AP Psychology Vocabulary

Absolute Threshold

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.

Example: "The faintest sound you can hear in a quiet room represents your          for auditory stimuli."

Accommodation

In Piaget's theory, the process of adjusting existing cognitive schemas or creating new ones when existing schemas do not fit new experiences.

Example: "When a toddler sees a horse for the first time and creates a new category instead of calling it a dog, the child is using         ."

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter associated with voluntary movement, learning, and memory.

Example: "Deterioration of neurons that produce          has been linked to Alzheimer's disease."

Acquisition

The initial stage of learning or conditioning when a response is first established and gradually strengthened.

Example: "During         , the dog began salivating at the sound of the bell after repeated pairings with food."

Action Potential

A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron, triggered when the neuron's excitation reaches the threshold.

Example: "When the neuron reached its threshold, an          was generated and the signal traveled down the axon."

Adrenal Glands

Endocrine glands located atop the kidneys that produce stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.

Example: "During the fight-or-flight response, the          release epinephrine to prepare the body for action."

Agonist

A drug molecule that increases a neurotransmitter's action by mimicking it and binding to its receptor sites.

Example: "Nicotine acts as an          for acetylcholine by stimulating the same receptor sites."

Agoraphobia

An anxiety disorder characterized by an intense fear of being in open or public spaces where escape might be difficult.

Example: "After her panic attacks became frequent, she developed          and refused to leave her home."

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Example: "Using an         , you could find a word in a word search by checking every possible letter combination."

All-or-None Principle

The principle that a neuron either fires with full strength or does not fire at all; there is no partial firing.

Example: "Because of the         , a stronger stimulus does not produce a stronger action potential in a single neuron."

Altruism

Unselfish behavior that may be detrimental to the self but benefits others.

Example: "Jumping into a river to save a drowning stranger is an example of         ."

Amnesia

Loss of memory, usually partial, such as for a specific period of time or certain types of information.

Example: "After the car accident, the patient experienced          and could not remember the events surrounding the crash."

Amygdala

A limbic system structure that attaches emotional significance to information and mediates fear and aggression responses.

Example: "Damage to the          can impair a person's ability to recognize fearful facial expressions."

Anal Stage

Freud's second psychosexual stage, occurring in toddlerhood, in which pleasure is focused on bowel and bladder control.

Example: "According to Freud, conflicts during the          can lead to an overly rigid or messy personality in adulthood."

Antagonist

A drug molecule that blocks a neurotransmitter's action by occupying its receptor site without activating it.

Example: "Curare acts as an          for acetylcholine, causing paralysis by blocking muscle activation."

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new memories after brain trauma or injury, while older memories may remain intact.

Example: "The patient with          could remember his childhood but could not recall what he ate for breakfast that morning."

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A personality disorder marked by a pervasive lack of empathy and disregard for the rights of others, often involving deceitful or aggressive behavior.

Example: "The individual diagnosed with          showed no remorse after manipulating and harming others."

Anxiety

A physiological and psychological reaction to an expected danger, whether real or imagined.

Example: "She felt overwhelming          before the exam, even though she had studied thoroughly."

Aphasia

An impairment of the ability to produce or understand language, typically caused by brain damage.

Example: "After his stroke, the patient developed          and struggled to form coherent sentences."

Arousal Theory

The theory that we are motivated by an innate desire to maintain an optimal level of physiological and psychological stimulation.

Example: "According to         , a person who is bored may seek out thrilling activities like skydiving."

Asch Conformity Experiment

Solomon Asch's study demonstrating that individuals often conform to an incorrect group answer on a simple line-judgment task due to social pressure.

Example: "In the         , participants gave obviously wrong answers to match the group about one-third of the time."

Assimilation

The process of incorporating new experiences into existing cognitive schemas.

Example: "When a child calls every four-legged animal a dog, she is demonstrating         ."

Attachment

The strong emotional bond that a child forms with a primary caregiver, important for healthy social and emotional development.

Example: "Harlow's experiments with infant monkeys demonstrated that          is based more on contact comfort than on nourishment."

Attribution Theory

The theory that we explain others' behavior by attributing it either to internal dispositions or to external situations.

Example: "Using         , she concluded that her coworker's rudeness was caused by a bad personality rather than a stressful day."

Authoritarian Parenting

A parenting style focused on strict rules, rigid expectations, and an emphasis on obedience with little warmth or open communication.

