Theories to know for AP Psych

Sensation & Perception Theories

• Weber’s Law: Just noticeable difference

• Young-Helmholtz Color Theory (Trichromatic Theory): Color determined by the 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: Relates pitch to the frequency of sound waves and neuron firing

• Template-Matching Theory: Recognition based on stored copies

• Prototype-Matching Theory: Recognition involves comparison to the best example

• Feature-Analysis Theory: Patterns are represented and recognized by distinctive features

Emotion & Motivation Theories

• Facial Feedback Hypothesis (Ekman): Sensations from the face help determine emotion

• Hull’s Drive-Reduction Model: Motivation arises out of need

• Cognitive Consistency Theory: Cognitive inconsistencies create tension and motivate change

• Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Reconcile cognitive discrepancies

• Arousal Theories: We maintain optimal levels of stimulation

• Yerkes-Dodson Law: Arousal increases performance to a point, then impairs it (inverted U)

• Incentive Theory: Behavior is pulled by rewards rather than pushed by needs

• James-Lange Theory: Emotion is caused by bodily changes

• Cannon-Bard Thalamic Theory: Emotions are caused by simultaneous bodily changes and thoughts

• Schachter’s Cognitive-Physiological Theory: Emotion = bodily changes + current stimuli + memories

Learning Theories

• Thorndike’s Law of Effect: Reward and punishment influence behavior

• Premack Principle: High-probability behavior can reward low-probability behavior

Memory Theories

• 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 Interference: Old memories interfere with new ones

• Retroactive Interference: New memories interfere with old ones

Language & Thought

• Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis: Language determines and limits experience

Developmental Theories

• Continuity vs. Discontinuity: Theories of development, nature vs. nurture

Dreams & Sleep Theories

• Restorative Theory: We sleep to replenish

• Adaptive Nonresponding Theory: Sleep has survival value

• Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis: Dreams are products of spontaneous neural activity

Social Psychology Theories

• Attribution Theory: How people infer causes of behavior; includes personal/situational attributions and self-serving bias

• Deindividuation: Loss of self-restraint due to anonymity

• Contact Theory: Equal-status contact reduces intergroup tension

• Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Reconcile cognitive discrepancies (also applies here)

Stress Theories

• Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): Stress response = Alarm → Resistance → Exhaustion

• Lazarus’s Cognitive-Psychological Model: Appraisal (primary & secondary) determines stress

Research Methods & Intelligence

• Statistical Significance: Results are less than 5% due to chance (p < .05)

• Twin Studies: Test influence of heredity vs. environment

Personality & Mental Health

• Personal Construct Theory: Individuals have a unique system of reality

• Deinstitutionalization: Resulted from policy change and new drug therapies

Attachment Theory

• Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: Studied attachment in young children to their parents