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AP Psych Review #1
AP Psychology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Clinical psychology | specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of mental and behavioral disorders |
| Forensic psychology | applies the principles of psychology to the legal profession, including jury selection and psychological profiling. |
| Educational psychology | uses knowledge of how people learn to help develop instructional methods and materials. |
| Industrial-Organizational Psychology | applies the principles of psychology to the workplace, including employee motivation, job satisfaction, and personnel selection |
| Experiment | Can show cause and effect! Variables are manipulated by the researcher |
| Non-Experimental Research | researchers observe and describe behaviors and mental processes without manipulating variables. Does not enable researchers to establish cause-and-effect relationships. |
| Survey | Can be used in both experimental and nonexperimental research. Problems include purposeful and non-purposeful lying/misrepresentation on answers - Ex: Social desirability effect; The way a question is worded can change answers: wording effect. |
| Independent Variable | The factor manipulated by the researcher |
| Dependent Variable | The outcome variable – the one not manipulated. The variable being measured. The variable that may change as a result of the independent variable. |
| Hypothesis | A prediction of how two or more factors are likely to be related |
| Operational Definitions | Describe the specific procedure used to determine/measure a variable. |
| Experimental Group | Group exposed to IV |
| Control Group | Group not exposed to IV (who you compare the experimental group to) |
| Random Selection | Randomly choosing people from the entire population to participate in a study (creates a random/representative sample) |
| Population | All individuals in the group to which the study applies. |
| Sample | A subset of the population that is chosen for the study. A representative or random sample occurs when random selection is done correctly. The larger the sample the more likely it is to represent the population |
| Random Assignment | The sample is randomly assigned to the control or experimental group. Helps to eliminate differences between the experimental and control group. In other words, helps to eliminate confounding variables. |
| Confounding Variables | Variables other than the IV that could affect the DV. Differences between the control and experimental group other than those resulting from the IV. |
| Controls | Things that help to ensure confounding variables do not affect the outcome of the study. Things put into place to ensure that all groups in the experiment are treated exactly the same, except for the independent variable. |
| Experimenter Bias (Experimenter Expectancy Effect) | occurs when the expectations or beliefs of the researchers affect the outcome of the study |
| Placebo | an inert (inactive) substance given to the control group of a study in order to control for the placebo effect. (if both groups are ingesting something, any difference between the control and exp. |
| Single-Blind Study | When the participants don’t know if they are in the control or experimental group |
| Double-Blind Study | When neither the participants nor the researchers know who is in the control or experimental group |
| Placebo Effect | When an inert (fake) substance is ingested and provides a benefit simply through people’s belief/mind |
| Longitudinal Studies | studies that follow the same group of people over a long period of time |
| Cross-Sectional Studies | studying different age cohorts at the same time. a study that involves the analysis of data collected from a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time (opposite of longitudinal study) |
| Correlation Coefficient | = r. Shows strength and direction of a correlation. |
| Positive Correlations | Variables move in the same direction (as one goes up, so does the other. As one goes down, so does the other) |
| Negative Correlations | Variables move in opposite directions (as one variable goes up, the other goes down) |
| Illusory Correlation | perceiving a relationship between two variables where none exists |
| Perfect Correlations | Knowing the value of one variable means you can perfectly predict the other variable. (1 or -1) |
| Scatterplot Graphs | used to plot the data points for two variables. |
| Statistical Significance | Extent to which the results of a study are likely to be due to chance. p-value p = <.05 (5%) is considered statistically significant. |
| Effect Size | shows whether or not the effect is large enough to be meaningful in the real world. |
| Regression Towards the Mean | phenomena in stats where if one sample of a random variable is extreme, the next sampling of the same random variable is likely to be closer to its mean. |
| Measures of Central Tendency | Mean, Median, and Mode |
| Mean | Average; most affected by outliers |
| Median | Middle score |
| Mode | Most frequently occurring |
| Measures of Variation | Range, and Standard Deviation |
| Range | The difference between the lowest and highest values; Largest score minus smallest score. |
| Standard Deviation | a measure of how spread out the numbers in a set of data are from its mean. On average, how much scores in a data set vary from the mean. |
| Distribution Curves | A graphic representation of the date in a set. It shows the standard deviation of a data set. |
| Normal Distribution Curve | Mean, Median, and Mode all at the same place. Bell-shaped curve where the mean, median, and mode all match. Percentages stay constant no matter the test as long as they fall on a bell curve. |
| Positively Skewed Distribution Curve | Mean is pulled higher because of large outliers |
| Negatively Skewed Distribution Curve | Mean is pulled lower due to low/small outliers |
| Acetylcholine | A neurotransmitter that, among its functions, triggers muscle contraction. |
| Action Potential | A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon’s membranes. (The action become depolarized) |
| Adrenal Glands | A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine, which help to arouse the body in times of stress. |
| Agonists | They excite by mimicking a particular neurotransmitter or blocking its reuptake. |
| All-or-none response | A neuron either fires or it doesn’t. (like a gun) |
| Antagonists | They inhibit by blocking neurotransmitters at receptor sites (by mimicking but not well enough to send the messages one), by diminishing their release, or by increasing enzymes that destroy them. |
| Autonomic Nervous System | The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs. |
| Axon | The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages are sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands. |
| Biological Psychology | A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior. |
| Blood-Brain Barrier | This enables the brain to fence out unwanted chemicals circulating in the blood. a layer of tissues around the brain and spinal cord to keep harmful materials out. Psychoactive drugs can pass through the blood-brain barrier. |
| Central Nervous System | The brain and spinal cord. |
| Dendrite | The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body. |
| Endocrine System | The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream. |
| Endorphins | “Morphine within”- natural, opiate like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure |
| Glial Cells | cells that produce the myelin sheath in the brain; cells in the nervous system that are not neurons but that support, nourish, and protect neurons |
| Hormones | Chemical messengers that are produced in one tissue and affect another. |
| Interneurons | Central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs. |
| Ions | Electrically charged atoms. |
| Motor Neurons (Efferent) | The neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands. |
| Myelin Sheath | A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next. Deterioration = MS (multiple sclerosis) |
| Myasthenia Gravis | is an autoimmune disease that affects the ACh receptor sites between the nerves and muscles causing muscle weakness and fatigue. Treatment = ACh agonists (reuptake inhibitors) |
| Nerves | Neural “cables” containing many axons. These bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect the central nervous system with the muscles, glands, and sense organs. |
| Nervous System | The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication system, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems. |
| Neural Networks | Interconnected neural cells. With experience, networks can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results. |
