AP Psychology Exam Prep

1. AP Psychology Exam Prep

2. About the test • 100 multiple choice questions/ 70 minutes • Will you be punished for guessing? • NO • 2 Free Response questions/ 50 minutes • Pick out key words- compare, describe, explain.. • Make notes on the test sheet-definitions, examples…. • Make sure it applies to the case given!!! • WORD, DEFINITION, APPLICATION!!!!

3. Multiple Choice • WRITE ALL OVER IT!!! • After you read the question: • What is it asking • What do you know about the concept/person/theory • What do each of the choices mean • What school of thought is it from

4. Sensation • How do you convert incoming stimuli into neural impulses? • Transduction: the process of changing physical stimuli into neural energy • Two theories of color • Opponent-process: • Triarchic Theory:

5. Eye Pupil: regulates amount of light sent to retina Cornea: clear part covers iris and pupil; lets light in to see Iris: colored part of eye; regulates pupil Lens: behind cornea; focuses light into retina Retina: lines the eye; converts stimuli to signals to be sent to optic nerve Rods-black and white Cones- colored

6. Hearing- Audition Ear: impacts hearing and balance Vestibulocochlearnerve: carries the nerve impulses to be able to hear and balance to the brain Terms: amplitude, frequency, Theories of hearing: Place Theory: location of greatest vibration Frequency Theory: frequency in which amount of hair cell in the cochlea fire

7. Parts of the Ear Cochlea- inner ear contains fluid that vibrates Hammer/anvil/stirrup: small bones relay vibrations of eardrum to inner ear Basil membrane: in the cochlea contains sense receptors for sound

8. Hearing loss • Conductive hearing loss: • When vibrations to inner ear are blocked; earwax build up, ear infections • sensorineural hearing loss: caused from damage to vestibulocochlear nerve; head injury, birth defects, high blood pressure, stroke • Presbycusis- old age • Tinnitus- ringing in the ear

9. Other senses Touch- gate control theory Taste- gustation Smell- olfaction; only one directly connect to brain

10. Concepts • Top-Down Processing: we perceive by filling in gaps with what we know • Bottom-up Processing: use sensory information to process data. • Monocular cues: visual cues-one eye • Interposition-one objct partially blocks another • Linear perspective- base distance on things coming together—lines • Binocular cues: requires both eyes • Retinal disparity- difference between 2 objects • Convergence- both eyes focus same thing • Stereoscopic vision- 3d

11. Sleep • Sleep Cycle • Circadian rhythm: awake and sleep cycle • REM: rapid eye movement; dreams occur • Sleep stages: from slowed breathing, lower blood pressure, near body paralysis • Sleep Disorders • Insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea • Hypnosis

12. Psychopharmacology Psychoactive drugs are either agonist or antagonists Depressants: alcohol, barbiturates(anesthesia) Stimulants: caffeine, cocaine, nicotine, amphetamines Opiates: morphine, heroin, codeine Hallucinogens: LSD, marijuana

13. Social Thinking • Attribution Theory • tendency to give an explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition

14. Social Thinking • Fundamental Attribution Error • tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

15. Social Thinking – Some Concepts • Our Attitudes often direct our behavior but sometimes behavior shapes our attitudes • Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon • tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request • “Doing Becomes Believing”

16. Social Influence • Normative Social Influence • influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval • Leads to……Conformity • adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

17. Social Influence - concepts • Informational Social Influence • influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality • …Leads To Norms • an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior • describes “proper” behavior

18. 3 1 2 Standard lines Comparison lines Social Influence click above for a clip! Asch Conformity Experiment

19. Obedience Stanley Milgram: People conform, but will they simply obey others? 65% of Milgram’s “teachers” did!

20. Social Influence:somebody’s helping me… • Social Loafing • tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

21. Deindividuation • The loss of self awareness and self restrain occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

22. 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Percentage attempting to help 1 2 3 4 Number of others presumed available to help Social Relations • Bystander Effect • tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

23. Social Relations – why do we treat each other differently? • Prejudice • an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members • involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action • Stereotype • a generalized (often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

24. Social Relations – why prejudice & social bias? • Ingroup Bias • tendency to favor one’s own group • Scapegoat Theory • theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame • Just-World Phenomenon • tendency of people to believe the world is just • people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

25. Preconceived ideas can affect the way someone acts towards another person. • Our expectations of behavior can be influenced as well. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy.

26. Social Relations • Aggression • any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy • Frustration-Aggression Principle • principle that frustration – the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal – creates anger, which can generate aggression

27. To Help or Not to Help… The Bystander Effect • Inaction or failure to assume responsibility due to the mere presence of others.

28. Social Relations- What attracts us to others? • Proximity • mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them • Physical Attractiveness • youthfulness may be associated with health and fertility • Similarity • friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests

29. Social Relations • Passionate Love • an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another • usually present at the beginning of a love relationship • Companionate Love • deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

30. The key to lasting and satisfying relationships • Equity • a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it • Self-disclosure • revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others • Altruism • unselfish regard for the welfare of others