THE BEST AP PSYCHOLOGY CRAM SHEET
History and Approaches (2-4%)
Psychology is derived from physiology (biology) and philosophy
EARLY APPROACHES
Structuralism – used INTROSPECTION (act of looking inward to examine mental experience) to determine the underlying STRUCTURES of the mind
Functionalism – need to analyze the PURPOSE of behavior
APPROACHES KEY WORDS
Evolutionary – Genes
Humanistic – free will, choice, ideal, actualization
Biological – Brain, NTs
Cognitive – Perceptions, thoughts
Behavioral – learned, reinforced
Psychoanalytic/dynamic – unconscious, childhood
Sociocultural – society
Biopsychosocial – combo of above
PEOPLE:
Mary Calkins: First Fem. Pres. of APA
Charles Darwin: Natural selection & evolution
Dorothea Dix: Reformed mental institutions in U.S.
Stanley Hall: 1st pres. of APA 1st journal
William James: Father of American Psychology – functionalist
Wilhem Wundt: Father of Modern Psychology – structuralist
Margaret Floy Washburn – 1st fem. PhD
Christine Ladd Franklin – 1st fem.
Research Methods (8-10%)
EXPERIMENT:
Adv: researcher controls variables to establish cause and effect
Disadv: difficult to generalize
Independent Variable: manipulated by the researcher
Experimental Group: received the treatment (part of the IV)
Control Group: placebo, baseline (part of the IV)
Placebo Effect: show behaviors associated with the exp. group when having received placebo
Double-Blind: Exp. where neither the participant or the experimenter are aware of which condition people are assigned to
Dependent Variable: measured variable (is DEPENDENT on the independent variable)
Operational Definition: clear, precise, typically quantifiable definition of your variables – allows replication
Confound: error/ flaw in study
Random Assignment: assigns participants to either control or experimental group at random – minimizes bias, increase chance of equal representation
Random Sample: method for choosing participants – minimizes bias
Validity: accurate results
Reliability: same results every time
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION:
Adv: real world validity (observe people in their own setting)
Disadv: No cause and effect
CORRELATION:
Adv: identify relationship between two variables
Disadv: No cause and effect (CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION)
Positive Correlation – Variables vary in the same direction
Negative Correlation – variables vary in opposite directions
The stronger the # the stronger the relationship REGARDLESS of the pos/neg sign
CASE STUDY:
Adv. Studies ONE person (usually) in great detail – lots of info
Disadv: No cause and effect
DESCRIPTIVE STATS: shape of the data
Measures of Central Tendency:
Mean: Average (use in normal distribution)
Median: Middle # (use in skewed distribution)
Mode: occurs most often
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: establishes significance (meaningfulness)
Significant results = NOT due to chance
ETHICAL GUIDELINES (APA)
Confidentiality
Informed Consent
Debriefing
Deception must be warranted
Biological Basis (8-10%)
Sensory neurons – receive signals
A ferent neurons – Accept signals
Motor neurons – send signals
Efferent neurons – signal Exits
NEURON: Basic cell of the NS
Dendrites: Receive incoming signal
Soma: Cell body (includes nucleus)
Axon: AP travels down this
Myelin Sheath: speeds up signal down axon
Terminals: release NTs – send signal onto next neuron
Synapse: gap b/w neurons
Action Potential: movement of sodium and potassium ions across a membrane sends an electrical charge down the axon
All or none law: stimulus must trigger the AP past its threshold, but does not increase the intensity of the response (flush the toilet)
Refractory period: neuron must rest and reset before it can send another AP (toilet resets)
CENTRAL NS: Brain and spinal cord
PERIPHERAL NS: Rest of the NS
Somatic NS: Voluntary movement
Autonomic NS: Involuntary (heart, lungs, etc)
Sympathetic NS: Arouses the body for fight/flight (generally activates)
Parasympathetic NS: established homeostasis after a sympathetic response (generally inhibits)
NEUROTRANSMITTERS (NTS): Chemicals released in synaptic gap, received by neurons
GABA: Major inhibitory NT
Glutamate: Major Excitatory NT
Dopamine: Reward & movement
Serotonin: Moods and emotion
Acetylcholine (ACh): Memory
Epinephrine & Norepinephrine: sympathetic NS arousal
Endorphins: pain control, happiness
Oxytocin: love and bonding
Agonist: drug that mimics a NT
Antagonist: drug that blocks a NT
Reuptake: Unused NTs are taken back up into the sending neuron. SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) block reuptake – treatment for depression
AREAS OF THE BRAIN:
Hindbrain: oldest part of the brain
Cerebellum – movement (what does it take to ring a bell)
Medulla – vital organs (HR, BP)
Pons – sleep/arousal (Ponzzzzzz)
Midbrain
Reticular formation: attention (if you can’t pay attention, You R F’d)
Forebrain: higher thought processes
Limbic System
Amygdala: emotions, fear (Amy, da! You’re so emotional!)