| Neuron | A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. |
| Neurotransmitters | Chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by sending neuron, neurotransmitters go across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether it will generate neural impulse. |
| Nodes of Ranvier | The gap on the axon between sections of myelin sheath |
| Parasympathetic Nervous System | The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy. |
| Pineal Gland | Produces melatonin that helps regulate circadian rhythms (when stimulated by and is associated with seasonal affective disorder |
| Peripheral Nervous System | The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body. |
| Pituitary Gland | The endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands. |
| Reflex | A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus. |
| Refractory Period | Resting pause during which the neuron pumps the positively charged sodium atoms back outside. |
| Resting Potential | Axon is polarized (-70mV); positive, sodium outside / negative potassium -inside polarization. |
| Sensory Neurons (Afferent) | Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system. |
| Somatic Nervous System | The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. |
| Schwann Cells | Cells that produce the myelin sheath in the peripheral nervous system |
| Sympathetic Nervous System | The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations. |
| Synapse | The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or cleft. |
| Threshold | The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse. (-55 mV) |
| Melatonin | Brings on sleepiness; Released by suprachiasmatic nucleus in low light |
| Ghrelin | Brings on hunger |
| Leptin | Brings on fullness; leptin resistance will make people feel hungry and overeat |
| Substance P | Helps to transmit pain signals and inflammation |
| Amygdala | Volatile emotions like anger and fear; attached to the end of the hippocampus; in the limbic system |
| Aphasia | A brain condition characterized by an inability to produce coherent, fluent language. Impairment of language. |
| Association Areas | Neurons in the cortex that are not in charge of sensory processing or language; perform complex higher functions; lots located in the prefrontal cortex. |
| Broca's Area | the part of the brain that in responsible for producing fluent speech; located in the parietal lobe/frontal lobe |
| Cerebellum | Latin for “little brain”; in charge of balance, keeping a series of events in order, fine motor movement coordination, classically conditioned responses, and implicit memory processing |
| Cerebral Cortex | The outside layer of the cerebrum; the grey matter of the brain; divided into four lobes; responsible for sensory processing, language, and higher order thinking. |
| Cerebrum | Makes up most of the mass of the brain; made up of both white and grey matter; outside layer of the cerebrum is the cerebral cortex; |
| Corpus Callosum | The part of the brain that connect the right and left hemispheres; the part that is severed or not working properly in split-brain patients |
| Frontal Lobe | the portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead. Involved in speaking and muscle movements (contains motor cortex) and in making plans and judgments. Has the most amount of association areas. |
| Gray Matter | The outside layer of the cerebral cortex made up of neural cell bodies and dendrites. |
| Left Hemisphere | Positive emotions, speech and words/language |
| Right Hemisphere | Negative emotions, spatial reasoning, facial recognition and memory for music |
| Hippocampus | Responsible for processing NEW explicit memories. “If you saw a hippo on campus you’d never forget it” |
| Hypothalamus | Controls feeding behavior (ventromedial hypothalamus – feeling full; lateral hypothalamus – feeling hunger); thirst; body temperature, sexual behavior; stimulates fight or flight behavior; in charge of pituitary gland (master gland) |
| Lateralization | The idea that the functions of the brain are divided between the two hemispheres. |
| Contralateralization | hemispheres process sensory info and motor info from the opposite side of the body. |
| Lesion | tissue destruction in the brain |
| Limbic System | The hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus are all part of the limbic system. Plays a key role in emotions and rewards. |
| Medulla | the base of the brainstem and it controls heartbeat and breathing. “When you do the hula…” |
| Motor Cortex | an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements (right side controls left side of body and vise versa) |
| Occipital Lobes | The part of the cortex located in the back of the head and receives visual information from opposite visual fields (Has two C’s and it helps you to see) |
| Parietal Lobes | The areas of the cortex that lie at the top and the rear of the head and includes the sensory cortex (touch only – not all the senses) |
| Plasticity | the brain’s capacity for modification – if one area is damaged, other areas can take over. |
| Pons | Sleeping and waking rhythms; facial expressions |
| Reticular Formation | a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal |
| Somatosensory Cortex ( also called the Sensory Cortex) | The area of the cortex involved in processing touch sensations – located in the Parietal Lobe (Parents don’t make sense) |
| Split Brain | a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them (usually done to treat epilepsy). |
| Temporal Lobes | The area of the cortex above the ears and receive auditory information from the opposite ear (You hear the tempo with the temporal lobe) |
| Thalamus | the brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem. It directs messages to a sensory receiving areas in the cortex (except smell). |
| Computed Tomography Scan (CAT) | a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body (does not show soft tissue well; only shows structure of hard masses, not soft brain tissue) |
| Electroencephalogram (EEG) | an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface. The waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp. |
| Functional MRI (fMRI) | Shows structure very well like a MRI, but also uses technology like PET to show function. |
| Lateralization | The idea that the functions of the brain are divided between the two hemispheres. |
| Contralateralization | hemispheres process sensory info and motor info from the opposite side of the body. |
| Lesion | tissue destruction in the brain |
| Limbic System | The hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus are all part of the limbic system. Plays a key role in emotions and rewards. |
| Medulla | the base of the brainstem and it controls heartbeat and breathing. “When you do the hula…” |
| Motor Cortex | an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements (right side controls left side of body and vise versa) |
| Occipital Lobes | The part of the cortex located in the back of the head and receives visual information from opposite visual fields (Has two C’s and it helps you to see) |
| Parietal Lobes | The areas of the cortex that lie at the top and the rear of the head and includes the sensory cortex (touch only – not all the senses) |
| Plasticity | the brain’s capacity for modification – if one area is damaged, other areas can take over. |
| Pons | Sleeping and waking rhythms; facial expressions |
| Reticular Formation | a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal |
| Somatosensory Cortex ( also called the Sensory Cortex) | The area of the cortex involved in processing touch sensations – located in the Parietal Lobe (Parents don’t make sense) |
| Split Brain | a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them (usually done to treat epilepsy). |
| Temporal Lobes | The area of the cortex above the ears and receive auditory information from the opposite ear (You hear the tempo with the temporal lobe) |
| Thalamus | the brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem. It directs messages to a sensory receiving areas in the cortex (except smell). |
| Computed Tomography Scan (CAT) | a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body (does not show soft tissue well; only shows structure of hard masses, not soft brain tissue) |
| Electroencephalogram (EEG) | an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface. The waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp. |
| Functional MRI (fMRI) | Shows structure very well like a MRI, but also uses technology like PET to show function. |
| Lateralization | The idea that the functions of the brain are divided between the two hemispheres. |
| Contralateralization | hemispheres process sensory info and motor info from the opposite side of the body. |
