AP Psychology Comprehensive Exam Review Notes
Research Methods and Scientific Practices
Perspectives: Seven major psychological perspectives are used to explain and draw conclusions about behavior.
Experimental Research: The only method establishing cause-and-effect; involves an independent variable (IV) and a dependent variable (DV).
Control Mechanisms: Used to mitigate confounding variables via random assignment into experimental or control groups.
Blinding Procedures: Single-blind (participants unaware) or double-blind (participants and researchers unaware) to prevent experimenter bias.
Placebo Effect: Results caused by expectations alone; often controlled by giving the control group a fake treatment.
Operational Definitions: Specific descriptions of how variables are measured; essential for replication.
Non-Experimental Methods: Includes case studies, naturalistic observation, and correlational research (cannot establish causation due to the third variable problem).
Correlation Coefficient: Ranges from to ; indicate the strength and direction of a relationship.
Sampling: Random sampling is for participant selection; random assignment is for group placement within a study.
Ethics: Institutional Review Boards (IRB) oversee studies; requires informed consent, protection from harm, confidentiality, and debriefing if deception is used.
Descriptive Statistics: - Mean: Average of the data set. - Median: Middle value in an ordered set. - Mode: Most frequent value. - Standard Deviation: Measures data spread around the mean.
Distributions: Normal curve (bell-shaped); Positively skewed (tail to the right); Negatively skewed (tail to the left); Bimodal (two peaks).
Percentile Rank: Percentage of scores falling at or below a specific score (e.g., percentile).
Effect Size: Strength of relationship ( is small, to is medium, or greater is large).
Statistical Significance: Indicates results are likely not due to chance.
Unit 1: Biological Basis of Behavior
Nature vs. Nurture: Interaction between heredity (nature) and environment (nurture); evolutionary perspective focuses on natural selection and survival.
Nervous System: - Central (CNS): Brain and spinal cord. - Peripheral (PNS): Includes Somatic (voluntary) and Autonomic (involuntary). - Autonomic Divisions: Sympathetic (fight or flight) and Parasympathetic (rest and digest/homeostasis).
Neural Anatomy: - Glial Cells: Support staff for neurons. - Neurons: Types include sensory (afferent), motor (efferent), and interneurons. - Reflex Arc: Nerve pathway allowing quick response to stimuli via the spinal cord without brain interaction.
Neurotransmission: Follows the all-or-nothing principle; involves depolarization, refractory period, and reuptake.
Neurotransmitters: Excitatory or inhibitory; focus on Dopamine (reward/movement).
Endocrine System: Uses hormones (e.g., via the Pituitary gland).
Psychoactive Drugs: - Agonists: Increase neurotransmitter effect. - Antagonists: Block neurotransmitter effect. - Categories: Stimulants, Depressants, Hallucinogens, and Opioids.
The Brain: - Brainstem: Medulla (breathing/heart rate), Pons, and Reticular Activating System (arousal). - Cerebellum: Balance and coordination. - Limbic System: Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Hippocampus (memory), and Amygdala (emotion). - Cerebral Cortex: Divided into Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, and Temporal lobes. - Hemispheres: Connected by the Corpus Callosum; Broca’s area (speech production) and Wernicke’s area (speech comprehension) are typically in the left hemisphere.
Sleep: Circadian rhythm (-hour cycle). Stages include Non-REM (-) and REM (paradoxical sleep; dreaming occurs; brain waves resemble wakefulness).
Sensation: - Absolute Threshold: Minimum stimulation detected of the time. - Weber-Fechner Law: Difference threshold is a constant percentage, not amount. - Vision: Rods (shapes/movement in low light) and Cones (color/detail in fovea); Trichromatic theory and Opponent-process theory (explains afterimages). - Audition: Sound localization; theories include place, frequency, and volume. - Chemical Senses: Olfaction (smell; bypasses the thalamus) and Gustation (taste). - Body Senses: Gate-control theory of pain; Vestibular (balance/semicircular canals) and Kinesthetic (body position).
Unit 2: Cognition and Intelligence
Perception: Brain's interpretation of sensory data; influenced by bottom-up (data-driven) and top-down (expectation-driven) processing.
Depth Cues: Binocular (retinal disparity, convergence) and Monocular (relative size, interposition, linear perspective).
Thinking: Uses prototypes (ideal examples) and heuristics (representativeness/availability) for quick judgments.
Functional Fixedness: Limitation to using objects only in traditional ways.
Memory Types: - Explicit (Declarative): Episodic (personal) and Semantic (facts). - Implicit: Procedural (skills).
Memory Models: Multi-store (Sensory -> STM -> LTM); Working memory (Executive function, phonological loop, visual-spatial sketchpad); Levels of processing (Shallow vs. Deep semantic).
Forgetting: Decay, encoding failure, and interference (proactive/retroactive).
Amnesia: Retrograde (loss of past) and Anterograde (inability to form new memories).
Intelligence: Fluid (reasoning; declines with age) and Crystallized (accumulated knowledge; increases with age).
Standardization/Testing: Validity (measures what it should) and Reliability (consistent results).
Psychosocial Effects: Stereotype threat (fear of confirming negative labels); Flynn effect (global rise in IQ scores over time).
Unit 3: Development and Learning
Research: Cross-sectional (different ages at one time) and Longitudinal (same people over time).
Prenatal: Teratogens (harmful substances) affect development.
Infancy: Reflexes (rooting); Visual cliff (depth perception); Critical vs. sensitive periods.
Cognitive Development (Piaget): Four stages: Sensory Motor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational; uses assimilation and accommodation.
Social Learning (Vygotsky): Scaffolding and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Attachment: Secure vs. Insecure (avoidant, anxious, disorganized); importance of contact comfort (Harlow monkey studies).
Parenting: Authoritarian, Authoritative (most effective), and Permissive.
Psychosocial Stages (Erikson): Eight conflicts across the lifespan (e.g., Trust vs. Mistrust).
Classical Conditioning: Associating stimuli; involves Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS), Unconditioned Response (UCR), Conditioned Stimulus (CS), and Conditioned Response (CR).
Operant Conditioning: Associating behavior and consequences; Law of Effect. - Reinforcement: Increases behavior (Positive: add desirable; Negative: remove undesirable). - Punishment: Decreases behavior (Positive: add undesirable; Negative: remove desirable). - Schedules: Fixed/Variable Ratio; Fixed/Variable Interval (fixed interval produces scallop pattern).
Social/Cognitive Learning: Latent learning (cognitive maps) and Insight learning (Aha! moments).
Unit 4: Social Psychology and Personality
Attributions: Dispositional (internal) vs. Situational (external).
Locus of Control: Internal (control own fate) vs. External (outside forces).
Cognitive Dissonance: Discomfort when actions and attitudes conflict; resolved by changing one to match the other.
Social Influence: Conformity, Obedience (Milgram), and Social Influence Theory (normative vs. informational).
Altruism: Bystander effect (presence of others reduces likelihood of helping).
Personality Theories: - Psychodynamic: Id, Ego, Superego; defense mechanisms (e.g., repression, projection). - Humanistic: Focus on self-actualization and unconditional positive regard. - Trait: The Big Five (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism). - Social-Cognitive: Reciprocal determinism; self-efficacy.
Motivation: Drive reduction (homeostasis); Arousal theory (Yerkes-Dodson Law); Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic.
Emotion: Facial feedback hypothesis; universally recognized emotions (anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, surprise, fear).
Unit 5: Health, Disorders, and Treatment
Stress: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) phases: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion.
Classifying Disorders: DSM and ICD; use biopsychosocial or diathesis-stress models.
Disorders: - Neurodevelopmental: ADHD and ASD. - Schizophrenia: Positive symptoms (hallucinations/delusions) and Negative symptoms (flat affect/catatonia); Dopamine hypothesis. - Mood: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Bipolar Disorder (Mania/Depression cycles). - Anxiety: Phobias, Panic indices, Agoraphobia, and General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). - Dissociative: Dissociative Amnesia (with/without Fugue) and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
Treatments: - Cognitive: Restructuring thoughts; REBT. - Behavioral: Systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, token economies. - Biomedical: Antidepressants, lithium, and antipsychotics (side effect: tardive dyskinesia); ECT and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (‐TMS).
Questions & Discussion
Personal/Ad Dialogue: Morgan introduced herself as having three kids and an IQ of , noting she works with police and discussing warrants.
Multilingual Attempt: The speaker attempted to speak Chinese with phrases like ‘Yumi… Hu Lobo…’ regarding childhood cancer being a marathon.
Commercial Break Interjections: Ad scripts for Mazda (Safest new car brand), Eru IT tools, Thumbtack reviews ( five-star reviews), Google Fiber (symmetrical speeds), UWorld, and Gardasil (HPV vaccine for adults through age ) were mentioned.
The Mandalorian Reference: Snippet of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ rated PG- mentioning the old protecting the young.
Specific Question/Prompt: ‘Bird this is?’ followed by ‘It's an Amazon… they live in flux.’