Response Set

Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS)

Designed to measure social desirability
independent of psychopathology. Assesses
whether respondents are responding truthfully
or are misrepresenting themselves in order to
manage their self presentation.
Evidence suggesting social desirability is NOT a
problem?
correlation between self and informant ratings

Central Tendancy
central/typical
value
for
a
probability
distribution- measures are: Mean, Median, Mode

Variability
degree to which items in a list vary from one
another: measures are: standard deviation, and
range

Relationship: Standard Deviation & Variance

Standard Deviation=square root of the variance
What would a positively or negatively skewed
distribution look like?
(pointed end is the skewer) Positive: A few
outlying high scores, Negative: a few outlying
low scores

Floor EffectName of the effect when scores

bunch up at the bottom (lots of low scores)
Associated with a POSITIVE skew
Ceiling Effect
Name of the effect when scores bunch up at
the top (lots of low scores) Associated with a
NEGATIVE skew
Wilhelm Wundt
founder of experimental psychology, first
laboratory
of
psychology
research,
distinguished psychology from other sciences

Relationship:
Correlation
Coefficient
Coefficient of Determination

&

Correlation Coefficient squared = Coefficient of

Determination (Treat as a percent)

When examining the relationship between two

variables do you compare the coefficients of
determination or the correlation coefficients?
coefficients of determination

Jacob Cohen
Rules for thinking about correlation (&
computing power) in psychology research:
0.10 (Weak)
0.30 (Moderate)
0.50 (Strong)

Regression
way to predict scores: y=ax+b
a=y intercept
b=slope
y=score you are predicting

contemporary method of test construction

Blends empirical and rational meathods

rational method of test construction

researchers
begin
with
clear
cut
conceptualization, and then right items to fit
that conceptualization

Empirical method of test construction

researchers gather items, test participants and
gather items solely on the basis of whether of
not responses discriminated for different types
of people.

Item Difficulty Index

Measures Response Frequency: (dichotomous
items ONLY), tells you how frequently someone
endorses
the
keyed
response
UP+LP/U+L

*rank P's from top to bottom based on total

score*
UP: # of people in the upper third who endorsed

the
response
LP: # of people in the lower third who endorsed
the
response
U: # of people in the upper third of the
distribution
L: # of people in the lower third of the
distribution
Item Discrimination Index
UP-LP/U
*rank P's from top to bottom based on total
score*
UP: # of people in the upper third who endorsed
the
response
LP: # of people in the lower third who endorsed
the
response
U: # of people in the upper third of the
distribution
L: # of people in the lower third of the
distribution
Discrimination of 1 is Perfect discrimination
.2-.39:
Adequate
.4 and above is good
Cronbach's Alpha
Measure of internal consistency; used as an
estimate for reliability for a sample of
examinees.
(NON
DICHOTOMOUS)
obtain variance of total test scores and variance
for
scores
on
each
individual
item
[1-(S^2{item 1} + S^2{item 2} + S^2{item x}] /
[S^2 Total]
Dichotomous
divided into two parts: i.e yes/no, or true/false
Kudher-Richardson Formula
Measure of internal consistency; used as an
estimate for reliability for a sample of
examinees.
(DICHOTOMOUS)
{1-mean(K-mean)}/Ks^2
K=number of items on the scale

Internal Consistency
Measures whether several items that propose
to measure the same construct produce similar
scores.
Measures:
Kuhder-Richardson

(Dichotomous),
Cronbach's
Alpha
(NonDichotomous)

Inter-Rater Reliability
degree of agreement among raters

Discriminant Validity
tests whether concepts that are supposed to be
unrelated are in fact unrelated: (how well test
constructs discriminate)

Convergent Validity
degree to which two construct measures that
should be related are in fact related.

Construct Validity
how
well
inferences,
observations
and
measurement tools represent the constructs
you are measuring

Face Validity
subjective relevance of a test: does it measure
what it proposes to measure?

