AP Psych Final Review for AP Exam! [for the updated 2025 exam] (copy)

• Section I: 75 MCQs [90 min] ~ 66.7%

• Section II: 2 FRQs [70 min] ~ 33.3%

I am done !!

Unit 0: Science Practices

• Psychology - The Scientific study of behavior and mental processes

• The Scientific Attitude - a mindset that promotes the use of critical thinking

  • 1) Curitosity; 2) Skepticsm; 3) humility

• Structuralism - the first school of psychology

  • focused on introspection

• Introspection - recognizing one’s own psychological processes, perceptions, and judgments

• Functionalism - an early school of thought promoted by William James and influenced by Darwin

  • Explored how mental and behavioral processes function and how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

• Critical Thinking - thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions

  • examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

• Epirical Approach - the idea that knowledge comes from experience

  • Observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge

• Confirmation Bias - the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories

  • interpreting info to support your existing beliefs

  • only remembering details that uphold your beliefs

• Hindsight Bias - the belief, after learning an outcome, that you foresaw it

  • “I knew it all along.”

• Overconfidence - we think we know more than we do

• Cultural Norms - the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to another

• Hypothesis - a potential solution to the question, usually an if/then statement

  • testifiable prediction

• Null-Hypothesis - no connection between variables

  • Likelihood (the null-hypothesis that is correct) is called the P-value or Probability Value

• Probability Value - calculated by the size of the sample (larger sample, lower p-value || vice versa) and standard deviation (lower standard deviation, lower p-value || vice versa)

• Falsifiable - a hypothesis is falsifiable if a study can be proven wrong

• Experiment - study that manipulates one variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether there are effects on the second variable

  • the purpose of an experiment is to show causation

• Independent variable - the factor being manipulated

• Dependent variable - the outcome

  • the variable that may change due to independent variable manipulation

• Confounding Variable - may influence the dependent variable

• Operational Definition - explains HOW variables are measured

  • important because it 1) defines variables used in a study, 2) allows others to accurately replicate a study to see the reliability, and 3) ensures that psychologists consider their biases

• Replication - the process of reproducing a study to see if the same results can be attained

  • crucial part of the research process that helps to improve the understanding of human behavior, or can verify a previous study

• Population - the group a study is trying to understand

• Random Sampling - from the population / means everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected for the study

  • lottery, flip coin, random number generator

• Convenience Sampling - when people are chosen based on their availability and willingness to participate

• Representative Sampling - a subset of a population that accurately reflects the characteristics of the entire population

  • truly representative of the same = generalizability

• Generalizability - the results can be applied to the whole population

  • Beyond the specific context of the study

• Sampling Bias - when the sample is not representative of the population

• Experimental Group - receives special treatment in an experiment

• Control Group - does NOT experience special treatment

• Placebo Group - control group that receives special treatment, but no effect

  • substance identical to the experimental group

• Random Assignment - likelihood that all participants in a group or a sample have an equal chance of getting assigned to different conditions within an experiment

  • exp vs control vs placebo group

    • necessary component

• Placebo Effect - when participants’ expectations lead them to experience some changes when they receive an empty or fake treatment

  • Sugar pill vs antidepressant (very interesting, I recommend looking it up and reading about it!)

• Social Desirability Bias - when participants act or answer in a way they believe will be viewed favorably by others

• Experimenter Bias - when researchers’ expectations can influence the result of the study

• Single-Blind Study - ensures the participants don’t know if they are in the experimental or control group can limit social desirability bias

• Double-Blind Study - when both research participants and staff are ignorant about whether the participants have received treatment or a placebo

  • helps prevent Social Desirability Bias and Experimenter Bias

• Quantitative Research - provides depth and context to understand human behavior

  • structured interviews

• Qualitative Research - measurable, generalizable data that can test theories and hypotheses

  • bar graph

• Case Study - examines one individual or group in depth in the hopes of revealing things true to us all

  • Suggest directions for future studies

  • can be misleading with typical individuals

  • can be challenging because of subjectivity

• Naturalistic Observation - the descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in natural situations without interference/manipulation

• Survey - a descriptive technique for obtaining self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a certain group

  • correlational research

  • ADVANTAGE: Look at cases in depth

  • DISADVANTAGE: tricky to get good results because of the particular wording

• Self-Report Bias - may not always provide accurate answers

  • memory errors, misunderstanding of questions, lack of introspection, or intentional deception

• Meta-Analysis - a statistical technique that combines and synthesizes the results of multiple individual studies on a particular topic

  • identifies patters

  • study of studies

• Directionality Problem - when it is unclear which variable is the cause and which is the effect

  • difficult to determine the direction of the causal relationship

• Third Variable Problem - when an unmeasured 3rd variable influences both of the correlated variables

• Statistics - Practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities

• Descriptive Statistics - numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups

• Mode - most frequently occurring scores

• Mean - the average

• Median - score in the middle

• Standard Deviation - a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score

• Range - the difference between the highest and lowest scores

• Percentile Rank - the percentage of scores that are lower than a given score

  • If you are in the 79th percentile, your score is higher than 79% of competitors

• Normal Curve - shape of an important class of probabilities

  • 68-95-99.7 Rule

  • [image best viewed in light mode]

    

• Skewed Distribution - a representation of scores that lack symmetry around their average value

  • 

• Bimodal Distribution - when there are two distinct peaks in a distribution

  • two different modes

  • 

• Regression Toward the Mean - a statistical phenomenon that refers to the tendency of extreme observations (outliers) on one measurement to be closer to the average on a subsequent measurement

  • 

• Correlation - shows a connection and helps us predict

• Correlation Coefficient - a statistical index of the relationship between two things

  • the closer it gets to -1 or +1, the stronger the correlation

  • the closer it gets to 0, the weaker the correlation

• Scatterplot - a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the value of two variables

• Histogram - bar graph depicting a frequency distribution

• Illusory Correlation - perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving a stronger-than-actual relationship

  • We believe there is a relationship, we are likely to notice instances that confirm our beliefs

    • EX: chilly/wet weather gives you a cold

• Inferential Statistics - numerical data that allows one to generalize

  • to infer from sample data

  • the probability of something being true for a population

• Statistical Significance - a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

  • if the p-value is low enough, then the results are statistically significant

The Psychological Perspectives

• Biological - How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences

  • TLDR: behavior through the brain

• Evolutionary - How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes

  • TLDR: genetic adaptation

• Cognitive - How we mentally encode, process, store, and retrieve information

  • TLDR: How we think about our experiences

• Humanistic - How we achieve personal growth and self-fulfillment

  • TLDR: Self-Fulfillment

• Psychodynamic - How behavior springs from unconscious needs, desires, conflicts, and memories

  • TLDR: Unconscious needs and desires

• Behavioral - How we learn; observable responses

  • TLDR: Learned rewards and punishments

• Sociocultural- How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

  • TLDR: Cultural differences

Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior

• Nature v. Nurture - a longstanding controversy over whether you are the way you are due to upbringing or genes

• Evolutionary Perspective - study of the evolution of behavior and the mind

  • using principles of natural selection

• Natural Selection - the driving force behind evolution

  • How the environment ‘selects’ the fittest organisms

• Behavior Genetics - study out differences and weigh the effects and interplay of heredity and environment

  • can include how mutations may affect individuals

• Mutation - random errors in gene replication that lead to a change

• Heredity - genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring

• Genes - the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes

  • Segments of DNA capable of synthesizing proteins

• Genomes - the complete instructions for making an organism

  • consisting of all the genetic material in that organism’s chromosomes

• Identical Twins - developed from a single fertilized egg that splits into two

  • Creating two genetically identical organisms

• Fraternal Twins - develop from separate fertilized eggs

  • They are genetically no closer than ordinary siblings, but they share a prenatal environment

• Gene-Environment Interaction - how genes and the environment influence one another

  • How malnutrition during childhood influences a person’s genes

  • permanently changed

• Epigenetics - the study of how environmental changes like childhood experiences can affect the expression of genes

  • can be changed

• Eugenics - promoting reproduction for the highly intelligent and potential sterilization for those with ‘less desirable traits’

Nervous System

• The Nervous System - the body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network

  • consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous system

• Peripheral Nervous System - the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

  • TLDR: sensory and motor

• Central Nervous System - brain and spinal cord

• Somatic (Voluntary) - the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles

  • Also called the skeletal nervous system

  • EX: reading and getting the hand ready to turn the page, and then turning it

• Autonomic (involuntary) - the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs

  • heart rate, digestion, respiration rate

  • Contains Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Divisions

• Sympathetic Division - the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body

  • mobilizing its energy

  • EX: thinking // fight or flight

  • TLDR: thinking and arousal

• Parasympathetic Division - the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body

  • conserving its energy

  • EX: eating // undoes the work of the sympathetic division after a stressful situation

  • TLDR: Eating and Calming

Neurons

• Neurons - a nerve cell

  • the basic building block of the nervous system

• Gial Cells - cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons

  • This plays a leading role in learning, thinking, and memory

  • TLDR: Glue cells

• Cell Body (soma) - contains nucleus

  • cell’s life support center

• Dendrites - receive and integrate messages

  • conducting impulses towards the cell body

• Axon - neuron extension that passes messages through branches to other neurons or muscular glands

• Terminal Buttons (Axon Terminal) - form junctions with other cells

• Myelin Sheath - enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next

  • it deteriorates

• Sensory (Afferent) Neurons - messages from sense organs to the CNS system

  • EX: water is hot

• Motor (Efferent) Neurons - carry messages from the CNS to muscles and glands.

