Theories to know for AP Psych

Opponent-Process Theory

• Explains afterimages and color vision as opposing pairs (e.g., black/white, yellow/blue, green/red).

• Activation of one color inhibits its opposite.

Frequency Theory

• Suggests that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense pitch.

Place Theory

• Posits that our perception of pitch is based on the place along the basilar membrane that is stimulated.

Gate-Control Theory

• Explains how the nervous system blocks or allows pain signals to pass to the brain.

• "Gates" in the spinal cord can be opened or closed by neural activity.

Drive-Reduction Theory

• Physiological needs (e.g., hunger, thirst) create aroused tension (drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.

• Aim is to maintain homeostasis.

James-Lange Theory

• Emotions arise from our awareness of our specific bodily responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.

• Stimulus → Physiological Response → Emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory

• Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger physiological responses and subjective experience of emotion.

• Stimulus → Simultaneous Physiological Response and Emotion

Two-Factor Theory (Schachter-Singer)

• To experience emotion, one