AP Psychology Premium Prep Notes

Key Terms

Physiological Psychology: Study of the biological basis of behavior.
Behavioral Genetics: Study of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
Traits: Distinguishing qualities or characteristics.
Endocrine System: System of glands that secrete hormones.
Evolutionary Perspective: Emphasizes the role of evolution in shaping behavior.
Hormones: Chemical messengers produced by endocrine glands.
Heritability: Proportion of variation in a trait due to genetic factors.
Environmentality: Proportion of variation in a trait due to environmental factors.
Nature Versus Nurture Debate: Discussion about the relative importance of genetic (nature) and environmental (nurture) influences.
Down Syndrome: Genetic disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.
Huntington's Chorea: Genetic disorder causing progressive degeneration of nerve cells.
Nervous System: Body's communication network consisting of nerve cells.
Central Nervous System (CNS): Brain and spinal cord.
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Nerves connecting the CNS to the rest of the body.
Neurons: Nerve cells that transmit electrical and chemical signals.
Sensory (Afferent) Neurons: Neurons that carry sensory information from the body to the CNS.
Motor (Efferent) Neurons: Neurons that carry motor commands from the CNS to muscles and glands.
Reflexes: Involuntary, automatic responses to stimuli.
Interneurons: Neurons within the CNS that connect sensory and motor neurons.
Somatic Nervous System: Part of the PNS that controls voluntary movements.
Autonomic Nervous System: Part of the PNS that controls involuntary functions.
Sympathetic Nervous System: Division of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for fight or flight.
Parasympathetic Nervous System: Division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body after a crisis.
Pituitary Gland: Master gland that controls other endocrine glands.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH): Hormone that stimulates the adrenal glands.
Adrenal Glands: Glands that produce hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.
Epinephrine: Also known as adrenaline; a hormone that prepares the body for fight or flight.
Norepinephrine: Neurotransmitter involved in alertness and arousal.
Leptin: Hormone that regulates appetite and energy expenditure.
Ghrelin: Hormone that stimulates hunger.
Melatonin: Hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles.
Oxytocin: Hormone involved in social bonding and trust.
Agonist: Drug that mimics the effects of a neurotransmitter.
Antagonist: Drug that blocks the effects of a neurotransmitter.
Drugs: Substances that alter physiological functioning.
Alcohol: Depressant drug.
Barbiturates: Depressant drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia.
Tranquilizers: Depressant drugs used to reduce anxiety.
Caffeine: Stimulant drug.
Amphetamines: Stimulant drugs.
Cocaine: Stimulant drug.
Hypothalamus: Brain structure involved in regulating hunger, thirst, body temperature, and sleep.
Lateral Hypothalamus: Stimulates hunger.
Ventromedial Hypothalamus: Suppresses hunger.
Cerebral Cortex: Outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level cognitive processes.
Sensory Cortex: Part of the cerebral cortex that receives sensory information.
Motor Cortex: Part of the cerebral cortex that controls voluntary movements.
Left and Right Cerebral Hemispheres: Two halves of the brain.
Corpus Callosum: Band of fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres.
Expressive Aphasia (Broca's Area): Difficulty producing speech.
Receptive Aphasia (Wernicke's Area): Difficulty understanding speech.
Split-Brain Patients: Individuals who have had their corpus callosum severed.
Contralateral Processing: The control of one side of the body by the opposite side of the brain.
Cortex Components: Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe.
Frontal Lobe: Involved in higher-level cognitive functions such as planning and decision-making.
Parietal Lobe: Processes sensory information such as touch, temperature, and pain.
Association Areas: Areas of the cerebral cortex that integrate information from multiple senses.
Temporal Lobe: Processes auditory information and is involved in memory.
Occipital Lobe: Processes visual information.
Optic Chiasm: Point where optic nerves cross in the brain.
Apraxia: Difficulty performing learned movements.
Agnosia: Difficulty recognizing objects.
Alexia: Difficulty reading.
Agraphia: Difficulty writing.
Nerves: Bundles of neurons.
Neurons: Nerve cells.
Soma: Cell body of a neuron.
Dendrites: Branchlike extensions of a neuron that receive signals from other neurons.
Axon: Long, slender projection of a neuron that transmits electrical signals.
Myelin Sheath: Fatty insulation around the axon that speeds up signal transmission.
Nodes of Ranvier: Gaps in the myelin sheath where action potentials occur.
Terminal Buttons: Endings of the axon that release neurotransmitters.
Synapse: Gap between two neurons where neurotransmitters are released.
Glial Cells: Support cells in the nervous system.
Neurotransmitters: Chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons.
Resting Membrane Potential: Electrical potential of a neuron when it is not firing.
Nerve Impulse (Action Potential): Electrical signal that travels down the axon of a neuron.
Excitatory: Neurotransmitters that increase the likelihood of a neuron firing.
Inhibitory: Neurotransmitters that decrease the likelihood of a neuron firing.
Acetylcholine: Neurotransmitter involved in muscle movement and memory.
Serotonin: Neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation.
Dopamine: Neurotransmitter involved in reward and motivation.
GABA: Inhibitory neurotransmitter.
Glutamate: Excitatory neurotransmitter.
Nicotine: Stimulant drug that acts on acetylcholine receptors.
Opioids: Pain-relieving drugs.
Hallucinogens: Drugs that alter perception and mood.
Effects: Outcomes of drug use.
Dependence: Need to use a drug to function normally.
Tolerance: Decreased sensitivity to a drug over time.
Withdrawal: Symptoms experienced when a drug is discontinued.
Hindbrain: Lower part of the brain including the cerebellum, brain stem, and medulla.
Cerebellum: Brain structure involved in motor coordination and balance.
Brain Stem: Connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls basic functions.
Medulla Oblongata: Part of the brain stem that controls breathing and heart rate.
Reticular Activating System (RAS): Brain system involved in arousal and attention.
Brain's Reward System: System of brain structures that reinforce behaviors.
Pons: Part of the brain stem involved in sleep and arousal.
Forebrain: Largest part of the brain including the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and limbic system.
Limbic System: Brain system involved in emotion and memory.
Thalamus: Brain structure that relays sensory information to the cerebral cortex.
Hippocampus: Brain structure involved in memory formation.
Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to form new memories.
Amygdala: Brain structure involved in emotion, especially fear.
Neuroplasticity: Brain's ability to change and adapt over time.
EEG (Electroencephalogram): Measures electrical activity in the brain.
CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) Scans: Imaging technique that uses X-rays to create detailed images of the brain.
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): Imaging technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of the brain.
fMRI (Functional MRI): Imaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.
PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Scans: Imaging technique that uses radioactive tracers to measure brain activity.
State of Consciousness: Level of awareness.
Alertness: State of being awake and attentive.
Arousal: Level of responsiveness to stimuli.
Altered State of Consciousness: Any state of consciousness that deviates from normal waking consciousness.
Stream of Consciousness: Continuous flow of thoughts and feelings.
Mental Reality: Individual's subjective experience of the world.
Unconscious: Thoughts and feelings that are not accessible to awareness.
Preconscious: Thoughts and feelings that are not currently in awareness but can be easily retrieved.
Controlled Processing: Conscious, effortful processing.
Automatic Processing: Unconscious, effortless processing.

