AP Psychology Notes
Research Methods
Hypothesis: A testable prediction about the relationship between variables.
Independent Variable: The variable manipulated by the researcher.
Dependent Variable: The variable measured by the researcher.
Control Group: A group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment.
Experimental Group: A group in an experiment that receives the treatment.
Placebo: A fake treatment used in control groups.
Correlation: A measure of the relationship between two variables.
Positive Correlation: As one variable increases, the other tends to increase.
Negative Correlation: As one variable increases, the other tends to decrease.
Correlation does not equal causation: Just because two variables are related doesn't mean one causes the other.
Biases & Other Considerations
Hindsight Bias: The tendency to believe that one knew all along what happened after the event.
Confirmation Bias: The tendency to seek out information that confirms one's beliefs.
Experimenter Bias: When the researcher's expectations influence the outcome of the study.
Double-Blind Study: Neither the participants nor the researcher knows who received the treatment.
Confounding Variable: A factor that can influence the dependent variable other than the independent variable.
Psychological Perspectives
Behavioral Perspective: Focuses on observable behaviors and how they are learned.
Biological Perspective: Examines the role of biological factors (e.g., brain, genes) in behavior.
Psychodynamic Perspective: Emphasizes unconscious drives and early childhood experiences.
Cognitive Perspective: Studies mental processes like memory, thinking, and problem-solving.
Humanistic Perspective: Focuses on personal growth and self-actualization.
Evolutionary Perspective: Explains behavior based on natural selection.
Social-Cultural Perspective: Examines the influence of social and cultural factors on behavior.
Ethical Considerations
Informed Consent: Participants must be informed about the study and their right to withdraw.
Deception: Researchers must avoid deceiving participants unless absolutely necessary.
Confidentiality: Participants' data must be kept private.
Protection from harm: Researchers must protect participants from physical and psychological harm.
Learning Objective 1.1.A: Heredity and Environment
Heredity and environmental factors interact to shape behavior and mental processes.
Heredity ("nature"): Genetic or predisposed characteristics influencing physical, behavioral, and mental traits.
Environmental factors ("nurture"): External factors like family interactions or education.
The evolutionary perspective explores how natural selection affects the expression of behavior and mental processes to increase survival and reproductive success. Some theorists have sought to apply principles of the evolutionary perspective in ways that discriminate against others (eugenics).
Research on the effects of genes on individual behavior and mental processes is often conducted using twin studies, family studies, and adoption studies.
Learning Objective 1.2.A: Nervous System Subsystems
Central nervous system (CNS): Brain and spinal cord, interacts with all processes in the body.
Peripheral nervous system (PNS): Relays messages from the CNS to the rest of the body.
Autonomic nervous system: Involuntary processes.
Parasympathetic nervous system.
Sympathetic nervous systems.
Somatic nervous system: Voluntary processes.
Learning Objective 1.3.A: Neurons and Behavior
Neurons: Neural cells that transmit information.
Glial cells: Cells that provide structure, insulation, communication, and waste transport.
Reflex arc:
Sensory neurons.
Motor neurons.
Interneurons.
Learning Objective 1.3.B: Neural Transmission
Neural transmission involves the all-or-nothing principle, depolarization, refractory period, resting potential, reuptake, and threshold.
Neurotransmitters related to behavior and mental processes:
Dopamine.
Serotonin.
Norepinephrine.
Glutamate.
GABA.
Endorphins.
Substance P.
Acetylcholine.
Hormones related to behavior and mental processes:
Adrenaline.
Leptin.
Ghrelin.
Melatonin.
Oxytocin.
Learning Objective 1.3.C: Psychoactive Drugs
Psychoactive drugs can influence neurotransmitter function:
Agonists encourage neural firing.
Antagonists discourage neural firing.
Reuptake inhibitors block the reabsorption of neurotransmitters.
Psychoactive drugs have psychological and physiological effects:
Stimulants (e.g., caffeine, cocaine): Increased neural activity.
Depressants (e.g., alcohol): Decreased neural activity.
Hallucinogens (e.g., marijuana): Distortions in perception and/or cognition.
Opioids (e.g., heroin): Pain relievers.
Psychoactive drug use can lead to tolerance and/or addiction, which creates withdrawal symptoms.
Learning Objective 1.4.A: Brain Structures and Functions
Brain stem (including the medulla): Controls basic functioning such as breathing and heart rate.
Reticular activating system and reward center: Controls some voluntary movement, eye movement, and some types of learning, cognition, and emotion.
Cerebellum: Controls coordination of muscle movement, balance, and some forms of procedural learning.
Cerebral cortex: Divided into two hemispheres.
Limbic system: Thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, hippocampus, amygdala.
Corpus callosum.
Occipital lobes: Visual information processing (rear of the brain).
Temporal lobes: Auditory and linguistic processing (sides of the brain).
Parietal lobes: Association areas, somatosensory cortex (near the back crown of the brain).
Frontal lobes: Linguistic processing, higher-order thinking, executive functioning, prefrontal cortex (just behind the forehead).
Motor cortex: Skeletal movement (rear of the frontal lobes).
Split brain research (severing the corpus callosum) reveals that the right and left hemispheres of the brain may specialize in different activities and functions.
Language areas: Typically located in the left hemisphere.
Broca’s area: Speech production.
Wernicke’s area: Speech comprehension. Damage can lead to aphasia.
Cortex specialization is tested with split-brain patients by showing information in each visual field.
Brain plasticity: The ability of the brain to rewire itself or modify or create new connections throughout development.
Brain research: Scans (EEG and fMRI), case studies, and surgical procedures (such as lesioning).
Learning Objective 1.5.A: Sleep/Wake Cycle
Consciousness has varying levels of awareness of thoughts, feelings, behavior, and events in individuals’ internal and external worlds. Sleep and wakefulness are two types of consciousness.
The sleep/wake cycle is a circadian rhythm, which in humans is about a 24-hour cycle. Jet lag and shift work are disruptions of the circadian rhythm.
The stages of sleep are identified by their specific EEG patterns.
NREM sleep: Stages 1 through 3 and decreases in duration throughout the cycle. Hypnogogic sensations occur as one enters Initial Stage 1 sleep.
REM sleep: Paradoxical because it produces waves similar to wakefulness, but the body is at its most relaxed. Dreaming typically occurs in REM sleep. The frequency of REM sleep typically increases as the cycle progresses. When deprived of REM sleep, REM rebound can occur
Theories regarding the structure and function of dreams: Activation-synthesis and consolidation theory.
Memory consolidation and restoration are current theories about why sleep occurs.