Example: "The father's          style left no room for discussion; his children were expected to follow orders without question."

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style that sets reasonable rules while encouraging open communication and fostering independence.

Example: "Research shows that          tends to produce children with high self-esteem and strong social skills."

Autonomic Nervous System

The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls involuntary functions such as heart rate, digestion, and breathing.

Example: "The          activated his fight-or-flight response, causing his heart rate and breathing to increase rapidly."

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind rather than on actual probability.

Example: "After watching news coverage of plane crashes, she used the          and overestimated the danger of flying."

Aversion Therapy

A behavioral treatment that pairs an unpleasant stimulus with an unwanted behavior to reduce that behavior.

Example: "In         , a medication that causes nausea is paired with alcohol consumption to discourage drinking."

Axon

The long, thread-like extension of a neuron through which electrical impulses travel away from the cell body toward other neurons.

Example: "The          of motor neurons can extend from the spinal cord all the way to the muscles in the feet."

Babbling Stage

Beginning around 4 months of age, the stage of speech development in which infants spontaneously produce a variety of speech sounds.

Example: "During the         , the infant repeated sounds like 'ba-ba' and 'da-da' without attaching meaning to them."

Basal Ganglia

Brain structures deep within the cerebral hemispheres involved in voluntary motor control and procedural learning.

Example: "Damage to the          can result in the tremors and movement difficulties seen in Parkinson's disease."

Behavior Modification

The application of behavioral principles, such as reinforcement and punishment, to change a specific behavior.

Example: "The teacher used          by giving students tokens for good behavior that could be exchanged for rewards."

Behavior Therapy

The use of learning principles, such as classical and operant conditioning, to treat psychological disorders.

Example: "Her therapist used          to gradually expose her to spiders in order to reduce her phobia."

Behaviorism

A school of psychology asserting that behavior is measurable and can be studied and changed through principles of conditioning.

Example: "John B. Watson championed          by arguing that psychology should focus only on observable behavior, not mental processes."

Belief Perseverance

The tendency to cling to one's initial beliefs even after the basis for those beliefs has been discredited.

Example: "Even after the study was proven to be fabricated, he demonstrated          by continuing to cite its findings."

Big Five Personality Traits

Five broad personality dimensions—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—used to describe human personality.

Similar definitions: OCEAN, Five-Factor Model

Example: "Researchers assessed her personality using the          and found she scored high in openness and low in neuroticism."

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that require the use of both eyes, such as retinal disparity and convergence.

Example: "         help us judge how far away a nearby object is by comparing the slightly different images from each eye."

Biological Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies how the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.

Similar definitions: Behavioral Neuroscience, Biopsychology

Example: "A researcher in          might study how damage to the hippocampus affects memory formation."

Biopsychosocial Approach

An integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors to understand behavior and mental processes.

Example: "The          explains depression through genetics, negative thinking patterns, and stressful life circumstances."

Bipolar Disorder

A mood disorder characterized by alternating episodes of mania and depression.

Example: "During the manic phase of his         , he went on spending sprees and slept very little for days."

Bottom-Up Processing

Sensory analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration and interpretation of information.

Example: "When you hear an unfamiliar sound and try to identify it based on its acoustic qualities, you are using         ."

Broca's Aphasia

A speech production impairment resulting from damage to Broca's area in the left frontal lobe, causing slow and halting speech.

Example: "The stroke patient with          could understand questions but struggled to form words in response."

Broca's Area

A region in the left frontal lobe that controls language expression and speech production.

Example: "Damage to          impairs the ability to speak fluently while leaving comprehension relatively intact."

Bystander Effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present.

Example: "The          was demonstrated when none of the 38 witnesses called for help during the Kitty Genovese attack."

Cannon-Bard Theory

The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion.

Example: "According to the         , you feel afraid and your heart pounds at the same time when you see a threat."

Cell Body

The main part of a neuron that contains the nucleus and processes information received from the dendrites.

Similar definitions: Soma

Example: "The          integrates incoming signals and determines whether the neuron will fire an action potential."

Central Nervous System

The division of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord.

Example: "Damage to the          can have devastating effects because neurons there have limited ability to regenerate."

Centration

A young child's tendency to focus on only one aspect of a situation while neglecting other important features.

Example: "The child demonstrated          when she said the tall, narrow glass had more water than the short, wide one."

Cerebellum

A brain structure at the rear of the brainstem responsible for coordinating balance, smooth movement, and posture.

