Hippocampus: Consolidation of short-term and long-term memories.
Neurons
Dendrites: Receive nerve impulses.
Data Representation
Histogram: Bars are connected, used for continuous data.
Skewness
Positive Skew: Higher scores pull the mean up.
Negative Skew: Lower scores pull the mean down.
Statistical Measures
Mean: Average value in a distribution; located in the middle of the distribution.
Standard Deviation: Measure of data dispersion relative to the mean. Small standard deviation means data points are close to the average; large standard deviation means data points are spread out.
Z-score: Number of standard deviations a score is away from the mean.
Statistical Significance: Results unlikely to happen by chance.
P-value: Probability that results occurred by chance. If p < 0.05, results are statistically significant.
Double-Blind Procedure: Neither participants nor researchers know group assignments.
Mirror Neurons
Neurons that fire when performing an action and when observing someone else perform that action.
Brain Structures
Midbrain: Connects hindbrain and forebrain; includes the reticular formation (alertness and attention).
Frontal Lobe: Thinking, planning, decision making, voluntary movement. Includes Broca's area for speech production.
Parietal Lobe: Processes sensory information (touch, pressure, temperature, pain).
Temporal Lobe: Hearing, memory. Includes Wernicke's area for language comprehension.
Functional Fixedness: Inability to see new uses for an object.
Gestalt Principles: Visual perception toggles between figure and ground.
Subliminal Stimulation: Stimuli below conscious awareness still processed by the brain.
Perceptual Adaptation: Brain adjusts to changes in sensory input.
Weber’s Law: Change needed to notice a difference is a percentage, not an amount.
Transduction
Conversion of sensory input (light, sound, touch) into electrical signals the brain can understand.
Language
Hearing: Primary sensory modality for human language.
Benjamin Whorf: Language influences perception of the world.
Dream Analysis
Manifest Content: Remembered storyline and imagery of a dream.
Neuron Structure
DCAS: Dendrite, Cell body, Axon, Synapse
Neuron Types
Sensory: Sense it.
Motor: Move it.
Interneuron: Connect it.
Mirror: Copy it.
Glial Cells
Support neurons and homeostasis.
Phi Phenomenon
Perception of movement from still images flashing rapidly.
Research Methods
Cross-sectional: Observational studies of different age groups at one time.
Meta-analysis: Statistical combination of multiple studies’ results.
Brain Hemispheres
Motor Neurons: Brain to body.
Sensory Neurons: Body to brain.
Left Hemisphere: Language and speech.
Medulla: Heart rate & breathing.
Thalamus: Forebrain.
Right Hemisphere: Creativity, spatial reasoning, non-verbal communication.
Neurotransmitters
Agonists: Mimic neurotransmitters.
Nervous System
Somatic Nervous System: Voluntary movement and sensation.
Brain Imaging
MRI: Great for seeing structures containing water.
CT Scan: Takes pictures of brain slices.
Reticular Formation: In the brainstem, responsible for regulating consciousness, wakefulness, and attention.
Pons: In the brainstem, messenger center, controls sleep and dreaming, regulates breathing, helps with facial expressions and eye movement.
Cerebral Cortex: Outermost layer of the brain, responsible for higher-level functions like thought, memory, and sensory perception.
Midbrain: Handles sights, sounds, fast reflexes, and keeps you alert.
Sensory and Motor Cortex
Thalamus: Relays sensory information to the correct part of the brain (except smell) and also helps with consciousness and alertness.
Somatosensory: Parietal lobe; touch and spatial reasoning.
Broca’s area: Speech production.
Wernicke’s area: Language comprehension.
Research Designs
Cross-sectional: Study different age groups at the same time.
Meta analysis: Combine data from lots of different studies.
Endocrine System
Thyroid gland: Controls metabolism.
Parathyroid gland: Regulates calcium levels.
Dream Theories
Activation-synthesis theory: Dreams result from the brain processing random neural activity during REM sleep.
Latent content: The hidden psychological meaning of a dream.
Problem-solving theory: Dreams help you cope, reflect, and solve real-life problems by working them out while you sleep.
Endocrine Glands
Adrenal glands: Release epinephrine (adrenaline) + norepinephrine for stress/fight-or-flight and cortisol.
Pancreas: Controls blood sugar by releasing insulin.
Ovaries: Estrogen.
Oxcytocin: Love hormone
Growth hormone from pituitary
NREM-3: sleep walking happens
Pain Management
Opiates: Block pain.
Perception
Perceptual Set: Cognitive bias influencing interpretation of sensory data based on expectations and past experiences.
