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Key Concepts for Exam Preparation

  • Seven Psychological Perspectives: Understand how behaviors and attitudes can be influenced by evolutionary, biological, and sociocultural factors.

  • Key Studies in Social Psychology:

    • Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo): Explores the impact of situational factors on behavior.
    • Milgram Experiment: Examines obedience to authority; about 60-70% of participants administered the highest voltage.
    • Asch Conformity Experiment: Investigates group pressure on individual judgment.

  • Fundamental Attribution Error: Tendency to attribute others' behaviors to personality while ignoring situational factors.

  • Social Facilitation vs. Impairment:

    • Social Facilitation: Performing better in the presence of others.
    • Social Impairment: Performing worse in the presence of others.

  • Halo Effect: Forming an overall impression of a person based on one positive trait; opposite is the Reverse Halo Effect.

  • Mere Exposure Effect: Increased familiarity with a stimulus leads to increased liking of it over time, often seen in advertising strategies.

  • Five Factors of Attraction: Similarity, Geography, Physical Attractiveness, Reciprocal Liking, Inputs.

  • Brain Structures:

    • Lobes: Frontal (personality, memory), Parietal (sensation), Occipital (vision), Temporal (hearing).
    • Limbic System: Includes the amygdala (emotions), hippocampus (memory), and hypothalamus (autonomic functions).

  • Peripheral Nervous System: Includes all nerves outside the brain and spinal cord; distinguish between agonists (enhance neurotransmitter activity) and antagonists (block neurotransmitter effects).

  • Developmental Theories:

    • Erikson's Psychosocial Conflicts: Stages of development across the lifespan.
    • Parenting Styles: Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive.

  • Sleep and Consciousness: Definitions of sleep disorders like nightmares and night terrors, and understanding REM Sleep.

  • Sensation and Perception:

    • Absolute Threshold: Minimum level of stimulus intensity to detect a stimulus.
    • Just Noticeable Difference: Smallest detectable difference in stimulus.

  • Memory Types: Understand implicit vs. explicit memory.

  • Motivation Theories:

    • Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic refers to internal satisfaction; extrinsic refers to external rewards.
    • Arousal Theory: Motivation is influenced by optimal levels of arousal, where moderate arousal leads to better performance.

  • Exam Preparation: Utilize note cards for confusing terms, review theories, and practice identifying psychological concepts.