AP exam 2 Flashcards
Bottom-up processing
when the environment (stimuli) influence our thinking
sensory analysis that begins at the entry level—with what our senses can detect
Top-down processing
when our thinking influences how we see (understand/perceive) the environment
perceiving things based on your prior experiences and knowledge
Schemas
all knowledge/data is organized into units. In our mind a schema is a generalized concept or system for understanding pieces of the world we encounter.
Perceptual sets
we often tend to notice only certain aspects of an object or situation while ignoring other details
Gestalt Principles
rules that describe how the human eye perceives visual elements
Attention
a state of consciousness in which a person can respond to a stimulus or stimuli
Cocktail party effect
the ability to focus one’s attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli
Change blindness
person fails to notice significant changes in their visual environment.
Binocular depth cues
the images taken in by both eyes to give depth perception, or stereopsis
Monocular depth cues
visual cues that help you perceive depth and distance using only one eye
Visual perceptual
constancies
the ability to perceive a stimulus as constant, even when the sensation changes
Apparent movement
a person perceives movement when there is none, caused by a visual illusion
Concepts
a verbal or written understanding of abstract thought
Prototypes
a mental representation of an object or concept
Schemas
a mental structure that helps people organize and interpret information
Assimilation
the process of incorporating new information, experiences, or ideas into your existing cognitive structure or belief system
Accommodation
the process we use to adjust and modify our cognitive schemas to incorporate new information and experiences
Algorithms
step-by-step procedure to solve problems
Heuristics
general “rules of thumb” that can be applied to many situations
- educated guesses
- might not always succeed
Mental set
tendency to use same problem-solving strategies that worked in the past
Priming
exposure to a stimulus influences how someone responds to a subsequent stimulus
- For instance, it’s easier to categorize the word “chocolate” after the word “candy” than after the word “stapler”
Framing
how the question/problem is worded
Gambler’s fallacy
someone mistakenly believes that a random event’s likelihood changes based on a previous event or series of events
Sunk-cost fallacy
our tendency to continue with something we’ve invested money, effort, or time into—even if the current costs outweigh the benefits
Executive functions
mental processes (executive functioning skills) that help you set and carry out goals
Creativity
the ability to produce or develop original ideas, theories, techniques, or thoughts
Divergent vs. convergent
thinking
Divergent- comes up with many possibilities and ideas opposite of…
Convergent- one single answer exists for a problem
Functional fixedness
thinking about objects only in terms of their typical use
Explicit memory
the ability to consciously recall facts, events, and ideas from one’s life
Implicit memory
unconscious and automatic, and is used to perform tasks without conscious recollection
Prospective memory
the ability to remember to do something in the future
Working memory
a short-term memory system that temporarily stores information to help complete cognitive tasks
Working memory model
proposes that the short term memory isn’t unitary, but is split into separate stores
Multi-store model
human memory has three different modes, and a separate control process accompanies each mode
Levels of processing
model
how well you remember information depends on how deeply you process it
Encoding
- the process of getting information into the memory system
Mnemonic devices
a memory technique that helps people recall and retain information by associating it with a visual image, word, or sentence
Method of loci
Mind palace. The method of loci uses imagined physical locations to aid memory
Chunking
a process by which small individual pieces of a set of information are bound together to create a meaningful whole later on in memory
Spacing effect
demonstrates that learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out
Massed vs. distributed
practice
Massed: cramming, not that effective
Distributed: over time, better
Serial position effect
a psychological theory that describes how the order in which information is presented affects how well people recall
Primacy effect
the tendency to remember the first piece of information
Recency effect
remember the last piece of information
Maintenance rehearsal
involves the repetition of information in its original, unaltered form
Elaborative rehearsal
a technique to help the short-term memory store thoughts or ideas and pass them into the long-term memory. It works by relating new concepts to old concepts that are already in the long-term memory so that these new concepts stick
Autobiographical
memory
the aspect of memory that is concerned with the coherent and integrated recollection of personally experienced past events contributing to an individual’s sense of self
Retrograde amnesia
inability to recall events, information, or experiences that occurred before the onset of the amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
a type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t form new memories
Alzheimer’s disease
