Science
Biological Psychology & Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology
Behaviorism & Cognitive Psychology
Potpourri
100

This approach to understanding human behavior focuses on the INTERACTION between three types of causal factors.

What is the Biopsychosocial Model?

[Let's say a person gets really good grades in English classes.  What might be some biological factors that contribute to this outcome?  What might be some psychological factors that contribute to this outcome?  What might be some social factors that contribute to this outcome?  How might any of these factors interact?]

100

A split-brain patient sees a cup in his left visual field and a ball in his right visual field.  What will he say he saw?

He'll say he saw a ball.

[Why?  How will he be able to demonstrate what his left visual field picked up?  Starting with visual stimuli, can you follow the path from sensation to perception?  Can you do the same for auditory stimuli?]

100
According to this psychologist, children are able to learn new behaviors with the help of others if those new behaviors fall within this.
Who is Vygotsky, and what are zones of proximal development? [Who was Piaget? What were his stages and what do children learn in each?]
100
In classical conditioning, the behavior always comes ____. And in operant conditioning, the behavior always comes ____.
In classical conditioning, the behavior always comes SECOND, but in operant conditioning it always comes FIRST. [Can you correctly identify unconditioned, neutral, and conditioned stimuli, as well as unconditioned and conditioned responses? Why does the behavior have to come first in operant conditioning?]
100
Complete this sentence: ____ does not prove ____
What is Correlation does not prove Causation? [So what does a correlation tell us? Let's say we know that smiling at people is positively correlated with getting good grades -- should we change our behavior and start smiling at people more? Why or why not?]
200

This feature of an experimental research design helps to reduce the effects of possible confounding variables by "spreading them out" across participants.

What is Random Assignment? [Why do we want to reduce confounds -- what does that help us know about our other variables? What is a Quasi-Experiment? What is Random Sampling? What is the value of random sampling?]

200

These are the 3 parts of the brain stem that we learned about in this class.

What are the Medulla, the Thalamus, and the Hypothalamus. [What do each of these brain structures do? What brain structures are part of the limbic system, and what do they do?  What is the cerebellum?  What are the lobes of the cerebral cortex, and what do they do?]

200

A baby falls down. He then looks at his mother and notices that she is still smiling at him. As a result, he picks himself up and keeps playing (even though the fall kind of hurt). Picking up on his mother's cues is an example of this.

What is Social Referencing? [How is social referencing different from Theory of Mind? How does something like Theory of Mind promote the development of a Conscience?]

200

What (hopefully) happens to information you encoded while you are sleeping?

It is turned into a memory trace via consolidation.

[What types of interference can prevent consolidation?  How can cues be useful for triggering a memory?  When do cues fail to bring up a memory?  What is the misinformation effect?]

200
Compare/contrast Inattentional Blindness with Change Blindness.
Inattentional blindness is when we don't notice something new -- something that shows up -- even though we are looking at it. Change blindness is when we don't notice that something we are looking at has changed in some way.
300
Dr. Fan's research assistant, Jenny, really wants the study she is helping with to "work." She knows that Dr. Fan has hypothesized that seniors will be more helpful during the lab task than freshman. Although she doesn't realize she is doing it, Jenny asks most of the seniors if they want to help twice, but only asks most of the freshman once. Jenny's behavior reflects this threat to research designs.
What are Experimenter Expectations? [What other threats to experiments are there?]
300
In an adoption study examining whether there is a genetic component to moral reasoning, the researchers find a concordance rate of 40% with biological parents and 60% with adoptive parents. Is there a genetic component?
No, the concordance rate for biological parents -- who share 50% of their genes with the child -- is lower than the concordance rate for adoptive parents -- who share no genes with the child. [Can you also read a twin study table? What part of the table do you need to find FIRST, in order to know if you should read it "across" or "down?" What is the overarching question that these Behavior Genetics studies allow us to ask?]
300

As we age, we get better in terms of this -- an ability to strategically use the knowledge we have acquired and stored over our lifetime.

