AP PSYCH SEMESTER ONE FINAL CRAM STUDY

Perspectives/Biases

Confirmation bias: Tendency to search for, interpret, or remember information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions.
Experimenter bias: When the researcher's expectations influence the outcome of the study.
Hindsight bias: The “I-knew-it-all-along” effect, where people believe they predicted an event after it has happened.
Overconfidence: The tendency to overestimate one’s knowledge or ability.
Peer review: Evaluation of research by other experts in the field before publication.

Research Methods

Case study: An in-depth examination of an individual or small group.
Control group: Group that does not receive the experimental treatment, used for comparison.
Correlation research: Examining relationships between variables without manipulating them.
Hypothesis: A testable prediction about the relationship between variables.
Independent variable: The variable manipulated in an experiment.
Dependent variable: The variable measured in an experiment.
Random assignment: Randomly placing participants into different groups to control for biases.

Statistics

Correlation coefficient: A number that describes the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.
Mean, Median, Mode: Measures of central tendency; mean is the average, median is the middle value, and mode is the most frequent value.
Standard deviation: A measure of how spread out the values in a data set are.

1.1 Heredity and Environment

Nature-Nurture issue: The debate over the relative contributions of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) to behavior.
Twin studies: Research involving identical and fraternal twins to understand genetic influences.
Adoption studies: Studies that examine the similarities between adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents.

1.2 Nervous System

Central nervous system (CNS): Comprises the brain and spinal cord.
Peripheral nervous system (PNS): Includes all nerves outside the CNS.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS): Controls involuntary bodily functions (e.g., heart rate, digestion).
Sympathetic nervous system: Part of the ANS, responsible for the fight-or-flight response.
Parasympathetic nervous system: Responsible for the rest-and-digest functions.

1.3 Neuron and Neural Firing

Action potential: Electrical impulse that travels along the axon.
Synapse: The junction between two neurons where neurotransmitters are released.
Neurotransmitters: Chemical messengers that transmit signals across synapses (e.g., dopamine, serotonin).

1.4 The Brain

Hindbrain: Includes structures like the medulla (heart rate, breathing), pons (sleep, arousal), and cerebellum (motor control).
Limbic system: Includes the amygdala (emotion), hippocampus (memory), and hypothalamus (regulates autonomic functions).
Cerebrum: The largest part of the brain, responsible for higher-level functions like reasoning and planning.
Broca’s area: Speech production, located in the left frontal lobe.
Wernicke’s area: Language comprehension, located in the left temporal lobe.

1.5 Sleep

2.1 Sensation

Sensation: The process of receiving and processing stimuli from the environment.
Transduction: The conversion of sensory stimuli into neural signals.
Absolute threshold: The minimum intensity of a stimulus needed for detection 50% of the time.

Vision

Rods and cones: Photoreceptors in the retina that detect light (rods for low light, cones for color).
Opponent-process theory: Suggests that color perception is controlled by opposing pairs of colors (e.g., red-green, blue-yellow).

Hearing

Basilar membrane: Located in the cochlea, it vibrates in response to sound, aiding in hearing.
Frequency theory: Explains how we perceive pitch based on the frequency of sound waves.
Place theory: Suggests that different parts of the basilar membrane are activated by different frequencies.

Other Senses

Gate control theory: Explains how pain is experienced by the opening or closing of pain gates in the spinal cord.
Kinesthesis: The sense of movement and position of individual body parts.
Vestibular sense: The sense of balance and spatial orientation.

2.2 Perception

Top-down processing: Processing based on prior knowledge and expectations.
Bottom-up processing: Processing driven by sensory input, starting with raw data.
Gestalt psychology: Focuses on how people perceive whole objects rather than just individual parts (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, similarity).

2.2 Thinking & Problem-Solving

Algorithms: Step-by-step procedures for solving problems.
Heuristics: Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that often involve focusing on one aspect of a problem.
Availability heuristic: Judging the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind.
Mental set: The tendency to approach problems in a particular way, often based on past experiences.

2.3 Memory

Sensory memory: The brief storage of sensory information.
Short-term memory: Holds information for a short period (e.g., 15-30 seconds).
Long-term memory: The storage of information for extended periods.
Working memory: A model of short-term memory that includes the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive.

2.4 Memory Encoding

Chunking: Grouping information into meaningful units to improve memory retention.
Mnemonic devices: Memory aids that help organize and retrieve information.
Spacing effect: The tendency to remember information better when studying is spaced out over time.

2.5 Memory Retrieval

Recall: Retrieving information without cues (e.g., essay questions).
Recognition: Identifying information from a list of options (e.g., multiple-choice questions).
Context-dependent memory: The tendency to recall information more easily in the same context in which it was learned.

2.7 Forgetting

Forgetting curve: Ebbinghaus’s idea that information is lost over time unless reviewed.
Misinformation effect: When the recall of an event is altered by misleading information.
Repression: The unconscious blocking of unpleasant memories.