AP PSYCH Semester Exam

AP Psychology Semester Exam Review

Unit 0: Research Methods

Hypothesis: proposed, testable, explanation for a phenomenon

Null Hypothesis: statement predicting there is no significant relationship

Independent Variable: the variable the researcher manipulates

Dependent Variable: the effect of the variable changed

Experiments:

• Control groups are those who do not receive treatment

  • Single-blind: individuals don’t know which group they are in

  • Double-blind: researchers and individuals don’t know which group they are in

    • Placebo groups are substances with no effects (fake treatment)

• Experimenter bias is when a researcher's expectations and beliefs influence results unintentionally

• Hindsight bias occurs when people believe they could have predicted an outcome - “I knew it all along”

• Overconfidence is a cognitive bias of an overestimation of abilities

• Random assignment is the process of randomly placing participants into groups

• A random sample is a group of subjects that accurately depicts the population

• Operational definitions refer to a precise statement outlining procedures used to measure a variable in a study

• Surveys and Correlations

  • Social desirability occurs when individuals answer questions in a way deemed socially acceptable

  • Self-report bias occurs when people report behavior inaccurately

• Correlational studies are a method of researching the relationship between two or more variables without manipulating them

  • Positive correlation is when variables move in the same direction

  • Negative correlation is when variables move in different directions

  • Correlational coefficients are measured from -1 to 1, with 0.05 being a strong correlation

  • 3rd variable issue

• Case studies are a research method where a single individual or small group is examined in depth

  • Kitty Genovese, Genie 

Statistics:

• Descriptive statistics are appropriate for summarizing, organizing, and characterizing data

  • Measures of tendency: mean, median, mode

  • Measures of variability: standard deviation, normal curve/percentiles, range

• Inferential statistics are appropriate for comparing differences, finding statistical significance, drawing conclusions, interpreting/finding if events happen by chance

  • Statistical significance

  • P < .05 (meaning a likelihood of 95% results are NOT by chance

Other terms:

• Falsifiable - capable of being disproved

• Replication - repeating the essence of a study

• Naturalistic observation - watching behavior in real-world settings without manipulating the situation

• Sampling bias - when a sample is not representative of the population it was drawn from

• Illusory correlation - perception of a relationship where none exists

• Regression toward the mean - a tendency for extreme scores to fall back (regress) toward their average

• Qualatative vs quantative

• Informed consent - ethical principle requiring participants to be told enough for them to choose if they want to participate or not

• Debriefing - post-experimental explanation of a study

• Meta-analysis - a study of studies

• Scientific attitude - curiosity, skepticism, humil]k,8ity

Unit 1A: Biological Bases of Behavior

Key Components:

• Glial cells - provide support, protection, and nourishment to neutrons

• Neurotransmitters - chemical messengers allowing neurons to communicate with each other and with other cells in the body

  • Acetylcholine - enables muscle action, learning, and memory

    • Alzheimer's disease

  • Dopamine - influence movement, learning, attention, emotion, and addiction

    • Parkinson's disease, drugs of abuse

  • Serotonin - affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal

    • Commonly prescribed antidepressants

  • Norepinephrine - helps control alertness and arousal (fight or flight)

    • Medications to treat depression and anxiety

  • Endorphins - influence perception of pain and pressure

  • GABA - main inhibitory chemical

  • Glutamate - main excitatory chemical, involved in memory

  • Substance P - involved in pain perception and immune response

• Hormones - produced by the endocrine system, a crucial role in regulating brain function and behavior

• Genes provide the blueprint for the development and function of the nervous system, influence susceptibility to certain mental disorders and behaviors

Neurons

• Neurons - responsible for transmitting information throughout the nervous system, 3 parts

  • Dendrites - branch-like extensions receiving signals from other neurons

  • Cell body (soma) - contains the nucleus and other organelles needed for cellular function

  • Axon - long, thin fiber carrying electrical signals from the cell body to neurons/muscles

• Neurons communicate through synapses, tiny gaps between neurons where neurotransmitters are released

• Neural communication has several steps

  • Depolarization - (action potential) brief electrical charge traveling down a neuron’s axon

  • Refractory period - brief resting period after a neuron has fired; recharging

  • Resting potential - after a neuron is recharged, it is ready to fire another action potential 