Sleep and Dreaming

Sleep: A periodic, natural loss of consciousness.
Melatonin: A hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles.
Hallucinations: False sensory experiences.
Delusions: False beliefs.
Circadian Rhythm: The biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle.
Pineal Gland: Secretes melatonin, which regulates sleep.
Jet Lag: Disruption of circadian rhythms due to crossing time zones.
Electroencephalograms (EEGs): Measures brain waves.
Beta Waves: Brain waves associated with alertness.
Alpha Waves: Brain waves associated with relaxation.
Theta Waves: Brain waves associated with light sleep.
Sleep Spindles: Bursts of brain activity during stage 2 sleep.
K Complexes: Large, single delta waves during stage 2 sleep.
Delta Waves: Brain waves associated with deep sleep.
Paradoxical Sleep: REM sleep, where the brain is active but the body is paralyzed.
Hypnagogic Sensations: Sensory experiences that occur during the onset of sleep.
REM Rebound: The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation.
Problem-Solving Theory of Dreaming: Dreams help us process and solve problems.
Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis of Dreaming: Dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of random neural activity.
Nightmare: A frightening dream.
Dyssomnias: Sleep disorders characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Insomnia: Difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Narcolepsy: A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks.
Sleep Apnea: A sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): The unexplained death of a seemingly healthy infant.
Parasomnias: Sleep disorders characterized by abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep.
Somnambulism: Sleepwalking.
Night Terrors: A sleep disorder characterized by episodes of screaming, intense fear, and flailing during sleep.

