AP STUDY GUIDES EXAM WITH PRACTICE QUESTIONS & VERIFIED
SOLUTIONS | 2026/2027 LATEST UPDATE | ALREADY GRADED A+
Frances Galton - ANSWER Maintained that personality and ability depend almost entirely on genetic
inheritance (human traits are inherited)
Charles Darwin - ANSWER Theory of evolution, survival of the fittest-origin of the species
William Wundt - ANSWER Introspection-psychology became the scientific study of conscious
experience (rather than science); father of modern or scientific psychology; structuralism was the
approach and introspection was the methodology
John Watson - ANSWER Founder of behaviorism; generalization; applied classical conditioning skills
to advertising; most famous for Little Albert experiment, where he trained Albert to be afraid of rats
and then to generalize his fear to all small, white animals
Alfred Adler - ANSWER Neo-Freudian; believed that childhood social, not sexual tensions, are crucial
for personality formation; believed that people are primarily searching for self-esteem and achieving
the ideal self.
Carl Jung - ANSWER Disciple of Freud who extended his theories; believed in a collective as well as a
person unconscious that is aware of ancient archetypes which we inherit from our ancestors and we
see in myths; coined the terms introversion and extroversion
Gordon Allport - ANSWER Three levels of traits- 1. Cardinal Trait- dominate trait that characterizes
your life, 2. Central Trait- common to all people, 3. Secondary Trait- surfaces in some situations and
not in others.
Albert Ellis - ANSWER Father of Rational Emotive Therapy, which focuses on altering client's patterns
of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotion.
Albert Maslow - ANSWER Humanist psychologist who said we have a series of needs which must be
met; you can't achieve the top level, self-actualization, unless the previous levels have been
achieved; from bottom to top levels are physiological needs, safety, belonging, self-esteem, self-
actualization; lower needs dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied.
,Carl Rogers - ANSWER Humanistic psychologist who believed in unconditional positive regard; people
will naturally strive for self-actualization and high self-esteem, unless society taints them; reflected
back client's thoughts so that they developed a self-awareness or their feelings; client-centered
therapy.
B.F. Skinner - ANSWER Operant conditioning- techniques to manipulate the consequences of an
organism's behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior; Skinner box; believed
psychology was not scientific enough; wanted it to be believed, everyone is born tableau rosa (blank
slate); NOT concerned with unconscious or cause, only behavior.
Ivan Pavlov - ANSWER Father of classical conditioning- an unconditional stimulus naturally elicits a
reflexive behavior called an unconditional response, but with repeated pairings with a neutral
stimulus, the neutral stimulus will elicit the response.
Noam Chomsky - ANSWER Believed there are an infinite number of sentences in a language and that
humans have an inborn native ability to develop language; words and concepts are learned but the
brain is hardwired for grammar and language.
Jean Piaget - ANSWER Four-state theory of cognitive development- sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, formal operational; two basic processes (assimilation and accommodation)
work in tandem to achieve cognitive growth.
Erik Erikson - ANSWER People evolve through 8 stages over the lifespan; each state is marked by
psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"
Lawrence Kohlberg - ANSWER His theory states that there are 3 levels of moral reasoning (pre-
conventional, conventional, post-conventional) and each level can be divided into 2 stages.
Carol Gilligan - ANSWER maintained that Kohlberg's work was developed only observing boys and
overlooked potential differences between the habitual moral judgment of men and women
Hans Eysenck - ANSWER personality is determined to a large extent by genes; used the terms
extroversion and introversion
S. Schacter - ANSWER believed that to experience emotions one must be physically aroused and
must then label the arousal.
, Mary Cover Jones - ANSWER Systemic desensitization: maintained that fear could be unlearned; Little
Peter experiment.
Benjamin Whorf - ANSWER His hypothesis is that language determined the way we think.
Robert Sternberg - ANSWER triarchic theory of intelligence- [1] academic problem-solving
intelligence [2] practical intelligence [3] creative intelligence
Howard Gardner - ANSWER Theory the multiple intelligence
Albert Bandura - ANSWER Observational learning- allows you to profit immediately from the
mistakes and successes of others; his experiment has adult models punching Bobo dolls and then
observed children who watched begin to exhibit many of the same behaviors; social learned theory.
E.L. Thorndike - ANSWER law of effect - the principle that behavior followed by favorable
consequences becomes more likely and vice versa
Alfred Binet - ANSWER general I.Q. Tests
Lewis Terman - ANSWER revised Binet's I.Q. test and established norms for American children
David Weschler - ANSWER established an intelligence test especially for adults (Weschler intelligence
Test for Adults)
Charles Spearman - ANSWER found that specific mental talents were highly correlated; concluded
that all cognitive abilities showed a common core which he labeled "g" for general ability.
H. Rorschach - ANSWER developed one of the first projective tests, the Inkblot Test; subject reads the
Inkblots and projects to the observer aspects of their personality.
Philip Zimbardo - ANSWER conducted the famous Stanford Prison Experiment; studied the power of
social roles to influence people's behavior; proved people's behavior depends on a large extent on
the roles they are asking to play; experiment had to be stopped because it got out of control.
