Ch. 3 & 9 Study Guide Slides for Quiz

1. Ch. 3 & 9 Study Guide Slides for Quiz

2. Ch. 3Sensation & Perception • Sensation • The experience of sensory stimulation • Perception • The process of creating meaningful patterns from raw sensory information

3. Absolute threshold • The minimum amount of energy that can be detected 50% of the time • The absolute threshold is the point where something becomes noticeable to our senses. 

4. Sensory Adaptation • An adjustment of the senses to the level of stimulation they are receiving • Difference Threshold • The smallest change in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time • Also called the just noticeable difference

5. Weber’s Law • States that the difference threshold is a constant proportion of the specific stimulus • Ernst Weber a 19th century experimental psychologist

6. Weber’s Law • Imagine holding a five pound weight and one pound was added.  • Most of us would notice this difference.  • But what if we were holding a fifty pound weight?  • Would we notice if another pound were added? 

7. Signal Detection Theory • Have you ever been in a crowded room with lots of people talking?  • Difficult to focus on any particular stimulus  • Sensory challenges • Important Data vs. Background • Detect what we want to focus on and ignore/minimize everything else.

8. Extrasensory Perception • Refers to extraordinary perception such as • Clairvoyance – awareness of an unknown object or event • Telepathy – knowledge of someone else’s thoughts or feelings • Precognition – foreknowledge of future events • Research has been unable to conclusively demonstrate the existence of ESP

9. Hearing Disorders • About 28 million people have some form of hearing damage in the U.S. • Can be caused by • Injury • Infections • Explosions • Long-term exposure to loud noises

10. Smell • Women have a better sense of smell than men • Anosmia • Complete loss of the ability to smell • Pheromones • Form of communication • Provide information about identity • Provide information about sexual receptivity

11. Taste • Four basic tastes • Sweet • Salty • Sour • Bitter • Recent discovery of fifth taste • Umami

12. Kinesthetic Senses • Kinesthetic senses provide information about speed and direction of movement • Stretch receptors sense muscle stretch and contraction

13. Vestibular Senses • Vestibular senses provide information about equilibrium and body position • Fluid moves in two vestibular sacs • Motion sickness may be caused by discrepancies between visual information and vestibular sensation

14. Ch. 9 • Physiological and Social roots • Survival • Theories • Primary emotional criteria: • 1) Evident in all cultures 2) Contribute to survival • 3) Distinct facial expression 4) Evident in nonhuman primates • fear - anger - pleasure • These & cross-cultural identification analyses = six generally agreed upon fundamental, primary emotions: Happiness, Surprise, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Anger

15. Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust Anger Anticipation Joy Acceptance Basic Emotions Robert Plutchik (1980) proposed that there are eight basic emotions

16. Plutchik’s Basic EmotionsVisual #1

17. Plutchik’s Basic EmotionsVisual #2

18. Basic Emotions • Some have criticized Plutchik’s model as applying only to English-speakers • Revised model of basic emotions includes: • Happiness • Surprise • Sadness • Fear • Disgust • Anger

19. Theories of Emotion • James-Lange theory • Environmental stimuli bring on physiological changes that we interpret as emotions • Cannon-Bard theory • Environmental stimuli elicit emotions and bodily responses simultaneously • Cognitive theory • Environment gives us clues that help us interpret physiological reaction

20. Theories of Emotion

21. Nonverbal Communication of Emotion • Voice quality • Facial expression • Body language • Posture and the way we move communicates information • Personal space • Explicit acts • For example, slamming doors

22. Nonverbal Communication of Emotion • Some examples • Face Flushing & Blushing • Crying • Yawning • Self-comforting • Etc.

23. Instincts • Inborn, goal-directed behavior that is characteristic of an entire species • Human behavior is not easily explained by instincts because • Most important human behavior is learned • Human behavior is rarely inflexible

24. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation • Intrinsic motivation • Motivation for a behavior is the behavior itself • Children playing is an example • Extrinsic motivation • Behavior is performed in order to obtain a reward or to avoid punishment • A bonus program is an example