Sleep disruptions can affect physical and cognitive performance during wakefulness. Sleep disorders include insomnia, narcolepsy, REM sleep behavior disorder, sleep apnea, and somnambulism.
Learning Objective 1.6.A: Sensation
Sensation: Detecting information from the environment that meets a certain threshold and transducing stimuli into neurochemical messages for processing (perception) in the brain. The absolute threshold occurs when a stimulus can be detected at least 50% of the time.
Weber’s law describes the degree to which stimuli need to be different for the difference to be detected.
The sensory systems constantly work together in a process called sensory interaction. Synesthesia is an experience of sensation in which one system of sensation is experienced through another.
Learning Objective 1.6.B: Visual Sensory System
Retina: Photosensitive surface at the back of the eye.
Blind spot: Where the visual nerve exits the eye.
Accommodation: Visual stimuli are focused onto the retina by the lens.
Rods: Cells that lie in the periphery of the eye and detect shapes and movement, but not color. These cells are mainly activated in low-light environments. These cells play a role in light and dark adaptation.
Cones: Photoreceptor cells located in the fovea of the eye that process color and detail.
Color vision: Trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory.
*Researchers have identified blue (detecting short wavelengths), green (detecting medium wavelengths) and red (detecting long wavelengths) cones in the retina.Afterimages: Result when certain ganglion cells in the retina are activated while others are not. The ganglion cells involved in this opponent process are red/green, blue/ yellow/ and black/white.
Color vision deficiency: Damage or irregularities to one or more cones or ganglion cells (red/green, blue/ yellow). It includes dichromatism or monochromatism.
Damage to parts of the brain responsible for vision (mainly the occipital lobes) can result in disorders such as prosopagnosia (face blindness) and blindsight.
Learning Objective 1.6.C: Auditory Sensory System
Sound occurs through the movement of air molecules at different wavelengths (called pitch) and amplitudes (called loudness).
Theories that help explain pitch perception include place theory, volley theory, and frequency theory.
Sound localization describes how we identify where sounds in our environment are coming from.
Hearing difficulties can result from aging and various kinds of damage to auditory structures. Types of hearing loss include conduction deafness and sensorineural
Learning Objective 1.6.D: Chemical Sensory Systems
Structures in the nose and brain process and/ or transduce olfactory stimuli. Smell is the only sense not processed first in the thalamus of the brain. Pheromones produce chemical messages for the olfactory system.
Gustation is the sense of taste, and types of tastes include sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleo Gustus.
Structures in the tongue, mouth, and brain process and/or transduce basic tastes. The number of taste receptors on the tongue is related to how sensitive people are to tastes, classifying them as supertasters, medium tasters, or nontasters.
The chemical senses interact to create the sensation of taste. Without the sense of smell, taste sensations are either muted or not experienced.
Learning Objective 1.6.E: Touch Sensory System
Structures within the skin and brain process and/or transduce touch stimuli. The sensation of “hot” is produced by the activation of warm and cold receptors in the skin
Learning Objective 1.6.F: Pain Sensory System
Pain is processed both in the body and in the brain. Gate control theory is one attempt to describe the complexities of pain. Phantom limb sensation occurs when people who have lost limbs report sensation or pain where the limb used to be.
Learning Objective 1.6.G: Vestibular and Kinesthetic Senses
The vestibular sense controls balance and is primarily detected by the semicircular canals and structures in the brain.
Kinesthesis the sense of one’s body movement. Kinesthesis allows the body to move in coordinated ways without having to look at the various parts of the body as it moves
Learning Objective 2.1.A: Internal and External Factors Influencing Perception
Perception is influenced by whether one primarily relies on external sensory information (bottom-up processing) or internal prior expectations (top-down processing).
Schemas and perceptual sets are internal factors that filter perceptions of the world.
Contexts, experiences, and cultural experiences and expectations are external factors that filter perceptions of the world.
Perceptual principles proposed by Gestalt psychology (closure, figure and ground proximity, and similarity) help explain how humans organize their perceptual world.
Attention is an interaction of sensation and perception that is affected by internal and external processes.
Some experiences of attention can be selective, such as with the cocktail party effect, where people attend to mentions of their names or specific topics in loud or distracting environments.
Inattention can lead to a type of “blindness” to aspects of the environment. Change blindness occurs when changes to the environment are not perceived due to inattention.
Learning Objective 2.1.B: Visual Perceptual Processes
Binocular depth cues of retinal disparity (the difference between the images projecting onto the retina) and convergence (the merging of the retinal images by the brain) utilizes images from each eye to provide perception of depth.
Monocular depth cues (relative clarity, relative size, texture gradient, linear perspective, and interposition) give the illusion of depth on flat or two-dimensional surfaces.
Visual perceptual constancies maintain the perception of an object even when the images of the object in the visual field change.
Apparent movement can be visually perceived even when objects are not actually moving.
Learning Objective 2.2.A: Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgment, and Decision-Making
Concepts form the basis of thought. Prototypes are the ideal example for any given concept.
People form and modify schemas, or frameworks for thinking, through assimilation (taking in new information but not changing the schema in light of it) and accommodation (taking in new information and changing the schema to incorporate the new information).
Algorithms address problems by attempting all possible solutions until the correct one is found.
Heuristics address problems by using mental shortcuts to make judgments. Using heuristics can lead to errors in judgment when decisions are made according to prior expectations or stereotypes (representativeness heuristic) or recalling the first or most vivid example that comes to mind (availability heuristic).
Decision making can be influenced by prior experiences that were successful (mental set) or circumstances surrounding a decision (priming and framing).
Cognitive processes such as gambler’s fallacy and sunk-cost fallacy can hinder people from making good decisions.
Executive functions are cognitive processes that allow individuals to generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal-directed behaviors and experience critical thinking.
Creativity is a way of thinking that includes generating novel ideas and engaging in divergent (versus convergent) thinking. Creative thinking is hindered by functional fixedness
Learning Objective 2.3.A: Types, Structures, and Processes of Memory
Memories for learned knowledge, events, and experiences are differentiated by how they are processed by, stored in, and retrieved by the brain.
Explicit memory is a type of memory that is more easily described or explained to others. Types of explicit memory include episodic and semantic.
Implicit memory is more challenging to describe or explain to others. Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory for procedures and processes.
Prospective memory is a type of memory related to future actions.
Long-term potentiation, a process by which synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation, which is a biological process for memory.
The working memory model examines how our primary memory system— working memory— engages in a dynamic interaction with several components, namely the central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad, to process information into long-term memory.
