AP psych

Sensation The process by which sensory receptors and the nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from the environment (Module 16)
Perception The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so we can recognize meaningful objects and events
Sensory receptors Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli
Bottom-up processing Analysis that starts with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of the information (data first)
Top-down processing Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes; we build perceptions from experience and expectations
Prosopagnosia (face blindness) Normal sensation but impaired perception: a person sees faces fine but cannot recognize them (Heather Sellers)
Selective attention Focusing conscious awareness on one particular stimulus, like a flashlight beam
Cocktail party effect Ability to attend to one voice among many, yet still notice when someone says your name
Inattentional blindness Failing to see visible objects when your attention is directed elsewhere (the invisible gorilla)
Change blindness Failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness (e.g., a person swapped during a brief interruption)
Transduction Converting one form of energy into another; in sensation, turning light, sound, or smells into neural impulses the brain can interpret
Three steps of every sensory system 1) Receive stimulation (receptor cells) 2) Transform it into neural impulses 3) Deliver the information to the brain
Psychophysics The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli (like intensity) and our psychological experience of them
Absolute threshold The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
Signal detection theory Predicts when we will detect a faint signal amid background noise; detection depends on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness (no single fixed threshold)
Subliminal Below the absolute threshold for conscious awareness (stimuli you detect less than 50 percent of the time)
Priming Unconscious activation of certain associations that predisposes your perception, memory, or response
Difference threshold (just noticeable difference, jnd) The minimum difference between two stimuli that a person can detect 50 percent of the time
Weber's law To be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage, not a constant amount
Weber's law example Adding 1 oz to a 10 oz weight is noticeable, but adding 1 oz to a 100 oz weight is not
Sensory adaptation Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation (nerve cells fire less often); frees attention for changes
Sensory adaptation example You stop noticing a strong perfume or the shoes on your feet after a few minutes
Perceptual set A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another; a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that shapes what we perceive (Module 17)
Schema A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information; schemas prime us to interpret ambiguous stimuli in certain ways
Context effects The surroundings and context (and even later stimuli) shape how we interpret what we perceive
Emotion and motivation in perception Our emotions and motives color perception; e.g., hearing sad music makes people hear 'die' instead of 'dye'
Extrasensory perception (ESP) The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input
Telepathy ESP: mind-to-mind communication
Clairvoyance ESP: perceiving remote events (events happening elsewhere right now)
Precognition ESP: perceiving future events
Parapsychology The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis
Why do skeptics doubt ESP?
ESP Requires perceiving without sensory input, which conflicts with what we know about the brain.
Gestalt German for 'whole' or 'form'; we organize bits of sensory data into meaningful wholes.
Figure-ground Organizing the visual field into the object that stands out (figure) and its surroundings (ground).
Grouping The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.
Proximity (grouping) We group nearby figures together.
Continuity (grouping) We perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.
Closure (grouping) We fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.
Depth perception The ability to see objects in three dimensions and judge distance.
Visual cliff Lab device testing depth perception in infants and young animals.
Binocular cues Depth cues that depend on the use of both eyes.
Retinal disparity The brain compares the images from the two retinas; greater disparity means the object is closer.
Monocular cues Depth cues available to either eye alone.
Interposition If one object partially blocks another, we perceive it as closer.
Linear perspective Parallel lines appear to converge with distance.
Relative height Objects higher in our field of vision are perceived as farther away.
Relative motion As we move, objects at different distances move across our view at different rates.
Phi phenomenon Illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
Stroboscopic movement Illusion of movement from a rapid series of slightly different images.
Perceptual constancy Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.
Color constancy Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color even when lighting changes.
Shape constancy Perceiving a familiar object's shape as constant even as the viewing angle changes.
Size constancy Perceiving an object as the same size regardless of distance.
Moon illusion The Moon looks up to 50 percent larger near the horizon than high in the sky.
Critical period (perception) An early window when experience is needed for normal sensory and perceptual development.
Perceptual adaptation The ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field.
Memory The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.
Encoding Getting information into the memory system.
Storage Retaining encoded information over time.
Retrieval Getting information out of storage.
Information-processing model Analogy comparing human memory to a computer's operations.
Parallel processing Processing many aspects of a problem at once.
Connectionism Model viewing memories as products of interconnected neural networks.
Atkinson-Shiffrin model Three-stage model: sensory memory → short-term memory → long-term memory.
Sensory memory The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information.
Short-term memory Small, brief storage of recent thoughts and experiences.
Working memory Conscious, active processing of incoming information.
Long-term memory The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
Iconic memory Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.
