AP Psychology Exam Notes
Unit Zero – Research Design
CORRELATION: Identifies relationships between two variables.
EXPERIMENTS: Manipulates variables to determine cause/effect.
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION: Observes people in natural settings.
CASE STUDY: Studies one person (usually) in great detail.
META-ANALYSIS: Combines multiple studies to increase sample size and examine effect sizes.
Basic Vocabulary
Hypothesis: A tentative explanation that must be FALSIFIABLE (able to be supported or rejected).
Operational Definition: Clear, precise, quantifiable definition of variables, allowing replication and reliable data collection.
Qualitative Data: Descriptive data (e.g., eye color).
Quantitative Data: Numerical data, ideal and necessary for statistics.
Population: Everyone the research could apply to.
Sample: The specific people (or person) chosen for the study.
Research Designs
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
Advantage: Useful when experiments are unethical.
Disadvantage: CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION.
Directionality Problem: Which direction does the correlation go? (e.g., Does depression cause low self-esteem, or does low self-esteem cause depression, or is there a third variable?).
3rd Variable Problem: A different variable is responsible for the relationship (e.g., ice cream sales and murder rates).
Types of Correlation:
Positive Correlation: Variables increase & decrease together.
Negative Correlation: As one variable increases, the other decreases.
The stronger the # the stronger the relationship REGARDLESS of the pos/neg sign. Cannot be < or > than 1.
Stronger relationships = tighter clusters on graph
EXPERIMENTS
Advantage: Only type that establishes cause and effect.
Disadvantage: Can be unethical, too artificial.
Variables:
Independent Variable: Purposefully altered by the researcher to look for an effect.
Experimental Group: Receives the treatment (part of the IV); can have multiple exp, groups.
Control Group: Placebo, baseline (part of the IV); can only have 1.
Dependent Variable: Measured variable (is DEPENDENT on the independent variable).
Vocab unique to experiments:
Placebo Effect: Any observed effect on behavior that is “caused” by the placebo (shows the effectiveness of the experimental treatment). Usually fixed with blinded studies.
Double-Blind: Experiment where neither the participant nor the experimenter is aware of which condition people are assigned to (drug studies).
Single-Blind: Only the participant is blind – used if the experimenter can’t be blind (gender, age, etc).
Confound: Error/flaw in the study that is accidentally introduced (can be called a confounding variable).
Random Assignment: Assigns participants to either the control or experimental group at random – increases the chance of equal representation among groups (spreads the lefties across both groups) – allows you to say Cause / Effect
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION
Advantage: Real-world validity.
Disadvantage: No cause and effect.
CASE STUDY
Advantage: Collect lots of info
Disadvantage: No cause/effect
STATISTICS
Descriptive Stats: Show the shape of the data.
Measures of Central Tendency:
Mean: Average (use in normal distribution).
Median: Middle # (use in skewed distribution).
Mode: Occurs most often.
Bimodal: Has two modes – usually indicates good bad scores.
Skews: Created by outliers.
Negative Skew: Mean is to the left (negative side), mode is to the right.
Positive Skew: Mean is to the right.
Measure of Variation
Range: Distance bw smallest and biggest #
Standard Deviation: Avg. amount the scores are spread from the mean (bigger # = more spread).
Inferential Statistics: Establishes significance (meaningfulness).
Statistical Significance: Results not due to chance, experiment manipulation caused the difference in means.
p < .05 = stat. sig, smaller = better
Effect Size: Data has practical significance – bigger = better.
ETHICAL GUIDELINES (IRB APPROVAL NEEDED FOR PPL)
Confidentiality: Names are kept secret.
Informed Consent: Must agree to be part of the study.
Informed Assent: Minors AND their parents must agree.
Debriefing: Must be told the true purpose of the study (done after for deception).
Deception: Must be warranted.
No Harm: Mental/physical.
Additional Vocabulary
Surveys: Usually turned into correlation. Subject to self-report bias - errors when collecting survey data due to:
Social Desirability: People lie to look good.
Wording Effects: How you frame the question can impact your answers.
Random Sample (Selection): Method for choosing participants for your study – everyone has a chance to take part, increases generalizability.
Representative Sample: Sample mimics the general pop. (ethnic, gender, age).
Convenience Sample: Select participants on availability – less representative and less generalizability this way.
Sampling Bias: Sample isn’t representative, due to conv. sampling
Cultural Norms: Behaviors of a particular group can influence research results.