| Lesion | tissue destruction in the brain |
| Limbic System | The hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus are all part of the limbic system. Plays a key role in emotions and rewards. |
| Medulla | the base of the brainstem and it controls heartbeat and breathing. “When you do the hula…” |
| Motor Cortex | an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements (right side controls left side of body and vise versa) |
| Occipital Lobes | The part of the cortex located in the back of the head and receives visual information from opposite visual fields (Has two C’s and it helps you to see) |
| Parietal Lobes | The areas of the cortex that lie at the top and the rear of the head and includes the sensory cortex (touch only – not all the senses) |
| Plasticity | the brain’s capacity for modification – if one area is damaged, other areas can take over. |
| Pons | Sleeping and waking rhythms; facial expressions |
| Reticular Formation | a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal |
| Somatosensory Cortex ( also called the Sensory Cortex) | The area of the cortex involved in processing touch sensations – located in the Parietal Lobe (Parents don’t make sense) |
| Split Brain | a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them (usually done to treat epilepsy). |
| Temporal Lobes | The area of the cortex above the ears and receive auditory information from the opposite ear (You hear the tempo with the temporal lobe) |
| Thalamus | the brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem. It directs messages to a sensory receiving areas in the cortex (except smell). |
| Computed Tomography Scan (CAT) | a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body (does not show soft tissue well; only shows structure of hard masses, not soft brain tissue) |
| Electroencephalogram (EEG) | an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface. The waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp. |
| Functional MRI (fMRI) | Shows structure very well like a MRI, but also uses technology like PET to show function. |
| Lateralization | The idea that the functions of the brain are divided between the two hemispheres. |
| Contralateralization | hemispheres process sensory info and motor info from the opposite side of the body. |
| Lesion | tissue destruction in the brain |
| Limbic System | The hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus are all part of the limbic system. Plays a key role in emotions and rewards. |
| Medulla | the base of the brainstem and it controls heartbeat and breathing. “When you do the hula…” |
| Motor Cortex | an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements (right side controls left side of body and vise versa) |
| Occipital Lobes | The part of the cortex located in the back of the head and receives visual information from opposite visual fields (Has two C’s and it helps you to see) |
| Parietal Lobes | The areas of the cortex that lie at the top and the rear of the head and includes the sensory cortex (touch only – not all the senses) |
| Plasticity | the brain’s capacity for modification – if one area is damaged, other areas can take over. |
| Pons | Sleeping and waking rhythms; facial expressions |
| Reticular Formation | a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal |
| Somatosensory Cortex ( also called the Sensory Cortex) | The area of the cortex involved in processing touch sensations – located in the Parietal Lobe (Parents don’t make sense) |
| Split Brain | a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them (usually done to treat epilepsy). |
| Temporal Lobes | The area of the cortex above the ears and receive auditory information from the opposite ear (You hear the tempo with the temporal lobe) |
| Thalamus | the brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem. It directs messages to a sensory receiving areas in the cortex (except smell). |
| Computed Tomography Scan (CAT) | a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body (does not show soft tissue well; only shows structure of hard masses, not soft brain tissue) |
| Electroencephalogram (EEG) | an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface. The waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp. |
| Functional MRI (fMRI) | Shows structure very well like a MRI, but also uses technology like PET to show function. |
| Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue (only shows structure - no function) |
| Positron Emission Tomography Scan (PET) | a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task (only shows function - no structure) |
| Wernicke's Area | involved in language comprehension and expression; damage results in Wernicke’s Aphasia |
| White Matter | The inside part of the cerebrum; made up of myelinated axons (connected the somas of the grey matter) |
| Accommodation of Schemas | changing or creating a new schema based on new information/understanding. Ex: Learning |
| Mary Ainsworth | Strange situation experiment. Infant separated from caregiver. Infants behavior upon separation but more importantly upon reunification examined. Place infants into four attachment groups: secure, insecure-resistant, insecure-avoidant, disorganized. |
| Alzheimer's Disease | a progressive form of dementia characterized by gradual deterioration of intellectual abilities such as memory, judgment, and abstract thought. Loss of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors thought to play a role. |
| Animism | The belief that all things (including inanimate objects like Teddy Bears) have souls. Preoperational stage and before. |
| Assimilation of Schemas | Placing new information into an existing schema. Ex: all four legged creatures are puppies |
| Attachment | an emotional bond formed between an infant and a caregiver. Famously studied by Harlow and Ainsworth. |
| Authoritarian Parents | set rigid rules, enforce strict punishments, and rarely listen to their child’s point of view. Outcome for children: tend to be moody, aggressive, and often lack good communication skills. |
| Authoritative Parents | set firm rules, make reasonable demands, and listen to their child’s point of view, but still require children to follow rules and be responsible. Outcome for children: tend to be well-adjusted, goal-oriented, and socially competent. |
| Autism | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. |
| Concrete Operational Stage | 7-11 years old. Children can apply logical thought to concrete objects and events (but not abstract) |
| Conservation | two equal quantities remain equal even though their form or appearance is rearranged. Usually understand by later preoperational stage. Ex: Liquid transferred from fat short glass to tall skinny glass does not change amount. |
| Critical Period | a period during someone's development in which a particular skill or characteristic is believed to be most readily acquired. (most commonly used to refer to language) |
| Diana Baumrind | Studies parenting styles: Permissive, Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Neglectful |
| Ecological Systems Theory | explains how an individual's development is shaped by interconnected environmental systems. |
| Egocentrism | an inability to understand or assume any perspective other than their own. |
| Erik Erikson | Eight psychosocial stages in which we face a crisis (social and psychological). How we resolve each crisis shapes our personality and affects our relationships with others. |
| Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) | Can result in mental impairment – due to mother ingesting alcohol while pregnant |
| Formal Operational | Final stage of Piaget’s cognitive development. 11- adult. Capacity to think logically about abstract concepts. |
| Gender Identity | our sense of being male or female |
| Gender Roles | sets of expectations that prescribe how males and females should act, think, and feel |
| Habituation | The gradual adaptation produced by a constant stimulus. This is how we often study babies sensory or memory capacities. |
| Harry Harlow | Studied reasons for attachment in baby monkeys– physical comfort or being provided with milk. Found that it was physical comfort that created the attachment. |
| Insecure-Avoidant Attachment | During the Strange Situation experiment – infants who were unfazed by mom’s leaving. Turned away or ignored mom when she came back |
| Insecure-Resistant Attachment | During the Strange Situation experiment – infants who were extremely upset when mom left. Had a hard time being comforted. Did not go back to exploring the room – clung to mom. |
| Jean Piaget | Arguably the most famous developmental psychologist. Develops stages of motor development theory. Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational (mnemonic: Silly Piaget Created Fuss) |
