AP Psych Final

Unit 1: Introduction to Psychology

Psychology - the study of human thought processes and human behaviour

Nature vs Nurture - nature is our inherited genetic structure, nurture is our learning, experiences from media, parents, peers, etc

Industrial organizational psych - applies psychological concepts in the workplace to increase productivity

Educational psych - studies the different influences on teaching and learning

Developmental psych - studies the ways in which we change/stay the same from birth to death

Human factors psych - studies interactions of human and machines and designs machines that are user-friendly

Psychiatry - has medical training and can prescribe medication

Criminal psychology - studies the minds/patterns and behaviour of criminals, analyzes crime scenes

Cognitive neuroscience - studies the brain and how it affects cognitive function (attentions, focus, memory, etc)

Counseling psychology - assists people with problems of normal life (family, work, marriage, etc)

Clinical psychology - treats people with psychological disorders

Research psychology - formulates questions and designs research studies

Psychometrics - analyzes statistical data from psychological research studies

Community psychology -  

Psychological perspectives:

• Biological perspective - from this perspective we look like “bodies,” studies our brains, hormones, neurotransmitters, etc

• Humanistic perspective - from this perspective we look like “potential,” studies our goals, purpose, progress, healthy relationships, etc

• Evolutionary perspective - from this perspective we look like “another animal,” studies our adaptations, survival mechanisms, evolution, etc

• Behavioural/learning perspective - from this perspective we look like “programmed robots,” studies our learned behaviours, conditioned responses, etc

• Psychodynamic perspective - from this perspective we look like an “unconscious mind,” studies our traumas, past experiences, dreams, etc

• Socio-cultural perspective - from this perspective we look like our “social groups,” studies our conformity, relationships, environments, obedience to authority, etc

• Biopsychosocial perspective - from this perspective we look like a “combination,” studies our brains, minds, and social environments

• Cognitive perspective - 

Unit 2: Research Methods

Hindsight bias - people perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were

Overconfidence - excess of confidence in one’s ability or judgement that is not justified

Survey - research method that uses lists of questions filled out by people to assess attitudes or opinions

Case study - research method that uses in-depth and detailed examination of a single subject or case, usually an individual or small group

Interview - research method that asks the participants specific questions face to face and records their answers

Experiment - investigation finding relations between cause and effect where one variable is isolated to see its effect on another variable. The only method to determine cause and effect.

Correlation study - a research method that assesses the relationship among two or more variable, it cannot determine cause and effect relationship

Naturalistic observation - research method that observes participants in their natural environment and records their behaviour

Population - all the people belonging to the group being studied

Sample - the group “drawn” from the population to participate in the study

Representative sample - a sample that accurately represents the population because of the “variety” in the sampling group

Sampling bias - a flawed sampling process that results in an unrepresentative sample

Social desirability bias - a participant doesn’t answer a survey questions honestly because they are worried about being judged by the researcher

Ecological validity - the realism with which a design of evaluation setup matches the user’s real context or environment

Demand characteristics - cues that might indicate the research objectives to participants which leads to changed behavior

Conformity effects - people in the focus group simply agree with the ideas of a member

Structured interview - schedule states what questions will be asked and in what order

Unstructured interview - only states the topic and available time, more open ended

Semi-structured interview - looks like an informal conversation, interview does follow a schedule though

Focus group - group interviews

Positive correlation - both variables move up and down together

Negative correlation - variables move in opposite directions

Correlation coefficient - shows how strong the relationship is between two variables

Scatterplot - visual representation of a relationship or association between two variables

Directionality problem - we know two variables are related, but we don’t know what’s causing it

Third variable problem - when there is a third variable that is affecting/causing correlation

Illusory correlation - a “fake” correlation caused by a third variable

Likert scale - a rating scale used to measure survey participants' opinions, attitudes, motivations, etc. Uses a range of answer options ranging from one extreme to the other.

