36. Explain the relationship between size constancy and the Muller-Lyer illusion.
- Size Constancy is the tendency to perceive an object as being the same size and dimension regardless of whether it is close or far away. The Muller-Lyer illusion is the ability to perceive the length of lines, depending on the actual length of the line itself and the complete length of the figure. This illusion illustrates that perception is not a projection of the world on to the brain. Instead, sensations are taken apart and turned into information that the brain puts back together into it's own individual model of the world. Although, during the process of putting the information back together, assumptions of distance and size may become confusing.
- In the Muller-Lyer illusion three lines with the same length appear to be different lengths. Illusions show us that perception is not a projection of the world onto our brain. Our sensations are disassembled into information that our brain then reassembles into its own model of the world. During this reassembly process our assumptions, like the usual relationship between distance and size, can confuse us.
Artifact #1
This image portrays the Muller-Lyer illusion. Most people would believe that the line with the points of the arrow facing outward appear to be the lonhest, while the line with the points of the arrow facing inwards appear shorter. According to the illusion, however, the shafts of both lines are the exact same length.
Artifact #2
This image shows a real-life scenario of the Muller-Lyer illusion. Wall A has the points of it's arrows pointing inwards, vs Wall B that has the points of it's arrows pointing outwards. Wall A appears to be larger than Wall B, but in reality the two wall are the same size and it is just an illusion taking place.
37. Describe the characteristics of short and long term memory and the theories of forgetting.
Short term memory, or the conscious mind, is the information that an individual is currently aware of or thinking about. The information in short term memory comes from focusing on and paying attention to sensory memories. Long term memory, or the preconscious and unconscious, is the continuation of storing thought information. The information that comes from long term memory is mostly outside of an individual's awareness, but is recalled and put into working memory when the time comes. Recalling this information may be easy at times, while during other times it may be harder to recall a specific memory or thought. There are four main theories of why people forget: retrieval failure, interference, failure to store, and motivated forgetting. Retrieval failure is the inability to recover a memory. Every time a new thought or memory is created, a trace memory of the original is formed. Over a period of time the memory traces begin to thin out and disappear. It the information is not recovered and reviewed, it will be lost. Interference explains the possibility of memories competing and interrupting other memories. If information that has been previously stored in one's memory is similar to a newly formed memory, an interruption between the two memories is likely to occur.
Short term memory is active or primary memory. This is the information that a person is currently aware of or thinking about.
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Long term memory is the continuing storage of information. This memory is the preconscious and unconscious in Freudian psychology. Information from ling term memory is outside of awareness, but can be called to memory when needed.
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This article explains the theories or reasons why people forget thoughts and information. The first is retrieval failure, which involves being unable to recall memory information.
38. Describe the different theories of motivation.
Motivation is a need or desire that reinforces and controls behaviors. Four perspectives are used to understand motivation: instinct theory, five-reduction, arousal theory, and hierarchy of needs. Instinct theory focuses primarily on genetically amenable behaviors. Psychologists apply this perspective in situations such as: explanations of human similarities, animals' biological predispositions to learn behaviors, and influence of evolution of phobias, he;ping behaviors, and romantic attractions. Drive reductions theory focuses on how inner drives and external pulls interact with one another. When a need increases, so does a psychological drive along with it. Eating or drinking could be used as an example of this theory. Arousal theory focuses on locating the correct level of incentive. Human motivation seeks optimum levels of arousal, but not eliminating arousal in the process. Hierarchy of needs theory focuses on how some needs precedence over others. Only if the needs of a physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, self-actualization, and self-transcendence basis are met, will one reach their full potential.
Artifact #1
This pyramid is Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of need. The first are psychological needs, which are breathing, food, water, shelter, etc. The second are safety and security needs, which are health, employment, property, family, and social stability. The third are love and belonging needs, which are friendship, family, intimacy, and a sense of connection. The fourth are self-esteem needs, which are confidence, achievement, respect of others, and the need to be a unique individual.
