NMAT Reviewer: Social Science Section

NMAT Reviewer: Social Science Section What do you call the historical, economic, social, and cultural factors that influence mental processes and behavior? - ✔✔Context *Everything that people think, say, and do is aff ...

NMAT Reviewer: Social Science Section What do you call the historical, economic, social, and cultural factors that influence mental processes and behavior? - ✔✔Context *Everything that people think, say, and do is affected and influenced by these factors. Hence, context must be taken into account in psychology Who do most historians credit with establishing the first scientific laboratory dedicated to studying behavior? - ✔✔Wilhelm Wundt *opened in Leipzig in 1879 One evening, Genie jumps into a pool and shivers at the coldness of the water. After five minutes, however, she has gotten used to the cold and is "ignoring" it as if she does laps across the pool. This is an example of what? - ✔✔habituation/sensory adaptation *diminished sensitivity to a stimulus due to prolonged stimulation Howard is an expert wine-taster. He can tell vintage wines apart with just single drops upon his tongue, no matter how similar the samples taste. This demonstrates - ✔✔difference threshold/just noticeable difference *smallest difference in stimulation required to discriminate one stimulus from another 50% of the time Which of the following EEG patterns occur in awake individuals? - ✔✔alpha waves --> usually occur in individuals who are in a relaxed or drowsy state beta waves --> arise during high frequency electrical activity in the brain such as during periods of concentration As a boy, John was bitten by a large red ant and developed a phobia for ants. However, he also developed a fear of all insects. In classical conditioning, this is an example of what? - ✔✔generalization *tendency of a new stimulus - similar to an original conditioned stimulus - to produce a response similar to the conditioned response Generalization also occurs in operant conditioning - ✔✔giving the same response to similar stimuli e.x. an infant who has been taught to call a four-legged hairy animal "dog" may call a horse "dog" *stimulus generalization Classical conditioning emphasizes the relationship between ____ and ____; operant conditioning emphasizes the relationship between _____ and ____. - ✔✔stimulus; behavior behavior; consequence/rewards Classical conditioning *tends to focus on the stimuli that precedes the behavior - ✔✔point of interest is the resulting behavior upon application of a stimulus best at explaining how neutral stimuli can become linked to unlearned involuntary responses (not effective in explaining voluntary behaviors) Operant conditioning *stimuli that govern the behavior follow the behavior - ✔✔form of learning in which the consequences of behavior produce changes in the behavior's occurrence Which style of parenting is most likely to raise children who lack self-control and who always expect to get their way? - ✔✔indulgent parenting Indulgent parenting - ✔✔style wherein parents are involved with their child; however, the parents place few demands and restrictions on the child --> social incompetence and lack of selfcontrol Authoritarian parenting - ✔✔restrictive, controlling, and demanding style given little opportunity to disagree and is expect to follow without question Neglectful parenting - ✔✔style wherein the parents are uninvolved in the child's life child tends to show poor self-control and does not handle independence well Authoritative parenting - ✔✔encourages a child to be independent without neglecting to place limits and controls on behaviors parents tend to be nurturant, and good communication is encouraged child --> socially-competent, self-reliant, and responsible children Which of the following personality theories generally tends to be pessimistic about human nature? - ✔✔psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalytic theory - ✔✔tends to view people as being purely driven by unconscious sexual and aggressive instincts that follow the pleasure principle (always seek pleasure, avoid pain) Little attention is given to conscious decisions of the ego (rational mind) and the superego (the morality dimension of the mind) Trait theory and behavioral theory - ✔✔tend to be neutral about human nature Humanistic theory and cognitive social learning theory - ✔✔tend to be more optimistic about the nature of people According to Freud, which structure of personality consists of instincts and is completely unconscious? - ✔✔id Freud believed there are two basic drives that guide and shape human behavior. What did he call these two drives? - ✔✔eros and thanatos *reflection of the pleasure principle, which drives people towards seeking pleasure and avoiding pain eros - ✔✔reflects the sexual drive thanatos - ✔✔reflects the aggressive survival instinct Shane has strong aggressive - even violent - tendencies. To prevent himself from possibly doing harm to others, he chooses to engage in American football and boxing as outlets. What defense mechanism did he use? - ✔✔sublimation defense mechanisms - ✔✔ways through which the ego deals with conflict by distorting reality these are unconscious methods of dealing with conflict; by distorting reality, the ego protects itself from anxiety sublimation - ✔✔ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a socially approved course of action False statement - ✔✔Convergence is a monocular cue for depth perception in which the eyes turn more inward as an object gets closer --> binocular cue True: Gestalt psychologists believe that the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts Binocular cues are depth cues based on the simultaneous working of both eyes Linear perspective is an example of monocular depth cue depth perception - ✔✔see depth by using monocular and binocular cues gestalt psychology - ✔✔an approach to perception --> states that people organize perceptions according to patterns *whole does not equal the sum of its parts examples of monocular cues - ✔✔linear perspective texture gradient relative size interposition A cheerleading squad found out that the cheers they have been practicing for a competition had been "stolen" by their previous captain from another squad. The group must decide whether they should change their routine or stick to the stole