AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM REVIEW – Flashcards

Set up the first psychological laboratory. Used Introspection and Structuralism

Subject is asked to record exactly their thought reactions to a simple stimuli

Idea that the mind operates by combining subjective emotions and object sensations

Published "Principles of Psychology" and furthered Structuralism towards Functionalism

Against dividing thought and behavior; examine a person's total perception

Psychoanalytic approach who believed the unconscious mind showed who a person was - caused by repression of thoughts

Behavioralist who said that psychology must focus on observable concepts - Little Albert Study

Psychology should focus on only 'observable' behavior through stimuli and responses

Expanded ideas of behavioralism to include the concept of reinforcement. He became the father of Operant Conditioning

Environmental stimuli that encourage or discourage a response

Looking at thought/behavior from multiple perspectives - play it by ear

Stresses choice and free will of people; we choose our action and make our own destinies

the unconscious mind controls much of our thought and action; to understand unconscious, dream analysis and other techniques are used

Human cognition and reactions are caused by our genes, hormones, and neurology

Examine human thoughts and actions through natural selection - best thoughts/traits continue

Examine human thought and behavior by how we interpret, process, and remember events. Why we think the way we do

People feel that they've "known all along" after hearing research findings that they did not know

research that has a clear, practical application that's used in life

Research that does not intend to impact immediate, real-world problems

Expresses the relationship between the independent and dependent variables - based on theory

Attempt to explain a phenomena in a way that generates a testable hypothesis for support

Measures what the researcher intended and is accurate

Research results can be replicated to find identical results

Process of selecting subjects from a totally random cross-section of society

Sampling of random people but all of whom meet a certain criteria (age, gender, race, etc)

Used to get a full, detailed picture of one or a small group of participants. Not generalized

Describe a set of data by using frequency polygons (line graphs) and histograms (bar graphs)

Attempt to mark the center of distribution (mean median mode)

Central Tendency is higher because of an outlier. Mean > Median in this case

Central Tendency is lowed because of an outlier. Mean < Median in this case

Measure the distance of a result to the standard mean. Scores below mean are negative and above are positive. Z Score = (score - mean) / (Standard Deviation)

Measures the relationship between two variables; positive or negative

Determine whether or not findings can be applied to a larger population than the sample that was selected; can the information be generalized and expanded

The extent to which a sample differs from the actual population

Smaller a P-Value, the more significant the findings. Must be over a P-Value of .05 (5% chance of error) to be significant

No Coercion (voluntary). Informed Consent. Anonymity. Risk (not in risk of SERIOUS harm mentally or physically). Debriefing.

Study of parts and functions of neurons

Individual Nerve Cells

Root-looking part of a neuron that connects multiple neurons when attaching to the Terminal Buttons

Wire-like structure that extends from the cell body, covered by the Myelin Sheath for protection

Branched end of a neuron that contains neurotransmitters. Connects to Dendrites

The space between one neuron's Dendrites and another neurons Terminal Buttons

When a neuron fired and sends its message through the axon to the Dendrites, then onto the next neuron

Neurons either fire or don't in Action Potential

Chemicals held in the terminal buttons of a neuron that travel the synaptic gap between neurons. Excitory: make next neuron fire. Inhibitory: stops another neuron from firing

Take information from the senses and deliver it to the brain

Take information from the brain and deliver it to the rest of the body

Take information once it reaches the brain and redirects it to other parts of the body or specific areas of the brain

consists of the brain and spinal chord; transmits info to the brain

Consists of all nerves not in the CNS; divided into Somatic and Autonomic

Controls voluntary muscle movements, receives info from the motor cortex in the brain

Controls all of the automatic muscles in our body (heart, lungs, etc). Sympathetic - excited body during stress. Parasympathetic - cools body down after stress

Railroad spike through brain caused emotional distress after recovery

Removing or destroying any part of the brain in surgery or experimentation

Detects brain waves and activity during different activities and functions

Uses multiple X-Rays to create a 3D model of the brain. Only shows structure, not function

Uses magnetic fields to create a model of the brain but without the radiation of X-Rays. Only shows the structure, not function

Shows what parts of the brain are active at a time

Life Support system that controls our basic biological Functions that keep us alive - Medulla, Pons, Cerebellum

Controls blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate

Connects the hindbrain to the rest of the brain; in charge of facial expressions

Coordinates habitual movements, like following a target with your eyes or playing an instrument

Involved with sensory info and muscle movement

Controls how much we interpret thought and reasoning; memory involved, too

Recieves sensory signals from the body and sends them to the appropriate brain areas - secretary

Controls Metabolism, body temperature, endocrine systems, and hunger

Determines experiences of emotions

Vital to memory - used Amygdala to remember emotions toward subjects

Outer, wrinkled part of the brain that connects neurons as we learn and grow

Gets sensory messages and controls motor skills of the right side of the body. More concrete and logical

