AP Psychology Benchmark 2 Review Guide

Unit I: Psychology’s History and Approaches Module 2: Psychology’s Big Issues and Approaches (pgs. 9-19)

1. What is the nature vs. nurture debate? Be sure to fully explain each side. Which side do you favor? Give examples.

2. What is the general conclusion of which the nature vs. nurture debate?

3. What are the different levels of analysis of psychology?

4. Define the biopsychosocial approach.

5. Summarizing the table on page 12, as well as the information in the reading, fill in the chart below on the different approaches in psychology.

Psychology’s Approaches Perspective Focus Sample Question (just pick one) Behavioral Biological Cognitive Evolutionary Humanistic Psychodynamic Social-cultural

Unit II: Research Methods: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science Module 4: The Need for Psychological Science (pgs. 29-37)

1. What are the three reasons that we can’t rely solely on intuition and common sense?

2. What is critical thinking? Module 5: The Scientific Method and Description (pgs. 38-45)

1. Define each of the following parts of the scientific method. After each definition, give an example. • Scientific method

• Theory

• Hypothesis

• Operational definitions

• Replicate (no example needed for this one)

2. There are three different ways to tests a hypothesis. Describe each of these. a. Descriptive methods

b. Correlational methods

c. Experimental methods

3. Read pg. 40-42 to fill in the chart below. While advantages and disadvantages are implied in the read on each one—you should have at least 2 per box. There is a table on pg. 53 that can also help you with this.

Method Definition Advantages Disadvantages Case Studies

1. 2.

1. 2.

Naturalistic Observation

1. 2.

1. 2.

Surveys

1. 2.

1. 2.

4. Using the three above, what would be the best research method to use to study each of these? Why?

• People who have one or more hobbies report more job satisfaction than people with no hobbies. • Siamese twins are stared at by younger children more often than by adults • Unmarried cab drivers talk more with their customers than do married cab drivers • More men than women report fantasies of making large sums of money.

5. Describe an example of the wording effect in surveys.

6. What is a sampling bias? What happens if you have a sampling bias in a survey?

Module 6: Correlation and Experimentation (pgs. 46-55)

1. What is a correlation? Give an example of one.

2. Define the following: • Correlation Coefficient

• Scatterplot

• Negative correlation (Give an example of a negative correlation in your definition.)

• Positive correlation (Give an example of a positive correlation in your definition.)

3. Correlation Coefficients range from -1 to +1. What does it mean when a score is very close to -1 or +1?

4. Give an example in which correlation does not prove causation.

5. What is an illusory correlation? Give an example.

6. Define the experiment terminology below: • Experiment

• Experimental Group

• Control Group

• Randomly Assign

• Double-Blind Procedure

• Placebo Effect

• Independent Variable

• Confounding Variable

• Dependent Variable

7. Each of the following is a hypothesis of an experiment. For each one list the Independent Variable (IV), Dependent Variable (DV), Experimental Group (EG), and Control Group (CG).

• “There will be a statistically significant difference in graduation rates of at-risk high-school seniors who participate in an intensive study program as opposed to at-risk high-school seniors who do not participate in the intensive study program.”

o IV: o DV: o EG: o CG:

• “After watching a videotaped re-enactment of a bank robbery, people will recall more about the robbery while being questioned under hypnosis by a police officer as opposed to not being under hypnosis.”

o IV: o DV: o EG: o CG:

• “A new drug will increase the maze running performance of older rats.” o IV: o DV: o EG: o CG:

8. What is validity?

9. What is random assignment? Why is this so important? Module 7: Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life (pgs. 56-63) 1. Why is it important to understand basic statistics in psych?

2. Define the following:

• Descriptive statistics

• Histogram

• Mode

• Mean

• Median

• Range

• Standard deviation

3. What does it mean when data is has a skewed distribution? How does this happen? Why could this be misleading?

4. What is standard deviation? Why is this the most useful way of measuring how much scores deviate from one another?

5. What is the normal curve or normal distribution? Draw it. Be sure to include everything in Figure 7.3, including the percentages under each section of the curve.

6. Define inferential statistics.

7. What three principles should you keep in mind to make sure your generalizations are reliable?

8. Define statistical significance. What is the number that psychologists stick to—for results to be statistically significant their odds of occurring by chance are less than _______ %?

Module 8: Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology (pgs. 64-70) 1. What is culture? Why does culture and gender matter in psychology?

