Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events (times, places, associated emotions, and other contextual who, what, when, where, why knowledge) that can be explicitly stated. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place. For example, if you remember the party on your 6th birthday, this is an episodic memory. They allow you to figuratively travel back in time to remember the event that took place at that particular time and place.
Psychology
by Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, Daniel M. Wegner
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5. Memory
Semantic and Episodic Memory
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Psychology
Table of Contents
1. Psychology: The Evolution of a Science
Psychology’s Roots: The Path to a Science of Mind
Psychology’s Ancestors: The Great Philosophers
From the Brain to the Mind: The French Connection
From Physiology to Psychology: A New Science Born in Germany
Titchener Brings Structuralism to the United States
James and the Functional Approach
The Real World: Improving Study Skills
Errors and Illusions Reveal Psychology
Illusions of Movement and the Birth of Gestalt Psychology
Mental Disorders and Multiple Selves
Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory
Influence of Psychoanalysis and the Humanistic Response
Psychology in the 20th Century: Behaviorism Takes Centerstage
Watson and the Emergence of Behaviorism
B. F. Skinner and the Development of Behaviorism
Beyond Behaviorism: Psychology Expands
The Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
The Brain Meets the Mind: The Rise of Cognitive Neuroscience
The Adaptive Mind: The Emergence of Evolutionary Psychology
Hot Science: New Connections
Beyond the Individual: Social and Cultural Perspectives
The Development of Social Psychology
The Emergence of Cultural Psychology
The Profession of Psychology: Past and Present
Psychologists Band Together: The American Psychological Association
What Psychologists Do: Research Careers
Where Do You Stand: The Perils of Procrastination
2. The Methods of Psychology
Empiricism: How to Know Things
The Science of Observation: Saying What
Measurement
Samples
The Real World: Taking a Chance
Bias
The Science of Explanation: Saying Why
Correlation
Causation
Hot Science: Establishing Causality in the Brain
Drawing Conclusions
The Ethics of Science: Saying Please and Thank You
Where Do You Stand? The Morality of Immoral Experiments
3. Neuroscience and Behavior
Neurons: The Origin of Behavior
Components of the Neuron
Major Types of Neurons
Hot Science: Mirror, Mirror, in My Brain
Electrical Signaling: Communicating Information within a Neuron
The Resting Potential: The Origin of the Neuron’s Electrical Properties
The Action Potential: Sending Signals Over Long Distances
Chemical Signaling: Synaptic Transmission Between Neurons
Types of Neurotransmitters
How Drugs Mimic Neurotransmitters
The Organization of the Nervous System
Divisions of the Nervous System
Components of the Central Nervous System
Hot Science: Thought Control
Exploring the Brain
The Real World: Brain Plasticity and Sensations in Phantom Limbs
The Development and Evolution of Nervous Systems
Prenatal Development of the Central Nervous System
Evolutionary Development of the Central Nervous System
Genes and the Environment
Investigating the Brain
Learning About Brain Organization By Studying the Damaged Brain
Listening to the Brain: Single Neurons and the EEG
Brain Imaging: Watching the Brain in Action
Where Do You Stand? Brain Death
4. Sensation and Perception
The Doorway to Psychology
Psychophysics
Measuring Thresholds
Signal Detection
Sensory Adaptation
The Real World: Multitasking
Vision: More than Meets the Eye
Sensing Light
Perceiving Color
The Visual Brain
Recognizing Objects by Sight
Perceiving Depth and Size
Perceiving Motion
Audition: More than Meets the Ear
Sensing Sound
The Human Ear
Perceiving Pitch
Hot Science: Cochlear Implants
Localizing Sound Sources
The Body Senses: More than Skin Deep
Touch
Pain
Body Position, Movement, and Balance
The Chemical Senses: Adding Flavor
Smell
Taste
The Real World: Supertasters
Where Do You Stand? Perception and Persuasion
5. Memory
Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into Memories
Elaborative Encoding
Visual Imagery Encoding
Organizational Encoding
Storage: Maintaining Memories over Time
Sensory Storage
Short-term Storage and Working Memory
Long-term Storage
Memories in the Brain
Hot Science: A Memory Drug?
Retrieval: Bringing Memories to Mind
Retrieval Cues: Reinstating the Past
Separating the Components of Retrieval
Multiple Forms of Memory: How the Past Returns
Implicit Memory and Explicit Memory
Semantic and Episodic Memory
Memory Failures: The Seven Sins of Memory
Transience
Absentmindedness
Blocking
Memory Misattribution
The Real World: Deadly Misattributions
Suggestibility
Bias
Persistence
Are the Seven Sins Vices or Virtues?
