AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM REVIEW CONCEPTS
HISTORY & RESEARCH TERMS
Wilhelm Wundt & structuralism
William James & functionalism
Sigmund Freud & psychoanalytic approach
Gestalt psychology
Empiricism
Nature-nurture issue
Evolutionary Perspective
Biological (neuroscience) Perspective
Psychodynamic Perspective
Humanistic Perspective
Cognitive Perspective
Behavioral Perspective
Social-Cultural Perspective
Psychologists v. Psychiatrists
Scientific method/hypothesis/theory
Operational definitions
Replication
Case Study (strengths/weaknesses)
Survey (strengths/weaknesses)
Social Desirability Bias
Population & random sample
Naturalistic Observation
Correlation (strengths, weaknesses)
Positive, negative, no correlation
Strengths/weaknesses of experiments
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Experimental v. control group
Random assignment
Double-blind studies
Placebo & placebo effect
Confounding variables
Ethical guidelines
Measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)
Positive and negative skew
Measures of variation (range, standard deviation)
Normal curve
Statistical significance
BIOLOGICAL PSYCH TERMS
Sympathetic v. parasympathetic nervous systems
Neurons (dendrites, axon, myelin)
Sensory (afferent) & Motor (efferent) neurons
Interneurons
Resting potential v. action potential (threshold)
All-or-none principle
Synapse
Receptor sites
Reuptake
Agonists v. antagonists
Excitatory v. inhibitory neurotransmitters
Acetylcholine (ACh), dopamine, serotonin, GABA,
glutamate, endorphins, norepinephrine
Endocrine system, hormones, pituitary gland
EEG, CT Scan, PET Scan, fMRI
Brainstem (medulla, pons, reticular formation)
Cerebellum
Thalamus
Limbic system (amygdala, hippocampus,
hypothalamus)
Cerebrum
Left v. right hemispheres
Corpus callosum
Cerebral cortex
Lobes of the cortex
Association areas (sensory & motor cortex)
Broca’s Area v. Wernicke’s Area
Glial cells
Plasticity/neurogenesis
Split brain procedure
Heritability
SENSATION & PERCEPTION TERMS
Sensation v. perception
Top-down v. bottom-up processing
Selective attention (cocktail party effect)
Absolute threshold
Subliminal stimulation
Signal detection theory
Difference threshold & Weber’s law
Sensory adaptation
Transduction
Retina, fovea
Optic nerve, blindspot
Photoreceptors (rods & cones)
Bipolar cells & ganglion cells
Feature detectors & parallel processing
Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory
Opponent-Process Theory & afterimages
Colorblindness
Frequency & pitch, amplitude & loudness
Cochlea, basilar membrane
Kinesthetic & vestibular senses
Gate-control theory
Taste receptors/gustation
Sensory interaction
Olfactory receptors
Figure-ground relationship
Gestalt rules for grouping stimuli
Visual cliff experiment
Binocular cues & monocular cues for depth
AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM REVIEW CONCEPTS
Stroboscopic motion & phi phenomenon
Perceptual constancies
Perceptual set
CONSCIOUSNESS TERMS
Consciousness (define)
Conscious v. preconscious v. unconscious
Circadian rhythm (suprachiasmatic nucleus)
NREM sleep v. REM sleep
Stages 1-4 of sleep (brain waves & characteristics)
Sleep spindles
Hypnagogic sensations & myoclonic jerks
Purposes of sleep & sleep theories
Effects of sleep deprivation
Insomnia, hypersomnia
Narcolepsy
Night Terrors
Sleepwalking (somnambulism)
Sleep Apnea
Freud’s theory of dreams
Activation-synthesis theory of dreams
Hypnosis & posthypnotic suggestions
Hypnosis as social phenomenon
Hypnosis as divided consciousness (dissociation)
Psychoactive drugs
Tolerance, withdrawal, addiction
Physical v. psychological dependence
Depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens
LEARNING TERMS
Habituation
Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov’s experiment
UR/US/CR/CS
Acquisition & extinction
Spontaneous recovery
Generalization v. discrimination
John Watson’s “Little Albert” study
Operant conditioning
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
B.F. Skinner
Shaping
Positive/negative reinforcement
Positive/negative punishment
Primary v. conditioned (secondary) reinforcers
Immediate v. delayed reinforcement
Continuous v. partial reinforcement
Schedules of partial reinforcement
Cognitive maps/latent learning
Observational learning & modeling
Albert Bandura’s bobo doll study
MEMORY TERMS
Information processing
Atkinson-Shiffrin “three-box” processing model
Automatic v. effortful processing
Rehearsal
Ebbinghaus’ nonsense syllables, forgetting curve
Serial position effect (primacy, recency)
Semantic encoding
Mnemonic devices, chunking
Iconic & echoic memory
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
Flashbulb memories
Implicit (i.e. procedural) memory
Explicit (i.e. episodic, semantic) memory
Recall v. recognition
Retrieval cues/priming
Mood-congruent & state-dependent memory
Encoding failure, retrieval failure
Proactive v. retroactive interference
Misinformation effect, false memories (Loftus)
Retrograde and anterograde amnesia
Repression
THINKING & LANGUAGE TERMS
Concepts & prototypes
Algorithms
Heuristics
Bia (anchoring, hindsight, availability, represent.)
