Module 5 Study Guide

Chapters 7 and 8

Learning Objective 1

Sections 7.1, 7.2, Creating Memories; Memories are Unique

  1. What are the three processing phases for the creation of memories? (pp. 260-261)
  2. How does encoding differ from storage? (p. 260)
  3. What process accesses memory? (p. 261)
  4. What are some examples of the brain being unlike a computer? (p. 262)
  5. Why is attention crucial for memory creation? (pp. 262-263)
  6. Can you control what you pay attention to? What are some examples of information the brain will prioritize even while you are selectively paying attention to something else? (pp. 263-264)
  7. What does Donald Broadbent’s filter theory of attention demonstrate? (pp. 263-264)
  8. What is the cocktail party phenomenon? (pp. 263-264)

Learning Objective 2

Sections 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, Three Memory Stores; Sensory Storage; Working Memory

  1. What are the three memory stores? (pp. 264-265)
  2. What is the content of a sensory memory? (p. 266)
  3. What does duration refer to in memory systems? What does capacity refer to in memory systems? (p. 266)
  4. How does working memory broaden our view of short-term memory? (pp. 267-26)
  5. What is the capacity and the duration of short term storage? (pp. 268-269)
  6. What is the advantage of chunking? Why would master chess players have trouble chunking irrational chess board arrangements? (pp. 268-269)

Learning Objective 3

Sections 7.6, 7.7, Long-term Storage, Organizing Long-term Storage

  1. What is long-term storage? (pp. 269-270)
  2. How do different levels of processing relate to encoding? (pp. 270-272)
  3. Why is maintenance rehearsal way less effective than elaborative rehearsal? (p. 270)
  4. What is dual coding? How can we use dual coding to our advantage? (p. 272)
  5. What are some differences between long term and short term storage? (pp. 272-273)
  6. What are primacy and recency effects in memory? (p. 273)
  7. What are schemas? How do they help us encode and retrieve memories? (pp. 274-275)
  8. How does an association network explain your memories of details? (pp. 275-276)
  9. How does spreading activation explain how an association network functions? (p. 276)

Learning Objective 4

Sections 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, Amnesia; Explicit Memory; Implicit Memory

  1. Why are anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia probably caused by damage to different areas of the brain? (pp. 276-278)
  2. How does amnesia help to make the distinction clear between explicit memory and implicit memory? (pp. 279-280)
  3. How does explicit episodic memory differ from semantic memory? What are some examples of each type of memory? (figure 7.18, pp. 280-281)
  4. Are motor skills and motor habits implicit memories or explicit memories? (pp. 281-282)
  5. How did H.M.’s abilities (like other patients with amnesia) demonstrate that implicit memories are unaffected by amnesia? (pp. 282-283)
  6. What is an example of a procedural memory? (pp. 282-283)
  7. How is classical conditioning related to implicit memory? (pp. 282-283)

Learning Objective 5

Sections 7.12, 7.13, Retrieval Cues; Forgetting

  1. How does a retrieval cue work? Why are these study guide questions retrieval cues? (pp. 287-289)
  2. If your memory for something is context dependent, what is necessary to retrieve it? And what if a specific memory is state dependent? What is required for retrieval to work in that case? (p. 287)
  3. How do mnemonics help you encode and retrieve memories? (pp. 288-289)
  4. What is the mnemonic method of loci? Could you use it for studying psychology? How? (p. 289)
  5. What is forgetting, and how is it different from amnesia? (pp. 289-291)
  6. Does forgetting from long-term memory occur because of decay or because of interference? What is interference in memory retrieval? (pp. 291-292)
  7. What is “blocked” in the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon? (p. 292)
  8. What typically causes absentmindedness? (p. 293)