Internal Validity
extent to which a study minimizes systematic
error: extent to which a casual conclusion is
warranted. Extent to which you can rule out
confounds and extraneous variables)

Systematic Error
errors in measurement causing the mean of the
measured attribute to differ significantly from
it's true value

Extraneous Variables
undesirable variables that influence the
relationship between variables an experimenter
is measuring

Good internal Validity means what about

extraneous variables?
We can rule out their presence

External Validity
Can you generalize your study? extent to which
your results can be generalized to other people
or situations


3 Main Types of generalizability
People (different types), Setting (different
places), Time period (norms differ in different
centuries/decades)

Ecological Validity
How well the materials, methods, and setting
approximate the real world you are examining.

Incremental Validity
Whether or not the scale you are using provides
useful information you cannot use in any other
way-can we attain the same information is a
simpler already existing way?

Z-Score
Type of standard score
X-mean / Standard Deviation
x=value you want a Z-score for.

Gordon Alport
Art vs. Science- first psychologist to focus on
personality, present context>past history

Projective Test
Test designed to have P's respond to ambiguous
stimuli

What can projective testing reveal that other

tests seldom do?
Inner conflicts, fantasies, associations (to
stimuli),

What assumptions do self report measures make

about P's psychological issues that projective
testing aims to solve?
People are aware of their most important
psychological processes

Johari Window
Known to Self | Unknown to Self
____________________________________
____________________
Known to Others | Open | Blind
Unknown to Others | Hidden | Unknown

____________________________________
____________________

Which quadrant of the Johari window are

projective testers most interested in?
the lower right hand quadrant: information no
known to others or to the self

Carl Jung
Developed word association test (early version
of projective test)

Herman Rorschach
Creator of the Rorschach, long standing
interest in P's response to inkblots

Samuel Beck
Improved Rorschach after his (Rorschach's)
death and is credited with popularizing the test

Bruno Klopfer
Rival of Samuel Beck, worked with the
Rorschach scoring system

TAT (Thematic Appreciation Test) attributes:

Show somebody ambiguous pictures from
magazines of the era,

Henry Murray
Developer of the TAT *Additions from COPT*

Christiana Morgan
Developer of the TAT *Additions from COPT*

Human Movement (M)

Rorschach scoring variable: indicates generally
good ego control, tendency towards constructive
use of fantasy

Inanimate Movement
Rorschach scoring variable: indicates feelings of
helplessness in the face of stress

Color & Form (in the context of Rorscach

scoring)

when people use color and form as they describe

what they're seeing it's indicative of how they
handle emotions-FC (Form>color) indicates
control over their emotions, CF (color>form)
indicates their emotional displays are less
controlled

Texture Responses (in the context of Rorscach

scoring)
Indicate dependency & neediness

High Form: (in the context of Rorscach scoring)

Indicates defensiveness and a restricted
personality

Animal Movement
Rorschach scoring feature: Somebody who is
driven by needs and impulses

Morbid Content
Rorschach scoring feature: low validity, judged
on whether or not the response is exceedingly
negative

White Space
Rorschach
scoring
feature:
indicates
oppositional tendencies

Experience Balance
Rorschach scoring feature: ratio of human
movement to color responses

High human movement/color in terms of

experience balance (ratio):
High
M
(Human
Movement)
indicates
introversive
tendencies,
High
C
(color
responses) indicates extroversive tendencies.

Which type of validity is the Rorschach LOW in

(questions have been raised about it)?
Incremental Validity

What were some of the rationales for the TAT?

people are not always consciously aware of the
needs driving behavior, strong unconscious
influences on behavior, fundamental need for
achievement, Autonomy (as a confound) [people
will do whatever they need to to stay in control],

How manny TAT cards are there?

31

How is the TAT administered? (very basically)

ask participants to construct a story with the
cards they see, say you want to know about the
characters' internal life, present and future
thoughts and actions

How is the TAT scored?

looking for themes-{achievement, loss, etc.},
who emerges as the main character?, What are
the interpersonal conflicts, anxieties in the
story?

David Mclelland
Developed scoring system for TAT, was most
interested in need for achievement
when was the MMPI released?
in the 1930's

Starke Hathaway & J.C Mckinley

Developers of the MMPI

What was the original purpose of the MMPI?

develop a scale for the assessment of
psychiatric patients

Robert Sternberg
Triarcich theory of intelligence: Analytical,
Practical, & Creative

Sternberg's Analytical Intelligence:

Math, Logic, Critical & Abstract thinking,
reasoning

Sternberg's Practical Intelligence:

affects somebody's ability to deal skillfully with
the environment- figure out how to adapt their
plan when things go bad

what did Sternberg believe about IQ?

