AP Psych Complete Review

William Wundt

First psychologist. established 1st lab of psychology in Germany in 1879

William James

First U.S. psychologist

Mary Calkins

First female president of the American Psychological Association. Studied with William James.

Margaret Washburn

First women to earn Ph.D. in Psychology

functionalism

Theory that emphasized the functions of consciousness and how it helps people adapt to their environment. Influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution.

introspection

The examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes

structuralism

Used introspection (people reported their own conscious mental experiences, feelings). Combined subjective emotions with objective sensations.

psychoanalytic

Sigmund Freud. Behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts. Our unconscious is a hotbed of primitive drives, forbidden desires, and nameless fears.

behaviorism

John Watson (little albert), BF Skinner (Skinner box), and Ivan Pavlov (salivating dog).Only studies observable human behavior (how we learn, react, and manipulate out environment). We learn how to behave through conditioning or by trying to get rewards/avoid punishments. The view that psychology should (1) be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists agree with (1) but not (2).

cognitive

Studies mental processes; how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information; thinking, feeling, remembering, making decisions, and judgments. Actions are a result of the way we process info

humanistic

How we meet our needs of love, acceptance, and self-fulfillment. Emphasizes human ability, growth, and potential. Behavior is driven by mental thoughts and processes. More of a cultural and spiritual movement; not really "scientific."

evolutionary

Looks at behavior through ideas of natural selection and need to adapt/survive; language, altruism, and mate selection. Not used to necessarily show how people are different but how they evolve to meet needs.

biological

How our brains influence human behavior, thoughts, and emotions. How biological mechanisms affect your behavior and mental processes; genes, neurotransmitters, hormones, and nervous systems.

sociocultural

Study of how people influence one another (nurture). Identifies similarities and differences in people from shared or different cultures based on customs, religions, ethnicities, social class, gender, etc.

positive/negative correlation

Measure of how much two variables change together and how well once can predict the other. Negative correlation is an inverse relationship.

correlation coeffifient

a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1) The closer to +1, the stronger the correlation.

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

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 effected my extreme scores

median

the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it. Used with extreme scores

range

the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

normal distribution

Normal curve

skewed distribution

High to low at beginning or low to high at end

APA ethical guidelines

Debriefing, informed consent, and can't cause physical or psychological harm

depolarization

process when from resting potential to the action potential in the axon

agonist

mimics neurotransmitters

norepinephrine

arousal, stress (epinephrine/adrenaline) (excitatory). Helps to control alertness and arousal.

serotonin

mood, sleep, hunger (inhibitory)

dopamine

emotion, movement, learning, and attention (inhibitory and excitatory)

adrenal glands

a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that help arouse the body in times of stress

amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion

split brain studies

a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the carpus callosum) connecting them

functions of left hemisphere

Contains Broca's area (frontal lobe) (ability to speak - difficulty with spoken language). Contains Wernicke's area (temporal lobe) (language comprehension - damage interrupts understanding) (can speak but usually meaningless). Reasoning, logic

functions of right hemisphere

creativity, spatial intellegence

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

weber's law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (rather that a constant amount)

similarity

grouping similar figures together

Ernest Hilgard

Dissociative theory for hypnosis. Social role theory, dissociative conscious

physical dependence

a physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued

generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

biological predisposition to fear

Born with ability to fear something. More likely to be scared of something that is dangerous than something that is not.

negative reinforcer

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A \________ reinforce is any stimuli that, when \_______ after a response, strengthens the response

mirror neurons

frontal lobe neurons that fire when preforming certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's \_________ of another's actions may enable imitation and empathy

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

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

belief perseverance

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

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

hierarchy of motives (Maslow)

Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with psychological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active

zygote

the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

sensorimotor stage (piaget)

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know their sensory impressions and motor activities. object permanence and stranger anxiety.

preoperational stage (piaget)

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic. pretend play, egocentrism, and language development.

concrete operational stage (piaget)

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events. conservation, mathematical transformations.

formal operational stage (piaget)

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think about abstract concepts. Abstract knowledge

authoritarian

relationship is controlling, power-assertive; high in unidirectional communication.

preconventional (Kohlberg)

Before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or gain reward

conventional (Kohlberg)

by early adolescence, social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake

postconventional (Kohlberg)

Formal operational thought. Try to do the "right thing" or follow personal ethical principles. Differs culturally

infancy (Erikson)

trust vs. mistrust. to 1 year. If needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust.

toddlerhood (Erikson)

autonomy vs. shame and doubt. 1 to 2 years. Toddlers learn to exercise will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities.

preschool (Erikson)

initiative vs. guilt. 3 to 5 years. Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent.

elementary (Erikson)

competence vs. inferiority. 6 to puberty. Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior.

adolescence (Erikson)

identity vs. role. teen years to 20s). Teenagers work at refining a sense of soil by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are.

young adulthood (Erikson)

intimacy vs. isolation. (20s to early 40s). Young adults struggle to choose from close relationships and to gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated.

middle adulthood (Erikson)

generativity vs. stagnation. (40s to 60s). In middle age, people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.

late adulthood (Erikson)

integrity vs. despair. (Late 60s and up). When reflecting on his or her life, the olde adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure.

Whorf's linguistic determinism

environment determines language (what you learn and don't learn) (ex: Eskom's have 50 different words for snow but we only have one)

oral (Freud)

(0-18 months) pleasure centers from the mouth; sucking, biting, chewing

anal (Freud)

(18-36 months) pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

phallic (Freud)

(3-6 years) pleasure zone is in the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

latent (Freud)

(6-puberty) dormant sexual feelings

genital (Freud)

(Puberty on) maturation of sexual interests

id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. It operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideas and provides standard for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Carl Jung

Believed in the idea of people having a "persona" and a collective unconscious (inherited storage of memories from species history). Neo-Freudian, followed Freud but did not believe in everything he said

trait theory of personality

Traits drive your personality. Stable across situations and genetic based.

internal locus of control

the perception that you control your own fate

Charles Spearman

proposed general intelligence

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

eugenics movement

Purify species, best and brightest reproduce. Used Stanford Binet intelligence to determine who could reproduce and who could not

achievement test

tests designed to assess what a person has learned

Flynn effect

Even though IQ has been increasing, the mean for IQ is still 100

reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting

validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

Alfred Binet

DSM-5 (diagnostic label)

the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders

medical model

the concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital

biopsychosocial model

Interaction of all three that determine you

Specific phobia

an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situtation

GAD

an anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal

OCD

a disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and/or actions

PTSD

a disorder characterized by haunting memories, 0nightmears, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience

clinical depression

bi-polar

a mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression no the overexcited state of mania

schizophrenia

a psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished or inappropriate emotional expression

somatoform disorders

dissociative disorders

disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated form previous memories, thoughts, and feelings

cognitive therapy (Ellis, Beck)

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

behavioral therapy (Wolpe)