Hippocampus: memory (if you saw a hippo on campus you’d remember it!)
Thalamus: relay center
Hypothalamus: Reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors
Broca’s Area: Inability to produce speech (Broca – Broken speech)
Wernicke’s Area: Inability to comprehend speech (Wernicke’s what?)
Cerebral Cortex: outer portion of the brain – higher order thought processes
Occipital Lobe: located in the back of the head - vision
Frontal Lobe: decision making, planning, judgment, movement, personality
Parietal Lobe: located on the top of the head - sensations
Temporal Lobe: located on the sides of the head (temples) – hearing and face recognition
Somatosensory Cortex: map of our sensory receptors –in parietal lobe
Motor Cortex: map of our motor receptors – located in frontal lobe
Corpus Callosum: bundle of nerves that connects the 2 hemispheres – sometimes severed in patients with severe seizures – leads to “split-brain patients”
Lateralization: the brain has some specialized features – language is processed in the L Hemisphere
Split-brain experiments: done by Sperry & Gazzanaga.
Images shown to the right hemisphere will be processed in the left (& vice versa), patient can verbally identify what they saw
BRAIN PLASTICITY: Brain can “heal” itself
NATURE VS. NURTURE: ANSWER IS BOTH
Twin Studies:
Identical twins – Monozygotic (MZ)
Fraternal twins – Dizygotics (DZ)
Genetics: MZ twins will have a higher percentage of also developing a disease
Environment: MZ twins raised in different environments show differences
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM: sends hormones throughout the body
Pituitary Gland: Controlled by hypothalamus. release growth hormones
Adrenal Glands: related to sympathetic NS: releases adrenaline
Sensation & Perception (6 – 8%)
ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD: detection of signal 50% of time (is it there)
DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD (also called a just noticeable difference (JND) and follows WEBER’S LAW: two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion. (Can you tell a change?)
SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY
Sensory Adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation (can you feel your underwear?)
Perceptual Set: tendency to see something as part of a group – speeds up signal processing
Inattentional Blindness: failure to notice something b/c you’re so focused on another task (gorilla video)
Cocktail party effect: notice your name across the room when its spoken, when you weren’t previously paying attention
VISUAL SYSTEM:
Pathway of vision: light → cornea →pupil/iris → lens → retina → rods/cones → bipolar cells → ganglion cells → optic nerve → optic chiasm → occipital lobe
Cornea – protects the eye
Pupil/iris – controls amount of light entering eye
Lens – focuses light on retina
Fovea – area of best vision (cones here)
Rods – black/white, dim light
Cones – color, bright light
Bipolar cells – connect rods/cones and ganglion cells
Ganglion cells – opponent-processing occurs here
Blind spot – occurs where the optic nerve leaves the eye
Feature detectors – specialized cells that see motion, shapes, lines, etc. (experiments by Hubel & Weisel)
THEORIES OF COLOR VISION:
Trichromatic – three cones for receiving color (blue, red, green)
Explains color blindness - they are missing a cone type
Opponent Process – complementary colors are processed in ganglion cells – explains why we see an after image
Visual Capture: Visual system overwhelms all others (nauseous in an IMAX theater – vision trumps vestibular)
Constancies: recognize that objects do not physically change despite changes in sensory input (size, shape, brightness)
Phi Phenomenon: adjacent lights blink on/off in succession – looks like movement (traffic signs with arrows)
Stroboscopic movement: motion produced by a rapid succession of slightly varying images (animations)
MONOCULAR CUES (how we form a 3D image from a 2D image)
Interposition: overlapping images appear closer
Relative Size: 2 objects that are usually similar in size, the smaller one is further away
Relative Clarity: hazy objects appear further away
Texture Gradient: coarser objects are closer
Relative Height: things higher in our field of vision look further away