Experiment - a special type of research method designed to isolate variables to determine how a specific variable is affecting an outcome

Hypothesis - a proposed explanation as a starting point for further investigation

Null hypothesis - opposite of the hypothesis

Target population - the group of individuals intended for research

Random sampling - anyone from the target population has a change to be in the study

Sample population - the group of people from the target population who are being studied

Representative sample - participants in the study actually reflect the target population

Dependent variable - the variable that is being measured (broad)

Independent variable - the thing that separates the control group from the experimental group: what is being changed

Operational definition - an “explanation” of how the dependent variable will be measured

Replication - a way to test an existing experiment result in order to reproduce similar results using similar conditions or methods

Control group - the group not exposed to the independent variable

Experimental group - the group being manipulated by the independent variable

Random assignment - participants are randomly assigned to the control group or the experimental group

Convenience sampling - researcher samples the people who are conveniently available to be participants

Confounding variable - uncontrolled variables that could be affecting/messing up the results

Single blind procedure - researcher knows which participants are in the control group vs the experimental group

Double blind procedure - neither the researcher nor the participants know who is in the control group vs experimental group

Placebo - an inactive substance or other intervention that looks like and is given in the same way as an active drug or treatment

Placebo effect - a treatment that appears real, but is designed to have no therapeutic benefit

Mode - the most commonly occurring value in a data set

Median - when values are organized lowest to highest, and the middle value is found

Mean - average value of a data set

Range - measure of dispersion (lowest to highest value in a data set)

Standard deviation - a value showing how far data values differ from the mean of the data group

Normal bell curve - theoretical bell curve that shows the frequency of occurrence of events (0.1, 2, 14, 34)

Percentile ranks - indicators of where a score ranks among other scores

Bimodal distribution - a data set contains two distinctly different populations: modes are completely different (two separate peaks)

Negative skew - outliers are in the low end of the data set

Positive skew - outliers are in the high end of the data set

Statistical significance/effect size - how much effect the independent variable had: statistical significance calculation determines probability of your results being due to coincidence vs cause and effect (p<0.5 is statistically significant)

Ethical guidelines - professional recommendations and advice for psychologists to follow as they do research

• Informed consent - participants must be told the nature of the study

• Informed assent - the process where minors may agree to participate in research/trials

• Protection from undue stress or harm - no harm, psychological, physical or mental, or more stress than considered normal, may be applied to participants

• Debriefing - true aims and purpose must be revealed, deception must be justified

• Deception - due to demand characteristics, researchers may slightly deceive about nature of study, must be approved by board of ethics

• Confidentiality - all information is anonymous

• Right to withdraw - participants can withdraw (along with their data) from the study at any time

Institutional review - groups that review and monitor research involving human and animal subjects to protect their right and welfare

Longitudinal study - researchers repeatedly examine the same individuals to detect any changes that occur over a period of time

Cross- sectional study - research that involves different groups of people who do not share the same variable of interest, but do share other relevant variables

Confirmation bias - only paying attention to evidence and information that you already agree with or that formins your already held beliefs, ignoring all evidence that goes against those

Meta-analysis - the combination of results from two or more separate studies addressing a similar research question, allows researcher to gather data from many studies rather than just analyzing from one individual study

Regression towards the mean - extreme outcomes (unusually large numbers) in the data set are followed by more moderate number that bring the overall data set closer to the mean

Peer review - a system for evaluating the quality of scholarly work before publication

Unit 3A: Nervous System and Endocrine System

Biological psychology - branch of psychology studying link between biology and behaviour

Neuron - nerve cells

Sensory neurons - carry messages from body parts to your brain and spinal cord

Motor neurons - sends instructions to body parts

Interneurons - receive signals from the peripheral nervous systems (signals from the brain)

Glial cells - create brain blood barrier, help form myelin, balance neurotransmission by facilitating reuptake, flush out waste products from our brain while we sleep

Neural transmission - the process in which a brain signal in a neuron is transferred to another neuron

Dendrite - receive messages

Axon - pass along messages

Myelin sheath - insulates axons of neurons and speeds in up their impulses

Multiple sclerosis - occurs in myelin sheaths dissolves, communication to muscles slows, reduced muscle control/responses

Myasthenia gravis - disease that occurs when neurotransmitters for motor neurons and blocked, which causes the muscles to feel weak and fatigued

Synapse - the gap between neurons (synaptic gap)

Action potential - the electricity that fires down the axon of a neuron

Threshold - the certain about of positive ions that need to enter to interact with the negative ions before the neuron can fire

All or nothing principle - a neuron must fire completely, all neurotransmitters leave the neuron

Depolarization - Causes the action potential

Refractory period - a neuron requires time to refill negative ions before it can fire again