  • EX: Move your hand

• Interneurons - carry messages between nerve cells, mainly in the brain and spinal cord

• Synapse - the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron

  • the tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap

• Reuptake - Remaining neurotransmitters in the synaptic gap are absorbed back into the sending neuron

• All-or-Nothing Principle - either the axon ‘fires’ or it doesn’t

  • Almost immediately, cells’ ion pumps flush out positively charged ions and restore neurons

• Depolarization - term used to describe the loss of he inside or outside charge difference

• Action Potential - The neural impulse created when a neuron ‘fires'.

  • the impulse travels from the dendrites down the axon to the axon terminals

• Refractory Period - The brief instant when a new action potential cannot be generated because the neuron is ‘recharging’ after the previous action potential

• Resting Potential - The state of a neuron when it is ‘charged’ but waiting for the next action potential to be generated

  • Fluid outside of an axon has mostly positively charged ions, while a resting axon’s fluid (intracellular fluid) is more negatively charged.

• Threshold - the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

• Multiple Sclerosis - a chronic disease in which communication between muscles and brain regions slows, causing low muscle control and sometimes impaired cognition

  • Causes: Deterioration of the Myelin Sheath

• Myasthenia gravis - a disease that causes symptoms such as muscle weakness, eyelid drooping, and difficulty swallowing or breathing

• Reflex Arc - neural pathway that controls a reflex (invouluntary response to a stimulus)

  • evolutionary adaptation that allows for faster action by activating spinal motor neurons instead of waiting for signals to reach the brain

Neurotransmitters

• Excitatory Neurotransmitters - arousing

• Inhibitory Neurotransmitters - block / prevent the chemical message from being passed any further

• Dopamine - influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion/reward

  • Oversupply: mental illness/schizophrenia

  • Undersupply: Parkinson’s, addictions

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

  • Oversupply: anxiety, happiness

  • Undersupply: depression

• Norepinephrine - helps control alertness and arousal

  • Contributes to the sympathetic nervous system in the ‘fight or flight’ response

• Glutamate - a major excitatory neurotransmitter

  • involved in memory

  • Oversupply: migraine/seizures

  • Undersupply: tremors/seizures

• GABA - major inhibitory neurotransmitter

  • helps control stress in the body

  • Undersupply: anxiety disorders

  • Oversupply: not enough brain activity

• Endorphins - a neurotransmitter that influences the perception of pain or pleasure

  • Oversupply: feel no pain

  • Undersupply: aches/pains

• Substance P - a neuropeptide that acts as a neurotransmitter

  • essential in pain perception and immune responses

  • Regulates metabolism and fracture healing

  • mediating pain, touch, and temperature

• Acetylcholine (ACh) - enables muscle actions, learning, and memory

  • motor control

  • Myasthenia gravis

Endocrine System

• Endocrine System - the body’s chemical communication system that helps regulate growth, reproduction, metabolism, and behavior

• Pituitary Gland - The endocrine system’s most influential gland

  • Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

• Oxytocin - often called the ‘love hormone’

  • associated with bonding, social interaction, and childbirth

• Adrenaline - the adrenal gland’s active adrenaline

  • activated by the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system in moments of danger

• Leptin - signals that you are full and less interested in food

• Ghrelin - hunger hormone

  • produced in the stomach and signals the brain to eat

• Melatonin - signals sleepiness

Psychoactive Drugs

• Psychoactive Drugs - chemicals that change perceptions

• Agonists - a molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action

  • occupies receptors and activates them

  • TLDR: mimics

• Antagonists - a molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action

  • block receptor activation by agonists

  • TLDR: blocks

• Reuptake Inhibitors - Stop/delay the body from reabsorbing serotonin

• Stimulants - drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions

  • EX: caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy

    • increase in heart rate, breathing, and blood sugar, and a decrease in appetite/energy

• Depressants - drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body function

  • EX: alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates

  • associated with many neurotransmitters, but mainly GABA

• Hallucinogens - psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input

  • similar to opiates

  • THC blocks a receptor that blocks GABA, but nothing tells the brain to stop

• Opioids - severely depress neural activity and temporarily lessen pain

  • can stop the brain from producing endorphins

  • EX: opium, morphine, and heroin

• Tolerance - the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug

  • requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug’s effect

• Withdrawal - the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or behavior

  • physical pain and cravings

• Dependence - the feeling of need to use a drug

  • physical or biological

• Addiction - compulsive drug craving and use despite adverse consequences

The Brain

• Biological Psychology - the study of links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) and psychological processes

• Biopsychosocial Approach - an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and socio-cultural levels of analysis

• Neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to change by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience

Neural Measures

• EEG (Electroencephalogram) - amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity sweeping across the brain’s surface

  • These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp

• PET (positron emission tomography) - a visual display of brain activity that detects where the radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task

• MEG (magnetoencephalography) - a brain imaging technique that measures magnetic fields from the brain’s natural electrical activity

• CT (Computed tomography) - a series of X-ray photos taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice of the brain’s structure

• MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) - a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissues

  • shows brain anatomy

• fMRI (functional MRI) - a technique for revealing blood flow and therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans

  • brain function/structure

Hindbrain

• Hindbrain - the most primitive part of the brain

  • consists of 3 structures:

    • the medulla

    • pons

    • cerebellum

• Medulla - regulates breathing and heart rate

  • operates without our conscious awareness

• Pons - helps coordinate movement and regulates the brain during the sleep cycle.

• Cerebellum - controls balance and the complex movements we perform without consciously thinking about it.

Midbrain

• Midbrain - the topmost most of the brainstem

  • the connection center between the brain and the spinal cord

• Reticular Formation - a nerve network that travels through the brainstem into the thalamus

  • plays an important role in controlling arousal

Forebrain

• Forebrain - the largest part of the brain, encompassing structures like the thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebellum

Cerebral Cortex

• Cerebral Cortex - ultimate control and information processing center

  • thinking cap

• Limbic System - neural system located mostly in the forebrain and is associated with emotions and drives

  • Includes:

    • thlamus

    • hypothalamus

    • pituitary gland

    • hippocampus

    • amygdala

• Thalamus - relays messages between lower brain centers and the cerebral cortex

• Hypothalamus - controls maintenance functions such as eating

  • helps govern the endocrine system

  • linked to emotion and reward

• Pituitary Gland - the master endocrine gland

• Hippocampus - linked to conscious memory

  • processes explicit memory

  • EX: removal = inability to form new memories, facts, or events

• Amygdala - linked to emotion

  • helps us remember emotionally charged events

  • EX: removal = loses any sense of fear

• Brainstem - the central core of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions

• Corpus Callosum - axon fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres

  • Split Brain

    • type of condition where there is a severance between the corpus callosum, splitting the two hemispheres

Structure of the Cortex

• Frontal Lobe - generally controls linguistic processing, higher-order thinking, and executive function.

  • Home to the motor cortex

  • Location: forehead area

• Parietal Lobe - generally controls association areas (processes and organizes info) and the somatosensory cortex

  • processes touch sensitivity

  • Location: Back crown

• Temporal Lobe - generally controls auditory and linguistic processing and stores long-term memories.

