Perception and Thinking
Studying an unfamiliar abstract painting piece by piece is an example of what type of processing?
Bottom-up processing
What is gambler's fallacy?
Believing past random events change future odds
What is an independent variable?
The factor the researcher manipulates (the "cause").
What is the Flynn effect?
Average intelligence test scores rose across the 20th century due to better nutrition and opportunities
Encoding --> storage --> retrieval
Thinking of an apple when you hear fruit is an example of what concept?
A prototype
What does it mean to have a bias blind spot?
Seeing bias in others but believing you are objective
Fill in the blank: Correlation does not equal...
Causation
What is stereotype threat, and what is an example?
Worry about confirming a negative stereotype about your own group lowers performance. For example, women taking a difficult math test score lower if they are told the test shows gender differences where men do better.
What is implicit memory, and what's an example?
Memories retained without conscious recall, like knowing how to ride a bike
A church service is an example of what type of schema?
Event schema
What is the Dunning-Kruger effect, and what is an example?
Low skill leads to overconfidence; high skill often leads to underestimating. For example, someone who read a single Reddit article and watched one YT video thinking they know everything about soccer.
What is a placebo, and why do we often need it in experiments?
A fake treatment/medicine that allows you to compare and see if the real treatment/medicine works. They separate real physical results from guesswork, luck, or psychological effects.
Fixed: thinking ability is set and can't change ("I'm just not smart, IQ doesn't change"). Growth mindset: thinking ability develops through effort, good strategies, and learning from mistakes ("I can't do this yet, I'll learn more and improve my knowledge").
What is our capacity for short-term memory?
Limited capacity (about 7 ± 2 items) and brief (about 20–30 seconds) unless rehearsed.
Event schema (script): Expectations about the usual sequence of events in a situation (like ordering at a restaurant).
Self schema: Beliefs about yourself that shape what you notice and remember ("I'm athletic," "I'm shy").
Role schema: Expectations about how people in certain roles or occupations behave (a doctor knows a lot).
Part 1: Assuming that someone handsome is also kind and intelligent is an example of which cognitive bias? Part 2: "I was late because of traffic; she was late because she's lazy" is an example of what cognitive bias?
Halo Effect; Actor-observer bias
What is the difference between a single-blind and double-blind study?
Single-blind: participants don't know their group Double-blind: neither participants nor researchers collecting data know who is in what group
Environmental factors like nutrition, resources, etc.
What part of the brain is responsible for forming new long-term memories?
Hippocampus
What is a perceptual set, and what is an example?
A mental readiness to perceive something in a certain way, based on expectations (e.g., seeing a duck vs. a rabbit depending on what you were told).
How could the moral credential effect potentially manifest itself both in the world and at ASA?
Possible answers--> In the world: everyone thinking they're a good person because they've done some good deeds, and then treating others badly/only caring about themselves
At ASA: Students thinking they've done enough work and not doing any work at the end of the quarter because they're still overall a "good student"
Why do we need random assignment?
To eliminate the pre-existing differences of people in your group as much as possible, that way you know the independent variable is what's actually causing the effect on the dependent variable(s).
What is eugenics, and why is it scientifically incorrect?
A movement aimed at "improving" the genetic quality of the human population through selective breeding. They didn't realize genetics and intelligence are a lot more complicated than that: you don't always inherit your parent's intelligence/defects (thousands of genes and many environmental factors play a role in development).
Knowing that Asunción is the capital of Paraguay is what kind of memory?
Semantic memory