teachers subconsciously treat students differently based on their perception of the students competence hence getting their expected results
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Malthusian theory
population will reach a level too high to support agricultural production and we will be forced to return to subsistence conditions
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Demographic transition theory
as countries become more industrial birth/death rates decrease (deciding if you want children; better healthcare)
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Racialization
ascribing ethnic/racial identities to a group that does not itself identify as such
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Racial formation theory
racialization occurs in an attempt to diminish status of minority groups to gain control over them
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Relative deprivation
lack of resources to sustain a lifestyle that is widely encouraged in the society you are in (ex. not having electronics in the USA)
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Hyperglobalist perspective on globalization
positive perspective; globalization is a new epoch in human history that brings the demise of the nation state
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Skeptical perspective of globalization
negative perspective; globalization is causing fragmentation of economies and third world becoming marginalized (being left out)
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Transformationalist perspective of globalization
the pros/cons of globalization are unclear as of now
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Social stratification
classification of people into groups based on their socioeconomic conditions (ex. you are poor; you are rich; you are different people)
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Social reproduction
transmission of social inequality from one generation to the next (ex. wealthy pass on estates; poor pass on little houses)
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False consciousness
unawareness about the social class/rank you are in
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Spreading activaton
searching through memory in a network-like fashion of nodes associated with other nodes
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Depth of processing
memories stored at different depths; based on quality of processing. Memories based on observations more fragile than deep understanding
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Serial position effect
the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series best; and the middle items worst
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Visuospatial sketchpad
responsible for the manipulation and temporary storage of visual and spatial information in working memory
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Continuity theory
older adults try to maintain this continuity of lifestyle by adapting strategies that are connected to their past experiences
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Proactive interference
the tendency of previously learned material to hinder subsequent learning.
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Retroactive interference
the tendency of later learning to hinder the memory of previously learned material
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Heuristic
Heuristics are speedy mental shortcuts. Also rules that propose to explain how people make decisions; come to judgments and solve problems when facing complex ones.
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Latent learning
learning not immediately expressed in an overt response; it occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behavior or associations that are learned
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Spearman’s idea of general intelligence
g factor. People that are smart are smart across the board; on all subjects
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Thurstone’s idea of primary mental abilities
seven different mental abilities include verbal comprehension; reasoning; perceptual speed; numerical ability; word fluency; associative memory; spatial visualization
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Gardner’s idea of eight intelligences
eight skills/abilities valued differently in different cultures: visual-spatial intelligence; verbal-linguistic intelligence; bodily-kinesthetic intelligence; logical-mathematical intelligence; interpersonal intelligence; musical intelligence; intrapersonal intelligence; naturalistic intelligence
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Galton’s idea of hereditary genius
success was due to superior qualities passed down to offspring through heredity
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Binet’s idea of mental age
a test to decide whether children should be placed above or below their age-group in school
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Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence
only three factors: Analytical intelligence: This component refers to problem-solving abilities; Creative intelligence: This aspect of intelligence involves the capacity to deal with new situations using past experiences and current skills; Practical intelligence: This element refers to the ability to adapt to a changing environment.
134
Fluid vs crystallized
Fluid intelligence is the capacity to reason and solve novel problems; independent of any knowledge from the past; peaks in early adulthood. Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use skills; knowledge; and experience; peaks in middle adulthood. Both decline with advanced age
135
Mead's components of self
me is the socialized aspect of the person; and the "I" is the active aspect of the person
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Freud's components of self
id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized; realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego
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Sublimation
a defense mechanism seeing socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are unconsciously transformed into socially acceptable drives. E.g. channeling your sexual urges into a drive for success in business
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Projection
a defense mechanism in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.
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Reaction formation
defense mechanism in which emotions and impulses which are anxiety-producing or perceived to be unacceptable are mastered by exaggeration (hypertrophy) of the directly opposing tendency Eg fighting with someone that you are attracted to
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Regression
a defense mechanism leading to the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more [adaptive] way.