a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks
Infantile amnesia
the inability of adults to recall memories from their early childhood, typically before the age of three or four
Sensory memory
a very short-term storage for information from the senses
Short-term memory
a very short-term storage for information from the senses
Long-term memory
memory that involves the storage and recall of information over a long period of time
Recall
the process of retrieving information or events from the past without the aid of a specific cue
Recognition
a form of remembering characterized by a feeling of familiarity when something previously experienced is again encountered
Context-dependent
memory
the storage and retrieval of memory are influenced by the environment in which it was learned or remembered
Mood-congruent
memory
a psychological phenomenon that describes how people are more likely to remember memories that match their current emotional state
State-dependent memory
people remember more information if their physical or mental state is the same at time of encoding and time of recall
Testing effect
improved memory that results from retrieval practice, such as taking a test, compared to simply restudying information
Metacognition
thinking about one’s own thinking, or the knowledge and awareness of one’s own cognitive processes
Forgetting curve
hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time
Encoding failure
the brain’s occasional failure to create a memory link
Proactive interference
when older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer memories
Retroactive interference
an individual is unable to recall old information because new information prevents its retrieval
Inadequate retrieval (e.g.
tip-of-the-tongue
phenomenon)
the temporary inability to recall a word or term from memory
Psychodynamic theory of
repression
the exclusion of distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings from the conscious mind
Misinformation effect
information can be added or changed and therefore the long-term memory of the individual will be modified, but believed to be the actual event, or recall of the event, as it happened
Source amnesia
a memory issue that occurs when someone can recall information but can’t remember how, when, or where they learned it
Constructive memory
memories may not be accurate reproductions of events but can be altered by new information related to beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions to fill in gaps in the memory
Memory consolidation
the process by which the brain turns short-term memories into long-term memories
Imagination inflation
a memory distortion that occurs when a person imagines an event and then becomes more confident that it actually happened
General intelligence
the existence of a broad mental capacity that influences performance on cognitive ability measures
Gardner’s theory of
multiple intelligences
emphasizes that there are many different types of intelligence and each person can possess multiple of them in varying degrees
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
○ History
○ Equation
connection to eugenics
mean is always 100
Equation: age/mental age times 100 =IQ
Psychological assessments
○ Standardized
○ Validity
(constructive,
predictive)
○ Reliability
(test-retest,
split-half)
a systematic process that evaluates a person’s mental health and behavioral functioning
S = a test that is administered and scored in the same way for everyone who takes it
CV = the extent to which your test or measure accurately assesses what it’s supposed to
PV = the ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome
T-R R = a statistical measure of how consistent a psychological assessment is over time
S-H R = a method for measuring the internal consistency of a psychological test, survey, or questionnaire
Stereotype threat
the risk of confirming negative stereotypes about an individual’s racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural group which can create high cognitive load and reduce academic focus and performance
Stereotype lift
an increase in a group’s test performance due to not being part of a negative stereotype
Flynn effect
a phenomenon discovered by intelligence researcher James Flynn that determined the average IQ of humans steadily increases over time
IQ score variation within
groups vs. between
groups
Between-group differences show how two or more groups are different, whereas within-group differences show differences among subjects who are in the same group
Achievement tests
a procedure or instrument that measures a person’s knowledge or skills in a specific subject
Aptitude tests
designed to assess what a person is capable of doing or to predict what a person is able to learn or do given the right education and instruction
Fixed mindset
he belief that your intelligence, talents, and other abilities are set in stone and can’t be changed
Growth mindset
the belief that a person’s intelligence and abilities can grow and improve with practice
Representative Heuristics
a mental shortcut that we use when estimating probabilities. can lead to stereotypes
Availability Heuristics
our tendency to use information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions about the future
Working backwards heuristics
a problem-solving technique in psychology that involves starting with the desired solution and working backwards to determine the steps needed to reach it
