General Psychology Worksheet

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY CONCEPTS LIST
Chapter 1 Introducing Psychology

1. How do we presently define psychology? the science of behavior and mental processes
2. What are operational definitions? defines the variable in terms of how it is to be measured, manipulated, or changed in a study Why are they important? because many of the concepts that psychologist investigate-such as memory, happiness, or stress- can be measured in more than one way Give an operational definition for: Hungry- food deprived for time frame(24 hrs) Intelligent- IQ test Immature- age Aggressive- number of aggressive behavior in an hour Angry- yelling outburst in a given amount of time
3. How and why are research studies replicated? studies are
partial reinforcement is more difficult to extinguish because there is still that one chance that the occurrence could get a reinforcement What would be an example of each? partial reinforcement - gamblers Continuous reinforcement - pushing the button on a water fountain
5. How does observational learning (social learning theory) differ from operant and classical conditioning? learning takes place through observing the actions of others Describe Bandura’s study of observational learning, including the results. 4 yr old children watched a video that showed an adult playing aggressively with a bobo doll with different endings. Some children saw the adult get rewarded for her behavior, others saw the adult get punished and spanked by another adult and the last group saw that nothing happened to the adult. After the film the children were allowed to play alone in a room full of toys and a bobo doll. The children’s reactions and interactions with the doll were based on which film they watched. Those that saw the adult get punished stayed away from the doll and those that saw rewards for being aggressive towards the doll did the same. All the children when asked to imitate what they saw the adult do for stickers and candy were able to imitate the adult
How long do visual and auditory sensory memories last? visual sensory memory typically holds an image from your environment for about 1\25 to 1\2 a second before it is replaced, auditory sensory memory holds sound information for about 3 to 4 seconds What is the function of these memories? so that we perceive the world around us in a continuous, rather than as a series of disconnected visual images or disjointed sounds
2. Short-term memory A. What is its duration? 20 seconds B. What is maintenance rehearsal and what purpose does it serve? Give an example. the mental or verbal repetition of information in order to maintain it beyond the usual 20 seconds duration of short-term memory-- ex. Remembering a phone number C. What is meant by the term “seven plus or minus two”? that the capacity of short-term memory is limited to about 7 items or bits of information, at one time D. What is chunking? Give an example. grouping of related items together into a single unit to increase the amount of information that can be held in short-term memory

3. Long-term memory A. Explain each of the following terms: 1. Elaborative rehearsal- rehearsal that involves focusing on the meaning of information to help encode and transfer it to long-term