• Three types of neurons

  • Sensory - carries information from sensory receptors to the CNS

  • Motor - carries signals from CNS to muscles, voluntary movement

  • Interneurons - connect between sensory and motor neurons

• All or nothing principal - neurons fire or they don’t

• Reuptae is neurotransmitter reabsorption by sending the neuron

Nervous System

• Central Nervous System (CNS) - brain and spinal cord, process and integrate information from the entire body

• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) - all nerves that connect the CNS to the rest of the body, allowing for communication between the brain and environment

  • Autonomic Nervous System - involuntary functions

    • Sympathetic - fight or flight response 

    • Parasympathetic - rest and digest functions

  • Somatic Nervous System - voluntary movements

• Excitatory neurotransmitters increase the likelihood of action potential

• Inhibitory neurotransmitters decrease the likelihood of action potential

Brain Anatomy

• Brainstem - controls basic life functions such as breathing, heart rate, sleep

  • Pons: a bridge connecting brain areas, sleep-wake cycles, coordinating movement

  • Medulla: base of brainstem, controls heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing

  • Reticular Activating System  - nerve network that plays a role in controlling arousal, sleep cycles, wakefulness, ability to focus

  • Cerebellum - “little brain” helps coordinate voluntary movement, balance

  • Thalamus - “information relay station”, sensory information except smell sent through to the proper area to be processed

• Limbic System - emotion, memory, motivation

  • Amygdala - processes emotional responses and memories

  • Hippocampus - formation and consolidation of new memories

  • Hypothalamus - below thalamus, regulates endocrine systems (hormones)

    • Pituitary Gland - master gland controlling others

• Cerebral Cortex - the outermost layer of the brain, responsible for higher-order cognitive functions, four lobes

  • Frontal - higher order thinking, personality, body movement

  • Parietal - processing sensory information, touch/temp/pain/spatial orientation

  • Occipital - visual information

  • Temporal - processes sound, smell, music

    • Wenicke’s area - left side, written and spoken language

    • Broca’s area - controls speech

  • The left side is associated with language, logical reasoning, detail-oriented

  • The right side is associated with spatial abilities, emotional processing, holistic thinking

• Corpus Callosum connects the left and bright

Brain Studies

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) - blood flow/oxygenation in the brain, neural activity in certain areas during tasks

• Positron Emission Tomography (PET) - metabolic activity or presence of neurotransmitters

• Electroencephalography (EEG) - electrical activity using electrodes placed on the scalp

Hormones

• Adrenaline - fight or flight

• Ghrelin - hunger stimulant

• Leptin - hunger suppressant

• Oxytocin - pair bonding (labor, lactation, love, sex)

• Melatonin - sleep

Evolutionary Psychology

• Nature vs. nurture debate

  • Hereditary (nature) - genetic predispositions influencing physical, behavioral, and mental (IQ, personality)

  • Environment (nurture) - external factors, experiences, family, peers, culture (taste preferences, political opinion)

• Evolutionary psychology uses Darwin’s theory of natural selection to explain why all humans share certain traits and behaviors

  • Natural selection - an evolutionary process where organisms change over time to adapt to their environment

• Eugenics - used to justify discrimination by claiming certain groups are less evolved than others

Sleep:

• Consciousness - subjective awareness of ourselves and the environment

  • Spontaneous - daydreaming, drowsiness, dreaming

  • Physiologically - hallucinations, orgasm, starvation

  • Psychologically - sensory deprivation, hypnosis, medication

• Circadian Rhythm is our 24-hour sleep-wake cycle

• 4 sleep stages

  • NREM-1 - slow theta waves high amplitude, falling asleep, light sleep, 1-5 minutes, hallucinations

  • NREM-2 - asleep but can be awakened, theta waves with quick bursts (sleep spindle), sleep talking

  • NREM-3 - deep sleep, restorative, delta waves, sleep deprivation craves this, 40% of times for kids, sleepwalking

  • REM - low amplitude, fast and regular beta waves, high brain activity, vivid dreams, 20-25% of sleep

    • Paradoxical sleep because muscles are so relaxed, essentially paralyzed, how sleep paralysis occurs

• Why we sleep/theories behind sleep

  • Memory consolidation - poor memories if we don’t sleep, dreams help us remember

  • Restoration - helps cleanse toxins, damaged tissues, immune system

  • Activation Synthesis Theory - J. Allen Hobson and Robert McCartey, dreams have no meaning but random parts of our brain working and making sense of that

  • Consolidation Dream Theory - Jonathan Wilson, a replay of daily experiences, the link between dream and memory

