ap psychology exam review

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

empathetic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies; a feature of roger’s client-centered therapy

a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that help arouse the body in times of stress

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide-open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic

(popularly known as alcoholism) alcohol use marked by tolerance, withdrawal, and a drive to continue problematic use

a neuron’s reaction of either firing (with a full strength response) or not firing

the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

two lima-bean sized neural clusters in the limbic system linked to emotions like fear and aggression, found in the middle of the brain near the hippocampus

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly (15 percent or more) underweight

a molecule that, by binding to the receptor site, inhibits or blocks a response

a molecule that, by binding to a receptor site, stimulates a response

an inability to form new memories

a personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even towards friends and family members; aggressive, ruthless, con artist

psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety, or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety

impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to broca’s area (impaired speaking) or to wernicke’s area (impaired understanding)

a test designed to predict a person’s future performance (aptitude: the capacity to learn)

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schema

areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functioning, but rather involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking

learning that certain events occur together; the events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)

a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of 3 key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information such as word meanings

the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart) its sympathetic division arouses, its parasympathetic division calms

a type of cognitive bias that helps us make fast but sometimes incorrect assessments; involves relying on information that comes to mind quickly or is most available to us

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

the neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles/glands

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

drugs that depress central nervous system activity , reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement

the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure

according to erik erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors

in personality theory, this perspective focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development

the scientific study of observable behavior and its explanation by principles of learning

the theory that all behaviors are determined entirely by external stimuli in the environment

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

significant binge eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging or fasting that marks bulimia nervosa

depth cues such as retinal disparity that depend on the use of two eyes

the scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) psychological processes

prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and socio-cultural levels of analysis

a mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania (formerly called manic-depressive disorder)

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a ‘blind’ spot because no receptor cells are located there

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions

controls language expression; an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

an eating disorder in which a person alternates binging (usually of high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomiting or laxative use) or fasting

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers a physiological response and the subjective experience of emotion

a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

in psychology, the idea that releasing negative energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

consisting of our brain and spinal cord; receives, processes, and responds to external stimuli and sensory information

a method of convincing others to take an action based on facts and evidence of the merits of the outcome

the ‘little brain’ at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, and enabling nonverbal memory and learning

the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body’s ultimate control and information-processing center

failure to notice changes in one’s environment

a memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them together into elements with related meaning

the biological clock that occurs on a 24-hour cycle which controls sleep and wakefulness

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate an event

a humanistic therapy developed by carl rogers in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate client’s growth (also known as person centered therapy)

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

a powerful addictive stimulant derived from the coca plant producing temporarily increased awareness and feelings of euphoria

a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear that transforms sound vibrations into auditory signals

a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent (when we become aware of when our attitudes and actions clash we can reduce the resulting discomfort by changing our attitudes or actions)

a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

a type of psychotherapy that helps individuals identify and change thought patterns that lead to harmful behaviors and feelings

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

carl jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species history universal among all humans

a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments aand how social institutions affect individuals and groups

the deep affectionate attachmentwe feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

unproven healthcare treatments not taught widely in medical school, not used in hospitals, and not usually reimbursed by insurance companies

in piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7-11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (cs)

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (us) comes to trigger a conditioned response (cr)

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions; detect fine detail and give us the ability to see color

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in the experiment

the principle (which piaget believed to be apart of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

reinforcing a desired behavior every time it occurs

in an experiment, the group not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of a treatment

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

a disorder in which a person experiences genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found (also known as functional neurological symptom disorder)

the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them

a measure of the extent to which two variables change together and thus of how well either variable predicts the other

a statistical index of the relationship between two variables (from -1.0 to +1.0)

positive: value above 0 (ex: +0.23) which indicates that when one variable increases, the other increases as well; negative: value below 0 (ex: -0.23) which indicates that when one variable increases, the other decreases

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapy and aversive conditioning

an optimal period shortly after the birth of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions; rather, it examines assumptions, assesses the source, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice of the bran’s structure (also known as a cat scan)