Resting potential - when a neuron has negative ions but not positive ions yet

Excitatory neurotransmitters - starts/increases a neuron’s potential to fire

Inhibitory neurotransmitters - stops/decreases a neuron’s potential to fire

Antagonists - medication that binds to a receptor to block neurotransmitters

Agonists - medicine that mimics a neurotransmitter and tricks the neuron into firing

Reuptake - the process in which neurotransmitters are recycled

Reuptake inhibitors - blocks reuptake

Central nervous system - transmits messages to and from sensory neurons, motor neurons, and glands of peripheral nervous system (brain, spinal cords)

Peripheral nervous system - connects central nervous system to the rest of the body

Somatic nervous system - controls voluntary movement of musculoskeletal system

Autonomic nervous system - controls visceral and unconscious functions (heart beating, breathing, blinking)

Sympathetic nervous system - fight or flight response

Parasympathetic nervous system - calms down the body after fight or flight is no longer necessary

Serotonin - affects mood, low levels lead to depression

Norepinephrine - boosts energy and focus/attention, too much leads to ADD

Acetylcholine - memory/learning, low levels leads to alzheimers

Dopamine - feeling of pleasure/reward, too much leads to schizophrenia, too little leads to parkinsons

GABA - inhibitory that blocks neurotransmission naturally

Endorphins - natural pain killer which lessens pain

Glutamate - opposite of GABA, facilitates neurotransmitters

Substance P - sends pain signals to brain, without it would develop congenital insensitivity to pain

Endocrine system - uses hormones as chemical messages to travel through the bloodstream

Hormones - chemical substances that act as messengers

Adrenaline - provides extra strength, energy, response time, adrenaline can act as a pain killer in the moment

Leptin - tells our body when we feel full

Ghrelin - tells our body when it's hungry

Melatonin - tells our body when to sleep

Oxytocin - responsible for our bodies feelings of love, trust, connections

Psychoactive drugs - substances that affect mental processes like perception, cognition, emotion, mood, etc

Stimulants - excites neural activity and arouses body functions

Caffeine - increased alertness, energy, enhanced cognitive performance

Cocaine - increased aggression, easily agitated, talkative, reckless behaviour

Depressants - calms neural activity, slows down body functions

Alcohol - reduces inhibitions, implies control, less judgment, more relaxed and confident

Hallucinogens - distort perceptions, evokes sensory images in the absence of sensory input 

Marijuana - anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, illusions, impaired motor skills

Opioids - most addictive, reduces perception of pain, confusion, euphoria, sleep, forgetful

Painkillers - drug that relieves pain by disrupting pain signals

Heroin - relief from pain, drowsiness, pleasurable feeling

Tolerance - condition that occurs when your body gets used to a medicine so either more is needed for an affect or a different medicine

Drug addiction - disease that affects a person’s brain/behaviour and leads to an inability to control drug usage

Drug withdrawal - physical/mental symptoms a person has when they stop using an addictive substance

Reflex arc - a reflex that is stored in the spinal cord and automatically allows you to react before the message could even be transmitted to your brain

Unit 3B: The Brain

Lesion - a change in the brain caused by damage or trauma

Electroencephalogram (EEG scan) - reads electrical activity of the brain, allows us to identify patterns

Positron emission tomography (PET scan) - shows chemical activity (metabolic energy) of the brain

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) - very clear 3D image of structure of the brain, that shows actual brain activity

Brainstem - innermost region of brain, responsible for automatic survival functions

1. Pons - coordinates movements

2. Medulla - base of brainstem, controls heartbeat and breathing

3. Reticular formation - nerve network in brainstem that controls attention and alertness

4. Cerebellum - rear of brainstem, processes sensory input, coordinates movement and balance

Limbic system - second layer of brain that wraps around brainstem, responsible for emotional connections

1. Amygdala - neural cluster that influences aggression and fear

2. Hypothalamus - coordinations communication between nervous and endocrine system, seeks homeostasis

3. Thalamus - “sensory switchboard,” directs sensory messages

4. Hippocampus - responsible for creating, storing and retrieving memories

5. Pituitary gland - sends messages to the endocrine system to seek hormonal balance, works with hypothalamus

Cerebral cortex - outermost layer of brain, wrinkly hemispheres

Frontal lobes - responsible for voluntary movement, expressive language, managing higher level executive functions