  • Psychodynamic perspective, wish fulfillment

• Sleep disorders

  • Deprivation - depression, fatigue, diminished productivity

    • REM rebound - increased frequency and intensity of REM sleep after a period without

  • Insomnia - persistent problems falling/staying asleep

  • Narcolepsy - uncontrollable sleep attacks ~5 minutes

  • REM Slep Behavior Disorder - acting out the content of dreams while asleep

  • Sleep Apnea - periodically stop breathing during sleep

  • Somnambulism - sleepwalking

Other Terms:

• Twin studies, adoptive studies, epigenetics

• Multiple Sclerosis - deterioration of myelin sheath, loss of muscle control

• Myasthenia Gravis - antibodies attack acetylcholine, causing muscle weakness fatigue

• Depressants - downers, calm down neutral activity, alcohol, opioids

• Stimulants - uppers, excite neutral activity, caffeine, cocaine

• Hallucinogens - distort perceptions and sensations, marijuana

• Neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to reorganize itself

Unit 1B: Sensation and Perception

Key Concepts

• Sensation involves detecting physical energy from the environment and encoding it as neural signals

• Perception interprets sensory signals and gives them meaning

• Transduction converts physical signals into neural impulses

• Absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time

  • The difference threshold (just noticeable difference) signifies the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection

    • Weber’s Law states the JND is a constant proportion of the original stimulus

  • Subliminal means stimulus below the threshold of conscious awareness

• Sensory adaptation occurs when responsiveness to an unchained stimulus decreases over time

• Top-down processing uses prior knowledge and experiences to interpret situations

• Bottom-up processing builds perception from sensory input

Sensation

• Sensory receptors detect physical energy and transduce it into neural signals

• Sensory pathways transmit neural signals from receptors to the brain

• The cerebral cortex processes and interprets sensory information

• Selective attention focuses on awareness of a specific stimulus, filtering out others

• Transduction

  • Receive - detecting the signal

  • Transform - signal conversion within the cell

  • Deliver - cellular action triggered by a signal

• Signal Detection Theory is the detection of stimulus depends on both the intensity of the stimulus and the state of the individual

The Visual System

• Light enters the eye through the cornea and pupil, regulated by the iris

  • Cornea - transparent outer layer that bends light waves to allow focus

  • Pupil - allows light to enter the eye and reach the retina

  • Iris - controls the size of the pupil opening and how much light enters the eye

• The lens focuses light onto the retina where photoreceptors (rods and cones) transduce it to neural signals

  • Lens - behind the pupil that focuses light into the retina

    • Accommodation is when the lens changes shape to focus on near or far objects

  • Retina - the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye

  • Rods - sensitive to low light levels, black and white vision (more)

  • Cones - responsible for color vision and higher light levels 

    • Trichromatic theory - red, green, and blue make our vision and perception of colors

    • Opponent process theory - perceive color based on opposite pairs (red-green, blue-yellow, black-white)

      • Dichromatism is a condition with only 2 cone types

      • Monochromatism is a condition of only seeing black and white

• Bipolar cells and ganglion cells process and transmit visual information through the optic nerve

  • Ganglion cells - specialized neurons in the retina receiving visual info

• Optic nerve - transmits visual information from the retina to the brain

  • Visual information is processed in the occipital lobe of the cerebral cortex

• Nearsightedness - only can see close things

• Farsightedness - only can see far things

• Blind spot - where the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating region w/ no visual information

• Prosopagnosia - facial blindness, inability to recognize faces

• Fovea - small indention in the retina containing the highest concentration of cones

• Blindsight - psychological defense mechanism caused by a self-protective need to deny visual information that may cause fear, anxiety, or shame

The Auditory System

• Sound waves are collected by the outer ear (pinna) and channeled through the auditory canal to the eardrum

  • The eardrum vibrates, transmitting sound to ossicles in the middle ear

• In the cochlea, the basilar membrane vibrates, causing hair cells to bend and transduce mechanical energy into neural signals

• Auditory information is processed in the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex

• The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, detects head position and motion

  • Semicircular canals detect rotational movements

• Pitch - frequency, loudness - amplitude/intensity

• Conduction deafness - hearing loss by damage to a mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

• Sensorineural deafness - damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or auditory nerve

• Theories on the pitch:

  • Place - sound frequencies stimulate the basilar membrane at specific places resulting in perceived pitch

