AP Psychology: Essential Terms Review

Directions:
1. You must define ALL of the terms/people/concepts on the attached pages.
2. You may use definitions from the book; however, it is always better to put information in your own
words. This is not like the extra credit. NO ORIGINAL EXAMPLES are needed.
3. You may have to Google some items as they do not appear in the book. There are also links under
Good Psych Links on Blackboard that are specifically listed for vocabulary review. USE THEM!
4. You must HAND WRITE all entries LEGIBLY. I will not accept typed submissions. This is to avoid
cutting and pasting. The point is for you to review/learn not just transfer from the internet.
5. To help you manage your time (ahem. . .avoid procrastinating) I have broken the terms down into
separate due dates. This schedule estimates completing the terms at approximately 4.5 terms per day.
There are a couple of exceptions.
6. Assesses all course Standards & Objectives
Due Dates Blue:
3/03
3/07
3/15
3/29
4/04
4/12
4/18
4/25
5/02

Development/Nature & Nurture (34)

Social Psychology (33)
Sensation (29)
Perception Memory (68)
Motivation/Emotion Thinking/Language (34)
Intelligence Personality (30)
History/Approaches Research/Ethics/Statistics (31)
Neuroscience (38)
Abnormal/Psychopathology Stress (33) THIS SET WILL NEED TO BE DROPPED OFF
BEFORE THE EXAM; ITS AN ORANGE DAY!!!!!

PSYCHOLOGYS ESSENTIAL TERMS

Development/Nature & Nurture

1.Ainsworth Strange Situation (Paradigm)
2.androgyny
3.attachment
4.Babinsky response
5.Carol Gilligan's critique of Kohlberg's
theory
6.developmental psychology.
7.Down's syndrome.
8.Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development.
9.schemas (assimilation vs accommodation)
10.terotogens & fetal alcohol syndrome:
characteristics.
11.formal operations.
12.Critical period
13.genotype & phenotype.
14.Harry Harlow's research with surrogate
mothers.
15.imprinting.
16.Order of stage of pre-natal development
17.Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning.
18.Kubler Ross' stages of dying.
19.newborn baby reflexes.
20.novelty preference.
21.Oedipal conflict.
22.Piaget's stages of cognitive
development(identify major tasks).
23.recessive vs. dominant genes.
24.rooting reflex.
25.sexual characteristics (primary vs.
secondary).
26.sexual identity vs. gender identity.
27.stranger anxiety.
28.Tay-Sachs disease.
29.Tourette's syndrome.
30.Turner's syndrome (X with missing
chromosome).
31.phenylketonuria (PKU).
32.nature vs. nurture controversy.
33.reality principle (function of ego).
34.prospective memory
Social Psychology
1.altruism
2.Asch's conformity study (line segments)
3.attribution theory
4.bystander intervention: factors that
influence it.
5.cognitive dissonance
6.deindividuation.
7.diffusion of responsibility
8.prejudice
9.Ethnocentrism
10.foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
11.fundamental attribution error.
12.groupthink.
13.Hawthorne Effect.
14.group polarization
15.ingroup and outgroup bias.
16.just-world phenomenon.

17.normative social influence.

18.norms.
19.prosocial behavior: what is it and give
an example.
20.social facilitation.
21.social loafing.
22.social trap.
23.Stanley Milgram's experiment with
obedience.
24.stereotype.
25.Zajonc's "Mere Expose Effect".
26.personal space.
27.self-efficacy.
28.self-fulfilling prophecy.
29.self-serving bias.
30.sleeper effect.
31.tragedy of the commons.
32.social exchange theory.
33.high vs. low self-monitors.
Sensation
1. absolute threshold
2. acuity-vision
3. blind spot
4. color blindness: kinds.
5. List 6 major parts of the eye.
6. difference threshold (jnd).
7. feature (signal) detector cells: Hubel
& Wisel's research on visual =
processing.
8. fovea.
9.gustatory sense: kinds of taste bud.
10. habituation.
11. hue: (British term for color).
12. inner ear - vestibular sense.
13. localization of sound (how is it done?
Why are two ears needed?)
14. opponent-process theory of visual
processing (afterimages).
15. optic disc.
16. optic nerve.
17. photoreceptors (2 types)
18. pitch.
19. rods and cones (structures &
differences).
20. transduction.
21. two kinds of deafness: Conductive and
nerve vestibular sense.
22. kinesthetic.
23. signal detection theory.
24. Weber's law.
25. Accomodation
26. Theories of pitch (3)
27. sensory adaptation & exeception
28. gate-control theory of pain
29. pheromones