The multi-store model proposes three interacting systems (sensory memory [including iconic and echoic memory], short-term memory, and long-term memory) that information must pass through to be remembered. This model focuses on the impact of automatic and effortful processing on memory encoding, storage, and retrieval.
The levels of processing model proposes that memory is encoded on three levels from shallowest to deepest: structural, phonemic, and semantic.
Learning Objective 2.4.A: Encoding Processes
Encoding involves processes and strategies to get information into memory. How information is encoded can determine how effectively information is stored and retrieved.
Mnemonic devices, such as method of loci, are processes that aid in encoding information into working and long-term memory.
Encoding can be improved by the process of grouping information together into meaningful chunks (“chunking”), categories, or hierarchies.
The spacing effect is a process that can cause significant differences in encoding and memory consolidation depending on whether the information is encoded all at once (massed practice) or distributed over time (distributed practice).
Encoding processes can be affected by the order of how the information is presented, called the serial position effect. The serial position effect predicts that information presented at the beginning of a list (primacy effect) or the end of a list (recency effect) will be more memorable than information presented in the middle of a list.
Learning Objective 2.5.A: Memory Storage Processes
Sensory memory, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory are processes that differ in storage duration, capacity, and content.
Storage may be prolonged by rehearsing information over time (maintenance rehearsal). Rehearsing information over time in ways that promote meaning (elaborative rehearsal) helps with memory retention.
Some people demonstrate highly superior autobiographical memory which may indicate that there are biological processes for superior memory storage. Autobiographical memory may also explain why memories connected to our own lives or selves are more memorable.
Storage processes may be negatively affected by physical impairment and developmental limitations, such as amnesia (retrograde and anterograde), Alzheimer’s disease, and infantile amnesia.
Learning Objective 2.6.A: Memory Retrieval Processes
The process of memory retrieval occurs through recall (remembering without cues) or recognition (which relies on retrieval cues).
The process of memory retrieval can be enhanced when people are in the same environmental space (context-dependent memory), mood (mood-congruent memory), or physical state (state-dependent memory) as they were when they encoded the information to be retrieved.
Successful retrieval is more likely when using retrieval practice processes, including testing effect and metacognition.
Learning Objective 2.7.A: Memory Failure or Errors
The forgetting curve shows that time is a significant factor in forgetting. Forgetting occurs rapidly after initial learning and levels off over time.
Many memories are difficult to retrieve due to encoding failure, interference (proactive or retroactive), or inadequate retrieval (i.e., tip-of the-tongue phenomenon).
Psychodynamic theorists believe that information or memories can be forgotten to defend the ego from distress (repression).
The accuracy of memories may be affected by the misinformation effect, source amnesia, or constructive memory (via memory consolidation and imagination inflation).
Learning Objective 2.8.A: Theories of Intelligence
Throughout history, consensus about how to define and measure intelligence continues to be elusive and can be subject to bias. Researchers debate whether intelligence is a general ability (called g) or is comprised of multiple abilities.
Learning Objective 2.8.B: Measuring Intelligence
Early formal intelligence tests yielded an intelligence quotient (IQ), which divided mental age by chronological age. In modern times, IQ scores are often used to identify students for educational services.
All psychological assessments, including intelligence tests, should adhere to sound psychometric principles to be considered useful
A test is said to be standardized when it is administered using consistent procedures and environments.
A test is considered valid if it measures what it is designed to measure. Types of validity include construct and predictive.
A test is considered reliable if it yields similar results each time it is administered. Types of reliability include test-retest and split-half
Researchers strive to develop assessments of intelligence that are socio-culturally responsive to reduce stereotype threat and potential inequity that may occur due to stereotype lift.
Learning Objective 2.8.C: Systemic Issues in Intelligence Assessments
IQ scores across much of the world have generally increased over time (Flynn Effect) due to societal factors, such as higher socioeconomic status and access to better health care and better nutrition.
IQ scores tend to vary more within a group than between groups. Personal and sociocultural biases can impact the interpretation of individual IQ scores and the score’s relationship with other outcomes. Poverty, discrimination, and educational inequities can negatively influence intelligence scores of individuals and societal groups around the world.
Scores from intelligence tests have been used to limit access to jobs, military ranks, educational institutions, and immigration to the US.
Learning Objective 2.8.D: Academic Achievement vs. Intelligence
Some academic tests attempt to measure what someone knows (achievement tests) or predict how someone will perform in the future (aptitude tests).
People’s beliefs about whether intelligence is fixed from birth (fixed mindset) or malleable due to experience (growth mindset) can affect academic achievement.
Learning Objectives 3.1.A and 3.1.B: Enduring Themes and Research Designs in Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is concerned with both chronological order of development and/or thematic issues in development across the lifespan. Thematic issues of interest to developmental psychologists include stability and change, nature and nurture, and continuous and discontinuous stages of development
Learning Objective 3.2.A: Physical Development Before Birth
Teratogens, maternal illness, genetic mutations, hormonal, and environmental factors can influence the major physical and psychological milestones that occur during prenatal development.
Learning Objective 3.2.B: Physical Development in Infancy and Childhood
Physical development in infancy and childhood happens in generally the same order, but the timing of the development can vary. The development of fine and gross motor coordination is among the major physical and psychological milestones that define infancy and childhood. These physical skills develop as children mature, allowing children to develop critical skills needed to become more independent.
Infants possess reflexes, like the rooting reflex, that indicate on-track physical and psychological milestone development.
Research using the visual cliff apparatus demonstrates an early ability in infants to perceive depth and an innovative way to assess infant responses
Research suggests that critical or sensitive periods in infancy and childhood have strong developmental effects, especially for skills such as language. Some non-human animals will imprint it on the first object they encounter as a means of survival.
Learning Objective 3.2.C: Physical Development in Adolescence
The main physical and psychological milestones that occur in adolescence are the adolescent growth spurt and puberty, in which reproductive ability develops. Adolescents develop primary and secondary sex characteristics during this time, such as menarche and spermarche.
Learning Objective 3.2.D: Physical Development in Adulthood
Adulthood spans most of the lifespan and is characterized by a general leveling off and then a varying decline in reproductive ability (i.e., menopause), mobility, flexibility, reaction time, and visual and auditory sensory acuity.
Learning Objective 3.3.A: Sex, Gender, and Socialization
Socialization, the process of learning cultural norms and expectations, is shaped by societal expectations associated with gender roles, often leading to differences in behaviors, interests, and opportunities
Learning Objective 3.4.A: Theories of Cognitive Development
According to Piaget, children develop schemas via continuous and discontinuous processes such as assimilation and accommodation.