  • Volley - groups of neurons respond to sound with one another

  • Frequency -the  rate of nerve impulses traveling to the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone

Skin, Chemical, Body, Taste, Smell

• Spots sensitive to 4 sensations: warm, cool, pressure, pain

• Gate-control theory - The spinal cord contains neurological “gates” that block or allow pain signals to pass to the brain

• Phantom limb syndrome - sensation/pain that an amputated/missing limb is there

• Gustation (taste) is detected by taste receptors (taste buds) on the tongue and oral cavity)

  • Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami (savory), oleogustus (fatty)

  • There are three types of tasters: non-taster, taster/medium-taster, super-taster

• Olfaction (smell) is detected by olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity

  • Humans can distinguish thousands of odors

  • Pheromones are chemical signals released by an organism that impact our behavior - sex, interaction, alarm

• Chemical senses are closely linked to emotional processing and memory formation

• Kinesthetic sense is the body’s awareness of position in space and movement of limbs

  • Vestibular sense and semicircular canals are sense of movement and balance

• Sensory interaction is the process by which our 5 senses work and influence each other

• Synesthesia is a condition where stimulation of one sense generates another

Perception

• Gestalt principles describe how the brain organizes visual information

  • Figure-ground - organization of visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

  • Closure - tendency to fill in missing info in our visual field to make it whole

  • Proximity - items that are placed close together we assume go together

  • Similarity - items that share characteristics we assume go together

• Selective attention is our ability to focus attention on one thing and block distraction

  • Cocktail party effect is the ability to single out a voice among many

• Inanttentional blindness is failing to notice objects in the enviornment because our attention is elsewhere

• Change blindness is failing to notice a change in the environment because attention is elsewhere

• Perceptual set is a cognitive bias to interpret sensory information based on expectations and past experiences

• Binocular cues - rely on information from both eyes

  • Convergence - tension felt when eyes move inward as an object gets closer

  • Retinal disparity - 2 eyes produce slightly different images, brain combines

• Monocular cues - can be detected with one eye

  • Relative size - when things are closer they look bigger

  • Relative clarity - as things get closer, we see better

  • Texture gradient - texture is seen better/detailed when closer

  • Linear perspective - parallel lines appear to get closer the further away they are

  • Interposition - when objects block view, the object blocking is closer

• Perceptual constancies are the tendencies to see familiar objects as having a standard shape, size, color, location

Unit 2: Cognition

Thinking, problem-solving, judgement, decision-making

• Cognition is the process of knowing, understanding, remembering and communicating

  • Metacognition is thinking about cognition

• Concepts are mental groupings of similar objects, events, or people

• Schemas are cognitive frameworks allowing a person to interpret based on past

• Prototypes are mental representations of the best/most typical example

• Assimilation is making new fit into existing info of world

• Accommodation is modifying existing and changing understanding

• Convergent thinking focuses on finding one well-defined solution/answer

  • Divergent thinking is ambiguous with multiple solutions

• Heuresutics and algorithms

  • Heuristics are simple strategies that allow us to make judgments. Less time-consuming, but more error-prone

    • Representative - based on comparisons, judge likelihood by how close it resembles the stereotype

    • Availability - based on how easily examples of that event come to mind

  • Algorithms are methodical rules or procedures that guarantee an outcome

• Biases

  • Functional fixedness is an inability to see something beyond the intended purpose

  • Mental sets are cognitive tendencies to approach a problem using strategies that worked in the past

  • Gamblers fallacy is to keep gambling because ofthe  belief it’ll eventually turn out

  • The sunken-cost fallacy is keeping working on something because of time already dedicated to it, though it’s useless

• Priming is how exposure to stimulus influences response

• Framing is how decisions and judgments may be affected by how an issue is framed

• Executive functions allow individuals to set and achieve goals

Thinking, problem-solving, judgment, decision-making

• Long-term potentiation - is persistent strengthening of synapses between neurons

• Memory refers to getting information out of store

  • Explicit - facts that are consciously recalled

    • Semantic - long-term, general world knowledge

    • Episodic - personal experiences and events

  • Implicit - unconciously recalled

    • Procedural - how to perform motor/cognitive tass

  • Long-term - stored permanently and can be retrieved

  • Short-term - mental capacity to hold info for a short time 

  • Sensory - info lasting until transferred to short-term memory or fades away

    • Iconic - one recalls visual image after it disappears

    • Echoic - same ^ but with sound

  • Working - actively holds information allowing for imemdiate cognitive tasks

  • Autobiographical- memory of our own life

  • Constructive - memories may not be accurate but can be altered

• Memory processes in three steps

  • Encoding - taing in information to be stored

  • Storage - holding/retaining information

  • Retrieval - accessing/bringing information back to awareness

• Working memory model

  • Central executive - control center managing attention, information, between systems

