General Psychology Study Guide

General Psychology Study Guide

Exam 2

Chapters 5-9

1. What is learning? What is behaviorism? What is associative learning? What are the two types of associative learning? How is associative learning different from observational learning?

1. Describe Pavlov’s studies. What type of conditioning did he discover?

1. What is classical conditioning? What is the role of the learner in classical conditioning? What types of responses can be classically conditioned? What does unconditioned vs conditioned mean? If given a situation, can you identify the neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and unconditioned response?

1. Describe what happens during the acquisition phase of classical conditioning. What is stimulus generalization and how is it different from stimulus discrimination?

1. What is extinction? What is spontaneous recovery?

1. How can classical conditioning be used to create and eliminate fears? Who are John Watson and Little Albert?

1. Can our physiological systems (ex. immune or endocrine systems) be classically conditioned? What is conditioned taste aversion? What is biological preparedness?

1. What is operant conditioning? What types of behaviors can be operantly conditioned? What is the role of the learner in operant conditioning? What is shaping?

1. What is reinforcement? What is punishment? What do positive vs. negative indicate? Be sure you know the difference between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

1. What is the difference between a primary and secondary reinforcer?

1. What is the difference between continuous and partial reinforcement? Describe and explain the different schedules of partial reinforcement mean (Variable vs. Fixed; Interval vs. ration). Which type of reinforcement leads to the fastest learning? Which schedule of reinforcement leads to the fastest and most persistent learning?

1. Describe Bandura’s study of observational learning? According to your book, what processes are required for observational learning to occur?
2. What is latent learning? What is insight learning?

1. What is memory? What are the three processes required for remembering?

1. What is encoding? How does attention impact encoding? What are levels of processing and elaboration? How do they impact encoding?

1. What is memory storage? What are the three types of memory storage?

1. What is sensory memory? How much information can it hold and how long does that information last? What are echoic and iconic memory?

1. What is short-term memory? How much can our short term memory hold and for how long? What are chunking and rehearsal and what do they have to do with our short-term memory?

1. What is long-term memory? How much information can we hold in our long-term memory and for how long?

1. What is the difference between explicit and implicit memory? Name and describe the two types of explicit memory. Give examples for each. Name and describe the types of implicit memory. Give examples for each.

1. What are schemas? Describe the study on the accuracy of people’s memory of a car crash? What did this study tell us about memory?

1. What brain areas are critical for memory? Are different areas associated with different types of memory?

1. What is memory retrieval? What is the serial position effect? What are the primacy and recency effects and how do they affect memory retrieval?

1. What are retrieval cues? What is the difference between recall and recognition? What type of test questions requires recall? Which ones require recognition?

1. What are state and context dependent retrieval?

1. How does our memory for traumatic events compare to our memory of every day events? What are repressed memories? Are people likely to forget highly traumatic events?

1. What are some of the causes of forgetting? Define and distinguish between proactive and retroactive interference. Describe a time in your life when you’ve experienced each of these. What is amnesia? What are the two types of amnesia? What is forgotten?

1. What is cognition? How do computers compare to human thinking?

1. What are concepts? What is a prototype model? Give an example.

1. Explain two barriers to problem-solving.

1. What is reasoning? What are the two different types of reasoning? Give an example of each.

1. What is decision making? What are the two forms of bias and two heuristics we discussed? How can they affect our decision making?

1. What is intelligence? How do we measure intelligence? How does culture impact intelligence testing?

1. Where does our intelligence come from? Are there multiple types of intelligence?

1. What is language? How does language influence cognition? Does cognition influence language?

1. What parts of the brain are related to language? What happens if you damage these brain parts?

1. What is a critical period and what does it have to do with language?

1. What is developmental psychology? What are the 3 main processes that are studied?

1. What are nature and nurture? How to they impact development? Give an example.

1. What are the 3 stages of prenatal development? What is the main thing happening during each of these stages? What are some common threats to a developing fetus? Give examples.

1. What are reflexes? Name and describe the reflexes discussed in your book. How do researchers study infant perception? Explain how the brain changes in infancy and early childhood.

1. What is cognitive development? What are schemas? What is assimilation? What is accommodation?

1. Name and describe the 4 stages of cognitive development according to Piaget. What is object permanence? When do children develop object permanence? What is a conservation task? When are children able to do conservation tasks? What are “operations”? When are children able to perform operations using real world concepts? When are children able to do hypothetical thinking?

1. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

1. What is temperament?

1. What is attachment? Describe the different types of attachment and how you test to see what type an infant has. Describe Harry Harlow’s monkey study of attachment.

1. What are the four different styles of parenting? Explain how a parent interacts with their child for each style.

1. What was Erikson’s theory of socioemotional development? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of Erikson’s theory?

1. Explain Kohlberg’s theory of moral development? Explain how people reason through moral dilemmas at each stage of his theory.

1. What is motivation? Explain the drive reduction theory of motivation. What are needs and drives? What is homeostasis?

1. What is optimum arousal? What happens to your performance if you are not aroused enough? Too aroused?

1. What are the chemicals and brain areas that tell us that we’re hungry? What are the chemicals and brain areas that tell us that we’re full?

1. What types of things do we like to eat? According to the book and lecture, what are some of the biological and psychological factors that are associated with obesity?

1. What are the areas of the brain associated with sex drive? Specifically, what does each of these areas do to our sex drive? Name the two neurotransmitters that are related to our sex drive? What specifically do they do? What are the different types of sex hormones? What are their functions?

1. How do men and women’s sexual attitudes and behaviors differ? What does parental investment theory say men vs. women look for in a partner?

1. What is sexual orientation? What is the problem with classifying people as either homosexual or heterosexual? What evidence is there regarding the causes of sexual orientation?

1. How have public attitudes towards homosexuality and gay marriage changed over the last decade? Do attitudes differ depending on age?

1. What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? What needs are fulfilled first? What is self-actualization?

1. What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? Which type leads people to work harder?

1. What is self-regulation? What strategies are the best for helping us to resist temptation?

1. What is emotion? What are the three components of emotion? How are emotions adaptive?

1. What are some of the non-verbal ways we express our emotions? How are emotions related to our facial expressions? Are emotional facial expressions the same in different cultures? Different species?

1. How do real smiles differ from fake smiles? Explain the facial feedback hypothesis.

1. What is arousal and how does it relate to emotion? What part of the nervous system is responsible for our arousal?

1. How is emotional arousal used in polygraph tests? What are some 2 main problems with polygraph tests?

1. Explain the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion.

1. What is the two-factor theory of emotion? Explain how the study where participants were injected with epinephrine and then put in a room with a happy or angry person supports the two-factor theory of emotion. What was the bridge study and does it support the two-factor theory of emotion?

1. What is valence? How can valence and arousal be used to help us classify emotions? What types of behaviors do positive and negative emotions lead to?