Gets sensory messages and controls motor skills of the left side of the body. More spatial and creative side

Part of the cerebral cortex not involved in sensory info or muscle movement

Contains Broca's (speech) and Wernicke's (Understanding Speech). Also contains the motor cortex (voluntary movements)

Contains the sensory cortex, which receives incoming touch sensations from the body

In the back of the brain (furthest from eyes); controls how we interpret messages from our eyes

Process the sounds sensed by our ears, key to understanding language

the ability for the brain to adapt and fill roles of damaged parts of the brain

System of glands that secrete hormones that may affect processes in the body

Produces adrenaline, which gets the body ready for fight-flight

Produce the sex hormones (estrogen - girls) (testosterone - guys)

Humans have 23 pairs (46 total); made up of DNA which ontain domnant and recessive genes. Gender is determined on pair 23.

One X Chromosome instead of XX or XY. Cuases some physical characteristics, webbed neck

When there's an extra X Chromosome resulting in XXY or XXX - causes minimal sexual development

Extra chromosome on 21 - most common chromosomal abnormallity

The process of Stimuli signals being transformed into neural signals

Decreased responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation

How much we focus on sensations determines our perception of them

When you momentarily switch your attention to another subject (someone calls your name)

The most dominant human sense; used to gather information about the environment

Reflected light first enters here; helps focus some of the light

Allows light to enter the eye. Light is focused by the lens and then reflected on the Retina

Cells in the eye that respond to colors

Cells in the eye that respond to black/white

The Center of the Retina and contains the most Cones

Makes up the optic Nerve which transmits vision to the thalamus

Sensory Receptors in the brain come in pairs - red/green, yellow/blue, and black/white

Height of a wave that determines how loud it is

Length of waves that determines pitch

Ear Canal -> Ear Drum -> Hammer -> Anvil -> Stirrup -> Oval Window -> Cochlea

Muscles under the hair cells in the ear that send sound transmittion to the brain

Hair cells in the cochlea respond differently to frequencies - where objects are determine these frequencies

We sense pitch because hair cells in the cochlea fire at different rates

Occurs when something goes wrong with the system of conducting sound waves in the cochlea

When hair cells inside the cochlea are damages - usually by loud noises

Activated by sense of energy from contact with the skin

Some pain messages have higher priority than others. When you feel one pain over another. Can be affected by released endorphins (pain killing neurotransmitter)

A Chemical Sense that is triggered by chemicals absorbed by taste bus on our tongue (Papillae). Humans have four tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter

Gathers messages from the smell neurons and transmits them to the brain

Tells us about how our body is oriented in space, three canals in inner ear transmit to brain

Gives our brain information about space orientation of individual body parts

Process of understanding/interpretting sensations

Smallest amount of a stimulus we can detect (50% of the time)

Stimuli below Absolute Threshold

The change needed for a stimulus to be noticed is proportional to the original stimulus

The smallest amount of change for us to notice - defined by Weber's Law

Investigates the effects of the distractions/interference we experience in perception

When we think we perceive a stimulus that isn't there

When we don't perceive a stimulus that is there

Perceive things by filling in gaps in what we sense H_Y, _OW A_E Y_U?

Using features of an object itself to build a complete perception of it

Predisposition on perceiving something a certain way (part of top-down processing

What part of an image is the focus and what part is the background

Visual Cliff experiment in order to test for depth perception

Cues using one eyes that utilize the linear perspective for distance

Cues picked up with both eyes

The thought that humans consist of two materials - thought and matter

Thought and matter are one substance that create the universe

We prefer familiar stimuli over new stimuli

Being able to preform better after initial exposure to something even without consciously remembering it

Information about yourself and your environment that you are currently aware of

Body process not controlled by conscious though - heart beat, respiration, etc

Information that you don't know, but could know - favorite child toy, things that come back into memory

Information we are not consciously aware of but know must exist due to our behavior

The pattern one';s metabolism and though processes follow in a 24 hour time - including sleep

The process of falling asleep

Rapid Eye Movement sleep - most dreaming occurs here

Sleep disorder that causes periods of intense drowsiness at inappropriate times

When a person experiences anxiety while asleep and has no recollection of the dream (usually in children)

The literal content of your dream

Unconscious meaning of manifest content. Freud used to show what one truly desires

States Hypnosis is not an altered state, rather some people placebo into hypnosis working

Medicines that mimic neurotransmitters

Blocks the usage of neurotransmitters

Dreams are meaningless brain waves that are interpreted

Lasting change in behavior due to experience

People can learn to pair a neutral stimuli with stimuli that produce a reflexive, involuntary response and will learn similarly to the new stimuli as they did the old one - Pavlov