  • Location: on the sides, near the ears

• Occipital Lobe - visual information processing

  • Location: rear of the brain

• Somatosensory Cortex - an area at the front of the parietal lobe that registers and processes bodily touch and movement sensations

• Motor Cortex - Controls skeletal muscle movements

• Broca’s Area - production of speech

  • Left hemisphere

• Wernicke’s Area - understanding speech and writing, control of the sequence of movements, memory for words/numbers, and positive emotions

  • Left hemisphere

• Association Areas - regions of the cerebral cortex throughout the four lobes that are responsible for higher mental functions

  • seem to connect parts to allow it to perform “higher” functions

• Neurogenesis - creation of neurons that happens mostly in prenatal stages and continues into childhood

• Lateralization - look-alike hemispheres that serve different functions, the

  • right hemisphere controls the left side and vice versa

  • Both hemispheres work together to produce our thoughts/feelings

Sleep

• Cognitive Neuroscience - the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition

  • including perception, thinking, memory, and language

• Circadian Rhythm - regular body rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle

  • wakefulness, temperature, etc

• Waking Beta Waves - High frequency

  • conscious thought and logical thinking

• Waking Alpha Waves - relatively slow brain waves

  • relaxed, awake state

• NREM1- irregular brain waves

  • light sleep

  • may experience hallucinations

  • hypnagogic sensations, like falling or kicking

• NREM2 - Sleep spindles/burst of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity

  • easy to wake up, but definitely asleep

• NREM3 (Delta Waves) - slow delta waves of brain activity

  • deep sleep

    • bed-wetting, sleep walking, sleep talking

• REM - similar to being awake, in terms of brain activity

  • Rapid eye movement

  • Dream sleep

  • electrical activity in the brain

  • 1st episode is around 10 mins, but increases over time

• Sleep Cycle

  • NREM1

  • NREM2

  • NREM3

  • NREM2

  • REM

  • NREM2

  • NREM3
    NREM2

  • REM

    • repeats every 90 mins

• SCN (Suprachiasmatic Nucleus)

  • a pair of neuron clusters in the hypothalamus that regulates circadian rhythm

    • Brain’a master clock, controlling daily cycles

  • signals the pineal gland to decrease melatonin

• Sleep Deprivation - lack of sleep

• Insomnia - problems falling asleep or staying asleep

  • Often has a psychological cause

• Narcolepsy - uncontrollable sleep attacks

• REM Sleep Behavior Disorder - The Body is not paralyzed during REM sleep

• Sleep Apnea - cessations of breathing during sleep

• Somnambulism - Sleepwalking

Dream Theories

• Activation-Synthesis - to make sense of neural static

  • neural activity has to make sense, but are random event in the brain

• Information Processing/Consolidation - to file away memories

  • learning and rehearsing the day’s events

• Physiological Function - to develop and preserve neural pathways

  • REM sleep keeps our neural networks strong

• Cognitive Development - to reflect cognitive development

  • we are just maturing and differentiating dreams that reflect our age

• REM Rebound - natural response to sleep deprivation, stress, or drug withdrawal

  • more REM, vivid dreams, nightmares, headaches, feeling disoriented

Processing

• Dual Processing - the principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

• Parallel Processing - processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously

  • generally used to process well-learned information or to solve easy problems

• Sequential Processing - processing one aspect of a problem at a time

  • Generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems

• Blindsight - a condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously thinking about it

Sensation

• Sensation - the reception of information from our sensory receptors

  • physical

• Perception - the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

  • giving meaning

  • more psychological

• Psychophysics - the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli

  • such as intensity and our psychological experience of them

• Sensory receptors - Nerve endings that detect environmental stimuli and send information to the brain

  • part of sensory neurons

• Transduction - converting sensory information into electrical impulses the brain understands

• Absolute Threshold - the smallest detectable level of a stimulus

  • the level at which a stimulus is first detected 50% of the time

    • Below the absolute threshold is less than 50%

• Signal Detection Theory - detection depends on a person’s experience, expectations, motivations, and alertness

  • Theory tries to predict when we will detect weak signals

    • When might you best see, hear, smell, etc

• Subliminal - below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

  • meant to slip past your mental radar and embed itself deep into your subconscious mind

• Priming - an invisible image or word can prime (unconsciously prepare) our responses to later questions

• Difference Threshold (Just-Noticeable Difference) - the smallest recognizable and physical difference between two stimuli

• Weber’s Law - the greater the magnitude of the stimulus, the larger the difference needed for it to be detected

  • Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum %, not amount

• Sensory Adaptation - Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

  • occurs in the body, and the stimulus is continuous

• Sensory Interaction - when one sense can influence another

  • occurs when the brain has to process conflicting information from various sensory systems

• Synesthesia - a neurological condition that causes people to experience more than one sense at the same time

• Gate Control Theory - we have a “gate” in our spinal cord that can sometimes block incoming signals

  • In some cases, pain messages are minimized or even prevented from reaching the brain at all

• Gustation - sense of taste

  • the sense is based on chemicals

    • smell + taste = flavour

      • can detect sweet, sour, salty, and bitter tastes without olfaction, but not subtle flavours

• Olfaction - sense of smell

  • 1) orders airborne chemical molecules to interact with receptors associated with specialized hairs in the nose

  • 2) Stimulated nerve cells associated with these hairs convey information to the brain’s olfactory bulbs

• Kinesthesis - how we sense our body movements

• Vestibular Sense - balance

• Sensory Interaction - how the senses interact so we can respond to stimuli

• Embodied Cognition - an approach to cognition that has roots in motor behavior

• Proprioception - body awareness

  • involved the vestibular sense and kinesthesis (sense of one’s body movement)

  • Receptors in muscles and joints

  • directional awareness

Vision

• Cornea - The Eye’s clear, protective outer layer bends light into focus

• Pupil - Adjustable center of the eye through which light enters

• Iris - colored proportion of the eye around the pupil,

  • controls the size of the pupil

• Lens - Structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

• Retina - the inner surface of the eye where transduction takes place

• Fovea - the central focal point in the retina, in which visual acuity is the highest

  • allows us to drive, read, etc

  • sharpest vision

• Optic Nerve - bipolar cells that send to the Ganglion cells

  • makes up the optic nerve

  • Blind spot

• Blind spot - a point where the optic nerve leaves the eye

  • No receptor cells are located there

Color Processing

• Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory - Humans perceive color because the eye can receive light of 3 different wavelengths and combine them into the entire visible spectrum

• Opponent-Process Theory - the brain avoids extremes of emotional experience by countering the stimulation it receives with an opposite (opponent) reaction

• Feature Detectors - the process by which the nervous system sorts or filters complex natural stimuli

  • occipital lobe

  • identification

Hearing

• Frequency - physical phenomenon

  • frequency determines pitch

• Pitch - perpetual phenomenon

• Eardrum - vibrates when sounds reach it

• Semicircular Canals - helps maintain balance

• Hammer and Anvil - pass vibrations along

• Middle Ear - hammil, anvil, and stirrup

  • passing along vibrations

• Cochlea - creates an impulse

  • transduction

• Inner Ear - semicircular conals

  • helps maintain balance and detects head motion

• Sound Localization - Sound waves strike one ear sooner and more intensely than the others

Hearing Loss / Pitch

• Sensorineural Hearing Loss - damage in auditory nerve or other higher processing centers

  • aging neurological

• Conduction Hearing Loss - interference/interruption in which sound waves convert to nerve energy

  • allergies

• Cochlear Implants - devices for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes in the cochlea

• Place Theory - we hear different pitches because sound waves activate different places on the basilar membrane

  • where it lands

  • higher frequency

• Frequency Theory - we hear different pitches because never impulses match frequency of a sound wave

  • lower frequency

Unit 2: Cognition

Perception and Processing

• Perception - process or organizing and interpreting sensory information

  • giving meaning (psychological)

• Bottom-Up Processing - Starts at sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing

• Top-Down Processing - constructs perceptions from this sensory input by drawing on your experience and expectations

Attention and Perceptual Set

• Selective Attention - focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

  • 11,000,000 bits of info per second

    • We can only process about 40

• Cocktail Party Effect - a type of selective attention, the ability to attend to one voice among other voices

  • Cognitive radar can bring an unattended voice to mind

    • EX: You hear your name being called

• Inattentional Blindness - Failing to see visible objects when our attention is somewhere else

• Change Blindness - failing to notice changes in the environment

• Perceptual Set - your tendency to view things only in a certain way

  • can change what we see, feel, taste, and touch

  • This is determined by our schemas

    • concepts that organize information in our experience

• Effect of Context on Perceptual Set - The environment or circumstances in which a stimulus occurs can significantly affect our interpretation of the stimulus

• Effect of Motivation on Perceptual Set and Emotion - experience filters perception

• Effect of Culture on Perceptual Set - Culture sets up the framework through which we interpret the sensory world

Binocular Depth Cues

• Retinal Disparity - the slight difference in the images projected on the retinas of each eye due to their horizontal separation

• Convergence - inward movement of eyes as they focus on a closer object

Monocular Depth Cues

• Relative Clarity - objects that appear sharp, clear, and detailed are seen as closer than more hazy objects.

• Texture Gradient - a gradual change from a coarse, distant texture to a fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distance

• Relative Size - the depth cue in which we perceive distance based on the composition of sizes between objects

• Linear Perspective - a type of depth prompt that the human eye perceives when viewing two parallel lines that meet at a distance

• Interposition - one object that is covered up may seem farther away.