Experimenter Bias / Participant Bias: Experimenter/participant expectations influence the outcome.
Cognitive Bias: Bias in thinking/judgment
Confirmation Bias: Find info that supports our preexisting beliefs.
Hindsight Bias: “I knew it all along.”
Overconfidence: Overestimate our knowledge / abilities.
Hawthorne Effect: People change behavior when watched.
Research needs peer review and adequate sample sizes
Biological Basis Pillar
NT = neurotransmitter, AP = action potential, NS = nervous system
Heredity vs. Environment
Evolutionary Psych: Studies how natural selection influences behavior.
Heredity (Nature): How genes influence your behavior.
Environment (Nurture): How outside situations influence your behavior (school).
NATURE VS. NURTURE: ANSWER IS BOTH
Twin / Adoption Studies:
Genetics: Identical twins will have a higher percentage of also developing a disease.
Environment: Identical twins raised in different environments show differences.
NERVOUS SYSTEM
Central NS: Brain and spinal cord.
Peripheral NS: Rest of the NS – relays to Central NS
Somatic NS: Voluntary movement, has sensory and motor neurons.
Autonomic NS: Involuntary organs (heart, lungs, etc) – contains the:
Sympathetic NS: Fight/flight (generally activates – exception digestion).
Parasympathetic NS: Rest / digest (generally inhibits- exception digestion).
NEURON AND NEURAL FIRING
NEURON: Basic cell of the NS
Dendrites: Receive incoming NTs.
Axon: AP travels down this.
Myelin Sheath: Speeds up AP down axon, protects axon.
Synapse: Gap b/w neurons.
Types of Neurons:
Sensory Neurons: Receive sense signals from the environment – send signal to the brain.
Motor Neurons: Signals to move – send signals from the brain.
Interneurons: Cells in the spinal cord /brain responsible for reflex arc.
Reflex Arc: Important stimuli skip the brain and route through the spinal cord for immediate reactions (hand on a hot flame).
Glia: Support cells – give nutrients and clean up around neurons.
Neurons Fire w/ an Action Potential: Ions move across the membrane sends an electrical charge down the axon.
Resting Potential: Neuron maintains a -70mv charge when not doing anything.
Depolarization: Charge of neuron briefly switches from negative to positive – triggers the AP.
Threshold of Depolarization: Stimulus strength must reach this point to start the AP.
All or Nothing Principle: Stimulus must trigger the AP past its threshold, but does not increase the intensity or speed of the response (flush the toilet).
Refractory Period: Neuron must rest and reset before it can send another AP (toilet resets).
Neurotransmitters (NT): Chemicals released in synaptic gap, received by neurons. Classified as excitatory (increase APs in other neurons) or inhibitory (decrease APs).
GABA: Major inhibitory NT.
Glutamate: Major excitatory NT (glutes excite you!).
Dopamine: Reward (short term) & fine movement – in the hypothalamus, assoc. w/ addiction.
Serotonin: Moods (long-term), emotion, and sleep –in amygdala, too little assoc. w/ depression.
Acetylcholine (ACh): Memory and movement –in hippocampus, assoc. w/ Alzheimer’s.
Norepinephrine: sympathetic NS - too little assoc. w/ depression
Endorphins: decrease pain
Substance P: pain regulation (abnormality increases pain and inflammation)
HORMONES: if not in the nervous system, it’s a hormone
Oxytocin: Love, bonding, childbirth, lactation.
Adrenaline: Fight/flight
Leptin: Makes you full (stops hunger).
Ghrelin: Makes you hungry (turns you into a gremlin).
Melatonin: Sleep.
Agonist: Drug that mimics a NT.
Antagonist: Drug that blocks a NT.
Reuptake: Unused NTs are taken back up into the sending neuron.(antidepressants cause reuptake inhibition (block reuptake) – treatment for depression
Psychoactive Drugs:
Depressants: Decrease NS activity (alcohol).
Stimulants: Increase NS activity (caffeine & cocaine).
Hallucinogens: Hallucinations and altered perceptions (Marijuana).
Opioids: Relieve pain (endorphin agonists) (heroin).
Tolerance: Needing more of a drug to achieve the same effects.
Addiction: Must have it to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal: Symptoms associated with sudden stoppage.
The Brain
Cerebellum: Movement, balance, coordination, and procedural memory (walking a tightrope balancing a bell).