Introduction to Sensation

Sensation: The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Thresholds: The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
Psychophysics: The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and our psychological experience of them.
Absolute Threshold: The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
Detection Thresholds: The point at which a stimulus can be detected.
Signal Detection Theory (SDT): A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background noise.
Hit: Correctly detecting a stimulus when it is present.
Miss: Failing to detect a stimulus when it is present.
False Alarm: Detecting a stimulus when it is not present.
Correct Rejection: Correctly not detecting a stimulus when it is not present.
Discrimination Threshold: The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.
Just Noticeable Difference (JND) (Difference Threshold): The smallest change in stimulation that a person can detect.
Weber's Law: The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.
Sensory Interaction: The principle that one sense may influence another.
Synesthesia: A condition in which one sense evokes sensations of another sense.

Receptor Processes

Receptor Cells: Specialized cells that respond to specific types of energy.
Receptive Field: The area in which a receptor cell can detect stimuli.
Transduction: The process of converting one form of energy into another.
Contralateral Shift: The processing of sensory information on the opposite side of the brain.

Sensory Mechanisms

Sensory Coding: How our sensory systems represent the intensity and quality of stimuli.
Qualitative Dimension: The type of sensory experience.
Quantitative Dimension: The intensity of the sensory experience.
Single-Cell Recording: A technique used to measure the activity of individual neurons.

Sensory Adaptation

Adaptation: Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Visual Mechanisms

Visual Sensation: The process by which our eyes detect light energy.
Distal Stimulus: The actual object in the environment.
Proximal Stimulus: The image of the object on the retina.
Cornea: The transparent outer covering of the eye.
Lens: The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.
Accommodations: The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.
Retina: The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.
Rods: Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray.
Cones: Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.
Fovea: The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster.
Bipolar Cells: Eye neurons that receive information from the rods and cones and distribute the information to the ganglion cells.
Amacrine Cells: Integrate information across the retina.
Ganglion Cells: Neurons that relay information from the bipolar cells to the brain.
Optic Nerves: The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.
Blind Spot: The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there.
Optic Chiasm: The point in the brain where the optic nerves from each eye cross over.
Serial Processing: Processing one aspect of a stimulus at a time
Parallel processing: Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously
Feature Detector: Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.
Convergence: The inward turning of the eyes that occurs when looking at nearby objects.
Critical Period: A specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most easily learned.
Young-Helmholtz Theory (Trichromatic Theory): The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color.
Opponent Process Theory: The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision.
Afterimage: An image that remains after a stimulus is removed.
Color Blindness (Color Vision Deficiency): Inability to distinguish certain colors.
Dichromats: People who have trouble seeing one of the primary colors
Monochromats: People who are sensitive to only black-and-white.
Prosopagnosia: Face blindness.
Blindsight: A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

Auditory Mechanisms

Auditory Input: Sound waves.
Tympanic Membrane: The eardrum.
Ossicles: Three small bones in the middle ear that amplify sound.
Malleus: A small bone in the middle ear that transmits vibrations of the eardrum to the incus.
Incus: A small bone in the middle ear that transmits vibrations between the malleus and stapes.
Stapes: A small bone in the middle ear that transmits vibrations from the incus to the oval window.
Cochlea: A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.
Vestibular Sacs: Structures in the inner ear that help maintain balance.
Semicircular Canals: Three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear responsible for our sense of balance.
Place Theory: The theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.
Frequency Theory: The theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.
Deafness: Hearing loss.
Conductive Deafness: Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.
Sensorineural Deafness: Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.