Example: "Damage to the          can result in clumsy, uncoordinated movements and difficulty maintaining balance."

Cerebral Cortex

The thin outer covering of the cerebral hemispheres responsible for higher-level thinking, perception, and conscious experience.

Example: "The          is the part of the brain most responsible for complex thought, language, and decision-making."

Chunking

The process of organizing information into meaningful groups to improve short-term memory capacity.

Example: "By using         , she remembered the number 1-9-4-5-1-8-6-1 as two historical dates: 1945 and 1861."

Circadian Rhythm

A biological clock that regulates body functions such as wakefulness and sleep on a roughly 24-hour cycle.

Example: "Jet lag occurs because travel across time zones disrupts the body's         ."

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a naturally occurring stimulus-response pair until the neutral stimulus alone triggers the response.

Example: "Pavlov demonstrated          when his dogs began salivating at the sound of a bell that had been repeatedly paired with food."

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing maladaptive behaviors).

Example: "Her therapist used          to help her identify negative thought patterns and replace them with healthier ones."

Cognitive Development

The growth of thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities that occurs throughout the lifespan.

Example: "Piaget's theory of          describes how children progress through stages of increasingly complex thought."

Cognitive Dissonance

The psychological discomfort experienced when holding two or more contradictory attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors simultaneously.

Example: "The smoker who knows smoking is harmful experiences          and may minimize the health risks to reduce the discomfort."

Cognitive Map

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment used for navigation and spatial understanding.

Example: "Tolman's rats demonstrated the use of a          when they found shortcuts through the maze without prior reinforcement."

Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies mental processes such as thinking, memory, problem solving, and language.

Example: "A researcher in          might study how people form mental categories to organize information."

Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared reservoir of memories, symbols, and archetypes inherited from our ancestors and common to all humanity.

Example: "Jung believed that universal symbols like the hero or the mother figure arise from the         ."

Collectivism

A cultural orientation that prioritizes group goals and group identity over individual desires and personal achievement.

Example: "In cultures that emphasize         , family obligations often take precedence over personal ambitions."

Compulsion

A repetitive behavior performed in response to an obsession, carried out to reduce anxiety or prevent a dreaded event.

Example: "Her          to wash her hands dozens of times a day was driven by an obsessive fear of contamination."

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget's stage of cognitive development (ages 7–12) in which children gain the ability to think logically about concrete events and understand conservation.

Example: "A child in the          can understand that pouring water into a different-shaped glass does not change its volume."

Conditioned Response

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

Example: "In Pavlov's experiment, salivation in response to the bell alone was the         ."

Conditioned Stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Example: "In Pavlov's experiment, the bell became the          after being repeatedly paired with the presentation of food."

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that supports one's preexisting beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.

Example: "Due to         , the researcher only noticed data that supported her hypothesis and overlooked data that did not."

Conformity

The tendency to adjust one's behavior or thinking to match a group standard.

Example: "Asch's line experiment demonstrated          when participants gave obviously wrong answers to match the group."

Confounding Variable

A factor other than the independent variable that might affect the dependent variable, potentially undermining the validity of an experiment.

Example: "If participants in the drug group are also younger than those in the placebo group, age is a         ."

Consciousness

Our awareness of ourselves and our environment, including thoughts, sensations, and perceptions.

Example: "Sleep researchers study altered states of          to understand how awareness changes during different sleep stages."

Conservation

The understanding that the quantity of a substance remains the same despite changes in its shape or appearance.

Example: "A child who has not yet mastered          will say that a flattened ball of clay has less clay than a round one."

Context-Dependent Memory

The idea that information is better recalled when a person is in the same physical context or environment as when the information was first encoded.

Example: "         explains why returning to your old school can trigger memories you haven't thought about in years."

Continuous Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule in which a desired response is reinforced every single time it occurs.

Example: "Using         , the trainer gave the dog a treat after every successful sit command during early training."

Control Group

The group in an experiment that does not receive the experimental treatment and serves as a baseline for comparison.

Example: "The          received a placebo pill while the experimental group received the actual medication."

Convergent Thinking

Logical, focused thinking aimed at finding a single correct answer to a well-defined problem.

Example: "Solving a math equation requires          because there is only one right answer."

Conversion Disorder

A condition in which a person experiences neurological symptoms such as blindness, paralysis, or numbness that cannot be explained by a medical condition.

