AP Psych Spring Final

Developmental psychology

lifetime of changes: study anything and everything that happens    

Engineering psychology

how are things design with humans in mind

Clinical and Counseling psychologists

counseling has patients and clinical has research/studies

Environmental psychology

help teachers help students; improve classroom

Biological psychology

chemical, physical changes

Evolutionary approach

the study of behavior, thought, and feeling as viewed through the lens of evolutionary biology

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic approach

A view developed by Freud that emphasizes the interplay of unconscious mental processes in determining human thought, feelings, and behavior.

Behavioral approach

assumes that behavior and mental processes are largely shaped by biological processes (hormones and chemicals)

Cognitive approach

focuses on how we take in, mentally represent, and store information; how we perceive and process that information; and how all these cognitive processes affect our behavior

Humanistic approach

see behavior as determined primarily by each person’s capacity to choose how to think and act

Sociocultural/Social-cultural approach/factors

Social identity and other background factors, such as gender, ethnicity, social class, and culture

Empiricism/Empirical Approach

guide for psychology through the scientific method – took psychology out of philosophy

Nature

Genetics

Nurture

Environment

Operational definition

must define things specifically and cannot be up to interpretation

Naturalistic observation

observe in its natural environment cannot interfere only observe, hard to replicate so things happen normally but it’s hard to not be seen or disturb environment

Case studies

an in-depth investigation for something new or rare (positive) but it might not be representative of the population

Experimental group

gets the treatment/what you’re testing

Control group

baseline; status quo

Independent variable

controlled/manipulated

Dependent variable

measured – end result

Random Sample

everyone in the population had an equal chance of being selected (large population is worse)

Representative sample

people selected is a good mix

Random assignment

everyone in the sample can be assigned either group, experimental or control group – equal chance regardless of amount in group

Standard deviation (SD)

the greater the range, the greater the SD, greater the SD the more variability (CONSITANCY)

Positive correlation

variables are going in the same direction

Negative correlation

variable is going in the opposite direction

Correlation coefficient

strengths and direction (+1.0 to -1.0)

Statistically significant

results did not come by chance; results mean something

Somatic nervous system

control voluntary movements (motor)

Autonomic nervous system

automatic movements 

Sympathetic nervous system

gets body ready to go “fight or flight”  

Parasympathetic nervous system

after sympathetic nervous system and calms you down

Medulla / medulla oblongata

located in the hindbrain and controls blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and other vital functions

Reticular formation

network that is in charge of attention and arousal that is made up fiber threaded throughout the hindbrain and midbrain

Cerebellum

part of hindbrain that controls coordination of movements, storehouse for well-rehearsed movements, memory, impulse controls, pain, emotion, language, telling time, etc. 

Hypothalamus

part of forebrain that is under the thalamus, is involved in regulating hunger, thirst, and sex drive

Frontal lobe

biggest and most complex part of the brain and controls speech (left hemisphere), personality and decision making (left hemisphere), and muscle movement

Parietal lobe

sense of touch and body position

Temporal lobe

hearing, facial recognition, memory

Occipital lobe

vision

Acetylcholine

a neurotransmitter that is used by the parasympathetic system (slows heartbeat and activate digestive system, important for movement and memory; lack of can lead to Alzheimer’s Disease

Serotonin

neurotransmitter that is involved with mood, appetite, and impulsivity; not enough can lead to depression 

Dopamine

helps with movements and makes you happy (reward neurotransmitter); has nothing to do with depression (__TOO MUCH__ – can develop schizophrenia; __NOT ENOUGH__ – can cause Parkinson’s Disease)

Transduction

the process of converting incoming energy into neural activity

Coding / encoding

the translation of physical properties of a stimulus into a pattern of nerve cell activity that specifically identifies those properties

Conduction/Conductive Deafness

hole/tear in eardrum, fluid buildup or blockage in middle ear, ossicles are not working like they should

