APPSY (copy)

The 425 Terms You ‘Ought To Know For The AP Psychology Test On May 2nd

1 Attribution Theory – tendency to give explanations for someone’s beh, often by crediting situation or person’s disposition Fundamental Attribution Thy – tendency to overestimate the impact of person’s disposition and underestimate impact of situation

Foot-in-the-Door Phem – tendency to apply w/ larger requests after responding to a smaller request

Zimbardo – Stanford Prison Experiment/Lucifer Effect –

Role Playing: People take on the role of what they feel are proper for the situation

Cognitive Dissonance – people change their behavior to avoid looking bad, ie  person is against gay rights then becomes gay, he will change attitude to gay rights activist

Asch – conformity – tendency to go along with the views and actions of others, even if you know they are wrong – line test

Milgram – obedience – people tend to obey authority figures; 60% of participants thought they delivered the max possible level of shock

Social Facilitation – improved performance in presence of others; easy tasks get easier as hard tasks get harder

Social Loafing – in the presence of others, people tend to do less, partly because they believe others will do it

Deindividualization – loss of self-awareness and self-restraint, typically in a sense of anomie (mob situation)

Group Polarization – if a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens prevailing options and attitudes

Groupthink – a mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decisionmaking group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives

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

Social Traps – situation in which the confliction parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interests, become caught in mutually destructive beh. In-group – people with whom one shares a common identity with

Out-group – those perceived as different from themselves

Hindsight Bias – tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have predicted it beforehand and may contribute to blaming the victim and forming prejudices against him/her

Prejudice – unjustifiable attitude towards a group and its members

Mere exposure effect – the mere exposure to a stimulus will increase the liking of it

Altruism – unselfish regard for the welfare to others

Bystander effect – tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

Reciprocity Norms – the expectation that we should return help, not harm to those who have helped us

The 425 Terms You ‘Ought To Know For The AP Psychology Test On May 2nd

2 Biological – explore the links between brain and mind

Cognitive – study how we perceive, thinks, and solve problems

Humanistic – study that says that humans are basically good and possess a free-will

Behavioral – study that says all beh is observable and measurable

Psychoanalytic – study of the unconscious, includes childhood and aggression issues

Sociocultural – study of how cultural and political experiences affect our life

Evolutionary – study of the evolutionary of humans over time (from apes)

Developmental – study of our changing abilities from womb to tomb

Wilhelm Wundt – father of psychology

Introspection – looking inward at one’s own mental processes

Structuralism – analyze sensations, images, and feelings into their most basic elements

William James – the brain and mind are constantly changing

Functionalism – underlying causes and practical consequences of certain behaviors and mental strategies – “steam of consciousness”

John Locke – Tabula Rosa – mind is a blank slate written on by experiences

Sigmund Freud – founder of psychoanalysis

Psychoanalytic Theory – all behavior is meaningful and driven by unconscious forces

Applied Research – aims to solve practical problems

Basic Research – pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

Hypothesis – is a testable prediction, often induced by a thy, to enable us to accept, reject, or revise the thy (educational guess)

IV –a factor, manipulated by the experimenter, and whose effect is studies

DV – a factor that may change in response to the IV Theory – is an explanation that integrates principles, organizes, and predicts beh or event

Operational definition – a clear statement of what one is looking for in an experiment

Validity – it measure what you want it to be measured

Reliability – it is replicable and is consistent

Sampling – process by which participants are selected

Population – the amount of participants that can be selected for the sample

Representative sample – take the results from a smaller group and apply that to a larger group of people

Random sample – everyone has an equal chance of being selected for the experiment because the participants are chosen at random

Control – group that does not take part in the critical part of the experimentation process, used as a comparison group

Experimenter bias – the experimenter, either unconsciously or consciously, affects the outcome of the experiment

Single-blind procedure – the subjects do not know to what group they belong

The 425 Terms You ‘Ought To Know For The AP Psychology Test On May 2nd

3 Double-blind procedure – neither the experimenter nor the subject knows to what group the subjects are in

Hawthorne effect – if you know you’re being studied, you will act differently than you normally/typically would

Placebo – sugar pill – something administered that has no real affect on the person other than what they think mentally

Positive correlation – as one goes up, the other goes up

Negative correlation – as one goes up, the other goes down

Survey – a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes, opinions, or beh of people in a questionnaire, or similar way of ascertaining information

Naturalistic observation – observing and recording beh in the wild/natural environment

Case study – get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants

Mean – average of the scores – add them up and divide by total number of scores

Median – middle score – when all scores are put numerically in order, the middle score

Mode – the most frequently occurring score in the distribution

Range – the lowest score subtracted from the higher score

Standard Deviation – the average distance of scores around the mean z-score – a type of standard score that tells us how many standard deviation units a given score is above or below the mean for that group

Myelin Sheath – a fatty covering around the axon of some neurons that speeds the neural impulse

Axon – wire-like structure ending in the terminal that extends from the cell body

Neurons – a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

Sensory Neurons (afferent) – neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors (nose, ears, hands) to the central nervous system Interneuron – central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and the motor outputs

Motor Neurons (efferent) – neurons that carry incoming information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands

Neurotransmitters – chemical contained in terminal buttons that enable neurons to communicate; they fit into the receptor site of neurons like a key fits into a lock

Agonist – excite, by causing neurotransmitters to hit site multiple times

Antagonists – inhibits, by blocking neurotransmitters

CNS – the brain and spinal cord

PNS – sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

Somatic NS – the division of the PNS that controls the body’s skeletal muscles

Autonomic NS – the part of the PNS that controls the glands and muscles of the internal organs, like the heart

Sympathetic NS – arouses the body

Parasympathetic NS – calms the body

The 425 Terms You ‘Ought To Know For The AP Psychology Test On May 2nd

4 Pituitary gland – the endocrine system’s most influential gland, under the influence of the hypothalamus, this regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

EEG – an amplified recording of waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface, these waves are measured by electrodes placed on the skull

PET – a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a certain task

MRI – a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce a computer generated image that distinguishes between the types of soft tissue in the brain

Medulla – connected to the base of the brain stem, controls our blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing

Reticular Formation – screens incoming info, and filters out irrelevant info, controls arousal and attention

Thalamus – the brains sensory switchboard

Pons – above the medulla, makes chemicals involved w/ sleep & facial expressions

Cerebellum – the little brain attached to the rear of the brain stem, controls coordination, fire muscles movements and balance

Limbic System – associated with emotions like aggression and fear and drives such as hunger and thirst and sex (Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, and Amygdala)

Amygdala – part of the limbic system that is involved in emotions, aggression, and fear

Hypothalamus – controls the metabolic functions of body temp, sex arousal, hunger, thirst, motivation/emotions, and the endocrine system  the 4 f’s

Hippocampus – part of the limbic system involved in learning and memory

Temporal Lobe – at side of brain above ears involved in memory, perception, hearing

Occipital Lobe – lower back part of brain involved with processing visual info  vision

Peripheral Lobe – top of brain, discriminates between textures and shapes

Frontal Lobe – located under forehead, involved with complex cognitive functions

William Penfield – studied the effects of stimulation on the motor cortex

Phineas Gage – first lobotomy after a rod goes through his head; gives psych info on part of brain involved w/ emotions and reasoning