Prefrontal cortex - decision making, judgement, planning, reason, personality, impulse control

Executive functioning - mental processes like planning, managing emotions, regulating cognitive behaviour, etc

Parietal lobes - processes sense of touch, makes sense of words

Occipital lobes - visual processing area of the brain

Temporal lobes - processing auditory information and memory

Motor cortex - controls movement (opposite brain hemispheres)

Somatosensory cortex - processes sensory information from the body

Association areas - found in all four lobes, links cortices together so they can share information

Aphasia - the loss of previously held ability to speak, or understand spoken/written language due to brian damage

Broca’s area - motor cortex for mouth, control center for tongue, lips and jaw

Wernicke’s area - controls ability to derive meaning when people are talking to you, form logical sentences

Linguistic processing - the ability of individuals to generate and understand new linguistic forms

Plasticity - the brain’s ability to modify itself after some type of damage

Corpus callosum - connects the two hemispheres (myelinated axons “bridge”) so they can share information

Split brain research - research gained by studying patients whose corpus callosum is severed

Hemispheric specialization - differential role of left or right brain side in processing a specific neuronal task

Contralateral hemispheric organization - each side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body

Dual processing - the ability to function (breath, heartbeat, blink) while simultaneously functioning cognitively (thinking, tasks, etc)

Reward center (nucleus accumbens) - part of the brain that produces and transfers dopamine throughout the brain, located in limbic system, addiction is created in this area of the brain

Unit 3C: Interaction of Genetics and the Environment

Behaviour genetics - understanding how both the environment and genetic contribute to individual variation in human behavior

Genetic predisposition - an increased chance of developing a particular characteristic, interest, trait or disease based on the presence of genetic variants or a family genetic history 

Genome - complete set of genes present in a organism

Human genome project - a project that mapped and sequenced the human genome

Pheromones - chemicals that are secreted from the body and cause a behavioural reaction from another member of the same species

Monozygotic twins - identical twins

Dizygotic twins - fraternal twins

Heredity - the passing on a of a physical or mental trait genetically from one generation to the next

Heritability - the quality of a trait being transmissible from parent to offspring

Molecular genetics - branch of biology that addresses how differences in the structure or expression of DNA causes variation among organisms

Evolutionary psychology - as genes mutate, those that are advantageous are passed down through natural selection

Natural selection - those who adapt best to the environment will have a better chance of surviving, reproducing and passing genes to their offspring

Adaptation - species develop characteristics that make it more competitive in its environment

Diathesis stress model - psychological theory that behaviour is a predispositional genetic vulnerability expressed as a result of stress in life

Epigenetics - the study of the interaction between genetics and the environment

Prospective studies - someone is selected and observed before a certain behaviour emerges (longitudinal study)

Eugenics - a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of the human population

Unit 4: Sensation and Perception 

Sensation - how our body gathers info about the world, sent to our brain as electrical signals

Perception - how our brain takes those electrical signals and organizes them into meaningful symbols or objects so that we can interpret our surroundings

Bottom up - sensation (same for all people)

Top down - perception (differs between people)

Selective attention - your brain chooses what to focus on and has the ability to block out everything else 

Cocktail party effect - our brain focuses our attention on a particular stimulus (usually auditory) this focus excludes a range of other stimuli from conscious awareness

Inattentional blindness - the flip side of selective attention

Change blindness - your brain doesn't process an unimportant change

Absolute threshold - the point at which you only notice something 50% of the time

Difference threshold - the point at which you only notice the difference between two things 50% of the time

Signal detection theory - False alarm, hit, miss, correct rejection

Weber's law - difference threshold must differ by 2% in order to notice

Sensory adaptation - our brain mutes certain smells around you after a while

Transduction - the process of turning a light wave or a sound wave into an electrical impulse that your brian can process

How we see: 

1. Light waves enter your eye through your pupil. The iris expands and contracts based on the light.

2. The light hits the lens and focuses it on the back of the retina, to a special point called the fovea.

3. The fovea contains cones and rods (cones = color, rods = dark light)

4. Fovea is where transduction occurs (the light wave is now electricity)

5. Ganglion cells form the optic nerve and carry the electrical signal to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe

Blind spot - the point where the optical nerve leaves your eye, creating a spot where the light cannot be processed

