PSYC 1101: Introduction to Psychology (Wolfe, Fall 2006)

PSYC 1101: Introduction to Psychology (Wolfe)Exam 3 Study Guide

Know definitions and examples for: cognitive concept, proposition, schema, and mental image. Know how they differ from each other.

What is a prototype? Be able to understand examples of prototypes.

What are nonconscious and subconscious cognition?

What is deductive reasoning? Inductive reasoning? How do they differ? What are algorithms and heuristics? What is dialectical reasoning, how does it work, and when might we use it?

What barriers exist in being able to think critically (i.e., what cognitive biases might impair rational reasoning – be able to understand and apply them to examples)?

Understand the concept of cognitive dissonance: when do we experience it, how might we respond to it, in what situations is it most powerful? Be familiar with the research findings of Festinger on cognitive dissonance.

From the text: Be familiar with the psychometric approach to intelligence and the triarchic theory of intelligence

How does memory storage and retrieval work (be familiar with Sir Frederic Bartlett’s research on memory)? Be able to explain how source amnesia and confabulation occur (and when they are most likely to occur).

What does research tell us about eye witness recall and the factors that distort and aid recall?

Understand the following memory concepts: explicit vs. implicit memory (and methods for assessing both); sensory register, short-term memory, long-term memory, and working memory; memory aids such as chunking, mneumonics, rehearsal, encoding; and the components of long-term memory. Be familiar with other memory concepts, such as the serial-position effect, cue-dependent forgetting, interference, state-dependent memory, and flashbulb memories.

Know the in’s and out’s of classical and operant conditioning. With regard to the former, be able to tease apart the US, UR, CS, CR and explain the processes of conditioning and extinction. With regard to the latter, be able to explain the differences between reinforcement (positive and negative) and punishment (positive and negative) and explain the processes of operant learning (e.g., reinforcement schedules) and extinction. Understand how classical and operant conditioning differ from each other. Be able to explain the concepts of generalization and discrimination, as applied to both types of conditioning.

Be familiar with the classical conditioning of fear responses and how these are treated through counterconditioning and systematic desensitization.

What are social-cognitive learning theory, latent learning, and observational learning?