AP Psychology Exam Review Sheet
“Confusing Pairs”
The drug (if is one) in
an experiment
Independent Variable - what is tested
(“the cause”)
V Dependent Variable - what is
S measured (“the effect”)
What happens from taking
the drug
Experimental Group - group that is
tested
“controlled” so there are
no confounding variables
Middle of a road is a
median
Median – the middle of a set of
numbers
V Control Group - compared to the
S experimental, receives the placebo in
a drug experiment.
V Mean – the average of a set of
S numbers
happens before
assignment
Random Sample - process of randomly
choosing research participants from the
population
Quantitative data – (quantity) deals
with numbers – CAN be measured
V Random Assignment - each
S participant has equal chance of being
placed into any group
V Qualitative data – (quality) deals with
S descriptions – can‟t be measured ()
e.g, height, weight, time
CAN NOT draw
conclusions
Descriptive Statistics - describe a set
of data - central tendency: mean, mode,
median (can only describe)
If I score below average, I
get mean
e.g., small, rough, bitter
V Inferential Statistics - is to determine CAN draw conclusions
S whether or not findings can be applied
to the larger population from which the
sample was selected: cause and
effect – allow you to make inferences
Axon – (nerve fiber) – long, slender
V Dendrite – branched projections of
Remember our “aournd the
projection of a neuron that carries the
S neuron that accept messages from
room” neural chain?
message away from the cell body (Arm)
other neurons
(shoulder squeezing
activity) – Dendrites =
shoulder – Axon = Arm –
Synaptic Cleft (aka space) – the space V Synapse – 3 parts of neural
between neurons where
S transmission – Dendrite of neuron 1, Fingers = Axon Terminal
Buttons – Could not
neurotransmitters pass (only the space!)
the synaptic space, and the Axon
simulate synaptic cleft – b/c
Terminal of neuron 2 (all 3 parts!)
we had to touch each other
Neurotransmitters - messengers of the V Hormones – messengers of
nervous system
S endocrine system
Lateral Hypothalamus – Damage LH = V Ventromedial Hypothalamus –
starvation & stimulating LH = desire to
S Damage VH = overeating &
eat
stimulating VH = suppressed hunger
“Babbling Broca”
Broca’s Area - speech
Sympathetic Nervous System - “fight
or flight”
Left brain - Language and Logic
V
S
V
S
Wernicke’s Area - comprehension of
words
Parasympathetic Nervous System –
calming – return to homeostasis
V
S
V
S
V
S
Right brain - creative and spatial.
A is 1st – from body to
brain
Afferent (sensory) neurons - body to
brain
Assimilation – fit new info into existing
schema (all 4-legged animals are
“doggies”)
Bottom-Up processing - Sensation
in retina
Rods - night vision
neutral stimulus is
before behavior
Classical conditioning - learner is
passive (involuntary)
food
UCS – UnConditioned Stimulus –
Stimulus that unconditionally and
naturally triggers a response
salivation to food
UCR – UnConditioned Response –
Unlearned, naturally occurring response
to the UCS
Dog salivates to any
sound…a general
sound.
Generalization – Responding to two or
more stimuli that are not identical.
Efferent (motor) neurons - brain to
body
Accommodation – create new
schema (“doggies” different than
“kitties”)
V Top-Down processing - Perception
S
V Cones - color vision
S
V Operant conditioning – learner is
S active (voluntary) – must do
something before reinforcement can
occur
V CS – Originally neutral stimulus that,
S after association with UCS, comes to
trigger a conditioned response – the
condition needed to elicit response
V CR – Learned response to previously
S neutral stimulus– need conditions for
a response – same as UCR after
conditioning occurs
V Discrimination – The ability to
S differentiate between stimuli.
Items 1,2,3 on a list of
10
Primacy effect - first items
remembered (primary)
V Recency effect - last items
S remembered (recent)
Proactive interference - new info is
blocked
V Retroactive interference - old info is
S blocked
“Wise Wernicke”
parachute
E is 2nd – brain tells body
what to do
in fovea
reinforcement is after
desired behavior
bell
salivation to bell
The dog salivates to a
specific sound…the bell.
Dog is an elitist and
discriminates.
