Ryan Bermel

Period 4

December 14, 2010

AP Psychology/Thomas

Definition of Review Terms

Hindsight Bias- The tendency to believe after learning an outcome that one would have forseen it

Scientific Attitude- The ability to think abstractedly using curious skepticism to determine factual
evidence

Critical Thinking in Research- thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it
examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence and asserts conclusions

Hypothesis- a testable prediction often implied by a theory

Operant definition- a statement of the procedures used to define research variables. For example
intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures

Replication- repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different
situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

Case-study- an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing
universal principles

Survey- a technique for ascertaining the self reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by
questioning a representative random sample of them

False Consensus Effect- the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and
behaviors

Types of Samples- random samples, representative samples

Natural Observation- observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying
to manipulate and control the situation

Correlation- data that’s shows a relationship of two variables, either showing the amount in question to
increase or decrease as the independent variable changes

Illusory correlation- the perception of a relationship where none exists

Experiment- A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more variables to observe
the effect on some behavior or mental process. By random assignment of participants, the experiment
controls other factors
Placebos- experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the
administration of an inert substance or condition, which is assumed to be an active agent

Double-blind studies- an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the
research staff are ignorant about whether the participants have received the treatment or a placebo.
Commonly used in drug evaluation studies.

Controls-the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a
comparison for evaluating the effects of a treatment

Random Assignment- assigning participants to experimental and control situations by chance,

minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

Independent Variable- the variable that is first changed, usually time.

Dependent variavble- the variable that has a direct relationship to the independent variable but does
not affect it in any way

Biological psychology- a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior

Neural Anatomy- the anatomy of the brain

Action potential- a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon. The action
potential is generated by the movement of positively charged ions in and out of the channels in an
axon’s membrane

Depolarization- the opening of the axons channel to allow positively charged sodium ions to flood
through the channel

Synapse- the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the
receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or cleft

Acetylcholine- a neurotransmitter that among its functions triggers muscle contraction

Dopamine-influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

Serotonin- affects mood, huger, sleep and arousal

Opiates- opium and its derivatives, such and morphine and heroin; they depress neural activity
temporarily lessening pain and anxiety

Endorphins-natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and pleasure

Central nervous system- the brain and spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system- the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to
the rest of the body
Parasympathetic nervous system- the division of the autonomic nervous system the calms the body,
conserving its energy

Brain lesions- tissue destruction. A brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally caused destruction of
brain tissue

Chromosomes- threadlikes structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes

Selective mating- selecting certain characteristics of the opposite sex that when passed on to the
offspring would be beneficial to its survival

Natural selection- that principle that among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to
increased reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Reproductive success- the success rate of fucking

Evolutionary Psychologists- the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of
natural selection

Sex Norms- sexual customs of species used to attract a desirable

Twin studies- studies involving identical twins to understand the difference between people with
different disorders by using 2 genetically identical people to eliminate differences across people

Nurture vs. Nature- nature is simply the biological aspects that define a person, and nurture is the
experiences and development that shape the rest of a person; nature is the basis of a person that
nurture builds upon

Sensation vs. Perception- sensation is just the actual signals that are received by the brain, and
perception is the categorization and organization of sensations in order to make sense of the world
around us

Psychophysicist- psychologists that are interested in how physical stimuli is translated into information
and sensation in the brain

Absolute threshold- the minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of
the time

Signal Detection Theory- a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus
amid background stimulation. Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection
depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation and level of fatigue

Subliminal messages- messages either too brief or too slight to breach the absolute threshold but are
still perceived by the brain

Sensory adaptation- the ability of the brain to sift through continuous sensory input to interpret new
senses, for example tuning out smells so other new smells can be identified
Top-down processing- information processing guided by higher level mental processes, and when we
construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Hue- color

Wavelengths- wavelengths of light that affect the color and frequency

Cochlea- spiral shaped canals in the iner ear filled with fluids, that when hit by sound waves vibrates.
This sends the vibrations into the small hairs on the inside which join together to form the auditory
nerve

Blind-spotthe spot in which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a blind spot because no receptor
cells are located there