Feature detectors - neurons in the visual cortex responsible for processing visual stimuli (light, shape, color, motion, depth, speed)

Parallel processing - the ability of our brain to simultaneously process incoming stimuli of differing quality

How we see color:

1. Young-Helmholtz trichromatic color theory - we have red cones, green cones and blue cones that all work together to give us our sense of color 

2. Opponent process theory - each cone is responsible for two opposite colors

Nearsightedness - objects far away are blurry due to a long eyeball or steeply curved cornea

Farsightedness - objects up close are blurry due to a short eyeball or a flat cornea

Monochromatism - you can only see one color in all shades due to a mutation in a gene that affects your cones

Dichromatism - you can only see two colors due to a mutation in a gene

Blindsight - a person can still receive visual input from the environment even if they're not consciously aware

Wavelengths - color exist as wavelengths that our brain interprets

How we hear:

1. Sound waves are funneled into the ear canal. This causes your eardrum to vibrate.

2. The vibration of the eardrum causes the hammer, anvil and stirrup to oscillate back and forth

3. The stirrup knocks against the cochlea

4. The fluid inside the cochlea causes the hair cells to flow back and forth, which produces an electrical charge. Transduction has occurred.

5. Electricity is carried by the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex (in the temporal lobe) to be processed.

Semicircular canals - found within the ear and are responsible for balance as well as motion sickness. They are filled with fluid and receptors.

How we hear high or low pitches:

1. Place theory - The place in the cochlea at which the hair cells are stimulated determines the pitch of the sound

2. The frequency of the electricity (the pattern) determines the pitch of the sound

Note: there is a positive correlation between pitch and frequency, and between loudness and amplitude

Hearing loss:

1. Conductive hearing loss - damage to the structure of the ear (fluid, foreign object, allergies, ruptured eardrum, earwax, etc)

2. Sensorineural hearing loss - damage to the neurons (aging, noise damage, drug side effects, auditory tumors, blast, etc)

Cochlear implants - a surgery where a artificial cochlea can be connected to the auditory cortex so that transduction can occur

Sound localization - the ability to hear where sound comes from based on intensity and direction of sound waves

Gustation - our sense of taste

1. Sour means - taste of acids, evolved to taste sourness to identify harmful foods

2. Bitter means - detect poisons, discern which plants are good to eat

3. Sweet means - taste of forms of sugars/alcohol, helps us recognize high energy foods

4. Umami means - taste of protein, helps us recognize foods high in proteins

5. Salty means - taste of salts, helps us recognize foods with electrolytes and sodium

6. Oleogustus means - taste of fat, helps us recognize foods high in fats

Olfactory system - our sense of smell (areas responsible for smell/memory are closely related, allowing us to better remember smells)

Kinesthesis - provides a sense of movement, posture and orientation of our body parts

Vestibular - provides a sense of balance and movement of the head

Gate control theory - small muscle fibers carrying the sensation signal means the pain gate is open (someone punches you). If large muscle fibers carry the sensation signal it means the pain gate is closed (someone puts a hand on you.

Phantom limb pain - pain can be felt in amputated limbs because the nerve network in your brain still exists

Sensory interaction - interaction of senses such that they influence each other (e.g you can’t taste when you have a stuffy nose)

Synesthesia - senses that are not normally paired together are connected (e.g taste colors, feel sounds)

Gestalt Principle of Figure Ground - the brain can only focus its attention on one thing at a time, seeing the focus and everything else is in the background

Gestalt grouping principles - our brain finds patterns so it can process all the information at once (shortcuts)

1. Proximity - things that are close together are grouped and processed together

2. Similarity - things that are similar/patterns are grouped and processed together

3. Continuity - continuous things are grouped and processed together

4. Connectedness - things that are physically connected are grouped and processed together

5. Closure - our brain “completes” things so that they can be grouped and processed together

Prosopagnosia - face blindness due to our brain seeing individual features not can’t organize them into a full face

Binocular depth cues - our eyes working together

1. Retinal disparity - our brain compares different images from both retinas and puts the information together

2. Convergence - a binocular cue for perceiving depth, the extent to which the eyes converge inwards when looking at an object

