PSYC100 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Motor Learning, Memory, Explicit Memory

PSYC100
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018


Psych 100 Notes
Questions of the Day:
• What does it mean to be a “science”?
Involves experiments and studies to answer or test a question/hypothesis; based off of factual
evidence or theories; science is about asking good questions and being able to evaluate the
strength of evidence/judge credibility. Be an amiable skeptic (you’re open to
experience/information but at the same time you are skeptic so you ask questions and evaluate
that info). Systematic evaluation and collection of data.
• Can you study the mind, behavior, and the brain in a scientific way?
Looking at the physical components that create the processes.
What is psychological science?: The scientific study, through research, of the mind, brain,
and behavior.
There are multiple levels of analysis/perspective:
• Biological
• Individual
• Social (small groups)
• Cultural (societal level)
Why we are not-so-great intuitive psychologists?
• Failing to accurately judge source credibility.
• Ignoring evidence (confirmation bias; tendency to only look for information that confirms
what I already think instead of looking at things that refute it). Technology makes this
worse because things like google only shows what you want to see based on your past
searches.
• Accepting after the fact explanations (hindsight bias; after the fact we look backwards and
things seem so clear).
• Failing to see our own inadequacies (a form of self-serving bias).
• Metacognition: thinking about your own thinking.
• Mental heuristics
• Using relative comparisons (anchoring effect; however the information is presented to you
while you make the decision anchors you).
Foundations of Psychology
Philosophical Roots (nature/nurture debate; mind/body), Experimental Psychology (transition
from philosophy to a science; introspection; how do you measure human experience?),
Structuralism (conscious experience can be broken down into component parts; break it
down in to its bits and pieces to understand it), Functionalism/Gestalt (opposition to
structuralism; wanted to understand how things work together; mind is too complex to be
find more resources at oneclass.com
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broken down; influenced by theory of evolution). Gestalt (the whole is not just the sum of its
parts; kept the notion that perception is dependent on context).
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Involves experiments and studies to answer or test a question/hypothesis; based off of factual evidence or theories; science is about asking good questions and being able to evaluate the strength of evidence/judge credibility. Be an amiable skeptic (you"re open to experience/information but at the same time you are skeptic so you ask questions and evaluate that info). Looking at the physical components that create the processes. : the scientific study, through research, of the mind, brain, and behavior. There are multiple levels of analysis/perspective: biological. Individual: social (small groups, cultural (societal level) Why we are not-so-great intuitive psychologists: failing to accurately judge source credibility, ignoring evidence (confirmation bias; tendency to only look for information that confirms what i already think instead of looking at things that refute it). Gestalt (the whole is not just the sum of its parts; kept the notion that perception is dependent on context).