Where Do You Stand? The Mystery of Childhood Amnesia
6. Learning
Defining Learning: Experience that Causes a Permanent Change
The Case of Habituation
Learning and Behaviorism
Classical Conditioning: One Thing Leads to Another
Pavlov’s Experiments on Classical Conditioning
The Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
The Real World: Understanding Drug Overdoses
Conditioned Emotional Responses: The Case of Little Albert
A Deeper Understanding of Classical Conditioning
Hot Science: ¡Que Rico!
Operant Conditioning: Reinforcements
From the Environment
The Early Days: The Law of Effect
Reinforcement, Punishment, and the Development of Operant Conditioning
The Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning
A Deeper Understanding of Operant Conditioning
Observational Learning: Look at Me
Learning Without Direct Experience
Observational Learning in Humans
Observational Learning in Animals
Implicit Learning: Going Underground
Ways to Study Implicit Learning
The Real World: Can You Sleep on It?
Implicit and Explicit Learning Use Distinct Neural Pathways
Where Do You Stand? Will Chuck E. Cheese Pay My College Tuition, Too?
7. Language and Thought
Language and Communication: Nothing’s More Personal
The Complex Structure of Human Language
Language Development
Theories of Language Development
The Neurological Specialization that Allows Language to Develop
Can Other Species Learn Human Language?
Language and Thought: How Are They Related?
The Real World: Does Bilingualism Interfere with Cognitive Development?
Concepts and Categories: How We Think
The Organization of Concepts and Category Specific Deficits
Psychological Theories of Concepts and Categories
Judging, Valuing, and Deciding: Sometimes We’re Logical, Sometimes Not
Decision Making: Rational, Optimal, and Otherwise
Other Approaches to Human Decision Making
Hot Science: The Neuroscience of Risky Decision Making
Problem Solving: Working It Out
Means-Ends Analysis
Analogical Problem Solving
Creativity and Insight
Transforming Information: How We Reach Conclusions
Where Do You Stand? The Need for Cognition
8. Consciousness
Conscious and Unconscious: The Mind’s Eye, Open and Closed
The Mysteries of Consciousness
The Nature of Consciousness
The Unconscious Mind
Hot Science: How Smart Is the Unconscious Mind?
Sleep and Dreaming: Good Night, Mind
Sleep
Dreams
Hot Science: Dreaming and the Brain
Drugs and Consciousness: Artificial Inspiration
Drug Use and Abuse
Types of Psychoactive Drugs
The Real World: Drugs and the Regulation of Consciousness
Hypnosis: Open to Suggestion
Induction and Susceptibility
Hypnotic Effects
Meditation and Religious Experiences:
Higher Consciousness
Meditation
Ecstatic Religious Experiences
Where Do You Stand? Between NORML and MADD: What Is Acceptable Drug Use?
9. Intelligence
The Measurement of Intelligence: Highly Classified
The Intelligence Quotient
The Logic of Intelligence Testing
Consequential Behaviors
The Real World: Look Smart
The Nature of Intelligence: Pluribus or Unum?
General and Specific Abilities
Middle-Level Abilities
The Origins of Intelligence: From SES to DNA
Intelligence and Genes
Intelligence and Groups
The Future of Intelligence: Wising Up
Changing Intelligence
Hot Science: The Plot Thickens
Improving Intelligence
Where Do You Stand? Making Kids Smart or Making Smart Kids?
10. Emotion and Motivation
Emotional Experience: The Feeling Machine
What Is Emotion?
The Emotional Body
The Emotional Brain
The Regulation of Emotion
Hot Science: The Pleasures of Uncertainty
Emotional Communication: Msgs w/o Wrds
Communicative Expression
The Real World: That’s Gross!
Deceptive Expression
Motivation: Getting Moved
The Function of Emotion
The Conceptualization of Motivation
Eating and Mating
Kinds of Motivation
Where Do You Stand? Here Comes the Bride
11. Development
Prenatality: A Womb with a View
Prenatal Development
Prenatal Environment
Infancy and Childhood: Becoming a Person
Perceptual and Motor Development
Cognitive Development
Hot Science: An Accountant in the Crib?
