1. Language – “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

2. Language Features
Language is arbitrary, that is, words, rarely sound like ideas that they convey
Language has a structure that is additive in a certain sense
i.e.; words are added together to form sentences, sentences to form paragraphs
Language has multiplicity of structure, meaning that it can be analyzed in a number of different ways
Language is dynamic, meaning that it is constantly changing and evolving

3. Language Subcomponents
Phonemes – smallest unit of speech sound in a given language that are still distinct in sound from each other
An example of a phoneme is the /t/ sound in the words tip, stand, water, and cat
Morphemes – smallest meaningful units of speech, such as simple words, prefixes, and suffixes.

4. Phonemes & Morphemes Most morphemes are a combo of phonemes
i.e.; Farm is made up of 3 phonemes (sounds) and 1 morpheme (meaning)

5. Language
Grammar – set of that determine how sounds and words can be combined and used to communicate meaning
Syntax – word order
Semantics – word meaning or word choice

6. Language – Babies
Babbling – product of phonemes, not limited to the phonemes which the baby is exposed (4 months)
Holophrase – one word to convey meaning (1st B-day)
Overextension – Error in speech as a result of not knowing enough words
Telegraphic speech – verb and noun
i.e.; “eat cookie”
2 – 3 years of age, language expands
3 years old follow rules of grammar

7. Language - Babies
Overgeneralization (overregularization) – children apply grammatical rules without making appropriate exceptions
i.e.; “I goed to the store.”

8. Language
Nativists – biological predisposition for language (Noam Chomsky)
Prewired for language
Language acquisition device – grammar switches are turned on as children are exposed to their language
Critical period - (Feral Children)
Behaviorist – we develop language by imitating sounds we hear to create words (B.F. Skinner)
Learn language by association (reinforcement/ imitation)

9. Language
Noam Chomsky
Transformational grammar – generative grammar, especially of a natural langauge
Surface structure of language – superficial way in which words are arranged in a text or in speech
Deep structure of language – underlying meaning of words

10. Benjamin Whorf
Thinking affects our language, which in turn affects our thoughts.
Linguistic relativity hypothesis – speakers of different languages develop different cognitive systems as a result of their differences in language.
i.e.; Garo people of Burma – many words for rice, English only a few words to describe it. Why? Because rice has more meaning to the Garo people

11. Cognition Cognition – thinking
Reasoning – drawing conclusion from evidence (deductive/inductive reasoning)
Deductive reasoning – draw a logical conclusion from general statement
i.e.; All politicians are trustworthy, Janet is a politician, Therefore, Janet is trustworthy
Inductive reasoning – drawing general inferences from specific observations
i.e.; You may notice that everyone who plays football is a good student. Not necessarily true, you are drawing inference based on common occurrence

12. Problem Solving and Creativity
Divergent Thinking – does a problem have one or more solutions
i.e.; brainstorming
Convergent Thinking – Problem solved by one answer
i.e.; narrowing many choices available

13. Problem Solving and Creativity
Heuristics – intuitive rules of thumb that may or may not be useful in given situation
Availability Heuristic – judge by what events come readily to mind
i.e.; many people feel air travel is more dangerous than car, because crashes reported are so vivid
Representativenss Heuristic – judge objects and events in terms of how closely they match the prototype of that event or object
i.e.; people view H.S. athletes as less intelligent

14. Problem Solving and Creativity
Algorithms – systematic, mechanical approaches that guarantee an eventual answer to a problem

15. Problem Solving and Creativity – Kohler’s Chimps
Insight – sudden understanding of a problem or a potential strategy for solving a problem
i.e.; Kohler’s chimps reached the Banana’s outside the cage by combining to sticks to reach out further than they would individually

16. Problem Solving and Creativity
Mental set – fixed frame of mind
Trouble solving problems this way
Functional Fixedness – tendency to assume that a given item is only useful for the task which it was designed for.

17. Problem Solving and Creativity
Confirmation bias – search for info that supports a particular point of view, which hinders problem solving
Hindsight bias – tendency after the fact to think you knew what the outcome would be
i.e.; Monday morning QB’s
Belief perseverance – Individual only sees the evidence that supports a particular position, despite evidence presented to the contrary
Framing – way a question is phrased, can alter the objective outcome of problem solving/decision making
Loftus Palmer – car accident study

18. Problem Solving and Creativity
Creativity – process of producing something novel yet worthwhile.

19. Intelligence and Psychological Testing

20. Standardization and Norms
Psychometricians – measurement of mental traits, abilities, and processes
Measurement of some constructs (behavior that distinguishes among people)
i.e.; we can not measure happiness in feet
Standardization – group of people who represent the entire population
Norms – standards of performance against which anyone who takes a given test can be compared

21. Standardization and Norms
Flynn Effect – supports the need to standardize because data indicate that the population has gotten smarter over the past 50 years
i.e.; IQ of 100 may mean something different in different years

22. Reliability and Validity
Reliability – measure consistent a test is in the measurement it provides
i.e.; An individual would get a similar score if they took the test on separate occasions
Test-retest – two sets of scores are compared and a correlation coefficient is computed between them
Split-half – one group takes half the test (odd questions) another group takes the other half (even), and equivalent form (different but similar tests covering same concepts)

23. Reliability and Validity
Validity – refers to the extent that a test measures what it intends to measure
i.e.; Develop a new IQ test you want to know if it was valid, you might compare your results to those that the same participants had achieved on other IQ measures
Predictive Validity – correlation between the test and future performance
i.e.; ACT
Content Validity – measures the degree to which the test measures what it is supposed to measure
i.e.; AP Psychology Exam – College Board
Construct Validity – (True Validity) – the degree which the test indeed measures what it is supposed to test

24. Types of Tests Projective – ambiguous stimuli, open to interpretation
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Inventory-type – participants answer a standard series of questions
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)
No free response typically

25. Types of Tests Power Tests – gauge abilities in certain areas
Extremely difficult, really hard to get all right
Speed tests – Very easy to answer, but timed makes it difficult to answer
Achievement Tests – assess knowledge gained
i.e.; AP Test
Aptitude Test – evaluate person’s abilities
Road test before driver’s license

26. Intelligence Intelligence – goal-directed adaptive thinking
Difficult to measure all aspects of intelligence
Alfred Binet – French Psychologist who first began to measure intelligence
Stanford-Binet Scale
Originally measure child development – overtime became 1st intelligence test

27. Intelligence Intelligence Quotient (IQ) –
Mental age/chronological (physical) age X 100
Under 20 (Profound)
20-34 (Severe)
35-49 (moderate)
(mild) Mental Retardation
130 Gifted
145 sometimes considered geniuse
Most common children intelligence test
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R)
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

28. Intelligence Charles Spearman General intelligence (g factor)
Specialized abilities (s)
Factor analysis – statistical procedure that id common factors among groups of items by determining which variables have a high degree of correlation (used to id, g)

29. Intelligence
Louis Thurstone – researcher in the field of intelligence, posited that we need to think of intelligence more broadly, because intelligence can come in many different forms
Howard Gardner – multiple intelligences
Verbal & Mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Kinesthetic
Environmental
Interpersonal (people perceptive)
Intrapersonal (insightful, self-awareness)
Naturalistic

30. Intelligence – Triarchic Theory
Robert Sternberg – stats intelligence could be more broadly defined as having 3 major components:
Analytical - facts
Practical – “street smarts”
Creative intelligence – seeing multiple solutions
3 separate and testable intelligences

31. Intelligence
John Horn and Raymond Cattell – identified two intelligence factors
Fluid intelligence – those cognitive abilities requiring speed or rapid learning that tends to diminish with adult aging
Crystallized intelligence – learned knowledge and skills, such as vocabulary, which tends to increase with age

32. Intelligence
Emotional intelligence – ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions which is similar to Gardner’s interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences
Peter Salovey and John Mayer

33. Motivation and Emotion

34. Motivation & Emotion
Motivation – psychological process that directs and maintains behavior toward a goal
Motives – needs/desires that energize behavior
Social motives – learned motives acquired as part of growing up in a particular culture
Emotion – psychological feeling that involves
Physiological arousal
Conscious experience
Overt behavior

35. Theories of Motivation
Darwin – Natural Selection
Survival & reproduce
Instincts – inherited behavior, done automatically
Ethologist (Animal behaviorist)
Konrad Lorenz – worked with baby geese
Imprinting – forming of attachment to first moving object they see/hear after birth
Sociobiology – relate social behaviors to evolutionary biology
Look at mating behaviors in males as opposed to females

36. Drive Reduction Theory
Drive reduction theory – behavior is motivated reducing drives such as sex, hunger, thirst.
Need = motivated stated caused by lack of
Drive = psychological tension induced by need
Homeostasis – body’s tendency to maintain an internal steady state of metabolism (sum total of all chemical processes that occur in our bodies)

37. Incentive Theory
Push – primary motives to satisfy basic biological needs
Pull – environmental factors (little to do with biology)
Incentive – either positive/negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior pulling us to a goal.
Secondary motives are motives learned by society pull

38. Arousal Theory
Arousal – level of alertness, wakefulness, activation caused by nervous system
Yerkes-Dodson – law states that we usually perform most activities best when moderately aroused, and efficiency of performance is usually lower when arousal is to high/low.

39. Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs

40. Physiological Motives: Hunger
Hypothalamus = hunger
Lateral hypothalamus – brings on hunger
Stimulate = even a well fed animal will eat
Lesion = starving animal will have no interest in food
Ventromedial hypothalamus - depresses hunger
Stimulate = animal will stop eating
Lesion = animal will continue to want to eat

41. Hypothalamus Leptin v. Set Point
Leptin – hypothalamus sense rise in leptin and will curb eating and increase activity
Set Point – Hypothalamus acts as a thermostat
Were meant to be a certain weight

42. Eating Disorders Anorexia Nervosa – don’t eat
Bulimia – Eating but purging

43. Social Motivation
Achievement motive – desire to meet some internalized standard of excellence
Intrinsic – desire to perform an activity for its own sake
Extrinsic – desire to perform an activity to obtain a reward such as money, applause, and attention
Overjustification effect – promising a reward for doing something they already like to do results in them seeing the reward as the motivation for performing

44. Social Conflict Situations
Approach-approach conflicts
2 positive options, only one you can choose
i.e.; accepted to both Harvard and Yale
Avoidance-avoidance conflicts
2 negative options, must choose one
i.e.; Rock and a hard place
Approach-avoidance conflicts
Whether or not to choose an option that has both a positive/negative consequence
i.e.; Order a rich dessert ruins your diet but satisfies your chocolate craving

45. Social Conflict Situations
Multiple approach-avoidance conflict
Most complex form of conflict
Several courses of action that have both positive and negative aspects.
i.e.; if you take the bus to the movies, you’ll get there in time to get a good seat and see the coming attractions, but you won’t have enough money to buy popcorn.
i.e.; If your parents drive you, you’ll have to help make dinner and wash the dishes
i.e.; if you walk there you may be late, but you can afford popcorn, and you wont have to do the dishes

46. Theories of Emotion
Emotion – conscious feeling of pleasantness or unpleasantness accompanied by biological activation and expressive behavior.
Emotion has both cognitive, physiological, and behavioral components

47. Theories of Emotion – James-Lang Theory
When we see a vicious looking dog growl at us, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in, we begin to run immediately, and then we become aware that we are afraid
What’s this mean? We can change our feelings by changing our behavior
Consistent with facial-feedback hypothesis, our facial expressions affect our emotional experiences
i.e.; smiling induces positive moods

48. Theories of Emotion – Cannon-Bard Theory
Theorized that the thalamus simultaneously sends info to both the limbic system (emotional center), and the frontal lobes (cognitive center) about an event
i.e.; we see a vicious growling dog, our bodily arousal and our recognition of the fear we feel occur at the same time
Thalamus relays sensory info to amygdala and hypothalamus

49. Theories of Emotion – Opponent – Process Theory
When we experience an emotion, an opposing emotion, will counter the first emotion, lessening the experience of that emotion. When we experience the first emotion on repeated occasions, the opposing emotion becomes stronger and the first emotion becomes weaker, leading to an even weaker experience of the first emotion
i.e.; About to jump out of an airplane for the first time, we tend to feel extreme fear along with low levels of elation. On next jump we experience less fear and more elation

50. Theories of Emotion Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
Our emotional experiences depend on our interpretation of situations. Their studies suggest we infer emotion from arousal, then label it according to our cognitive explanation for the arousal.
i.e.; if we feel aroused and someone is yelling at us, we must be angry

51. Theories of Emotion Cognitive-Appraisal Theory
Lazarus’ theory
Our emotional experiences depends on our interpretation of of the situation we are in.
Primary appraisal, we assess potential consequences of the situation
Secondary appraisal, we decide what to do
The theory suggest that we can change our emotions if we learn to interpret the situation differently

52. Stress and Coping Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
A = alarm – sympathetic nervous system
R = resistance -
E = exhaustion
Stressors – stimuli we see as a threat to well being

53. Stress and Coping Stressful Life Events
Catastrophes – unpredictable, large-scale disasters which threaten us
Daily hassles – everyday annoyances

54. Stress and Health
Type A personality – high achievers, competitive, impatient, multi-taskers, who walk, talk and eat quickly
Type B personality – relaxed calm approach in life

55. Coping Strategies
Defense mechanisms