AP PSYCHHHH

• Psychoanalytical


  Unconscious mind controls much of our thought and action. Searched for memories pushed into the unconscious mind through repression.
• Behavioural


  Conditioning. In terms of reward and punishment. The environmental conditions that caused the response in the person
• Cognitive


  Irrational thought. Explains psychological tendencies in terms of a person interprets social situations
• Humanistic


  Stressed individual choice and free will. Non-determinsitic and believed that all people were innately kind. Opposite Freud (deterministic)
• Evolutionary (Darwin)


  Examine human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection. Psychological traits that are advantageous for survival will be passed down onto future generations.Based on Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) theory of natural selection. Survival advantage
• Biopsychological


  Explains human thought and behaviour strictly in terms of biological processes. Due to genes, hormones and/or neurotransmitters
• Longitudinal study


  A research design that examines how individuals develop by studying the same sample over a long period of time. Time consuming but accurate.
• Cross-sectional study


  A research design conducted at a single point in time, comparing groups of differing ages to arrive at conclusions about development. Quicker but less accurate because there are confounding variables such as cultural influences.
• Reliability


  How consistent the results are
• Validity


  Whether it measures what it intends to
• Amygdala


  Centre of emotions and motivations
• Absolute threshold


  Smallest amount of stimulation required for detection.
• Difference threshold (Just noticeable difference)


  Minimum required difference between two stimuli for a person to sense.
• Inattentional blindness


  Failing to see objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
• The cocktail party effect


  Able to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli.
• Sensory adaptation


  A reduction in sensitivity to a stimulus after constant exposure to it.
• Bottom-up processing


  Stimulus itself to shape our perception, without any preconceived ideas. Tree -> forest
• Top-down processing


  Use our background knowledge and expectations to interpret what we see. Forest -> tree
• Perceptual set


  A predisposition to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others.
• Transduction


  Conversion of one form of energy into another, as when environmental stimuli are transformed into neural signals
• Cognitive dissonance


  An uncomfortable state of mind arising when you recognize inconsistencies in your beliefs and/or behaviours.
• Positive reinforcement


  Add something positive
• Negative reinforcement


  Remove something negative
• Positive punishment


  (Punishment) Adds something negative
• Negative punishment


  Removes something positive.
• Fixed Ratio


  Reinforcement is delivered after a set number of responses (e.g. a restaurant gives out a free meal after every 10 meals)
• Fixed Interval


  Reinforcement is delivered after a behaviour is performed following the passage of a fixed amount of time (e.g. going to get lunch at a restaurant that opens promptly at noon)
• Variable Ratio


  Reinforcement is delivered after a variable number of responses (e.g. jackpot)
• Variable Interval


  Reinforcement is delivered after a behaviour is performed following the passage of a variable amount of time. Least learning, extinct.
• Modelling


  Watching and imitating a behaviour.
• Premack principle


  A high-probability behaviour can be used to reinforce a low-probability behaviour. Engaging in a preferred or more desirable activity can serve as a reward for engaging in a less preferred or less desirable activity.
• Acquisition (higher order conditioning)


  Learning the associations between the NS and US that creates a CS, associating a response with consequences
• Instinctive Drift


  A conditioned behaviour may drift back towards the natural and instinctive behaviour of the animal.
• Retroactive interference


  Learning new information interferes with the recall of older information.
• Proactive interference


  Older information learned previously interferes with the recall of information learned more recently.
• Belief bias


  The tendency to view that which conflicts with one's own bias as illogical, or believing something illogical in order to support a pre-existing belief.
• Belief perseverance


  The tendency to continue believing something even after evidence supporting it has been contradicted.
• Fluid intelligence


  Declines with age.
• Crystallised intelligence


  The ability to apply previously learned knowledge to solve a new task
• Metacognition


  The ability to control and be aware of your own thoughts