AP Psychology Comprehensive Cram Packet Review

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering the AP Psychology curriculum as presented in the provided lecture notes summary.

Hypothesis

A tentative explanation that must be FALSIFIABLE, meaning it is able to be supported or rejected.

Operational Definition

A clear, precise definition of variables that allows for replication and the collection of reliable data.

Qualitative data

Descriptive data, such as eye color.

Quantitative data

Numerical data which is ideal and necessary for statistics.

Population

Everyone the research could apply to.

Sample

The specific people or person chosen for a study.

Correlation

A research design used to identify the relationship between two variables; it does not equal causation.

Directionality problem

A challenge in correlation research where it is unclear which variable causes the other (e.g., does depression cause low self-esteem or vice versa).

Third variable problem

A situation where a different variable is responsible for the relationship between two others (e.g., heat causing both ice cream sales and murder).

Independent Variable

The variable purposefully altered by the researcher to look for an effect.

Experimental Group

The group in an experiment that receives the treatment.

Control Group

The group that receives a placebo or baseline, serving as a comparison.

Dependent Variable

The measured variable that is dependent on the independent variable.

Placebo Effect

Any observed effect on behavior caused by a placebo, which helps show the effectiveness of an experimental treatment.

Double-Blind

An experiment where neither the participant nor the experimenter knows which condition people are assigned to.

Confound

An error or flaw in a study that is accidentally introduced, also called a confounding variable.

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to control or experimental groups at random to increase equal representation and allow for cause and effect conclusions.

Naturalistic Observation

Observing people in their natural settings to gain real world validity.

Case Study

A study of one person, usually in great detail, to collect lots of information.

Meta-analysis

A study that combines multiple studies to increase sample size and examine effect sizes.

Mean

The average of a distribution, used in a normal distribution.

Median

The middle number in a distribution, used in skewed distributions.

Mode

The score that occurs most often in a distribution.

Standard deviation

The average amount the scores are spread from the mean.

Statistical Significance

An indication that results are not due to chance and that experimental manipulation caused the difference in means, typically defined as $p < .05$.

Percentile rank

The percentage of scores in a distribution that are less than a given score.

Informed Consent

An ethical guideline requiring participants to agree to be part of a study.

Debriefing

The process of telling participants the true purpose of a study after it is completed, especially if deception was used.

Social Desirability

A self-report bias where people lie to look good on surveys.

Random Sample

A method for choosing participants where everyone has a chance to take part, increasing generalizability.

Confirmation Bias

A cognitive bias where one finds information that supports preexisting beliefs.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after an outcome, that one knew it all along.

Somatic NS

The part of the peripheral nervous system responsible for voluntary movement using sensory and motor neurons.

Autonomic NS

The part of the peripheral nervous system controlling involuntary organs like the heart and lungs.

Sympathetic NS

The part of the autonomic nervous system responsible for the fight/flight response.

Parasympathetic NS

The part of the autonomic nervous system responsible for rest and digest functions.

Dendrites

The part of the neuron that receives incoming neurotransmitters.

Axon

The part of the neuron down which the action potential travels.

Myelin Sheath

A layer that speeds up the action potential down the axon and protects the axon.

Action Potential

Neural firing where ions move across the membrane, sending an electrical charge down the axon.

Resting Potential

The state of a neuron when it maintains a $-70\,mv$ charge while inactive.

All or nothing principle

The principle that a stimulus must trigger an action potential past its threshold, and does not increase intensity or speed.

Refractory period

The rest period a neuron requires before it can send another action potential.

GABA

The major inhibitory neurotransmitter.

Glutamate

The major excitatory neurotransmitter.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with short-term reward and fine movement; linked to addiction.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter associated with long-term moods, emotion, and sleep.

Acetylcholine (ACh)

A neurotransmitter associated with memory and movement in the hippocampus; its destruction is linked to Alzheimer’s.

Ghrelin

A hormone that makes you hungry.

Leptin

A hormone that stops hunger and makes you full.

Agonist

A drug that mimics a neurotransmitter.

Antagonist

A drug that blocks a neurotransmitter.

Cerebellum

A brain structure responsible for movement, balance, coordination, and procedural memory.

Cerebral Cortex

The outer portion of the brain responsible for higher-order thought processes.

Amygdala

The part of the limbic system associated with emotions and fear.

Hippocampus

The part of the limbic system associated with episodic and semantic memory.

Frontal Lobe

The lobe responsible for decision making, planning, judgment, movement, personality, and language.

Broca’s Area

An area in the left frontal lobe responsible for speech production; damage causes stuttered speech.

Wernicke’s Area

An area in the left temporal lobe responsible for speech comprehension; damage causes jumbled speech.

Corpus Callosum

The bundle of nerves that connects the two brain hemispheres.

Brain Plasticity

The brain's ability to change via damage and experience.

Circadian Rhythms

The $24\text{-hour}$ biological clock of body temperature and sleep.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

A sleep stage characterized by dreaming and cognitive processing, where the brain is active but the body is relaxed.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder where a person falls into REM sleep spontaneously, treated with stimulants.

Sleep Apnea

A sleep disorder characterized by stopping breathing while asleep, usually due to obesity.

Transduction

The process of converting stimulus energy from the environment into action potentials.

Absolute Threshold

The detection of a signal $50\%$ of the time.

Just noticeable difference

The ability to tell the difference between a stronger and weaker stimulus or two similar things.

Weber’s Law

The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion to be perceived as different.

Rods

Photoreceptors used for black and white vision and dark adaptation.

Cones

Photoreceptors located in the fovea used for color vision and bright light.

Place theory

The theory that the location where hair cells bend in the cochlea determines the perception of high pitches.

Vestibular Sense

The sense of balance originating from the semicircular canals in the inner ear.

Gate-control theory

The theory that we have a 'gate' to control how much pain is experienced mentally and physically.

Top-Down Processing

Processing information starting with the whole idea or prior expectations and moving to smaller parts.

Gestalt Psychology

A movement in psychology emphasizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to notice something added to a scene because of intense focus on another task.

Algorithms

Step-by-step strategies like formulas that guarantee a solution.

Representative Heuristic

Making judgments based on experience or stereotypes.

Availability Heuristic

Making a judgment based on the first thing that comes to mind.

Phonemic encoding

An intermediate level of processing based on what words sound like.

Semantic encoding

A deep level of processing based on the meaning of words.

Chunking

Breaking information into smaller units to aid memory.

Iconic Memory

Visual sensory memory that lasts for $0.3$ seconds.

Echoic Memory

Auditory sensory memory that lasts for $2\text{ to }3$ seconds.

Explicit Memory

Long-term memory that requires conscious effort, including episodic and semantic memories.

Implicit Memory

Automatic long-term memory requiring no effort, such as procedural skills or classical conditioning.

Proactive interference

When old information blocks the retrieval of new information.

Retroactive interference

When new information blocks the retrieval of old information.

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to make new memories.

Standardization

The process of giving a test using consistent procedures and grading it the same way.

Reliability

The consistency of test results over time.

Validity

The accuracy of a test in measuring what it is intended to measure.

Teratogens

External agents like alcohol or drugs that cause abnormal prenatal development.

Maturation

The natural course of development, such as walking, that occurs no matter what.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects exist even when they are removed from view; gained during the sensorimotor stage.

Conservation

The recognition that substances remain the same despite changes in shape or length.

Egocentrism

The inability to distinguish one's own perspective from another's, common in the pre-operational stage.

Crystallized intelligence

Knowledge consisting of facts and prior learning that increases with age.

Fluid intelligence

The ability to learn new things and solve problems quickly, which decreases with age.