AP First Semester Review

AP Psychology

hypothalamus

The pituitary gland is controlled by this part of the brain.

Amygdala

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

hunger

The hypothalamus influences _____ and satiety.

occipital lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information

spinal reflex

A simple automatic action of the spinal cord not requiring involvement of the brain, such as the knee-jerk reflex or pulling your hand away from a hot stove.

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences(confounding variables) between those assigned to the different groups

industrial-organizational psychology

a subfield of psychology that studies and advises on workplace behavior. Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists help organizations select and train employees, boost morale and productivity, and design products and assess responses to them

Alcohol

This drug reduces the activity of the CNS including the hippocampus and cerebellum.

limbic system

neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives

Frequency

The psychological experience of pitch is related to a sound wave's ______.

John Watson

He founded behaviorism in the early 1900s, emphasizing the scientific study of observable behaviors rather than the study of subjective mental processes.

Sigmund Freud

Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis.

Down Syndrome

a condition with associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup

Psychodynamic

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

cocktail party effect

Ability to concentrate on one voice amongst a crowd

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

cognitive

having to do with an organism's thinking and understanding - therapy would include changing maladaptive thinking.

experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

Mode

The value that occurs most frequently in a given data set.

mean

the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores

Sypathetic Nervous System

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations including pupil dilation/digestion reduced/skin becoming cold.

biological psychology

a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior

Generalize

A representative sample is needed in order to _______ the results of a study.

humanistic psychology

an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings

Muller-Lyer Illusion

illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different

activation-synthesis theory

a theory of dreaming; this theory proposes that the brain tries to make sense of random brain activity that occurs during sleep by synthesizing the activity with stored memories

Wernicke's area

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

law of effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Antagonist

Curare blocks action at acetylcholine synapses and causes paralysis

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

token economy

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats

positive correlation

A correlation where as one variable increases, the other also increases, or as one decreases so does the other. Both variables move in the same direction.

selective attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect

Sample

A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole.

sleep apnea

a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

biological predispositions

Genetically programmed tendencies to acquire classically conditioned fear responses to potentially life-threatening stimuli

case study

an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

episodic memory

A category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations and experiences.

opiate

a narcotic used to cause sleep or bring relief from pain

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

attention

This process transfers sensory memory to short term memory.

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

Cones

color vision

evolutionary psychology

the attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection

Dopamine

a neurotransmitter linked to Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

gate-control theory

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

Shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Variability

in a set of numbers, how widely dispersed the values are from each other and from the mean

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants

PET

a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task

overjustification effect

The effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do. The person may now see the reward, rather than intrinsic interest, as the motivation for performing the task.

negative reinforcement

the reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus

random sampling

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

parietal lobe

Lobe of the brain that receives information about temperature, pressure, touch and pain.

Heroin

narcotic drug derived from opium that is extremely addictive

encoding failure

the inability to recall specific information because of insufficient encoding of the information for storage in long-term memory

conditioned stimulus

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

variable-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

standard deviation

a measure of variability that describes an average distance of every score from the mean

Cerebellum

A large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills and coordination.

unconditioned stimulus

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response.

punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

Institutional Review Board

A committee at each institution where research is conducted to review every experiment for ethics and methodology.

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Albert Bandura

researcher famous for work in observational or social learning including the famous Bobo doll experiment

REM sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep, a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active.

spontaneous recovery

the tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period

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.

Dreams

occur most often during REM sleep; may be caused by activation-synthesis, or may be a way of cementing memories

semicircular canals

three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear responsible for our sense of balance

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Behaviorism

A perspective based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

experimental group

In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.

synaptic vesicles

Tiny pouches or sacs in the axon terminals that contain chemicals called neurotransmitters.

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

procedural memory

the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things

correlation coefficient

a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1)

Reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Reuptake

a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron

sensory interaction

the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

positive

Clappling after a performance or giving the actor a "thumbs up" would be considered ____ reinforcement.

context dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

external locus of control

The perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate.

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

Standardization

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Reliability

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

inventory-type tests

tests used in psychology in which participants answer a standard series of questions (multiple choice/true false

g intelligence

General Intelligence that influences all intellectual abilities

IQ

mental age/chronological age x 100