<h2>What is the difference between fixation (in problem solving, not Freudian psychology) and functional fixedness? Give an example of each.</h2>
<p>Fixation is the inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective - the tendency to fall into established thought patterns. This is the case whenever habitual or initial perceptions get in the way of finding new or ‘fresh’ perspective. It is like a big umbrella encompassing mental set (rigidity) and functional fixedness. Hmm, this is really confusing, one of my text book say this, the other says that fixation IS rigidity and functional fixedness is an example of it. I guess it depends on books. If you know anything about it or the difference please tell me.
EX: An area of a rectangle is A=bh. If you ask kids that are not math wizs, they would not know that the area is also 2 triangles in it thus making the formula for regular polygons A= 1/2 (apothem * perimeter) Most people do not see areas of bigger polygons as sum of triangles’ areas until they learn it.</p>
<p>Functional fixedness is the inability to see a new use for an object.</p>
<h2>EX: a 3-yr old use color pencils to draw not realizing it could be use as count sticks? Bad example, I know.</h2>
<p>Another: What is the attribution theory? List and explain some attributions (dispositional, person, situation, stable…)</p>
<p>Here is another example of functional fixedness from an old AP Psychology exam question: "On a fishing trip, Ed realizes that he has mistakenly packed the sewing box instead of the tackle box. He wants to fish but returns home because he does not have any line or hooks. Ed’s failure to realize that sewing thread can be used as fishing line and that a bent needle can be used as a hook is an example of FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS.</p>
<p>The fundamental attribution error is one of the most questioned concepts on the AP Psychology exam. It is the widespread tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors and to underestimate situational factors when making attributions about the causes of another person’s behavior. Dispositional factors include personality traits while situational factors include social influences.</p>
<p>What is the difference between the availability heuristic and the representative heuristic? Give an example of each.</p>
<p>With the availability heuristic, one judges the likelihood of an event based on how available it is in memory. My textbook’s example would be the irrational fear of a car crash due to a recent automobile accident occuring in the family. My personal example would be Jane postulating that all guys cheat because her last boyfriend cheated on her. With the representative heuristic, one judges the likelihood of an event based on how the constituents of such an event seem to match prototypes or to be represented in society. For example, one would assume that there are more Ivy League classics professors who like poetry than there are truck drivers who like poetry, but because of the sheer numbers of the second group, they still technically have a greater number of poetry afficianados.</p>
<p>Contrast the absolute threshold, the just noticeable difference, and Weber’s law.</p>
<p>The absolute difference is the minimum amount of a stimulus that an observer can
reliably detect at least 50 percent of the time. For example, the human visual system can barely detect a candle flame at a difference of about 30 miles on a clear, DARK KNIGHT (LOL). The just noticeable difference or JND is the minimal difference needed to notice a stimulus change. According to Weber’s Law, the size of the JND is proportional to the strength of the original stimulus. For example, for the average person to perceive their difference, two objects must differ in weight by 2 percent. (Weber’s Law has been a favorite wrong answer on a number of released questions).</p>
<p>What is Negative Reinforcement? Give an example.</p>
<p>Thank you! Negative reinforcement is when the removal of a stimulus (generally a stimulus that causes pain or discomfort) reinforces a behavior. An example would be painkillers. They remove pain, reinforcing the behavior of taking the medicine.</p>
<p>How do the small bones in the ear contribute to hearing?</p>
<p>The semicircular canals contain a fluid and hair cells. When sound waves vibrate their way through the ear to the semicircular canal, the fluid moves, moving the hair cells. The hair cels trigger nerve cells in the organ of Corti, which send nerve impulses to the thalamus.</p>
<p>Name and describe three of the five reflexes that humans are born with but lose as they age.</p>
<p>The Rooting reflex - touch an infant’s cheek and he/she will turned toward the stimulation and attempt to suck
The Grasping reflex - place your finger in an infant’s palm and he/she will automatically grasp
The Babinski reflex - stroke the sole of the infant’s foot and his/her toes will fan out and the foot will twist inward</p>
<p>OK - here is the most missed question from the 1994 released exam. Just 18 percent got it right:</p>
<p>Responses extinguish fastest when they are learned through which type of reinforcement schedule?
A. Continuous
B. Negative
C. Variable-ratio
D. Variable-interval
E. Fixed-interval</p>
<p>Good question! Accommodation of the eye is an automatic adjustment which occurs when muscles change the shape of the lens so that it focuses on light on the retina from objects at different distances. Accommodation of experiences is from Piaget’s theory. It refers to adjusting old schemas or developing new ones to better fit with new information. (Can anyone think of an example?)</p>
<p>Here is the second most missed question from the 94 released exam. 26 percent missed this question!</p>
<p>According to Benjamin Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis, which of the following is true?</p>
<p>(A) Individuals have a natural predisposition to learn language.
(B) Individuals learn positive instances of concepts faster than they learn negative instances
(C) Children learn their first language from their relatives and their peer group
(D) Different languages predispose those individuals who speak them to think about the world in different ways.
(E) Children learn quantifying words such as “more” and “further” sooner than they do absolutes such as “every” and “all.”</p>
<p>I believe Whorf’s hypothesis pertained to how language influences the way we think, so I’m going to go with D [Different languages predispose those individuals who speak them to think about the world in different ways.]</p>
<p>D is correct! (Oops - I meant to say that only 26 percent got the Whorf linguistic question right - sorry)</p>
<p>Here is another question from the 1994 released exam. Surprisingly only 37 percent got it right:</p>
<p>The defense mechanism of reaction formation is best exemplified in which of the following situations?</p>
<p>(A) A college student speaks sharply to her roommate after quarreling with her professor about her grades.
(B) A woman who is unaware of her anger toward her friend expresses affection for that friend.
(C) A runner forgets the name of the opponent who just defeated her in an event for which she held the record
(D) A man who dislikes his supervisor believes that his supervisor dislikes him.
(E) An elderly man lights up a cigarette just after learning that he has been cured of a respiratory ailment.</p>
<p>I enjoy these multiple choice questions, dark knight! I find that kids in my class had a huge amount of trouble differentiating between reaction formation, projection, and displacement. Just for the record:</p>
<p>Reaction formation - expressing the opposite of what your views are Projection - believing that somebody else (or another group) holds your views Displacement - taking your emotions out on another person or inanimate object</p>
<p>Anyway, A would be displacement, B would be reaction formation, C would be repression, D would be projection, and E would be I don’t even know, that would be ■■■■■■■■. (That would be rationalization actually, I believe.) The answer is B.</p>
<p>I have never heard the terms “reaction formation,” “projection,” or “displacement.” I do recognize the definitions, however. Our textbook simply refers to them with different terms or does not formally label them at all.</p>