Other Sensory Mechanisms

Olfaction: Smell.
Pheromones: Chemical signals that trigger social responses in members of the same species.
Gustation (Taste): The sense of taste.
Cutaneous Receptors: Sensory receptors in the skin that detect touch, pressure, temperature, and pain.
Tactile Receptors: Sensory receptors that detect touch and pressure.
Gate Theory of Pain: The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.
Cold Fibers: Sensory receptors that detect cold temperatures.
Warm Fibers: Sensory receptors that detect warm temperatures.
Phantom Limb Sensation: The perception of sensations in a limb that has been amputated.
Vestibular Sense: The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.
Kinesthesis: The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

Introduction to Perception

Perception: The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Perceptual Processes

Bottom-Up Processing: Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.
Top-Down Processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
Schema: A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
Perceptual Set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Gestalt Approach

Gestalt Approach: An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
Proximity: Grouping nearby figures together.
Similarity: Grouping figures that are similar.
Symmetry: Perceiving objects as symmetrical shapes.
Continuity: Perceiving smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.
Closure: Filling in gaps to create a complete, whole object.
Law of Prägnanz: We tend to see things in their best, simplest form

Feature Detector Approach

Feature Detector Approach: Involves breaking down complex stimuli into their component features for recognition and processing.

Attention

Selective Attention: The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.
Attentional Resource Theories: Theories suggesting attention is a limited resource, and tasks requiring more resources are harder to perform simultaneously.
Filter Theories: Theories suggesting that stimuli are filtered based on physical characteristics, with only the attended stimuli passing through for further processing.
Cocktail Party Phenomenon: The ability to attend to only one voice among many.
Shadowing: A research procedure where subjects repeat speech immediately after hearing it, usually in one ear, while ignoring other stimuli.
Divided Attention: Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time.
Inattentional Blindness: Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
Subliminal Perception: The processing of information by sensory systems without conscious awareness.
Priming: The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.

Binocular Depth Cues

Retinal disparity: A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.
Stereoptic: Three-dimensional vision resulting from binocular vision
Retinal Convergence: The extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object
Binocular disparity: The difference in the retinal images of the two eyes that provides information about depth

Visual Perception

Visual Cliff: A device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Monocular Depth Cues

Relative Size: A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the smaller retinal image is farther away.
Texture Gradient: A monocular cue for perceiving depth; a gradual change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distance.
Interposition: A monocular cue for perceiving depth; if one object blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer.
Linear Perspective: A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.
Vanishing Point: The point at which receding parallel lines appear to converge.
Relative Clarity: A monocular cue for perceiving depth; hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects.

Constancy

Constancy: Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

Motion Detection

Motion Detection: The process of perceiving movement in objects.
Apparent Motion: The perception of movement when stationary objects are presented in rapid succession.
Phi Phenomenon: An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
Stroboscopic Effect: A visual phenomenon caused by aliasing that occurs when continuous motion is represented by a series of short or instantaneous samples
Autokinetic Effect: The perception of movement of a stationary point of light in a dark room.

Concepts

Typicality: The degree to which an object is representative of its category.
Prototype: A mental image or best example of a category.
Exemplar: A specific instance of a category.
Basic Concept: The level of categorization that is most easily and quickly retrieved from memory.
Superordinate Concept: The most general level of categorization.
Subordinate Concept: The most specific level of categorization.

Heuristics

Heuristics: Mental shortcuts that allow people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently.
Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common.
Representative Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
Algorithms: A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Cognitive Biases

Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
Hindsight Bias: The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.
Belief Perseverance: Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
Framing: The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
Gambler's Fallacy: The belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: A framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation.

Executive Functions

Executive Functions: Higher-order cognitive processes that control and regulate behavior.

