AP Psych Prep Flashcards
When the depolarized current exceeds the threshold of a neuron, it will fire
All-or-none
spindles, non-REM sleep sections of delta waves, hard to
Small bursts of activities
Tendency to recall the last terms of the list.
Recency Effect
Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.
Stimulants
Unscripted, uncensored talking, which is supposed to provide clues
Free Association
Hard-driving, aggressive, anger-prone people (get more heart problems).
Type A
As one goes up, the other goes up.
Positive Correlation
Wire-like structure ending in the terminal that extends from the cell body.
Axon
Taking your anger out on someone else (man/wife/boss).
Displacement
What part of the ear influences balance?
The semicircular canals
According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis of Benjamin Whorf, what is suggested?
Speakers of different languages think differently due to the differences in their languages.
A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel or act, as assessed by
Trait
According to Robert Rescorla’s contingency model of classical conditioning, what is stated?
Conditioning occurs only when one event reliably predicts another
Beginning at age 2, child speaks mostly in two-word statements.
Two-word Stage
Sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body.
PNS
Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions.
Depressants
If a student’s test score of 86 is at the 42nd percentile, what does this mean?
This student has scored the same as or higher than 42 percent of her fellow students
The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.
MMPI
General Adaption Syndrome – Made by Hans Selye; responses to stress – alarm
GAS
Ways of remembering info by using creative memory techniques.
Mnemonic Devices
Emotionally arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger both a
Cannon-Bard Theory
Neurotransmitters that can’t find an area across the synapse to attach will
Reuptake
The inability to see the different uses of an object, i.e., a paper
Functional Fixedness
In a memory study where group A is asked to count the letters in each word and group B is asked to focus on the meaning of each word for a later memory quiz, group B recalls significantly more words. What do memory researchers attribute this effect to?
Differences in levels of processing
Associated with emotions like aggression and fear, and drives such as
Limbic System
What is an example of a prelinguistic event?
Babbling
Top of the brain, discriminates between textures and shapes.
Peripheral Lobe
The learned ability to distinguish between the CS and other stimuli.
Discrimination
Linguistic determination – language determines the way we think.
Benjamin Whorf
One’s ability to reason speedily & abstractly, decreases with age.
Fluid Intelligence
In an experiment to determine the effects of two different study methods on the amount students learned in introductory physics, the results showed the average amount learned by one group was greater than the other group, but the difference was not statistically significant. What is the most appropriate conclusion?
There is a possibility that the difference between the two groups occurred by chance.
Found the effects of radiation on rats (taste aversion).
John Garcia
Tendency to recall the first and last items of a list.
Serial Position Effect
According to the biomedical view of abnormality, what factors can deviant behavior be traced to?
Genetic anomalies or problems in the physical structure of the brain
A stubborn individual who accuses peers of being uncooperative is exhibiting which defense mechanism?
Projection
A woman’s want for the man’s power (not necessarily the actual body
Penis Envy
In a research study, what is informed consent a concern of?
Ethics
Mental age/Chronological age x 100.
IQ Formula
If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens prevailing
Group Polarization
The brain and spinal cord.
CNS
Located under the forehead, involved with complex cognitive functions.
Frontal Lobe
Initial stage of classical conditioning, in which the association between
Acquisition
At the side of the brain above ears involved in memory, perception,
Temporal Lobe
Above the medulla, makes chemicals involved with sleep & facial expressions.
Pons
Giving false reasons why you did what you did (well, I was very tired).
Rationalization
If one sense is deprived, another will become stronger, i.e., blind
Sensory Deprivation
The amount of participants that can be selected for the sample.
Population
Neo-Freudian feminist.
Horney
Neurons that carry incoming information from the central
Motor Neurons (efferent)
Transmits and amplifies the vibration. Hammer → Anvil → Stirrup → Oval
Middle Ear
Analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense receptor and
Bottom-up Processing
The enduring behaviors, ideas, values, attitudes, and traditions shared by a
Culture
What is the correct sequence of the neural chain of events set in motion by an environmental stimulus?
Receptors, afferent neurons, interneurons, efferent neurons, effectors
What advantage does group therapy have over individual therapy?
