Most Often Confused Terms for students in AP Psychology
Fundamental Attribution Error v. Actor-Observer Bias
FAE- Tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes.
AOB- Tendency to attribute others behavior to internal causes while attributing our own behavior to
external or situational causes.
Population v. Sample
Population- the whole group you wish to study and describe.
Sample- Small subset of the population. The sample should be Random.
Random Sampling v. Random Assignment
Random Sampling- In choosing the sample, every member of the population should have an equal chance
of being chosen for the sample.
Random Assignment- Once the sample has been chosen, every member of the sample should have an
equal chance of being assigned into either the control group or the experimental group.
Negative Reinforcement v. Punishment
NR- “increases” a behavior by the avoidance of something negative. Ex: I study hard in order to avoid
being grounded.
P – “decreases” a behavior by either adding something bad or removing something good. Ex: After
getting an “F” on my report card, I got grounded (punishment). Punishment occurs after the behavior.
Positive Punishment v. Negative Punishment
Both occur after a “bad” behavior, and both are designed to reduce the occurrence of that bad behavior.
Pos. Pun- Introducing a negative stimulus after the bad behavior. Ex: Spanking
Neg. Pun- Removing something positive after the bad behavior. Ex: Time-out
Availability Heuristic v. Representative Heuristic
AH- involves judging how likely a certain event is to happen based on how easily information regarding
this topic is available. Ex: After 9-11, many individuals were afraid to fly even though the likelihood that
they were in more danger was very slight. When a person watches a horror film they believe that they are
in danger, but really there is no difference.
RH- is a rule of thumb that relies on how well a situation matches a generalization or prototype we have
about a concept. These help us make quick decisions. They can also reinforce stereotypes and other
errors in judgment. Ex: You meet Jane who is middle age woman with glasses and is carrying an arm full
of books. You assume that she is a librarian because that is the “image” we have of the librarian.
Proactive v. Retroactive Interference
Proactive Interference- when old learning interferes with new learning, causing problems remembering
the NEW information.
Retroactive Interference- when new learning interferes with old information, causing the OLD
information to be forgotten.
Hallucinations v. Delusions
Hallucinations- false sensory experiences, such as seeing or hearing things that are not real.
Delusions- false beliefs that continue to exist even though there is plenty of evidence against them.
Dissociative Identity Disorder v. Schizophrenia
DID- disorder whereby a person “creates” more than 1 personality, often have many (15 or more). The
person tends to “switch” between personalities since some personalities are better in certain situations
than others. This is normally a result of extreme child abuse, particularly sexual abuse. Throughout all of
this, the person remains in contact with reality. They often “hear voices” (from inside their own
head…personalities speaking to one another).
Schizophrenia- major disorder involving the disintegration of one’s personality. This is a psychotic
disorder whereby one loses contact with reality. This is much more severe than DID. They tend to have
delusions and hallucinations, and often “hear voices” (from outside their own head). Ex: The ceiling is
speaking to them. Schizophrenia has a genetic and environmental component.
Discrimination v. Generalization
D- responding differently to similar stimuli. Ex: Responding differently to a stop light.
G- responding similarly to different stimuli. Ex: Trying to be on time to every class.
Anterograde v. Retrograde Amnesia
Both are typically organic types of amnesia.
Anterograde- individual cannot process any new memories but old memories are intact. Alzheimer
patients often experience anterograde amnesia and mistake grandchildren for their own children. Also, if
a person suffers a brain injury (normally to the hippocampus), sometimes they will not be able to process
new memories.
Retrograde- old memories that happened prior to the amnesia are forgotten, while more recent memories
are recalled. Normally caused by trauma/brain injury.
Stages of Sleep
Student do NOT go from stage 4 into REM. Instead the individual must go from a deep level of sleep
(stage 4) into a light level (stage 2) prior to entering REM. Therefore, the stages proceed as follows:
1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM, 2, 3, 2, REM….
Stages of Piaget v. Stages of Kohlberg
Piaget: Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Period
Preoperational Period
Concrete Operational Period
Formal Operational Period
Regular Psychology v. AP Psychology
Regular- Awesome
AP- Awesome * 2
Kohlberg: Moral Development
Preconventional LEVEL
Punishment / Obedience (Stage 1)
Satisfying Needs (2)
Conventional Level
Approval Seeking (3)
Law and Order Authority (4)
PostConventional Level
Human Rights / Social Order (5)