Social Development
The Real World: The Truth about Daycare
Moral Development
Adolescence: Minding the Gap
The Protraction of Adolescence
Sexuality
Parents and Peers
Adulthood: The Short Happy Future
Changing Abilities
Changing Orientations
Changing Roles
Where Do You Stand? Licensing Parents
12. Personality
Personality: What It Is and How It Is Measured
Describing and Explaining Personality
Measuring Personality
The Trait Approach: Identifying Patterns of Behavior
Traits as Behavioral Dispositions and Motives
The Search for Core Traits
Traits as Biological Building Blocks
The Real World: Do Different Genders Lead to Different Personalities?
The Psychodynamic Approach: Forces that Lie Beneath Awareness
Unconscious Motives
The Structure of the Mind: Id, Ego, and Superego
Dealing with Inner Conflict
Psychosexual Stages and the Development of Personality
The Humanistic-Existential Approach: Personality as Choice
Human Needs and Self-Actualization
Conditions for Growth
Personality as Existence
The Social Cognitive Approach: Personalities in Situations
Consistency of Personality Across Situations
Personal Constructs
Personal Goals and Expectancies
The Self: Personality in the Mirror
Self-Concept
Self-Esteem
Hot Science: Implicit Egotism: Liking Ourselves
Without Knowing It
Where Do You Stand? Personality Testing for Fun and Profit
13. Psychological Disorders
Identifying Psychological Disorders: What Is Abnormal?
Defining the Boundaries of Normality
Classification of Psychological Disorders
Classification and Causation
Consequences of Labeling
The Real World: Cultural Variants of Abnormal Behavior
Anxiety Disorders: When Fears Take Over
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Phobic Disorders
Panic Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Dissociative Disorders: Going to Pieces
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative Amnesia and Dissociative Fugue
Mood Disorders: At the Mercy of Emotions
Depressive Disorders
Bipolar Disorder
The Real World: Suicide Risk and Prevention
Schizophrenia: Losing the Grasp on Reality
Symptoms and Types of Schizophrenia
Biological Factors
Psychological Factors
Personality Disorders: Going to Extremes
Types of Personality Disorders
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Hot Science: Positive Psychology: Exterminating the Mindbugs
Where Do You Stand? Normal or Abnormal
14. Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Treatment: Getting Help to Those Who Need It
Why People Need Treatment
Why People Cannot or Will Not Seek Treatment
Approaches to Treatment
The Real World: Types of Psychotherapists
The Psychological Therapies: Healing the Mind through Interaction
Psychodynamic Therapy
Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Humanistic and Existential Therapies
Groups in Therapy
The Real World: Tales from the Madhouse
Worst Case Scenarios in the History of Treatment
Medical and Biological Treatments: Healing the Mind through the Brain
Antipsychotic Medications
Antianxiety Medications
Antidepressants and Mood Stabilizers
Herbal and Natural Products
Medications in Perspective
Biological Treatments beyond Medication
Treatment Effectiveness: For Better or for Worse
Evaluating Treatments
Which Treatments Work?
The Real World: Controversial Treatments—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Where Do You Stand? Should Drugs Be Used to Prevent
Traumatic Memories?
15. Stress and Health
Sources of Stress: What Gets to You?
Stressful Events
Chronic Stressors
Perceived Control over Stressful Events
Stress Reactions: All Shook Up
Physical Reactions
Hot Science: Why Sickness Feels Bad:
Psychological Effects of Immune Response
Psychological Reactions
Stress Management: Dealing With It
Mind Management
Body Management
The Real World: Rubbing the Right and Wrong Way: Massage and Therapeutic Touch
Situation Management
The Psychology of Illness: When It’s in Your Head
Sensitivity to Illness
On Being a Patient
Hot Science: This Is Your Brain on Placebos
The Psychology of Health: Feeling Good
Personality and Health
Health-Promoting Behaviors and Self-Regulation
Where Do You Stand? Consider Yourself Warned
16. Social Psychology
Social Behavior: Interacting With People
Survival: The Struggle for Resources
Reproduction: The Quest for Immortality
The Real World: An Affair to Remember
Hot Science: Beautifully Average
Social Influence: Controlling People
The Hedonic Motive: The Power of Pleasure
The Approval Motive: The Power of Social Acceptance
The Accuracy Motive: The Power of Being Right
The Real World: This Just In
Social Cognition: Understanding People
Stereotyping: Drawing Inferences From Categories
Attribution: Drawing Inferences From Actions
Where Do You Stand? Are You Prejudiced?
Psychologists are curious about the bases of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings, or our subjective sense of self. We’d like to understand how the mind usually functions so effectively in the world, allowing us to accomplish tasks as mundane as tying our shoes, as extraordinary as sending astronauts to the moon, or as sublime as painting the Mona Lisa.