Perception

1.apparent motion
2.binocular depth cues (describe 2)
3.Cooper's research on visual processing
(using cats)
4.figure - ground - phenomenon.
5.Gestalt theory.
6.Trichromatic Color Theory.
7.monocular depth cues (describe 8).
8.motion aftereffect.
9.motion parallax.
10.one eye problem - what you couldn't do
well if you had only one eye.
11.perceptual constancy
(size,color,shape).
12.perceptual set.
13.phi phenomenon.
14.top-down vs. bottom-up
15.visual cliff.
16.Gansfeld Procedure.
17.induced motion.
Consciousness
18.circadian rhythms.
19.Freudian dream analysis: two levels of
interpretation.
20.hypnosis: major theories of.
21.paradoxical sleep: why is REM called
this?.
22.3 major categories of psychoactive
drugs
23.REM sleep.
24.physical vs. psychological dependence.
25.selective attention.
26.sleep disorders: major kinds.
Learning
27.Albert Bandura: major view on learning
and Bobo Doll experiment
28.aversive conditioning (good or bad?)
29.latent learning & cognitive map as an
example of
30.classical conditioning ( & can you
distinguish it from operant conditioning).
31.CS-CR-UCS-UCR.
32.discriminative stimulus (in operant
learning theory)
33.instrumental - operant conditioning.
34.John Garcia's ideas on the limits of
conditioning.
35.classical vs. operant conditioning
36.long term potentiation.
37.modeling.
38.positive reinforcement vs. negative
reinforcement
39.primary vs. secondary reinforcers
40.punishment: why it may not be effective
and might backfire.
41.schedules of reinforcement (5 kinds which are most effective?).
42.shaping.
43.stages of learning (acquisition,
extinction, spontaneous recovery, =
etc.).

44.stimulus generalization vs.

discrimination
45.Thorndike's Law of Effect.
46.Martin Seligman's "learned
helplessness".
47.chaining.
48.Premack principle.
Memory
49.amnesia (anteriograde & retrograde)
50.chunking.
51.Ebbinghaus' research on memory.
52.echoic vs. iconic memory.
53.long term potentiation
54.eidetic memory.
55.Elizabeth Loftus' research on
eyewitness testimony.
56.episodic memory vs flashbulb memory
57.interference (proactive vs.
retroactive).
58.rehearsal (elaborative vs. maintenance)
59.memory: kinds ( sensory, working, longterm).
60.method of loci.
61.primacy effect.
62.semantic memory.
63.serial position effect.
64.tip-of-the-tongue effect.
65.misinformation effect.
66.next-in-line-effect.
67.explicit vs. implicit memory
68.recall vs. recognition
Motivation/Emotion
1.Cannon's critique of James-Lange theory.
2.conflicts: four kinds
3.David McClelland's achievement
motivation studies.
4.drives.
5.frustration-aggression hypothesis.
6.Gate Control Theory of Pain.
7.incentives.
8.instinct.
9.intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
10.James-Lange theory of emotions.
11.opponent-process theory of emotions.
12.Stanley Schachter's Two Factor Theory.
13.Yerkes/Dodson Arousal Law.
14.set point.
15.anorexia nervosa
16.bulimia nervosa
Thinking/Language
17.algorithm
18.Benjamin Worf's theory of linguistic
relativism (determinism)
19.brainstorming
Continued on next page!
20.divergent vs. convergent creativity
21.expectancy theory (aka mental set)
22.functional fixedness.
23.Heuristics (explain 2)
24.confirmation bias

25.inductive vs. deductive reasoning.

26.metacognition.
27.phonemes vs. morphemes.
28.prototype.
29.schema.
30.semantics vs. syntax
31.syllogism
32.order of speech development
33.concept
34.insight (learning)
Intelligence
1.achievement vs. aptitude tests
2.crystallized vs.fluid intelligence
3.Daniel Goleman's views on emotional
intelligence.
4.G factor.
5.Flynn effect
6.Howard Gardner's view of multiple
intelligence.
7.Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.).
8.intelligence tests (major kinds used).
9.reliability vs. validity in testing.
10.validity: different kinds.
11.mental age.
12.norms vs standardization in testing
13.factor analysis.
Personality
14.Alfred Adler - inferiority complex
15.defense mechanisms: major ones.
16.hierarchy of needs (Maslow) can you put
them in order?.
17.id, ego, superego.
18.internalization
19.identical twin research.
20.Freuds psychosexual stages (describe)
21.Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI) Test: use for what?
22.projective tests: TAT & Rorschach
23.fixation
24.collective unconscious & archetypes
25.Big 5
26.self-actualization
27.self-efficacy
28.reciprocal determinism
29.temperament
30.trait
History/Approaches
1. 6 modern perspectives in pysch
2. social cognitive theory.
3. Wilhelm Wundt & explain structuralism
4. William James & explain functionalism
5. hybrid/eclectic.(not peas & corn)
6. Gestalt psychology
Research/Ethics/Statistics
7. explain 3 types of correlational
research
8. bell curve (normal distribution)
9. control group vs. experimental.