Monocular Cue: Depth cues visible with one eye (e.g. converging lines).
Binocular Cue: Depth cues requiring both eyes.
Addiction
Depressants: Slow body/brain.
Addiction: Cravings driven by dopamine.
Tolerance: Body needs more of the drug to feel the same effects.
Withdrawal: Negative effects felt when stopping drug use.
Color Vision
Opponent-process theory: Explains red-green, blue-yellow color pairings and afterimages.
RGB Trichromatic theory: (RGB cones only).
Gestalt principle: Brain sees full shape, not just random pieces
Depth Perception and Hearing
retinal disparity: difference between what each eye sees = depth perception.
Cochlea - Thalamus - Temporal lobe
place theory: we hear high-pitched sounds
Frequency theory: better for low pitch
we locate sound by comparing how fast/loud it hits each ear—helps with spatial location.
conduction deafness = sound can’t get through (like damage to eardrum or bones)
nerve deafness = damage to cochlea or auditory nerve
Senses
your taste preferences come from both experience and where you grew up
the spinal cord contains a "gate" that either blocks or allows pain signals to reach the brain, influencing the experience of pain.
semicircular canals in your inner ear help you keep your balance—they detect head motion, not sound.
Body Awareness
kinesthetic sense—your brain knows where your limbs are even with your eyes closed.
Transduction: body turns a physical signal into something the brain can understand
Behavioral Psychology
behavioral psych = learning through rewards, punishments, associations, all about what we can see.
conditioning you need help .
acquisition: when learning actually goes down—pairing the bell with the food over and over.
generalization: dog hears a bell that’s close in pitch and still salivates.
High order conditioning: a process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a conditioned stimulus, which already elicits a conditioned response.
taste aversion often happens after just one bad meal—your body learns to avoid it quick to protect you.
Preparedness: organisms are biologically wired to learn some associations more easily
Thorndike’s Law of Effect: Good consequences = more likely to repeat behavior.
Operant Conditioning
Skinner box: Animals learn from rewards or punishments.
fixed ratio: Reinforcement after a set number of actions (ex: every 5 bar presses).
fixed interval: After a set time.
variable ratio: After an average number of responses, number varies.
Variable interval: After an average amount of time, time varies.
primary = food, water, warmth
secondary = money, praise, gold stars—stuff we learn to value
Shaping: Reinforcing small steps towards a desired behavior.
Latent Learning
Latent learning: a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response.
Animals can use sudden insight to solve problems
Flashbulb memories: Exceptionally vivid and long-lasting memories associated with surprising or emotionally significant events,
Priming: Exposure to something that unconsciously influences later behavior
Prospective memory: Remember to do something in the future
state-dependent memory: you remember stuff better when you're in the same internal state you were in when you learned it.
Misinformation effect: Misleading details changing someone’s memory of an event
source monitoring error: you remember the info, but not where it came from.
it strengthens synaptic connections through repetition ✔️ yup!
long-term potentiation: neurons fire together, wire together = better memory storage.
explicit memory: stuff you consciously know (like school facts)
Implicit memory : unconscious, like how to ride a bike or tie your shoes
Cognitive Biases
Representativeness heuristic: Ignore base rates and judge by how something matches a prototype
Language and Cognition
linguistic determinism—the idea that language shapes your worldview.
phonemes = smallest sounds morphemes = smallest meaning unit grammar = rules for combining ‘em Noam Chomsky said we have inborn language device
Drive-reduction theory: we do things to reduce discomfort and restore balance
Homeostasis: your body’s balance game. temp, water, sugar levels—all regulated.
Incentives: positive or negative environmental stimuli that influence behavior
lateral hypothalamus = “yo we hungry”
ventromedial hypothalamus = “yo we full” Ghrelin = hunger
Hunger and Weight
Leptin = no more hunger
set point theory: your body has a “natural weight” it wants to stay at.
theory X: micromanage them, workers are lazy
theory Y: trust them to work hard, workers are self-morivted
biological arousal, behavior, and conscious experience MAKE UP EMOTION
catharsis: letting it out to feel better feel-good, do-good phenomenon—when you’re happy, you’re more generous and helpful.
Personality
Personality trait: a consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, or acting
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism ✔️ bang on.
Big Five traits = O.C.E.A.N., Raymond Cattell broke it down into 16 personality factors and used math to back it.