| Maturation | the natural, genetically-driven developmental process that leads to growth and change - Life transitions to know: menarche, spermarch, menopause |
| Object Permanence | The concept that objects and people do no actually disappear just because they are out of sight. Develops during sensorimotor stage. (4-7 months usually) |
| Permissive Parents | set few rules and make minimal demands. Outcomes for children: impulsive, immature, and often fail to respect others. |
| Preoperational Stage | Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development. |
| Rooting Reflex | newborns reflexly turn their head when their cheek is touched. Facilitates breastfeeding. |
| Scaffolding | how students are met and taught in their zone of proximal development. (see Zone of Proximal Development) |
| Schema | a mental grouping that serves as a framework for interpreting, categorizing, and problem solving (similar to concepts) |
| Sensorimotor Stage | Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development. Kids explore their world through their senses and movement |
| Secure Attachment | During the Strange Situation experiment – infants who were upset by mom leaving, but were able to be comforted by mom when she returned and went back to exploring the room |
| Teratogen | Substances that can harm the fetus (crosses the placental barrier) |
| Theory of Mind | the developmental idea that other people have different thoughts, feelings, and knowledge than you. The development of this is the end of egocentrism. |
| Zone of Proximal Development | describes the space between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable individual. It's where learning happens most effectively |
| Absolute Threshold | The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time. |
| Accommodation of the eye | The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus the image of near objects on the retina. (loses this as you age) |
| Acuity | The sharpness of vision. |
| Amplitude | The distance from the peak to trough of an electromagnetic wave. Determines brightness and loudness. |
| Audition | The sense of hearing. |
| Basilar Membrane | Run the length of the cochlea. Holds the hair cell receptors for hearing |
| Blind Spot | The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there. |
| Bottom-Up Processing | Analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. |
| Cochlea | A coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses. |
| Conduction Hearing Loss | Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea. |
| Cones | Receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations. |
| Color Blindness Dichromatism | only having 2 of the 3 types of cone receptors in the retina (most common=red/green colorblindness) |
| Color Blindness Monochromatism | total color blindness |
| Difference Threshold | The minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference. (Also called the just noticeable difference). |
| Farsightedness | A condition in which faraway objects are seen more clearly than nearby objects because the image of near objects is focused behind the retina. |
| Feature Detectors | Specialized neurons in the occipital lobe that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement. |
| Fovea | The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster. |
| Frequency | The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time. Long wavelengths have a low frequency. (determines pitch and hue) |
| Frequency Theory | In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch. |
| Gate-Control Theory | Theory that spinal cord contain neurological “gate” that blocks pain signal / allows to pass on to the brain. The “gate” is opened by activity of pain signal traveling up small nerve fiber & is closed by activity in larger fiber by info coming from brain. |
| Gustation | Taste – Basic five taste sensations are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (or glutamate) |
| Hue | The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth. |
| Inner Ear | The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs |
| Intensity (Shown by Amplitude of a wave) | The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude. |
| Iris | A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening. |
| Kinesthesis | The system for sensing the positions and movement of individual body parts. Receptors located in joints and muscles. |
| Lens | The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape (accommodation) to focus images on the retina. |
| Middle Ear | The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea contains three tiny bones (hammer, anvil and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window. |
| Nearsightedness | A condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects because the lens focuses the image of distant objects in front of the retina. |
| Olfaction | Smell. Receptor cells located in the mucus membrane at the top of the nostril. Relays information directly to the olfactory bulb (does not get routed through the thalamus first) |
| Opponent-Process Theory | The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, black-white) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green. |
| Optic Nerve | The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain. |
| Parallel Processing | The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving. |
| Pitch | A tone’s highness or lowness; depends on frequency. |
| Place Theory | the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated. (low pitched sounds travel further into the inner ear than high pitched sounds so your brain detects pitch based on where the cochlea is vibrating) |
| Psychophysics | The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them. |
| Pupil | The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters. |
| Retina | The light- sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that being the processing of visual information. Where transduction occurs for sight (through the rods and cones) |
| Rods | Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond. |
| Sensation | The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. |
| Sensorineural Hearing Loss | Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness. |
| Sensory Adaptation | Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. |
| Sensory Interaction | The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste. |
| Signal Detection Theory | Predicts how & when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (“signal”) amid background stimulation (“noise”). Assumes there's no single absolute threshold & that detection depends on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, & level of fatigue. |
| Stereocilia | Receptors (ear hairs) located in the inner ear. Where transduction occurs for audition. |
| Subliminal | Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness. |
| Supertaster | Someone who tastes things intensely due to an above-average amount of taste buds. |
| Synesthesia | when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously. |
| Top-Down Processing | Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. |
| Transduction | Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses. |
| Vestibular Sense | The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance. Receptors located in semicircular canals of the inner ear. |
| Wavelength | The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Determines hue (color) and pitch. |
| Weber's Law | The principle that, to perceive their difference, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount). The just noticeable difference varies in proportion to the size of the initial stimulus. |
| Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory | The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors- one most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue- which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color. |
| After-Images | An impression of a vivid visual sensation after the stimulus has ceased. Seeing the opponent color after looking away from an image. (support the opponent-processing theory of color) |
| Binocular Depth Cues | Depth cues that need two functioning eyes to be perceived (convergence and retinal disparity) |
| Cocktail Party Effect | The ability to attend selectively to only one voice among many. |
| Convergence | A binocular depth cue – the brain detects how much the eyes have to converge or come together to detect depth. |
| Figure-Ground Relationship | The tendency to distinguish between figure and background (a Gestalt principle of grouping, perceiving into organized pieces) |