Monocular depth cues

1. Linear perspective - depth cue specific to the parallel lines that seem to converge in the distance

2. Relative height - tells us how objects are closer or further by how high an object is positioned in our view

3. Relative size - tells us how objects are closer or further by how big they appear in our field of vision

4. Interposition - tells us which objects are further of closer by how an object partially conceals another

5. Motion parallax - tells us how far or closer things are by how fast they move by us as we pass them

6. Shadows and light - the information that light and shadows give us

7. Texture gradient/relative clarity - allows us to perceive depth based on the detail of the texture of an object

Visual cliff experiment - an experiment to see whether crawling infants can perceive depth

Perceptual constancy:

1. Color constancy - our brain knows objects stay the same color even if the lighting makes it seem to change color

2. Size constancy - our brain can understand that objects aren’t actually shrinking as they get further away, they stay the same size regardless of distance 

3. Shape constancy - the motion and position of something creates the illusion that it’s changing shape, but they're actually constant and unchanging

Unit 5: Sleep

Consciousness - awareness of ourselves and our environment

Circadian rhythm - our body’s biological 24-hour cycle that causes us to be awake in day and asleep at night

Jet lag - flying through different time zones, people feel tired based on original location

Shift work - people who work shifts at night have completely backward circadian rhythms

NREM stage 1 - brain prepares for sleep, alpha brain waves, hallucinations, jerky movements, hypnogogic suggestions

NREM stage 2 - shallow sleep, sleep talking, easily awakened

NREM stage 3 - deep sleep, delta brain waves, sleepwalking, refreshes our body

REM - rapid eye movement, random brain waves, heart rate and breathing, dreams, paralysis, memories are stored, brain is refreshed due to toxins being flushed out

REM Rebound - the lengthening and increasing frequency and depth of REM sleep which occurs are periods of sleep deprivation

Hypnogogic sensations - imaginary images or sensations that appear real as a person is falling asleep

Consolidation theory - sleep plays a crucial role in the process of converting short-term memories into long-term memories

Activation synthesis theory - our brain activates memories from the day and creates a dream from random processed information

Restoration of resources theory - sleep is necessary for the body and mind to restore and recover from the day’s activities

Narcolepsy - a person falls asleep immediately and randomly throughout the day

Sleep apnea - people stop breathing up to minutes while asleep throughout the night

REM sleep behaviour disorder - a person’s body doesn’t go into paralysis during REM, acts out their dreams

Insomnia - people have a difficult time falling asleep and staying asleep

Somnambulism - a person walks in their sleep

Night terrors - kids have nightmare during REM 3 sleep and can’t be woken up, sitting up and acting out their nightmares

Sleep paralysis - Person doesn’t wake up from REM, body is paralyzed, hallucinations a “reason”

Unit 6: Learning

Learning - the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviours

Habituation - an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it

Associative learning - learning to associate events together in order to anticipate an outcome

Classical conditioning - learning to associate two stimuli you can’t control to anticipate an outcome

Behavioral perspective - view that 1. psychology should be an objective science that 2. studies behaviour without reference to mental processes (most scientists agree with 1, but not 2)

Unconditioned response - a natural response

Unconditioned stimulus - a natural stimulus that elicits a natural response

Conditioned response - a conditioned response that is not natural

Conditioned stimulus - a conditioned stimulus that is not natural

Acquisition - the connection made to produce the conditioned response

Extinction - the conditioned response “wears off” after a time of not being used

Stimulus generalization - any stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus that elicits the conditioned response

Spontaneous recovery - random “resurfacing” of the conditioned behaviour/response

Stimulus discrimination - differentiating between stimuli similar to the conditioned response that don’t elicit the conditioned response

One trial conditioning - the associated is so strong and effective it only takes on trial for conditioning to occur (traumatic events)

Superstitious behaviour - behaviour driven by a false associated between two variables

Higher order conditioning/secondary conditioning - learner begins to associate more and more connected stimuli with their learning

Operant conditioning - learning to associate your behaviour with a reward/punishment

Law of effect - behaviours that are reinforced occur more while behaviors that are punished occur less

Operant chamber/Skinner box - an environment designed to produce a reward in response to a desired behaviour

Shaping - reinforcers guide behaviour toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behaviour

Reinforcer - an event that strengthens the behaviour it followed

Reinforcement discrimination - the learner can discriminate between types of reinforcement

Reinforcement generalization - the learner does not discriminate between different reinforcers