Nerve Deafness / Sensorineural hearing loss

transduction issue; hair cells in the cochlea are damaged (as we get older or extended exposure to loud noise)

Place theory

(higher pitched frequency) hair cells at a particular “location/spot” on the basilar membrane respond to a certain frequency of sound

Frequency matching theory (also known as “Volley Theory”)

(lower pitched frequency) finding rate of a neuron in the auditory nerve can “match” the frequency of sound wave

Rods

black & white/see in the dark; peripheral vision

Cones

help see color

Visual acuity

ability to see details; greatest in the fovea

Trichromatic theory (Young-Helmholtz)

we have cones that are sensitive to 3 colors (red – long wavelength, green – medium wavelength, blue – short wavelength)

Opponent Process theory

color sensitive elements are opposite; what we register is not the same color (red-green, blue-yellow, black-white)

Synesthesia

blending of the senses

Gate control theory

Suggests that the spinal cord that either let pain travel to the brain or block it

Vestibular sense / sense of equilibrium

A proprioceptive sense; position of head & movement (dizziness)

Kinesthesia

Proprioceptive sense that tells you were your body parts are in respect to one another

Computational model/approach

take in everything (details), (new)

Constructivist approach

take in information in bigger chunks (experience)

Ecological approach

take in very little (adapted)

Absolute threshold

smallest amount/minimum of energy needed to detect 50% or more of the time (weakest amount)

Just-noticeable difference / difference threshold

when you do notice change/difference in stimuli

Figure-ground discrimination

figure is your focus, everything else is background

Closure

fill in the gaps

Relative size

brain helps determine the size of something based on a comparison to another

Height in the visual field

the higher something is, the further it is

Texture gradient / gradient of texture

the more texture seen, the closer the object is

Bottom-up processing

using your senses (data) first to perceive; no experience/expectations (BABIES)

Top-Down Processing

experience/knowledge driven

Cocktail party effect

We will hear our name, certain voices you now well

Overt orienting

LOOK LIKE YOU ARE PAYING ATTENION AND YOU ARE or VICE VERSA

Covert orienting

HIDDEN – YOU LIKE YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTINO BUT YOU’RE NOT

Unconditioned stimulus

Stimulus that triggers a normal response. No conditioning required. The food in Pavlov’s experiment.

Conditioned stimulus

The once neutral stimulus that triggers a response. You’ve learned something The bell/tone in Pavlov’s experiment.

Unconditioned response

Normal response (reflex). Salivation due to food in Pavlov’s experiment

Conditioned response

The learned response. Salivation due to the bell/tone in Pavlov’s experiment.

Spontaneous recovery

the reappearance of the conditioned response WITHOUT any pairings. It just comes back on its own.

Reconditioning

the relearning of a conditioned response. This takes less time/pairings

Positive reinforcement/reinforcers

reinforce good behavior (how the child is learning)

Negative reinforcement/reinforcers

reinforce bad behavior

Escape conditioning

you want it to stop/get out of it

Avoidance conditioning

prevention

Punishment 1

(positive punishment) give them something extra

Punishment 2

(negative punishment/penalty) take something away

Fixed-Ratio

reinforce after certain amount

Fixed-Interval

reinforce after a fixed time

Variable-Ratio

reinforce after a varying amount of time

Variable-Interval

reinforce after a varying amount of time

Recall

you need to remember (FRQ’s)

Recognition

hints (MULTIPLE CHOICE)

Declarative memory

Recall or recognition of facts or events

Explicit memory

The process of intentionally trying to remember something

Implicit memory

The unintentional influence of prior experiences

Elaborative rehearsal

STRONGER; elaborate on the information (give it meaning)

Maintenance rehearsal

WEAKER; maintain information

Transfer-appropriate processing

retrieval and encoding are connected

Framing / framing effect

Says that how a question is worded can affect one’s memory/answer

State-dependent memory

Memory can be aided or hindered by a person’s mental condition (example – test anxiety)