Brainstem / Medulla: Vital organs (HR, BP, breathing).
Reticular Activating System: Alertness, arousal, sleep, and eye movement.
Cerebral Cortex: Outer portion of the brain – higher-order thought processes – includes the limbic system, lobes, and corpus callosum.
Limbic System:
Amygdala: Emotions, fear.
Hippocampus: Episodic and semantic memory (if you saw a hippo on campus you’d remember it!).
Hypothalamus: Reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors – link to the endocrine system, homeostasis.
Thalamus: Relay center for all but smell.
Pituitary Gland: Talks w/ endocrine sys and hypothalamus – release hormones
Lobes:
Occipital Lobe: Vision.
Frontal Lobe: Decision-making, planning, judgment, movement, personality, language, and executive function – includes the:
Prefrontal Cortex: Front of the frontal lobe – executive function.
Motor Cortex: Back of the frontal lobe - map of our motor receptors – controls skeletal movement.
Parietal Lobe: Sensations and touch – controls association areas – includes:
Somatosensory Cortex: Map of our touch receptors.
Temporal Lobe: Hearing and face recognition, language.
Association Areas: Receive input from multiple areas/lobes to integrate info.
Left hemisphere only – damage to these results in aphasia (damaged speech)
Broca’s Area: Inability to produce speech (Broca – Broken speech).
Wernicke’s Area: Can’t comprehend speech (Wernicke’s what?).
Corpus Callosum: Bundle of nerves that connects the 2 hemispheres – sometimes severed in patients with severe seizures – leads to “split-brain patients”.
Split-Brain Experiments:
Image shown to R eye processed in L hemi – patient can say what they saw; image shown to L eye processed in R hemi, can’t say what was seen.
Brain Plasticity: Brain changes via damage and through experience.
Endocrine System: Sends hormones throughout the body.
Pituitary Gland: Controlled by the hypothalamus. Release growth hormones.
Brain Research:
EEG: Shows broad brain activity – not specific – electrical output.
fMRI: Shows brain activity in specific regions, measures oxygen.
Lesion: Destruction of brain tissue.
Diseases & Disorders to Know
Multiple Sclerosis: Destruction of the myelin sheath, disrupts APs, causes impaired mobility, paralysis, and pain.
Myasthenia Gravis: Acetylcholine blocked, disrupts APs, causes poor motor control and paralysis.
Blindsight: Caused by lesions to the primary visual cortex, ppl can “see” ie catch a ball etc despite being blind – evidence for association areas
Prosopagnosia: Face blindness – damage to the occipital and/or temporal lobe.
Broca’s Aphasia: Damage to Broca’s area – stuttered speech.
Wernicke’s Aphasia: Damage to Wernicke’s – jumbled speech.
Phantom Limb Pain: Pain from a limb that is no longer there (amputated) – caused by brain plasticity.
Epilepsy: Seizures – too much / little Glutamate / GABA.
Alzheimer’s: Destruction of acetylcholine in hippocampus, memory loss.
SLEEP
Consciousness: Awareness of cognitive processes (asleep or awake?).
Circadian Rhythms: 24-hour biological clock of body temp & sleep.
Disrupting it makes your internal clock get out of sync (jet lag and shift work do this).
Brain Waves:
Beta Waves: Awake (you betta be awake for the exam).
Alpha Waves: High amp., drowsy.
NREM (non-REM) Stages:
NREM 1: Light sleep, has hypnagogic sensations (falling feeling).
NREM 2: Bursts of sleep spindles.
NREM 3 Delta waves: Deep sleep.
Rapid Eye Movement (REM): Dreaming, cognitive processing.
The entire cycle takes 90 minutes, REM occurs inb/w each cycle. REM lasts longer throughout the night, deep sleep decreases.
REM is “paradoxical” because your HR and brain is active – but your body is relaxed.
REM Rebound: After sleep disruptions and/or a lack of REM sleep you’ll have more / more intense REM sleep.
Dream Theories:
Activation Synthesis: The brain produces random bursts of energy – stimulating lodged memories in the limbic sys & brain stem. Dreams start random then develop meaning. Its Neural theory.
Consolidation Dream Theory: The brain is combining and processing memories for storage.
Why is Sleep Necessary?
Consolidation: Storage of memories.
Restoration: Helps regenerate the immune system and restore energy.
Sleep Disorders:
Insomnia: Inability to fall/stay asleep (due to stress/anxiety).
