AP PSYCHOLOGY VOCABULARY QUIZ: Unit 2 Part 1

Vocabulary

Selective Attention

Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change Blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Gestalt

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Figure-Ground

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

Grouping

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Depth Perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Binocular Cue

A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes.

Convergence

A cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes the distance—the greater the disparity between the two images the close the objects

Monocular Cue

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Stroboscopic Movement

An illusion of continuous movement (as in a motion picture) experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images.

Phi Phenomenon

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

Autokinetic Effect

The illusory movement of a still spot of light in a dark room

Perceptual Constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.

Color Constancy

Perceiving familiar objects with as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Perceptual Adaptation

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Metacognition

Cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes

Concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into new categories.

Jean Piaget

Jean William Fritz Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called genetic epistemology. Piaget placed great importance on the education of children.

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Accomodation

Lens focusing and in developmental psych, adapting our current schemas to incorporate new information

Creativity

The ability to produce new and valuable ideas

Convergent Thinking

narrowing the available problem solution to determines the single best solution

Divergent Thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

Executive Functions

cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior.