Ap Psych

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aaron becks view of depression

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Beck believed that depression is due to unrealistic negative views about the world. Depressed people have a negative cognition in three areas that are placed into the depressive triad. They develop negative views about: themselves, the world, and their future.

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absolute threshold

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the smallest intensity of a stimulus that has to be present for the stimulus to be detected.

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achievement vs aptitude tests

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An achievement test is a standardized test that is designed to measure an individual's level of knowledge in a particular area. Unlike an aptitude test which measures a person’s ability to learn something, an achievement test focuses specifically on how much a person knows about a specific topic or area such as math, geography, or science.

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action vs. resting potential

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R: the membrane potential of a cell that is not exhibiting the activity resulting from a stimulus.
A: the change in electrical potential that occurs between the inside and outside of a nerve or muscle fiber when it is stimulated, serving to transmit nerve signals.

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acuity - vision

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is acuteness or clearness of vision, especially form vision, which is dependent on the sharpness of the retinal focus within the eye and the sensitivity of the interpretative faculty of the brain

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afferent neurons vs. efferent neurons

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afferent neuron one that conducts a nervous impulse from a receptor to a center.
efferent neuron one that conducts a nervous impulse from a center to an organ of response.

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agonists vs. antagonist chemicals

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naturaly occuring vs. created

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ainsworth strange situation (paradigm)

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The goal of the Strange Situation procedure is to provide an environment that would arouse in the infant both the motivation to explore and the urge to seek security. A series of eight separations and reunions are staged involving mild, but cumulative, stress for the infant. Separation in such an unfamiliar setting would also likely activate the child's attachment system and allow for a direct test of its functioning.

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albert bandura: major view on learning Bobo doll experiment

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The Bobo doll experiment helped Bandura to theorized that "As children continue to age, the experience still effected their personality, turning them into violent adults

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albert ellis - rational emotive therapy (ret)

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a comprehensive, active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy which focuses on resolving emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives.

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alfred adler - inferiority complex

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speaks to the problem of self-esteem and its negative effects on human health (e.g. sometimes producing a paradoxical superiority striving).

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algorithm

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In mathematics, computing, linguistics, and related subjects, an algorithm is an effective method for solving a problem using a finite sequence of instructions. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and many other fields.

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all or nothing law

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once a neuron begins firing it can only firing at full charge there is no partial firing

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altruism

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selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, and many others.

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american psychological association

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professional organization representing psychologists in the U.S., with around 150,000 members and an annual budget of around $70m. The American Psychological Association is occasionally confused with the American Psychiatric Association, which also uses the acronym APA.

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amnesia

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a memory condition in which memory is disturbed. In simple terms it is the loss of memory. The causes of amnesia are organic or functional. Organic causes include damage to the brain, through trauma or disease, or use of certain (generally sedative) drugs. Functional causes are psychological factors, such as defense mechanisms. Hysterical post-traumatic amnesia is an example of this. Amnesia may also be spontaneous, in the case of transient global amnesia.[1] This global type of amnesia is more common in middle-aged to elderly people, particularly males, and usually lasts less than 24 hours.

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androgyny

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a condition of being neither clearly male or female; having characteristics of both

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apparent motion

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In perceptual illusions:

Beta movement, an illusion of movement where two or more still images are combined by the brain into surmised motion
Illusory motion, the appearance of movement in a static image
Phi phenomenon, an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession
Stroboscopic effect, a phenomenon that occurs when continuous motion is represented by a series of short or instantaneous samples
Wagon-wheel effect, temporal aliasing effect in which a spoked wheel appears to rotate differently from its true rotation
The illusion of movement deliberately sought by certain forms of op art (optical art)

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arousal

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psychological state of being awake. It involves the activation of the reticular activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond.

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asch's conformity study (line segments)

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The Asch conformity experiments were a series of studies published in the 1950s that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups. These are also known as the "Asch Paradigm".

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attachment

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Attachment (psychology), a predictable emotional connection between individuals
Attachment theory, the theory which is used to describe and investigate the psychological attachment
Attachment (law), a means of collecting a legal judgment by levying on property in the possession of a third party

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attribution theory

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Attribution theory is a social psychology theory developed by Fritz Heider, Harold Kelley, Edward E. Jones, and Lee Ross.

The theory is concerned with the ways in which people explain (or attribute) the behavior of others or themselves (self-attribution) with something else. It explores how individuals "attribute" causes to events and how this cognitive perception affects their usefulness in an organization.

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aversive conditioning (good or bad?)