Fovea- point where light I focused on the retina, where most cone cells are located

Opponent process theory- the theory that opposing mental processes enable color vision

Taste receptors- taste buds located throughout the mouth that transmit taste

Olfactory- your mom

Cerebral cortex- the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres;
the body’s ultimate control and processing center

Gestalt- an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasize our ability to integrate pieces of
information into meaningful holes

Cocktail party effect- ability to listen to only one voice out of many, almost completely tuning out the
rest

Perceptual organization- a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Contintuity- how we perceive a t as 2 lines instead of 1

Connectedness- the property that lets us see 4 lines as a box instead of 4 lines at right angles to each
other

Visual cliff- device used to test depth perception in infants

Retinal disparity- the difference between what both eyes see constructed to form depth perception

Convergence- a binocular clue for perceiving depth. The extent to which the eyes converge inward to
look at an object

Interposition- how the positioning of an object in front of another object allows us to see that one is
behind the other
Relative height- the farther up a object is on our vision relates the distance of the object

Phi phenomenon- an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink in succession

Context effects- interpretations of sensory input influenced by our expectations or the situation

Behaviorism-the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies mental behavior
without references to mental processes. Most research psychologists agree with the first part but not
the latter

Social psychology- the study of how people interact with one another

Attribution theory- the theory that we tend to give a causal explanation of for someones behavior, often
either by crediting the situation of the persons disposition

Attribution error- the error that we attribute a person’s personality on situation evidence

Foot-in-the-door- the ability for people to successively ask for greater and greater requests and have
them met

Attitudes- a belief and feeling that predisposes one in a particular way to objects, people and events

Zimbardo- psychologist who did many controversial experiments into social psychology

Cognitave dissonance- when a person’s imagined self and their actual self (determined by their
behavior) do not equal each other, creating stress

Normative social influence- influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approvals or avoid
disapproval

Individualism- giving priority to one’s own goals about group goals, and defining one’s identity in terms
of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Social Facilitation- improved performance of tasks in the presence of others; occurs wit simple or well-
learned tasks but not tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered

Social Loafing- the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward
attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Group polarization- the enhancements of a groups prevailing attitudes through discussion within the
group

Groupthink- the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision making group
overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

Prejudice- an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a group and its members. Involves a
predisposition to discriminatory action
Scapegoat theory- the theory that suggest prejudice provides an outlet for anger by giving someone to
blame

Dedindividuation- the loss of self awareness and self restraint occurring in group situations that foster
arousal and anonymity

Diffusion of responsibility- the tendency for everyone in a group to receive blame for that actions of
some of its members

Frontal lobe- controls movement and decision making

Occipital lobe- controls sight and its interpretations

Parietal lobes- includes sensory cortex, at the top of the brain

Temporal lobes- includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from
the opposite ear

Emotion- a response of the whole organism involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and
conscious experience

Arousal- the stimulation of the sex drives

Hunger- the need for food

Thalamus- the brains sensory switchboard located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the
sensory receiving ares of the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla

Freud- psychologist with the ID, superego and ego, also has much psychosexual theories

Erikson- stages of social development

Piaget- states of cognition

Kohlberg- stages of moral action and reasoning

Standard deviation- a measure of how much scores vary around the mean score

Bystander affect- the tendency to take little or no responsibility when one knows a group is also involved

Attraction- need for seexxxxxxxxx

Schemas- a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Transduction- conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus
energies into neural impulses

Authoritarian- high standards with little responsiveness

Permissive- no standards, little responsiveness

Authoritative- high standards with a high amount of response to the child, usually in the form of
explanation of those standards

Psychoanalytic psychology- Freud’s theory of personality and therapeutic technique that attributes our
thought and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. Freud believed the patients free associations,
resistances, dreams, and transferences- and the therapists interpretations of them- released previously
repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self insight

Limbic System- a doughtnut shaoed system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and
cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for
food and sex. Includes the hippocampus, amydalga, and hypothalamus

Cerebral cortex- see cerebral cortex above

Cerebellum- the little brain attached the to the rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate voluntary
movement and balance

Lobes are above also.