IQ is not fixed and you can improve it

Existential Intelligence
(Gardner) ability to be sensitive to/tackle
larger questions about human existence

Naturalist Intelligence
(Gardner) ability to classify things in the
natural world

Interpersonal Intelligence
Ability to interact with others socially in a
skillful way; reading others; understanding their
modes

Intrapersonal Intellagence
Ability to look inward and classify ones own
abilities

Raymond Catell
proponent of "Beyondism", and Eugenics,
believed emotional intelligence had 2 branches

Fluid Intelligence
(Catell) Ability to solve problems (culture free)
not dealing with verbal material: peaks @ 20

Crystalized Intelligence
(Catell) Information you have gathered through
experience, ability to memorize information,
peaks at 40

David Wechsler
Developed the WAIS (Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale) which is considered the gold
standard in intelligence testing.

How would David Wechsler define intelligence?

capacity of the individual to act rationally, think
purposefully, and deal effectively with his
environment

What is the best correlate with overall

intelligence?
Vocabulary

(WAIS subtest) "Digit Span"

digit
forwards,
digit
backwards,
digit
sequencing, asks examinees to recall numbers
forwards, backwards, and to organize them.

Assesses working memory, mental manipulation,

cognitive flexibility, rote memory and learning,
attention, and encoding.

(WAIS subtest) "Picture Completion"

**now optional** asks examinees to identify the
missing part of a familiar picture. Assesses
visual
perception
and
organization,
concentration, visual recognition.

(WAIS subtest) "Block Design"

examinee uses red and white blocks to recreate
the picture from a model. Second strongest
correlate with overall intelligence (Vocabulary is
1st) Assesses nonverbal abilities free of cultural
bias, analyze and synthesize abstract stimuli.

(WAIS subtest) "Coding/Digit Symbol"

assess ability to process information quickly,
(WAIS III Only) asks participants to match
digits to symbols in a timed environment.

Stanford-Binnet (Alfred Binet)

One of the first modern Intelligence tests,
developed to assess child's intellectual abilities
and determine if they're mentally retarded

(WAIS subtest) "Object Assembly"

Optional test assessing visual-spacial abilities,
asking P's to assemble puzzle pieces

WAIS Verbal IQ
Tells you about P's general knowledge,

WAIS Performance IQ
Tells about you'r P's ability to deal skillfully
with their environment

WAIS Overall IQ
Combination of Performance and Verbal IQ

Francis Galton
Proponent of eugenics, created the concept of
correlation. Founded psychometrics, introduced
the use of questionarres and surveys that were
vital in intelligence testing

How do you compute IQ?

mental age/chronological age x 100

What is the standard error of measurement

formula?
Standard deviation x Square Root (1-R)
R=reliability coefficient

What is the reliability coefficient defined as?

ratio of true score variance to total variance

Response Set
tendency to respond to
items in a way that is
inaccurate and unrelated
to Item content

Response Bias
tendency to respond to
items in a way that is
inaccurate and unrelated
to Item content

Response Deviation
someone who is endorsing
the unusual items

Extremity
Response
Bias
when respondents go to
the extreme on Likert
scales

Modracy Response Bias

when respondents stay
toward the middle on
Likert scales

BIDR (Balanced Inventory of Desirable

Responding)
measurement & control of response bias,
measures social desirability-assesses whether
respondents are responding truthfully or are
misrepresenting themselves in order to manage
their self presentation.

Self Serving Bias

When we reject negative feedback or inflate

positive feedback to protect our self esteem

Impression Management
How we manage the perceptions others have
about us. Often used to establish independent
identity or to get something we want.

Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS)

Designed to measure social desirability
independent of psychopathology. Assesses
whether respondents are responding truthfully
or are misrepresenting themselves in order to
manage their self presentation.