2. Read the section on ethics in research with animals, pgs. 66-67. Would the IRB approve the following research? Why?

Professor King is a psychobiologist working on the frontiers of a new and exciting research area of neuroscience canned brain grafting. Research has shown that neural tissue can be removed from the brains of monkey fetuses and implanted into the brains of monkeys that have suffered brain damage. The neurons seem to make the proper connections and sometimes are effective in improving performance in brain-damaged animals. These experiments offer important animal models for human degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alxheimer’s/ Professor King wants to transplant tissue from fetal monkey brains into the entorhinal cortex of adult monkeys; this is the area of the human brain that is involved with Alzheimer’s disease. (continued)

The experiment will use 20 adult rhesus monkeys. First, the monkeys will be subjected to ablation surgery in the entorhinal cortex. This procedure will involve anesthetizing the animals, opening their skulls, and making lesions using a surgical instrument. After their recover, the monkey’s will be tested on a learning task to make sure their memory is impaired. Three months later, half of the animals will be given transplant surgery. Tissue taken from the cortex of monkey fetuses will be implanted into the area of the brain damage. Control animals will be subjected to the sham surgery, and all animals will be allowed to recover for two months. They will then learn a task to test the hypothesis that the animals having brain grafts will show better memory than the control group.

Professor King argues that this research is in the exploratory stages and can only be done using animals. She further states that by the year 2030 about 72 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s disease and that her research could lead to a treatment for the devastating memory loss that Alzheimer’s victims suffer.

3. What are the four basic ethical principles developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) that guide

researchers with human participants?

Unit III: Biological Bases of Behavior Module 9: Biological Psychology and Neurotransmission (pgs. 76-85)

1. Define the following: • Phrenology

• Biological psychologists

2. Read about the different parts of a neuron. Label the parts and define the purpose/function of each part. (dendrite, axon,

myelin sheath, terminal branches, cell body, synapse, synaptic gap, receptor sites, neurotransmitter, axon terminal, sending neuron, receiving neuron)

3. Summarize the process of neural communication in your own words. Include the following terms in your summary: action potential, ions, resting potential, selectively permeable, depolarizes, refractory period, excitatory, inhibitory, threshold, all-or-none-response, synaptic gap, neurotransmitters, reuptake.

4. Neurotransmitters are the chemical molecules that bind to the receptor sites. For each neurotransmitters listed below, explain its function. Also, list what diseases are associated with each neurotransmitter.

• Acetylcholine

• Dopamine

• Serotonin

• Norepinephrine

• GABA

• Glutamate

• Endorphins

5. What is an agonist? What is an antagonist? (The pictures on pg. 83 are super helpful.)

Module 10: The Nervous and Endocrine Systems (pgs. 86-93) 1. What are nerves? What are the difference between sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons?

2. Draw the diagram of the organization of the nervous system with definitions of each part of the nervous system.

3. Summarize the importance of neural networks.

4. Define reflex. What controls general reflexes and pain reflexes? Why do you think your brain does not control those?

5. Define the following terms:

• Endocrine system

• Hormones

• Adrenal glands

• Pituitary gland

Module 11: Studying the Brain, and Older Brain Structures (pgs. 94-103) 1. For each of the research methods listed below, summarize briefly how it works and what it tells scientists about the brain.

• Lesion

• Electroencephalograph (EEG)

• Computerized Tomography (CT) scan

• Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan

• Functional MRI (fMRI)

2. Label each part of the brain using pgs. 97-101 as a reference. Underneath each label, provide a concise definition of the function of each part—no more than 3 words per part. Finally, color each part a different color. (Label the following parts: brainstem, medulla, pons, thalamus, reticular formation, cerebellum, spinal cord, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, amygdala, hippocampus, corpus callosum)

3. What are cerebral hemispheres?

4. What parts of the brain are included in the limbic system? In general, what kinds of functions are associated with the limbic system?