The sensorimotor stage occurs from infancy through toddlerhood. Object permanence develops during this stage.
The preoperational stage occurs from toddlerhood through early childhood. Children become proficient in using mental symbols and engage in pretend play. The preoperational stage is identified more by cognitive tasks children cannot perform such as conservation and reversibility, or by those they exhibit, such as animism and egocentrism. Children begin to develop a theory of mind during this stage.
The concrete operational stage occurs from early through late childhood. Children in this stage can generally correct the cognitive errors made in the preoperational stage and understand the world in logical, realistic, and straightforward ways, but struggle to think systematically.
The formal operational stage occurs from late childhood through adulthood. People in this stage gain the ability to think abstractly and hypothetically. Piaget proposed that not all people achieve formal operational thinking.
According to Vygotsky, children are social learners who learn through interacting with and scaffolding by other people within sociocultural contexts. Ideally, learning occurs while the person is in their zone of proximal development.
Adults experience changes in cognitive capabilities as they progress through the lifespan. Crystallized intelligence remains relatively stable through adulthood while fluid intelligence tends to wane as people age. Cognitive disorders that affect adults include dementia.
Learning Objective 3.5.A: Language and Communication
Language is a shared (mutually agreed upon) system of arbitrary symbols (often expressed as and combined into phonemes, morphemes, and semantics) that are rule- governed (via grammar and syntax) and generative to produce an infinity of ideas.
Learning Objective 3.5.B: Language Development
In language development across all cultures, people use nonverbal manual gestures (e.g., pointing) to communicate and develop formal language through specific stages (cooing, babbling, one-word stage, and telegraphic speech). People learning a language often make errors such as overgeneralization of language rules as they learn.
Learning Objective 3.6.A: Social Development
The ecological systems theory explores how the social environment influences development. The five systems in this theory are as follows:
Microsystem (groups that have direct contact with the individual)
Mesosystem (the relationships between groups in the microsystem)
Ecosystem (indirect factors in an individual’s life)
Macrosystem (cultural events that affect the individuals and others around them)
Chronosystem (the individual’s current stage of life).
Research has identified different parenting styles of caregivers, including authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. Cultural differences exist in the ways these parenting styles affect outcomes in caregivers and children.
Research has identified different attachment styles demonstrated by infants and children, which vary by culture. The types of attachment infants and children display include secure and insecure (avoidant, anxious, and disorganized). Temperament is related to how children attach to caregivers.
Separation anxiety occurs when children express heightened anxiety or fear when away from a caregiver or in the presence of a stranger.
Studies with monkeys demonstrate the importance of comfort over food in attachment.
Developmental psychologists study how peer relationships develop over time.
Children engage with peers via play (parallel and pretend).
Adolescents gradually rely more on peer relationships as they age. As adolescents interact with peers, they demonstrate a type of egocentrism that is often demonstrated via the imaginary audience and the personal fable.
Developmental psychologists study how adults develop socially over time.
Culture plays a role in determining when adulthood begins and when major life events occur (social clock). Some cultures allow for a time of emerging adulthood as a transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Relationships with other adults result in adults forming families or family-like relationships that should provide mutual support and care. Childhood attachment styles can affect how adults form attachments to other adults
The stage theory of psychosocial development, which was a reconceptualization of the psychosexual theory, proposes that people must resolve psychosocial conflicts at each stage of the lifespan. The stages are as follows:
Trust and mistrust
Autonomy and shame and doubt
Initiative and guilt
Industry and inferiority
Identity and role confusion
Intimacy and isolation
Generativity and stagnation
Integrity and despair
The experience of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has effects on relationships people form throughout the lifespan. Sociocultural differences exist in what is considered an ACE and how ACEs affect outcomes people may experience. 3.6.A.8 Adolescents develop a sense of identity for who they will be as an adult through the processes of achievement, diffusion, foreclosure, and moratorium. Identity development also includes processes for developing identities such as racial/ethnic identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious identity, occupational identity, and familial identity, often through considering possible selves.
Learning Objective 3.7.A: Classical Conditioning
The behavioral perspective evolved from theories about learning via conditioning. Behaviorists have traditionally focused on observable behavior to the exclusion of mental processes.
Classical conditioning focuses on the association of one stimulus with another stimulus to elicit a response. Learning the association (also known as acquisition) involves a series of steps that demonstrate principles of associative learning.
The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) elicits an unconditioned response (UCR). This response becomes the conditioned response (CR) when it is performed in response to the conditioned stimulus (CS).
The order of presentation of the CS with the UCS is important to successful acquisition.
A CR can become extinct when the CS is no longer paired with the UCS. A formerly extinct CR can be spontaneously recovered when the CS and UCS are paired together again.
Stimulus discrimination and generalization have been demonstrated in studies of classical conditioning.
A CS can be used as a UCS in higher-order conditioning.
Research has demonstrated that emotional responses can be classically conditioned. These findings form the basis of therapeutic interventions for many mental disorders, such as counterconditioning.
Research on taste aversions, which are acquired through classical conditioning, demonstrates one-trial conditioning and biological preparedness. One-trial learning occurs when the association is acquired through one pairing of the stimulus and response and is not strengthened by further pairings. Biological preparedness refers to how animals are biologically predisposed to learning certain stimulus-response pairings more quickly than others.
Habituation occurs when organisms grow accustomed to and exhibit a diminished response to a repeated or enduring stimulus.
Learning Objective 3.8.A: Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning focuses on associating consequences (reinforcement and punishment) with behaviors. The Law of Effect states that behaviors with reinforcing consequences are more likely to be repeated while behaviors with punishing consequences are not as likely to be repeated.
Reinforcement and punishment can be positive or negative. Reinforcers can be primary or secondary. Reinforcement discrimination and generalization have been demonstrated in studies of operant conditioning.
Reinforcement can be used to shape behavior (“shaping”) gradually through rewarding successive approximations of the desired behavior. Research with animals shows that only certain behaviors can be shaped through reinforcement (known as instinctive drift).
Superstitious behavior occurs when consequences reinforce unrelated behaviors. Learned helplessness occurs when organisms learn that they have no control over their experience of aversive consequences in a given situation.
The schedule with which reinforcement is delivered can determine the strength of the association between the consequence and the response. The two main types of reinforcement schedules are continuous and partial. Each type of reinforcement behavior can be graphed, resulting in a distinctive pattern on the graph (e.g., fixed-interval schedule produces a scalloped graph).
Continuous reinforcement schedules deliver reinforcement for each and every correct behavior.
The partial reinforcement schedules focus on whether reinforcement is delivered on a time-based schedule (fixed or variable interval) or for the number of behaviors performed (fixed or variable ratio).