Evidence suggesting social desirability is NOT a

problem?
correlation between self and informant ratings

Central Tendancy
central/typical
value
for
a
probability
distribution- measures are: Mean, Median, Mode

Variability
degree to which items in a list vary from one
another: measures are: standard deviation, and
range

Relationship: Standard Deviation & Variance

Standard Deviation=square root of the variance

What would a positively or negatively skewed

distribution look like?
(pointed end is the skewer) Positive: A few
outlying high scores, Negative: a few outlying low
scores

Floor Effect
Name of the effect when scores bunch up at the
bottom (lots of low scores) Associated with a
POSITIVE skew

Ceiling Effect
Name of the effect when scores bunch up at the
top (lots of low scores) Associated with a
NEGATIVE skew

Wilhelm Wundt

founder of experimental psychology, first

laboratory of psychology research, distinguished
psychology from other sciences

Relationship:
Correlation
Coefficient
&
Coefficient of Determination
Correlation Coefficient squared = Coefficient of
Determination (Treat as a percent)

When examining the relationship between two

variables do you compare the coefficients of
determination or the correlation coefficients?
coefficients of determination

Jacob Cohen
Rules for thinking about correlation (&
computing power) in psychology research:
0.10
(Weak)
0.30
(Moderate)
0.50 (Strong)

Regression
way
to
predict
scores:
y=ax+b
a=y
intercept
b=slope
y=score you are predicting

contemporary method of test construction

Blends empirical and rational meathods

rational method of test construction

researchers
begin
with
clear
cut
conceptualization, and then right items to fit
that conceptualization

Empirical method of test construction

researchers gather items, test participants and
gather items solely on the basis of whether of
not responses discriminated for different types
of people.

Item Difficulty Index

Measures Response Frequency: (dichotomous
items ONLY), tells you how frequently someone
endorses
the
keyed
response
UP+LP/U+L
*rank P's from top to bottom based on total
score*

UP: # of people in the upper third who endorsed

the
response
LP: # of people in the lower third who endorsed
the
response
U: # of people in the upper third of the
distribution
L: # of people in the lower third of the
distribution

Item Discrimination Index

UP-LP/U
*rank P's from top to bottom based on total
score*
UP: # of people in the upper third who endorsed
the
response
LP: # of people in the lower third who endorsed
the
response
U: # of people in the upper third of the
distribution
L: # of people in the lower third of the
distribution
Discrimination of 1 is Perfect discrimination
.2-.39:
Adequate
.4 and above is good

Cronbach's Alpha
Measure of internal consistency; used as an
estimate for reliability for a sample of
examinees.
(NON
DICHOTOMOUS)
obtain variance of total test scores and variance
for
scores
on
each
individual
item
[1-(S^2{item 1} + S^2{item 2} + S^2{item x}] /
[S^2 Total]

Dichotomous
divided into two parts: i.e yes/no, or true/false

Kudher-Richardson Formula
Measure of internal consistency; used as an
estimate for reliability for a sample of
examinees.
(DICHOTOMOUS)
{1-mean(K-mean)}/Ks^2
K=number of items on the scale

Internal Consistency
Measures whether several items that propose to
measure the same construct produce similar
scores.
Measures:
Kuhder-Richardson

(Dichotomous),
Cronbach's
Alpha
(NonDichotomous)

Inter-Rater Reliability
degree of agreement among raters

Discriminant Validity
tests whether concepts that are supposed to be
unrelated are in fact unrelated: (how well test
constructs discriminate)

Convergent Validity
degree to which two construct measures that
should be related are in fact related.

Construct Validity
how
well
inferences,
observations
and
measurement tools represent the constructs you
are measuring

Face Validity
subjective relevance of a test: does it measure
what it proposes to measure?

Internal Validity
extent to which a study minimizes systematic
error: extent to which a casual conclusion is
warranted. Extent to which you can rule out
confounds and extraneous variables)

Systematic Error
errors in measurement causing the mean of the
measured attribute to differ significantly from
it's true value

Extraneous Variables
undesirable variables that influence the
relationship between variables an experimenter
is measuring

Good internal Validity means what about

extraneous variables?
We can rule out their presence

External Validity
Can you generalize your study? extent to which
your results can be generalized to other people
or situations

3 Main Types of generalizability

People (different types), Setting (different
places), Time period (norms differ in different
centuries/decades)

Ecological Validity
How well the materials, methods, and setting
approximate the real world you are examining.