Linear Perspective: parallel lines converge with distance (think railroad tracks)
BINOCULAR CUES: (how both eyes make up a 3D image)
Retinal Disparity: Image is cast slightly different on each retinal, location of image helps us determine depth
Convergence: Eyes strain more (looking inward) as objects draw nearer
TOP-DOWN PROCESSING: Whole → smaller parts
BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING: Smaller Parts → Whole
AUDITORY SYSTEM:
Pathway of sound: sound → pinna → auditory canal → ear drum (tympanic membrane) → hammer, anvil, stirrup (HAS) → oval window → cochlea → auditory nerve → temporal lobes
Outer Ear: pinna (ear), auditory canal
Middle Ear: ear drum, HAS (bones vibrate to send signal)
Inner Ear: cochlea – like COCHELLA (sounds 1st processed here)
THEORIES OF HEARING: both occur in the cochlea
Place theory – location where hair cells bends determines sound (high pitches)
Frequency theory – rate at which action potentials are sent determines sound (low pitches)
OTHER SENSES:
Touch: Mechanoreceptors → spinal cord → thalamus → somatosensory cortex
Pain: Gate-control theory: we have a “gate” to control how much pain ix experienced
Kinesthetic: Sense of body position
Vestibular: Sense of balance (semicircular canals in the inner ear effect this)
Taste (gustation): 5 taste receptors: bitter, salty, sweet, sour, umami (savory)
Smell (olfaction): Only sense that does NOT route through the thalamus 1st. Goes to temporal lobe and amygdala
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY: Whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Gestalt Principles:
Figure/ground: organize information into figures objects (figures) that stand apart from surrounds (back ground)
Closure: tendency to mentally fill in gaps
Proximity: tendency to group things together that appear near each other
Similarity: tendency to group things together based off of looks
Continuity: tendency to mentally form a continuous line
States of Consciousness (2 – 4%)
STATES of CONSCIOUSNESS:
Higher-Level: controlled processes – totally aware
Lower-Level: automatic processing (daydreaming, phone numbers)
Altered States: produced through drugs, fatigue, hypnosis
Subconscious: Sleeping and dreaming
No awareness: Knocked out
METACOGNITION: Thinking about thinking
SLEEP:
Beta Waves: awake
Alpha Waves: high amp., drowsy
Stage 1: light sleep
Stage 2: bursts of sleep spindles
Stage 3 (delta waves: Deep sleep
Stage 4: extremely deep sleep
Rapid Eye Movement (REM): dreaming
Entire cycle takes 90 minutes, REM occurs inb/w each cycle. REM lasts longer throughout the night
CIRCADIAN RHYTHM: 24 hour biological clock
Body temp and awareness change due to this
Controlled by the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain
Explains jet lag
SLEEP DISORDERS
Insomnia: Inability to fall asleep (due to stress/anxiety)
Sleep walking: (due to fatigue, drugs, alcohol)
Night terrors: extreme nightmares – NOT in REM sleep – typical in children
Narcolepsy: fall asleep out of nowhere (due to deficiency in orexin)
Sleep Apnea: stop breathing suddenly while asleep (due to obesity usually)
DREAM THEORIES:
Freud’s Unconscious Wish Fulfillment: Dreaming is gratification of unconscious desires and needs
Latent Content: hidden meaning of dreams
Manifest Content: obvious storyline of dream
Activation Synthesis: Brain produces random bursts of energy – stimulating lodged memories. Dreams start random then develop meaning
HYPNOSIS
It Can: Reduce pain, help you relax
It CANNOT: give you superhuman strength, make you regress, make you do things against your will
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS:
Triggers dopamine release in the brain
Depressants: Alcohol, barbiturates, tranquilizers, opiates (narcotics)
Decrease sympathetic NS activation, highly addictive
Stimulants: Amphetamines, Cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), Caffeine, Nicotine
Increase sympathetic NS activation, highly addictive
Hallucinogens: LSD, Marijuana
Causes hallucinations, not very addictive
Tolerance: Needing more of a drug to achieve the same effects
Dependence: Become addicted to the drug – must have it to avoid withdrawal symptoms
Withdrawal: Psychological and physiological symptoms associated with sudden stoppage. Unpleasant – can kill you.