Freud’s trio:
id = wild urges
ego = reality check
superego = moral compass
Carl Jung expanded Freud’s ideas—he said we all share a collective unconscious full of archetypes
Adler believed we all start off feeling a little inferior and work to overcome it—the inferiority complex
Karen Hornet: emphasized social and cultural influences over biological ones, was like “Freud focused too much on biology—we gotta look at society too.”
Skinner said personality Skinner was a behaviorist: personality = just a bunch of learned behaviors shaped by rewards/punishments. it’s a result of reinforcement history
Bandura’s reciprocal determinism = behavior, environment, and personal factors all influence each other
Social learning theory: explains how individuals learn by observing others' behaviors and the consequences of those behaviors.
Biological: behavior is caused by brain chemistry, genes, and the nervous system.
Behavioral: behavior is learned through rewards, punishments, and observation.
Cognitive: behavior is influenced by how we think, remember, and interpret things.
Psychodynamic: behavior comes from unconscious conflicts and childhood experiences.
Humanistic: behavior is driven by the desire for growth, self-love, and reaching your full potential.
Sociocultural: behavior is shaped by your culture, environment, and the people around you.
Evolutionary: behavior comes from traits passed down for survival and reproduction.
Biopsychosocial: behavior is a mix of biological, psychological, and social factors.
Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development main idea: kids learn by actively exploring the world in stages—like lil scientists 🧪
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) main idea: kids learn best when they’re in a “sweet spot”—tasks that are just hard enough that they need a little help to succeed
cardinal = core of your identity central = general traits you show daily secondary = show up in certain situations
ego runs on the reality principle
Defense mechanisms used to protect the ego from anxiety or guilt
Jung was collective unconcsious
Bandura’s theory says you’re influenced by your thoughts, your environment, and your actions—all looped together. (reciprocal determinism)
internal locus of control means “i make my own luck.” external = “life happens to me.”
Walter Mischel argued that: behavior is more influenced by situations than stable traits
Maslows Hierarchy -
Maslow's Hierarchy
self-actualization: Being your best self, living with purpose.
esteem needs: Confidence, respect, recognition.
love & belonging: Friendships, family, feeling accepted.
safety needs: Security, protection, stability
physiological needs: Food, water, air, sleep, shelter
Learned helplessness: People and animals can stop trying after repeated failure
Rogers believed people thrive when they feel accepted no matter what and feel their real self matches their deal self Unconitional love: feeling accepted no matter what
Congruence: your real self matches your ideal self
Eysenck simplified personality to just two dimensions:
Personality Dimensions
Introversion vs extraversion
Stable vs unstable (neurotic) Types of tests:
Inventories = multiple choice questions
Projective = open-ended
Rorschach Inkblot Test is a classic projective test
Zygote - fertilized egg
Teratogens = harmful substances that can affect a developing baby
Habituation
Habituation - getting bored of a repeated stimulus, when babies stop reacting to something they’ve seen too many times–it shows they ‘re learning.
The sequence of motor skills is mostly biological
Sensorimotor stage (0–2 years) – learning through senses & movement, object permanence kicks in
Preoperational stage (2–6 years) – imagination grows, but thinking is egocentric and not fully logical
Concrete operational stage (7–11 years) – starts thinking logically about real things, understands rules & conservation
Formal operational stage (12+) – abstract thinking, solving complex problems, thinking about the future SPCF
Schemas: how we build and adjust mental frameworks
Schema
According to Piaget, the two processes we use to adjust our schemas are assimilation and accommodation
Assimiliation = fitting new info into old ideas
Accommodation = changing the idea to fit new info
Object permanence shows up - in the sensorimotor stage (first stage)
modern research says kids hit milestones like object permanence and logical thought sooner than Piaget thought.
secure and insecure those are the two main attachment types
* Ainsworth studied
uninvolved/neglectful – low warmth, low control; barely involved, kid’s on their own
permissive – high warmth, low control; super chill but no rules, kid runs the show
authoritarian – low warmth, high control; strict, “my way or the highway” vibes
authoritative – high warmth, high control; supportive but sets clear rules, best mix fr
Cognitive Stages
formal operational in this stage teens start using abstract logic, hypothetical thinking, deeper thinking
preconventional morality - avoiding punishment and seeking rewards
Erikson’s theory = 8 stages of life, each with its own psychological struggle (like identity vs. role confusion in teens).
as we age, recall declines, recognition stays
whether childhood IQ stays the same over time ✔️ yep! that’s what the stability vs. change debate is all about
turning the head toward touch on the cheek that’s the rooting reflex
social clock it’s the cultural expectations for when you’re “supposed to” hit milestones like marriage, career, retirement, etc.
generativity vs. stagnation—are you contributing to society, or just chillin in neutral?