Gestalt Psychology

• Figure-Ground - how people distinguish an object (its figure) from its surrounding area (the ground)

• Closure - if parts of a picture are missing, our minds fill in the gaps

• Proximity - we perceive objects that are close to each other as being in a group

• Similarly, we perceive elements that are similar in appearance to be connected or part of a whole

• Perceptual Constancy - perceiving objects as unchanging, even when illumination and retinal images change

• Apparent Motion - involved the general perception of movement when nothing is happening

• Phi Phenomenon - a specific type of apparent movement where the illusion of movement arises from light flashing in a sequence

  • creates a perception of movement

Thinking

• Concepts - mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, and people

  • Natural Concepts: understanding through direct observation and experience

  • Formal Concepts: formed by definition

• Prototypes - mental images or the best example of a category

  • ideal example of any given concept

  • the closer something matches our prototype of a concept, the more readily we will accept it

• Schema - basic units of intellect

  • frameworks that organize and interpret information

• Assimilation - fitting new information into an existing schema

• Accommodation - creating a new schema

  • or drastically changing the schema

• Algorithms - a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

• Heuristics - a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently.

• Representative Heuristic - estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well the seem to represent or match particular prototypes

• Availability Heuristic - estimating the likelihood of events based on their available memory

Decision-Making and Judgments

• Insight - a sudden realization of a problem’s solution

• Intuition - an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

• Fixation - inability to view problems from a new angle

• Mental Set - a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way

  • Often, a way that has been successful in the past

• Belief Perserverance - ignoring evidence that proves our beliefs are wrong

• Priming and Framing - the way an issue is posed/worded can significantly change/affect ur decisions and judgements

• Gambler’s Fallacy - the belief that the chances of something happening with a fixed probability become higher or lower as the process is repeated

• Sunk-Cost Fallacy - our tendency to continue with an endeavor we have invested money, effort, or time into

  • Even if current costs outweigh the benefits

• Executive Functions - management of cognitive processes, including working memory, reasoning, flexibility, and problem solving, as well as planning and execution

• Creativity - the ability to innovate valuable ideas

  • Expertise: well-developed knowledge

  • Imaginative Thinking Skills: see things in a new way

  • Venturesome Personality - Tolerance for ambiguity or risks

  • Intrinsic Motivation: internal motivation

  • Creative Environment: helps foster creativity

• Convergent Thinking - narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

  • EX: how a little kid would react

• Divergent Thinking - expanding the number of possible problem solutions

  • creative thinking that diverges in different directions

• Functional Fixedness - A tendency to only think of an object’s most common use when presented with a problem

Encoding

• Encoding - get information into our brain by selecting, identifying, and labeling memories to fit the preferred format for memory

• Storage - retain the information

• Retrieval - later get the information back from our brain

  • the recovery of information

• Mnemonic Devices - a technique used to enhance memory and recall

• Method of Loci - a mnemonic technique that works by placing an image of each item to be remembered at particular points along an imaginary journey through a location

• Chunking - organizing items into familiar, manageable units

  • often occurs automatically

• Categories - organizing information into meaningful groups

• Hierarchies - systems where individuals or concepts are ranked one above another based on specific criteria

• Spacing Effect - The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term memory

• Massed Practice - can produce short-term learning and a feeling of confidence

  • cramming

  • Those who learn quickly forget quickly

• Distributed Practice - produces better long-term memory

• Serial Position Effect - the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series best and the middle worst

• Maintenance rehearsal - Repetition of a piece of information to keep it within your active, short-term memory

  • mnemonic, speech

• Elaborative Rehearsal - A Technique used to help the short-term memory store thoughts or ideas and pass them into long-term memory

  • relating new concepts to old concepts that are already in long-term memory

• Autobiographical Memory - the process of remembering personal experiences or events from our own lives

  • ability to retrieve specific details such as time, place, emotions, and sensory information associated with those memories

• Retrograde Amnesia - the inability to recall memories from before the onset of the amnesia

• Anterograde Amnesia - the inability to retain or learn new information

• Infantile Amnesia - the inability of adults to recollect early episodic memories

  • associated with the rapid forgetting that occurs in childhood

• Alzheimer’s Disease - a chronic brain disease that gradually erodes an individual’s memory, intellectual abilities, and personality

  • the most obvious symptom is the inability to learn and remember information

Retrieving Memories

• Retrieval Cues - stimuli that assist in memory retrieval

  • EX: A test question may fail to cue memory because of its wording or context

• Recall - you can access information without cues

• Recognition - a type of memory retrieval in which one must identify present information as having been previously presented

• Context-Dependent Memory - theory that suggests that information is optimally remembered when it is recalled in the same place in which it was initially learned

  • EX: taking an exam in the place where you learned the content

• Mood-Congruent Memory - The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s good or bad mood

  • EX: if someone is upset, they might recall more negative events

• State-Dependent Memory - A state in which the retrieval of recently obtained information may be possible if the subject exists in a similar physiological situation as during the period of the encoding stage

  • EX: Scuba divers recalling information underwater

• Testing Effect - an enhancement in the long-term retention of information as a result of taking a memory test

  • repeatedly self-test

• Metacognition - the ability to control and be aware of your thoughts

  • EX: realizing you know the answer to a test, but cannot think of the answer at that moment

  • monitoring and evaluating your learning

• Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve - a graph that represents how memory decreases over time when there is no attempt to retain or retrieve the information

  • As rehearsal time increases, relearning time decreases

• Encoding Failure - a breakdown in the process of getting information into the cognitive system

  • can occur because of inattention to the target information or interface when the target information is presented

• Proactive Interference - occurs when old information or knowledge interferes with the learning of new information

  • EX: writing the date wrong during the first few months of the year,// confusion when using foreign currency

• Retroactive Interference - when newly acquired information inhibits your ability to recall previously acquired information

  • EX: forgetting the address of your previous location because you moved,// forgetting the names of previous co-workers

• Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon - Occurs when someone cannot recall a specific word or term, but feels certain that they know it

  • the information is just out of reach

• Repression - when unacceptable ideas, impulses, and memories are kept out the consciousness

  • Addressed more in later units

• Misinformation Effect - occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information

  • asking leading questions

• Source Amnesia - faulty memory for how, when, and where information was learned for images

  • Deja Vu

• Memory Consolidation - memories become less susceptible to interference with time

  • Consolidation is based on rearrangements of the neural circuitry involved in memory

• Imagination Inflation - people increase their confidence that an event happened after imagining the details of the event

  • First birthday recollection, actually just household photos

Intelligence and Achievement

• G (general intelligence) - underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

  • According to Spearman and others

• Multiple Intelligence - our abilities are classified into eight or nine independent intelligences

  • Includes a broad range of skills beyond traditional school smarts

• Mental Age - the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age

  • Devised by Alfred Binet

• Chronological Age - the actual amount of time a person has been alive

  • measured in years from birth to present

• IQ (Intelligence Quotient) - ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100

  • IQ = (ma/ca)/100

• Flynn Effect - the finding that IQ scores have been steadily surpassing previous generations

Psychological Assessments

• Standardized - defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

• Validity - the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to do

• Construct - the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

• Predictive - the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is trying to predict

• Reliability - the extent to which a test yields consistent results

• Test-Retest - a property exhibited by a test on which people get about the same scores when they take the test more than once

• Split-Half - data collected is split randomly in half and then compared

  • to see if results taken from each part of a measure are similar

• Achievement Tests - a test designed to assess what a person has learned

• Aptitude Tests - a test designed to predict a person’s future performance

  • Aptitude is someone’s capacity to learn

• Stereotype Threat - a self-fulfilling prophecy that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

• Stereotype Lift - occurs when non-targets perform better than the stereotype

• Heritability - The proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes

• Fixed Mindset - asserts that the brain and intelligence cannot change

• Growth Mindset - belief that one’s ability and intellect can be developed through effort, learning, and perseverance

Memory

• Explicit Memory - information that you have to work to remember consciously

• Episodic Memory - explicit memory of personally experienced events

  • ½ of our conscious memory system

• Semantic Memory - explicit memory of facts and general knowledge

  • ½ of our conscious memory system

• Procedural Memory -the type of memory that we use to do everyday tasks

  • tying shoes or riding a bike

• Conditioned Memory - if you were classically conditioned to do something, you do not need to remember it consciously

  • being scared of dogs for life if one bit you when you were a kid

• Prospective Memory - remembering to act at a certain time

  • Remembering to take medicine after breakfast

• Long-Term Potentiation - a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity

  • This is thought to be a key mechanism behind learning and memory

• Central Executive - coordinates your focus processing as you integrate new information with your existing long-term memory

• Phonological Loop - briefly holds auditory information

  • EX: Repeating a phone number as you enter it

• Visuospatial Sketchpad - briefly holding information about an object’s appearance or location in space

  • EX: Where did you park your car?

