AP Psychology : Midterm Review

Question 1

who made the first psychological lab?

Answer 1

Wilhelm Wundt

Question 2

Introspection

Answer 2

Looking Inward

Self reflection

Question 3

natural selection

Answer 3

traits that lead to survival will be passed on to future generations

Question 4

behavior genetics

Answer 4

perspective of psychology that studies how heredity and experience influence our individual differences in temperament

Question 5

Psychologist associated with functionalism

Answer 5

William James

Question 6

Emphasis of a behavioral perspective

Answer 6

psychology = the scientific study of observable behavior. You can’t observe feelings or sensations you can only observe a person’s actions.

Question 7

What does the cognitive perspective deal with

Answer 7

how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

Question 8

What is the social - cultural perspective

Answer 8

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

Question 9

Hindsight bias

Answer 9

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. AKA: I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

Question 10

overconfidence

Answer 10

the tendency to be more confident than correct; to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgements. This happens before outcomes occur.

Question 11

critical thinking

Answer 11

hinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumption, discusses hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Question 12

theory

Answer 12

an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations.

Question 13

hypothesis

Answer 13

a testable prediction often implied by a theory.

Question 14

population

Answer 14

all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study; an entire set of things in which we collect data from.

Question 15

random sampling

Answer 15

smaller sample that fairly represents a population.

Question 16

naturalistic ovservation

Answer 16

Research method that involves observing subjects in their natural environment.

Question 17

double blind procedure

Answer 17

An experimental procedure in which both the patient and staff are blind as to the condition that the participant is in.This would make it impossible for either to know if the participant is receiving the treatment or a placebo.

Question 18

standard deviation

Answer 18

A measure of the dispersion of a set of data from its mean. The more spread apart the data, the higher the deviation.

Question 19

purpose of correlational research

Answer 19

Correlational studies are used to look for relationships between variables. The three possible results are either a positive correlation, negative correlation, or no correlation. The correlation coefficient is a measure of correlation strength and can range from -1.00 to 1.00.

Question 20

confusion about correlation vs. causation

Answer 20

Causation is the fact that something causes an effect and correlation is the relationship in which two or more are mutual or contemplementary.

Question 21

example of placebo

Answer 21

Using a sugar pill and pretending that it is a drug.

Question 22

how to calculate mean median mode

Answer 22

Mean= add numbers and divide by how many you added. Median- put numbers in numerical order and it is the middle

Question 23

Dendrite

Answer 23

the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

Question 24

Sympathetic Nervous System

Answer 24

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.

Question 25

Location of Reticular formation

Answer 25

Inside the brain stem, between your ears, lies the reticular formation, a finger-shaped network of neurons that extends from the spinal cord right up to the thalamus.

Question 26

Role of Thalamus

Answer 26

The brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brain stem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

Question 27

Role of the Occipital Lobe

Answer 27

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual area, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field.

Question 28

Role of Sensory Cortex

Answer 28

The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.

Question 29

Location of the Association areas

Answer 29

Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.

Question 30

What is Brain Plasticity

Answer 30

The ability of the brain to modify itself after some type of damage

Question 31

Why is the corpus collossum surgically removed?

Answer 31

The corpus callosum was surgically severed in hopes that it would reduce seizures in patients with uncontrollable epilepsy.

Question 32

Top - Down Processing

Answer 32

processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Question 33

Perception

Answer 33

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Question 34

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 34

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Question 35

Transduction

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Parallel Processing

Answer 36

the processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

Question 37

Opponent Process Theory

Answer 37

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green.

Question 38

Kinesthesis

Answer 38

system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

Question 39

Cocktail Party Effect

Answer 39

the phenomenon of being able to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, much the same way that a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room.

Question 40

Gestalt

Answer 40

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Question 41

Closure

Answer 41

The ability for the human mind to close gaps in images to form complete and closed objects. Ex. Triangle theory

Question 42

Depth Perception

Answer 42

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.

Question 43

Schema

Answer 43

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. (pg. 147)

Question 44

Parapsychology

Answer 44

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis (pg. 264)

Question 45

Example of Subliminal Stimulation

Answer 45

Subliminal messages that only your deep consciousness can recognize.

Question 46

Example of Difference Thresholds

Answer 46

Feeling small amounts of sand being added to your hand.

Question 47

Components of Brightness

Answer 47

Wavelength is the distance from peak to to the next - determines color.

Question 48

Classification of smell

Answer 48

Olfaction (smell) and gustation (taste) are senses that respond to minute traces of chemical molecules that foods and many other substances emit.

Question 49

Dominant Sense

Answer 49

The different senses actual can be heard in conservations with people. When you listen to people you can easily pickup their dominant sense. Normally, seeing (visual), hearing (auditory) and touching (kinesthetic) are the senses that are strongest and show up the most in conversation. Usually it is the sense of smell which people normally have the strongest bond with.

Question 50

Depth Perception Tested in labs

Answer 50

the babies that walk across a glass pane over a “cliff” and they note whether or not the baby will crawl right over it or notice the sudden drop and stop before.

Question 51

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 51

This refers to the ability of the body to adapt to an environment by filtering out distractions

Question 52

conciousness

Answer 52

your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environment

Question 53

age regression

Answer 53

Have you ever seen a movie in which some characters supposedly had something happen to them when they were young and some therapist says he/she will hypnotize the person so they can "go back" in time and remember the thing that happened? Well, that's basically what age regression is, its reliving a past experience that you blocked out

Question 54

withdrawal

Answer 54

the distress and cravings that occur when people stop using an addictive substance

Question 55

spontaneous recovery

Answer 55

after extinction, the sudden reappearance of a previously extinguished response.

Question 56

Generalization

Answer 56

Generalization refers to a process within operant and classical conditioning, where a conditioned response (CR) starts occurring in response to the presentation of other, similar stimuli, not just the conditioned stimulus (CS). For example, a dog is trained to sit (CR) when you give the command, "sit" (CS). Soon after that, the dog might sit when you say "hit", "bit", and "kick". In this case, the CR (sitting) is not only done to the CS (the command, "sit") but also to commands that are similar.

Question 57

discrimination

Answer 57

In classical conditioning, it is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Question 58

extinction

Answer 58

When a conditioned response weakens or disappears

Question 59

Purpose of Melatonin

Answer 59

Hormone that induces sleep

Question 60

characteristics of dreaming

Answer 60

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep. It is the 5th stage of sleep. There is an increased rate of respiration and brain activity.

Question 61

characteristics of delta waves

Answer 61

Takes place during Stage 3 and 4 of sleep

Question 62

Symptoms of sleep apnea

Answer 62

Not breathing during sleep is probably a big one. Other ones may include: sleepiness or lack of energy during the day, waking up with a sore/dry throat, morning headaches, waking up with a choking or gasping sensation, forgetfulness, mood changes, and a decreased interest in sex.

Question 63

synaptic gap

Answer 63

aka cleft | tiny gap at the junction between axon tip and sending neuron

Question 64

action potential

Answer 64

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

Question 65

Synapse

Answer 65

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.

Question 66

myelin sheath

Answer 66

a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulses hops from one node to the next

Question 67

motor neurons

Answer 67

neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands

Question 68

role of iris

Answer 68

a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening controls the light passing through the pupil

Question 69

function of the retina

Answer 69

the light sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information upside down image passes onto the retina

Question 70

components of the optic nerve

Answer 70

nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain ganglion fibers creates a blind spot when the optic nerve leaves the eye

Question 71

components of the cochlea

Answer 71

coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses nerve impulses trigger ripples in the liquid which creates basilar movement, with hair cells

Question 72

drug tolerance

Answer 72

the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take large and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect

Question 73

marijuana

Answer 73

hallucinogen | THC

Question 74

primary reinforcer

Answer 74

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

Question 75

secondary reinforcer

Answer 75

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through the association with a primary reinforcer

Question 76

punishment

Answer 76

an event that decreases the event that it follows.