Learning Objective 6

Sections 7.11, 7.14, Memory Processing in the Brain; Distorted Memories

  1. Which physical locations in the brain are associated with memory processing? (back to pp. 283-284)
  2. How do the amygdala and cerebellum differ in the types of memories processed? (figure 7.22, p. 283)
  3. What is memory consolidation? (pp. 284-285)
  4. How does reconsolidation potentially change memories? (pp. 285-286)
  5. What are the major sources of memory distortions? (forward to pp. 293-297)
  6. Why do your thoughts and attitudes and the stories you tell bias your memories? (p. 293-294)
  7. What do flashbulb memories tell us about memory accuracy? (Are flashbulb memories episodic or semantic?) (pp. 294-295)
  8. What is a memory misattribution? Can you think of a time when you were affected by source amnesia or cryptomnesia? (p. 295)
  9. How did Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues show that misinformation can affect a person’s memory of an event? (pp. 295-296)
  10. How reliable are eyewitness accounts of criminal events? What circumstances make these memories worse, or better? (pp. 295-296)
  11. What are false memories? Can they happen to anyone? (pp. 296-297)

Learning Objective 7

Sections 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, Thinking; Schemas and Concepts; Schemas as Basis of Stereotypes

  1. Compare a mental representation to an object in the world. What is a mental map representing? (pp. 304 & 305-306)
  2. What do schemas do? (pp. 306-308)
  3. How do concepts contribute to categories of mental representations? (figure 8.3, pp. 306-307)
  4. Are the concepts in your head prototypes, or are they exemplars? (pp. 306-308)
  5. Why do we say that stereotypes are schemas? What effects do stereotypes have on our perceptions of one-another? (pp. 308-309)

Learning Objective 8

Sections 8.4, 8.5, Biased Reasoning; Biases in Decision Making

  1. What are the three main forms of thinking? (figure 8.10, pp. 309-310)
  2. Why should formal reasoning lead to less bias than informal reasoning? (p. 310)
  3. How does the confirmation bias make you feel more certain of your own beliefs? (p. 310)
  4. What is an example of an illusory correlation? (pp. 310-311)
  5. How does an algorithm differ from a heuristic? (p. 313)
  6. How does the availability heuristic limit the information you’ll use when making a decision? (pp. 313-314)
  7. Can you see how the representativeness heuristic relates to stereotyping? (p. 314)
  8. What are you considering if you make a decision that is based on the affective heuristic? (pp. 314-315)
  9. Are heuristics more active during informal reasoning or during formal reasoning? (pp. 313-315?)

Learning Objective 9

Sections 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, One General Factor of Intelligence; Alternative Types of Intelligence; Intelligence is a Result of Genes and Environment

  1. How do psychologists describe intelligence? (pp. 322-323)
  2. What is the difference between an IQ score and general intelligence? (p. 323)
  3. What kind of evidence supports Charles Spearman’s idea of a general factor of intelligence? (pp. 323-324)
  4. What is the difference between Raymond Cattell’s ideas of fluid and crystallized intelligences? How do fluid and crystallized intelligences relate to general intelligence? (pp. 323-324)
  5. What are some of the “multiple intelligences” proposed by Howard Gardner? (pp. 327-328)
  6. What three intelligences did Robert Sternberg claim in his triarchic theory? How would each apply to your life? (p. 328)
  7. What is the focus of emotional intelligence? (p. 328)
  8. How can differences in genetics between individuals cause differences in general intelligence? (pp. 329-330)
  9. How do behavioral genetics studies try to distinguish genetic and environmental influences on characteristics like intelligence? (pp. 329-330)
  10. How can environmental factors, such as prenatal health, breastfeeding, or early education affect the IQs of children as they age? (pp. 330-331)

Learning Objective 10

Sections 8.12, 8.13, Psychometric Tests; Cognitive Performance; Group Differences

  1. Why are reliability and validity important for psychometric tests? (pp. 331-335)
  2. What is the difference between achievement tests and aptitude tests? (p. 332)
  3. What is the WAIS? What are its components? (p. 332)
  4. What does an IQ score of 100 mean? (What does it mean for a child? What does it mean for an adult?) (pp. 332-333)
  5. What does a high degree of reliability mean for a psychological measurement instrument? What does a high degree of validity mean? (p. 331)
  6. Why are the examples of IQ questions in Figure 8.36 much less culturally biased than old IQ test items? (p. 335)
  7. What are the two different ways psychologists test reaction time? (p. 336)
  8. How might a larger capacity of working memory help to produce a higher IQ score? (p. 336)
  9. What makes a savant different from someone who scores high on an IQ test? (p. 337)