AP Psych - Semester 1 Review

structuralism

• early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind

• introduced by Edward Bradford Titchener

Gestalt psychology

school of thought that emphasizes the whole is different than the sum of its parts (you can’t deduce attributes of the whole from analyzing the parts in isolation)

functionalism

school of psychology hat focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function (how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish)

behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes

humanistic psychology

• rebelled against determinism of Freudian psychology and behaviorism

• emphasized an individual’s potential for personal growth

cognitive neuroscience

interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked w/ cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)

psychology

the science of behavior and mental processes

nature-nurture issue

longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits

natural selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

levels of analysis

differing views (biological, psychological, social-cultural) for analyzing a given phenomenon

biopsychosocial approach

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

psychology’s current perspectives

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

counseling psychology

a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage)

clinical psychology

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

psychiatry

a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments

SQ3R

• study method

• Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review

Plato

believed in innate ideas, suggested that the brain is the seat of mental processes

Aristotle

denied the existence of innate ideas, suggested that the heart is the seat of mental processes

Renee Descartes

French philosopher who proposed mind-body interaction and believed in the concept of innate ideas

John Locke

British philosopher who rejected Descartes’ notion of innate ideas and insisted the mind at birth is a “blank slate” (tabula rasa)

Charles Darwin

• scientist

• theory of evolution, natural selection

Dorothea Dix

activist who played a role in the founding/expansion of hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill

Wilhelm Wundt

established the first psychology laboratory

Edward Titchener

used introspection to search for the mind’s structural elements

William James

• functionalist

• invited Mary Calkins into his graduate seminar

Edward Thorndike

• puzzle boxes + cats

• law of effect

Jean Piaget

psychologist who studied child development

Mary Whiton Calkins

first woman elected to membership in the APA

Margaret Floy Washburn

first woman to get a Ph.D. in psychlogy

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

confirmation bias

the tendency to look for information that confirms or strengthens beliefs, rather than evidence to the contrary

critical thinking

thinking that examines assumptions, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

theory

an explanation that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

hypothesis

a testable prediction

operational definition

a clear, measurable, definition of a variable

replication

repeating the essence of a research study to see whether he basic findings extend to other participants and circumstances

case study

and observation technique in which one person is studied in depth

survey

a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group

random sample

a sample that fairly represents a population bc each member has an equal chance of inclusion

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

correlation

the interdependence between variable quantities

correlation coefficient

a statistical index of the relationship btwn two things (from -1 to +1)

illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship where none exists

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences bwtn those assigned to different groups

comparing research methods

measures of variation

mode - most frequently occurring score in a distribution

mean - the arithmetic average of a distribution

median - the middle score in a distribution

range - the difference btwn the highest and lowest scores

standard deviation - a measure of how much scores vary around the mean

normal curve

skewed curve

cognition

the mental activities associated w/ thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

statistical significance

a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

concept

mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype

a mental image or best example of a catagory

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

heuristic

a strategy that allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently, usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

insight

a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often one that has been successful in the past

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

representative heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

framing

the was an issue is raised

language

our spoken, written, or signed words, and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

phoneme

• the smallest distinctive sound unit

• cats has 4 (c, a, t, s)

morpheme

• the smallest unit that carries meaning

• cats has 2 (cat, s)

grammer

system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

semantics

the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences

syntax

• the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

• ex. red ball vs. pelota roja

language development

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)

linguistic determinism

Benjamin Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

universal grammar

• theory by Noam Chomsky

• human brain contains a predefined mechanism that is the basis for the acquisition of all language.

Wolfgang Kohler

• studied chimpanzee problem solving

• insight

Beatrix and Allen Gardner

• taught ASL to Washoe the chimpanzee

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh

known for her work w bonobos Kanzi and Panbanisha, used keyboards to communicate

Neuron

nerve cell, building block of the nervous system

sensory neurons (afferent)

carry incoming information from sensory receptors to brain and spinal cord

motor neurons (efferent)

carry outgoing information from brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands

interneurons

only in brain and spinal cord, communicate internally between sensory inputs and motor outputs

diagram of a neuron

dendrites

receive information and conduct it towards cell body

soma (cell body)

contains nucleus

nucleus

has genetic material

axon

transfers electrochemical messages

myelin sheath

layer of fat that speeds up transmission

node of ranvier

gaps in myelin sheath that sped up transmission

schwann cell

produce myelin sheath

axon terminal (synaptic knobs, etc.)

very end of axon

synapse

allow for communication between nerve cells

action potential

neural impulse, brief electrical charge that travels down the axon

resting potential

• outside has more positive (sodium) ions, inside has more negative ions

• polarized

depolarization

positive Na+ ions enter cell

repolarization

return of + outside, - inside

excitatory signals

push charge above -70mv

inhibitory signals

push charge below -70mv

refractory period

the time in which a nerve cell is unable to fire an action potential (nerve impulse)

threshold

about -55 mv

"all or none" phenomenon

action potential either fires or it doesn't, no middle ground

When action potential reaches knoblike terminals at end of axion, triggers release of...

chemical messages called neurotransmitters