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AP PSYCH U7- Things you should know, that textbook didn't teach you

Out of all units, I found myself come across practice MCQs about things I had no idea about on this unit. Here, I have listed all of them, so that you don’t need to find them all yourself.

Spillover effect

The spillover effect is when one misattributes their psychological arousal of one event when they transfer it to another event, leading to an inaccurate appraisal of the new event.

This may sound awfully similar to the misattribution effect, but they are different things. You won’t have this as an FRQ term on your AP test but it’s pretty important to know this. Also, if you search for the definition on google, it will give you an incorrect definition. The one above is correct.

Ventromedial Hypothalamus VS Lateral Hypothalamus

The ventromedial hypothalamus stimulates fullness after eating, and if it is destroyed, you won’t stop eating.

The lateral hypothalamus contains orexin (a hunger arousing hormone), and if it is damaged, your food intake will reduce.

Here is a good memorization trick: Lateral Hypothalamus = Large Hunger. With a properly functioning lateral hypothalamus, you will continue to eat, hence “Large Hunger”. Based on this, you can easily memorize what the ventromedial hypothalamus does, as its function is essentially the opposite of the lateral hypothalamus.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Yes, this term is covered in your AP Psych textbook, but not as deeply as it should be.

There are 3 stages in GAS: Alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. This has been taught and covered but let’s go into more depth on each one.

Alarm

The alarm stage shows the initial symptoms your body experiences when under stress. Responding to stress, your sympathetic nervous system activates, and hormones like adrenaline are released so it works faster.

Resistance

In this stage, you cope with your stressor.

Exhaustion

After your reaction and response, your body’s immune system gets depleted and you may, for example, get sick.

There’s a chance you may get MCQs related to this so it is important you know this.

Incentive Theory

A theory that people’s behaviors are motivated by external goals

MCQ chance? ✔️.

Personality inventory

The description of this test has most likely been already taught to you. But you should know that it is a multiple-choice, self-reported personality test. Although it’s unlikely, an MCQ may give you a list of personality tests and ask you which one is multi-choice (happened to me on a practice test).

AP PSYCH U7- Things you should know, that textbook didn't teach you

Out of all units, I found myself come across practice MCQs about things I had no idea about on this unit. Here, I have listed all of them, so that you don’t need to find them all yourself.

Spillover effect

The spillover effect is when one misattributes their psychological arousal of one event when they transfer it to another event, leading to an inaccurate appraisal of the new event.

This may sound awfully similar to the misattribution effect, but they are different things. You won’t have this as an FRQ term on your AP test but it’s pretty important to know this. Also, if you search for the definition on google, it will give you an incorrect definition. The one above is correct.

Ventromedial Hypothalamus VS Lateral Hypothalamus

The ventromedial hypothalamus stimulates fullness after eating, and if it is destroyed, you won’t stop eating.

The lateral hypothalamus contains orexin (a hunger arousing hormone), and if it is damaged, your food intake will reduce.

Here is a good memorization trick: Lateral Hypothalamus = Large Hunger. With a properly functioning lateral hypothalamus, you will continue to eat, hence “Large Hunger”. Based on this, you can easily memorize what the ventromedial hypothalamus does, as its function is essentially the opposite of the lateral hypothalamus.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Yes, this term is covered in your AP Psych textbook, but not as deeply as it should be.

There are 3 stages in GAS: Alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. This has been taught and covered but let’s go into more depth on each one.

Alarm

The alarm stage shows the initial symptoms your body experiences when under stress. Responding to stress, your sympathetic nervous system activates, and hormones like adrenaline are released so it works faster.

Resistance

In this stage, you cope with your stressor.

Exhaustion

After your reaction and response, your body’s immune system gets depleted and you may, for example, get sick.

There’s a chance you may get MCQs related to this so it is important you know this.

Incentive Theory

A theory that people’s behaviors are motivated by external goals

MCQ chance? ✔️.

Personality inventory

The description of this test has most likely been already taught to you. But you should know that it is a multiple-choice, self-reported personality test. Although it’s unlikely, an MCQ may give you a list of personality tests and ask you which one is multi-choice (happened to me on a practice test).