AP psych EXAM

Nurture

Your environment shapes your behavior

Nature

your biology/genes are reason for behavior

Nurture V Nature

Both work together to create your personality and impacts on your behavior

• twin and family studies

nervous system

bodies communication system made up of nerve cells

central nervous system

brain and spinal chord

peripheral nervous system

everything outside of the CNS

• 2 types

autonomic nervous sytem

automatic

what happens without you thinking about it

• 2 kinds

parasympathetic NS

calming/horomones

sympathetic NS

arousal- fight/flight

Somatic

voluntary

Peripheral NS motor pathway

signals from brain to muscles/glands

neurons

receives and sends messages with electro chemical signals

dendrites

receive signals

• branchlike

soma

cells body (circle part) of a neuron

axon

carries messages to axon terminal

axon terminal

tip/end of the axon

myelin sheath

covers and protects axon

• fatty substance

synapse

small gap between neurons where they meet

terminal buttons

small bulbs on axon terminal that send neurotransmitters

• excitatory

• inhibitory

neurotransmission

process where info travels through a neuron

resting potential

when a neuron is not firing

depolarization

neuron charging

action potential

actively firing

threshold

minimum voltage needed to fire

refractory period

resting before firing again

frontal lobe

controls high cognition

• thinking/problem solving

• expressions

• high motor skills

left hemisphere

controls language, logic, analytical thinking

right hemisphere

controls depth perception, emotions, art/music

cerebral cortex

“gray matter”

• controls consciousness and higher thoughts

corpus callosum

thick band of nerves that connect the 2 hemispheres

• between

parietal lobe

registers pain and senses

• impairment- cant feel pain

occipital lobes

interprets visual info.

Brocas area

speech production

• left side

• impairment- aphasia

wernickes area

speech comprehension

• located in parietal lobe

motor cortex

ability to control body movement

somatosensory cortex

receive and process sensory info

• located in parietal lobe

brainstem

base of brain that connects to the spinal chord

• sends messages between brain and body

cerebellum

“little brain”

controls:

• muscle coordination

• balance

temporal lobe

plays key role in long term memory encoding

controls auditory processing:

• wernickes (production)

medulla

controls homeostasis and automatic life functions:

• breathing

• heart rate

• blood pressure

Thalamus

router for messages:

• body message goes here before going where it needs to go

hypothalamus

regulates 5 basic needs:

• hunger

• thirst

• body temp.

• sex arousal

• circadian rhythm

hippocampus

controls memory

amygdala

controls fear

• fight/flight

non-REM sleep (stage 1)

transition from wake to sleep

• light sleep

non-REM sleep (stage 2)

temp drops, heart rate slows, breathing slows

• bursts of activity

non-REM sleep (stage 3)

most difficult to be woken up

• restorative sleep

REM sleep (stage 4)

Rapid Eye Movement

• dreams occur

sleep loss/deprivation

• loss of focus

• irritability

• weakened immune system

• mood changes

absolute threshold

smallest amount of stimuli needed for senses to kick in

just noticeable threshold

amount something needs to change for you to notice

signal detection theory

predicting how/when we detect stimulus

• baby crying

olfactory bulb

responsible for smell

gustation

taste:

• sweet

• salty

• sour

• bitter

• umami

parallel processing

info processing happening at the same time

• can get mixed up

• vision

cognition

mental processes like perception, memory, and problem-solving

bottom up processing

when learning new things

• uses new senses and environment to learn

• 0 prior knowledge

top down processing

when adding on to things you already know

• prior knowledge

• expectations and perception

gestalt

theory humans perceive patterns and we organize them into groups

proximity (gestalt)

items close together are perceived as group

similarity (gestalt)

items with similar traits are perceived as a group

closure (gestalt)

human brain naturally fills in gaps/missing info to perceive

depth cues

allow us to perceive the world in 3D

retinal disparity

difference in images is caused by the eyes different placements in the skull

• both is how we see the world

monocular

creates visual perspectives

linear

parallel lines converge at vanishing point

interposition

when one object is in front of another, its perceived as larger

relative size

smaller objects- further away

larger objects- closer

perceptual consitancy

the idea that we know that objects are the same despite changing sensory input

• a car is still the same size despite being further away

prototype

what you think about when thinking of a category

• bird- you think of a bluejay

• idealized

assimilation

adding new info to existing schema

• integrating

accomodation

modifying existing schema

• modifying

heuristics

allows for decision making

• prior knowledge

the big 5- O

openness

• practical-imaginative

the big 5- C

consciousness

• organized- careless

the big 5- E

Extraversion

• sociable- retiring

the big 5- A

agreeableness

• trusting- uncooperative

the big 5- N

neuroticism

• calm- anxious

free association

say the first thing that comes to mind

• uncover unconcious mind

preconscious

not actively thinking about

• easy to retrieve

unconcious

not actively thinking about

• drives unconscious thoughts/behaviors

concious

actively thinking about

ID

childlike

• primitive

• wants

pleasure principle

ID

• seeking immediate gratification

Ego

rational

• mediator between Id and Superego

super ego

morals and aspirations

• self image

reality principle

ability to understand that you cant have desires immediately

regression

retreating into a more infantile-like state

displacement

redirecting emotions onto something else

reaction formation

pretending

• acting opposite of how you actually feel

projection

attributing own characteristics, thought, emotions onto other people

rationalization

create self justifying explanations for our actions

sublimation

diverting sexual impulses

denial

rejecting fact or seriousness of situation

unconditional positive regard

attitude of accepting people no matter what

drive reduction theory

drives ar directed at reducing needs

need —→ drive —→ action that reduces drive

james lange theory

emotions occur due to physiological reaction

stimulus—→ automatic response—→ feeling

cannon bard theory

response and feeling happen the same time

stimulus—→ response&feeling

two-factor theory

you have to interpret to feel (two step)

stimulus—→ response—→ interpret—→ feeling

classical conditioning

association of two things to learn a behavior