Items 8,9,10 on a list of 10
“How-To”
Implicit memory - non-declarative;
skills (implied)
memory
Recall - no cues (hints) – fill in the blank V Recognition - some hints – multiple
test
S choice test
a, th, o, e, ph, f,
Past
V Explicit memory - declarative, facts
S (can explain)
Algorithms - step-by-step – e.g. math
formulas (algebra)
V Heuristics - rule-of-thumb –e.g. trial
S and error (He won‟t ask for directions)
Representative heuristics –
prototypes / stereotypes
Phonemes - basic sound units
(phonics)
Fluid Intelligence – logic, problem
solving
V Availability heuristics - based on
S available info (if it can be recalled, it
must be important)
V Morphemes - basic units of meaning
S
V Crystallized Intelligence - acquired
S knowledge (education)
Validity - test measures what it should
measure
Achievement test - what you‟ve
learned (AP test)
V Reliability - same scores on a retest
S
V Aptitude test – potential (SAT)
S
Intrinsic motivation - for personal
satisfaction (internal)
V Extrinsic motivation - for rewards
S (external)
Internal locus of control - you control
the environment (location of the control)
V External locus of control S environment controls you (location of
the control)
V Antagonist - chemicals that opposes
S the action of a neurotransmitter (block
an action)
HARD WORK
Agontist - chemicals that mimic the
actions of neurotransmitter - (cause an
action)
My phone number is ____
memory
A, -ed, bi-, di-, -ing,
Future
$$$$
LUCK
Foot-in-the-door effect - start small
then go big - $5 get $100
Corpus Callosum - divides/ connects
the brain (corP(L)US calloSUM
Self-Serving Bias - tendency
to overstate one‟s role in a
positive venture &
underestimate in a failure
(protects one‟s self-esteem)
( e.g., Japan, Korea,
China, Russia, Greece,
etc)
Wundt, Titchener
AFTER injury
Syntax – arrangement of words to
make meaningful sentences
(grammar)
Collectivist cultures - emphasize
family and work group goals above
individual needs or desires
V Door-in-the-face effect - start big to
S get small - want a new bike, ask for
car
V Cerebral CorTEX - covers the brain
S (sits directly under the cowboy hat)
V Self-Fulfilling Prophecies – a
S positive or negative false belief
(delusion) declared as truth may
influence people so the reactions fulfill
the once-false prophecy (e.g., my
marriage is doomed (false) – person
behaves in a way that dooms the
marriage).
V Semantics – meaning of language
S
“When some children are
randomly selected and
their teacher is told they
are likely to bloom
intellectually over the next
few months, they do. This
is the self-fulfilling
prophecy.” Rosenthal, „85
V Individualistic cultures – emphasize (e.g., USA, Canada,
S personal achievement regardless of
Germany, UK, etc.)
the expense of group – competition
often results
V Functionalism - school of thought
James
S that tried to understand how & why the
mind functions and is related to
consciousness
Structuralism - analyze the mind (the
sum total of experience from birth to
the present) in terms of simplest
definable components and then to find
how these components fit together to
form more complex experiences as
well as how they correlated to physical
events
Anterograde amnesia - can‟t
V Retrograde Amnesia - can‟t
remember new stuff AFTER head
S remember old stuff BEFORE head
injury
injury
BEFORE injury
Systematic Desensitization behavior therapy use to reduce
client‟s anxiety responses - bad paired
with good (step by step system used
Joseph Wolpe to desensitize)
Tick of watch – 20 ft
Absolute Threshold – SENSATION Wing of bee on cheek
level of specific sense needed to
Candle flame 30 miles
detect it 50% of time
Young-Helmholtz
V Just-noticeable-difference - JND –
S minimum amount needed to perceive
change in stimulus (SENSATION)
level - music level
Construct Validity - test measures a V Content Validity - content of a test is
particular hypothetical conceptS representative of the domain it is
creativity, IQ, extraversion
supposed to cover
Trichromatic Theory - three
V Opponent-process theory –
photoreceptors (cones) give
S researchers noted there are color
perception of color = Red, Green, Blue
combos we never see ( Yellow/Blue
Green/Red & Black / White) – belief
color perception is controlled by these
opposing pairs
Lithium – Mood stabilitizing –
V Librium - treats anxiety
commonly treats bipolar
S
Type A personality - high stress
ANDY
Mood at retrieval = mood
at encoding
For example, imagined
pain in the leg but no
physical damage there.
V Aversion Conditioning - therapy - S behavior therapy in which an aversive
(bad) stimulus is paired to elicit an
undesirable response - bad w/bad
Mood-congruent memory - It‟s
easier to recall memories when you
are in the same mood you were in
when you first learned something.
Somatoform Disorder (Somatic
Symptom Disorder) – mental disorder
– symptoms suggest physical illness/
injury but no cause can be found
(mental or physical).