• Sensory Memory - the immediate and brief recording of sensory information to the memory system

• Sensory Memory (Iconic) - photographic picture-image memory

  • lasting no more than a few seconds

• Sensory Memory (Echoic) - mementary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

  • If attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can only be recalled for 3-4 seconds

• Short-Term Memory - briefly activated memory of a new item that is later stored or forgotten

  • EX: digits of a phone number while calling it

• Long-Term Memory - a relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system

  • includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

• Automatic Processing - unconscious encoding of incidental information (space, time, and frequency) and well learned information (word meanings)

• Effortful Processing - encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

• Working Memory - a newer understanding of short-term memory

  • conscious and active processing of 1) incoming sensory information and 2) information retrieved from a long time ago

Levels of Processing (shallowest to deepest)

• Structural - focusing on the appearance of words

• Phonemic - focuses on the sound of words

• Semantic - focuses on the meaning of words

  • visual

Unit 3: Development and Learning

Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology

• Developmental Psychology - the study of how we change over our lifespan physically, cognitively, socially, and morally

  • lifelong

  • multidimensional and multidirectional

• Physical Development - Changes in the physical body

  • Muscle development

  • coordination

  • sexual development

• Cognitive Development - how a person thinks

• Social Development - Relationships and how we think, feel, and behave in them

• Moral Development - our understanding of how our choices affect others

• Gender Development - An Individual’s anatomical sex

  • sexual assignment

  • cultural and social aspects

• Stability vs. Change

  • Stability: characteristics we develop in childhood are permanent and fixed

  • Change: occurs in predictable and unpredictable ways in our lives

• Nature vs. Nurture

  • Naturists: development is due to genetic determination

  • Nurturists: At birth, our minds are a blank slate

• Continuous vs. Discontinuous Stages of Development - Is developmental gradual or a sequence of separate stages?

  • Continuous Theorists: Development is continuous and focuses on quantitative change

  • Stage Theorists: development occurs in a series of distinct stages

• Cross-sectional - many individuals at a single point in time

• Logitudinal - Same group of participants over a long period of time

Kohlberg’s Moral Development

• Level 1 - Preconventional Morality

  • Stage 1: Obedience and punishment orientation

    • The individual is good at avoiding punishment

  • Stage 2: individualism and exchange

    • Children realize there is not one right view that is handed down by authorities

• Level 2: Conventional Morality

  • Stage 3: Good interpersonal relationships

    • the individual is good to be seen as being good

    • approval of others

  • Stage 4: Maintaining Social Order

    • aware of wider rules in society

    • Judgements concern obeying the rules to avoid guilt

• Level 3: Postconventional Morality

  • Stage 5: social contact and individual rights

    • become aware of which rules/laws exist for the good of the greater number

  • Stage 6: universal principles

    • People at this stage have developed their set of moral guidelines, which may or may not fit the law

Physical Dev. Across the Lifespan

• Maturation - refers to biological growth processes that occur naturally and are largely determined by genetics

• Critical Period - a time interval during which specific stimuli have major effects on development

  • high brain plasticity

  • the brain is receptive to learning, and the environment influences

  • development of language acquisition from early childhood

Prenatal Development and Birth Defects

• Prenatal Period - begins with fertilization and ends at birth

  • critical period for eyes, ears, arms, legs, and heart

  • In the first 3 months

• Defects - generic, hormonal, or environmental stimuli

  • malnutrition over time and over-the-counter drugs cause birth defects

• Negatively Affect Prenatal Developments - maternal illness

  • Infections during pregnancy can affect both

  • Genetic Mutations: schizophrenia, autism, Down syndrome, and cystic fibrosis are all due to genetic mutations

Physical Development of Early Childhood

• Pruning Process - unused neurons eliminated

• Primary Sex Characteristics - innate and include sex organs and genitals

• Secondary Sex Characteristics - develop during puberty

  • facial hair, enlarged breasts, pubic hair, deeper voices

Cognitive Development Across the Lifespan

• Jean Piaget - a developmental psychologist who studied how our minds grow

  • studied children’s cognition

• Piaget’s Stages of Development

  • Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)

    • Infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

    • Object permanence - objects exist even when out of sight

    • separation anxiety disorder develops (8-10 months)

    • ~8 months: stranger anxiety

  • Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)

    • stage where a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete language

    • ability to pretend

    • egocentric: being unable to think about something from someone else’s perspective

    • Trial and error

    • answers questions instinctively rather than logically

  • Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)

    • Children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

    • mastery of conservation

      • mass, volume, and # remain the same despite changes in the form of objects

    • Recognizes reversability

      • 1+2=2+1

  • Formal Operational Stage (12+ years)

    • People begin to think critically about abstract concepts

    • reason like adults

    • think hypothetically

    • make inferences

    • deeper concepts of existence

    • mature moral reasoning

  • Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development - the space between what a learner can do without help and what a learner can do with help or in collaboration with peers

    • scaffolding

    • guided learning

  • Fluid Intelligence - the ability to think abstractly, reason quickly, and solve any problem due to previous knowledge

  • Crystalized Intelligence - intelligence involves learning, knowledge, and skills that are acquired over a lifetime

  • Cognitive Disorders - when a person experiences a loss or interruption of normal thought processes

    • dementia and alzhiemers

Communication and Language

• Language - a flexible system of communication using sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols to convey emotion

• Skinner's Language Theory - Children learn language through interactions with their environment

  • parents

• Chomsky's Language Theory - children possess the inherent ability to learn language

  • Innate universal grammar

• Phonology - study of sound patterns and rules that govern language

• Phonemes - the smallest meaningful unit of sound that is recognizable as human speech and makes words distinct

• Morphology - the study of word structure and how words are formed

• Morphemes -the smallest recognizable units of sounds

• Syntax - the system of rules for combining words and phrases to form grammatically correct sentences

• Semantics - the rules for determining the meaning of words and sentences

  • using the right words

• Pragmatics - the study of how language is used in real-world contexts and how the meaning influences situations

• Grammar - a set of rules governing how symbols in a given language are used to form meaningful expressions

• Linguistic Determinism/Relativism - The concept that language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge and thought

• Nonverbal Communication - signals we send and receive through body language, facial expressions, gestures, and other forms of nonverbal communication

  • often convey emotions, attitudes, and intentions without the use of words

• Development of Formal Language - the process by which individuals acquire and improve their ability to understand and use language

• Overgeneralization - occurs when the use of grammar is applied too broadly beyond exceptions

  • Children often make these mistakes when learning the language

• Telegraphic Speech - context words only

  • no functions, tenses, or plural endings

Social-Emotional Development Across the Lifespan

• Chronosystem - the individual’s current stage of life

  • tech advancements, family restructure over time

• Macrosystem - cultural events that affect the individuals and others around them

  • societal values, cultural norms

• Exosystem - indirect factors in individual life

  • parents’ jobs // stress could affect the family dynamic

• Mesosystem - relationships between groups in school

  • Academics affect the family

  • extra curricular could influence peer relationships

• Microsystem - groups that have direct contact with the individual

  • family, friends, classmates, and extra curriculars

• Authoritarian Parenting - focuses on obedience

  • punishment over discipline

• Authoritative Parenting - create positive relationships with their child

  • enforce rules

  • high expectations for a child’s maturity

• Permissive Parenting - Don’t enforce rules

  • “Kids will be kids.”

  • low expectations of a child’s maturity

• Neglectful Parenting - Provide little to no guidance, nurturing, attention, and expectations

• Secure Attachment Style

  • As a child, able to separate from my parents

    • Seek comfort from parents when frightened

    • Return of parents is met with emotions

    • prefers parents to strangers

  • As an adult, having a trusting, lasting relationship

    • tend to have good self-esteem

    • comfortable sharing feelings with friends

    • seek out social support

• Insecure Attachment Style

  • As a child, may avoid parents

    • does not seek much comfort or contact from parents

    • shows little or no preference between a parent and a stranger

  • As an adult, one may have problems with intimacy

    • Invest little emotion in social and romantic relationships

    • unable or unwilling to share thoughts and feelings with others

• Temperament - a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

  • more on the nature, but nature matters too

• Separation Anxiety - a child’s generalized fear of being separated from a primary caregiver or other familiar adult

• Harlow’s Money Study and Contact Comfort

  • 2 “mothers,’ (cloth mother and robot mother)

  • found that the monkey was more attached to the cloth mother

    • proving the importance of contact comfort

• Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

  

• Peer Relationships - peers exert increasing influence over us while simultaneously parental influence decreases

• Imaginary Audience - belief that you are constantly being watched or judged

• Personal Fable - belief that you are so unique that nobody can understand you

• Adolescent Identity Development Theory - Erikson’s 5th stage

  • EX: Are you seeking out an identity for yourself, and do you eventually commit to identity?