Incremental Validity
Whether or not the scale you are using provides
useful information you cannot use in any other
way-can we attain the same information is a
simpler already existing way?

Z-Score
Type
of
standard
score
X-mean
/
Standard
Deviation
x=value you want a Z-score for.

Gordon Alport
Art vs. Science- first psychologist to focus on
personality, present context>past history

Projective Test
Test designed to have P's respond to ambiguous
stimuli

What can projective testing reveal that other

tests seldom do?
Inner conflicts, fantasies, associations (to
stimuli),

What assumptions do self report measures make

about P's psychological issues that projective
testing aims to solve?
People are aware of their most important
psychological processes

Johari Window
Known
to
Self
|
Unknown
to
Self
____________________________________
____________________
Known
to
Others
|
Open
|
Blind
Unknown to Others | Hidden | Unknown

____________________________________
____________________

Which quadrant of the Johari window are

projective testers most interested in?
the lower right hand quadrant: information no
known to others or to the self

Carl Jung
Developed word association test (early version
of projective test)

Herman Rorschach
Creator of the Rorschach, long standing interest
in P's response to inkblots

Samuel Beck
Improved Rorschach after his (Rorschach's)
death and is credited with popularizing the test

Bruno Klopfer
Rival of Samuel Beck, worked with the
Rorschach scoring system

TAT (Thematic Appreciation Test) attributes:

Show somebody ambiguous pictures from
magazines of the era,

Henry Murray
Developer of the TAT *Additions from COPT*

Christiana Morgan
Developer of the TAT *Additions from COPT*

Human Movement (M)

Rorschach scoring variable: indicates generally
good ego control, tendency towards constructive
use of fantasy

Inanimate Movement
Rorschach scoring variable: indicates feelings of
helplessness in the face of stress

Color & Form (in the context of Rorscach

scoring)
when people use color and form as they describe
what they're seeing it's indicative of how they
handle emotions-FC (Form>color) indicates

control over their emotions, CF (color>form)

indicates their emotional displays are less
controlled

Texture Responses (in the context of Rorscach

scoring)
Indicate dependency & neediness

High Form: (in the context of Rorscach scoring)

Indicates defensiveness and a restricted
personality

Animal Movement
Rorschach scoring feature: Somebody who is
driven by needs and impulses

Morbid Content
Rorschach scoring feature: low validity, judged
on whether or not the response is exceedingly
negative

White Space
Rorschach
scoring
feature:
indicates
oppositional tendencies

Experience Balance
Rorschach scoring feature: ratio of human
movement to color responses

High human movement/color in terms of

experience balance (ratio):
High
M
(Human
Movement)
indicates
introversive tendencies, High C (color responses)
indicates extroversive tendencies.

Which type of validity is the Rorschach LOW in

(questions have been raised about it)?
Incremental Validity

What were some of the rationales for the TAT?

people are not always consciously aware of the
needs driving behavior, strong unconscious
influences on behavior, fundamental need for
achievement, Autonomy (as a confound) [people
will do whatever they need to to stay in control],

How manny TAT cards are there?

31


How is the TAT administered? (very basically)
ask participants to construct a story with the
cards they see, say you want to know about the
characters' internal life, present and future
thoughts and actions

How is the TAT scored?

looking for themes-{achievement, loss, etc.}, who
emerges as the main character?, What are the
interpersonal conflicts, anxieties in the story?

David Mclelland
Developed scoring system for TAT, was most
interested in need for achievement
when was the MMPI released?
in the 1930's

Starke Hathaway & J.C Mckinley

Developers of the MMPI

What was the original purpose of the MMPI?

develop a scale for the assessment of
psychiatric patients

Robert Sternberg
Triarcich theory of intelligence: Analytical,
Practical, & Creative

Sternberg's Analytical Intelligence:

Math, Logic, Critical & Abstract thinking,
reasoning

Sternberg's Practical Intelligence:

affects somebody's ability to deal skillfully with
the environment- figure out how to adapt their
plan when things go bad

what did Sternberg believe about IQ?

IQ is not fixed and you can improve it

Existential Intelligence
(Gardner) ability to be sensitive to/tackle larger
questions about human existence

Naturalist Intelligence

(Gardner) ability to classify things in the natural

world

Interpersonal Intelligence
Ability to interact with others socially in a
skillful way; reading others; understanding their
modes

Intrapersonal Intellagence
Ability to look inward and classify ones own
abilities

Raymond Catell
proponent of "Beyondism", and Eugenics,
believed emotional intelligence had 2 branches

Fluid Intelligence
(Catell) Ability to solve problems (culture free)
not dealing with verbal material: peaks @ 20

Crystalized Intelligence
(Catell) Information you have gathered through
experience, ability to memorize information,
peaks at 40

David Wechsler
Developed
the
WAIS
(Wechsler
Adult
Intelligence Scale) which is considered the gold
standard in intelligence testing.

How would David Wechsler define intelligence?

capacity of the individual to act rationally, think
purposefully, and deal effectively with his
environment

What is the best correlate with overall

intelligence?
Vocabulary

(WAIS subtest) "Digit Span"

digit
forwards,
digit
backwards,
digit
sequencing, asks examinees to recall numbers
forwards, backwards, and to organize them.
Assesses working memory, mental manipulation,
cognitive flexibility, rote memory and learning,
attention, and encoding.

(WAIS subtest) "Picture Completion"

**now optional** asks examinees to identify the
missing part of a familiar picture. Assesses
visual
perception
and
organization,
concentration, visual recognition.

(WAIS subtest) "Block Design"

examinee uses red and white blocks to recreate
the picture from a model. Second strongest
correlate with overall intelligence (Vocabulary is
1st) Assesses nonverbal abilities free of cultural
bias, analyze and synthesize abstract stimuli.

(WAIS subtest) "Coding/Digit Symbol"

assess ability to process information quickly,
(WAIS III Only) asks participants to match
digits to symbols in a timed environment.

Stanford-Binnet (Alfred Binet)

One of the first modern Intelligence tests,
developed to assess child's intellectual abilities
and determine if they're mentally retarded

(WAIS subtest) "Object Assembly"

Optional test assessing visual-spacial abilities,
asking P's to assemble puzzle pieces

WAIS Verbal IQ
Tells you about P's general knowledge,

WAIS Performance IQ
Tells about you'r P's ability to deal skillfully
with their environment

WAIS Overall IQ
Combination of Performance and Verbal IQ

Francis Galton
Proponent of eugenics, created the concept of
correlation. Founded psychometrics, introduced
the use of questionarres and surveys that were
vital in intelligence testing

How do you compute IQ?

mental age/chronological age x 100

What is the standard error of measurement

formula?
Standard deviation x Square Root (1-R)
R=reliability coefficient

What is the reliability coefficient defined as?

ratio of true score variance to total variance

VESTIBULAR SENSE
The sense of body movement and position,
including the sense of balance

INNER EAR
The innermost part of the ear, containing the
cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

VISUAL CLIFF
A laboratory device for testing depth
perception in infants and young animals

GROUPING
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into
coherent groups

COLOR CONSTANCY
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent
color, even if changing illumination alters the
wavelengths reflected by the object

DEPTH PERCEPTION
The ability to see objects in three dimensions
although the images that strike the retina are
two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

PERCEPTUAL SET
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing
and not another

PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCY
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having
consistent shape, size, lightness, and color) even
as illumination and retinal images change

PERCEPTUAL ADAPTATION
In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially
displaced or even inverted visual field

SUBLIMINAL
Below one's absolute threshold for conscious
awareness

PARAPSYCHOLOGY
The study of paranormal phenomena, including
ESP and psychokinesis

SENSORY ADAPTATION
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of
constant stimulation

HUMAN FACTORS PSYCHOLOGY

A branch of psychology that explores how
people and machines interact and how machines
and physical environments can be made safe and
easy to use

DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD
The minimum difference between two stimuli
required for detection 50% of the time

EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION
The controversial clam that perceptional can
occur apart from sensory input; includes
telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

INTENSITY
The amount of energy in a light or sound wave,
which we perceive as brightness or loudness

OPTIC NERVE
The nerve that carries neural impulses from the
eye to the brain

SENSATION
The process by which our sensory receptors and
nervous system receive and represent stimulus
energies from our environment

PERCEPTION
The process of organizing and interpreting
sensory information, enabling us to recognize
meaningful objects and events

TOP DOWN PROCESSING

Information processing guided by higher-level
mental processes, as when we construct
perceptions drawing on our experience and
expectations

BOTTOM UP PROCESSING
Analysis that beings with the sensory receptors
and works up to the brain's integration of
sensory information

ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a
particular stimulus 50% of the time

BLIND SPOT
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the
eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor
cells are located there
PUPIL
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye
through which light enters

IRIS
The ring of muscle tissue that forms the
colored portion of the eye around the pupil and
controls the size of the pupil opening
LENS
The transparent structure behind the pupil that
changes shape to help focus images on the
retina
RODS
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and
grey; necessary for peripheral and twilight
vision when cones don't respond

RETINA
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye,
containing the receptor rods and cones plus
layers of neurons that begin the processing of
visual information

CONES
Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated
near the center of the retinal and that function
in daylight or in well-lit conditions; detect detail
and give rise to color sensations

After listening to your high-volume car stereo

for 15 minutes, you fail to realize how loudly the
music is blasting. This best illustrates:
sensory adaptation.

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye,

containing the rods and cones, is the:
Retina.

How does pain differ from other senses?

It has no special receptors, It has no single
stimulus

After watching a scary television movie, Julie

perceived the noise of the wind rattling her
front windows as the sound of a burglar
breaking into her house. Her mistaken
interpretation best illustrates the influence of:
perceptual set.

When Rick learned that many students had

received a failing grade on the midterm exam,
he was no longer disappointed by his C grade.
His experience best illustrates the importance
of:
context effects

A neutral facial expression may be perceived as

sadder at a funeral than at a circus. This best
illustrates:
a context effect.

Jack claims that he often has dreams that

predict future events. He claims to have the
power of:
precognition.

A person claiming to be able to read another's

mind is claiming to have the ESP ability of:
telepathy.

A car driver's ability to navigate a familiar

route while carrying on an animated
conversation with passengers best illustrates
the importance of:
parallel processing.

The sleep cycle is approximately ________

minutes.
90

One effect of sleeping pills is to:

decrease REM sleep

A person who falls asleep in the midst of a

heated argument probably suffers from:
narcolepsy.
Hypnosis
Responding to suggestion

Dreams
Hallucinations while sleep

Tolerance
Diminishing effect of using same drug

Withdrawal
Discomfort following discontinued use

Dependence
Need for a drug to stop unpleasant physical or
emotional pain

Addiction
Compulsive drug craving and use

Stimulants
Caffeine, cocaine, methamphetamine

Barbiturate
Tranquillizers, Amytal

Opiates
Morphine, heroin

Depressants
Alcohol

Hallucinogen
ecstasy, LSD

THC
Marijuana

Stimulants Arouse body, increase heart rate, increase

breathing rate

Barbiturate Induce sleep, reduce anxiety

Opiates induces lethargy, body stops producing

endorphins

Depressants Slows judgment and inhibitions, disrupts

memory, reduces self awareness

Hallucinogen distort perceptions, subtype of serotonin,

dream or nightmare
THC relaxes, stops inhibitions, euphoria

the law of effect

Rewarded behavior like to recur, behavior
punished going to be extinct

reinforcement positive
good is rewarded

reinforcement negative
reduce or remove when do bad

shaping
shape behavior with a little bit at a time:
procedure in which reinforces

successive approximation
you reward responses that are ever- closer to
the final desired the steps of shaping behavior

Skinner box
operate chamber. box has a bar than an animal
presses and figures out things box teaches
animals to do things with food and buttons

spontaneous recovery
the reappearance of a (weakened) CR after
pause

extinction
the diminished responding that occurs

generalization
tendency to respond to stimuli Ex: music get
food dog salivate with music

discrimination
ability to distinguish some stimuli Ex: only key
food food dog salivates with that key

continuous reinforcement
reinforcement of the desired response every
time it occurs

fixed ration
reinforce behavior after a set number of
responses know how many times

variable ration
reinforces after an unpredictable number no
idea how much time

fixed interval
know time pass just don't know

variable interval
reinforce that first after varying time