Learning Objective 3.9.A: Social Learning
Social learning theory proposes that learning can occur by observation and does not have to involve personal experience with a consequence (vicarious conditioning). Learning can occur by copying the behavior of models. The more similar a model is, the more likely the behavior is to be learned.
Learning Objective 3.9.B: Cognitive Factors in Learning
Insight learning occurs when the solution to a problem occurs without any association, consequence, or model being present.
Latent learning occurs when information is learned without reinforcement but is not immediately evident. Latent learning is often demonstrated by cognitive maps.
Learning Objective 4.1.A: Attribution Theory
Attributions are how people explain behavior and mental processes of themselves and others. Dispositional attributions relate to internal qualities of others (such as intelligence or personality) while situational attributions relate to external circumstances that are experienced.
People demonstrate a predictable pattern of attributions called explanatory style. Explanatory style is how people explain good and bad events in their lives and in the lives of others. Explanatory style can be optimistic or pessimistic.
People are subject to biases in their attributions. Those biases include actor/ observer bias, fundamental attribution error, and self-serving bias, all of which can affect behavior and mental processes.
Learning Objectives 4.1.B and 4.1.C: Locus of Control and Person Perception
People’s perception of how much they like something can be influenced by the mere exposure effect. The mere exposure effect occurs when people are exposed to a stimulus repeatedly over time, which causes them to like the stimulus more
People can behave in ways that elicit behaviors from others that confirm their beliefs or perceptions about themselves or others (self-fulfilling prophecy).
Social comparison is a type of person perception that occurs when people evaluate themselves based on comparisons to other members of society or social circles. Social comparison can be upward or downward. People often judge their own sense of deprivation relative to others (relative deprivation)
Learning Objective 4.2.A: Stereotypes and Implicit Attitudes
A stereotype is a generalized concept about a group. Stereotypes can help reduce cognitive load when making decisions or judgments. Stereotypes can be the cause and/or result of biased perceptions and experiences and are frequently the basis of prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory behaviors.
Implicit attitudes are those that individuals hold but may be unaware of or may not acknowledge. Research has focused on how implicit attitudes reflect negative evaluations of others, as demonstrated by the just-world phenomenon, out-group homogeneity bias, in group bias, or ethnocentrism.
Learning Objective 4.2.B: Belief Perseverance and Cognitive Dissonance
Belief perseverance occurs when a belief persists even if evidence suggests it is not accurate. People experiencing belief perseverance may engage in confirmation bias, thereby clinging to an attitude or belief regardless of the evidence for or against it.
Cognitive dissonance refers to the mental discomfort that occurs when actions or attitudes are in conflict. People are motivated to reduce the discomfort by changing either actions or attitudes to be more in line with each other.
Learning Objective 4.3.A: Influence of Social Situation
Social norms define expectations and roles a society may have for its members in individual and social situations.
Social influence theory proposes that social pressure to behave or think in certain ways can be normative or informational.
Persuasion refers to the techniques applied to convince the self or others of particular ideas, actions, or beliefs.
Persuasion can depend on the route to persuasion. The elaboration likelihood model outlines two main routes to persuasion: central and peripheral. The halo effect is an example of a peripheral route to persuasion.
Persuasion can depend on how information is presented, as demonstrated by the foot-in-the-door and the door-in-the-face techniques.
Research on conformity clarifies the conditions that strengthen the likelihood of people adhering to unspoken rules, norms, or expectations.
Research on obedience clarifies the conditions that strengthen the likelihood of people complying with the directives of an authority figure.
Learning Objective 4.3.B: Influence of Groups
Cultural phenomena such as individualism, collectivism, and multiculturalism can influence how one perceives and behaves towards
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.3.C Explain how prosocial behavior affects behavior and mental processes. 1. Altruism refers to selfless behavior, but some researchers suggest that people act in prosocial ways due to incurring social debt. The social reciprocity norm and the social responsibility norm explain this type of behavior. 2. The bystander effect demonstrates that situational and attentional variables predict whether someone is likely to help another person ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.4.A Explain how the psychodynamic theory of personality defines and assesses personality. 1. According to the psychodynamic theory of personality, unconscious processes drive personality. 2. Ego defense mechanisms (denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and sublimation) serve to protect the ego unconsciously from threats. 3. Psychodynamic personality psychologists assess personality using projective tests that are designed to probe the preconscious and unconscious mind. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.4.B Explain how the humanistic theory of personality defines and assesses personality. 1. According to humanistic psychology, personality focuses on unconditional regard and the self-actualizing tendency as primary motivating factors. ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.5.A Explain how the social cognitive theory of personality defines and assesses personality. 1. According to social-cognitive theory, reciprocal determinism shapes personality. Reciprocal determinism explores self-concept (how one views themselves and in relation to others) and how self-efficacy and self-esteem both contribute to self-concept. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.5.B Explain how trait theories of personality define and passess personality. 1. Trait theories of personality conclude that personality involves a set of enduring characteristics that lead to typical responses to stimuli. 2. The Big Five theory of personality proposes that traits of agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability make up one’s personality. These traits are measured by specialized personality inventories that use factor analysis to organize item responses. ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.6.A Explain how theories about motivation apply to behavior and mental processes. 1. Some theories about motivation focus on behavior and mental processes that seek to address physical needs and desires such as the drive-reduction theory and arousal theory. Drive-reduction theory addresses how certain behaviors help maintain homeostasis while arousal theory addresses how people seek an optimal level of arousal when they behave (as demonstrated by theYerkes-Dodson Law). 2. Self-determination theory proposes that people are motivated by intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external) motivations. Incentive theory explores the role of rewards (an extrinsic motivation) in motivating behavior. 3. Many non-humananimals are motivated by instincts (innate, typically fixed patterns of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli). Humans do not seem to demonstrate instinctual behavior or mental processes. 4. Lewin’s motivational conflicts theory proposes that choices create conflicts one must resolve as the basis of motivation. The type of conflicts faced include approach-approach, approach avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance. 5. Sensation-seeking theory proposes that one’s level of need for varied or novel experiences is the basis of motivation. The types of sensation seeking are experience seeking, thrill or adventure seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.6.B Explain how eating and belongingness motivate behavior and mental processes. 1. Eating is a complex motivated behavior that demonstrates how physical and mental processes interact. Hormones, such as ghrelin and leptin (regulated by the hypothalamus via the pituitary gland), regulate feelings of hunger and satiety. External factors like the presence of food, time of day, or social gatherings around meals also influence the behavior of eating. ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.7.A Explain how theories of emotion apply to behavior and mental processes. 