• Sex - biological status, defined by your chromosomes and anatomy

• Gender - socially influenced characteristics by which people define boy, girl, man, or woman

  • the body defines sex, the mind defines gender

• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) - potentially traumatic events that occur during childhood

  • attachment issues

  • emotional dysregulation

  • interpersonal challenges

• Adulthood Social Development

  • Primarily shaped by life events rather than age/physical development

Classical Conditioning

• Habituation - diminishing response to a repeated stimulus

  • Repeated fire alarm  → starting to ignore it

• Mere Exposure Effect - learned preference for things we are familiar with

• Behavioral Learning - a branch of psychology that focuses on how people learn through their interactions with the environment

  • Focuses on observable behavior, not mental processes

• Classical Conditioning - associating 2 stimuli together to create a response

• Unconditioned Stimulus - something that causes an unlearned (natural) response

• Unconditional Response - an automatic reaction given to a stimulus without training

• Neutral Stimulus - an unlearned stimulus not associated with anything

• Conditioned Stimulus - a neutral stimulus prior to training

  • Same as an unconditioned response

• Conditioned Response - an automatic reaction given to a stimulus

• Acquisition - the first point when you learn or understand something

• Generalization - associating one experience with all similar experiences

  • stimulus similar to a Conditioned Stimulus and a Conditioned Response

• Discrimination - to be able to tell the difference between 2 similar stimuli

  • When a stimulus identical to a conditioned stimulus does not elicit a conditioned response

• Extinction - when you no longer react to something

• Spontaneous Recovery - When a conditioned response reappears after being extinguished, even when there has been no additional conditioning

• Higher-Order Conditioning - a form of learning in which a stimulus is first made meaningful for an organism through an initial step of learning

  • Stimulus is used as a basis for learning

• Counterconditioning - a therapy technique that tries to evoke a new response to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors

• Taste Aversions - associating illness with something you ate or drank, even if it didn’t make you sick

• One-Trial Conditioning - when association is acquired after one pairing of stimulus and response

  • especially powered with taste

  • differs from Classical Conditioning because it is quickly acquired

  • considerably

• Biological Preparedness - Biological predisposition to learn certain pairings more quickly than others

  • People have an innate ability to identify life-threatening objects

Operant Conditioning

• Law of Effect - rewarded behavior is likely to occur

  • Behaviors followed by negative consequences are weakened

• Operant Conditioning - A Learning process through which behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment

  • We learn how to operate in the environment to elicit a particular stimulus

• Shaping - reward successive approximations of a target behavior

  • Boo-Yah game

  • Relies on positive reinforcement

• Instinctive Drift - the tendency to revert to your innate, instinctive behaviors after being conditioned to perform a learned behavior

  • Revert to an accent despite learning the language proficiently

• Learned Helplessness - occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances

  • even while they can do so

• Primary Reinforcers - a stimulus that is innately satisfying and requires no learning

  • food, water, sex

• Secondary Reinforcer (Conditioned)

  • coupons, money, grades, and praise have their value learned or acquired through experience

• Skinner’s Box - operant conditioning chamber

  • used to study animal behavior in a controlled environment where they can learn to perform a specific task

• Positive Reinforcement - something is being added to increase the likelihood of a behavior

  • The child gets praised for getting good grades

• Negative Reinforcement - Every occurrence of a behavior is reinforced

  • Not helpful if trying to establish long-term motivation

• Positive Punishment - something is being added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

  • A parent scolding a child for fighting with their siblings

• Negative Punishment - something is being removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

  • Child loses iPad after refusing to eat veggies

• Continuous Reinforcement - Every occurrence of a behavior is reinforced

  • Not helpful if trying to establish long-term motivation

• Partial Reinforcement - behaviors are reinforced only some of the time

• Fixed Interval - Reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals

  • EX: Weekly paycheck for your job as a Starbucks employee

  • Result: Moderate response rate with significant pauses after reinforcement

• Variable Interval - reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals

  • EX: Pop quiz in a class

  • Result: Moderate yet steady response rate

• Fixed Ratio - Reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of examples

  • EX: $10 for every 4 customers you help at the store

  • Result: High response rate with pauses after reinforcement

• Variable Ratio - reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable number of responses

  • EX: Slot machines

  • Result: High and steady response rate

Factors in Learning

• Social Learning Theory - proposed that learning occurs through observation, imitation, and modeling

  • influenced by factors

    • attention

    • motivation

    • attitudes

    • emotions

• Observational Learning - the process of learning by watching the behavior of others

• Modeling - the process through which children learn a large number of behaviors, skills, and ways of thinking without direct experience

• Mirror Neurons - facilitate our learning by enabling us to imitate and understand the actions and behaviors of those we observe

• Vicarious Conditioning - learning through observing other people’s responses to an environmental stimulus that is most noticeable to the observer

  • reading a book

  • listening to a story

• Insight Learning - Cognitive form of learning involves the mental rearrangement or restructuring of the elements in a problem to achieve a sudden understanding of the problem and arrive at a solution

• Latent Learning - a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response

  • trying to compute a 20% discount at the market

• Cognitive Maps - a mental picture or image of the layout of the physical environment

  • EX: being able to navigate your room in the dark

Unit 4: Social Psychology

Attribution Theory and Personal Perception

• Dispositional Attributions - relates to internal qualities of others

  • such as intelligence or personality

• Situational Attributions

  • Relate to external circumstances that are experienced

• Explanatory Style - people explain the events in their lives and the lives of others in predictable ways

  • Optimistic Explanatory Style: temporary controllable causes

  • Pessimistic Explanatory Style: focuses on permanent, uncontrollable causes

• Actor/Observer Bias - the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes, while attributing our behavior to external causes

  • EX: Bob believes he cannot stop gambling because his friends gamble and are a bad influence. Tim cannot stop gambling because he is an addict.

• Fundamental Attribution Error - We observe another’s behavior and underestimate the impact of the situation, and overestimate the impact of personal disposition

  • This is like a bias

• Self-Serving Bias - attributing our successes to our efforts and qualities, while attributing our failures to external factors and other people

  • EX: I did well on a test → I am smart

  • EX: I did poorly on a test → The teacher did not teach us well

• Internal Locus of Control - belief that outcomes of someone’s abilities

  • believing they are in control and take responsibility for their actions

  • better academic achievement, greater efforts to learn, positive attitudes to exercise

• External Locus of Control - The belief that one blames external forces for their circumstances

  • more resigned to conditions “as they are,” lower efforts to deal with health, lower level of adjustments

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - Behave in ways that elicit behaviors from others that confirm their beliefs or perceptions about themselves or others

• Social Comparison - when people evaluate themselves based on comparisons to other members of a society or social circles

  • can be upward and downward

• Relative Deprivation - the feeling of being deprived or lacking in something compared to others in a relevant social group

  • based on the idea that people perceive their situation relative to others, not just in absolute terms

• Projective Tests - a personality test in which subjects are shown ambiguous images or given situations and asked to interpret them

Attitude Formation and Change

• Prejudice - an unjustifiable and negative attitude toward a group

  • Racial stereotypes

• Stereotypes - generalized beliefs and categories about a group of people

  • can help reduce cognitive load when making decisions and judgments

    • can be caused

    • result of biased perceptions

    • experienced

• Implicit Attitudes - evaluations that occur without conscious awareness towards an attitude object or the self

• Just-World Phenomenon - the tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve

• Out-Group Homogeneity Bias - tendency to perceive members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than they are

  • while seeing greater diversity within their ingroup

• In-Group Bias - favors beliefs and members of the ingroup

• Ethnocentrism - the belief that your culture is natural and “correct” while other people’s cultures are incorrect, unnatural, or inferior

• Cognitive Dissonance - when we are aware that our attitudes and actions don’t coincide

  • EX: Student values honesty, but cheats on a test to maintain a high GPA

Social Situations

• Conformity - adjusting behavior to coincide with a group standard

• Obedience - behavior in response to an order from someone in a position of power

• Social Norms - Shared separation or rule within a group about how an individual is supposed to behave in a specific situation

  • What is typically expected

• Social Influence Theory (Normative) - we follow norms to gain approval

  • EX: using slang to fit in

• Social Influence Theory (Informative) - we follow norms because we believe others have accurate information

  • following someone during fire drill

• Central Route to Persuasion - the content of the message does the persuading

  • more thoughtful and more likely to cause lasting change

• Periferal Route to Persuasion - indirect or unrelated content does the persuading

• Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon - Tendency for people to comply with a larger request after they agreed to a smaller one

• Door-in-the-Face Phenomenon - ask for more that what you want, then back off

  • negotiation

Cultural Phenomena

• Individualism - the ways in which people identify themselves and focus their goals

• Collectivism - a worldview in which social behavior is guided largely by goals that are shared by a collective

• Multiculturalism - the systematic study of behavior, cognitions, and affect in settings where people if different backgrounds interact

Effect of Group on Mental Precoesses

• Group Polarization - the idea that groups tend to make decisions that are more extreme compared to the original thoughts of individual group members

• Groupthink - opting to conform with the consensus view rather than engage in critical thinking

• Diffusion of Responsibility - phenomenon such that when there are multiple people present, each individual feels less of a responsibility of the situation

  • EX: college student who has a seizure but no one helps him

• Social Loafing - tendency to exert less effort in a group task

  • EX: if athletes know they are being filmed individually, they will perform better

• Deindividualation - the loss of self-awareness and individual identity that can occur in a group setting

• Social Facilitation - stronger response or performance in the presence of others

  • Does not work on complex or difficult tasks

  • When you do well, you will likely do better in front of a group

• False Consensus Effect - a tendency to overestimate how many people share their beliefs and behaviors

• Superordinate Goals - opponents working together towards a common goal

• Social Traps - when individuals do NOT unite and act in their own self-interest to the detriment group

• Industrial Organizational Psychologists - the behavior of employees in the workplace

• Altruism - unselfish behavior intended to help others

  • individual performs an action that benefits someone else without expecting personal gain or reward

  • Prioritizing the welfare

• Social Reciprocity Norm - people will help those who have helped them

• Social Responsibility Norm - people will help those who are dependent on us

  • no expectation of future payback

  • EX: blood donation or helping a lost kid

• Bystander Effect - tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to help if there are other people present

  • EX: Murder of Kitty Genovese

Theories of Personality

• Personality - the collection of characteristics that make up a person’s unique way of thinking, feeling, and behaving

• Unconscious - mental activities and processes occurring outside of conscious awareness

  • influencing behavior and emotions without our realization

• Psychodynamic Theory of Personality - a perspective that asserts our behaviors are largely influenced by unconscious drives and experiences from our past

• Humanistic Theory of Personality - Personality focuses on unconditional regard and the self-actualizing tendency as primary motivating factors

• Unconditional Positive Regard - accepting and respecting others as they are without judgment or evaluation

• Self-Actualization - the Process of realizing and fulfilling one’s potential and capability

Ego Defense Mechanisms

• Denial - when someone acts as if the negative feelings or events that cause negative emotions do not exist

• Displacement - when someone takes their negative emotions and focuses them on a different, safer target

• Projection - defense mechanism where individuals attribute characteristics they find unacceptable in themselves to another person

• Rationalization - when someone decides or some up with a seemingly logical explanation to justify an event to avoid the true explanation

• Reaction Formation - expressing the opposite of how one truly feels

  • act contrary to true feelings in order to keep feelings hidden

• Regression - returning to an earlier, comforting form of behavior

• Repression - pushing anxiety-causing thoughts out of conscious awareness

• Sublimation - channeling one’s frustration toward socially acceptable behavior

  • EX: Sports

Social Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

• Self-Concept - the view someone has of themselves after evaluating their own beliefs, physical and mental attributes, likes and dislikes, and strengths and weaknesses

• Self-Esteem - being able to have confidence in your abilities and sense of self

• Self-Efficacy - the belief you can achieve your goals and succeed at tasks

• Social-Cognitive Theory of Personality - reciprocal determinism shapes personality

• Reciprocal Determinism - a person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment

• Trait Theory of Personality - describes people based on their characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings

• Big Five Theory - OCEAN

  • O: Openness

    • prefers routine, practical vs. imaginative, spontaneous

  • C: Conscientious

    • impulsive, disorganized vs. disciplined, careful

  • E: Extraversion

    • Reserved, thoughtful vs. sociable, fun-loving

  • A: Agreeable

    • Suspicious, uncooperative vs. trusting, helpful

  • N: Neutricism

    • Calm, confident vs. anxious, pessimistic

• Factor Analysis - a technique used to identify traits by condensing a large amount of factors into traits that represent the underlying characteristics of a person

Motivation

• Drive-Reduction Theory - when a physiological need increases, there is a psychological drive to reduce it

  • we seek to maintain homeostasis

  • we form habits by doing things to over again to feel comfortable

  • EX: I am hungry. I will eat

• Arousal Theory - curiosity and uncertainty can bring excitement → increase motivation

• Yerkes-Dodson Law - Psych yourself up for easy opponents, but stay calm for touch opponents

  • Strengths: explains non-psychological needs for knowledge, success

  • Weaknesses: Not comprehensive; seems subjective in some cases

• Self-Determination Theory - proposes that people are motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic motivations

  • Intrinsic Motivations: desire to do an activity for its own sake

  • Extrinsic Motivations: desire to do an activity to achieve a reward or an external consequence

• Incentive Theory - we are motivated by incentives in the form of rewards and punishments

  • personally undesirable outcomes or avoid behaviors that lead to personally undesirable outcomes

  • once a task gets too hard, it hinders motivation

• Instincts - unlearned fixed behaviors throughout a theory

  • cannot be readily observed or scientifically tested and don’t explain all behaviors

• Lewin’s Motivational Conflict Theory - proposes that choices create conflicts one must resolve on the basis of motivation

• Approach-Approach Conflict - two good options

• Approach-Avoidance Conflict - good and bad aspects of a choice

• Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict - two bad options

• Sensation-Seeking Theory - one’s level of need for varied or novel experiences is the basis of motivation

• Experience-Seeking - a desire for novel sensory or mental experiences

• Thrill/Adventure Seeking - an attraction to risky or fear-inspiring activities

• Motivation and Eating - eating is a complex, motivated behavior that demonstrates the interaction of mental and physical processes

• Miligram’s Agentic State - can act autonomously and choose their behavior

  • enter angetic state where they receive orders from an authority figure but does not feel responsible

• Institutional Authority - the power and influence held by organizations and institutions (like governments, corporations, or educational institutions) to shape behavior and maintain norms

• Proximity of Authority Figure - obedience increases when close

• Victims Distance - when the victim is far away, obedience is more likely

Emotion

• Emotion - a complex psychological state that involves a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response

• James-Lange Theory - stimulus → arousal → emotion

  • Witnessing an external stimulus leads to a response

  • EX: snarling → ANS arousal → fear

• Cannon-Bard Theory - arousal and emotion occur simultaneously

  • thalamus sends messages to the cortex and the hypothalamus at the same time

  • snarling dog → brain activity → arousal and fear

• Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory - stimulus → physiological arousal → cognitive appraisal = emotion

• Ledoux - highlights how some emotional responses can occur instantly and unconsciously

• Facial Feedback Hypothesis - our facial expressions can directly influence out emotional experience

• Broaden-and-Build Theory - positive emotional experiences tend to broader awareness and encourage new actions and thoughts

  • builds emotional resilience

  • Negative emotions tend to reduce awareness

• Universal Emotions - research has explored whether the expression of emotions is universally common → mixed emotions

  • refers to the six basic emotions

    • happiness

    • sadness

    • fear

    • disgust

    • anger

    • surprise

• Display Rules - permissible ways of emotions in a society

• Display Elicitors - stimuli that trigger an emotional response

Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health

Health Psychology

• Stress - how we perceive and respond to certain events that we appraise as threatening or challenging

  • catastrophes, anxiety, significant life changes, daily hassles

• Stressors - any event, situation, or external stimulus that is perceived as a threat or challenge, and that triggers a stress response in the body

• Tend-and-Befriend Theory - taking care of your own needs and/or the needs of others and seeking connection with others

  • thought to release certain hormones like oxytocin and estrogen

• Problem-Focused Coping - Managing or fixing the situation

  • EX: you are failing a class, so you form a study group to improve your performance

  • Unhealthy: avoidance, aggression, substance use, overworking

• Emotion-Focused Coping - controlling or replacing the negative emotional responses to the stressor

  • EX: this is upsetting but I can stay calm and not lose my temper

Positive Psychology

• Positive Psychology - focuses on the study of human strengths, well-being, and the factors that contribute to a fulfilling and meaningful life

• Subjective Well-Being - self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life

• 6 Categories of Virtues

  • Wisdom: cognitive strengths that involve the acquisition and use of knowledge

  • Courage: emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals

  • Humaity: caring for others

  • Justice: fairness, leadership, and teamwork

  • Temperance: forgiveness, modesty, and self-regulation

  • Transcendence: Appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality

• Posttraumatic Growth - the positive psychological change that some individuals experience after a life crisis or traumatic event

  • therapy and learning about trauma and community service

Psychological Disorders

• Three D’s of Psychological Disorders

  • Deviance: This refers to behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that deviate significantly from what is considered normal within a given culture or society

  • Dysfunction: This describes a breakdown in a person’s ability to function normally in daily life

  • Distress: indicates significant emotional pain or suffering experienced by the individual

• Eclectic Approach - a therapeutic method that combines techniques and insights from various psychological theories and perspectives

• Biopsychosocial Model - a comprehensive model used to understand why and how an illness occurs

  • combination of genetic vulnerability, negative thought patterns, and lack of social support

    

• Diathesis Stress Model - suggests that the development of psychological disorders is influenced by both a genetic predisposition and environmental stressors

  • Genetic factors place the individual at risk, while environmental stress factors transform this potential into an actual disorder

• Neurodevelopmental Disorders - a condition involving early disruptions in brain development, often resulting in impairments in cognition, communication, behavior, or motor skills

• Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - inability to pay attention, complete tasks, or keep things in place, combined with fidgeting, interrupting, and excessive talking

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) - characterized by deficits in two core domains:

  • 1) social communication and interaction

  • 2) restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities

• Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorder

  • Causes:

    • Susceptibility seems genetic

    • dopamine hypothesis

    • Brain abnormality from exposure to prenatal viruses

    • hyperactivity

    • diathesis stress model

  • Actute:

    • short-term period with severe symptom flare-up

    • sudden

  • Chronic:

