Myers psychology for the AP course forest edition chapter 2 words, 2.1 and 2.2

Selective attention

Focusing awareness on one particular stimulus.

Inattentional blindness

Failing to notice something because your attention is elsewhere.

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes in your environment.

Perceptual set

A mental tendency to perceive something in a certain way.

Gestalt

The idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts.

Figure ground

Separating an object from its background.

Grouping

Organizing stimuli into meaningful patterns.

Depth perception

The ability to see objects in 3D and judge distance.

Visual cliff

A setup used to study depth perception.

Binocular cue

A depth cue that requires both eyes.

Convergence

The inward turning of the eyes when viewing something nearby.

Retinal disparity

The difference between the images seen by each eye.

Monocular cue

A depth cue that works with one eye.

Stroboscopic movement

The illusion of movement from rapidly shown still images.

Phi phenomenon

The illusion of movement from lights flashing in sequence.

Autokinetic effect

The illusion that a stationary light is moving.

Perceptual constancy

Seeing an object as unchanged despite sensory changes.

Color constancy

Seeing familiar objects as the same color under different lighting.

Perceptual adaptation

Adjusting to changed sensory input over time.

Cognition

Mental activities involved in thinking, knowing, and remembering.

Metacognition

Thinking about your own thinking.

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, ideas, or events.

Prototype

The best or most typical example of a category.

Jean Piaget

Psychologist known for studying cognitive development.

Schema

A mental framework used to organize information.

Assimilation

Fitting new information into an existing schema.

Accommodation

Changing a schema to fit new information.

Creativity

The ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

Convergent thinking

Narrowing possibilities to find one solution.

Divergent thinking

Generating many possible solutions.

Robert Sternberg

Psychologist known for research on intelligence and creativity.

Executive functions

Mental processes used for planning, focusing, and controlling behavior.

Algorithm

A step by step procedure that guarantees a solution.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut used to make decisions.

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution.

Wolfgang Köhler

Gestalt psychologist known for research on insight.

Confirmation bias

Favoring information that supports existing beliefs.

Fixation

Being unable to see a problem from a new perspective.

Mental set

Using a problem solving method that worked previously.

Intuition

A quick judgment based on experience.

Amos Tversky

Psychologist known for research on judgment and decision making.

Daniel Kahneman

Psychologist known for research on judgment, decision making, and heuristics.

Representativeness heuristic

Judging something by how closely it matches a prototype.

Availability heuristic

Judging likelihood based on how easily examples come to mind.

Overconfidence

Being more confident in your judgment than the evidence supports.

Belief perseverance

Holding onto a belief despite contradictory evidence.

Framing

The way information is presented can affect interpretation.

Nudge

A small change in how choices are presented that influences behavior