Learning (7-9 %)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: PAVLOV!
Unconditioned Stimulus (US): brings about response w/o needing to be learned (food)
Unconditioned Response (UR): response that naturally occurs w/o training (salivate)
Neutral Response (NS): stimulus that normally doesn’t evoke a response (bell)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): once neutral stimulus that now brings about a response (bell)
Conditioned Response (CR): response that, after conditioning, follows a CS (salivate)
Contiguity: Timing of the pairing, NS/CS must be presented immediately BEFORE the US
Acquisition: process of learning the response pairing
Extinction: previously conditioned response dies out over time
Spontaneous Recovery: After a period of time the CR comes back out of nowhere
Generalization: CR to like stimuli (similar sounding bell)
Discrimination: CR to ONLY the CS
CONTINGENCY MODEL: Rescorla & Wagner – classical conditioning involves cognitive processes
CONDITIONED TASTE AVERSION (ONE-TRIAL LEARNING): John Garcia – Innate predispositions can allow classical conditioning to occur in one trial (food poisoning)
COUNTERCONDITIONING: Little Albert and John Watson (father of behaviorism) – conditioned a fear in a baby (only to countercondition – remove it- later on)
OPERANT CONDITIONING: SKINNER!
LAW OF EFFECT (Thorndike): Behaviors followed by pos. outcomes are strengthened, neg. outcomes weaken a behavior (cat in the puzzle box)
PRINCIPLES OF OPERANT COND:
Pos. Reinforcement: Add something nice to increase a behavior (gold star for turning in HW)
Neg. Reinforcement: Take away something bad/annoying to increase a behavior (put on seatbelt to take away annoying car signal)
Pos. Punishment: Add something bad to decrease a behavior (spanking)
Neg. Punishment: Take away something good to decrease a behavior (take away car keys)
Primary Reinforcers: innately satisfying (food and water)
Secondary Reinforcers: everything else (stickers, high-fives)
Token Reinforcer: type of secondary- can be exchanged for other stuff (game tokens or money)
Generalization: respond to similar stimulus for reward
Discrimination: stimulus signals when behavior will or will not be reinforced (light on means response are accepted)
Extinction / Spontaneous Recovery: same as classical conditioning
Premack Principle: high probability activities reinforce low probability activities (get extra min at recess if you everyone turns in their HW)
Overjustification Effect: reinforcing behaviors that are intrinsically motivating causes you to stop doing them (give a child 5$ for reading when they already like to read – they stop reading)
Shaping: use successive approximations to train behavior (reward desired behaviors to teach a response – rat basketball)
Chaining: tie together several behaviors
Continuous Reinforcement schedule: Receive reward for every response
Fixed Ratio schedule: Reward every X number of response (every 10 envelopes stuffed get . No happiness
Career – work for advancement. Some happiness
Development (7-9%)
Prenatal Development:
Zygote: 0 – 14 days, cells are dividing
Embryo: until about 9 weeks, vital organs being formed
Fetus: 9 wks to birth, overall development
Teratogens: external agents that can cause abnormal prenatal development (alcohol, drugs, etc)
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): large amount of alcohol leads to FAS, causes deformities, mental retardation, death
Physical Development:
Maturation: natural course of development, occurs no matter what (walking)
Reflexes: innate responses we’re born with
Rooting, sucking, swallowing, grasping, stepping
Habituation: after continual exposure you pay less attention – used to test babies
Eyes have the most limited development, takes till 1 year
Visual cliff: babies have to learn depth perception, so they will cross a “cliff”
Other senses are fairly developed
Brain development continues for a few years
JEAN PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEV.
Schemas – concepts or frameworks that organize info
Assimilation: incorporate new info into existing schema (aSSimlation – same stuff)
Accommodation: adjust existing schemas to incorporate new information (ACcommodation - All Change)
Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to 2 years: focused on exploring the world around them
Lack Object Permanence: Objects when removed from field of view are thought to disappear (peek-a-boo)
*