Module 12: The Cerebral Cortex (pgs. 104-113)

1. What is the cerebrum? What is the cerebral cortex? In general, what are its functions?

2. What are glial cells? Where specifically in the brain are glial cells located?

3. The cerebral cortex is divided into many parts associated with their functions. For each part below, explain what the function is and describe its approximate location:

• Frontal lobe

• Parietal lobe

• Occipital lobe

• Temporal lobe

• Motor cortex

• Somatosensory cortex

4. What are association areas? Where are they found?

5. What does Broca’s area do?

6. What does Wernicke’s area do?

7. Summarize what happened to Phineas Gage and what it helped tell us about the brain.

8. What does brain plasticity mean? Why is it important? What is neurogenesis? Module 13: Brain Hemisphere Organization and the Biology of Consciousness (pgs. 114-122)

1. What is the corpus callosum? What did Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga do?

2. What happens in split-brain surgery? Why is it performed? What does it reveal about brain functioning?

3. What functions are mainly controlled by the left hemisphere? What functions are controlled by the right hemisphere?

4. Define dual processing. Explain how the hollow face illusion can be explained by dual processing. Module 14: Behavior Genetics: Predicting Individual Differences (pgs. 123-134)

1. Define the following terms about genetics: • Behavior genetics

• Environment

• Chromosome

• DNA

• Genes

• Genome

2. What is the difference between identical and fraternal twins?

3. Why are twins, particularly twins separated at birth, the perfect people to study to answer the nature vs. nurture question?

4. When comparing adopted twins, are twins more like their biological parents or their adoptive parents?

5. Define molecular genetics. What is your opinion, if we have the technology, should we allow parents to screen their

embryos before birth for disorders, smartness, beauty?

6. Define heritability. What does it mean that the heritability of intelligence is 50%?

Module 15: Evolutionary Psychology: Understanding Human Nature (pgs. 135-144) 1. Define the following:

• Evolutionary psychologists

• Natural selection

• Mutations

2. Explain how behaviors can be selected for their adaptive value. Be sure to explain a few examples.

3. What do men find attractive in a mate? What do women find attractive in a mate? How was natural selection involved? Unit VII: Cognition (Memory, Thinking, Language) Module 31: Studying and Building Memories (pg. 316-328)

• Memory:

• There are 3 steps of memory (according to information-processing models): 1. Encoding:

2. Storage:

3. Retrieval:

• Parallel processing:

• What happens to the neurons in your brain every time you learn something new?

• Forming memories is another 3 step process: 1. Sensory memory:

2. Short-term memory:

3. Long-term memory:

• Working Memory (short-term memory):

A. Building Memories: Encoding • Explicit memory (declarative memory):

o Encoded through effortful processing:

• Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory):

o Encoded through automatic processing:

o Examples of things you automatically process:

Types of sensory memories • Iconic memory:

o Example:

• Echoic memory:

o Example:

• How many things can short-term memory hold?

Ways to help effortful processing • Chunking:

o Example:

• Mnemonics:

o Example:

• Hierarchies:

• Spacing effect:

• Testing effect:

Levels of Processing • Shallow processing:

o Example:

• Deep processing:

o Example:

• Which is better for your memory over time—shallow or deep?

Module 32: Memory Storage and Retrieval (pg. 329-340)

• What is the capacity for long term memory?

• What part of the brain lays down new explicit memories (names or events)?

• What happens to memories while you are sleeping?

• What kinds of memories does the cerebellum form?

• What kinds of memories does the basal ganglia form?

• Flashbulb memories:

• What part of the brain is involved in emotional memories, like flashbulb memories?

• Describe an especially strong (probably emotional memory) that you can remember about yourself.

• Long-Term Potentiation (LTP):

A. Retrieval • 3 measures of retention:

o Recall:

o Recognition:

o Relearning:

• What is the point to remember about Ebbinghaus’ learning experiments?

• Retrieval cues are things that can make it easier to remember something. Give 2 examples of retrieval cues.

aka. Don’t cram!

• Priming:

• State-dependent memory:

• Mood congruent:

• Serial position effect: Module 33: Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Memory Improvement (pg. 341-355)

• What is the difference between anterograde and retrograde amnesia?

• What are the possible reasons we could forget something because of an encoding failure?

• What did Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve prove about how much time it takes to forget something?

• When you have a retrieval failures, what is one way you could help yourself remember the information?

• Proactive Interference:

o Example:

• Retroactive interference:

o Example: • Repression:

o Famous psychologist associated with repression:

A. Memory Construction Errors • What is reconsolidation?

• Misinformation effect:

o Psychologist associated with this:

• Source Amnesia:

• Déjà vu:

• Is it easy to tell real memories from false one?

B. Improving Memory • Suggestions to help you improve your memory while studying (just list, don’t describe):

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

Module 34: Thinking, Concepts, and Creativity (pg. 356-360) • Cognition:

• Concepts:

• Prototypes:

o Example:

• Creativity: • Convergent thinking:

o Example:

• Divergent thinking: o Example:

• Do you consider yourself a creative person? Why/why not?