Watch tick gets loud
enough to notice
e.g. info on test from that
chapter
Can explain afterimage
V Type B personality - low stress
S
V State-Dependent Memory - retrieval
S of a memory is most effective when an
individual is in the same state of
consciousness as it was when the
memory was formed
V Psychosomatic disorder – patient‟s
S mental issues causes real physical
illness. Often, an illness is worsened
by person‟s cognition.
BEN
Internal physiological state
For example, a person's
anxiety might cause high
blood pressure - an actual
physical symptom that can
be measured.
Problem is one starts to
approach all similar
problems the same way.
Mental Set - Solve a problem using a
method that have used before.
V Functional Fixedness - Failure to
S see more than the intended use for an
object.
How we present an
issue…we frame it to fit.
e.g., 95% of people have
great surgical outcome
vs. 5% die. e.g., different
frames make a picture
look better or worse.
Framing – A cognitive bias –
presenting the same problem as a
positive or a negative. Risk avoidance
when positively frames vs seek risk
when negatively framed.
V Priming - implicit memory effect in
S which exposure to
one stimulus influences a response to
another stimulus.
Military-style.
Authoritarian parenting style –
Baumrind – too hard – parent is
demanding but not responsive.
Latent Content – what the dream
symbolically represents (hidden
meaning)
V AuthoritatiVe parenting style –
S Baumrind – just right – demanding
AND responsive
V Manifest Content – what actually
S happened in dream
Freud-dream analysis –
Meaning comes later
Needing to turn a screw,
an individual ransacks a
house when using a dime
to turn the screw would‟ve
worked fine.
e.g., if a person reads a
list of words including the
word table, and is later
asked to complete a word
starting with tab, the
probability that he or she
will answer table is greater
than if they are not
primed.
V
Freud-dream analysis –
“Man, listen to this weird
dream I had last night”
FREUD
 Id – Only component of personality that is present from birth – the source of our bodily needs, wants,
desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives – Contains the libido – Pleasure
Principle Devil on shoulder.
VS
 Ego – Compromise – Reality Principle – Attempts to satisfy Id in realistic ways – Uses defense
mechanisms if anxiety is produced – Your head in the middle of the devil and angel argument.
VS
 Superego – Reflects internalized cultural rules, norms, values, morals – can stop you from doing certain
things that your id may want you to do – Aim is perfection – Angel on shoulder (Super Hero)
Angry at parent so you
place the anger on
someone else and get in
a fight at school.
Displacement – unconscious
defense mechanism whereby we
take out our frustrations, feelings,
and impulses on people or objects
that are less threatening.
V Projection - the act or technique of
S defending yourself against unpleasant
impulses by denying their existence in
yourself, while attributing them to
others.
For example, a person
who is rude may accuse
other people of being
rude. (projecting an image
from the LCD to the
screen)
Repression – Push down
e.g., a person diagnosed
with terminal illness might
focus on learning
everything about the
disease.
e.g., after hearing a
political debate you may
decide to vote for a
candidate because you
found the candidates
views and arguments
very convincing.
Thinking
Carl Jung – What
everyone else sees (your
“mask”)
Carl Jung – Male‟s
feminine side
Repression – acts to keep information out of conscious awareness.
VS
Suppression – Consciously forcing unwanted information out of our awareness.
VS
Regression – temporary (or long-term) reversion to earlier developmental stage
Intellectualization - works to reduce
V Rationalization – involves explaining
anxiety by thinking about events in a
S an unacceptable behavior or feeling in
cold, clinical way.
a rational or logical manner, avoiding
the true reasons for the behavior.
Central Route Persuasion – being
persuaded by the arguments or the
content of the message
V Peripheral Route Persuasion –
S being persuaded in a manner that is
not based on the arguments or the
message content.
James-Lange Theory event causes physiological arousal
first, then interpret arousal; after we
interpret the arousal, we can
experience the emotion
Prejudice - negative feelings or
thoughts against a group
V Cannon-Bard Theory - experience
S both physiological arousal and
emotional at the same time, but gives
no attention to the role of thoughts or
outward behavior
V Discrimination - taking action against
S groups as a result of prejudice
Persona - how we present ourselves
to the world – represents all the
different social masks that we wear
among different groups and situations.
Anima - A feminine image in the male
psyche
V Shadow - part of unconscious mind S composed of repressed ideas,
weaknesses, desires, instincts and
shortcomings - darker side of psyche
V Animus – a male image in the female
S psyche
e.g., a student might
blame a poor exam score
on the instructor, weather,
or lack of sleep rather than
his or her lack of
preparation.
e.g., voting for a candidate
because you like the
sound of their voice or the
attractiveness of the
speaker.