Positive reinforcement - increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers (adding something good)

Negative reinforcement - increasing behaviours by stopping or reducing a negative stimuli (taking away something bad)

Primary reinforcer - an innately reinforcing stimulus, e.g satisfaction of a biological need (food, water, sleep)

Conditioned reinforcer/secondary reinforcer - a reinforcing stimulus that improves quality of life (grades, money, prize)

Fixed ratio - reward is given after a set amount of times the desired behaviour is done

Variable ratio - reward is given after a random number of times the desired behaviour is done

Fixed interval - reward is given after a set amount of time goes by

Variable interval - reward is given after a random amount of time goes by

Positive punishment - reducing a behaviour by adding an undesirable stimulus

Negative punishment - reducing a behavior by removing a desired stimulus

Counterconditioning - reversing an unwanted conditioned behaviour through conditioning

Instinctual drift - when an animal reverts back to its natural behaviour opposite to the learned behaviour

Latent learning - you don't realize that you’ve learned something until you find yourself needing it

Intrinsic motivation - internal motivation to do something (because you love it)

Extrinsic motivation - external rewards or motivation to do something

Social Learning Theory/observational learning - process of watching and mimicking the behavior of others

Modeling - a figure whose behaviour/interest/values are observed and imitated by others

Mirror neurons - neurons that fire when you watching someone do something, preparing you to do be able to do it as well

Prosocial behaviour - good behaviours to imitate

Antisocial behaviour - bad behaviours to imitate

Vicarious conditioning - watching someone else be conditioned

Ivan Pavlov - founded the principles of classical conditioning with the dog and bell experiment

JB Watson - brought Pavlov’s principles of classical conditioning to human psychology with the Baby Albert experiment

BF Skinner - founded the principles of operant conditioning based on the Law of Effect

Martin Seligman and Steven Maier - Experimented on dogs to see how helplessness is learned

Albert Bandura - founded the principles of Social Learning Theory through his Bobo Doll experiment

Wolfgang Kohler - experimented on monkey to see how insight learning works

Thorndike - created the Law of Effect

Insight learning - the sudden realization or understanding of the solution to a problem

Learned helplessness - a thought process about oneself that develops from situations so that the individual believes themself incable or helplessness in further situations

Unit 11: Intelligence

Intelligence - the ability to learn from experience, solve problems and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

General intelligence - smartness in many area, not just one (g-factor)

Emotional intelligence - being able to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions

Mental age - the “knowledge”/mental level that an individual displays

Chronological age - the actual age in years of an individual

Intelligence quotient (IQ) - a test taker’s score on an intelligence test that is measured and compared to other scores

Achievement test - tests what you have learned in a certain subject

Aptitude test - measurement of your abilities and tries to predict how easily you would pick up on new tasks

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - one of the most widely used intelligences tests today, includes verbal, comprehension, perceptual organization, memory, and processing speed)

Standardization - every test taker receives the same amount of time, instructions, and environments to take the test as everyone else

Reliability - the test will yield the same resulting scores if given multiple times

Test-retest reliability - giving a test multiple times

Split-half reliability - the test is split in half and given to two groups to determine is the test questions are reliable

Validity - quality of being logically or factually correct

Predictive validity - results of the test accurately predict how the test taker will do in future tests

Construct validity - test is constructed in a way that yields accurate

Down Syndrome - an intellectual disability in individuals with an extra copy of Chromosome 21

Stereotype threat - people feel pressured by the stereotype about them and believe they are judged on the basis of the stereotype which causes their performance to decrease

Stereotype lift - when competing against someone who as a negative stereotype against them, you do better due to the boosted confidence

Self-fulfilling prophecy - how we rise or fall to the expectations of ourselves and other whether or not they are true about us

Savant syndrome - a person who has diminished cognitive abilities but is a genius in one specific area

Crystallized intelligence - knowledge that you have accumulated throughout your life

Fluid intelligence - what allows us to think quickly on the spot and come up with new and creative answers in a short amount of time

Grit - a person’s refusal to quit when things get hard

Growth mindset - the person actually believes they can learn new things even if it takes longer or more effort than those around them

Fixed mindset - people who simply believe that they are bad at certain subjects, tasks, etc

Flynn Effect - each generation is outperforming the generations before it, the human race is becoming more intelligent with each generation