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aversives are unpleasant stimuli that induce changes in behavior through punishment; by applying an aversive immediately following a behavior, the likelihood of the behavior occurring in the future is reduced. Aversives can vary from being slightly unpleasant or irritating (such as a disliked color) to physically damaging (such as an electric shock). It is not the level of unpleasantness, but rather the effectiveness the unpleasant event has on changing behavior that defines the aversive.

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aversive conditions

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Interpersonal attraction appears to increase under aversive conditions. Two distinct theories suggest that attraction results from either misattribution or fear reduction.

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babinsky response

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An important neurologic test based, believe it or not, upon what the big toe does when the sole of the foot is stimulated. If the big toe goes up, that may mean trouble.

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behavior as being adaptive

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Adaptive Behavior includes the age-appropriate behaviors necessary for people to live independently and to function safely and appropriately in daily life. Adaptive behaviors include real life skills such as grooming, dressing, safety, safe food handling, school rules, ability to work, money management, cleaning, making friends, social skills, and personal responsibility.

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bell curve (normal distribution)

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In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution or Gaussian distribution is a continuous probability distribution that describes data that cluster around a mean or average. The graph of the associated probability density function is bell-shaped, with a peak at the mean, and is known as the Gaussian function or bell curve.

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benjamins worfs theory of linguistic relativism (determinism)

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The linguistic relativity principle (also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) is the idea that the varying cultural concepts and categories inherent in different languages affect the cognitive classification of the experienced world in such a way that speakers of different languages think and behave differently because of it.

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binocular disparity

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Binocular disparity refers to the difference in image location of an object seen by the left and right eyes, resulting from the eyes' horizontal separation. The brain uses binocular disparity to extract depth information from the two-dimensional retinal images in stereopsis. In computer vision, binocular disparity refers to the same difference seen by two different cameras instead of eyes.

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blind spot

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A blind spot, also known as a scotoma, is an obscuration of the visual field. A particular blind spot known as the blindspot, or physiological blind spot, or punctum caecum in medical literature is the place in the visual field that corresponds to the lack of light-detecting photoreceptor cells on the optic disc of the retina where the optic nerve passes through it. Since there are no cells to detect light on the optic disc, a part of the field of vision is not perceived. The brain fills in with surrounding detail and with information from the other eye, so the blind spot is not normally perceived.

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blood brain barrier

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The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a separation of circulating blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) maintained by the choroid plexus in the central nervous system (CNS). Endothelial cells restrict the diffusion of microscopic objects (e.g. bacteria) and large or hydrophillic molecules into the CSF, while allowing the diffusion of small hydrophobic molecules (O2, hormones, CO2). Cells of the barrier actively transport metabolic products such as glucose across the barrier with specific proteins.

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brain: what part do we share with animals? how do we differ?

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We differ in that we have a frontal cortex, executive function, which allows us to prioritize, reason and appreciate humor.

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color blindness

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a variety of disorders marked by inability to distinguish some or all colors

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catharsis

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release of aggresive energy through activity or fantasy

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dendrite

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a branch off the cell body of a neuron that receives new information from other neurons

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crystalyzed

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term describes a type of intelligence which applies cultural knowledge to solving problems

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correlation coefficients

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a positive one near 1.0 indicates two variable are positively related; a negative number indicates a negative relationship; zero indicates no relationship

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classical conditioning

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method of learning in which a neutral stimulus can be used to elicit a response that is usually a natural response to a stimulus

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control group

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subjects in an experiment who do not receive application of the independent variable but are measured nonetheless for the dependent variable

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cognitive dissonance

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perspective on psychology that stresses the importance of mental activities associated with thinking, remembering, etc

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james lang

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theory of emotion in which physiological arousal precedes the emotion

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chaining

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using operant conditioning to teach a complex response by linking together less complex skills

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cross-sectional

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type of study that measures a variable across several age groups at the same time

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chunking

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organizing units of information into manageable units such as memorizing a phone number as three groups of information 248-555-1212

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cognitive dissonance theory

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this says that we will suffer discomfort and act to change the situation when our thoughts and actions seem to be inconsistent

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deindividuation

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when an individual seems to lose himself or herself in the group's identity

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defense mechanisms

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Freud's processes by which individuals express uncomfortable emotions in disguised ways

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deinstitutionalization

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moving people with psychological or developmental disabilities from highly structured institutions to home- or community-based settings

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brocas aphasia

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Expressive aphasia, known as Broca's aphasia in clinical neuropsychology and agrammatic aphasia in cognitive neuropsychology, is an aphasia caused by damage to or developmental issues in anterior regions of the brain, including (but not limited to) the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus known as Broca's area

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brainstorming

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Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem. In 1953 the method was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in a book called Applied Imagination. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output with brainstorming

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BYSTANDERS

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This has to do with the factors or forces that influence whether or not you are likely to come to someone’s aid if you are an innocent bystander. What affects whether or not you stop to help someone in need? Surprisingly enough, there are number of factors: whether or not you are in a hurry, whether you feel competent, whether the person is like you, whether you are with a small group versus a large group, whether or not you are in a good mood.