1. Emotion, or affect, is a complex psychological process that is distinguished from reasoning or knowledge. Emotions reflect internal and external factors affecting an individual. Early 20th century psychological theories of emotion parsed the distinction between the physiological and cognitive experiences of emotion. Some theories proposed that the physiological and cognitive experiences occurred in succession while others proposed that they occurred simultaneously. Other theories emphasize that the cognitive label is required to experience an emotion. The facial-feedback hypothesis suggests that the experience of emotion is influenced by facial expressions, which supports theories that propose the physiological experience of emotion precedes the cognitive appraisal, and research testing this hypothesis has produced mixed results. 2. The broaden-and-build theory of emotion proposes that positive emotional experiences tend to broaden awareness and encourage new actions and thoughts. Negative emotions tend to reduce awareness and narrow thinking and action. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4.7.B Explain how social norms and experiences influence the expression of emotions. 1. Research has explored whether the expression of emotions is universally common. Some emotions that may be commonly experienced across cultures include anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, surprise, and fear. Research on the universality of emotions shows mixed results. 2. Display rules and elicitors for emotional expression can differ among cultures. Display rules and elicitors may regulate how people from different genders, ages, or socioeconomic classes within a culture can display and interpret emotions. -- END OF UNIT FOUR -- UNIT FIVE LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.1.A Explain how health psychology addresses issues of physical health and wellness as they apply to behavior and mental processes. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.1.B Explain how stress applies to behavior and mental processes. 1. Stress is a factor in heightened susceptibility to disorders and disease. Stress has been linked to physiological issues such as hypertension, headaches, and immune suppression. 2. Stressors can be viewed as motivating (eustress) or debilitating (distress). Stressors can be experienced as traumatic or as daily hassles that can build up over time. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are sources of stress that can affect a person throughout the lifespan. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.1.C Explain how reactions to stress apply to behavior and mental processes. 1. The general adaptation syndrome (GAS) describes the process of experiencing stress. Initially, an alarm reaction occurs when the stress is encountered (via a fight-flight freeze response). Then, a resistance phase occurs as the stress is confronted. Finally, an exhaustion phase occurs when the stress subsides, or resources are spent. The greatest susceptibility to illness occurs during the exhaustion phase 2. The tend-and-befriend theory proposes that some people react to stress by tending to their own needs and/or the needs of others and seeking connection with others. This phenomenon seems to occur mostly in women. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.1.D Explain how the ways that people cope with stress appliess to behavior and mental processes. 1. Problem-focused coping involves seeing stress as a problem to be solved and working on solutions until a solution is found. 2. Emotion-focused coping involves managing emotional reactions to stress as a means of coping. Strategies that are emotion-focused may include deep breathing, meditation, or taking medication aimed at reducing stressful emotional responses. ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.2.A Explain how positive psychology approaches the study of behavior and mental processes. 1. Positive psychology seeks to identify factors that lead to well-being, resilience, positive emotions, and psychological health. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.2.B Explain how positive subjective experiences apply to behavior and mental processes. 1. Expressing gratitude, a positive subjective experience, increases subjective well-being. 2. People who exercise their signature strengths or virtues report higher levels of positive objective experiences such as happiness and subjective well-being. A classification of character strengths has been developed around 6 categories of virtues: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. 3. Posttraumatic growth, a positive subjective experience, may result after the experience of trauma or stress. ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.3.A Describe the approaches used to define behavior and mental processes as psychological disorders. 1. Level of dysfunction, perception of distress, and deviation from the social norm are all factors used to identify psychological disorders. 2. Diagnosing or classifying psychological disorders has positive and negative consequences depending on the nature of the disorder, the individual being diagnosed, and the presence of cultural/societal norms, stigma, racism, sexism, ageism, and discrimination. 3. Diagnosing psychological disorders requires specialized training and the use of evidence-based diagnostic tools. The American Psychiatric Association developed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders to classify mental disorders. The World Health Organization developed the International Classification of Mental Disorder (ICD) to classify mental disorders. These classification systems are updated regularly to be responsive to new research and practice advances. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.3.B Explain how psychological perspectives define psychological disorders. 1. Most psychologists employ an eclectic approach (using more than one psychological perspective) when diagnosing and treating clients. 2. The behavioral perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on maladaptive learned associations between or among responses to stimuli. 3. The psychodynamic perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on unconscious thoughts and experiences, often developed during childhood. 4. The humanistic perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on a lack of social support and being unable to fulfill one’s potential. 5. The cognitive perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on maladaptive thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or emotions. 6. The evolutionary perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on behaviors and mental processes that reduce the likelihood of survival. 7. The sociocultural perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on maladaptive social and cultural relationships and dynamics. 8. The biological perspective proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on physiological or genetic issues. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.3.C Explain how interaction models define psychological disorders. 1. The biopsychosocial model assumes that any psychological problem potentially involves a combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. 2. The diathesis-stress model assumes that psychological disorders develop due to a genetic vulnerability (diathesis) in combination with stressful life experiences (stress) ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.A Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected neurodevelopmental disorders. 1. Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of disorders with onset occurring during the developmental period. Symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders focus on whether the person is exhibiting behaviors appropriate for their age or maturity range. Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 2. Possible causes of neurodevelopmental disorders may be environmental, physiological, or genetic in nature. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.B Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected schizophrenic spectrum disorders. 1. Schizophrenic spectrum disorders are characterized by issues in one or more of these five areas: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking or speech, disorganized motor behavior, and negative symptoms. Schizophrenia can be experienced as an acute or chronic condition. Delusions (false beliefs) are positive symptoms and may manifest in ways such as delusions of persecution or grandeur. Hallucinations (false perceptions) are positive symptoms and may involve one or more of the senses. Disorganized thinking or speech is a positive symptom and may manifest as speaking in ways such as speaking in a word salad (stringing together words in nonsensical ways). Disorganized motor behavior may manifest as catatonia. Catatonia, or disordered movement, may be experienced as excitement (a positive symptom manifestation) or stupor (a negative symptom manifestation). Negative symptoms present as the lack of a typical behavior, such as the lack of emotional expression (flat affect) or lack of movement (catatonic stupor). 2. Possible causes of schizophrenia suggest a genetic or biological link, such as prenatal virus exposure or imbalances with certain neurotransmitters (dopamine hypothesis). LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.C Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected depressive disorders. 