• 5 components of creativity:

1. Expertise: 2. Imaginative thinking skills:

3. A venturesome personality:

4. Intrinsic motivation:

5. A creative environment:

Module 35: Solving Problems and Making Decisions (pg. 361-371)

A. Problem Solving: Strategies and Obstacles • Algorithms:

o Example:

• Heuristics: o Example:

• Insight:

Obstacles to Problem Solving

• Confirmation Bias:

o Example:

• Mental Set:

o Example:

B. Forming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments • Intuition:

• Representative heuristic:

o Example:

• Availability heuristic: o Example:

• Overconfidence:

o Example:

o How is overconfidence related to happiness?

• Belief Perseverance:

• Framing: Module 36: Thinking and Language (pg. 372-383)

• Language:

A. Language Structure • Phonemes:

o Example:

• Morphemes: o Example:

• Grammar:

B. Language Development • What is receptive language? How old are babies when they understand that?

• What is productive language?

• Babbling Stage:

• One-Word Stage:

• Two-Word Stage: o Telegraphic Speech:

• What does Noam Chomsky believe about language development?

• What happens to children who have not been exposed to any speaking language before their critical period ends?

• Aphasia:

• Broca’s Area:

• Wernicke’s Area:

• Linguistic determinism:

o Example: Unit 14: Social Psychology Module 74: Attribution, Attitudes, and Actions (pg. 753-761)

• Social Psychologists:

• Attribution Theory:

• Fundamental Attribution Error:

o Example:

• Self-serving bias (rewrite definition here because it belongs here too!):

• Attitudes: o Give an example of how your attitude effects your actions.

• Peripheral route persuasion: o Example:

• Central route persuasion:

o Example:

• Foot-in-the-door phenomenon: o Example:

• Role:

• Summarize Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment.

• Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory: o Example:

Module 75: Conformity and Obedience (pg. 762-770)

• What is the chameleon effect?

• Conformity:

• Summarize Asch’s Conformity Experiments.

• List 4 reasons that make people more likely to conform.

• Normative Social Influence:

• Informative Social Influence:

• Summarize Milgrim’s Obedience Experiments.

• Explain how the foot-in-the-door effect explains Milgrim’s experiment results. Module 76: Group Behavior (pg. 771-779)

• Social Facilitation:

o Why do we perform better when other people are there?

• Social Loafing:

o What 3 things cause social loafing?

• Deindividuation:

o Example:

• Group Polarization:

• Groupthink:

• What is the difference between social control and personal control?

• What is minority influence?

• Culture:

• Norms: o Example:

Module 77: Prejudice and Discrimination (p. 780-788)

• Prejudice:

o Prejudice is a 3 part mixture of:

• Stereotypes:

• Ethnocentrism:

• Discrimination:

• Give an example of how subtle prejudice lingers even though overt prejudice might be gone.

• Just-world phenomenon: o Example:

• Ingroup:

• Outgroup:

• Ingroup Bias:

• Scapegoat Theory: o Example:

• Other-race effect:

• Hindsight bias (look up definition if have to):

Module 78: Aggression (pg. 789-797)

• Aggression:

• What are the 3 levels of biology involved in aggression?

• What parts of the brain are involved in human aggression?

• What chemical influences aggression?

• Frustration-aggression principle:

o Example:

• Social scripts:

o Example:

• Explain the social script example of the rape myth.

• After reading about violent video games, what do you believe—do violent video games cause teenagers to become more violent?

Module 79: Attraction (pg. 798-806) • Mere Exposure Effect:

• List 4 different aspects to attractiveness in all of the studies the book describes.

• What does the reward theory of attraction say?

• Passionate Love:

• Companionate Love:

• Equity:

• Self-disclosure:

Module 80: Altruism, Conflict, and Peacemaking (pg. 807-816) • Altruism:

• Explain what happened to Kitty Genovese.

• Bystander Effect:

• Social Exchange Theory:

• Reciprocity Norm:

• Social-Responsibility Norm:

• Conflict:

• Social Traps: *also called game theory or prisoner’s dilemma

• Mirror-image perceptions: • Self-fulfilling prophecy:

o Example:

• When does it help to put conflict parties into close contact?

• Way to promote cooperation: Superordinate goals:

• GRIT strategy: