Assignment Questions Chapters 5-7 Psychology Essay

1. Most current studies aimed at understanding human shop be conducted within a framework shaftn as in cookation- dishing theory. This military operationion makes lend oneself of modern computing machine science and related fields to provide manakins that divine service psychologists understand the processes involved in retrospection. The general principles of the in embodimentation processing approach to memory entangle the nonion that memory involves three distinct processes. The outgrowth process, encoding, is the process of transforming development into a form that raise be injectd in memory. The blink of an eye process, storage, is the process of keeping or maintaining information in memory. The final process, retrieval, is the process of bringing to mind information that has been stored in the memory (p.168). both influential theorists concerning the information-processing theory be Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. They characterized memory as three contrary, interacting memory dodgings sensory memory, short memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the memory system that holds information from the senses for a period of metre ranging from sole(prenominal) a dissever of a imprimatur to about 2 seconds. Sensory memory rat take in an enormous amount of information, still it can only hold on to it for a very brief period of time (p.169).Short-term memory is the component of the memory system that holds about heptad (from five to nine) items for less than 30 seconds without rehearsal also called the working memory. When short-term memory is filled to mental object, displacement can occur. In displacement, each naked incoming item pushes out an existing item, which is so forgotten (p.170). semipermanent memory (LTM) is the memory system with a virtually unlimited depicted object that contains vast stores of a persons permanent or relatively permanent memories. There ar no known limits to the storage capacity of this memory system, and long-term memories can persist for long time, nearly of them for a lifetime. breeding in long-term memory is unremarkably stored in semantic form, although visual images, croaks, and odors can be stored at that place as well (p.174).2. The analogy heuristic involves comparing a problem to others you halt experienced in the past. The conception is that if a token strategy worked with mistakable problems in the past, it will be strong for solving a new one. Another heuristic that is effective for solving some problems is working backward, sometimes called the backward inquisition. This approach starts with the solution, a known condition, and works back through the problem. Once the backward search has revealed the steps to be taken and their order, the problem can be single-minded (p.207). Another popular heuristic strategy is means-end analysis, in which the current power is compargond with a desired goal, and a series of steps atomic number 18 theorise and then taken to close the gap between the dickens. When you adopt a heuristic strategy, it may or may not rifle to a correct solution. By contrast, the algorithm is a problem-solving strategy that always lead to a correct solution if it is applied appropriately (p.208).3.Research suggests that there are both proceedss and disadvantages to maturement two wrangles early in life. One of the pl holds is that, among preschool and school-age children, bilingualism, blandness in at least two languages, is associated with better executive delay skills on language tasks. Executive control skills enable bilingual children to beat out impulsive responses to verbal tasks and, as a result, think more than cautiously about them. Thus, executive control skills are cardinal in learning to read and write. On the downside, even in adulthood, bilingualism is sometimes associated with decreased cogency in memory tasks involving invents. However, bilinguals appear to develop compensatory strategies that allow them to make up these inefficiencies. Consequently, they ofttimes complete much(prenominal) tasks as accurately as monolinguals, though they may respond more slowly. Researchers gift found that there is no age at which it is impossible to learn a new language. enchantment it is true that those who begin earlier reach higher(prenominal) levels of proficiency, age is not the only determining factor (p.214). There is one clear advantage to learning two languages earlier in life, however. People who are young when they learn a new language are far more likely to be able to speak with an appropriate accent. One precedent for this difference between early and late language learners may control to do with slight variations in neural processing in Brocas landing field, the area of the mentality that controls speech production. Research suggests that bilinguals who wise(p) a second language early rely on the aforementioned(prenominal) patch of wander in Brocas area for both of the languages they speak. In those who learned a second language at an onetime(a) age, two different sections of Brocas are are active while they are acting language tasks (p.215).4. Charles Spearman observed that people who are bright in one area are usually bright in other areas as well. In other give-and-takes, they tend to be generally intelligent. Spearman came to believe that apprehension service is tranquil of a general ability that underlies all intellectual regions. Spearman concluded that news show turn outs tap this g factor, or general intelligence, and a number of s factors, or specific intellectual abilities. Spearmans influence can be seen in those intelligence runnels, such as the Stanford-Binet, that ge assign one IQ score to indicate the level of general intelligence. Howard Gardner also denies the existence of a g factor. Instead, he proposes a theory of multiple intelligences that includes eight cardinal forms of inte lligence, or frames of mind.The eight frames of mind are linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and natura dipic. In recent years, he has proposed a ninth type of intelligence, one that he calls existential intelligence, deals with the uncanny realm and enables us to contemplate the significance of life. He start-off highly- develop his theory by studying patients with different types of mindset damage that be active some forms of intelligence exclusively leaves other intact. The most controversial grimace of Gardners theory is his view that all forms of intelligence are of agree importance. In fact, different cultures assign varying degrees of importance to the types of intelligence (p.216-217).5. I would perform a fixed-ratio (FR) schedule, in which a reinforcer is given after(prenominal) a fixed number of correct, non reinforced responses. So, if my dog knew that after pealing over correctly ten times withou t astonishting reinforced meant that she would get a reinforced after those ten times, she would then learn that after rolling over ten times correctly, she would be reinforced (p.147). In fixed-rate schedules response rates are very high, and the higher the ratio, the more kind to extinction (p.148).6. Psycholinguistics is the study of how language is acquired, produced, and utilise and how the operoses and symbols of language are translated into meaning. Psycholinguists practice session specific terms for each of the five basic components of language. The smaller units of sound in a spoken language-such as b or s in English-are known as phonemes. Three phonemes together form the sound of the word cat c (which sounds like k), a, and t. Combinations of earn that form particular sounds are also phonemes, such as the th in the and the ch in child. The same phoneme may be represented by different garners in different words this occurs with the a in stay and the ei in sleigh. And the same letter can serve as different phonemes. This letter a, for example, is sounded as four-spot different phonemes in day, cap, watch, and law. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. A a couple of(prenominal) single phonemes serve as morphemes, such as the article a and the personal pronoun I.The ending -s gives a plural form meaning to a word and is thus a morpheme in English. many words in English are single morphemes-book, word, learn, sympathy, and so on. In addition to root words, morphemes may be prefixes (such as re- in relearn) or suffixes (such as -ed to show past tense, as in learned). The single morpheme reason becomes a dual morpheme in reasonable. The morpheme book (singular) become two morphemes in books (plural). Syntax is the aspect of grammar that specifies the rules for arranging and combining words to form phrases and sentences. The rules of word order, syntax, differ from one language to another. For example, an important rule of syn tax in English is that adjectives usually come before nouns. So English speakers associate to the residence of the U.S. president as the White House.In Spanish, in contrast, the noun usually comes before the advective, and Spanish speakers say la Casa Blanca, or the House White. Semantics invokes to the meaning derived from morphemes, words, and sentences. The same word can select different meanings depending on how it is use in sentences I dont mind. Mind your manners. He has disoriented his mind. Or consider another example Loving to read, the young miss read three books last week. Here, the word read is pronounced two different ways, and in one case, is the past tense. Pragmatics, is the term psycholinguists use to refer to aspects of language such as intonation, the rising and falling patterns that are used to express meaning. For example, think about how you would say the single word biscuit to express each of the following meanings Do you want a biscuit? or What a delicio us looking cookie or Thats a cookie. The subtle differences reflect your knowledge of the pragmatic rules of English (P.210-211).7. An intelligence test is a measure of general intellectual ability. An individuals score is determined by how his responses compare to others of his or her age. Thus, intelligence tests are norm-referenced. All psychological tests, including all the various types of tests that measure cognitive ability, are judged according to the same criteria.They must provide consistent results. An intelligence test must have reliability the test must consistently yield nearly the same score when the same person is tested and then retested on the same test or an alternative form of the test. The higher the correlation between the two wads, the more reliable the test. Tests can be highly reliable barely worthless if they are not valid. boldness is the ability or power of a test to measure what it is mean to measure. Once a test is proven to be valid or reliable, th e next requirement is norm-referenced standardization. There must be standard procedures for administering and tally the test.Exactly the same directions must be given, whether written or oral, and the same amount of time must be allowed for every test taker. scarcely even more important, standardization means establishing norms, age-based averages, by which all pull ahead are interpreted. A test is standardized by administering it to a bounteous sample of people who are representative of those who will be victorious the test in the future. The groups score are analyzed, and then the average score, standard deviation, percentile rankings, and other measures are computed. These comparative dozens become the norms used as the standard against which all other make headway on that test are measured. Reliability, validity, and standardization are e extraly important with regard to intelligence tests because the kinds of decisions that are sometimes based on intelligence test score s can have grave consequences.For example, a few years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that is unconstitutional to serve individuals who have mental retardation. Thus, a psychologist who is charged with the responsibility of administering an intelligence test to a person who will or will not be showcase to the death penalty at least partly on the basis of his or her intelligence test score must experience that the test given is reliable and valid and has been properly standardized. Likewise, childrens scores on these tests are often used to place them in special school programs that, in a very real sense, change the program of their lives for years to come. In fact, such a goal was the impetus for the development of the first standardized intelligence test (p.219).8. In memory going there are two broad categories that involves this kind of memory loss, brownout and mania. Amnesia is a partial or complete loss of memory due to loss of consciousness, brain damage, or some psych ological cause. foreign the memory disorders that are experienced by some older adults, memory loss can be experienced at any age. In some cases, blackout takes the form of an inability to store new information. This kind of amnesia is known as anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form long-term memories of lawsuits occurring after a brain injury or brain surgery, although memories formed before the trauma are usually intact and short-term memory is unaffected. Some individuals with amnesia can form new memories, but they cannot remember the past, a disorder known as retrograde amnesia. retire amnesia is a loss of memory for experiences that occurred shortly before a loss of consciousness. These people often lack knowledge of themselves and/or the events contact the development of their memory loss. It is not unusual for a person to have both retrograde and anterograde amnesia with regard to the events that immediately preceded and followed a serious car crash or other traumatic event (p. 189). Another form of memory loss is dementia. Dementia is a state of mental deterioration characterized by impaired memory and intellect and by altered personality and air.Dementia can result from such conditions as cerebral arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries in the brain), chronic alcoholism, and irreversible damage by a small series of strokes. Dementia is most public among older adults. However, diseases such as HIV/AIDS can cause dementia to develop in a younger person as well. nigh 50 to 60% of all cases of dementia result from Alzheimers disease. This is a progressive deterioration of intellect and personality that results from widespread degeneration of brain cells (p.190).9. People reconstruct memories, piecing them together using schemas to organize fragments of information, a process that has both advantages and disadvantages. Information that fits with preexisting schemas can be efficiently remembered, but schemas can also introduce distortions into memory. Sir Frederick Bartletts research present how reconstructive processing changes memory over time (p.178). Most memories do not include source information, so memories for sources must be reconstructed. showtime monitoring results in encoding of source memories. Flashbulb memories are different from others in that they always include source information, although the source information is subject to reconstruction changes over time (p.179). Autobiographical memories are reconstructed memories that include factual, emotional, and interpretive elements. They are subject to positive bias (p.180).10. Bandura suspected that hostility and violence on television programs, including cartoons, tend to increase self-asserting behavior in children. In several classic experiments, Bandura demonstrated how children are influenced by exposure to scrappy models. One study involved three groups of preschoolers. Children in one group individually observed an adult model punching, kicking, and collision a 5-foot, inflated plastic Bobo Doll with a mallet, while uttering aggressive phrases. Children in the second group observed a nonaggressive model who ignored the Bobo Doll and sat quietly assembling Tinker Toys.The children in the control group were placed in the same setting with no adult present. Later, each child was observed through a unidirectional mirror. Those children exposed to the aggressive model imitated much of the aggression and also diligent in significantly more nonimitative aggression than did children in both of the other groups. The group that observed the nonaggressive model showed less aggressive behavior than the control group. The researchers concluded that of the three experimental conditions, exposure to humanness on film portraying aggression was the most influential in eliciting and shaping aggressive behavior (p. 158-159).11. Experiencing hunger pangs when you timber your favorite diet is an example of classi c conditioning.Your stomach rumbles when you smell your favorite sustenance because smell and taste are so closely linked that food odors, work as conditioned stimuli, can actually make you think you are famished even if you have just finished a boastfully meal. The conditioned stimulus (CS) would be the presence of the smell of your favorite food which brings about the unconditioned stimulus (US) hunger pangs. Because humans do not need to be taught to be hungry for food, the act of feeling hungry would be the unconditioned response (UR). The conditioned response (CR) would be know that you will get hungry when you smell your favorite food (p.143).12. Critics designate that therapists using hypnosis and guided imagery to help their patients notice repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse are actually implanting false memories in those patients. They are especially critical of claims of recovered memories in the first three years of life, because the hippocampus and area s of the cortex are not well developed abounding to store long-term memories. Therapists who use these techniques believe that a number of psychological problems can be treated successfully by helping patients recover repressed memories of sexual abuse. These therapists believe that a process called repression, a form of motivated forgetting, can cause traumatic memories to be so late buried in an individuals unconscious mind that he or she has lost all awareness of them (p.192-193).13. Writing notes, making lists, piece on a calendar, or keeping an appointment book is often more reliable and accurate than trusting to memory. But if you need information at some unpredictable moment when you dont have aids handy, several mnemotechnicals, or memory devices, and study strategies have developed over the years to aid memory. Mnemonics, or rhymes are a common aid to remembering material that otherwise might be knockout to recall. As a child, learning to recite i over e except after c when you were trying to spell a word containing that vowel combination is an example of a mnemonic.The regularity of loci is a mnemonic device that be used to when you want to remember a list of items such as a grocery list. Select a acquainted(predicate) place your home, for example and simply associate the items to be remembered with locations there. For example, visualize the first item you want to remember in its place on the driveway, the second in the garage, and the third at the front door, and so on until you have associated the item you want to remember with a specific location. Overlearning is another method of improving memory. Overlearning is practicing or studying material beyond the point where it can be repeated once without error. It makes material more resistant to forgetting (p.173).14. Bandura proposed that four processed determine whether observational learning will occur circumspection The observer must attend to the model. Retention The observer must stor e information about the models behavior in memory. gentility The observer must be physically and cognitively capable of performing the behavior to learn it. In other words, no matter how much time you devote to watching Serena Williams play tennis or earshot to Beyonce sing, you wont be able to acquire skills like these unless you experience talents that are equal to theirs. Reinforcement Ultimately, to exhibit a behavior learned through observation, an observer must be motivated to practice and perform the behavior on his own (p.156).15. In some cases, we are hampered in our efforts to solve problems in daily life because of functional fixedness, the failure to use familiar objects in novel ways to solve problems. Objects you use prevalent such as, tools, utensils, and other equipment are what help you perform certain functions. Although, you plausibly do not think to use the normal functions of such objects in new and creative ways. Suppose you wanted a cup of coffee, but the glass pot for you coffeemaker was broken. If you suffered from functional fixedness, you might come to the conclusion that there was nothing you could do to solve the problem at that moment. But, rather than sentiment about the object you dont have, think about the function that it needs to perform. Another impediment to problem solving is mental set, the drift to continue to use the same old method even though another approach might be better.Perhaps you hit on a way to solve a problem once in the past and continue to use the same technique in similar situations, even though it it not highly effective of efficient. The cognitive process that underlies both functional fixedness and mental set is check bias, the lean to selectively pay attention to information that concerns preexisting beliefs and ignore entropy that contradict them. For example, when faced with an operating system crash, most computer users know that the first line of defense is to reboot. Every time rebooting s olve the problem, confirmation bias in favor of rebooting as a solution for computer problems becomes stronger. As a result, when a problem arises that proves resistant to rebooting, most of us try rebooting a few more times before we deliver the reality that rebooting isnt going to solve the problem (p.209).