1. Depressive disorders are characterized by the presence of sad, empty, or irritable mood along with physical and cognitive changes that affect a person’s ability to function. Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder 2. Possible causes of depressive disorders focus on biological, genetic, social, cultural, behavioral, or cognitive sources. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.D Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected bipolar disorders. 1. Bipolar disorders are characterized by periods of mania and periods of depression. Bipolar cycling involves experiencing periods of depression and mania in alternating periods that can last various amounts of time. Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are Bipolar I disorder and Bipolar II disorder. 2. Possible causes of bipolar disorders focus on biological, genetic, social, cultural, behavioral, or cognitive sources. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.E Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected anxiety disorders. 1. anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear and/or anxiety with disturbances related to behavior. Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are specific phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Specific phobia involves fear or anxiety toward a specific object or situation, such as acrophobia (heights) or arachnophobia (spiders). Agoraphobia is intense fear of specific social situations, including using public transportation, being in open spaces, being in enclosed spaces (e.g., shops, theaters, etc.), standing in line or being in a crowd, or being outside of the home alone. panic disorder involves the experience of panic attacks (unanticipated and overwhelming biological, cognitive, and emotional experiences of fear/anxiety). Panic disorder can manifest as a culture bound anxiety disorder such as ataque de nervios (experienced mainly by people of Caribbean or Iberian descent). Social anxiety disorder involves the intense fear of being judged or watched by others. Social anxiety disorder is distinct from but may include agoraphobia. Taijin kyofusho is a culture-bound anxiety disorder experienced mainly by Japanese people in which people fear others are judging their bodies as undesirable, offensive, or unpleasing. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) involves prolonged experiences of nonspecific anxiety or fear 2. Possible causes of anxiety disorders focus on learned associations between and among stimuli, maladaptive thinking or emotional responses, and biological or genetic sources. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.F Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected obsessive-compulsive disorders and related disorders. 1. Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders are characterized by the presence of obsessions (intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (intrusive, often repetitive, behaviors intended to address obsessions). Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are obsessive-compulsive disorder and hoarding disorder. 2. Possible causes of obsessive-compulsive disorders involve learned associations between and among stimuli, maladaptive thinking or emotional responses, and biological or genetic sources LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.G Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected dissociative disorders. 1. Dissociative disorders are characterized by dissociations from consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are dissociative amnesia (with and without fugue) and dissociative identity disorder. 2. Possible causes of dissociative disorders involve the experience of trauma or stress LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.H Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected trauma and stressor-related disorders. 1. Trauma and stressor-related disorders are characterized by exposure to a traumatic or stressful event with subsequent psychological distress. Symptoms of trauma and stressor related disorders may involve hypervigilance, severe anxiety, flashbacks to traumatic or stressful experiences, insomnia, emotional detachment, and hostility. The selected disorder in scope for AP Psychology in this category is posttraumatic stress disorder. 2. Possible causes of trauma and stressor-related disorders involve the experience of trauma or stress. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.I Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected feeding and eating disorders. 1. Feeding and eating disorders are characterized by altered consumption or absorption of food that impairs health or psychological functioning. Selected disorders in scope for AP Psychology in this category are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. 2. Possible causes of feeding and eating disorders focus on biological, genetic, social, cultural, behavioral, or cognitive sources. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.4.J Describe the symptoms and possible causes of selected personality disorders. 1. Personality disorders (which fall into three clusters) are characterized by enduring patterns of internal experience and behavior that is deviant from one’s culture; is pervasive and inflexible; begins in adolescence or early adulthood; is stable over time; and leads to personal distress or impairment. Cluster A is the odd or eccentric cluster and includes paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. Cluster B is the dramatic, emotional, or erratic cluster and includes antisocial, histrionic, narcissistic, and borderline personality disorders Cluster C is the anxious or fearful cluster and includes avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. 2. Possible causes of personality disorders focus on biological, genetic, social, cultural, behavioral, or cognitive sources. ___ LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.5.A Describe research and trends in the treatment of psychological disorders. 1. Many researchers who have conducted meta analytic studies of psychotherapy conclude that psychotherapies are generally effective. Many psychologists use evidencebased interventions to develop treatment plans. Therapists should exhibit cultural humility and establish a therapeutic alliance with the client to deliver therapy successfully. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.5.B Describe research and trends in the treatment of psychological disorders. 1. Due to the increased use and effectiveness of psychotropic medication therapy, hospitals and asylums deinstitutionalized massive numbers of people in the late 20th century. Therapists now prefer to treat in decentralized ways, often with a combination of medication and psychological therapies. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.5.C Describe ethical principles in the treatment of psychological disorders. 1. Psychologists in clinical or therapeutic situations must follow certain ethical principles as established by the APA, including nonmaleficence, fidelity, integrity, and respect for people’s rights and dignity. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5.5.D Describe techniques used with psychological therapies. 1. Psychodynamic therapies employ free association and dream interpretation to uncover the unconscious mind.
Research Methods
Hypothesis: Testable prediction about variable relationships.
Independent Variable: Manipulated by researcher.
Dependent Variable: Measured by researcher.
Control Group: No treatment; baseline.
Experimental Group: Receives treatment.
Placebo: Fake treatment in control groups.
Correlation: Relationship measure between variables.
Positive: One increases, the other increases.
Negative: One increases, the other decreases.
Causation: Correlation ≠ causation.
Biases & Considerations
Hindsight Bias: Believing one knew it all along.
Confirmation Bias: Seeking confirming info.
Experimenter Bias: Researcher's expectations influence outcome.
Double-Blind Study: Prevents bias.
Confounding Variable: Factor influencing dependent variable.
Psychological Perspectives
Behavioral: Observable behaviors and learning.
Biological: Biological factors in behavior.
Psychodynamic: Unconscious drives, early experiences.
Cognitive: Mental processes like memory.
Humanistic: Personal growth, self-actualization.
Evolutionary: Natural selection.
Social-Cultural: Social and cultural influences.
Ethical Considerations
Informed Consent: Participants informed, right to withdraw.
Deception: Avoid unless necessary.
Confidentiality: Keep data private.
Protection from harm: Protect from harm.
Learning Objective 1.1.A: Heredity and Environment
Heredity & environment shape behavior.
Heredity ("nature"): Genetic traits.
Environment ("nurture"): External factors.
Evolutionary perspective & natural selection.
Research via twin, family, adoption studies.
Learning Objective 1.2.A: Nervous System
CNS: Brain & spinal cord.
PNS: Relays messages.
Autonomic: Involuntary.
Parasympathetic.
Sympathetic.
Somatic: Voluntary.
Learning Objective 1.3.A: Neurons
Neurons: Neural cells transmit info.
Glial cells: Structure, insulation, communication.
