Unit 1: Biology and Bases of Behavior
Statistical Analysis: A scientist is comparing the number of dendrites on different neurons in the brain. Each neuron has: 3, 5, 8, 4, 6, 2, and 4 dendrites, respectively. This is the mean.
What is approximately 4.6?
This is the part of memory where you can hold 7±2 items for around 20 seconds.
What is short-term memory?
Piaget believed children build mental frameworks to organize the world.
What are schemas?
This early psychologist developed the first comprehensive theory of personality, focusing on the unconscious mind and psychosexual stages.
Who is Sigmund Freud?
This therapy approach teaches that our thoughts influence our emotions and that by changing our thinking, we can change how we feel and act.
What is cognitive therapy?
This is what covers the axon of the neuron and speeds up messages passed through the neuron.
You’re more likely to recall information on a test if you’re in the same emotional or physical state as when you studied. This phenomenon is known as...
What is state-dependent retrieval?
This type of intelligence, which involves quick thinking and problem solving, tends to decline with age.
What is fluid intelligence?
This is one example of a phenomenon Freud explained as wish fulfillment, but which other theorists suggest might have alternative explanations.
What are dreams?
This therapeutic approach uses techniques like exposure therapy and aversive conditioning to unlearn problematic behaviors by applying principles of classical and operant conditioning.
What is behavioral therapy?
This is the type of processing when neural analysis begins with the sensory receptors.
What is bottom-up processing?
If someone believes their intelligence is unchangeable and avoids challenges because they think they just "aren’t good at it," they likely have this type of mindset.
What is a fixed mindset?
You get paid every two weeks no matter what. This type of reinforcement schedule is called...
What is a fixed interval schedule?
This effect, studied by Mark Lepper, suggests that giving external rewards for something people already enjoy can reduce their intrinsic interest.
What is the overjustification effect?
This anxiety disorder is characterized by persistent, excessive, and uncontrollable worry, often accompanied by physical symptoms like muscle tension and sleep disturbances.
What is generalized anxiety disorder?
What are theta waves?
This is the tendency to search for information that confirms what you already believe.
What is confirmation bias?
According to Vygotsky, private speech develops as a result of listening to this type of communication from others.
What is social speech?
This theory suggests we are motivated to maintain an ideal level of mental/physical stimulation—not too high, not too low.
What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?
This neurotransmitter, along with serotonin, is found to be reduced in individuals experiencing major depressive disorder.
What is norepinephrine?
This was the 1st woman in U.S. history to gain a doctoral degree in Psychology and would go on to study animal behavior.
Who is Margaret Floy Washburn?
A memory test is given to two different groups. One group has a mean recall score of 8, the other 14. The difference is statistically significant. What does this imply?
What is the difference in recall is unlikely due to chance and reflects a real effect?
A longitudinal study tracks intelligence over a lifetime. It finds that vocabulary scores steadily increase, while speed-based reasoning scores decline. What conclusion can be drawn from these findings?
What is fluid intelligence declines with age while crystallized intelligence remains stable or increases?
In a study measuring test performance under different arousal levels, scores were collected as follows under moderate arousal: 60, 72, 85, 88, 93, 94, 97. What is the median score for this group?
What is 88?
A psychologist wants to study the effectiveness of aversive conditioning in reducing nail-biting. They decide to define "success" as the number of times a patient bites their nails per day. What is this specific, measurable description of behavior called?
What is an operational definition?