PSY 322 Exam 1 Questions and Answers Latest Update 2025-2026
Historical views of cognition - Answers 1800's: ideas about the mind were dominated by the
belief that it is not possible for the mind to study itself; another idea that the properties of the
mind simply cannot be measured
Donder's - Answers -mental chronometry (measuring how long a cognitive process takes)
- reaction-time experiment (measures intervals between stimulus presentation and persons
response to stimulus
ex. light and the person hits the button (simple RT test)
OR: participant pushes on button if light is on right side/left side (Choice RT test)
-measured not directly measured but we can infer based on behavior
Hemholt - Answers -unconscious influence; some of our perceptions are the result of
unconscious assumption we make about the environment
-we infer much of what we know about the wolf d
Ebbinghaus - Answers -measuring the properties of the mind
-how rapidly information that is learned is lost over time
-read a list of nonsense syllables aloud many times to determine the number of receptions
necessary to repeat the list without errors
-retention curve determined by method savings
-after time, he relearned the list
Outcome: short intervals= fewer repetitions to relearn
-learned many lists at different retention rates
-used "savings" to calculate what was forgotten after a delay
The Rise of Behaviorism - Answers -Watson (Little Albert Experiment)
-classical conditioning of fear
-a month old frightened by a rat after a loud noise was paired with every presentation of rat
-Skinner (determining the relationship between stimuli and response
Classical Conditioning - Answers -pair a neutral event with an event that naturally produces
some outcome
, -neutral event will produce an outcome after many pairing
-Pavlov's dog experiment
Operant Conditioning - Answers -shape behavior by rewards and punishments
-behavior that is rewarded is more likely to be repeated
-behavior that is punished is less likely to be repeated
A Decline of Behaviorism - Answers -a controversy over language acquisition
-Skinner
-argued that children learn language through operant conditioning
-children imitate the speech they hear
-the correct speech is rewarded
Chomsky - Answers -argued that children only learn language through imitation and
reinforcement
-children say things they have never heard and can not be imitating
-children say things that are incorrect and have not been rewarded for
- conclusion: language must be determined by inborn biological problem
Tolman - Answers -he trained rats to find food in a four-armed maze
-two competing interpretations:
-behaviorism predicts that the rats learned to "turn right to find food"
-he believes that the rats had created a cognitive map of the maze and were navigating to a
specific arm where they had previously found food
-supports Tolman NOT behaviorism
The Cognitive Revolution - Answers -shift from behaviorists stimulus-response relationships to
an approach that attempts to explain behavior in terms of the mind
-the digital computer invented
1950s
Information-Processing Approach - Answers - a way to study the mind created from insights
associated with the digital computers
Historical views of cognition - Answers 1800's: ideas about the mind were dominated by the
belief that it is not possible for the mind to study itself; another idea that the properties of the
mind simply cannot be measured
Donder's - Answers -mental chronometry (measuring how long a cognitive process takes)
- reaction-time experiment (measures intervals between stimulus presentation and persons
response to stimulus
ex. light and the person hits the button (simple RT test)
OR: participant pushes on button if light is on right side/left side (Choice RT test)
-measured not directly measured but we can infer based on behavior
Hemholt - Answers -unconscious influence; some of our perceptions are the result of
unconscious assumption we make about the environment
-we infer much of what we know about the wolf d
Ebbinghaus - Answers -measuring the properties of the mind
-how rapidly information that is learned is lost over time
-read a list of nonsense syllables aloud many times to determine the number of receptions
necessary to repeat the list without errors
-retention curve determined by method savings
-after time, he relearned the list
Outcome: short intervals= fewer repetitions to relearn
-learned many lists at different retention rates
-used "savings" to calculate what was forgotten after a delay
The Rise of Behaviorism - Answers -Watson (Little Albert Experiment)
-classical conditioning of fear
-a month old frightened by a rat after a loud noise was paired with every presentation of rat
-Skinner (determining the relationship between stimuli and response
Classical Conditioning - Answers -pair a neutral event with an event that naturally produces
some outcome
, -neutral event will produce an outcome after many pairing
-Pavlov's dog experiment
Operant Conditioning - Answers -shape behavior by rewards and punishments
-behavior that is rewarded is more likely to be repeated
-behavior that is punished is less likely to be repeated
A Decline of Behaviorism - Answers -a controversy over language acquisition
-Skinner
-argued that children learn language through operant conditioning
-children imitate the speech they hear
-the correct speech is rewarded
Chomsky - Answers -argued that children only learn language through imitation and
reinforcement
-children say things they have never heard and can not be imitating
-children say things that are incorrect and have not been rewarded for
- conclusion: language must be determined by inborn biological problem
Tolman - Answers -he trained rats to find food in a four-armed maze
-two competing interpretations:
-behaviorism predicts that the rats learned to "turn right to find food"
-he believes that the rats had created a cognitive map of the maze and were navigating to a
specific arm where they had previously found food
-supports Tolman NOT behaviorism
The Cognitive Revolution - Answers -shift from behaviorists stimulus-response relationships to
an approach that attempts to explain behavior in terms of the mind
-the digital computer invented
1950s
Information-Processing Approach - Answers - a way to study the mind created from insights
associated with the digital computers