It enables clients to realize that their problems are not unique
The proportion of variation among individuals that can be attributed to
Heritability
A readiness to perceive oneself favorably.
Self-serving Bias
The part of the PNS that controls the glands and muscles of the
Autonomic NS
Which is the best example of shaping?
A teacher rewards a student for sitting quietly for ten minutes on Monday, fifteen minutes on Tuesday, twenty minutes on Wednesday, and thirty minutes on Thursday.
Which behavior is most closely associated with the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?
Sutan asks his father for $5, and when he agrees, Sutan asks him for $15 more.
When startled, baby flings limbs out and slowly retracts them.
Moro Reflex
The correlation between scores obtained on two halves of a single test yields information about the test’s what?
Reliability
Take the results from a smaller group and apply that to a
Representative Sample
What is the sequence of shifts in the electrical charge of a neuron called?
The action potential
A chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood (You
Psychoactive Drugs
Id operates on this – strive for pleasure, at all costs.
Pleasure Principle
A man’s want to be able to reproduce.
Womb Envy
The diminishing effects with regular use of the same dose of a drug.
Tolerance
Objects that are close together are more likely to be perceived as belonging
Proximity
The motivation to achieve one’s full potential.
Self-actualization
The little brain attached to the rear of the brain stem, controls
Cerebellum
Who you really are, in terms of personality.
Real Self
When touched on the cheek, a baby will turn its head and seek a nipple.
Rooting Reflex
Which finding best supports the hypothesis that basic human emotions, such as sadness, are innate?
Basic emotions are understood and expressed in a similar fashion by individuals from diverse cultures.
The endocrine system’s most influential gland, under the influence of
Pituitary Gland
What is a child demonstrating if they learn that spoons are tableware and then correctly calls forks and knives tableware?
Stimulus generalization
Individuals exhibiting a hostile type A personality pattern are at an increased risk for what disease?
Cardiovascular disease
On individual intelligence tests such as the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler scales, what does an IQ of 100 indicate about the test taker?
They scored at the average level for test takers of the same age
Hallucinations are characteristic of what type of disorder?
Psychotic disorders
The storyline of the dream.
Manifest Content
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
Neurons
Consequences that follow a behavior will increase/decrease the
Operant Conditioning
Is an explanation that integrates principles, organizes, and predicts behavior or
Theory
What is the understanding that things continue to exist even when they are not within view called?
Object permanence
Changes to neural impulse. Cochlea (snail-shaped membrane filled with fluid
Inner Ear
Study that says humans are basically good and possess free will.
Humanistic
Founder of operant conditioning & Skinner box.
Skinner
Opium and its derivatives, depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain
Opiates
Group that does not take part in the critical part of the experimentation
Control
An individual who drinks alcohol daily finds it necessary to drink increasing amounts to achieve the state of well-being attained in the past. What is this individual showing?
Alcohol tolerance
Identify info already learned – multiple choice.
Recognition
In studying the behavior of five year olds in free-play situations, what would a cognitive psychologist be most interested in?
The children’s problem-solving strategies
The reversible figure illustrates which Gestalt organizing principle?
Figure-ground
Everyone has an equal chance of being selected for the experiment
Random Sample
Loudness, measured in decibels.
Intensity
After a while of constant stimulation, will stop detecting sense,
Sensory Adaptation
Lithium carbonate has been useful in some instances in the treatment of what disorder?
Bipolar disorder
Is a testable prediction, often induced by a theory, to enable us to accept,
Hypothesis
The perception that one’s fate is controlled by an outside
External Locus of Control
What is the rationale underlying the use of projective personality tests, such as the Rorschach Test and the Thematic Apperception Test?
They reveal the subjects’ personalities by eliciting responses to vague, ambiguous stimuli
Part of the limbic system involved in learning and memory.
Hippocampus
If a supervisor who doubts the competence of a new employee unwittingly criticizes everything the new employee does and the new employee consequently performs poorly, what will most likely have occurred?
A self-fulfilling prophecy
It is replicable and is consistent.
Reliability
Study how we perceive, think, and solve problems.
Cognitive
Average of the scores – add them up and divide by the total number of scores.
Mean
Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and
Unconscious Level
What best describes the response of members of the American Psychological Association to ethical issues in research?