| Gestalt | An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes – grouping examples: proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, closure, figure-ground |
| Monocular Depth Cues | Depth cues that can be perceived with only one eye. Examples: relative size, relative height, interposition, linear perspective, light/shadow, relative motion (motion parallax), aerial perspective |
| Perception | The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. |
| Perceptual Constancy | Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change. (shape, size, lightness, color) |
| Phi Phenonmenon | Perceived motion when stationary lights are flashed on and off successively. |
| Perceptual Set | our tendency to interpret things in certain ways based on previous experiences |
| Retinal Disparity | A binocular depth cue – the brain detects how different the two images coming to the brain are from each eye to detect depth |
| Selective Attention | The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect. |
| Visual Capture | The tendency for vision to dominate all the other senses |
| Visual Cliff Experiment | Eleanor Gibson. Created a table with the illusion of a cliff with Plexiglas. Most infants would not cross. Showed that depth perception is an innate capacity that emerges during infancy. |
| Activation-Synthesis Theory | theory of why we dream that states that the pons sends out random action potentials and the cortex then tries to make sense of the messages by creating odd story lines. |
| Biological Rhythms | bodily functions regulated by an internal clock. Ex: sleep (circadian rhythm), body temperature; hormone secretion; menstrual cycle |
| Circadian Rhythm | a type of biological rhythm; the sleep internal clock |
| Consciousness | the state of being awake and aware of your surroundings |
| Delta Waves | the deepest sleep brain wave; occurs in stage 3 sleep |
| Insomnia | the inability to fall and/or stay asleep |
| Latent Content | In Freud’s theory of dream interpretation, the underlying meaning of dreams |
| Manifest Content | In Freud’s theory of dream interpretation, the remembered storyline of dreams |
| Narcolepsy | uncontrollable lapses into sleep - usually into REM sleep. Stimulants used to treat it. |
| Narcotics (including Opiates) | analgesics (pain reducers); chemical properties similar to endorphins |
| Night Terrors | happen in non-REM (deep sleep). mostly in kids under 13 within first couple hours of sleep. Child partly wakes up (not fully) & fight or flight kicks in, and leaves child feeling extremely afraid. Most kids don’t remember these episodes in the morning. |
| REM Rebound | When sleep deprived, the brain will go through the other stages of sleep quicker than normal in order to get more REM sleep. |
| REM Sleep | Rapid eye movement sleep; a very light stage of sleep; where dreaming mostly occurs. Gets longer as the night goes on. Called paradoxical sleep because the brain is very active but the body is paralized. |
| Sleep Apnea | cessations in breathing while sleeping; risk factor = obesity |
| Somnambulism | sleep walking; most likely to occur in stage 3 (not dreaming in REM) |
| Stages of Sleep | Stage 1 – falling asleep (Theta and Alpha waves) Stage 2 – Theta waves Stage 3 – Delta waves – deepest stage of sleep; gets shorter as the night progresses (replace with more REM) REM – rapid eye movement; paradoxical sleep; dreams |
| Suprachiasmatic Nucleus | part of the brain that releases melatonin |
| Tolerance | A condition in which the body gets used to a substance and needs more in order to get the same result. |
| Withdrawl | occurs when the use of a psychoactive substance is suddenly stopped. Occurs because the brain’s biology has adapted to the drug use and has altered its own chemistry) |
| Ivan Pavlov | did the dog experiment; classical conditioning |
| Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) | something that causes a reaction without any learning occurring (the food) |
| Unconditioned Response (UCR) | he reaction to the UCS – an unlearned reaction to something (drooling) |
| Neutral Stimulus (NS) | something that does not cause a reaction initially, but comes to elicit a response after repeated pairings with the UCS (will then become the CS) (the bell) |
| Conditioned Stimulus (CS) | something that causes a response after learning occurs. The organism learns that the CS is paired with the UCS so it elicits a similar response. (the bell) |
| Conditioned Response (CR) | the organisms behavior that occurs after the CS is presented. A learned response to the CS. (will be similar if not the same to the CS) (drooling) |
| Extinction | occurs when the UCS no longer follows the CS (ex: Ring the bell, don’t feed the dogs); the CS no longer elicits the CR |
| Spontaneous Recovery | the sudden reappearance of a CR after extinction has occurred |
| Aquisition | the learning stage. When the CS (bell) is paired with the UCS (food) |
| Generalization (Stimulus Generalization) | When a stimulus similar to the CS will elicit the CR |
| Discrimination (Stimulus Discrimination) | When the organism can distinguish between the CS and similar stimuli |
| Taste Aversion | a type of classical conditioning that occurs when the organism gets sick after eating a food. Somewhat unique in classical conditioning because it pairing the CS with the UCS only has to occur one time for the CS to elicit the CR. |
| Aversive Conditioning | a way to use classical conditioning to modify behavior. For instance, putting a drug in alcohol to help alcoholics quit drinking or painting bad tasting nail polish on nails to keep from biting them |
| Higher Order Conditioning ( or Second Order Conditioning) | occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with a new, neutral stimulus, and that new stimulus then also elicits the conditioned response. Ex: Pavlovs dogs eventually started drooling at the sight of the handler who would ring the bell. |
| Edward Thorndike | The Law of Effect; Reinforced behavior is likely to recur. |
| B.F. Skinner | Skinner’s box (operant conditioning chamber); behaviorist |
| Reinforcement | anything that increases the behavior it follows |
| Positive Reinforcement | a desired stimulus that increases the behavior it follows ; the addition of this thing increases the behavior it follows |
| Negative Reinforcement | the removal of an unpleasant stimulus increases the behavior it follows; ex: buckling your seatbelt removes the unpleasant sound |
| Primary Reinforcers | also called unconditioned reinforcers; these things can reinforce behavior without any learning occurring – they naturally reinforce behaviors. Ex: food, praise, escape from pain |
| Secondary Reinforcers | also called conditioned reinforcers because the organism has to learn something in order for these to be effective reinforcers; these things gain their reinforcing power through their association with a primary reinforcer. Ex: money, grades, |
| Token Economy | type of operant conditioning where an organism earns points, stickers, (tokens) & used accumulated tokens to earn a desired reinforcer. Ex: students earn smiley faces beside their name and once they’ve earned 20 smiley faces, they get extra credit point |
| Shaping | reinforcing “successive approximations” as organism gets closer and closer to desired end behavior. Think how Skinner would have reinforced behaviors of the pigeons as they get closer and closer to the desired end result of the pigeons playing ping pong |
| Continuous Reinforcement* | (acquisition occurs faster but less resistant to extinction) |
| Fixed Ratio | schedule of reinforcement – reinforcement comes after a set number of responses |
| Variable Ratio | schedule of reinforcement – reinforcement comes after an unpredictable number of responses |
| Fixed Interval | schedule of reinforcement – reinforcement comes after a set amount of time |
| Variable Interval | schedule of reinforcement – reinforcement comes after an unpredictable amount of time. |
| Punishment | something that decreases the behavior it follows |
| Negative Punishment | taking this thing away will decrease the behavior it follows. Ex: taking away your phone |
| Positive Punishment | adding this thing will decrease the behavior it follows. Ex: Spanking |
| Insight Learning | the sudden (often novel) solution to a problem just comes to a person - Wolfgang Kohler |
| Observational Learning | Social Learning- modeling |
| Albert Bandura | Bobo Doll experiment |
| Learned Helplessness | after repeated failures, the organism will stop trying to escape the situation |
| Martin Seligman | dogs stopped trying to escape the shock after repeated failures |
| Latent Learning | Learning in the absence of reinforcers or punishment. Learner often does not have a chance to show that learning occurred until later. |
| Edward Tolman | rats in maze experiment - said rats developed a cognitive map. |
| Acronyms | A mnemonic that involves creating a code word from the first letters of the items you want to remember. Ex: HOMES for great lakes |
| Anterograde Amnesia | Unable to form new memories, but old memories are still intact. Most likely cause = damage to hippocampus. Most famous example: H.M. after epilepsy surgery |
| Automatic Processing | Unconscious encoding of space, time, frequency. |
| Autobiographical Memory | a person's recollection of past events & experiences, forming their personal history & identity. It's a complex blend of episodic (specific events) and semantic (general self-related knowledge) memory, and plays a crucial role in shaping our sense of self |
| Context Dependent Memory | Improved recall when when the context (environment) of retrieval and encoding are the same. |
| Chunking | Grouping information into meaningful units. Ex: remembering 1492 instead of 2, 9, 1, and 4. |
| Effortful Processing | Encoding that requires attention and effort. Most school material requires this kind of processing. |
| Elizabeth Loftus | Most famous memory researcher. Studies: Lost in the Mall, Bugs Bunny experiment, Car Accident experiment (see misinformation effect) |
| Encoding | Getting information into the brain. (like typing it into a computer) |
| Levels of Encoding/Processing Model | 1.) Visual (least effective) 2.) Acoustic 3.) Semantic (most effective) – encoding meaning |
| Encoding failure | Information fails to encode past short term memory. Lack of attention/divided attention is the #1 cause. Rehearsal helps to ensure encoding. |
| Explicit Memory/ Declarative Memory | Memories of facts and experiences. Processed in the hippocampus |
| Flashbulb Memory | Vivid memory of an emotionally significant event or moment. Encodes automatically without rehearsal. |
| Forgetting Curve | Hermann Ebbinghaus. Had subjects remember nonsense syllables. Most forgetting happens immediately (within the first 2-3 days, then gradually evens outs) |
| Hierarchy | the organization of information into broad categories, with each category further divided into more specific subcategories. Helps our brain to group and therefore to remember. |
| Infantile Amnesia | also known as childhood amnesia, refers to the inability of adults to recall specific events from their early childhood, typically before the age of 3-4. Why? Underdeveloped hippocampus and lack of a personal narrative. |
| Implicit Memory / Procedural Memory | Memories of how to do something (walk, play piano, ride a bike) AND memories of classically conditioned responses. Processed in the cerebellum (not the hippocampus). |
| Levels of Processing Model | Says that our brain processes meaning (semantic encoding deeply) and visual (structural or iconic memory) as the most shallow type; echoic is in the middle. |
| Long-Term Memory | Unlimited permanent storage of information |
| Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) | Neurons that fire together repeatedly form stronger connections, which is thought to be a key cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory. (The more a connection is used, the more efficient the communication becomes) |
| Method of Loci/ Memory Palace | Mnemonic device invented by Greek orators to remember speeches. Attach a key visual item/reminder to each place along a familiar route. |
| Misinformation Effect | Memory can be distorted if a person is exposed to misleading information. Elizabeth’s Loftus’ car accident experiment using terms like “bump”, “collide” versus “smash” “hit”. |
| Mood Congruent Memory | the tendency to recall information and memories that align with one's current mood. |
| Priming | Activating specific associations in memory either consciously or unconsciously |
| Proactive Interference | When old information interferes with recalling new information (forward acting) |
| Prospective Memory | the ability to remember to perform a future action, often referred to as "remembering to remember" |
| Recall | Remembering without retrieval cues / answer choices. Ex: Fill in the blank tests without answer bank |
| Recognition | Remembering using retrieval cues or possible answer choices. Ex: multiple choice tests / matching |
| Rehearsal | The key way information is processed from short term memory into long term memory. |
| Maintenance Rehearsal | repeating information to keep it in your head. Keeps information fresh, but is not an efficient way to transfer information to long term memory. |
| Elaborative Rehearsal | new information is actively reviewed and related to information already stored in long-term memory. More efficient way to transfer into long term memory. |
| Retrieval Failure/ Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon | Information was stored in long term memory but one is unable to access it for the moment. Interference and emotional states such as anxiety can increase likelihood of retrieval failure. |
| Retroactive Interference | When new information interferes with recalling old information. (Backward acting) |
| Retrograde Amnesia | Unable to remember some or all past memories but can form new memories. Most common cause = head injuries. |
| Semantic Encoding | the encoding of meaning, like the meaning of words. The deepest form of processing |
| Sensory Memory | The first stage of memory. Everything that is processed by our senses enters or sensory memory. |
| Iconic Memory | sensory memory for sight (lasts up to ½ a second) |
| Echoic Memory | sensory memory for auditory info (last 2-4 seconds) |
| Serial Positioning Effect | Information at the beginning and end of a list is easier remembered than information in the middle. |
| Primacy Effect | information from the beginning of a list is better remembered than from the middle. |
| Recency Effect | information from the end of a list is better remembered than from the middle. |
| Short-Term Memory | Temporary storage of information before it is transferred to long term or forgotten. Duration = 15-30 seconds without rehearsal. Capacity = 7 (+/-2), meaning for most it’s 7 items, but for some it’s 5 or 9. |
| Source Amnesia/ Source Misattribution | Attributing information to the wrong source or person. Ex: Believing your friend told you something when it was really something you read on the internet. |
| Spacing Effect (Distributed Practice) | Spreading out learning aids in long term memorization. The opposite of distributed practice = massed practice. |
| State Dependent Memory | People tend to recall information better if they are in the same state of consciousness (drunk, sober, high, hypnotized, etc) that they were in when the information was encoded. |
| Storage Decay | A form of forgetting where information is not brought out of long term storage often enough so the memory decays. |
| Testing Effect | enhanced learning & retention occurs when people are tested on material, instead of simply rereading / studying it. also known as retrieval practice / test-enhanced learning, shows that active recall of info from memory strengthens long-term retention. |
| Working Memory | a mental workspace that we can use to store important information in the course of our mental activities. Similar to short term memory except it is what you are currently consciously thinking/manipulating in your brain. |
| Parts of Working Memory | : 1) central executive; 2) phonological loops; 3) visuospatial sketchpad |
| Algorithm* | A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution. |
| Broca's Aphasia | can be caused by damage to Broca’s area. It is characterized by difficulty in getting the words out. The patient can still understand language, however. |
| Wernicke's Aphasia | can be caused by damage to Wernicke’s area. It is characterized by nonsensical speech and difficulty understanding language. |
| Availability Heuristic* | We base our judgments on the availability of information in our memories. |
| Babbling Phase | By around 4 months of age, babies spontaneously utter a variety of sounds such as ah-goo. |
| Behavioral Perspective of Language Development | language is developed by imitating sounds we hear to create words and reinforcement follows as we get praise or are able to communicate our wants and needs effectively. |
| Belief Perseverance | Our tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. Often fuels social conflict. |
| Belief Bias | The tendency for our preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, making illogical conclusions seem valid or logical conclusions seem invalid |
| Cognition | Refers to all the mental activities associated with processing, understanding, and communicating. (Thinking, knowing, remembering) |
| Concepts | Mental groupings of similar objects, events, and people. |
| Confirmation Bias | An eagerness to search for information that confirms our own ideas |