Problem-Solving and Creativity

Divergent Thinking: Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.
Convergent Thinking: Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

Memory

Declarative (Explicit) Memory: Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare".
Episodic Memory: Memory of personal experiences.
Semantic Memory: Memory of facts and general knowledge.
Nondeclarative (Implicit) Memory: Retention independent of conscious recollection.
Procedural Memory: Memory of skills and procedures.
Prospective Memory: Remembering to perform actions in the future
Long-Term Potentiation: An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
Working Memory: A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.
Sensory Memory: The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
Iconic Memory: A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Echoic Memory: A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.
Visual Persistence: Continued perception of a visual stimulus even after it is no longer present.
Long-Term Memory: The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
Semantically Encoded: Encoded by meaning.
Visually Encoded: Encoded by images.
Acoustically Encoded: Encoded by sounds.
Effortful Processing: Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Automatic Processing: Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.
Levels of Processing Model: The deeper the level at which we process information, the more likely we are to remember it.
Recognition Memory: A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Recall Memory: A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Mnemonic Device: Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Dual-Coding Hypothesis: Memory is enhanced by using both semantic and visual codes since either can lead to recall.
Method of Loci: A mnemonic device that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar locations.
Self-Reference Effect: Tendency to better remember information relevant to ourselves.
Chunking: Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.
Spacing Effect: The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
Distributed Practice: Spreading learning out over time.
Mased Practice: Concentrating on learning material without breaks.
Testing Effect: Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.
Metacognition: Awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.
Primacy Effect: The tendency to remember the first items in a sequence.
Recency Effect: The tendency to remember the last items in a sequence.
Serial Position Effect: Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information over and over to keep it active in short-term memory.
Elaborative Rehearsal: A memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself.
Context-Dependent Memory: Memory retrieval is most efficient when an individual is in the same context as they were when the memory was formed.
State-Dependent Memory: The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.
Mood-Congruent Memory: The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current mood.
Encoded: The processing of information into the memory system.
Decay: Loss of memory due to the passage of time.
Interference: The disruption of memory caused by the presence of other information.
Retroactive Interference: The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.
Proactive Interference: The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon: The temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach.
Memory Reconstruction: The process of assembling information from stored knowledge when a clear memory of specific events is not available.
Source Confusion: Memory distortion that occurs when people misremember the source of information.

Intelligence

Speed of Processing: How efficiently a person can perform simple cognitive tasks.
Stanford-Binet Test: A standardized test that measures intelligence and cognitive abilities in children and adults, originally developed by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, and later modified by Lewis Terman at Stanford University.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ): A number representing a person's reasoning ability (measured using problem-solving tests) as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age.
g Factor: A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.
Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner's theory that people possess different types of intelligence, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Psychometrics: The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.
Standardization Sample: A representative group of people who take the test and establish the norms.
Norms: Standards of performance for a test, based on the average scores achieved by a pretested group.
Flynn Effect: The worldwide phenomenon that shows intelligence test performance increasing over the years.
Validity: The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.
Internal Validity: The degree to which changes in the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable.
External Validity: The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people.
Reliability: The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting.
Achievement Tests: Tests that measure what an individual has learned.
Aptitude Tests: Tests designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.
Test-Retest Method: A method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions.
Fluid Intelligence: Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
Crystallized Intelligence: Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
Fixed Mindset: The belief that intelligence is a fixed trait that cannot be developed.
Growth Mindset: The belief that intelligence is malleable and can be developed through effort and learning.
Stereotype Threat: A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
Stereotype Boost: Occurs when performance is enhanced by awareness of positive stereotypes regarding one's own group.
Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
Anterograde Amnesia: An inability to form new memories.
Retrograde Amnesia: An inability to retrieve information from one's past.

Life-Span Approach

Developmental Psychology: The scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
Life-Span Psychologists: Study development from conception to death.
Child Psychologists: Focus on the development of children.

Developmental Issues

Nature-Nurture Debate: The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.
Maturationists: Emphasize the role of genetically programmed growth and development.
Maturation: Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Environmentalists: Emphasize the role of environmental factors in development.
Continuous Development: Development is a gradual, continuous process.
Discontinuous Development: Development occurs in distinct stages.
Critical Period: A specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most easily learned.
Collectivist Culture: A culture that emphasizes group goals and harmony.
Individual Culture: A culture that emphasizes individual goals and independence.
Normative Development: Age-related changes that are typical for most individuals.
Cross-Sectional Method: A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
Longitudinal Method: A study in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Physical Development

Teratogens: Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD): Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking.
Rudimentary Movements: The first voluntary movements performed by a child.
Reflexes: Automatic, inborn responses to stimuli.
Gross Motor Movements: Movements involving large muscle groups.
Fine Motor Movements: Movements involving small muscle