ap psych rizz by geva rizz

Accommodation

Amending existing knowledge in a cognitive schema thanks to new information that contradicts previous thinking.

Accommodation

Amending existing knowledge in a cognitive schema thanks to new information that contradicts previous thinking.

Achievement Test

A test designed to assess what a person has learned.

Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to overestimate external factors for one's own behavior and internal factors for others' behavior.

Algorithm

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

Alfred Binet

Developed the first widely used intelligence test and the concept of mental age.

Amygdala

Brain structure involved in emotion and the formation of emotional memories (e.g., flashbulb memories).

Anterograde Amnesia

An inability to form new memories.

Aptitude Tests

Tests designed to predict a person's future performance; capacity to learn.

Assimilation

Improving existing knowledge in a cognitive schema thanks to new congruent information.

Autobiographical Memory

The ability to remember and organize past events in one's life, crucial for sense of self and identity.

Autokinetic Effect

A visual perception phenomenon where a stationary point of light in darkness appears to move.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating likelihood based on how readily instances come to mind.

Basal Ganglia

Brain structures involved in implicit memory, particularly procedural memory.

Belief Bias

Tendency for preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning.

Belief Perseverance

Clinging to initial conceptions even after the basis for them has been discredited.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

Convergence

The degree to which the eyes turn inward when focusing on an object.

Retinal Disparity

The difference between the visual images projected on the retinas of the two eyes.

Bias

Mental shortcuts that can lead to errors in thinking.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory

A hierarchical model of intelligence integrating fluid, crystallized, and other cognitive abilities.

Cerebellum

Brain structure involved in implicit memory, particularly classically conditioned associations and procedural memory.

Change Blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units for easier recall.

Clairvoyant

The supposed faculty of perceiving things or events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact.

Cognition

Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Cognitive Flexibility

The ability to adapt thinking and behavior to unexpected changes, opposite of functional fixedness.

Cognitive Psychologists

Researchers who study mental activities like concept formation, problem-solving, and decision-making.

Cognitive Schema

A cognitive framework that organizes information about the world, categorizing objects and concepts into groups.

Cocktail Party Effect

Ability to attend to one voice among many.

Color Constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if illumination changes.

Confirmation Bias

Tendency to seek and interpret information that confirms one's existing beliefs.

Connectedness (Gestalt)

Elements that are connected are perceived as a single unit.

Content Validity

The extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.

Context-Dependent Memory

Improved recall when the context of encoding and retrieval matches.

Continuity (Gestalt)

Perceiving smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

Convergence (Binocular Cue)

The inward angle of the eyes focusing on a near object.

Convergent Thinking

Thinking that aims for a single, familiar solution.

Creative Intelligence (Sternberg)

Ability to adapt to novel situations and generate novel ideas.

Construct Validity

The extent to which a test measures the theoretical construct it intends to measure.

Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; increases with age.

Depth Perception

Ability to see objects in three dimensions and judge distance.

Distributed Practice

Studying or practicing material over time for better long-term retention.

Divergent Thinking

Thinking that explores various solutions, creative ideas, and possibilities.

Echoic Memory

Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Elizabeth Loftus

Researcher known for work on false memories and the misinformation effect.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Encoding

Processing information into the memory system.

Encoding Failure

Inability to encode information into long-term memory.

Episodic Memory

Explicit memory for personally experienced events.

ESP (Extra Sensory Perception)

Perception without sensory input (e.g., telepathy, clairvoyance).

Executive Function

Set of cognitive skills (e.g., planning, impulse control) that manage behavior.

Explicit (Declarative) Memory

Memory of facts and experiences one can consciously know and declare.

Factor Analysis

Statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test.

Figure-Ground (Gestalt)

Organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).

Fixed Mindset

Belief that intelligence is a fixed, unchangeable trait.

Flashbulb Memory

A clear, vivid memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Fluid Intelligence (Gf)

Ability to reason speedily and abstractly; decreases with age.

Flynn Effect

Worldwide phenomenon of rising intelligence test scores over time.

Forgetting Curve

Describes how memory for new information decreases rapidly then levels off.

Framing

The way an issue is posed, which can significantly affect judgments.

Freud and Repression

Sigmund Freud's theory that painful memories are unconsciously pushed out of awareness.

Functional Fixedness (Fixation)

Inability to see an object as useful for anything other than its intended purpose.

Gambler's Fallacy

Mistaken belief that future outcomes of random events are influenced by past outcomes.

General Intelligence (g)

(Spearman) A general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities.

Gestalt Principles

Principles by which we organize perceptions into meaningful wholes.

Closure

Tendency to fill in gaps to create a complete object.

Connectedness

See elements that are connected as a single unit.

Continuity

Perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

Proximity

Group nearby figures together.

Similarity

Group similar figures together.

Simplicity (Law of Good Form/Pragnanz)

Organize stimuli into the simplest possible form.

Grit

Passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Growth Mindset

Belief that intelligence can be developed and improved through effort.

Heuristic

A simple thinking strategy that allows for efficient problem-solving, but is more error-prone than algorithms.

Hierarchies

Organizing information into broad concepts divided into narrower concepts and facts.

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

Ability to recall unusually vast number of personal life events.

Hindsight Bias

Tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.

Hippocampus

Brain structure crucial for forming new explicit memories.

Howard Gardner

Theorist of multiple intelligences.

Iconic Memory

Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.

Implicit (Nondeclarative) Memory

Retention independent of conscious recollection (e.g., procedural memory).

Impulse Control

A component of executive function; ability to resist urges.

Infantile Amnesia

Inability to retrieve memories from early childhood.

Inattentional Blindness

Failing to see visible objects when attention is elsewhere.

Insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem.

Intelligence

Ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100.

Intelligence Test

Method for assessing mental aptitudes and comparing them with others.

Interposition (Monocular Cue)

One object blocking another is perceived as closer.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

Understanding oneself.

Intuition

Quick, automatic judgment based on unconscious knowledge and experience.

Law of Pragnanz (Simplicity)

Humans prefer simple and orderly perceptions.

Lewis Terman

Adapted Binet's test to create the Stanford-Binet intelligence test.

Light and Shadow (Monocular Cue)

Helps determine depth and contour.

Linear Perspective (Monocular Cue)

Parallel lines appearing to converge in the distance.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Increase in a cell's firing potential after rapid stimulation, believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Mental Age

Chronological age that typically corresponds to a given level of performance.