Memory Mechanisms
George Miller said STM can hold how many items?
About 7 ± 2.
Proactive interference vs Retroactive interferenc
Proactive interference: old info blocks new
Retroactive interferenc: new info blocks old
What is known as male menopause?
Andropause
explain Erikson's Stage 8: Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood)
Older adults reflect on life with acceptance or regret.
🌟 Example: Someone satisfied with their life choices feels integrity.
Prejudice vs discrimination
Prejudice= negative thought
Discrimination= negative behavior
What is the serial position effect?
We remember the first and last items best.
Errors of omission vs Errors of comission
Errors of omission: Transience, Absent Mindedness, Blocking
- trouble remembering
Errors of comission: Misattribution, Suggestibility, Bias, Persistence
- misremembering/incorrect memory
Developmental Research Designs where one participant or group of participants is studied over a long period of time.
Longitudinal design
Example: Studying memory ability in the same children from age 5 → 15
explain Pre-Conventional Morality vs Conventional Morality vs Post-Conventional Morality
Pre-Conventional Morality- right/wrong is determinded by punishment/ reward
Conventional Morality- right/wrong is determinded by society/laws
Post-Conventional Morality- right/wrong is determinded by personal ethics/expirences
Term for when expectations influence behavior
Go out wanting to have a good time-> act very social -> have a good time
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
The encoding strategy where you group separate items into meaningful units (e.g., turning a 10-digit phone number into three chunks) — name the process and explain why it increases short-term capacity.
Correct response: What is chunking?
Explanation: Chunking reduces the number of units held in working memory by organizing items into larger meaningful units, effectively increasing functional capacity.
H.M. had bilateral hippocampal surgery. Identify his primary memory deficit and explain why his ability to learn new motor skills remained intact.
Correct response: What is severe anterograde amnesia?
Explanation: H.M. couldn’t form new declarative memories because the hippocampus is crucial for consolidation, while procedural memory depends on other structures (e.g., cerebellum, basal ganglia).
Piaget’s term for the mental frameworks children use to organize experience, and a quick classroom example of assimilation vs accommodation.
Correct response: What are schemas (assimilation vs accommodation)?
Explanation: Assimilation: calling a zebra a “horse”; Accommodation: updating the schema to distinguish zebra from horse.
Name Ainsworth’s attachment category where infants explore freely, are distressed by separation, and are easily soothed on reunion — and name one caregiver behavior associated with it.
Correct response: What is secure attachment?
Explanation: Sensitive, responsive caregiving promotes secure base behaviors.
Define groupthink then give one historical example.
Correct response: What is groupthink — faulty decision-making under strong cohesion and desire for unanimity
example: Challenger Space Shuttle/ Pearl Harbor
Explain the Encoding Specificity Principle
Correct response: Better recall when retrieval cues match encoding context.
Explanation: Predict that students who study in a quiet room and take the test in a quiet room will recall better than those who switch contexts.
Name the rare condition of near-perfect autobiographical recall, and describe one real-world downside to having it.
Correct response: What is hyperthymesia?
Explanation: Although highly vivid recall seems beneficial, sufferers often can’t forget painful events, leading to distress.
Define object permanence and state at which Piagetian substage it typically emerges
Correct response: What is object permanence, emerging in sensorimotor substage around 8–12 months, demonstrated when an infant searches for a hidden toy?
Harlow’s monkey studies separated feeding from comfort; summarize the core experimental manipulation and its implication for attachment theory.
Correct response: What is providing infants cloth surrogate vs wire surrogate with food, where monkeys preferred cloth for comfort, implying contact comfort drives attachment more than feeding alone?
Explanation: Affectional needs and tactile comfort are central to attachment formation.
Milgram found ~65% of participants obeyed authority to the maximum shock at Yale; give two experimentally demonstrated factors that reduce obedience and briefly explain why.
Correct response: What are (1) increased distance between teacher and experimenter reduces perceived authority; (2) presence of dissenting co-teachers reduces normative pressure — both reduce obedience by undermining authority legitimacy or social proof.
Explanation: Proximity and unanimity modulate obedience.
You study vocab by relating each word to a personal memory; name this deeper encoding technique and state why it produces better long-term retention than mere repetition.
Correct response: What is elaborative rehearsal?
Explanation: Elaborative rehearsal links new info to existing knowledge (semantic networks), creating multiple retrieval pathways and deeper processing.
When post-event misinformation changes an eyewitness’s memory, what is the effect called and name one implication for legal procedures.
Correct response: What is the misinformation effect?
Explanation: Suggests police should avoid leading questions and preserve original witness statements to reduce contamination.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): define it and design a short scaffolded activity to teach a child a new counting strategy.
Correct response: What is ZPD — the gap between unaided performance and performance with guidance; scaffold: model counting with manipulatives, prompt child to group tens, then fade prompts as child practices?
Explanation: Scaffolding gradually transfers responsibility, moving the child toward independent competence.
The Strange Situation’s reunion episode is diagnostic — describe the infant behaviors that indicate disorganized attachment and name two developmental risks associated with this pattern.
Correct response: What is disorganized attachment behaviors include freezing, contradictory approach/avoidance, and dazed expressions; risks include later emotional dysregulation and increased risk for psychopathology.
Explanation: Disorganization is often linked to frightening or abusive caregiving and predicts poorer outcomes.
In Asch’s conformity studies, how did a single nonconforming confederate (who gave a different incorrect answer) affect participants, and what does that reveal about social influence dynamics?
Correct response: What is conformity dropped substantially (the “freedom effect”), revealing that even one ally reduces normative pressure and encourages independent responding?
Explanation: Minority dissent weakens the illusion of unanimity.