AP Exam 400 Essential Vocabulary

absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.

accommodation (eye)

a process by which the eye adjusts and is able to focus, producing a sharp image at various, changing distances from the object seen.

accommodation (Piaget)

in developmental psychology, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.

achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

acquisition

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

acute schizophrenia

(also called reactive schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia that can begin at any age; frequently occurs in response to a traumatic event.

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic.

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics.

altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Alzheimer's disease

a neurocognitive disorder marked by neural plaques, often with onset after age 80, and entailing a progressive decline in memory and other cognitive abilities.

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories.

antianxiety drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation.

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. (Several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors—SSRIs.)

antipsychotic drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder.

antisocial personality disorder

a personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.

anxiety disorders

psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.

aphasia

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

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 25)

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

a psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition.

audition

the sense or act of hearing

autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.

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.

aversive conditioning

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol).

babbling stage

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

basal metabolic rate

the body's resting rate of energy output.

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 24)

basilar membrane

A membrane inside the cochlea which vibrates in response to sound and whose vibrations lead to activity in the auditory pathways.

behavior genetics

the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 14, 129)

behavior therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors.

behavioral approach

focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development.

behavioral psychology

the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 17)

behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

binge-eating disorder

significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory behavior that marks bulimia nervosa.

binocular cues

visual messages/cues that require two eyes

biological psychology

the scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) and psychological processes. (Some biological psychologists call themselves behavioral neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.) (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 17)

bipolar disorder

a disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder.)

blind spot

place on the retina out where the ganglion cells axons leaves the eye; no receptors rods/cones) are located here

bottom-up processing

Starts with basic sensory information

Broca's area

helps control language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person's binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) is followed by inappropriate weight-loss promoting behavior, such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.

bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Cannon-Bard theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion.

case study

a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 44)

central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment.

chronic schizophrenia

(also called process schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten.

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov's classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food).

person-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy.)

clinical psychology

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 25)

cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tude in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.

cochlear implant

a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve by electrodes threaded into the cochlea

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.

cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.

cognitive psychology

the study of mental processes, such as occur when we perceive, learn, remember, think, communicate, and solve problems. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 13)

cognitive therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions.

cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior).

collectivism

giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly.

constancy (color)

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

concrete operational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

conditioned reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer.

conditioned response (CR)

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).

conditioned stimulus (CS)

in classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).

conduction hearing loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

cones

visual receptor cells; located in retina; 8 million in each eye; works best in bright light; chiefly responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea

confirmation bias

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

conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

confounding variable

a factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study's results. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 56)

conservation

the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

control group

in an experiment, the group not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 54)

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

Cornea

The eye's clear, protective outer layer, covering the pupil and iris.

correlation

a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 50)

correlation coefficient

a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from −1.00 to +1.00). (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 51)

counseling psychology

a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 25)

counterconditioning

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning.

creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

critical thinking

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 4)

cross-sectional study

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 15, 789)

debriefing

the postexperimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 62)

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

delusion

a false belief, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders.

dependent variable

in an experiment, the outcome that is measured; the variable that may change when the independent variable is manipulated. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 56)

depth perception

ability to see objects in 3-D

descriptive statistics

numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups. Includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 66)

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 24, 486)

difference threshold

Just Noticeable Difference (JND); the smallest change in stimulation that you can detect 50% of the time; differs from one person to the other

discrimination (classical conditioning)

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced.)