| Convergent Thinking | The kind of thinking required for problems with one correct answer or solution |
| Deductive Reasoning | moving from more general ideas to more specific ideas. |
| Divergent Thinking | type of thinking needed for problems with multiple correct solutions |
| Fixation | The inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. |
| Framing | The way an issue is presented in a particular way that causes a reaction based on how it was framed. |
| Functional Fixedness * | Our tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed and unchanging |
| Gambler's Fallacy | the mistaken belief that past independent events influence the probability of future outcomes. Ex: coin flip results = 8 tails in a row. The next flip does not have an increased chance of finally being heads. It’s still a 50% likelihood. |
| Grammar | A system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Two parts: Syntax & Semantics |
| Heuristics | Rule of thumb strategies that take less time to figure out a problem yet are open to error. |
| Hindsight Bias | the tendency to falsely report, after the event, that we correctly predicted the outcome of an event |
| Inductive Reasoning | moving from specific observations to broader generalizations. Begin with specific observations then look to patterns and then formulate a general conclusion. (bottom up approach) |
| Insight | The answer to any problem just comes automatically and absolutely no problem-solving strategies are used |
| Imagination Inflation | a type of constructed memory where one confuses an imagined memory with a real experience/memory. |
| Language | Our spoken, written, or gestured words and the ways we combine them as we think and communicate. |
| Linguistic Relativity or Linguistic Determinism **** | Different languages impose different conceptions of reality. Benjamin Whorf |
| Mental Set | A tendency to repeat solutions that have worked in the past (a type of fixation) |
| Metacognition | thinking about how we think |
| Morpheme | The smallest unit of language that carries meaning. |
| Nativist Perspective of Language | Noam Chomsky – the idea that the human brain has an innate capacity for acquiring language (language acquisition device) and that children are born with a universal sense of grammar |
| One-Word Stage | Around 1 year of age, babies begin to use sounds to communicate meaning. These first words usually contain only one syllable |
| Overconfidence | A tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments. |
| Overgeneralization or Overregularization | Children apply grammatical rules even when they shouldn’t be applied. Ex: “I tooked the sheeps.” Can be used as evidence against the behavioral view of language acquisition (that we just repeat what we hear and get reinforced for it |
| Phonemes | Smallest unit of sound in a language |
| Prototypes | A mental image or best example that incorporates all the features we associate with a category. |
| Representative Heuristic* | To judge the likelihood of things in terms of how well they represent particular prototypes. |
| Semantics | The set of rules we use to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and even sentences. |
| Social Interactivist Perspective of Language Acquisition | Babies are biologically equipped for learning language, which may be activated or constrained by experience. |
| Sunk Cost Fallacy | the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial. |
| Syntax | The rules we use to order words into sentences. (white house or house white) |
| Telegraphic Speech | Early form of speech that occurs at the Two-Word Stage where speech contains mostly nouns and verbs. |
| Two-Word Stage | Before their second birthday, babies start uttering two-word sentences. |
| Achievement Tests | Assess what a person has learned. Ex: AP Psych test |
| Aptitude Tests | Assess a person’s capacity to learn, predict future performance. Ex: SAT predicts college performance |
| Crystalized Intelligence | Grows with age (knowledge and skills acquired through experience) – like vocabulary |
| Emotional Intelligence (EQ) | The ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions. |
| Factor Analysis | A data reduction method conducted to identify clusters or groups of related items (called factors) on a test. |
| Fluid Intelligence | memory, speed of information processing, and reasoning abilities |
| Flynn Effect | The increase gradual increase in IQ scores over the last 80 years. (probably not due to genetic changes, but environmental changes like better nutrition, schooling, technology, etc.) |
| g-Factor or g | Charles Spearman- the idea that intelligence is a single underlying factor. Can be expressed as a single number (like IQ score) |
| Intelligence | The capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment. |
| Mental Age | the level of performance/abilities typically associated with kids of a certain age (what most kids at that age can or should be able to do. |
| Chronological Age | actual age in years. |
| Mental Giftedness | IQ cutoff is usually 130 |
| Mental Disability | IQ cutoff is usually 70. |
| Multiple Intelligences | Howard Gardner’s idea. Different cultures value different abilities --> criticizes g. logical, mathematical, verbal-linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic, intrapersonal (understanding others) and interpersonal (understanding the self). |
| Reliability | the extent to which a test produces consistent results when administered on repeat occasions. A test has high reliability if there is a high positive correlation between the two test scores. |
| Test-Retest Reliability | giving the test twice and comparing the scores to see if they get the same score |
| Split-Half Reliability | scoring the odd questions and then the even questions separately to compare the scores |
| Savants | A person who usually does not have a normal intelligence but who has very unusual mental abilities. They often have autism, but not the other way around (most autistic people are not savants) |
| Standardization | Two parts: 1. administering a test to a representative group of people to establish norms 2. ensuring that everyone taking the test has the same rules, procedures, protocols. |
| Standard Deviation | How much each score varies from the mean. Represented on a distribution curve (see curve example above) |
| Stereotype Threat | A situation in which people feel that they may reinforce a negative stereotype about one’s group |
| Stereotype Lift | the performance boost that occurs when members of non-stereotyped groups evaluate their abilities by comparing themselves to others who are stereotypically expected to perform worse than they do |
| Validity | the ability of a test to measure what it is designed to measure |
| Content Validity | used on achievement tests |
| Predictive Validity | used on aptitude tests |
| Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WISC and the WAIS) | David Wechsler. Test yields a single IQ score, but used the scores of other people taking the test and a normal curve to produce scores instead of original IQ formula. Most widely used IQ test used today. WISC – For children WAIS – For adults. |
| Achievement Motivation | a desire for significant accomplishment: mastery of things, people, or ideas, for attaining a high standard |
| Arousal Theory | suggests that people are driven to perform actions in order to maintain an optimum level of physiological arousal |
| Basal Metabolic Rate | the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure |
| Drive-Reduction Theory | the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates and organism to satisfy the need |
| Extrinsic Motivation | a desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards of threats of punishment |
| Glucose | the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When its level is low, we feel hungry. |
| Homeostasis | a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal sate; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level |
| Incentive | a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior |
| Industrial/Organizational Psychology | a sub field of psychology that studies and advises on workplace behavior. Industrial organizational psychologists help organizations select and train employees, boost morale and productivity, and design products and asses responses to them |
| Instinct | a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned |
| Intrinsic Motivation | a desire to perform a behavior for its own sake and to be effective (approach work or playing seeking interest or challenge) |
| Hypothalamus | the part of the brain that controls hunger and fullness. Works with pineal gland to secrete hormones like ghrelin (bring on hunger) and leptin (brings on fullness.) |