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carl rogers ;person centered therapy

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This has to do with the factors or forces that influence whether or not you are likely to come to someone’s aid if you are an innocent bystander. What affects whether or not you stop to help someone in need? Surprisingly enough, there are number of factors: whether or not you are in a hurry, whether you feel competent, whether the person is like you, whether you are with a small group versus a large group, whether or not you are in a good mood.

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carol gilligans critique of kohlberg theory

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This has to do with the factors or forces that influence whether or not you are likely to come to someone’s aid if you are an innocent bystander. What affects whether or not you stop to help someone in need? Surprisingly enough, there are number of factors: whether or not you are in a hurry, whether you feel competent, whether the person is like you, whether you are with a small group versus a large group, whether or not you are in a good mood.

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clever hans experiment

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This has to do with the factors or forces that influence whether or not you are likely to come to someone’s aid if you are an innocent bystander. What affects whether or not you stop to help someone in need? Surprisingly enough, there are number of factors: whether or not you are in a hurry, whether you feel competent, whether the person is like you, whether you are with a small group versus a large group, whether or not you are in a good mood.

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character disorders

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There are 10 of them in DSM-IV. They have to do with character "flaws" that interfere with a persons relationship to others, their performance on the job and even their image of themselves. They are not "crazy" in the sense that they have lost touch with reality, but they have inappropriate or disproportional personality traits that often put them at odds with other people. For example, the Antisocial Personality has an inability to feel guilt when he does something wrong and feels no shame or remorse (thus he’s always in trouble with the law), the Paranoid Personality always feels he’s being watched or others are out to get him, the Schizoid Personality is the extreme loner, to the point of being a recluse, etc. These disorders are a whole different category in DSM and separate from the other major categories.

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complementary colors

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Mostly black/white, red/green, blue/yellow. There are pairs of cones that are antagonistic (work opposite each other) on the retina and they are tuned to these colors.

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conflicts: four kinds

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Four kinds of conflicts: Generally, there are four kinds of conflicts that we often get caught in and that will result in stress. a. Approach/Avoidance: having to choose something that has some good qualities but it also has some bad qualities. You want to go to Princeton but it’s so expensive. b. Approach/Approach – having to choose between two things, both of which have something good to offer. You get into Princeton and Harvard and you like them equally.

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major cortecies of the brain

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cerebral cortex- The outer surface of the brain.

motor cortex- The region of the cerebral cortex that controls the action of the body’s voluntary muscles.

auditory cortex- The area of the temporal lobes that receives and processes auditory information.

visual cortex- The region of the occipital lobes in which visual information is processed.

association cortex- The parts of the cerebral cortex in which many high-level brain processes occur.

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CS-CR-UCS-UCR

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These are acronyms for terms in classical conditioning. They stand for conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response.

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determinism

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the belief that human behavior can be boiled down to one or two major factors that "determine" everything about you. For example, biological determinism is the belief that biology is destiny. Everything you are can be explained by a few biological principles. Economic determinism would be the belief that everything about humans could be reduced to a few simple economic principles. Human beings are thought to be too complicated to be reduced to any simple principle.

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developemental psychology

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concerned with changes that occur to humans as we grow throughout the life span. It encompasses changes from infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.

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descriptive vs. inferential statistics

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58. Descriptive statistics merely describe data, inferential statistics try to infer causation between variables.

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daniel golemans views on emotional intelligence

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He believes that we have something called "emotional intelligence" which is the knowledge and ability to manage our emotions, respond appropriately to situations and the ability to make sound emotional decisions. He argues that this kind of intelligence is more important in life than the traditional math/verbal kind of intelligence that schools seem to glorify to the detriment of developing kids with good emotional skills needed to make sound decisions

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David McClelland

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an American psychologist who studied something called "achievement motivation." His research led him to believe that achievement motivation could be taught and acquired through proper learning. He even went to India once, selected people who fit the personality profile of an "entrepreneur" and then gave them the skills to develop a successful business, or in other words, "taught" them how to be high achievers. Guess what? The project worked. A ten year follow up showed most of his students were quite successful at building businesses. McClelland researched the conditions necessary to develop achievement motivation in people.

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"tricyclic" antidepressants

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The early drugs used to treat depression were known as "tricyclic" antidepressants. They worked but often had serious side effects and could be quite toxic if mixed with other substances. We don’t use them much anymore, relying instead on SSRI drugs like Prozac which target very specific receptor sites in the brain and don’t have the severe side effects.