This article gives the theories of motivation. They stated as the instinct theory of motivation, the incentive theory of motivation, the drive theory of motivation, the arousal theory of motivation, and the humanistic theory of motivation. Instinct theory explains that people are motivated in certain ways because they are evolutionary programmed to. Incentive theory explains that people are motivated to do things because of external tangible rewards. Drive theory explains that people are motivated to makes actions that reduce inner tension caused by unfulfilled needs. Arousal theory explains that people take certain actions to reduce or increase amounts of arousal. Humanistic theory explains that people have strong cognitive drives that cause them to carry out various actions.
39. Summarize the ethical guidelines for research on human subjects.
The American Psychological Association set up a code of ethics that must be followed whenever working with human subjects. Researchers must first obtain a potential participants' informed consent. Secondly, the participant must be protected form harm and discomfort. Then information about the participant must be kept confidential. Finally, the participant must be fully debriefed after the experiment.
This is the American Psychological Association's official website, where the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct is listed. This guide is the official tool for psychologists using human subjects for research. The guide states this stand ethics code in the introduction and applicability.
- Allow professional judgment on the part of psychologists
- Eliminate injustice or inequality that would occur without the modifier
- Ensure applicability across the broad range of activities conducted by psychologists
- Guard against a set of rigid rules that might be quickly outdated
After an experiment, an individual must be fully debriefed. Debriefing is when a researcher explains to the participant the purpose of the study they ere involved in, explain the use of deception or misleading information if any was used, encourage the participant to ask questions, and allowing the researcher to confront the participant about any harm that may have come to them during the study.
40. Define intelligence and the history of measuring it.
Intelligence is the mental quality consisting of the capability to learn from experiences, solve problems or issues, and the use of knowledge and information to acclimate to new situations or conditions. Francis Gulton, an English scientist, first measured the human trait of intelligence in 1884 at he London Exposition, where 10,000 people received assessments. Although it was a large amount of people, no measure of intelligence correlated with one another. In 1904 Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon began studying the intelligence of children. The measured children's levee lot performance associated with chronological age. Lew Terman, after Binet's death in 1911, adapted some of Binet's original ideas, and added other to crate new ago norms, called Stanford-Binet.
Alfred Binet and Theodore Stanford designed a test for the French government that identified children that would struggle in school and have troubles learning. From this test, they created one they measured children's mental age. The test doesn't identify the reasons why children perform averagely or below in a specific age range, instead, only at what age the child is mentally performing.
Alfred Binet (in collaboration with Theodore Stanford) was instructed by the French government to design a test that would identify children who would have problems with school and or learning the material that was designed for children in their own age range. a widely used intelligence test.The Intelligence quotient was developed by William Stern. It is a mathematical formula that measures a person's intelligence. The intelligence quotient is made up of the ratio of mental age to chronological age, multiplied by one hundred.
41. Summarize the development of language formation.
The development of language happens in four stages: babbling, single words, two words, and multi-word sentences. The babbling stage occurs around three to nine months of age. Infants start to make vowel sounds, like oooo or aaaa, and then ad consonant sounds along with the vowels, like ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, or da-da-da. The single word stage occurs around ten to thirteen months of age. Children begin to create their first words during this stage. Although only single words are produced, infants are beginning to learn and understand language considerably fast. The two word stage occurs around the age of eighteen months. During this stage children start using two word sentences and phrases. The sentences are made up of just nouns and verbs a majority of the time, such as "Where Daddy?" or "Big puppy!" The multi-word senates stage occurs around the age of two. Children are able to start quoting short, multi-word sentences. These sentences will contain both a subject and predicate. An example of this type of sentence would be, "She is nice." or "I want more."
This video shows the stages of language development. The first stage is babbling, when infants can hear and read lips, but not speak in sentences. The second is the single word stage, when infants begin to speak single words.
This article explains that children go through several stages as their language slowly progresses and develops. The development of language occurs in four ages: babbling, single words, two words, and multi-word sentences.