AP PSYCH REVIEW (midterm)

Cannon-Bard Theory

The proposition that emotion and physiological reactions occur simultaneously

* the hypothalamus is activated by a stimulus
* the sensory organs and cerebral cortex are activated
* sensation combined with cognition produces emotion

GAS

Hans Selye’s concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phase (___)

* alarm & mobilization: when people become aware of the stressor
* resistance: people prepare to fight the stressor by coping (coping mechanisms)
* exhaustion: collapse of vital systems

Drive Reduction theory

a PHYSIOLOGICAL NEED creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need, maintaining homeostasis

James-Lange Theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

* A physiological change occurs in response to a stimulus
* the brain interprets the change
* an emotion is felt

Arousal Theory

Optimum theory states that we are driven to certain behaviors because they feel good despite not serving a physiological need (a WANT of stimulation)

* Ex: watching tv
* we seek additional stimulation once our biological needs are met
* but too little stimulation causes boredom, and too much can cause stress, impeding performance

Schachter-Singer Theory

A theory of emotion that states that both physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal must occur before an emotion is consciously experienced.

* Physiological arousal is experienced
* environmental cues are interpreted cognitively
* an emotion is felt depending on the person's interpretation

Incentive Theory

focuses on external stimuli known as incentives that attract or repel us (a WANT)

* Ex: delicious looking food can make us decide to eat, even when we are not hungry
* unlike drive-reduction, incentives pull us to perform a behavior
* does not address altruism or compassion

displacement

a shift of feeling sand attitudes from one object to another, a more acceptable, safer substitute

* Ex: taking out anger of a boss on kids instead

Denial

refusal to acknowledge the existence of a potential external source of anxiety

Projection

characteristics or impulses that arouse anxiety are externalized by attributing them to others

Sublimation

channeling of impulses away from socially forbidden outlets and towards socially acceptable outlets

Reaction Formation

expressing an unacceptable impulse by transforming it into its opposite

Repression

keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious

Regression

going back to an earlier way of behaving that was characteristic of a previous developmental level without stress

Rationalization

dealing with problems as interesting events which can be explained rationally and which have no anxiety or emotional content attached to them

False Consensus Effect

believing other people’s beliefs agrees with yours

Thematic Apperception test

a projective test in which subjects look at and tell a story about ambiguous pictures

Hierarchy of needs

Maslow's pyramid of human needs,

* beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active
* at the very top is self-actualization

Self-serving bias

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors

* defensive esteem is fragile and egotistic whereas secure self-esteem is stronger and less dependent

Unconditional positive regards

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person, regardless of mistakes or shortcomings

* thought for positive self-worth to develop children have to receive it

Information processing theory

that dreams are a training ground to rehearse behaviors that will help us to survive when facing danger

Evolutionary

that sleep keeps us safe while out vision is limited and predators were active

Physiological maintenance

theory that dreams provide the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation to develop and preserve neural pathways

Psychoanalytic

theory that dreams provide a psychic safety valve to discharge unacceptable feelings (could have symbolic meaning that show our unacceptable feelings).

Activation-Synthesis

theory that dreams are random events caused by firing of neurons in the brain and have no actual meaning

Enekephalins

natural morphinelike neurotransmitters found in the brain and adrenals

Norepinephrine

A neurotransmitter involved in arousal, as well as in learning and mood regulation (can increase heart rate)

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep and arousal. Undersupply linked to depression

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system. (increased by drugs, making them highly addictive)

GABA

a major inhibitory neurotransmitter (preventing actions)

Glutamate

the most common neurotransmitter in the brain. Is Excitatory

Acetylcholine

responsible for transmitting nerve impulses, enabling actions and movements

Endorphins

neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

Motion Parallax

a depth cue in which the relative movement of elements in a scene gives depth information when the observer moves relative to the scene

* faster = closer
* slower = farther

Closure

tending to complete a form when it has gaps

Proximity

objects that are close to each other are perceived as belonging together

Linear perspective

parallel lines appear to converge more wen they are farther

Relative height

we perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away

Relative size

if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away

Interposition

if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

Continuity

following whatever direction we are lead

\-Ex: smooth edges are more continuous than rigid edges

Weber’s law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) (about 2%)

Retinal disparity

a binocular cue that is the difference between the images the eyes perceives because of their different positions

Bottom-up processing

sensory -> mind

Top-down processing

the interpretation of incoming information based on prior knowledge, experiences, and expectations (perception)

\-Ex: where's waldo

Semicircular canals

three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear responsible for our sense of balance

Trichromatic Theory

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—red, green, and blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color.

\-when colors are equally active, we see white or grey

Opponent-Process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision.