Somnambulism (Sleep Walking): Happens during stage 3 - NOT during REM.
Narcolepsy: Fall into REM out of nowhere – treated w/ stimulants.
Sleep Apnea: Stop breathing while asleep (due to obesity usually).
REM Behavior Disorder: Malfunction of the mechanism that paralyzes you during REM.
SENSATION
Intro Vocab
Sensation: Receive stimulus energy from the environment.
Transduction: Convert that info into APs.
Perception: Brain interprets the info.
Absolute Threshold: Detection of signal 50% of the time (is it there).
Just Noticeable Difference: Can tell the difference b/w a stronger and weaker stimulus or two similar things (coke vs pepsi, did it get stronger?).
Weber’s Law: Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion.(the stronger thing, the more you have to add to tell the difference)
Synesthesia: “Disorder” where your senses blend (see sounds, etc).
Sensory Adaptation: Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation (ex. nose blindness)– sensory receptors respond less (get tired).
Visual System:
Lens: Focuses light on the retina.
Retina: Contains photoreceptors (rods/cones/ ganglion cells).
Fovea: Area of best vision (cones here).
Rods: Black/white, dark adaptation; way more rods than cones; located along sides of the retina.
Cones: Color, bright light (red, green, blue) (only in the fovea).
Ganglion Cells: Create optic nerve (opponent process theory happens here).
Blind Spot: Occurs where the optic nerve leaves the eye.
Visual System Vocab:
Accommodation: Lens changes curvature to focus images on the retina.
Nearsightedness: Better vision near.
Farsightedness: Better vision far.
Theories of Color Vision:
Trichromatic: Three cones for receiving color.
Blue – short waves
Green – medium waves
Red – long waves
Opponent Process: Complementary colors are processed in ganglion cells – explains why we see an after image.
Red/green
Blue/yellow
Black/white
Color Deficiency:
Damage to, or missing - cones or ganglion cells
Red/green is most common
Dichromatism – missing 1 cone
Monochromatism – only have rods
Auditory System:
Properties of Sound:
Wavelength: Distance bw peaks - pitch
Long waves = low pitch
Narrow waves = high pitch
Amplitude: Height of wave – loudness
Short waves = soft
Tall waves = loud
Theories of Hearing: all occur in the cochlea
Place Theory: Location where hair cells bends determines sound (high pitches).
Frequency Theory: Rate at which action potentials are sent determines sound (low pitches).
Volley Theory: Groups of neurons fire APs out of sync.
Other Hearing Stuff:
Sound Localization: Which ear gets the waves first tells the location of sound.
Conduction Deafness: Damage to the bones of the ear and ear drum cause hearing loss.
Sensorineural: Damage to the cochlea, hairs in the cochlea, or nerve – usually due to old age and loud noise.
Other Senses:
Vestibular: Sense of balance (semicircular canals in the inner ear).
Kinesthetic: Sense of body position & movement without looking.
Pain: Gate-control theory: we have a “gate” to control how much pain is experienced. Pain is both mental and physical.
“Hot”: Activation of warm and cold receptors.
Taste (Gustation): Six taste receptors: bitter, salty, sweet, sour, umami (savory), oleogustus (fatty/oily).
Tongue, mouth, and brain process taste.
The density of taste receptors makes ppl super tasters, medium tasters, or nontasters
Sensory interaction creates taste – wo smell taste isn’t as strong or is absent
Smell (Olfaction): Only sense that does NOT route through the thalamus.
Pheromones produce chemical signals within a species for attraction
Perception
Top-Down Processing: Whole idea (prior expectations) smaller parts (painting w/ faces)
Bottom-Up Processing: Smaller Parts (sensory info) Whole idea (dog of a bunch of dots)
Schemas: Preexisting mental concept of how something should look (like a restaurant)
Perceptual Set: Tendency to see something as part of a group – speeds up signal processing
Gestalt Psychology: Whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Gestalt Principles:
Figure/Ground: Organize information into figures/objects (figures) that stand apart from surrounds (background).
Closure: Mentally fill in gaps.
Proximity: Group things together that appear near each other.
Similarity: Group things together based off of looks.
Constancies: Recognize that objects do not physically change despite changes in sensory input (size, shape, brightness).
Apparent Movement: Objects can appear moving when they aren’t (flip books, blinking lights).