Insight - Kohler
Creativity (divergent thinking)
Confirmation Bias
Functional fixedness
Phonemes v. morphemes
Grammar, semantics, syntax
Babbling stage
Telegraphic speech
Noam Chomsky & language acquisition device
Linguistic determinism (Whorf)
DEVELOPMENT TERMS
Nature v. Nurture
Continuity v. Stages
Stability v. Change
Maturation
Infant reflexes (Moro, rooting, grasping, stepping)
Temperament
Imprinting (Konrad Lorenz)
Body contact/comfort (Harlow)
“Strange Situation” (Ainsworth)
Secure v. insecure attachment
Schema
AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM REVIEW CONCEPTS
Assimilation v. Accommodation
Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development &
their characteristics
Erik Erikson & eight stages of psychosocial dev.
Parenting styles
Lawrence Kohlberg & levels of morality
Carol Gilligan
PERSONALITY TERMS
Freud’s psychoanalytic approach & stages
Id, ego, superego & principles
Defense mechanisms of the ego
Neo-Freudian theorists
Alfred Adler
Karen Horney
Carl Jung & collective unconscious
Projective tests (TAT, Rorschach)
Trait Perspective (Gordon Allport)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Hans Eysenck
Big Five Personality Traits
Personality inventories (MMPI)
Person-situation controversy
Humanistic approach (Maslow, Rogers)
Social-cognitive approach (Albert Bandura)
(a.k.a. cognitive-behavioral approach)
Reciprocal determinism
Internal v. external locus of control
Optimism v. pessimism
The Barnum Effect
INTELLIGENCE/TESTING TERMS
Charles Spearman & “g” factor
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
Savant syndrome
Sternberg’s three intelligences
Emotional intelligence (EQ)
Alfred Binet & Lewis Terman
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
Achievement v. aptitude tests
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS), (WISC)
Standardization & normal curve
Flynn effect
Crystallized v. fluid intelligence
Reliability
Validity – content, predictive
Extremes of intelligence
Nature v. nurture in intelligence (heritability)
Environmental influences on intelligence
Bias in IQ tests, stereotype threat
DISORDERS & TREATMENT TERMS
Criteria for abnormal behavior
DSM-IV
Biopsychosocial model
Medical model
Anxiety Disorders
Phobias
Agoraphobia
Panic Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Somatoform Disorders
Hypochondriasis
Conversion Disorder
Mood Disorders
Depression
Bipolar
Dysthymia
Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative amnesia v. fugue
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Personality Disorders
Antisocial
Borderline
Histrionic
Narcissistic
Schizophrenia
Positive & negative symptoms
Hallucinations v. delusions
Paranoid Schizophrenia
Disorganized Schizophrenia
Catatonic Schizophrenia
Undifferentiated Schizophrenia
Psychotherapy
Eclectic approach
Psychoanalysis (free association, transference)
Psychodynamic Therapy (cause, aim)
Client-centered therapy (Rogers)
Behavioral Therapy (cause, aim)
Counterconditioning
Exposure therapy
Systematic desensitization
Aversive Conditioning
Token economy
Cognitive Therapy (cause, aim)
Beck’s therapy
Cognitive-Behavioral therapy
Rational emotive behavior therapy
Group Therapy
Antipsychotics
AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM REVIEW CONCEPTS
Tardive dyskinesia
Antianxiety drugs
Antidepressants, SSRIs
Lithium
ECT, rTMS, psychosurgery, lobotomy
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TERMS
Fundamental Attribution Error
Actor-observer bias
Self-serving bias
Elaboration likelihood model (central/peripheral)
Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
Door-in-the-Face Phenomenon
Framing
Zimbardo’s prison study (role-playing on attitudes)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger)
Solomon Asch’s Line Study (design, results)
Reasons for conformity (informational, social inf.)
Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience
Factors that influence obedience
Social facilitation
Social loafing
Deindividuation
Group polarization
Groupthink
Collectivism v. Individualism
Prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination
In-group v. Out-group
Cognitive Roots of Prejudice
Outgroup homogeneity
Just World Phenomenon
Reward theory of attraction
Altruism
Bystander effect (diffusion of responsibility)
Reciprocity norm of helping
Social-responsibility norm of helping
Social traps (prisoner’s dilemma)
MOTIVATION & EMOTION TERMS
Instincts & instinct theory
Drive-reduction theory & homeostasis
Arousal theory
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs & motivation
Hunger & motivation
Ventromedial/lateral hypothalamus
Set point
James-Lange Theory of emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory of emotion
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory of emotion
Lazarus’ Cognitive Appraisal Theory of emotion
Expressed emotion (detecting, genders, nonverbal,
culture)
Seyle’s General adaptation syndrome (GAS)
Stress & health (Type A v. Type B personalities)