\-Ex: some cells are stimulated by green and blocked by red; others are stimulated by red and blocked by green

\-opponent pairs can't travel together but can travel with other colors like greenish-blue

\-focuses on color perception in the brain rather than the eyes

Frequency Theory

suggests that as pitch rises, the entire basilar membrane vibrates at that frequency

Place Theory: Herman vin Helmholtz stated that higher and lower tones excite specific areas of the cochlea's basilar membrane

Vestibular sense

the sense of body movement snd position, including the sense of balance

* Works with Kinesthesia

Kinesthesia: the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Gate-control theory

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

* fails to explain phantom and chronic pain

McGurk Effect

an error in perception that occurs when we misperceive sounds because the audio and visual parts of the speech are mismatched

Organ of Corti

Center part of the cochlea, containing hair cells, canals, and membranes

Cocktail party effect

ability to tune into a single voice despite many conversations in a noisy room

Transduction

In sensations, it is the transformation of stimulus energy into neural impulses

Papillae

taste buds

Pinna

outer ear

Synesthesia

when you describe one sense as another

* Ex: tasting color

Variable Ratio

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable NUMBER OF RESPONSES

* Ex: Slot machine

Fixed Ratio

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a certain NUMBER OF RESPONSES

* Ex: giving a kid candy every 5 pages they read

Variable interval

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable TIME intervals

* random drug testing

Fixed interval

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified TIME has elapsed

* Ex: getting a paycheck every week

Garcia Effect

it is basically food aversion that occurs when people attribute illness to a particular food after getting sick from it

PreMack Principle

The concept, developed by David Premack, that a more-preferred activity can be used to reinforce a less-preferred activity

Social Cognitive Theory

referring to the use of cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world


1. Attention: activity must be noticed
2. Retention: activity must be recalled
3. Reproduction: activity must be mimicked
4. Motivation: a consequence will impact the reoccurrence of activity

Vicarious reinforcement

the viewer can learn from seeing the consequences of a behavior

Law of Effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Omission training

removal of a rewarding consequence that follows a voluntary behavior thereby decreasing the probability the behavior will be repeated

* form of punishment

Availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

* if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
* leads us to fear things that have been overly hyped while ignoring true threats
* Ex: Cancer is more talked about than heart disease, but heart disease caused more deaths

Hill climbing

A heuristic, problem-solving strategy in which each step moves you progressively closer to the final goal

* taking small steps

Mean end analysis

heuristic in which the difference between the starting situation and the goal is determined and then steps are taken to reduce that difference

Working backwards

a useful heuristic in which you begin solving the problem by focusing on the end result

Misinformation effect

Incorporating incorrect information into our memory of an event to fill blanks or accept another's suggestion

* Elizabeth Loftus

Working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

Iconic memory

a brief retention of an image of a few tenths of a second

Divergent thinking

brainstorming to expand the number of solutions

Convergent thinking

narrows the solutions to a problem until we find the single best one

* used in intelligence tests
* centered in the left parietal lobe

Confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

* prevents people from seeing beyond their own beliefs

Automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Representative Heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

* may lead to bias and neglect of representative data

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

* (another def) Activation of memory because of exposure to an earlier event or experience
* Ex: after seeing or hearing the word "rabbit", we're most likely going to spell the spoken word as "hare" not "hair"

False Memories

Sometimes memories are reconstructed (changed) by talking with people about the events, where we were when we found out, aspects of the event itself, our emotional state during and after the event, the emotional states of others, and the impact of the event on our lives

* Loftus did extensive research

Anterograde amnesia

an individual's inability to form new memories following a traumatic event or injury

* usually an injury in the hippocampus

Retrograde amnesia

an individual's inability to retrieve or recall information before a traumatic event or injury

Trace-Decay Theory

addresses the role of memory traces, or the physical changes in nerve cells and brain activity that occur when memories are stored

* the more we rehearse the information, the stronger the memory trace becomes
* if we use it, it will decay over time

Explicit memory

(declarative) memories that are when you're consciously aware

* processed in the hippocampus
* facts (general knowledge) and personal experiences

Implicit memory

(non-declarative) memories that are when you're not consciously aware

* processed in the cerebellum (autonomic responses)
* skills (motor and cognitive)
* classical and operant conditioning
* space and location
* time and event sequences
* frequency of occurrences

Basal ganglia

a set of neurons that directs intentional movements

* inside the cortex of the frontal lobe
* helps with memory retrieval procedural memory formation and functions

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

gradual strengthening of the connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation

* a lasting strengthening of the synapses, facilitating neurotransmission
* happens in the hippocampus, where short-term turns into long-term memories

Retroactive Interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of older information

* New information disrupts the old
* Ex: forgetting who played in last year's world series when a new one is played

Proactive Interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

* old information disrupts the new
* Ex: struggling to write the correct date after the new year

Aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)

Chunking

The process of grouping items to make them easier to remember

Link Method

(Elaborative encoding) a mnemonic strategy used to remember lists whereby each item is associated in imagination with a number-word pair

* Ex: one is bun, two is shoe, three is tree, four is door, five is hive, six is sticks, seven is heaven, eight is gate, nine is swine, and ten is hen

Spacing effect

* the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

* Hierarchies

* Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories

Savant syndrome

is a condition characterized by low test scores on traditional intelligence tests despite having one or more exceptional abilities

Triarchic theory

theory proposed by Robert Sternberg states that intelligence consists of three parts including

* Analytic = the ability to solve problems
* Creative = the ability to propose multiple possible solutions
* Practical = the ability to adjust and cope with one's environment

* Test-retest

* a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions


* test scores should be consistent over time