Aptitude and Achievement
aptitude: Future potential.
achievement: What you’ve learned.
Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet he made the first modern IQ test in France
Lewis Terman took Binet’s original test, revised it for American use, and dropped the Stanford-Binet, WAIS is the go-to for measuring adult intelligence
tracking can help customize learning, but it also risks making kids believe they’re “dumb” or “gifted” based on their label.
enriched environments can improve IQ
Heritability: How much of the IQ difference between people is due to genetics
fluid intelligence: Problem-solving, quick thinking (declines with age)
crystallized: Facts, vocabulary, experience (stays solid or even improves)
Intelligence Analysis
factor analysis helps break down different parts of intelligence—like verbal ability, spatial reasoning, and working memory.
Howard Gardner said there’s not just one kind of smart—he dropped eight (and later even more), like musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, logical-mathematical, and so on.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory—he believed intelligence comes in three flavors:
analytical = book smarts
creative = innovation & problem-solving
practical = street smarts / real-life application
spearman believed in a single general intelligence called the g factor that underlies all mental abilities.
thurstone identified seven primary mental abilities like memory and verbal comprehension instead of one overall intelligence.
medical model—it treats mental illness like physical illness, meaning you can diagnose and treat it (like with meds or therapy).
Psychological Disorders
3 major criteria for identifying a psychological disorder?
deviance (from cultural norms
dysfunction (it interferes with life)
personal distress
danger can show up, but it’s not one of the core diagnostic criteria.
panic disorder = anxiety disorder. sudden attacks, chest pain, fear, etc.
B – obsessions are intrusive thoughts, compulsions are repetitive behaviors
dissociative identity disorder (DID)—often triggered by trauma.
positive symptoms = added experiences like hallucinations and delusions
negative symptoms = things that are missing (like emotion or motivation)
diathesis-stress model ✔️ facts. this model = genetic vulnerability + environmental stress = mental disorder.
systematic desensitization—slowly facing your fears (like spiders) while practicing relaxation.
CBT = combo of changing your thought patterns + your actions to get real results.
Biomedical uses medication or biological procedures to treat mental illness?
Halo Effect
judging someone based on one good trait ✔️ yep! the halo effect
Sternberg’s theory of love:
intimacy = emotional closeness
passion = physical attraction
commitment = long-term decision to stay
Internal attribution error
assuming a person acts that way because of who they are
internal attribution = “they failed because they’re lazy,” external = “they failed because the test was unfair.”
fundamental attribution error—we underestimate the situation and blame the person instead.
people get what they deserve ✔️ yup. just-world phenomenon
tension caused by holding conflicting thoughts or beliefs ✔️ locked. cognitive dissonance
Social Psychology
people will obey authority even when it goes against their morals ✔️ clean. Milgram’s study normative = to gain approval, informational = to be accurate
everyone else gave the same (wrong) answer ✔️ yessir. Asch’s line experiment just to avoid being the odd one out.
people are less likely to help when others are present ✔️ facts. that’s the bystander effect
presence of others = social facilitation (boosts performance on easy tasks), but can hurt performance on hard tasks
group polarization = you walk in with a mild opinion, leave with a way stronger one because you were hyped up by like-minded people.
groupthink happens = when nobody wants to be “that guy,” so they just agree—even when the decision is straight-up trash.
exposure to diverse groups under the right conditions can reduce prejudice ✔️ correct. that’s the contact theory
Persuasion and Therapy
using logic and facts to convince someone ✔️ yup! that’s the central route
asking for something small, then something bigger ✔️ facts. classic foot-in-the-door technique
psychotherapy = talk therapy, goal is to help people cope, change behavior,
speaking freely to reveal unconscious thoughts ✔️ facts. free association is Freudian
humanistic ✔️ nailed it. that’s Carl Rogers’ client-centered therapy: no judgment, just vibes, support, and self-growth.
Gestalt therapy: be in the moment, connect your thoughts, feelings, and actions for whole-person awareness.
aversive conditioning behavioral technique where you pair something unpleasant with an unwanted behavior systematic desensitization gradually exposes people to a fear while keeping them calm—it’s a go-to for treating phobias.
Treatment Techniques
getting points or stickers for good behavior ✔️ yep! that’s a token economy
antipsychotic these are used to treat schizophrenia—they help reduce symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.
ECT is usually a last resort, but it’s super effective for stubborn cases of major depression.
combining different therapy techniques depending on the client’s needs ✔️ correct! that’s what eclectic therapy