unit 2 part 2 vocab

Question 1

factor analysis

Answer 1

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score

Question 2

fluid intelligence

Answer 2

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood

Question 3

crystallized intelligence

Answer 3

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Question 4

savant syndrome

Answer 4

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

Question 5

grit

Answer 5

in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Question 6

emotional intelligence

Answer 6

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Question 7

intelligence test

Answer 7

a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Question 8

achievement test

Answer 8

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

Question 9

aptitude test

Answer 9

a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Question 10

mental age

Answer 10

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age

Question 11

psychometrics

Answer 11

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

Question 12

standardization

Answer 12

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Question 13

normal curve

Answer 13

a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes. (also called a normal distribution.)

Question 14

Flynn effect

Answer 14

the rise in intelligence test performance over time and across cultures

Question 15

reliability

Answer 15

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting

Question 16

validity

Answer 16

the extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Question 17

content validity

Answer 17

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

Question 18

construct validity

Answer 18

how much a test measures a concept or trait

Question 19

predictive validity

Answer 19

the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior

Question 20

cross sectional study

Answer 20

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

Question 21

longitudinal study

Answer 21

research that follows and retests the same people over time

Question 22

Stanford-Binet

Answer 22

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test

Question 23

intelligence quotient

Answer 23

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100. on contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

Question 24

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

Answer 24

the WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Question 25

cocktail party effect

Answer 25

your ability to attend to only one voice within a sea of many as you chat with a party guest

Question 26

inattentional blindness

Answer 26

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 27

change blindness

Answer 27

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness

Question 28

relative clarity

Answer 28

a monocular cue; objects that appear sharp, clear, and detailed are seen as closer than more hazy objects

Question 29

relative size

Answer 29

a monocular cue; if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image to be farther away

Question 30

linear perspective

Answer 30

a monocular cue; parallel lines appear to be converging in the distance; the greater the apparent convergence, the greater the perceived distance

Question 31

interposition

Answer 31

a monocular cue; if one object partially blocks the view of another, we perceive it as closer

Question 32

gambler's fallacy

Answer 32

occurs when an individual believes that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events

Question 33

sunk-cost fallacy

Answer 33

the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial

Question 34

procedural memory

Answer 34

automatic skills; the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice

Question 35

prospective memory

Answer 35

remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future point in time

Question 36

basal ganglia

Answer 36

involved in motor movement and help form procedural memories for skills

Question 37

flashbulb memory

Answer 37

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Question 38

episodic buffer

Answer 38

a storage component of working memory that combines the images and sounds from the other two components into coherent, story-like episodes

Question 39

intermediate processing

Answer 39

focuses on phonemic encoding (the sound of the word)

Question 40

stereotype threat

Answer 40

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Question 41

closure

Answer 41

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object; the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete

Question 42

proximity

Answer 42

we group nearby figures together; we see not six separate lines, but three sets of two lines

Question 43

state dependent memory

Answer 43

what we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state

Question 44

forgetting curve

Answer 44

the course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time

Question 45

nonsense syllable

Answer 45

such as YOX and JIH

Question 46

tip of the tongue phenomenon

Answer 46

when a name lies poised on the tip of our tongue, just beyond reach

Question 47

decay theory

Answer 47

proposes that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time

Question 48

source monitoring error

Answer 48

occurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source

Question 49

reality monitoring error

Answer 49

occurs when you incorrectly determine whether a memory was from reality or your imagination

Question 50

deviation IQ

Answer 50

a type of IQ score that is calculated by comparing an individual's score on an intelligence test to the average score for their age group

Question 51

culture-fair IQ test

Answer 51

abstract reasoning measure that doesn't depend on language and is often believed to be less influenced by cultural factors than other IQ tests are

Question 52

stereotype lift

Answer 52

an increase in a group's test performance due to not being part of a negative stereotype

Question 53

test-retest reliability

Answer 53

a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions

Question 54

split-half reliability

Answer 54

a measure of reliability in which a test is split into two parts and an individual's scores on both halves are compared

Question 55

method of loci

Answer 55

a mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations; adds vivid new details to memories of a familiar place

Question 56

peg word mnemonic system

Answer 56

method that requires that the person first memorize a series of peg-words connected to numbers and then visually associate the peg-words with to-be-remembered items; so you can visualize and recall items at specific spots along a familiar route

Question 57

self reference effect

Answer 57

the tendency to remember self-relevant information

Question 58

massed practice

Answer 58

cramming; studying that produces speedy short-term learning

Question 59

distributed practice

Answer 59

studying that produces better long-term recall

Question 60

primacy effect

Answer 60

our tendency to recall best the first items in a list after a delay

Question 61

recency effect

Answer 61

our tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially

Question 62

Von Restorff effect

Answer 62

occurs when recall is better for a distinctive item, even if it occurs in the middle of a list

Question 63

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 63

memory storage through rehearsal over time

Question 64

elaborative rehearsal

Answer 64

rehearsing information in ways that promote meaning

Question 65

context dependent memory

Answer 65

specific cues will most effectively trigger that memory; memories are affected by the cues we have associated with that context