SOLUTIONS | 2026/2027 LATEST UPDATE | ALREADY GRADED A+
Frances Galton - ANSWER Maintained that personality and ability depend almost entirely on genetic
inheritance (human traits are inherited)
Charles Darwin - ANSWER Theory of evolution, survival of the fittest-origin of the species
William Wundt - ANSWER Introspection-psychology became the scientific study of conscious
experience (rather than science); father of modern or scientific psychology; structuralism was the
approach and introspection was the methodology
John Watson - ANSWER Founder of behaviorism; generalization; applied classical conditioning skills
to advertising; most famous for Little Albert experiment, where he trained Albert to be afraid of rats
and then to generalize his fear to all small, white animals
Alfred Adler - ANSWER Neo-Freudian; believed that childhood social, not sexual tensions, are crucial
for personality formation; believed that people are primarily searching for self-esteem and achieving
the ideal self.
Carl Jung - ANSWER Disciple of Freud who extended his theories; believed in a collective as well as a
person unconscious that is aware of ancient archetypes which we inherit from our ancestors and we
see in myths; coined the terms introversion and extroversion
Gordon Allport - ANSWER Three levels of traits- 1. Cardinal Trait- dominate trait that characterizes
your life, 2. Central Trait- common to all people, 3. Secondary Trait- surfaces in some situations and
not in others.
Albert Ellis - ANSWER Father of Rational Emotive Therapy, which focuses on altering client's patterns
of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotion.
Albert Maslow - ANSWER Humanist psychologist who said we have a series of needs which must be
met; you can't achieve the top level, self-actualization, unless the previous levels have been
achieved; from bottom to top levels are physiological needs, safety, belonging, self-esteem, self-
actualization; lower needs dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied.
,Carl Rogers - ANSWER Humanistic psychologist who believed in unconditional positive regard; people
will naturally strive for self-actualization and high self-esteem, unless society taints them; reflected
back client's thoughts so that they developed a self-awareness or their feelings; client-centered
therapy.
B.F. Skinner - ANSWER Operant conditioning- techniques to manipulate the consequences of an
organism's behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior; Skinner box; believed
psychology was not scientific enough; wanted it to be believed, everyone is born tableau rosa (blank
slate); NOT concerned with unconscious or cause, only behavior.
Ivan Pavlov - ANSWER Father of classical conditioning- an unconditional stimulus naturally elicits a
reflexive behavior called an unconditional response, but with repeated pairings with a neutral
stimulus, the neutral stimulus will elicit the response.
Noam Chomsky - ANSWER Believed there are an infinite number of sentences in a language and that
humans have an inborn native ability to develop language; words and concepts are learned but the
brain is hardwired for grammar and language.
Jean Piaget - ANSWER Four-state theory of cognitive development- sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, formal operational; two basic processes (assimilation and accommodation)
work in tandem to achieve cognitive growth.
Erik Erikson - ANSWER People evolve through 8 stages over the lifespan; each state is marked by
psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"
Lawrence Kohlberg - ANSWER His theory states that there are 3 levels of moral reasoning (pre-
conventional, conventional, post-conventional) and each level can be divided into 2 stages.
Carol Gilligan - ANSWER maintained that Kohlberg's work was developed only observing boys and
overlooked potential differences between the habitual moral judgment of men and women
Hans Eysenck - ANSWER personality is determined to a large extent by genes; used the terms
extroversion and introversion
S. Schacter - ANSWER believed that to experience emotions one must be physically aroused and
must then label the arousal.
, Mary Cover Jones - ANSWER Systemic desensitization: maintained that fear could be unlearned; Little
Peter experiment.
Benjamin Whorf - ANSWER His hypothesis is that language determined the way we think.
Robert Sternberg - ANSWER triarchic theory of intelligence- [1] academic problem-solving
intelligence [2] practical intelligence [3] creative intelligence
Howard Gardner - ANSWER Theory the multiple intelligence
Albert Bandura - ANSWER Observational learning- allows you to profit immediately from the
mistakes and successes of others; his experiment has adult models punching Bobo dolls and then
observed children who watched begin to exhibit many of the same behaviors; social learned theory.
E.L. Thorndike - ANSWER law of effect - the principle that behavior followed by favorable
consequences becomes more likely and vice versa
Alfred Binet - ANSWER general I.Q. Tests
Lewis Terman - ANSWER revised Binet's I.Q. test and established norms for American children
David Weschler - ANSWER established an intelligence test especially for adults (Weschler intelligence
Test for Adults)
Charles Spearman - ANSWER found that specific mental talents were highly correlated; concluded
that all cognitive abilities showed a common core which he labeled "g" for general ability.
H. Rorschach - ANSWER developed one of the first projective tests, the Inkblot Test; subject reads the
Inkblots and projects to the observer aspects of their personality.
Philip Zimbardo - ANSWER conducted the famous Stanford Prison Experiment; studied the power of
social roles to influence people's behavior; proved people's behavior depends on a large extent on
the roles they are asking to play; experiment had to be stopped because it got out of control.
