AP Psych Total Review

an entire review of the AP Psych 2025 curriculum

Likert Scales

rating system for participants, typically ranging from 1 being strongly disagree, to 5 strongly agree. This helps us quantify qualitative data.

Mode

The most frequently occurring data points. There can be no mode or multiple modes.

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest data points, (sensitive to outliers).

Standard Deviation

The avg distance of each data point from the mean. It tells us how much the points differ from the avg. Larger SD means the points are more spread out.

The Normal Curve (Bell Curve)

A graph where the mean, median, and mode, are all located at the center of the curve. Follows the Empirical Rule

Empirical Rule

States that for a normal distribution, 68% of data falls within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% within two, and 99.7% within three.

Bimodal Distribution

A distribution with 2 peaks. Reasons: 2 groups are combined in the data, or there are 2 processes influencing the data.

p-value

The p-value helps determine the significance of results. It represents the probability of observing the data, or something more extreme, assuming the null hypothesis is true. However, if the p value is less than 5% (p< 0.05), the results are considered statistically significant.

Effect Size

Measures the strength of the relationship between variables. Tells us how meaningful the effect is.

Standard Deviation Calculations

Subtract the mean of the set from each data point then square. Add all of these together. Then divide by either the number of data points (population) or the sample size minus 1 (sample). Then, sq root the answer.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

Made up of brain and spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

all the other nerves in you body that are not your brain or spinal cord.

Somatic Nervous System

A function of the PNS that controls all voluntary movement.

Autonomic Nervous System

A function of the PNS that controls all involuntary movement.

Eugenics

A controversial social philosophy advocating the improvement of human populations through selective breeding and sterilization.

Sympathetic Nervous System

Part of the Autonomic NS, responsible for fight or flight functions.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Part of the Autonomic NS, responsible for pumping the breaks after fight or flight response. Rest and Digest.

Interneurons

Nerve cells that connect sensory and motor pathways within the central nervous system, facilitating communication between them.

Reflex Arc

A neural pathway that mediates a reflex action, consisting of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons. ie: pulling your hand from a hot stove.

Cell Body / Soma

The part of a neuron that contains the nucleus and organelles, responsible for maintaining the cell's life and function. Has genetic info. Controls the activities of the neuron.

Dendrite

The branched projections of a neuron that receive signals from other neurons and transmit them to the cell body.

Axon

The long, slender projection of a neuron that sends electrical impulses away from the cell body toward other neurons. Where the train leaves the station.

Nodes of Ranvier

Small gaps in the myelin sheath of an axon that facilitate the rapid conduction of nerve impulses by allowing the axon to depolarize.

Myelin Sheath

A fatty layer that insulates axons, increasing the speed of electrical impulse transmission between neurons.

Glial Cell

Supportive cells in the nervous system that assist neurons by providing structural support, nutrition, and protection, aiding in signal transmission.

Threshold

The minimum level of stimulus required to trigger an action potential in a neuron.

Action Potential

A rapid electrical impulse that travels down the axon of a neuron, caused by the movement of ions across the cell membrane.

Resting Potential

The state of a neuron when it is not actively sending a signal, characterized by a higher concentration of potassium ions inside the cell and sodium ions outside.

Resting Period

The neurons state of recovery following an action potential where it prepares to fire again.

Refractory Period

The brief time after an action potential during which a neuron cannot fire another impulse, as it re-establishes ion distribution.

All-or-nothing principle

The concept that a neuron either fires completely or not at all, it cannot, “half-fire,” It needs to hit the threshold

Synapse or Synaptic Cleft

The passing of an electrical signal from neuron to neuron.

Reuptake

The process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the firing neuron after communicating with receptors on the receiving neuron.

Negative Correlation

As class absences increase, test scores decrease

Positive Correlation

As the number of books read increase, the persons vocabulary also increases.

Correlation Coefficent

A statistical measure that describes the direction and strength of a relationship between two variables, ranging from -1 to +1. -1 Indicates a very negative correlation while +1 indicates a very strong correlation. 0 indicates no correlation at all.

Illusory Correlation

The perception of a relationship between two variables when it doesn’t exist.

Regression Towards the Mean

A statistical phenomenon in which extreme values on a variable tend to be closer to the average on subsequent measurements.

Single-blind procedure

An experimental design where participants do not know what group they have been assigned to,.

Double-blind procedure

An experimental design where neither the participants nor the experimenters know which group participants are in.

Case Study

an in-depth investigation of an individual or group. Ex. studying a person with a rare brain condition.

Correlation Study

Examining the relationship between 2 or more variables, does not manipulate them.

Meta-analysis

Combining the results of multiple studies on the same topic. Not doing your own personal research.

Natural Observation

Observing the behavior in its natural setting. Ex. Jane Goodall with the gorillas.