Reflex arc:
Sensory neurons.
Motor neurons.
Interneurons.
Learning Objective 1.3.B: Neural Transmission
All-or-nothing principle, etc.
Neurotransmitters:
Dopamine, Serotonin, etc.
Hormones:
Adrenaline, Leptin, etc.
Learning Objective 1.3.C: Psychoactive Drugs
Influence neurotransmitter function:
Agonists: Encourage firing.
Antagonists: Discourage firing.
Reuptake inhibitors: Block reabsorption.
Stimulants: Increased activity.
Depressants: Decreased activity.
Hallucinogens: Distortions.
Opioids: Pain relievers.
Drug use: Tolerance, addiction, withdrawal.
Learning Objective 1.4.A: Brain Structures
Brain stem: Basic functions.
Reticular activating system: Movement, learning.
Cerebellum: Coordination, balance.
Cerebral cortex: Hemispheres.
Limbic system: Thalamus, etc.
Corpus callosum.
Occipital: Visual.
Temporal: Auditory.
Parietal: Somatosensory.
Frontal: Thinking.
Motor cortex: Movement.
Split-brain research.
Brain plasticity, research methods.
Learning Objective 1.5.A: Sleep/Wake
Consciousness levels.
Circadian rhythm.
Sleep stages: NREM, REM.
Dream theories: Activation-synthesis, etc.
Memory consolidation & restoration.
Sleep disorders: Insomnia, etc.
Learning Objective 1.6.A: Sensation
Detect info, transduce stimuli.
Absolute threshold, Weber’s law.
Sensory interaction, synesthesia.
Learning Objective 1.6.B: Visual
Retina, blind spot, accommodation.
Rods: Shapes, movement.
Cones: Color, detail.
Color vision theories.
Afterimages, deficiencies.
Brain damage effects.
Learning Objective 1.6.C: Auditory
Sound: Wavelengths, amplitudes.
Pitch perception theories.
Sound localization.
Hearing loss types.
Learning Objective 1.6.D: Chemical
Olfactory stimuli.
Gustation tastes.
Taste receptor sensitivity.
Chemical senses interaction.
Learning Objective 1.6.E: Touch
Skin & brain process stimuli.
"Hot" sensation.
Learning Objective 1.6.F: Pain
Processed in body & brain.
Gate control theory.
Phantom limb sensation.
Learning Objective 1.6.G: Vestibular & Kinesthetic
Vestibular: Balance; semicircular canals.
Kinesthesis: Body movement.
Learning Objective 2.1.A: Factors Influencing Perception
Bottom-up vs. top-down processing.
Schemas & perceptual sets.
Contexts & cultural experiences.
Gestalt psychology.
Attention & inattention.
-Change and Selective Blindness
Learning Objective 2.1.B: Visual Perceptual Processes
Binocular depth cues: retinal disparity.
Monocular depth cues.
Visual constancies.
Apparent movement.
Learning Objective 2.2.A: Thinking
Concepts & prototypes.
Schemas; Assimilation/accomodation.
Algorithms vs. Heuristics
-Decision-making influenced my prior experiences
-Executive Functions and Creativity
Learning Objective 2.3.A: Types of Memory
-Explicit vs Implicit memory
-Long-term potentiation; Consolidation
-Working Memory Model; Multi-Store Model
-Shallow vs deep processing
Learning Objective 2.4.A: Encoding Processes
-Mnemonic Devices; Method of loci
-Chunking
-Spacing Effect (distributed practice)
-Serial Position Effect
Learning Objective 2.5.A: Memory Storage
-Sensory, STM, Working, LTM differ
-Maintenance vs Elaborative rehearsal
-Effect of Autobiographical memory
-Amnesia, alzeimers, infantile amnesia and the effect on storage
Learning Objective 2.6.A: Memory Retrieval
-Recall vs recognition
-Context, mood, state dependant memory
-Retreival Cues, testing effect, metacognition
Learning Objective 2.7.A: Memory Failure
-Forgetting Curve & time
-Encoding failure; interference; Tip-of-tongue phenom
-Repression (psychodynamic)
-Misinformation effect; source amnesia; Constructive memory
Learning Objective 2.8.A: Theories of Intelligence
-General Ability. vs Multiple Abilities
Learning Objective 2.8.B: Measuring Intelligence
-IQ; mental age and chronological age
-Standardization and Validity & Reliability
-Responsiveness to the sociocultural
Learning Objective 2.8.C: Systemic Issues in Intelligence
-Flynn effect - societal Factors improving
-Variations more within rather than between
-Limitations of access with biased interpretation
Learning Objective 2.8.D: Academic Achievement vs intelligence
-Achievement V Aptitude tests
-Fixed V growth mindset
Learning Objectives 3.1.1 and 3.1.B Thematic Issues in Development Psychology
-Development in chronological or thematic order
-Stability or Change; Nature V Nurture; Continuous V Discontinuous development
Learning Objectives 3.2.A Physical Development Before Birth
-Factors that impact pre nature development
Learning Objectives 3.2.B Physical Development Before Infancy, childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood
-Order varies not time vary
-Milestrones, reflexes, fine and gross motor skills
-Visual cliff experiment for depth relation
-language skills
Learning objective 3.3.A Sex, Gender, and Socialization
-Societal Expectations and gender roles cause differences in behaviour opportunities and interests
Learning Objective 3.4.1 Theories of Cognitive Development
-Assimilation/accomodation
-Sensorimotor; object permanence
-preoperational; symbols and pretend play; animism & ego centrism
-concrete operational; can correct previous conc errors but struggles with thinking systematically
formal operative; abstract though
Learning Objective 3.5.A Language and communication
-Shared Symbolism, rules
Learning Objective 3.5.B language development
-Gesture use; stages e,g, cool, babble etc
-OVergeneralization
Learning Objective 3.6.A Social Development
The five systems in this theory are as follows:
-Microsystem (groups that have direct contact with the individual)
-Mesosystem (the relationships between groups in the microsystem)
-Ecosystem (indirect factors in an individual’s life)
-Macrosystem (cultural events that affect the individuals and others around them)
-Chronosystem (the individual’s current stage of life).
Learning Objective 3.7.A Classical Conditioning
-Associate stimulus and elicit response.
UCS, UCR, CS and CR
Learning Objective 3.8.A Operant Conditioning
-Associate consequenses and behaviours.
La of effect
Reinforcement V punishment
Learning Objective 3.9.A Social Learning
-Not personal expereinces in vicarious conditioning
Modles
Learning Objective 3.9.B Cognitive Factors in Learning
-Insight learning and Latent Learning w/o association