  • Phonological loop - auditory information

  • Visuospatial sketchpad - visual/spatial info

  • Episodic Buffer

• Processing

  • Automatic - unconscious processing

  • Effortful - conscious processing

  • Levels of processing model

    • Structural - shallow level, focus on physical appearance

    • Phonemic - process of encoding info on how a word sounds, remembering by auditory qualities

    • Semantic - understanding/interpreting the meaning of words, phrases, and concepts

Encoding and Storage

• Encoding involves the processes and strategies used to enter information into the memory system - attention

• Mnemonic devices - tricks that aid in encoding information

  • Method of loci - associating places to words

  • Peg-word system - words linked to numbers creating mental images to recall info

• Chunking is grouping small pieces into larger groups

• Categories have similar characteristics, while hierarchies are in order of importance

• The spacing effect is when information is better remembered over some time

  • Massed practice is a large amount in a single session with minimal breaks

  • Distributed practice is a longer period with breaks

  • Maintenance rehearsal is repeatedly saying the information

  • Elaborative rehearsal is connecting information to other

• Serial position effect is the tendency to recall the first and last items more easily

  • Primacy and recency effect

• Amnesias/diseases

  • Retrograde - cannot recall past

  • Anterograde - loss of ability to create new memories

  • Infertile - inability to recall early memories

  • Alzheimer’s - deteriorated memory over time

  • Source - inability to recall how/when/where info was learned

Encoding and Storage

• Recall is retrieval without cues

• Recognition is retrieval with cues

• Types of dependent memory

  • Context - environment similar to the one you encoded the information

  • State - state of being is helpful when replicated

  • Mood - mood when learned 

• The testing effect is actively learning information through testing and practice

  • The forgetting curve is when we are more forgetful over time

• Encoding failure is when we cannot remember what we don’t encode, lack of attention, unimportant, unnecessary

  • The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is when we know something but can’t recall it

  • The misinformation effect is a tendency for memory to be impaired by misleading information after an event

• Proactive interference - older memory disrupts the recall of a new memory

• Retroactive interference - more recent memory disrupts recall of older memory

• Repression is unconsciously pushing thoughts away

• Imagination inflation is repeatedly imagining an event to increase confidence it happened

Intelligence

• Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to situations

• General intelligence is an overall compilation of abilities

  • Individuals possess various types of intelligence

  • Ability to perform taste

• The intelligence quotient is a mental age to chronological age x 100

  • Mental age - intellectual level a person performs

  • Chronological age - actual age

• Validity

  • Construct - how well a test measures what it’s aimed to

  • Predictive - how well it predicts the outcome

• Reliability

  • Test-retest - the degree to which results are consistent when retested

  • Split-half - when a test is split, how scores are compared

• Stereotype threats are when a person feels the risk of conforming to negative stereotypes

• Stereotype lifts are when performance improves when people are aware of a negative stereotype about another group

• Achievement tests present skills in an area, aptitude tests predict future performance

  • Fixed mindset believes intelligence and skill can’t change

  • Growth mindset believes ability can be changed

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• Psychodynamic Perspective

  • Sigmund Freud

  • Behavior is influenced by unconscious drives and conflicts

    • Specifically childhood events

  • Exploration of unconscious memories

• Cognitive Perspective

  • Internal mental processes

    • How information is encoded, processed, stored, retrieved

    • Memory, thinking, etc.

  • How we interpret the world

• Behavioral Perspective

  • Observable behavior

    • Learned through conditioning

    • rewards/punishments

• Humanistic perspective

  • Personal growth and self-actualization

    • Free will, motivation, potential

  • Love, creativity, spirituality

• Biological (Neuroscience) Perspective

  • Brain and physiological processes

    • Genetics, brain structure, hormones, neurotransmitters

  • Biological and medicinal treatments

  • How the brain and body has influence

• Evolutionary Perspective

  • Natural selection

  • Behaviors and mental processes inherited w/ evolutionary purposes

• Social-Cultural Perspective

  • Culture, religion, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status[