PSY 121 - Missouri State - Exam 1 Questions And Answers With Verified Study Solutions

Psychology - the scientific study of behavior and mental processes Psychodynamic approach - Emphasizing unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives (such as the drive for sex) and society's demands, and early childhood family experiences. Think unconscious, motives, conflicts, and past experiences, Freud Behavioral approach - Emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environment. Think Observation, Watson, Skinner, Learning, Environment Humanistic approach - Emphasizes the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny. Maslow, Rogers, self actualization Cognitive Perspective - A psychological approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, thinking, perceiving, problem solving, memory, rationality, and attitudes Biological Perspective - Emphasizes bodily events and changes associated with actions, feelings, and thoughts. Think Neurotransmitters, Dopamine, Genetics, DNA, Brain function, Hormones Evolutionary perspective - how the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes, Darwin, Survival of the fittest Sociocultural perspective - perspective that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and cultural influence Correlation - DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION Expiriment - Allows us to determine causality by manipulation of one or more independent variablesCompliance - When you do what is requested of you Obedience - When you follow a direct request from a position of authority Conformity - Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard without request foot-in-the-door technique - asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment door-in-the-face technique - asking for a large commitment and being refused and then asking for a smaller commitment low-ball technique - offer a good deal, then later changing the terms after agreement to the deal People generally ober authority when... - -Authority is seen as legitimate -There is distance from the repercussions of the actions -There are no alternative behaviors to follow -There are demand characteristics present cognitive dissonance - Inner tension that occurs when one is faced with conflicting attitudes and behavior 3 ways to reduce cognitive dissonance - 1. change behavior to make it match the attitude 2. change current attitude to justify the behavior 3. form new cognitions to JUSTIFY the behavior prejudice - negative attitudes held toward members of a group.Descrimination - negative behavior toward a group and its members explicit stereotypes - stereotypes of an out-group about which we're aware of implicit stereotypes - unconscious stereotypes guiding our judgments and actions without our conscious awareness fundamental attribution error - the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to assume dispositional attributions about their character -1 person, not yourself -Dispositional attribution about others actor-observer bias - the tendency to attribute one's own behavior to situational factors but to attribute the behavior of others to dispositional factors -2 people -actor makes situational attributions -observer makes dispositional attributions self-serving bias - the tendency for people to take dispositional credit for success but blame failure on situational factors -1 person, yourself -good, dispositional -bad, situational implicit memory - unconscious memory explicit memory - conscious memory proactive interference - old information hinders the recall of newly learned informationretroactive interference - new information causes forgetting of old information information processing model - Assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages. Encoding->Storage- >Retrieval contemporary model - the use of long-term knowledge to facilitate recall of memories sensory memory - the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system. -primarily involves the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex iconic memory - visual sensory memory echoic memory - auditory sensory memory working memory - active maintenance of information in short-term storage phonological loop - A component of working memory where we repeat verbal information to help us remember it visuospatial - The first component of working memory; holds and manipulates visual images and spatial information long-term memory - the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences. procedural memory - part of implicit memory; the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do thingselaborative rehearsal - A memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself over and over. retrograde amnesia - an inability to retrieve information from one's past anterograde amnesia - an inability to form new memories Attribution - the process of explaining one's own behavior and the behavior of others altruism - behavior carried out with the goal of helping others without concern for one's own safety or self-interest false consensus effect - the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors