Psychology Exam test queries with
answers graded A+
Cognitive psychology - ANS✅✅- refers to all processes by which sensory input is transmitted,
reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used
Innate knowledge - ANS✅✅- belief that humans are born already possessing knowledge about the
world
- emphasized by Aristotle
- nature
tabula rasa - ANS✅✅- blank slate; everything we know, think, feel, and all behaviors are learned
after birth
- emphasized by Plato
- nurture
structuralism - ANS✅✅- Wilhelm Wundt
- the belief that consciousness can be broken into elements of sensation and perception
consciousness - ANS✅✅- the awareness people have about outside world and their perceptions,
images, memories, and feelings
introspection - ANS✅✅- Wilhelm Wundt and Structuralism
- subjective observation of one's own experience
- bad method
savings curve - ANS✅✅- Herman Ebbinghaus
- shows that memory drops rapidly for the first 2 days after initial learning, then levels off
functionalism - ANS✅✅- William James
- interest in how the mind adapts to function in an individuals environment
- James was heavily influenced by Darwin's origin of species
, behaviorism - ANS✅✅- John B. Watson
- believed that psychology should focus on only observable behaviors and their reactions to stimuli
in the environment
- also known as the S.R. approach
- heavily influenced by Pavlov
operational definition - ANS✅✅- B.F. Skinner
- precise definition that specifies exactly how a researcher will conceptualize and measure a concept
gestalt psychology - ANS✅✅- Wolfgang Kohler
- the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
- study perceptual illusions
Frederic Bartlett's research on memory - ANS✅✅- disagreed with Ebbinghaus's use of nonsense
syllables and carefully controlled research settings - instead used meaningful stories in research
- found that people make systematic errors when trying to recall
- argued that memory is an active and structured process
information processing - ANS✅✅- mental processes are similar to that of a computer
- information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
sensory memory - ANS✅✅- stores sensory information with reasonable accuracy
- first stop for information
- short duration (2 seconds)
- relatively large capacity
- two sections: iconic = visual information, echoic = auditory information
short-term memory - ANS✅✅- small capacity
- 7 +/- 2 units of information
- short duration
- approximately 30 seconds without rehearsal
answers graded A+
Cognitive psychology - ANS✅✅- refers to all processes by which sensory input is transmitted,
reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used
Innate knowledge - ANS✅✅- belief that humans are born already possessing knowledge about the
world
- emphasized by Aristotle
- nature
tabula rasa - ANS✅✅- blank slate; everything we know, think, feel, and all behaviors are learned
after birth
- emphasized by Plato
- nurture
structuralism - ANS✅✅- Wilhelm Wundt
- the belief that consciousness can be broken into elements of sensation and perception
consciousness - ANS✅✅- the awareness people have about outside world and their perceptions,
images, memories, and feelings
introspection - ANS✅✅- Wilhelm Wundt and Structuralism
- subjective observation of one's own experience
- bad method
savings curve - ANS✅✅- Herman Ebbinghaus
- shows that memory drops rapidly for the first 2 days after initial learning, then levels off
functionalism - ANS✅✅- William James
- interest in how the mind adapts to function in an individuals environment
- James was heavily influenced by Darwin's origin of species
, behaviorism - ANS✅✅- John B. Watson
- believed that psychology should focus on only observable behaviors and their reactions to stimuli
in the environment
- also known as the S.R. approach
- heavily influenced by Pavlov
operational definition - ANS✅✅- B.F. Skinner
- precise definition that specifies exactly how a researcher will conceptualize and measure a concept
gestalt psychology - ANS✅✅- Wolfgang Kohler
- the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
- study perceptual illusions
Frederic Bartlett's research on memory - ANS✅✅- disagreed with Ebbinghaus's use of nonsense
syllables and carefully controlled research settings - instead used meaningful stories in research
- found that people make systematic errors when trying to recall
- argued that memory is an active and structured process
information processing - ANS✅✅- mental processes are similar to that of a computer
- information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
sensory memory - ANS✅✅- stores sensory information with reasonable accuracy
- first stop for information
- short duration (2 seconds)
- relatively large capacity
- two sections: iconic = visual information, echoic = auditory information
short-term memory - ANS✅✅- small capacity
- 7 +/- 2 units of information
- short duration
- approximately 30 seconds without rehearsal