    • long-term persistent condition

  • Positive Symptoms:

    • hallucinations/delusions and additional abnormal behaviors

  • Negative Symptoms:

    • Inability to read social cues and to respond appropriately

  • Characteristic - Delusions:

    • false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur

      • scare someone is out for you, or that something bad is going to happen

  • Characteristic - Hallucination:

    • false sensory experiences

      • EX: seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus

  • Characteristic - Disorganized Thinking/Speech

    • Disorganized Speech - a jumble of incoherent speech

    • Disorganized Thinking - inability to create understandable and coherent thoughts

  • Characteristic - Disorganized Motor Behavior or Catatonia

    • Movements that are not purposeful or goal-directed and can include a variety of unusual or inappropriate behaviors

  • Characteristic - Flat Affect

    • a lack of emotional response

    • monotonous tone/facial expression

• Depressive Disorders

  • Symtoms

    • difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions

    • thoughts of suicide

  • Causes

    • death/loss

    • genes

    • susceptibility

    • gender (women are more likely to get diagnosed)

    • substance abuse

  • Major Depressive Disorder

    • 2+ weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and inability to do daily tasks

      • change in appetite and weight, sleep disturbances, fatigue

  • Persistent Depressive Disorder

    • a chronic form of depression where individuals have less severe but long-term symptoms that last for at least 2 years

• Bipolar Disorders

  • Symptoms

    • over talkative, overactive, elated, little need for sleep, fewer inhibitions, poor judgement, and promiscuity

  • Causes

    • Lifestyle issues and the environment affect its severity

    • norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine

  • Bipolar I

    • Involves full manic episodes with periods of depression

      • more manic (abnormal)

  • Bipolar II

    • involves hypomanic (less severe period) episodes that are less intense, with periods of depression

• Anxiety Disorders

  • Symptoms

    • worry, anxiety, or fear that is strong enough to interfere with one’s daily abilities

  • Causes

    • brain chemistry, genes, differences in the way threats are perceived, development, and personality

  • Specific Phobia

    • a strong, specific, persistent fear of something extreme enough to interfere with normal living

  • Agoraphobia

    • an excessive fear of open or public places

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

    • a disorder in which people are almost constantly plagued by exaggerated worries

  • Panic Disorder

    • frequent bouts of moderate anxiety and occasional attacks of sudden increased heart rate, chest pain, difficulty breathing, sweating, faintness, trembling

  • Social Anxiety Disorder

    • persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others, leading to avoidance of social situations

      • fear of being judged or watched

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

  • Symptoms

    • characteristics by the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions

    • experience obsessive thoughts

    • compulsive behavior

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

    • recurrent, unwanted thoughts, feelings, or sensations, and repetitive behaviors of compulsions aimed at reducing anxiety associated with those compulsions

  • Hoarding Disorder

    • difficulty discarding possessions, regardless of value, leading to excess accumulation and clutter that impairs daily functioning or causes distress

• Dissociative Disorders

  • Symptoms

    • loss of memory    

    • impaired sense of self

  • Causes

    • risk factors

      • abuse, trauma

  • Dissociative Amnesia

    • Inability to recall important personal information

      • usually following a traumatic event that is beyond ordinary forgetting

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder

    • presence of 2 or more distinct personality states

  • Dissociative Dugue

    • very rare

    • Amnesia couples with sudden travel

    • usually forgets all of the memories

  • Depersonalization Disorder

    • periods of feeling disconnected or detached from one’s body and thoughts

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  • Symptoms

    • high anxiety, flashbacks

    • detachment, sleep issues, irritability, hypervigilance, recurring memory

  • Causes

    • difficulty recovering after experiencing/witnessing a terrifying or traumatic event

• Eating Disorders - a biologically based mental illness that can have serious consequences on one’s health, productivity, and relationships

  • Causes

    • other disorders, sexual abuse

    • Genetics: people with first-degree relatives, siblings, or parents are most at risk

  • Anorexia Nervosa

    • a disorder characterized by a strong desire to lose weight, a low BMI, and habitually restrictive eating

  • Bulimia Nervosa

    • episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as vomiting, fasting, or binge eating

Personality Disorders

• Personality Disorders - long-term, inflexible patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that deviate from societal norms and cause distress

  • Causes:

    • genetics, early childhood experiences, and environmental influences

• Cluster A (Odd and Eccentric)

  • Paranoid

    • extreme distrust/suspicion of others

    • belief that others have harmful intentions without proof

    • difficulty trusting close friends, family, or coworkers

  • Schizotypal

    • unusual thinking patterns, beliefs, or behaviors

    • Social anxiety and discomfort in close relationships

    • odd speech, appearance, or belief in the supernatural

  • Schizoid

    • strong preference for being alone and avoiding social relationships

    • limited emotional expression and indifference to praise or criticism

    • lack of interest in forming close connections

• Cluster B (Dramatic and Erratic)

  • Borderline

    • Intense fear of abandonment and unstable relationships

    • Rapid mood swings and impulsive behaviors

    • self-harm tendencies and chronic feelings of emptiness

  • Histrionic

    • excessive attention seeking and emotional overreaction

    • Strong emotions shift quickly

    • constant need for approval and dramatic behavior

  • Narcissitic

    • inflated sense of self-importance and entitlement

    • Lack of empathy for others

    • need for excessive admiration

    • sensitivity to criticism despite appearing confident

  • Antisocial

    • disregard for rules, laws, and the rights of others

    • manipulative or deceitful

    • lack of empathy

    • impulsivity and frequent aggression

• Cluster C (Anxious and Fearful)

  • Avoidant

    • fear of rejection and a strong feeling of inadequacy

    • avoidance of social situations despite wanting relationships

    • extreme sensitivity to criticism

  • Dependent

    • strong need for reassurance and support from others

    • difficulty making decisions without guidance

    • Fear of being alone

    • Submissive behaviors in relationships

  • Obsessive-Compulsive (OCPD)

    • preoccupation with order

    • perfection and rigid control

    • difficulty delegating tasks

    • extreme focus on work over relationships

    • strong need for structure and resistance to change

Treatment

• Psychotropic Medication Therapy

  • Drugs that are prescribed to treat mental health disorders

• Ethical Principles

  • Beneficence and Monlmalefience

    • benefit those you work with and don’t harm them

  • Fidelity and Responsibility

    • establish relationships of trust and follow professional responsibilities to clients and the profession

  • Integrity

    • promote accuracy and honesty in the science and practice of psychology

  • Justice

    • All people should have access to and benefit from psychology

  • Respect for people’s rights and dignity

    • Regarding privacy and confidentiality

• Free Association - the practice of allowing the patient to discuss thoughts, dreams, memories, or words, regardless of coherency

• Dream Interpretation - the process of assigning meaning to dreams, often focusing on the underlying symbolic or unconscious content

• Cognitive Restructuring - a therapeutic process where individuals learn to identify and challenge negative or irrational thoughts and replace them with more balanced and realistic ones

  • ultimately improving emotional well-being

• Fear Hierarchies - a graded list of feared situations or stimuli

  • ranked from least to most anxiety

  • used in systematic desensitization to help individuals gradually overcome their fears

• Cognitive Triad - refers to the 3 negative thought patterns that are believed to contribute to depression

  • regarding the (1) self, (2) world, and (3) future

• Exposure Therapies - a form of evidence-based treatment that involves gradually exposing individuals to feared objects, activities, or situations in a safe and controlled environment

• Aversion Therapies - a form of behavioral therapy used to reduce or eliminate undesirable behaviors by pairing them with unpleasant stimuli

• Token Economies - an operant conditioning procedure where individuals earn tokens for exhibiting desired behavior, which they can later exchange for various privileges or treats

• Biofeedback - a process where individuals learn to control physiological responses like heart rate or muscle tension by monitoring their body’s signals with instruments, aiming to improve health or performance

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy - A Type of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

  • Teaches skills to improve emotional regulation

  • distress tolerance

  • interpersonal effectiveness and mindfulness

• Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy - a type of behavior therapy that focuses on correcting negative thought patterns and cognition in order to correct destructive moods or behaviors

• Active Listen - therapist listens attentively, asks clarifying questions, and reflects on the client’s words and emotions

• Unconditional Positive Regard - accepting and supporting a person, regardless of their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, without judgment

• Group Therapy - a form of psycho therapy where 1 or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group

• Hypnosis - the mental state of highly focused concentration, diminished peripheral awareness, and heightened suggestibility

• Lithium - mood stabilizing meds primarily used to treat bipolar disorders

• Antipsychotic Medications - a class of psychoactive drugs used to treat and manage symptoms of psychosis

• Tardive Dyskinesia - involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and limbs

• Psychosurgery - surgical procedures in the brain to treat mental disorders

• Lesioning - destruction of brain tissue

• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) - a procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain

• Electroconvulsive Therapy - Biomedical treatment for severe mental disorders

• Lobotomy - severing the nerve in the prefrontal cortex of the brain