AP Psychology SEM 1 final review terms

Achievement Test

test that evaluates what you have already learned

Aptitude Test

test that evaluates your potential to learn in the future

Experiment

research method that involves manipulating variables to determine cause & effect

Correlational Research

research method that involves measuring how much change in one variable predicts change in another

Extrinsic Motivation

desire to perform a behavior to receive rewards or avoid punishment

Intrinsic Motivation

desire to perform a behavior for its own sake

Motor Neurons

efferent neurons - carry outgoing messages from brain to body

Interneurons

neurons within brain & spinal cord that communicate in CNS

Sensory Neurons

afferent neurons - carry incoming info from body to brain

Edward Titchener

structuralist; used introspection

Wilhelm Wundt

father of modern psychology; first psych lab

Neural Networks

systems of neurons that work together with short, fast connections

Emotional Intelligence

ability to perceive, understand, manage & use emotions

Source Amnesia

creating false memories by attributing event to the wrong source

Operant Conditioning

learning where behavior is strengthened if reinforced, and diminished if punished

Classical Conditioning

learning to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Observational Learning

learning by watching others; social learning

Cerebellum

"little brain" at back of brainstem; coordinates movement & balance, nonverbal communication & implicit memory

Phonemes

smallest distinctive sound in a language

Biopsychosocial

integrated approach that looks at multiple levels of analysis to understand behavior

Flashbulb memory

clear memory of emotionally charged event held in long term memory

Retina

light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing rods & cones

Blind Spot

point where optic nerve leaves eye; no receptor cells

Reticular Formation

nerve network in brainstem and thalamus; plays a role in controlling arousal & alertness

Cognition

all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering & communicating

Sympathetic Nervous System

division of autonomic NS that arouses body, "fight or flight"

Occipital lobe

located at back of head, processes visual info

Frontal lobe

located at front of head, involved in speaking, muscle movements, planning & judgements

Temporal lobe

located on sides of head, processes auditory info

Parietal lobe

located at top of head, processes sensory info for touch & body position

Shaping

guiding behavior via reinforcers to get closer and closer to desired behavior

Telegraphic speech

early speech stage (two-word) using mostly nouns and verbs (ie, "go car")

Priming

activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, enabling retrieval

Repression

type of forgetting where anxiety-producing memories are blocked from conscious awareness

Biological predisposition

in learning, explains why some things are easier to learn than others for a species

Semantic encoding

processing of sensory input that has particular meaning or can be applied to a context

Sensation

process of receiving stimulus from our environment (bottom up)

Perception

process of organizing & interpreting sensory info to make meaning of it (top down)

Acquisition

initial stage of learning when response is established and gradually strengthened

Short-term Memory

consciously activated, limited-capacity memory

Morpheme

smallest unit of meaning in a word

Measures of variation

range, standard deviation

Measures of central tendency

mean, median, mode

Convergence

to meet in a point or line; conveys depth in 2D

Parasympathetic Nervous System

division of autonomic NS that calms body, conserving energy "rest and digest"

Random Sample

each member of population has equal chance of being selected to participate so to fairly represent population

Random Assignment

Putting participants in experimental or control groups by chance to reduce effects of group differences

Young-Helmholtz theory

retina contains 3 color receptors (red, green, blue) that produce perception of any color (trichromatic theory)

Opponent-Process theory

red-green, yellow-blue, white-black pairs in retina enable color vision. explains colorblindness & after-images.

Belief perseverance

clinging to your initial idea even after seeing info that discredits it

Representativeness heuristic

judging likelihood of things in terms of how well they match our prototype

Availability heuristic

estimating likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind

Cognitive maps

mental representations of our world

Broca's area

part of cerebral cortex responsible for speech production

Wernicke's area

part of cerebral cortex responsible for understanding language

Functional fixedness

obstacle to problem solving due to inability to realize alternate uses for an item

Feature detectors

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific parts of the stimulus (like shape, angle, movement)

Psychology

scientific study of observable behavior & mental processes

Echoic memory

momentary sensory memory of auditory stimulus

Iconic memory

momentary sensory memory of visual stimulus

Misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into your memory of an event

Proactive interference

when old information prevents you from remembering new information

Retroactive interference

when new information prevents you from remembering old information

Perceptual set

mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Binocular cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity & convergence, that depend on use of two eyes

Flynn effect

widespread improvement on intelligence test performance during past century

Predictive validity

success with which a test predicts behavior it is designed to predict

Content validity

extent to which a test evaluates the behavior that it is intending to measure

Achievement motivation

desire to pursue high standards & significant accomplishments

Agonist

a molecule that binds to a receptor site and is similar enough to mimic a neurotransmitter

Antagonist

a molecule that binds to a receptor site and inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter's functioning

Savant syndrome

a condition in which a person with otherwise limited mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

Hypothalamus

limbic system structure that regulates hunger, thirst, sex, and controls endocrine system (4F's), and is linked to emotion & reward

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

pair of cell clusters in hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm by causing the pineal gland to adjust melatonin production

Awake

Beta waves. small amplitude & high frequency.

Drowsy/relaxed

Alpha waves. larger amplitude and high frequency.

NREM-1

Theta waves. larger amplitude and lower frequency. Stage at which hypnogogic sensations occur.

NREM-2

Theta waves. larger amplitude and lower frequency. Stage at which sleep spindles occur

NREM-3

Delta waves. Large amplitude and low frequency. Stage at which night terrors occur. Most restorative sleep.

REM

Beta waves. Paradoxical sleep - brain is active like when we are awake, but body is motionless. Stage at which dreams & nightmares occur.

Depressants

drugs that reduce neural activity & slow body functions

Stimulants

drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

Hallucinogens

drugs that distort perceptions & evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

Narcolepsy

Sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks, sometimes lapsing directly into REM sleep.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep & repeated momentary awakenings

Night Terrors

Sleep disorder characterized by high arousal & an appearance of being terrified, but are seldom remembered.

Linguistic determinism

Whorf's theory that our language influences the way we think.

Reuptake

A neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron after an action potential is fired.

context effects

a given stimulus may trigger different perceptions because of the immediate surroundings

Nature vs. Nurture

name for a controversy in which it is debated whether genetics or environment is responsible for driving behavior

correlation coefficient

a statistical measure from -1 to 1 of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other

Strong correlation coefficient

close to 1 or -1

weak correlation coefficient

close to 0

misconception of correlational research

does NOT tell you causation!

Mode

the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution

mean

the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores. most susceptible to skew.

Median

the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it. least susceptible to skew

Amygdala

A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.

brainstem, limbic system, cerebral cortex

The sequence of brain regions from the evolutionarily oldest to newest

peripheral nervous system

A division of the nervous system consisting of all nerves that are not part of the brain or spinal cord. has sensory & motor neurons.