AP Psychology Key Terms Summary

Attribution and Social Psychology

• Attribution Theory: Explains behavior by crediting either the situation or a person’s disposition.
• Fundamental Attribution Error: Overestimating personal disposition and underestimating situational impact.
• Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon: Complying with larger requests after agreeing to smaller ones.
• Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo): Role playing influences behavior—people conform to roles.
• Cognitive Dissonance: Changing behavior to avoid looking bad; e.g., shifting views on gay rights.
• Conformity (Asch): Going along with others even when they are wrong.
• Obedience (Milgram): High obedience to authority figures.
• Social Facilitation: Improved performance in presence of others.
• Social Loafing: People do less in groups, expecting others to pull weight.
• Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness in groups.
• Group Polarization and Groupthink: Strengthening of group attitudes; harmony overrides realistic alternatives.
• Just-World Phenomenon: Belief that people get what they deserve.
• Social Traps: Conflicting parties harm collective well-being by pursuing self-interest.
• In-group/Out-group: Identifying with one group while perceiving others as different.
• Hindsight Bias: Believing we could predict outcomes after they occur.
• Prejudice and Mere Exposure Effect: Unjustifiable attitudes; exposure increases liking.
• Altruism and Bystander Effect: Unselfish regard; reluctance to help when others are present.
• Reciprocity Norms: Returning help, not harm.

Psychological Perspectives

• Biological: Links between brain and behavior.
• Cognitive: How we perceive, think, and solve problems.
• Humanistic: Humans are inherently good with free will.
• Behavioral: Observable and measurable behavior.
• Psychoanalytic: Unconscious mind and childhood.
• Sociocultural: Cultural and political influences.
• Evolutionary: Evolutionary history of behaviors.
• Developmental: Changes from womb to tomb.

Historical Figures and Theories

• Wilhelm Wundt: Father of psychology; introspection.
• William James: Functionalism; mind is constantly changing.
• Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis; unconscious drives.
• John Locke: Mind as a blank slate shaped by experience.

Research Methods

• Applied vs. Basic Research: Practical problem-solving vs. expanding knowledge.
• Hypothesis, IV, DV: Testable predictions; variables in experiments.
• Sampling: Selecting participants; random and representative samples.
• Experiments: Control groups, biases, blinding procedures.
• Correlation and Surveys: Relationships between variables; gathering self-reported data.

Biological Basis of Behavior

• Neurons and Neurotransmitters: Communication in the brain.
• Central and Peripheral Nervous System: Brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.
• Autonomic Nervous System: Sympathetic (arousal) and parasympathetic (calming).
• Brain Structures: Function of different brain regions (e.g., limbic system, lobes).

Sensation and Perception

• Vision and Hearing: Processing sensory information.
• Depth Perception and Gestalt Principles: Understanding surroundings.

Learning and Memory

• Classical and Operant Conditioning: Learning through association and consequences.
• Memory Processes: Encoding, storage, retrieval.
• Types of Memory: Sensory, short-term, long-term; explicit vs. implicit.

Motivation and Emotion

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: From basic to self-actualization needs.
• Stress and Coping: General Adaptation Syndrome.
• Emotional Theories: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer.

Developmental Psychology

• Piaget and Erikson’s Stages: Cognitive and psychosocial development.
• Attachment Styles: Secure, avoidant, anxious.
• Parenting Styles: Authoritarian, permissive, authoritative.

Personality and Intelligence

• Freud's Psychosexual Stages: Developmental phases.
• Trait Theories: Big Five (CANOE).
• Intelligence Theories: Gardner, Sternberg, Binet, Terman.

Psychological Disorders

• Anxiety, Mood, and Personality Disorders: Definitions and symptoms.
• Schizophrenia: Types and factors.

Treatment and Therapy

• Therapeutic Approaches: Understanding different methods and their applications.

This summary encompasses key psychological theories, research methodologies, brain structures, and disorders relevant for the AP Psychology exam.