Doing
Carl Jung – Hidden self
(who you really are)
Carl Jung - Female‟s
masculine side
Jerk friend gives you
a ride to school so
it‟s worth the trouble
– if jerk stops giving
you rides, you “cut
off” the relationship.
Social Exchange Theory - social
behavior is the result of an exchange
process - the purpose is to maximize
benefits and minimize costs - We weigh
potential benefits and risks of
relationships - When risks outweigh
rewards, we will terminate or abandon
relationship.
Perceptions
Delusions - Bizarre ideas without
foundation
Adding symptoms
Positive Symptoms of
Schizophrenia - behavioral
excesses or peculiarities,
hallucinations, delusions, bizarre
behavior and wild flight of ideas.
Observance increases
Hawthorne Effect – Showed that
performance if already
factory workers had improved work
good or not.
performance with both improved and
poor lighting. Conclusion was that
they had improved simply because
they were being observed in the
experiment.
Rioting when sports team Deindividuation - losing selfwin/lose championships
awareness (individuality) in groups.
Group Polarization - tendency for
groups to make decisions that are
more extreme than the initial
inclination of its members
Norms are implicit, unsaid Conformity - act of matching
rules, shared by a group
attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to
of individuals, that guide
group norms – “Fitting in”
interactions with others
V Reciprocity Norm - responding to a
S positive action with another positive
action, and/or responding to a hostile
(negative) action with nasty and/or
brutal action.
Nice to nice people and
nasty to nasty people
V
S
V
S
Sensations
Hallucinations - Perceptions of things
that are not actually present
Negative Symptoms of
Schizophrenia - involve behavioral
deficits, such as flattened emotion,
social withdrawal, apathy, impaired
attention
V Social Facilitation - tendency for
S people to do better on simple tasks
when in the presence of other people
Taking away
(reduction) of
behaviors
Audience = better
performance if person is
already good at the task
V
S
V Social Loafing – the tendency of
S members of a group to put forth less
effort than if they were individually
responsible
V Groupthink - occurs within a group in
S which the desire for harmony or
conformity in the group results in an
irrational or dysfunctional decisionmaking outcome – members try not to
“rock the boat”
V Obedience - act of following explicit
S orders coming from an authority figure
without question.
Group projects in class –
most people are “lazier”
than if they had to do it
themselves
Student doesn‟t want to
upset the class and/or
teacher so they don‟t
speak up
Dad tells you to clean your
room so you clean your
room
-X+=- (take away) X + (phone)
= - stop texting in class
(decrease undesired
behavior)
-X-=+
- (headache) X
- (remove headache) = +
Taking Tylenol
(reinforced behavior)
Andy gets applause and
hugs EVERY time he
poops in the potty.
Negative Punishment in an attempt to decrease the
likelihood of a behavior occurring in
the future, an operant response is
followed by the removal of an
appetitive stimulus;
Negative Reinforcement take something bad away in order
to strengthen preceding behavior
V Positive Punishment - in an attempt
S to decrease the likelihood of a
behavior occurring in the future, an
operant response is followed by the
presentation of an aversive stimulus
+X-=+ (add) X – (ticket for
speeding) = - Stop
Speeding (decrease
undesired behavior)
V Positive Reinforcement - add
S something good in order to strengthen
preceding behavior
+X+=+
+(adding) X +(money) = +
Doing chores (reinforced
behavior)
Continuous Reinforcement desired behavior is reinforced every
single time it occurs – Once the
response if firmly attached,
reinforcement is usually switched to a
partial reinforcement schedule.
V Partial Reinforcement - response is
S reinforced only part of the time.
Learned behaviors are
acquired more slowly with
partial reinforcement, but
the response is more
resistant to extinction.
PARTIAL REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES Ratio = Number, Interval = Time, Fixed = Specific, Variable = Random
Fixed-ratio schedules – response is reinforced only after a specific number of responses – e.g., delivering a food pellet to a rat after it
presses a bar five times.
VS
Variable-ratio schedules - occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of
responses - e.g., gambling and lottery games
VS
Fixed-interval schedules - are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specific
amount of time has elapsed – e.g., reinforcing a rat with a lab pellet for the first bar press after a 30
second interval has elapsed.
VS
Variable-interval schedules - occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of
time has passed – e.g., delivering a food pellet to a rat after the first bar press following a one
minute interval, another pellet for the first response following a five minute interval, and a third food
pellet for the first response following a three minute interval.