They have developed codes of ethics for research with both human participants and animal subjects.
According to Harry Harlow’s experiments with rhesus monkeys, what is most important for infants when establishing an attachment to their mothers?
The tactile characteristics of the mother
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Personality
The mere exposure to a stimulus will increase the liking of it.
Mere Exposure Effect
The subjects do not know to what group they belong.
Single-blind Procedure
Those perceived as different from oneself.
Out-group
The brain’s ability to modify itself after some kind of injury/illness.
Plasticity
“The highway to the unconscious”, sequence of images, emotions, and
Dreams
Connected to the base of the brain stem, controls our blood pressure, heart
Medulla
In which part of a neuron are neurotransmitters typically stored?
The terminal buttons
What would an industrial-organizational psychologist be least likely to study?
Corporate profitability
Fetal alcohol syndrome – physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused
FAS
Most widely used projective test, series of ten inkblots, participant
Rorschach Inkblot
A clear statement of what one is looking for in an experiment.
Operational Definition
Studied the effects of stimulation on the motor cortex.
William Penfield
Underlying causes and practical consequences of certain behaviors
Functionalism
When an object is placed into a baby’s mouth, the infant will suck on it.
Sucking Reflex
What is the best interpretation of Solomon Asch’s findings concerning conformity in perceptual judgments?
Conformity increases as group size increases to about four persons.
What does developmental research on the formation of attachment indicate that a child’s secure attachment to its mother during infancy predicts during the toddler years?
Social competence
Information processed guided by higher-level mental
Top-down Processing
Training in the construction of an anxiety hierarchy and in relaxation techniques is likely to be part of the treatment for which disorder?
Specific phobia
The expectation that we should return help, not harm to those who
Reciprocity Norms
The division of the PNS that controls the body’s skeletal muscles.
Somatic NS
Who you want to be, your perfect version.
Ideal Self
Placing info into a storage spot for use later.
Storage
Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory
Collective Unconscious
A mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a
Groupthink
Going back to an earlier stage of development (temper tantrum).
Regression
Looking inward at one’s own mental processes.
Introspection
A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce a
MRI
The conversion of one form of energy into another, translates incoming
Transduction
Sound waves collected.
Outer Ear
Add good – reinforcing behavior by rewarding, give allowance.
Positive Reinforcement
The perception that one can control their own fate.
Internal Locus of Control
We have three types of cones in the retina: red, blue, green;
Young-Helmholtz Theory
Wanted to broaden the definition of intelligence, created 8 types of
Gardner
People with whom one shares a common identity.
In-group
How capable we think we are in controlling events, determined by
Self-efficacy
After a random amount of time; fishing.
VI
What is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory primarily used to provide information about?
Clinical disorders
Experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological
James-Lange Theory
Tendency to give explanations for someone’s behavior, often by
Attribution Theory
Pushing a memory to the back of mind – cannot be retrieved.
Repression
Desire to perform behavior for a reward at the end.
Extrinsic Motivation
By Masters and Johnson – Excitement > Plateau > Orgasm >
Sexual Response Cycle
Objects that are similar in appearance are more likely to be perceived as
Similarity
What are the mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that help solve problems and reduce mental effort called?
Heuristics
The most frequently occurring score in the distribution.
Mode
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.
Temperament
Definition
Term
What were Alfred Binet’s efforts to measure intelligence directed at?
Predicting children’s success in school
Aims to solve practical problems.
Applied Research
Designed to determine what an individual has learned.
Achievement Test
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
Threshold
The reappearing of the CR to the CS.
Spontaneous Recovery
After a set number of responses; buy one get one free.
FR
Refusing to accept reality, so say it didn’t really happen (I did get accepted).
Denial
Procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior through successful
Shaping
After a neuron has fired an action potential, it pauses for a short
Refractory Period
Unconscious is really powerful, but contains more than bad thoughts, etc.
Carl Jung
Psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images
Hallucinogens
Get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of
Case Study
Which of the following is least likely to affect the immune system’s ability to ward off illness?
Being around someone who has a serious case of the flu
The info about yourself and your environment you are currently
Conscious Level
Visual info/memory.
Iconic
Lower brain, located at the rear base of skull, responsible for reflexive or
Hindbrain