Population

The entire group the researcher is studying. Ex. All college students in the US.

Sample

A smaller group of the population the researcher is studying, should be representative of the population.

Convenience Sample

A sample taken due to its ease of study, easy but risky. Ex. A professor only testing on her students.

Social Desirability Bias

Occurs when respondents sway data in order to conform to societal norms.

Self-report bias

When a participant provides inaccurate information about themselves.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A committee that hears research proposals and determines if they are ethical or not.

Informed Consent

When a participant agrees to participate in a study after hearing the risks.

Informed Assent

When a legal guardian provides consent for participation from a minor or incapacitated person.

Debriefing

A process that occurs after a study, where researchers inform participants about the study's purpose, procedures, and any deception involved.

Research Confederates

Members of the research team that act as participants. Used sometimes in deception studies.

Cognition

mental action if process of acquiring knowledge through thought, experience, and the senses.

Sensation

The process of detecting physical energy from the environment and encoding it as neural signals, essential for perception.

Perception

The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory info.

Top-down processing

Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with sensory info and works up to the brain’s integration. Ex. trying to learn a new word with no previous reference points to the word.

Schema

A collection of basic knowledge about a concept or entity that serves as a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, or problem solving. Ex. abandonment, dependence, failure, entitlement.

Perceptual set

Mental predisposition to perceive stimuli in a particular way. Ex. every time I am home alone, there is a serial killer in my house.

Selective Attention

the act of focusing on a specific object and ignoring distractions.

Divided Attention

paying attention to multiple things at once.

Cocktail party effect

the ability to focus ones listening attention on a single speaker among a mixture of conversation or background noise.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure to notice the existence of an unexpected item. Ex. the gorilla and the basketball.

Change Blindness

Failure to notice obvious change.

Gestalt

perception emphasizes processing entire patterns, not each thing individually.

Closure

The tendency to perceive an incomplete figure as whole.

Proximity

The tendency to organize objects close to each other into groups and a single identity.

Similarity

Organizing objects with similar characteristics into a group.

Figure ground

The idea that perceptions have 2 parts, a figure and a homogenous background.

Retinal Disparity

The slight difference between right and left retinal images. (Binocular Depth

Convergence

Rotation of the 2 eyes inward toward a light so the image points on the fovea. (Binocular Depth Cue).

Interpostiton

When a closer object eclipses a further one. (Monocular Depth Cue)

Relative Clarity

Clarity of objects under varying atmospheric conditions. Nearer=clearer. (Monocular Depth Cue)

Relative Size

If separate objects are the same size, the nearer one appears larger. (Monocular Depth Cue)

Texture Gradient

When the details in a texture degrade over distance. (Monocular Depth Cue)

Linear perspective

When 2 parallel lines appear to converge in the distance. (Monocular Depth Cue)

Perceptual Constancy

when you percieve an object at a constant, size no matter the distance from which it is viewed.

Apparent Movement

When something appears as if it is moving, when no moving is occurring. Ex. Carnival lights.

Concept

A basis of thought or mental representation

Prototype

the most typical or representative example of a category, concept, or object. Ex: house, panda, fruit,

Schema

a mental framework or set of beliefs and expectations about something, such as a person, place, object, or event Ex: your idea of what a job at mcdonalds looks like

Assimilation

The cognitive process of incorporating new information into existing schemas or frameworks without changing them. Ex: this animal must be a dog too because it has 4 legs.

Accommodation

Altering existing categories to fit the new definition." Ex: this animal has 4 legs but is not a dog, so not all animals with 4 legs are dogs.

Algorithm

A system in which every possible option is attempted and a solution is guaranteed. Ex: I will check everywhere I went yesterday to find my lost keys.

Heuristic

A shortcut system that may or may not lead to a solution. Ex: only checking the last place you went for your keys.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging a particular thing by how well it could assimilate to other members of the same group.

Availability Heuristic

A system of which judgements are made using info that particularly stands out, like recent, vivid, or memorable events.

Mental set

A temporary readiness to perform certain psychological functions or solve problems based on past experiences, often leading to an inability to see new solutions. Applying a solution that previously worked on a similar problem. Ex: turning the computer off and on again.

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of memory associations.

Framing

Defining context or issues in a way that serves to influence how the context or issues are perceived and/or evaluated. Ex:

Gambler’s Fallacy

The belief that independent events are connected.

Sunk-Cost Fallacy

The tendency to continue an action when one has already lost time, money, or effort.

Executive Function

The ability to generate, organize, plan, carry out actions, and think critically.

Divergent thinking

Starting from the problem and brainstorming solutions from there

Convergent thinking

Starting with a solution and finding problems to apply it to.

Functional Fixedness

The inability to consider a new use for an item.

Automatic processing

the unconscious encoding of incidental info. well-learned information

Effortful Processing

encoding information through conscious intent and effort