141
Displacement
Defense mechanism: changing target of emotion while feelings stay the same. Eg being mad at your boss but lashing out at your spouse
142
Cognitive behavioral therapy
negative patterns of thought about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behavior patterns
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Cognitive therapy
it's dysfunctional thinking that leads to dysfunctional emotions or behaviors. By changing their thoughts; people can change how they feel and what they do.
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Freudian/psychoanalytic therapy
changing problematic behaviors; feelings; and thoughts by discovering their unconscious meanings and motivations.
145
Behavioral therapy
seeks to identify and help change potentially self-destructive or unhealthy behaviors.
146
Humanist therapy
rejects the idea of therapists as authorities on their clients' inner experiences. Instead; therapists help clients change by emphasizing their concern; care and interest. focuses on free will; self-determination and the search for meaning. importance of being aware of the here and now and accepting responsibility for yourself. Focus on present
147
Apparent movement
an optical illusion in which a static image appears to be moving due to the cognitive effects of interacting color contrasts and shape position
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Induced movement
illusion of visual perception in which a stationary or a moving object appears to move or to move differently because of other moving objects nearby
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Movement aftereffect
a visual illusion experienced after viewing a moving visual stimulus for a time (tens of milliseconds to minutes) with stationary eyes; and then fixating a stationary stimulus
150
Goffman's Theory of Dramaturgy
Sense of self and self-presentation change depending on the situation (audience, timing), e.g. front stage (interactions with society) vs back stage (private areas of lives, where we are not acting but being true selves)
151
Avoidance response/reinforcement (operant conditioning)
a response that prevents an aversive stimulus from occurring. a kind of negative reinforcement
152
Escape response
A possible reaction to an existing negative stimuli, e.g. rat getting shocked, jumping over barrier to get away, then any concurrent response has been negatively conditioned
153
Attribution theory
using information to arrive at casual explanations of events
Internal- behavior is intrinsic to the person *(ex. he cut the line because hes selfish)*
External- behavior is based on the situation *(ex. he cut the line b/c he’s in a rush)*
154
Signal detection theory
A theory studying and quantifying how we receive information in time of uncertainty; how we separate signal from noise; how we do feature detection *Ex- hearing someone in a noisy room, finding a small tumor on an X-ray*
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Feature detection
the process of separating signal from noise
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Parallel processing
ability of the brain to simultaneously process incoming stimuli of differing quality *Ex. Vision can see object color, shape, distance*
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Game theory
Study of decision-making, assuming parties are rational and acting according to their self-interest
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Inclusive fitness theory
An organism improves their own genetic success through altruistic social behavior
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Optimal arousal theory of motivation
People perform actions in order to maintain an optimal level of arousal. Performance is worst at extremes, best in the intermediate level. 'Optimal' varies depending on task--lower arousal optimal for highly cognitive tasks, higher arousal optimal for physical tasks
160
Selye's general adaptation syndrome
Breaks down the three stages of stress response. Stress is only productive if short-term. If stress becomes long-term, causes exhaustion, depletes resources, leads to health problems
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Approach-approach conflict
Stress of choosing between two good things
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Avoidance-avoidance conflict
Stress of choosing between two negative options
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Approach-avoidance conflict
Choice is regarding one thing, which may have positive or negative outcomes Eg deciding whether to take a promotion, which would pay more but give you less free time
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Linguistic relativity
the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition. (Sapir–Whorf hypothesis). Language determines (or at least influences) thought, and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories
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Working memory
7±2 items can be held and manipulated at a given time.
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Chunking
Device to increase working memory. Break items into categories, then one category ≈ one item, so you can store 7±2 categories, thus more items overall
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Role conflict, strain, exit
Conflict: difficulty in satisfying the requirements or expectations of multiple roles
Strain: difficulty in satisfying multiple requirements of same role
Exit: dropping of one identity for another
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Group sizes
Larger groups are more stable, less intimate