Similar definitions: Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder

Example: "After a traumatic event, the patient suddenly lost feeling in her legs despite no neurological damage, a case of         ."

Corpus Callosum

The large band of neural fibers that connects the two brain hemispheres and allows them to communicate.

Example: "Split-brain patients have had their          severed, preventing information from passing between the left and right hemispheres."

Correlation

A statistical measure of the extent to which two variables change together, indicating the strength and direction of their relationship.

Example: "A positive          between study time and grades means that more studying is associated with higher grades."

Counterconditioning

A conditioning procedure that uses learning principles to replace an unwanted response to a stimulus with a more desirable one.

Example: "Systematic desensitization is a form of          that pairs relaxation with anxiety-provoking stimuli to reduce fear."

Critical Period

An optimal time window during early development in which exposure to certain experiences is required for proper development to occur.

Example: "If a child is not exposed to language during the         , they may never fully develop normal language abilities."

Cross-Sectional Study

A research method that compares people of different ages at the same point in time to study developmental differences.

Example: "The researcher used a          to compare memory performance in 20-year-olds, 40-year-olds, and 60-year-olds."

Crystallized Intelligence

Accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and verbal skills that tend to increase with age and experience.

Example: "A grandparent's vast vocabulary and wealth of life knowledge reflect high         ."

Declarative Memory

Long-term memory for facts and events that can be consciously recalled and explicitly stated.

Similar definitions: Explicit Memory

Example: "Remembering that the capital of France is Paris is an example of         ."

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious psychological strategies the ego uses to protect itself from anxiety caused by conflicts among the id, ego, and superego.

Example: "Freud believed that          like repression and denial help people cope with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings."

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint that can occur in group situations, often leading to impulsive behavior.

Example: "         helps explain why people in large crowds or wearing masks may act in ways they normally would not."

Delusion

A false belief that is firmly maintained despite clear and contradictory evidence.

Example: "The patient's          that the government was monitoring his thoughts is a common symptom of schizophrenia."

Dendrites

The branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

Example: "The          of the neuron pick up signals from neighboring neurons across the synapse."

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable that is measured in an experiment to see if it is affected by the independent variable.

Example: "In a study on the effects of sleep on test scores, the test score is the         ."

Depressants

Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions, such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates.

Example: "         like alcohol impair judgment and reaction time by slowing activity in the central nervous system."

Depth Perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions and to judge their distance from oneself.

Example: "Gibson and Walk's visual cliff experiment showed that infants develop          by the time they can crawl."

Developmental Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout the entire human lifespan.

Example: "A researcher in          might study how moral reasoning changes from childhood through adulthood."

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)

The standard classification system published by the American Psychiatric Association used to diagnose psychological disorders.

Example: "The therapist referred to the          to determine whether the patient's symptoms met the criteria for major depressive disorder."

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for individuals in a group to feel less personal responsibility for taking action, especially in emergencies.

Example: "         explains why bystanders in a crowded area each assume someone else will call for help."

Discrimination (Learning)

The learned ability to distinguish between similar stimuli and respond differently to each.

Example: "Through         , Pavlov's dog learned to salivate to a specific bell tone but not to other similar sounds."

Displacement

A defense mechanism in which a person redirects emotional feelings from the original source to a safer, substitute target.

Example: "After being yelled at by his boss, the man demonstrated          by going home and snapping at his family."

Dissociation

A detachment from reality that can range from mild experiences like daydreaming to severe conditions like dissociative identity disorder.

Example: "The trauma survivor experienced         , feeling disconnected from her own body during stressful situations."

Dissociative Identity Disorder

A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities.

Similar definitions: Multiple Personality Disorder

Example: "The patient diagnosed with          appeared to shift between personalities that had different mannerisms and memories."

Divergent Thinking

Creative, open-ended thinking that explores multiple possible solutions to a problem.

Example: "Brainstorming as many uses as possible for a brick is a classic test of         ."

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter involved in movement, motivation, attention, and the brain's reward and pleasure system.

Example: "Addictive drugs often increase          levels in the brain's reward pathway, reinforcing continued use."

Double-Blind Study

An experiment in which neither the participants nor the researchers know who is in the experimental group or the control group.

Example: "A          is used to eliminate both participant and researcher bias from influencing the results."

Drive

An aroused, motivated state that arises from a physiological need and propels an organism to satisfy that need.

Example: "Hunger creates a          that motivates a person to seek food and eat."