What is Cognitive Efficiency? [What are some of the things that decline, decrease, or worsen as we age?]

300

In a longitudinal study, researchers follow a group of people who use opioids.  They assess them (1) before entering rehab, (2) halfway through rehab, (3) when they leave rehab, and (4) 6 months after leaving rehab.  At time 4, the researchers find nearly all of the people have begun using again.  According to classical conditioning, what phenomena explains why this probably occurred?

The renewal effect -- which says that learning will re-emerge if a person goes back into a context in which they learned an association.

[What is spontaneous recovery?  What types of theories lead developmental psychologists to use longitudinal studies?]

300
Compare/contrast Democratic Reasoning and Accumulating Knowledge.
Democratic reasoning involves actual discussions, back-and-forth conversations, and feedback among researchers -- the purpose is to "debate" the meaning of findings and how they might support or refute our theories. Accumulating knowledge is when one researcher reviews and uses the past work of other researchers as a starting place for a new study -- the purpose is to extend and build up a "body of work" on a topic over time.
400
In an experimental design, the researcher can "apply" the different levels of the independent variable to her participants in two ways. What are those two ways?
(1) Apply them within each participant -- each participant gets both levels (assuming there are only 2 levels) (2) Apply them across groups -- each participant gets only one level, with one group getting the first level and another group getting the second level (assuming there are only 2 levels) [How many times will a given participant have to complete your Dependent Variable measure for each of these two ways of applying the Independent Variable?]
400
Although loudness/volume is determined by this feature of a sound wave, pitch is determined by this feature of sound wave.
What are pressure/strength and frequency/repetition rate. [What about visual perception -- how do we perceive of color? How do we perceive distance?]
400
These are the two components of temperament.
What are Reactivity and Effortful Control? [Temperament (a biological factor) can interact with Parenting Styles (a social factor). What are the 4 parenting styles?]
400
Explain the 4 steps in Observational Learning.
Attention - noticing how a behavior is done Retention - remembering how the behavior is done Initiation - feeling capable of performing the behavior Motivation - wanting to perform the behavior [As part of Initiation, what is the name of the concept for when we feel capable of performing a behavior?]
400
Explain the Quantitative Law of Effect and give an example of how it works.
The Quantitative Law of Effect says that we do a mental "weighing" of our options by considering all of the possible reinforcers and punishers that might result from a behavior. We make the choice that seems "best" in terms of reinforcement and punishment. Examples will vary. [What are the other two "complications" (i.e. important factors) we discussed that were related to the effectiveness of learning by operant conditioning?]
500
Explain 2 issues related to ethics that we learned about in this class.
Choose from Informed Consent, Confidentiality, Privacy, Risk vs. Benefits, and Deception (or Debriefing).
500

Explain how Sexual STRATEGIES Theory differs between men and women.

Men are interested in youth and physical health/attractiveness, and they seek mates for short-term sexual opportunities. Females are interested in resources and the likelihood that the mate will stick around and share those resources; they are interested in longer-term commitment opportunities.

[What is Sexual Selection Theory?  What is Gene Selection Theory?  What is Error Management Theory?]

500
Explain how Harry Harlow's monkey experiments inform our understanding of the importance of attachment.
His findings (e.g., that monkeys choose comfort over food, that monkeys without a comfort source experience developmental delays and great distress) highlight how essential it is for children to have a secure attachment to a caregiver. Without it, there can be longer-term emotional and mental health concerns. [What are the 4 types of attachment. How would we identify them in the Strange Situation?]
500

Explain 3 ways that I can make a divided attention task HARDER. Give an example of a hard divided attention task -- tell me 2 things that it would be hard to do at the same time.

Make the tasks similar to each other. Make both tasks difficult, even on their own. Make both tasks require conscious effort and attention. Make the tasks "new," as opposed to already well-learned. Examples will vary.

500
Give an example of each of the following: Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Punishment, and Negative Punishment.
Many possible answers.
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