10. correlation coefficients.

11. cross cultural studies.
12. cross sectional studies.
13. descriptive vs. inferential
statistics.
14. experiment: be able to design one
15. false consensus effect.
16. double blind study.
17. generalizability of a study.
18. hindsight bias.
19. placebo effect.
20. illusory correlation.
21. independent/dependent variables.
22. longitudinal study.
23. measures of variability: range and
standard deviation.
24. operationalizing a definition.
25. Informed consent vs. debriefing
26. random sample vs random assignment.
27. scatterplot: most often used to plot
correlations.
28. statistical significance.
29. testable hypothesis.
30. measures of central tendency: mean,
median, mode.
31. Clever Hans experiment.

Neuroscience
1.action vs. resting potential
2.Afferent Neurons vs. Efferent Neurons
vs. Interneurons
3.agonist vs. antagonist chemicals
4.all-or-nothing law (all-or-none) of
neural firing
5.synapse
6.blood brain barrier
7.brain: what part do we share with
animals? How do we differ?
8.Broca's aphasia (expressive) located in
left frontal lobe.
9.cortexes of the brain : major ones.
10.dendrite (purpose of).
11.endocrine organs and hormones secreted
by them.
12.endorphins.
13.galvanic skin response (GRS).
14.ganglia.
15.glial cells.
16.homeostasis.
17.4 parts of brain stem & cerebellum &
functions.
18.imaging techniques: PET, CAT, MRI,
fMRI.
19.L-dopa.
20.limbic system: structures and function.
Continued on next page!
21.major neurotransmitters.
22.myelin sheath: where and purpose?.
23.nervous system: major parts.
24.reflex arc.
25.neuron: three basic parts.

26.neurotransmitters: major kinds.

27.obesity (role of hypothalamus).
28.four major lobes & functions
29.pancreas.
30.pituitary gland.
31.neuroplasticity.
32.reticular formation: related to sleep,
arousal, attention.
33.thalamus (& what sense doesn't get
routed through here?).
34.thyroid gland.
35.Wernicke's aphasia (receptive) located
in left temporal lobe.
36.somatosensory cortex: location and used
for what sense?.
37.water balance (role of hypothalamus).
38.Wilder Penfield's research on the
brain.
Abnormal/Psychopathology BE CAREFUL DUE
TO CHANGES IN DSM-5
1.character/personality disorders : major
ones.
2.depression: SSRI antidepressants are
most widely used to treat it.
3.Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders ( purpose and limits).
4.dissociative disorders & major types.
5.linkage analysis.
6.bipolar disorder
7.Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD).
8.panic attacks (& what's the best
treatment?).
9.positive and negative symptoms (in
mental disorders)

10.post traumatic stress disorder.

11.schizophrenia.spectrum disorder
12.somatic symptoms and related disorders:
major kinds.
13.anxiety disorder Agoraphobia
14.neurodevelopmental disorders address
each (Autism Spectrum, ADHD, Tourettes)
15.Neurocognitive disorders address both
(Alzheimers & Parkinsons)
Therapy
16.Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy
17.Albert Ellis - Rational Emotive Therapy
(RET)
18.meta-analysis
19.Carl Rogers: person (client) centered
therapy & unconditional positive regard.
20.deinstitutionalization.
21.Psychoanalytic techniques of dream
analysis, free association & resistance
22.electroconvulsive shock therapy
23.psychotherapy.
24.group therapy (advantages of ).
25.lithium (bi-polar disorders).
26.milieu therapy.
27.Behavior therapy
28.systematic desensitization: a.k.a.
a kind of counterconditioning.
29.token economy.
Stress
30.Hans Seyle's General Adaptation
Response.
31.Type A vs. Type B personalities
32.Health Psychology
33.psychoneuroimmunology