Echoic memory Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
Sperling's experiment Showed that we briefly hold an image of a whole visual scene.
Miller's magic number Short-term memory holds about seven items, plus or minus two.
Explicit (declarative) memory Memory of facts and experiences you can consciously know and 'declare'.
Implicit (nondeclarative) memory Retention without conscious recall.
Effortful processing Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Automatic processing Unconscious encoding of incidental information.
Chunking Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.
Mnemonics Memory aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery.
Hierarchies Organizing information into broad concepts divided into narrower concepts.
Spacing effect Distributed study or practice yields better long-term retention.
Testing effect Retrieving information enhances memory more than simply rereading it.
Shallow processing Encoding based on surface features.
Deep processing Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words.
Self-reference effect Information seen as relevant to me is processed more deeply.
Hippocampus Acts as a 'save button' for new explicit memories.
Frontal lobes (memory) Work with the hippocampus in processing explicit memories.
Memory consolidation Neural storage of a long-term memory.
Cerebellum (memory) Important for forming and storing implicit memories.
Basal ganglia Involved in motor movement that help form procedural memories.
Amygdala (memory) Emotion-processing clusters that boost memory formation.
Flashbulb memory A clear, vivid memory of an emotionally significant moment.
Long-term potentiation (LTP) An increase in a neuron's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation.
Infantile amnesia Inability to consciously recall events from the first three or four years of life.
Long-term memory capacity Essentially unlimited.
Recall Measure of memory where you must retrieve information learned earlier.
Recognition Measure of memory where you only need to identify items previously learned.
Relearning Measure of memory assessing the time saved when learning material again.
Retrieval cue Any stimulus associated with a memory that helps you pull it out.
Context-dependent memory Recall is better in the same setting where you learned the information.
State-dependent memory What is learned in one state is more easily recalled when back in that same state.
Mood-congruent memory Tendency to recall experiences consistent with your current mood.
Serial position effect Tendency to recall the first and last items in a list best.
Primacy effect vs recency effect Primacy = best recall of the first items; recency = best recall of the last items.
Anterograde amnesia Inability to form new memories.
Retrograde amnesia Inability to retrieve information from one's past.
Three causes of forgetting 1) Encoding failure 2) Storage decay 3) Retrieval failure.
Encoding failure Forgetting because we never paid enough attention to form the memory.
Storage decay Forgetting as the physical memory trace fades.
Ebbinghaus forgetting curve Memory for nonsense syllables drops rapidly at first and then levels off.
Retrieval failure The memory is stored but cannot be accessed right now.
Proactive interference Prior learning disrupts recall of new information.
Retroactive interference New learning disrupts recall of old information.
Positive transfer Old information helps you learn new information.
Repression Defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts from consciousness.
Motivated forgetting Forgetting painful or unacceptable memories to protect self-concept.
Reconsolidation Each time we 'replay' a memory we may alter it slightly.
Misinformation effect Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
Source amnesia (source misattribution) Attributing an event to the wrong source.
Déjà vu Eerie sense that 'I've experienced this before'.
False memories Memories that feel real but are constructed.
Eyewitness memory of children Children are susceptible to the misinformation effect.
Recovered memory consensus Memories from before age 4 and memories recovered under hypnosis are unreliable.
How to improve memory Study repeatedly, make material meaningful, activate retrieval cues, use mnemonics.
Cognition All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Concept A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
Prototype A mental image or best example of a category.
Creativity The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
Convergent thinking Narrowing the available solutions to find the single best answer.
Divergent thinking Expanding the number of possible solutions.
Sternberg's five components of creativity Expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, a creative environment.
Expertise (creativity) Well-developed knowledge that supplies the mental building blocks for new ideas.
Intrinsic motivation Being driven by interest, satisfaction, and challenge.
Incubation Setting a problem aside and returning later.
Algorithm Methodical rule or step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution.
Heuristic A simple thinking strategy that is usually speedier than an algorithm.
Insight A sudden 'Aha!' realization of a problem's solution.
Confirmation bias Tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions.
Fixation Inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective.
Mental set A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way.
Functional fixedness Tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.
Intuition Fast, automatic, unreasoned feelings and thoughts based on our experience.
Representativeness heuristic Judging the likelihood of things by how well they match a prototype.
Availability heuristic Estimating the likelihood of events by how easily examples come to mind.
Overconfidence Tendency to be more confident than correct.
Belief perseverance Clinging to our initial beliefs even after the evidence is discredited.
Belief perseverance remedy Consider how you might have explained the opposite result.
Framing The way an issue is posed; wording can significantly affect decisions.
