AP Psych List 2

Cocktail party effect

The brain’s ability to focus auditory attention on a single conversation while filtering out competing background noise

Gambler’s fallacy

The mistaken belief that the probability of a random, independent event is influenced by a previous streak of outcomes

Sunk cost fallacy

A cognitive bias where you continue investing time, money, or effect into a failing endeavor simply because of the resources you have already “sunk” into it

Divergent thinking

A cognitive process that generates many possible solutions of ideas from a single starting point, making it the engine of creativity

Convergent thinking

A problem-solving approach that narrows down multiple options to find a single, definitive correct answer

Semantic memory

A category of explicit long-term memory that stores general factual knowledge, concepts, and vocabulary

Procedural memory

A non-declarative memory, its biological foundations in the brain, and its real-world applications

Spacing effect

The finding that information is retained much better when study sessions are distributed across time, rather than massed into one long session

Serial position effect

Your tendency to remember the first and last items on a list better than the middle items

Retrograde amnesia

The inability to retrieve past memories or information acquired before the onset of trauma or brain injury

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to form new long-term explicit memories

Metacognition

Thinking about your own thinking, including monitoring and controlling your thoughts

Proactive interference

Old information interferes with remembering new information

Retroactive interference

When newly learned information blocks or disrupts the retrieval of older memorie

Reliability

The consistency or repeatability of a test or experiment’s results

Validity

The extent to which a test, experiment, or measurement accurately measures what it is designed to measure

Cross-sectional research

A research method that compares different groups of participants at the same point in time to examine age-related or group differences in behavior and mental processes

Longitudinal research

Evaluates the exact same individuals repeatedly over an extended period to measure developmental trends, stability, and change

Animism

A child’s sincere belief that inanimate objects are alive and have feelings, intentions, or human traits

Egocentrism

The inability to see the world from anyone else’s perspective

Crystalized intelligence

Your accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and verbal skills that increase or stay stable as you age

Fluid intelligence

The ability to think logically, reason abstractly, and solve brand-new problems without relying on prior knowledge

Latent learning

Learning that happens without any reward or punishment

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overestimate internal, personal traits and underestimate external environmental circumstances when explaining the behavior of other people

Internal locus of control

Julian Rotter’s social-cognitive concept where you believe your own actions, choices, and effort determine your life outcomes, rather than luck, fate, or outside forces

External locus of control

Personality concept describing the belief that life outcomes, successes, and failures are determined by outside forces, like luck, fate, or other people rather than personal actions

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group or person based on their identity

Discrimination

Unfair or negative behavior toward a group or person based on their identity

Belief perseverance

The cognitive bias where people cling to their initial beliefs even after the evidence used to form those beliefs has been completely discredited or proven wrong

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to use your own culture as a yardstick to judge and measure other cultures

Halo effect

An initial positive impression or trait about a person unconsciously influences your judgement of their completely unrelated traits

Foot-in-the-door

Where a person first gets someone to agree to a small, minor request, which makes them significantly more likely to agree to a larger, related request later.

Door-in-the-face

You make a very large request first, expecting the person to say no. Then you immediately ask for a smaller, more reasonable request

Group polarization

The tendency for a group’s initial leanings to become stronger and more extreme after people talk together

Social loafing

The tendency for people in a group to put forth less effort when pooling their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable

Social facilitation

The tendency for people to perform better on simple or well-learned tasks and worse on complex or unpracticed tasks when others are present

Industrial-organizational psychologist

An applied subfield of psychology that uses psychological research and principles to optimize human behavior in the workplace

Altruism

The unselfish concern for the welfare of others

Bystander effect

Individuals are less likely to help a person in need of other people are present

Humanistic psychology

A perspective that emphasizes free will, personal growth, and the drive to reach human potential

Yerkes Dodson Law

Performance increases with mental or psychological arousal (like stress or alertness) up to an optimal sweet spot, but drops sharply if arousal gets too high

Display rules

Unwritten cultural norms that dictate how, when, and where people should show emotions

Eustress

Optimal, “good” stress that provides energy, fosters personal growth, and increases motivation

Positive psychology

The scientific study of human flourishing

Diathesis-stress model

Psychological disorders develop from an interaction between a pre-existing biological or genetic vulnerability and environmental triggers or life events

Schizophrenic spectrum disorder

A group of severs psychotic conditions marked by psychosis

Major depressive disorder

A mood disorder where a person experiences a sad, empty, or irritable mood and/or a loss of interest in activities lasting for a least 2 weeks, accompanied by 5 or more total symptoms

Bipolar disorder

A psychological disorder marked by extreme mood swings between emotional lows and highs

Generalized anxiety disorder

A psychological disorder characterized by persistent, excessive, and uncontrollable worry about various everyday things for at least 6 weeks

Agoraphobia

An anxiety disorder marked by intense fear and avoidance of situations where escape might be hard or help might not be ready if panic-like symptoms happen

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Unwanted, intrusive thoughts that create intense anxiety, and repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to reduce that distress

Post-traumatic stress disorder

A trauma and stressor-related disorder characterized by lingering memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and insomnia that persist for more than one month after experiencing or witnessing a severely threatening or traumatic event

Dissociative disorders

Conditions where a person experiences a sudden, severe disruption or break in consciousness, memory, identity, or perception

Borderline personality disorder

Characterized by a pervasive pattern of instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and interpersonal relationships

Anti-social personality disorder

Characterized by a log-standing pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others