5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition - Laura Lincoln Maitland [80]
Superstitious behaviors can result from unintended reinforcement of unimportant behavior.
Behavior modification—a field that applies the behavioral approach scientifically to solve problems (applied behavior analysis).
Token economy—operant training system that uses secondary reinforcers to increase appropriate behavior; learners can exchange secondary reinforcers for desired rewards.
(Biological) Preparedness—predisposition to easily learn behaviors related to survival of the species.
Instinctive drift—a conditioned response that moves toward the natural behavior of the organism.
Cognitivists interpret classical and operant conditioning differently from behaviorists.
• Cognitivists reject Pavlov’s contiguity theory that classical conditioning is based on the association in time of the CS prior to the UCS.
• Cognitivist Richard Rescorla’s contingency theory says that the key to classical conditioning is how well the CS predicts the appearance of the UCS.
• Latent learning—learning in the absence of rewards.
• Insight—the sudden appearance of an answer or solution to a problem.
• Observational learning—learning that occurs by watching the behavior of a model.
CHAPTER 11
Cognition
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: Do you remember how classical conditioning compares with operant conditioning? In order to profit from what you learn, you need to remember it—information from sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and even skin sensations needs to be translated into codes that your brain can store and you can retrieve. Memory is your capacity to register, store, and recover information over time, or more simply, the persistence of learning over time. Your memory can be affected by how well you focus your attention, your motivation, how much you practice, your state of consciousness when you learn something and your state of consciousness when you recall it, and interference from other events and experiences. Cognitive psychologists study cognition, all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering information.
This chapter looks at how you make memories, remember and forget them, solve problems, and use thinking in your use of language.
Key Ideas
Models of memory
Encoding new memories
Organization of memories in LTM
Retrieving stored memories
Forgetting
Thinking
Problem solving
Creativity
Language
Models of Memory
Different models are used to explain memory. No model accounts for all memory phenomena.
Information Processing Model
The general information processing model compares our mind to a computer. According to this model, input is information. First input is encoded when our sensory receptors send impulses that are registered by neurons in our brain, similar to getting electronic information into our computer’s CPU (central processing unit) by keyboarding. We must store and retain the information in our brain for some period of time, ranging from a moment to a lifetime, similar to saving information into our computer’s hard drive. Finally, information must be retrieved upon demand when it is needed, similar to opening up a document or application from the hard drive.
Because we are unable to process all incoming sensory stimulation that is available, we start seeking out, focusing on and selecting aspects of the available information. Donald Broadbent modeled human memory and thought processes using a flowchart that showed competing information filtered out early, as it is received by the senses and analyzed in the stages of memory. Attention is the mechanism by which we restrict information. Trying to attend to one task over another requires selective or focused attention. We have great difficulty when we try to attend to two complex tasks at once requiring divided attentention, such as listening to different conversations or driving and texting. In dichotic listening experiments, participants heard different messages through left and