Original Stimulus that causes a natural, reflexive response -> Unconditioned Response

The stimulus that now causes the Conditioned Response after classical conditioning

A Stimulus that will keep someone from doing something - Albert with the white rats

When one-time exposure to something makes you avoid it long-term

Learning based on association with rewards (good or bad) with behavior

Actions that bring good rewards are likely to be repeated more than actions that don't

We can escape an aversive stimulus

Enables one to avoid an aversive stimulus altogether rather than just escape

When reinforcement is given after each step of the desired behavior (dog treats when learning a trick)

Teaching a desired behavior in order consecutively to obtain a reward

The first step of classical conditioning, stimulus is identified with a reward

Rewarding materials, food - water - shelter

Things that we have learned to be rewarding - money, video games, etc

Reinforcers have different effects based on situation. Whichever of two activities preferred can outweigh an unpleasant response

Tendency for animals to follow instincts

When one suddenly figures out how to solve a problem - AHA!

Indication that learning has persisted over time

Proposes the way that memory is stored: sensory -> STM -> LTM

All the information is clearly stores for a split second before forgotten

Split Second perfectly remembered sound

Split second perfect photograph of a scene

Process of transferring info from one memory to another. Iconic memories become visual codes and echoic memory becomes acoustic

we only encode what we are paying attention to or what's important to us

STM is bunched memories that we are consciously aware of

Grouping objects to help us remember them better. Usually in groups of 7 because that is the max one person can remember at a time

Memory Aids

Permanent Memory storage

Memories of specific events, stored in a sequential series of events (remembering your last date)

General knowledge that is stored as facts, meanings, or categories (knowing the difference in red and read)

Memory of skills or how-tos; these are sequencing and can be hard to explain

DECLARATIVE memory that is conscious facts of events that we actively try to remember

NONDECLARATIVE memory that is unconscious that we may not realize we have (knowing how to clean a floor after watching your parents do it for years)

very rare individuals who can recite things visually represented in their brains

Matching a current event with a past memory (Have I met you before?)

Retrieving a memory with an external cue (What does pizza smell like)

Predicts that we are more likely to recall items at the beginning of a list

Predicts that we are more likely to recall items at the end of a list

Recall is affected by the positioning of an item in a list

Our brain forms new memories by connecting their meaning/context with older memories

We are more likely to remember something if our current mood reflects the mood we were in when we learned it

Recalling events while in a certain state of consciousness (homework right before you fall asleep)

CONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY - can report false details about an event by leading questions, situations, etc. Feels like the real memory to the person reciting it

When you forget something because of time

New info blocks out the old

Old info blacks new info from forming

When someone can't encode new memories - damaged hippocampus

Smallest unit of sound in a language (letters)

Smallest unit of meaning in a language (roots)

Rules of grammar for a language

Process of learning a language. Babbling -> Holophrastic -> Telegraphic -> overgeneralization (misuse of syntax) -> learned

Theory that it is easier for children to learn a language at a young age (Chomsky)

Theorized that language we use affects out thought

Trying every possible solution to solve. Is foolproof. Can be a formula that works every time

A rule that is generally true - a rule of thumb

Judging a situation based on examples of similar situations that come to mind

Judging a situation based on what they typically believe to be true

Not changing your mind even after being proven wrong factually (Republican Party)

Tendency to fall into certain patterns and not change from them

When you fail to see another use of an item

When you only pay attention to facts that back up your beliefs

Trying to find one solution

Trying to find multiple solutions to a problem

Feelings or ideas that cause us to act toward a goal - conscious and unconscious

Our behavior is motivated by biologically needed things; needs cause drives

A balanced Internal State

Biological Needs

Learned drives that can sometimes help us meet our primary drives

Each of us has a a different level of arousal and seek activities that meet this level

At certain levels of stress, people tend to preform better or worse

Motivation to return back to the baseline level of your body - causes withdrawal

Stimuli that we are drawn to because of learning

Not all needs are equal and some are mroe driven to be met first. Physiological -> Safety -> Love -> Esteem -> Self Actualization

Hunger center of the brain that causes animals to eat

Hunger center of the brain that causes animals to stop eating

Describes how the hypothalamus would decide what impulse to send - states body wants to stay at a certain weigh and uses metabolism accordingly

How quickly your body uses energy

Motivation to eat because of abundance or appeal of a food (not because you need it)

Less affected by presentation of food. eat because of physiological needs

Initial Excitement -> Plateau -> Orgasm -> Resolution

examines our desires to master tasks and reach our personal goals

APPROACH -desireable AVOIDANCE - not desireable

We feel emotion because of biological changes due to stress. Stimulus > reaction > emotion

We feel the biological changes due to stress then use cognitive ability to figure which emotion it is

General Adapton Syndrome describes general response to stress: alarm, resistence, exhaustion