AP Psych Unit 2 Quiz #1

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Top-Down Processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Bottom-Up Processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory integration

Schemas

A mental framework for organizing and understanding our world (thinking). Schemas help guide our perception. Basis for top-down processing. Experiences help us form schemas to organize and interpret unfamiliar information to guide our perception

Perceptual Sets

A mental predisposition to percieve one thing and not another

Gestalt Psychology

emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Closure

The principle that our minds automatically fill in missing gaps or incomplete information to percieve whole, complete figures and patterns, rather than seeing disconnected pieces

figure-ground

tendency to visually organize scenes by separating a dominant focal object (the figure) from its less important surroundings (the ground)

proximity

our minds automatically group objects that are physically close to each other

similarity

tendency to group visually alike objects perceving them as one whole rather than individual parts

selective attention

focused awareness of certain stimuli in the environment. We pay attention to what we deem important, and filter irrelevant or extraneous information

cocktail party effect

the ability to attend to one of several speech streams while ignoring others, as when one is at a cocktail party

change blindness

occurs when differences (changes) in the visual field are not percieved due to inattention or a brief interruption

inattentional blindness

can lead to a type of blindness to aspects of the environment. occurs when attention is focused on one part of the visual field, and as a result you may ignore or miss other parts

binocular depth cues

a depth cue, such as retinal disparity and convergence that depends on the use of two eyes

convergence

determining depth based on how much both eyes rotate inward

retinal disparity

determining depth based on the difference between what each eye sees

monocular depth cues

use one eye to give the illusion of depth on a flat or two-dimensional surface

perceptual constancy

visual pereceptual constants maintain the perception of an object even when the images of the object in the visual field change

apparent motion/movement

can be visually percieved even when objects are not actually moving

concepts

form the basis of thought. mental groupings based on share features and come from experinces

prototypes

the idea, typical, or best representative example of a natural concept. what quickly comes to mind, a generic image that represents the typical example from your experience

assimilation

taking in new information but not changing the schema in light of it. placing information into an existing schema

accommodation

taking in new information and hcanging the schema to incorporate new information

algorithms

a methodical, logical rule or step by step procedure. provides accurate solutions when applied correctly, can be time consuming

heuristics

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently, but does not guarantee a solution

represenative heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; mat lead us to ignore other relevant information

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind perhaps because of their vidiness, we presume such events are common

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular war, often a way that has been successful in the past

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception memory or responses

framing

the way an issue is posed how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgements

gambler’s fallacy

a false belief that you can predict a chance event based on past events

sunk-cost fallacy

a bad decision based on money, time, or effort that has already been set

exectuive funcitons

cognitive processes that allow individuals to generate, organize, plan and carry out goal-directied behaviors and critical thinking

creativtivity

a way of thinking that includes generating new ideas

divergent thinking

creating as many different ideas

convergent

using knowledge and logic to narrow down options to find the known solution or a single correct answer

functional fixedness

failing to solve a problem because you are stuck on the object’s common use.