| Motivation | a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior |
| Overjustification Effect | extrinsic motivation will displace a person’s intrinsic motivation. Ex: musicians who once played for the joy of it, lose the joy after having been paid to play their instrument |
| Set Point | the point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight |
| Sensation Seeking Theory | People seek/are motivated by different things depending on their personality. 1) Thrill/adventure seeking (physical risk taking) 2) Disinhibition (a loss of self-control) 3) Boredom susceptibility (avoiding repeat experiences) |
| Social Motives | learned motives that energize behavior acquired as part of a particular society – like a need to be affiliated with a certain group at your high school |
| Yerkes Dodson Law | For easy tasks, moderately high arousal is optimal; for difficult tasks, moderately low is optimal |
| Amygdala | Located within the limbic system; influences fear and anger. |
| Autonomic Nervous System | Divided into sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (calming) |
| Cannon Bard Theory | The thalamus sends information to the limbic system and the cerebral cortex simultaneously so that conscious experience of emotion occurs at the same time as physiological responses. |
| Display Rules | cultural expectations that influence how and when emotional responses are displayed (not universal like facial expressions) |
| Paul Eckman | Studied universal facial expressions across all cultures: joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, contempt |
| Facial Feedback Hypothesis | proposes that facial expressions influence emotional experience. suggests that the sensory feedback from our facial muscles, when we make an expression, can affect how we feel. EX: :) might make you feel happier, while :( could intensify sadness or anger |
| Feel-Good, Do-Good Phenomenon | People’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood |
| James Lange Theory | Conscious experience of emotion results in one’s awareness of autonomic arousal (physical response causes emotion and each emotion, therefore, has a separate physical response. |
| Polygraph Testing | measures sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system response. it records arousal patterns associated with anxiety and fear. The idea is that lying produces arousal of the sympathetic nervous system. Not infallible so can't be used in court. |
| Schacter Singer Two Factor Theory | We determine emotion from our physiological arousal and then label that emotion according to our cognitive explanation for the arousal. |
| Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) | Three stage process that describes our body’s reaction to long-term stress: - Alarm - Resistance - Exhaustion |
| Big Five | a trait perspective theory of personality that says the main personality characteristics of a person can be summarized by the following five traits and that each trait is a continuum so you can score high or low or in the middle for each of these. |
| Big Five Characteristics | -Openness (to experiences) - Conscientiousness (organized, reliable, hard working) - Extroversion - Agreeableness - Neuroticism (emotional stability) |
| Defense Mechanisms | (Freud) ways for the ego to protect itself, to preserve its sense of self. Include: - Displacement - Repression - Regression - Projection - Rationalization - Reaction Formation |
| Displacement (Defense Mechanism) | aiming feelings at a more acceptable target |
| Repression (Defense Mechanism) | placing a memory into the unconscious to protect the ego |
| Regression (Defense Mechanism) | reverting back to an earlier behavioral stage |
| Projection (Defense Mechanism) | denying your own feelings and believing that someone else has those feelings instead. |
| Rationalization (Defense Mechanism) | excusing your behavior |
| Reaction Formation (Defense Mechanism) | the ego taking your true feelings and making you believe that you are feeling the opposite |
| Fixation (Freud) | getting stuck at one of Freud’s psychosexual stages |
| Free Association (Freud) | part of Freud’s therapy technique where people just talk freely to their therapist |
| Freud's Levels of Consciousness | Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious |
| Conscious (Freud) | what we are aware of |
| Preconscious (Freud) | what we are not actively aware of but could easily bring to our conscious if needed |
| Unconscious (Freud) | things we are not able to recall or bring to our conscious awareness (bubbles up through dreams, Freudian slips, etc. |
| Freud's Personality Structure | Id, Ego and Superego |
| Ego | Self; conscious-self; in charge; operates on reality principle |
| Id | operates on the pleasure principle; animalistic selfish needs and desires; we call it’s pleasure focus the libido |
| Superego | your conscience (your sense of right and wrong); socialized into us; starts developing through identification with same-gender parent |
| Identification (freud) | occurs in the phallic stage. The child identifies or starts to mimic the same-sex parent as a way to resolve the Oedipus and Electra complexes |
| Inferiority Complex | (Alfred Adler – a neoFreudian) Adler says that all kids feel inferior to adults and that is the major developmental hurdle to overcome (not the psychosexual conflicts) |
| Locus of Control | (Julian Rotter) our sense of our ability to control our own destiny. |
| Internal Locus of Control | believing that you can control your fate |
| External Locus of Control | believing that external forces like destiny control your fate |
| Abraham Maslow | A major humanist; hierarchy of needs; self-actualization |
| MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) | the most commonly used trait inventory |
| Personality | patterns of behaving, thinking, feeling that are individual to each person |
| Projective Tests | personality tests with ambiguous stimuli. The interpretation of which is supposed to reveal personality traits or parts of the unconscious (if used by a psychoanalyst). Ex: TAT - which gives ambiguous scenes AND the Rorschach inkblot test. |
| Psychoanalysis | Freud’s theory of personality and the associated treatment techniques |
| Reciprocal Determinism | Bandura- the idea that one’s cognition, environment and behavior all interact and shape each other. |
| Carl Rogers | major humanist; unconditional positive regard; self-concept |
| Self-Actualization | Maslow’s idea that the ultimate goal of healthy humans is to be all that they can be (be their best self); without trying to reach self-actualization, people will be unhappy; |
| Self-Concept | (Rogers) ones view of themselves. If the self-concept does not overlap with the ideal self, then there will be more incongruence which is not good for one’s mental health. |
| Self-Efficacy | individual's belief in their ability to successfully execute the behaviors necessary to achieve specific performance outcomes. |
| Trait Perspective | unlike Freud and earlier approaches to studying psychology, trait theorists did not try to explain people’s personalities. Instead they try to describe personality by rating people’s characteristics (traits). Big 5 is the most popular. |
| Unconditional Positive Regard | He believed that all people need unconditional positive regard in order to grow to their full potential (self-actualization). The three main elements of this would be genuineness, acceptance, and empathy. - Carl Rogers |
| Attribution Theory | We can attribute someone’s behavior to their disposition(personality) or to their situation. We are more likely to situationally attribute our own behavior and dispositionally attribute another person’s behavior. |
| Halo Effect | a cognitive bias where our overall impression of a person, product, or brand in one area positively influences our perception of them in other areas, even if those areas are unrelated. |
| Central Route to Persuasion | change people’s attitudes through logical arguments and explanations. Leads to long term behavior change. when people use facts, figures, and logical arguments to persuade someone |
| Peripheral Route to Persuasion | change people’s attitudes through incidental cues (like a speaker’s attractiveness). Can also use emotional appeals. Leads to temporary behavior changes. |
| Altruism | unselfish interest in helping other people - Prosocial Behavior |
| Bystander Effect* | the more people around the less likely we are to help someone in need (Kitty Genovese)- Diffusion of Responsibility |
| Cognitive Dissonance | two opposing thoughts conflict w/ each other, causing discomfort (dissonance), which makes us find ways to justify the situation |
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SkyeVG