AP Psychology Module 5

AP Psychology Module 5

1. Lesson 1

   • Concept: Sensory Memory is memory of sensory information, and lasts only a few seconds. Short-Term Memory is actively used, 'working,' memory that lasts as long as it is rehearsed. Long-Term Memory is encoded by the brain and stored for later retrieval.
   • Concept: Visual Encoding uses images to encode and remember information, Acoustic Encoding uses sounds to encode and remember information, Semantic Encoding uses meanings (such as definitions of words) to encode and remember information.
   • Key People: Richard Atkinson and Richard Shriffin - Developed Atkinson-Shriffin Model to describe memory, claiming that memory moves from Sensory to Long-Term in three phases.
   • Pair: The Spacing Effect explains that we are more likely to retain information with longer breaks between practice sessions; the Serial Position Effect explains that we are most likely to remember the beginning and end of a set of information given to us.
   • Pair: Retrograde Amnesia is a loss of memory from the past; Anterograde Amnesia is an inability to create new memories, though past memory is retained.

2. Michael Gadhia / 2020-01-05 / AP Psych / Gallagher

3. Lesson 2

   • Concept: Overconfidence is the tendency to overestimate our beliefs' accuracy. Belief Bias is the tendency to believe what one has always thought or been taught. Belief Perseverance is the tendency to adhere to an existing belief even after it is discredited.
   • Concept: A Representative Heuristic bases a decision on how similar something is to one's prototype of a category. An Availability Heuristic bases a decision on recent information in one's memory.
   • Key People: Robert Sternberg and Todd Lubart - Proposed 5 key components to creative thinking, listing expertise, imagination, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment as key factors.
   • Pair: Convergent Thinking involves focusing on a single approach to solve a problem; Divergent Thinking involves developing multiple solutions to a problem, which facilitates creativity.
   • Pair: Algorithms are step-by-step processes that guarantee a solution while using large amounts of time and effort; Heuristics are problem-solving shortcuts that save time and effort but often fail to arrive at a solution.

4. Lesson 3

   • From 4-10 months, most infants babble, eventually in random phonemes of their home language. From 12-18 months, toddlers grow their vocabulary in one-word phrases. From 24 months onward, they begin to develop sentences, starting with telegraphic, two-word phrases.
   • Concept: Linguistic Relativity, or Worf's Hypothesis, states that our language influences the way that we think. Benjamin Worf developed this theory while examining the language of the Hopi Indians, who do not have a way to communicate the past tense.
   • Pair: Syntax is a language's set of rules for combining words into a sentence; Semantics are a language's set of rules for gathering meaning from words and sentences.
   • Pair: Phonemes are a language's basic units of sound; Morphemes are a language's most basic units that carry meaning.
   • Key Person: Noam Chomsky - Developed theory that language acquisition is innate, opposing the operant learning model of B.F. Skinner.

5. Lesson 4

   • Concept: Psychologists generally define Intelligence as an individual's ability to learn, understand, and deal with new or trying situations. An individual more capable of learning concepts and problem-solving can be said to be more intelligent than another individual in certain ways, but most psychologist believe there are different types of intelligence.
   • Concept: Charles Spearman believed in General Intelligence, claiming that mental capacity could be described by a single 'g-factor' value with factor analysis.
   • Key Person: Howard Gardner - Proposed an intelligence theory with multiple intelligences, listing and defining eight in contrast to Sternberg's three and Spearman's one.
   • Pair: Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, manage, and control emotions; Practical Intelligence is the ability to apply knowledge in real-world situations.
   • Pair: Interpersonal Intelligence (between people) is the ability to interface with others in a reasonable and efficient way; Intrapersonal Intelligence (within a person) is the ability to understand oneself and process and control one's emotions.

6. Lesson 5

   • Concept: Tests are calibrated so that 100 is an average score, and 95% of scores will fall between 70 and 130. A score above this range is considered gifted, and a score below it indicates a cognitive deficit. Scoring in the 98th percentile on the Stanford-Binet Test qualifies an individual for Mensa.
   • Concept: The Flynn Effect refers to a change in the idea of intelligence that forces an IQ test to be recalibrated so that the average score is 100. For example, an average-scoring individual in 1980 would perform worse on the test calibrated for today's population.
   • Key Person: Alfred Binet - French philosopher who developed the Stanford-Binet IQ Test, which is widely used to evaluate intelligence.
   • Pair: Reliability is a measure of whether test results are consistent and repeatable (think of precision in science); Validity is a measure of whether a test measures what it claims to (think of accuracy in science).
   • Pair: The Stanford-Binet IQ Test uses a score from a processing and knowledge test and an individual's 'mental age' to determine intelligence level; the Wechsler Test uses a verbal, performance-based evaluation to determine an individual's ability to adapt.