AP Psychology

wilhelm wundt

structuralist who founded psychology as a formal science; opened first psychology research laboratory in 1879

e.b. titchener

developed structuralism and introspection; student of wilhelm wundt

charles darwin

formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection

william james

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

sigmund freud

focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis; id/ego/superego; defense mechanisms

ivan pavlov

behaviorist who discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

b.f. skinner

behaviorist that developed the theory of operant conditioning by training pigeons and rats (used successive approximations and a skinner box)

john b. watson

behaviorism; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat

carl rogers

humanistic; founded client-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes personal growth, unconditional positive regard

abraham maslow

humanistic psychology; hierarchy of needs in which the most basic needs (food/shelter) must be fulfilled to achieve self actualization

max wertheimer

gestalt psychologist who argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures; whole is greater than sum of the parts

margaret floy washburn

first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology

mary whiton calkins

first female president of the APA; student of william james

e.l. thorndike

law of effect (behavior followed by favorable consequences becomes more likely and vice versa)

albert bandura

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

noam chomsky

language development; disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

benjamin whorf

concept of "linguistic determinism" or how language impacts the way we think

wolfgang kohler

researcher who studied insight learning in chimps

charles spearman

creator of "g-factor", or general intelligence, concept

howard gardner

devised theory of multiple intelligences: logical-mathematic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, linguistic, musical, interpersonal, naturalistic

robert sternberg

intelligence; devised the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (academic problem-solving, practical, and creative)

alfred binet

pioneer in intelligence (IQ) tests, designed a test to identify slow learners in need of help-not applicable in the U.S. because it was too culture-bound (French)

solomon asch

conducted famous conformity experiment that required subjects to match lines of similar length; found that people conformed to the group even if the answer was wrong

philip zimbardo

social psychology; stanford prison experiment that proved the power of social roles to influence people's behavior

stanley milgram

social psychology; shock experiment testing obedience to authority; had participants administer what they believed were dangerous electrical shocks to other participants

aaron beck

pioneer in cognitive therapy; suggested depression came from negative schemas about the world, the self, and the future

paul broca

discovered area in the brain (named for him) in the left frontal lobe responsible for language production

hermann ebbinghaus

memory; conducted studies on forgetting: first, a rapid loss followed by a gradual declining rate of loss; ebbinghaus forgetting curve

albert ellis

pioneer in Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), focuses on altering client's patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotions

erik erikson

neo-Freudian, humanistic; 8 psychosocial stages of development: theory shows how people evolve through the life span

hans eysenck

personality theorist; asserted that personality is largely determined by genes, used introversion/extroversion

phineas gage

railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury that dramatically changed his personality and behavior; case study played a role in the development of the understanding of the localization of brain function

carl jung

neo-Freudian who created concept of "collective unconscious" and wrote books on dream interpretation

jean piaget

four stage theory of cognitive development (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational); studied why children got the same questions wrong in the same way

hermann rorschach

personality, psychoanalysis; developed one of the first projective test where the observer derives aspects of the personality from the subject's commentary on inkblots

ernst weber

perception; identified just-noticeable-difference (JND) that eventually becomes Weber's law

lawrence kohlberg

theory of moral development in children; made use of moral dilemmas in assessment

harry harlow

development; realized that touch is preferred in development (studied attachment of infant monkeys to artificial mothers made of cloth and wire)

alfred adler

neo-freudian; introduced concept of "inferiority complex" and stressed the importance of birth order

stanley schachter

emotion; stated that in order to experience emotions, a person must be physically aroused and know the emotion before you experience it

mary ainsworth

developmental psychology; compared effects of maternal separation, devised patterns of attachment; observation of parent/child attachment

kenneth clark

social psychology; research evidence of internalized racism caused by stigmatization; doll experiments-black children chose white dolls

david rosenhan

social psychologist; study in which healthy patients were admitted to psychiatric hospitals + diagnosed with schizophrenia; showed that diagnosis leads to negative labels

daniel goleman

intelligence; famous for contributions to emotional intelligence

karl wernicke

perception; discovered area of left temporal lobe involved language understanding

michael gazzaniga

split-brain research; understanding of functional lateralization in the brain; how the cerebral hemispheres communicate

weber's law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage

young-helmholtz trichromatic theory

theory of color vision that suggests that the retina contains three types of color receptors (cones) that combine to produce color perception

opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision

place theory

the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated

frequency theory

theory of pitch that states that pitch is related to the speed of vibrations in the basilar membrane

facial feedback hypothesis

the idea that facial expressions can influence emotions as well as reflect them

activation-synthesis theory

this theory of dreaming that proposes that the brain tries to make sense of random brain activity by synthesizing the activity with stored memories

thorndike's law of effect

behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

ebbinghaus forgetting curve

the course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time

serial position phenomenon

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

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

linguistic determinism hypothesis

the proposition that our language determines our way of thinking and our perceptions of the world

cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition

deindividuation theory

the psychological state of deindividuation is aroused when individuals join crowds or large groups

contact theory

idea that prejudice can be reduced by increasing contact with those that are different

hawthorne effect

the alteration of behavior by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed

conformity effect

people will question their own perceptions when presented with the judgements of others

social facilitation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal

restorative sleep theory

theory of sleep proposing that sleep is necessary to the physical health of the body and serves to replenish chemicals and repair cellular damage

evolutionary sleep theory

theory of sleep that says it helped avoid danger and predators

dream theory

dreams reflect real-life worries, hopes, and desires

cognitive problem solving

theory that dreams provide an opportunity to work through everyday problems and emotional issues in life

social cognitive theory

referring to the use of cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world

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

stroboscopic effect

images in a series of still pictures presented at a certain speed will appear to be moving

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

mere exposure effect

the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

harlow's attachment theory

a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is critical to personal development

ainsworth's attachment theory

three types of attachment

1. secure: child plays comfortably with mom, cries when she leaves, then is calmed when she returns

2. anxious/ambivalent: anxious with mom, protests when she leaves, not comforted when she returns

3. avoidant: little contact with mom, not distressed when she leaves

erickson's theory of moral development

moral development theory

piaget's theory of cognitive development

theory made up of sensorimotor period, preoperational period, concrete operations, and formal operations expressed by Jean Piaget

vygotsky's sociocultural theory

the approach that emphasizes how cognitive development proceeds as a result of social interactions between members of a culture

kohlberg's theory of moral development

developing children progress through a predictable sequence of stages of moral reasoning (preconventional, conventional, postconventional).

seligman's learned helplessness theory

depression occurs when people (and other animals) become resigned to the idea that they are helpless to escape from something painful

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

skinner's theory of language

we imitate our parents for words, reinforcement encourages linguistic growth, there is an association between sight and sound

chomsky's theory of language

says that all languages share a common universal grammar and that children inherit a mental program to learn this universal grammar

flynn effect

the worldwide phenomenon that shows intelligence test performance has been increasing over the years

signal detection theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise); assumes there is no single absolute threshold

scapegoat theory

prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

all-or-none principle

the law that the neuron either fires at 100% or not at all

divided consciousness theory

hypnosis has caused a split in awareness

social influence theory

hypnotic subjects may simply be imaginative actors playing a social role

terror management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

theory of multiple intelligences

Gardner's intelligence theory that proposes that there are eight distinct spheres of intelligence