Selective Attention: Focus on one thing and block out other things – can result in:
Inattentional Blindness: Failure to notice something added because you’re so focused on another task (gorilla video).
Change Blindness: Fail to notice a change in the scene (curtain changes color).
Cocktail Party Effect: Notice your name across the room when its spoken, when you weren’t previously paying attention.
Binocular Depth Cues: (how both eyes make up a 3D image)
Retinal Disparity: Image is cast slightly differently on each retina, location of image helps us determine depth.
Convergence: Eyes strain more (looking inward) as objects draw nearer.
Monocular Depth Cues: (how we form a 3D image from a 2D image)
Interposition: Overlapping images appear closer.
Relative Size: 2 objects that are usually similar in size, the smaller one is further away.
Linear Perspective: Parallel lines converge with distance (think railroad tracks).
Relative Clarity: Hazy objects appear further away.
Texture Gradient: Coarser objects=closer
Thinking & Problem Solving
Concepts: Mental categories used to group objects, events, characteristics
Prototypes: All instances of a concept are compared to an ideal example
Algorithms: Step-by-step strategies that guarantee a solution (formula).
Heuristics: Short cut strategy
Representative Heuristic: Make judgment based on your experience (like a stereotype) – assume someone must be a librarian b/c they’re quiet
Availability Heuristic: Make a judgment based on the first thing that pops in your head (assume planes are dangerous b/c crash in the news).
Metacognition: Thinking about (reflecting upon) the way you think.
Mental Set: Keep using one strategy to solve a problem – cannot think outside the box.
Functional Fixedness: Can only see one (common) use for an item– cannot think outside of the box.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: Continue something because you’re already invested (might as well finish it now…) – when stopping would be more beneficial.
Gambler’s Fallacy: Believe something is more likely to happen because it's “due” – the dice have no memory.
Divergent Thinking: Ability to think about many different things at once (Creative) – hindered by func. fixedness
Convergent Thinking: Limits creativity – one answer.
Executive Functioning: Generating, organizing, planning, and carrying out goal-directed behaviors
Memory Encoding: Getting info into memory
Automatic Encoding: Requires no effort (what did you have for breakfast?).
Effortful Encoding: Requires work (school).
Levels (Depth) of Processing: The more emphasis on MEANING the deeper the processing, and the better remembered.
Structural encoding (shallow) – emphasis on physical structural
Phonemic encoding (intermediate)– emphasis on what words sound like
Semantic encoding (deep) = emphasis on meaning of the words
Elaborative Rehearsal: Strategies to enhance encoding like below:
Imagery: Attaching images to information makes it easier to remember
Dual Encoding: Using multiple methods of processing to remember (photo + words)
Chunking: Break info into smaller units to aid in memory (like a phone #)
Mnemonics: Shortcuts to help us remember info easier
Acronyms: Using letters to remember something (PEMDAS)
Method of Loci: Using locations to remember a list of items in order
Context-Dependent Memory: Where you learn the info you best remember the info (scuba divers testing).
State-Dependent Memory: The physical state you were in when learning is the way you should be when testing (study high, test high).
Mood Congruent Memory: Remember happy events when happy, sad when sad
Forgetting Curve: Recall decreases rapidly at first, then reaches a plateau after which little more is forgotten
Distributed Practice (spacing effect): Review a little every night (resets forgetting curve).
Massed Practice: Cramming
Testing Effect: Quizzing over material periodically
Storage: Retaining info over time
Multi-Store Model: Sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory model
Sensory Memory: Stores all incoming stimuli that you receive (first you have to a pay attention)
Iconic Memory – visual memory, lasts 0.3 seconds
Echoic Memory – auditory memory, lasts 2-3 seconds
Short Term Memory: Info passes from sensory memory to STM – lasts 30 secs, and can remember 7 ± 2 items
Maintenance Rehearsal (repeating the info) resets the clock
Long Term Memory: Lasts a lifetime
Explicit: Require conscious effort:
Episodic: events
Semantic: facts
Implicit: Automatic, no effort needed:
Classical conditioning
Priming: info that is seen earlier “primes” you to remember something later on
Procedural: skills (muscle memory)
Working Memory Model splits STM into 2 – visual spatial memory (from iconic mem) and phonological loop (from echoic mem). A “central executive” puts it together before passing it to LTM
Other Odd Types of Memory
Prospective Memory: Remembering you need to do something (pick up milk).
