AP Psychology Final Exam Study Guide (Examples Only)

Behavioral – A student studies more because they get rewarded with extra free time.
Biological – A headache caused by low serotonin levels.
Cognitive – Forgetting where you parked because you weren’t paying attention.
Evolutionary – People feel fear when hearing footsteps behind them at night.
Humanistic – Choosing a career based on personal happiness rather than money.
Psychodynamic – Avoiding authority figures due to strict childhood experiences.
Social-Cultural – Different cultures have different norms for personal space.

Research Methods – Surveying students about their stress levels before exams.
Correlation Coefficient – Higher screen time is linked with lower sleep hours.
Empirical Evidence – Measuring reaction times in a laboratory experiment.
Ethical Considerations – Participants are told they can quit a study at any time.
Experimental Group – Students who drink caffeine before taking a test.
Control Group – Students who drink water before taking the same test.
Generalizability – Results apply to students from many different schools.
Independent Variable – Amount of sleep given to participants.
Dependent Variable – Test scores after different sleep amounts.
Illusory Correlation – Believing that rainy days cause bad moods.
Measures of Central Tendency – Finding the average score on an exam.
Measures of Variability – Comparing how spread out class scores are.
Random Assignment – Flipping a coin to decide group placement.
Random Sample – Selecting names randomly from a school list.
Reliability – A personality test gives similar results each time.
Validity – A math test accurately measures math ability.
Sampling Bias – Surveying only athletes about physical fitness.
Standard Deviation – Most scores are close to the class average.
Statistical Significance – A study shows results unlikely due to chance.

Agonists – Morphine reduces pain similarly to natural endorphins.
Antagonists – Naloxone blocks the effects of heroin.
Brain Lateralization – Speech processed mainly in the left hemisphere.
Cerebellum – Maintaining balance while riding a skateboard.
Frontal Lobe – Deciding what to say during a debate.
Parietal Lobe – Feeling a tap on your shoulder.
Occipital Lobe – Recognizing a stop sign.
Temporal Lobe – Understanding spoken language.
Endorphins – Feeling pleasure after intense exercise.
Fight-or-Flight Response – Heart rate increases during a near accident.
Genetics of Identical Twins – Twins raised apart share similar personalities.
Hemispheric Specialization – Right hemisphere used for drawing.
Hippocampus – Remembering your first day of high school.
Limbic System – Feeling fear during a scary movie.
Parts of a Neuron – Electrical signal travels down the axon.
Spinal Reflexes – Pulling your hand away from a hot stove.
Sympathetic Nervous System – Sweating before a big test.
Parasympathetic Nervous System – Slowing heart rate after the test.
Wernicke’s Area – Understanding a teacher’s lecture.

Algorithm – Following steps to solve a math equation.
Availability Heuristic – Thinking plane crashes are common after seeing one on the news.
Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve – Forgetting notes without reviewing.
Encoding Failure – Forgetting someone’s name immediately.
Episodic Memory – Remembering your last birthday.
Functional Fixedness – Not seeing a paperclip as a tool.
Iconic Memory – Briefly remembering a flashed image.
Echoic Memory – Replaying what someone just said in your head.
Implicit Memory – Typing on a keyboard without thinking.
Language and Culture – Some languages have no words for certain colors.
Levels of Processing – Remembering a word better when you think about its meaning.
Memory Storage – Moving a phone number from short-term to long-term memory.
Proactive Interference – Old passwords interfering with new ones.
Retroactive Interference – New learning causing you to forget old material.
Recall – Writing an essay from memory.
Serial Position Effect – Remembering the first and last items on a list.