Theories: AP Psych

THEORIES

Weber's law- just noticeable difference

Young-Helmholtz Color Theory- (trichromatic

theory)- color determined by he relative activity in

red, blue, or green sensitive cones

Opponent-Process Color Theory- Color

information is organized into 3 antagonistic pairs

Place Theory- relates perceived pitch to region

Frequency Theory- related pitch to the frequency

of sound waves and frequency of neuron firing

Facial Feedback hypothesis- sensations from the

face provide cues to the brain that help us determine

what emotion we are feeling (Ekman)

Statistical Significance- .05 chance accounts for

results less then 5% of the time

Template-Matching Theory-stored copies

Prototype-Matching Theory-recognition involves

comparison

Feature-Analysis Theory-patterns are

represented and recognized by distinctive features

Restorative Theory-We sleep in order to

replenish

Adaptive Nonresponding Theory-sleep and

inactivity have survived value

Activation-Synthesis hypothesis-dreams are

products of spontaneous neural activity

Thorndike's Law of effect-reward and

punishment encourages and discourages responding;

Thorndike

Premack principle-states that any high-probability

behavior can be used as a reward for any lowerprobability behavior

Continuity vs. Discontinuity-theories of

development, nature vs. nurture

Serial position phenomenon-sequence influences

recall

Primacy effect-enhanced memory for items

presented earlier

Recency effect-enhanced memory for items

presented last

Decay theory-forgetting caused by learning similar

materials

proactive-initially

retroactive-previously

Linguistic relativity hypothesis-person's language

determines and limits a persons experiences

Hull's drive-reduction model-motivation arises out

of need

Cognitive consistency theory-cognitive

inconsistencies create tension and thus motivate the

organism

Festinger's Cognitive dissonance theoryreconcile cognitive discrepancies

Arousal Theories-we all have optimal levels of

stimulation that we try to maintain

Yerkes-Dodson law-arousal will increase

performances up to a point, then further increases

will impair performance; inverted U function

Incentive theory-behavior is pulled rather then

pushed

James-Lange theory-emotion is caused by bodily

changes

Cannon-Bard's Thalamic theory-emotional

expression caused by simultaneous changing bodily

event thoughts and feelings

Schachter's Cognitive-Physiological Theorybodily changes, current stimuli, events, and

memories combine to determine behavior

Attribution theory-explains how people make

inferences about the causes of behavior; personal or

situational; self-serving bias

Deindividuation-loss of self-restraint that occurs

out of anonymity

Contact theory-proposes that equal-status contact

between antagonistic groups should lower tension

and bring harmony

Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome- (GAS)

emergency reaction to stressful situations Alarm

reaction, resistance and exhaustion

Lazaru's Cognitive-Psychological Modelemphasizes the process of appraisal (primary and

secondary) as the primary determinant of stress

Twin Studies-allows a researcher to test influence

of heredity v. environment

Personal Construct Theory-unique system of

reality

Deinstitutionalization-occurred because of

changes in political policy and development of new

drug therapies

Ainsworth's Strange Situation-looked at

attachment in young children to their parents