AP Psych Final

Psychology

The study of behavior and mental process

Positive psychology

what makes life worth living; the good things in life

Clinical psychologists

assess, diagnose, and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders; behind the scenes

Counseling psychologists

treats mental disorders; finding new ways

Community psychologists

how people act in their community; prevention of disorders

Health psychologists

behavior in health, illness, and healthcare

Environmental psychologists

investigates how people are affected by their environments.

Biological approach

which behavior and behavior disorders are seen as the result of physical processes, especially those relating to the brain and to hormones and other chemicals.

Evolutionary approach

study in the adaptation and in instincts

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic approach

deals with the unconscious, made by Sigmen Freud

Behavioral approach

learning through rewards and punishments

Cognitive approach

thoughts and decision making

Humanistic approach

growth and potential; perception of yourself

Sociocultural/Social

cultural approach and culture.

Eclectic approach

using more than one approach

Empiricism/Empirical Approach

guide for psychology through rules of science; collects data; experiments; uses scientific method

Nature

genetics; biological traits

Nurture

how they are taught/raised

Basic Research

creating and refuting or supporting theories with scientific research

Applied Research

a non-systematic way of finding solutions to specific research problems or issues.

Operational definition

states the exact use of the variables in an experiment

Naturalistic observation

the process of watching without interfering as behavior occurs in the natural environment

Case studies

A research method involving the intensive examination of some phenomenon in a particular individual, group, or situation.

Experimental group

the group that receives the experimental treatment.

Control group

the group that receives no treatment or provides some other baseline against which to compare the performance or response of the experimental group.

Independent variable

The variable manipulated by the researcher in an experiment.

Dependent variable

the factor affected by the independent variable.

Double Blind design

A research design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group.

Random Sample

The process of selecting a group of research participants from a population whose members all had an equal chance of being chosen

Representative sample

The sample is a good representation of the population

Random assignment

You have to randomly assign the groups to do the same things.

Positive correlation

two variables increase together or decrease together

Negative correlation

the variables move in opposite directions

Correlation coefficient

A statistic, that summarizes the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.(between 0-1)

Statistically significant

a correlation, or a diff erence between two groups, that is larger than would be expected by chance.

Debrief / debriefing

the revealing of information to those being experimented upon after the experiment has concluded.

Neuron

Fundamental units of the nervous system; nerve cells

Peripheral nervous system

The parts of the nervous system not housed in brain, or spinal cord

Somatic nervous system

The subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that transmits information from the senses to the central nervous system and carries signals from the central nervous system to the muscles

Autonomic nervous system

A subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages between the central nervous system and the heart, lungs, and other organs and glands.

Sympathetic nervous system

Gets the body ready; fight or flight

Parasympathetic nervous system

influences activity related to the protection, nourishment, and growth of the body; calms the body down

Central nervous system

The parts of the nervous system encased in bone; specifically, the brain and the spinal cord.

Medulla

Hindbrain - Regulates breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure

Cerebellum

Hindbrain - Controls fine movements and coordinates certain cognitive processes

Amygdala

Forebrain - Connects sensations and emotions

Hypothalamus

Forebrain-Regulates hunger, thirst, and sex drives

Frontal lobe

front of the brain - voluntary movements, expressive language, and managing higher level executive functions (planning, reasoning, problem solving, and fluid intelligence).

Parietal lobe

top of the brain-reception and correlation of sensory information

Temporal lobe

processing auditory information and encoding of memory

Occipital lobe

back of the head - visual perception (color, form and motion)

Acetylcholine

a neurotransmitter that plays a role in memory, learning, attention, arousal and involuntary muscle movement. Medical conditions associated with low acetylcholine levels include Alzheimer's disease

Serotonin

carries messages between nerve cells in your brain (learning, memory, happiness). Lack of causes depression.

Dopamine

gives you feelings of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation

Sensations

Messages from the senses that make up the raw information that affects many kinds of behavior and mental processes

Transduction

The process of converting incoming energy into neural activity

Sensory Adaptation

The way our senses adjust and adapt to different stimuli

Tympanic membrane

A membrane in the middle ear that generates vibrations that match the sound wave striking it.

Conduction/Conductive Deafness

ossicles are damaged, fluid in your ear, hole in eardrum

Nerve Deafness/Sensorineural hearing loss

hair cells in cochlea are damaged

Place theory

Hair cells at a particular place on the basilar membrane respond most to a particular frequency of sound

Frequency matching theory

The view that same sounds are coded by matching the frequency of neuron firings

Rods

specialized photoreceptors that help black and white, peripheral vision

Cones

receptor cells that help us see fine details of things and tend to help us see where there is light. (way we see color)

Trichromatic theory (Young-Helmholtz)

Cones are sensitive to 3 colors (blue, green, and red)

Opponent Process theory

color sensitive elements are opposite of each other

Synesthesia

blending of senses

Olfactory system

sense of smell

Gate control theory

how pain gets to our brain and how we control it.

Endorphins

neurotransmitters that help decrease pain

Vestibular sense / sense of equilibrium

sense of balance and dizziness

Kinesthesia

you know where all your body parts in relation to each other.

Perception

How we interpret our senses

Computational model/approach

Take in all information. (1st time doing something)

Constructivist approach

Take in information in bigger chunks.

Ecological approach

Take in next to no information. (muscle memory)

Absolute threshold

Smallest amount for > 50% of time

difference threshold

the amount a sensation, like weight, must be changed to be noticeable.

Figure ground discrimination

What you decide to focus on

Proximity

what is close together go together.

Similarity

similar characteristics go together.

Closure

fill in gaps

Connectedness

joined together go together.

Height in the visual field

Where they are in height determines distance (higher = further away)

Texture gradient / gradient of texture

The more detailed, the closer it is.

Bottom up processing

use senses to recognize objects (babies use this)

Top Down Processing

Recognition of an object is based upon the use of their Schemas

Cocktail party effect

The ability to attend to one of several speech streams while ignoring others.

Overt orienting

Intentional direction of your eyes to a stimulus (looking at someone talking to you)

Covert orienting

Unintentional shifting of attentional focus without thinking about it. (When an ambulance flies down the street, we instinctively look even though we know what it is.)

Operant conditioning

Learning through rewards and punishments.

Unconditioned stimulus

Stimulus that triggers a normal response. No conditioning required. (The food in Pavlov’s experiment.)

Conditioned stimulus

The once neutral stimulus that triggers a response. (The bell/tone in Pavlov’s experiment.)

Unconditioned response

Normal response (reflex). (Salivation due to food in Pavlov’s experiment.)

Conditioned response

The learned response. (Salivation due to the bell/tone in Pavlov’s experiment.)

Stimulus generalization

Occurs when the subject responds to stimuli as the conditioned stimulus. (Any noise begins to cause the dog to drool.)

Stimulus discrimination

subject learns the difference among stimuli and treats them accordingly. (The dog notices that only when Pavlov is carrying food that he is being fed.)

Spontaneous recovery

the reappearance of the conditioned response WITHOUT any pairings. It just comes back on its own. (The dog begins to drool without any stimulus changed)

Reconditioning

the relearning of a conditioned response. This takes less time/pairings.

Positive reinforcement/reinforcers

desirable stimulus is introduced to encourage certain behavior. (reward for good)