Autobiographical Memory: Memory for your personal history – combo of episodic and semantic
Superior Autobiographical: Rare condition – ppl have extra detailed memories
Memory Organization
Hierarchies: memory is stored according to a clusters of related info
Categorically – stored in categories
Semantic Networks: webs of semi-related info
Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon – can’t remember the name of something bs you’re stuck elsewhere in your semantic network
Schemas –frameworks that organize info
Assimilation: Incorporate new info into existing schema Cat is a dog b/c 4 legs.
Accommodation: Adjust existing schemas to incorporate new information Cat and dogs = different.
Memory Storage
Acetylcholine neurons in the hippocampus for episodic and semantic
Memories before age 3 are unreliable (infantile amnesia) – the hippocampus still forming
Cerebellum for implicit / procedural memories
Amygdala for emotional memories
Frontal lobe for encoding and retrieval
Long-Term Potentiation: Neural basis of memory – connections are strengthened over time with repeated stimulation (more firing of neurons)
Memory Consolidation – memories are strengthened and made more stable with time
Retrieval: Taking info out of storage
Serial Position Effect: Tendency to remember the beginning (primacy effect) and the end (recency effect) of the list best
Primacy happens because the info got moved to long term memory
Recency because its still in your short term
Recall: Remember what you’ve been told without cues (essays).
Recognition: Remember what you’ve been told with cues (MCQ) (this one is better).
Repressed Memories: Unconsciously buried memories to defend the ego (psychodynamic approach).
Encoding Failure: Forget info because you never encoded it (paid attention to it) in the first place (which is the real penny).
Proactive Interference: OLD info blocks new info.
Retroactive Interference: NEW info blocks old info.
Constructive Memory: The way we update memories w/ new memories, associations, feelings – memory is unreliable
Source Amnesia: Forget who told you, where you heard it.
Misinformation Effect: Distortion of memory by suggestion or misinformation (lost in the mall, Disney land).
Framing: The way a question is framed impacts how info is recalled/perceived (how fast were the cars going when they smashed).
Imagination Inflation: People are more confident an event happened after imagining it (even though it didn’t happen).
Anterograde Amnesia: Amnesia moves forward (forget new info – 50 first dates).
Retrograde Amnesia: Amnesia moves backwards (forget old info).
Development and Learning Pillar
Intelligence & Achievement
Intelligence theories are split:
Single form of intelligence (g factor) - general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities (typical IQ tests of today). If you’re smart in one area you’re smart in other areas too
Multiple intelligences – intelligence has lots of types, not just math/language. Can be high/low in areas
First IQ Test: used a formula and is where the traditional value of “IQ” comes from
Chronological age = actual age
Mental age = tested age compared to other of that age
IQ = \frac{mental \ age}{ chronoligical \ age} * 100
100 is average, SD = 15
Use for IQ scores /tests today: educational services, diagnostic testing for learning disabilities, GT identification
Psychometrics – field of psych & education for creating tests
Standardization: test is given using consistent procedures and environments, and graded the same (SAT, AP exams)
Tests Should be reliable: same results over time (consistent)
Split-half reliability: compare two halves of the test
Test-retest reliability: use the same test on 2 different occasions
Tests Should be valid: test is accurate – measures what it is intended to
Construct validity: test measures what you want it to (an IQ test actually measures IQ)
Predictive validity: test is able to accurately predict a trait (high math scores predicts a good engineer)
Standardized tests establish a normal distribution
Standard dev are used to compare scores. Standard deviation measures how much the scores vary from the mean. Percentages below NEVER change.
Types of Tests:
Aptitude: predicts your abilities to learn a new skill (ASVAB)
Achievement: tests what you know (AP)
Historical Issues with Intelligence Testing
Nature vs Nurture Influence on IQ:
Genetics: MZ twins have similar IQ, adopted kids more similar to biological parents
Environment: early neglect leads to lower IQ, good schooling to higher IQ
Personal and sociocultural biases impact interpretation of results
Poverty and education inequalities neg. impact scores
Eugenics – the study of how to “improve” the gene pool by discouraging (sterilizing or otherwise) individuals from reproducing
Culture fair tests – IQ tests have been used to refuse / limit access to jobs, the military, education, and immigration
Need to focus on non-language skills & minimize cultural specific questions
Stereotype threat: feel at risk of conforming to the neg. stereotype about your group - influences your behaviors, cognitions
Stereotype lift – do better on a test when