ThompsonCramPacketNewCurriculum2025 (1)

Unit Zero – Research Design

CORRELATION: identifies relationships between two variables.
EXPERIMENTS: manipulates variables to determine cause/effect.
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION: observes people in their 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 people (or person) specifically chosen for your study.

Research Designs

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 vice versa, 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).
- Positive Correlation: Variables increase and decrease together.
- Negative Correlation: As one variable increases, the other decreases.
- The stronger the number, the stronger the relationship, regardless of the +/- sign. Correlation cannot be less than or greater than 1.
- Stronger relationships = tighter clusters on a graph.

Experiments

Advantage: Only type that establishes cause and effect.
Disadvantage: Can be unethical, too artificial.
- Independent Variable: Purposefully altered by the researcher to look for an effect.
  - Experimental Group: Receives the treatment (part of the IV); can have multiple experimental groups.
  - Control Group: Placebo, baseline (part of the IV); can only have one control group.
- Dependent Variable: Measured variable (dependent on the independent variable).

Vocabulary Unique to Experiments

Placebo Effect: Any observed effect on behavior that is “caused” by the placebo (shows the effectiveness of 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 (e.g., drug studies).
Single-Blind: Only the participant is blind, used if the experimenter can’t be blind (e.g., gender, age).
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, increasing the chance of equal representation among groups (spreads the lefties across both groups), allows determination of cause/effect.

Other Study Types

Naturalistic Observation
- Advantage: Real-world validity.
- Disadvantage: No cause and effect.
Case Study
- Advantage: Collect lots of information.
- 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 and 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 between the smallest and biggest number.
  - Standard Deviation: Average amount the scores are spread from the mean (bigger # = more spread).
Inferential Statistics: Establishes significance (meaningfulness).
- Statistical Significance: Results not due to chance; experimental 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 People)

Confidentiality: Names 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 population (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 psychs: Study 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 twin 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
SENSORY neurons: Receive sense signals from environ. – send signal to brain
MOTOR neurons: Send signals to move – send signals from brain
Interneurons: Cells in spinal cord /brain responsible for reflex arc
- Reflex arc: Important stimuli skips the brain and routes 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 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 neg to pos. – 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 hypothalamus, assoc. w/ addiction
- Serotonin: Moods (long-term), emotion, 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, procedural memory (walking a tightrope balancing a bell)
Brainstem/Medulla: vital organs (HR, BP, breathing)
Reticular activating system: alertness, arousal, sleep, eye movement
Cerebral Cortex: outer portion of the brain – higher order thought processes – includes limbic system, lobes, 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 endocrine system, homeostasis
  - Thalamus: relay center for all but smell
  - Pituitary gland: talks w/ endocrine sys and hypothalamus – release hormones
- Occipital Lobe: vision
- Frontal Lobe: decision making, planning, judgment, movement, personality, language, executive function – includes the:
  - Prefrontal cortex: front of frontal lobe – executive function
  - Motor Cortex: back of frontal lobe - map of our motor receptors – controls skeletal movement
- Parietal Lobe: sensations and touch – controls association areas – incudes:
  - Somatosensory Cortex: map of our touch receptors
- Temporal Lobe: hearing and face recognition, language

Brain Continued

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 hypothalamus. release growth hormones

Brain Research

EEG: shows broad brain activity – not specific – electrical output
fMRI: show brain activity in specific regions, measures oxygen
Lesion: destruction of brain tissue

Diseases & Disorders to Know

Multiple sclerosis: destruction of myelin sheath, disrupts APs, causes impaired mobility, paralysis, pain
Myasthenia gravis: acetylcholine blocked, disrupts APs, causes poor motor control and paralysis
Blindsight: caused by lesions to primary visual cortex, ppl can “see” ie catch a ball etc despite being blind – evidence for association areas
Prosopagnosia: face blindness – damage to 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 no longer is 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: 24ish hour biological clock of Body temp & sleep
- Disrupting it makes your internal clock get out of sync (jet lag and shift work do this)
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
Entire cycle takes 90 minutes, REM occurs inb/w each cycle. REM lasts longer throughout the night, deep sleep decreases
REM is “paradoxical” bc your HR and brain is active – but your body is relaxed
REM Rebound: after sleep disruptions and/or lack of REM sleep you’ll have more / more intense REM sleep

Dream Theories

Activation Synthesis: Brain produces random bursts of energy – stimulating lodged memories in limbic sys & brain stem. Dreams start random then develop meaning. Its Neural theory.
Consolidation dream theory: 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 mechanism that paralyze you during REM

Sensation Intro Vocab

Sensation: receive stimulus energy from environment
Transduction: convert that info into APs
Perception: brain interprets the info
Absolute Threshold: detection of signal 50% of time (is it there)
Just noticeable dif erence: can tell the dif erence 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 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 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 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

Cognition Pillar

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 location of sound
Conduction deafness: damage to bones of ear and ear drum cause hearing loss
Sensorineural: damge to cochlea, hairs in 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 wo looking
Pain: Gate-control theory: we have a “gate” to control how much pain is experience. Pain is both mental and physical
“Hot”: activation of warm and cold receptors

Taste (Gustation)

6 taste receptors: bitter, salty, sweet, sour, umami (savory), oleogustus (fatty/oily)
Tongue, mouth, and brain process taste
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 w/in 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 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 (back ground)
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 b/c you’re so focused on another task (gorilla video)
- Change Blindness: fail to notice a change in the scene (curtain changes color)
- Cocktail party ef ect: 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 different 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 judgement 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 bc 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 bc its “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, carrying out goal directed behvs

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 letter 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 life time
  - 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) – 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 bc the info got moved to long term memory
- Recency bc its still in your short term
Recall: remember what you’ve been told w/o cues (essays)
Recognition: remember what you’ve been told w/ cues (MCQ) (this one is better)
Repressed memories: unconsciously buried memories to defend the ego (psychodynamic approach)
Encoding failure: forget info b/c 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

Development and Learning Pillar

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: ppl 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)

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
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 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: 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, 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 comparing self to other groups w/ neg stereotypes
FLYNN effect: IQ has steadily risen over the past 80 years – probably due to education standards, healthcare
Fixed Mindset: belief intelligence is fixed from birth – leads to less effort
Growth mindset: belief you can develop abilities through work and determination – leads to more effort

Development

“3 thematic issues” in Dev. Psych:
1. Nature / Nurture (genes or environment)
2. Continuous / Discontinuous (gradual dev over time or dev. In stage)
3. Stability / Change (traits persist, unchanging or traits change as we age)
- CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY: ppl of different ages at the same point in time
  - Adv: inexpensive & quick
  - Disadv: can be differences due to generational gap
- LONGITUDINAL STUDY: studies same ppl over time
  - Adv: eliminates