Why we fear the wrong things We fear what our ancestors feared, what we cannot control, and what is immediate.
Intelligence The mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience.
Intelligence test A method for assessing mental aptitudes using numerical scores.
General intelligence (g) Spearman's idea of a single underlying intelligence measured by every task.
Factor analysis Statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test.
Thurstone's primary mental abilities Seven clusters of mental abilities that tend to correlate.
Gardner's multiple intelligences Eight independent intelligences.
Savant syndrome Condition in which a person has an exceptional specific skill.
Sternberg's triarchic theory Three intelligences: analytical, creative, practical.
Emotional intelligence The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Grit Passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.
Critique of multiple intelligences Should all abilities be called intelligences or some just talents?
Brain size and intelligence Correlation of about +.33: a modest positive relationship
Mental age The level of performance typical of a given chronological age; a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old has a mental age of 8 (Module 61)
Alfred Binet French psychologist who created the first intelligence test to identify children needing extra help in school; feared labeling would limit opportunities
Stanford-Binet Lewis Terman's widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test
Intelligence quotient (IQ) Originally mental age divided by chronological age, times 100 (William Stern); works for children but not adults
IQ formula IQ = (mental age ÷ chronological age) × 100
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) The most widely used individual intelligence test; gives an overall score plus verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed scores
Achievement test Test designed to assess what a person has learned
Aptitude test Test designed to predict a person's future performance; the capacity to learn
Standardization Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Normal curve (bell curve) Symmetrical bell-shaped distribution of many physical and psychological attributes; most scores fall near the average
Normal curve IQ percentages About 68% of people score within 15 points of 100 (85-115); about 95% within 30 points (70-130)
Flynn effect The rise in average intelligence test performance over the last century in many countries
Reliability The extent to which a test yields consistent results (split-half, alternate forms, or retesting)
Validity The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
Content validity The extent to which a test samples the behavior of interest
Predictive validity The success with which a test predicts the behavior it was designed to predict; assessed by correlating scores with a criterion
Crystallized intelligence Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age (Module 62)
Fluid intelligence Ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease in late adulthood
Cross-sectional study Compares people of different ages at the same point in time
Longitudinal study Follows and retests the same people over a period of years
Cohort A group of people (born around the same time) sharing a common characteristic or experience; in longitudinal studies the same group is followed
Stability of intelligence scores Scores become more stable with age: somewhat predictive by age 4, very stable and predictive by early adolescence
Intellectual disability Condition of limited mental ability indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life
Down syndrome Condition of intellectual disability and physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21
Terman's gifted study Followed high-IQ children for decades; most became very successful academically and professionally
Heritability The proportion of variation among individuals in a group that can be attributed to genes; not a statement about one person (Module 63)
Heritability and environment Heritability varies with the population and environment studied; it rises when environmental differences shrink (more equal opportunity)
Twin and adoption studies Methods for separating genetic from environmental influences (identical vs fraternal twins, twins raised apart, adoptees)
Twin IQ correlations Identical twins raised together about +.85; identical raised apart about +.72; fraternal raised together about +.60
Adoptive children and IQ Adopted children's scores become slightly less similar to their adoptive parents' scores as they grow up
Polygenetic intelligence Intelligence seems to be influenced by many genes, each with a small effect
Impoverished environments and IQ Extremely impoverished, low-stimulation environments can significantly hinder intelligence test performance
Enrichment and IQ No evidence that normal, healthy children can be molded into geniuses by an exceptionally enriched environment
Fixed mindset vs growth mindset Fixed: intelligence is biologically set and unchangeable. Growth: intelligence can be developed with effort (Dweck)
Gender and intelligence scores Males and females have about the same average intelligence score but differ on some abilities (Module 64)
Gender differences in specific abilities Girls: spelling, verbal fluency, detecting emotions. Boys: spatial ability and related math; boys outnumber girls at both extremes
Racial and ethnic group differences Groups differ in average test scores; differences are influenced by environment, schooling, and culture; race is not a neatly defined biological category
Stereotype threat A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype (Claude Steele); can erode performance
Cultural bias in tests Aptitude tests are biased in one sense: they are sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural experience
Statistical (predictive) bias Scientific sense of bias: failing to make valid predictions for different groups; aptitude tests are not biased in this sense
Both Robert and Maya can be right Tests are culturally sensitive (biased in the everyday sense) yet predict future performance equally well across groups (not biased in the scientific sense)
Binet's cautions about testing Use scores to help children who need support, not to label or limit them; don't treat scores as a literal measure of worth or potential