AP Psychology ALL Terms Questions
and Answers 100% Pass
psychology - ✔✔the science of behavior and mental processes
nature-nurture issue - ✔✔the long-standing controversy over the relative contributions
that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and
behaviors
natural selection - ✔✔the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations,
those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to
succeeding generations
neuroscience - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how the body
and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
evolutionary - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how nature
selects traits that promote the perpetuation of one's genes
behavior genetics - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how
much our genes, and our environment, influence our individual differences
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,psychodynamic - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how
behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
behavioral - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we learn
observable responses
cognitive - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we encode,
process, store, and retrieve information
social-cultural - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how
behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
basic research - ✔✔pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
applied research - ✔✔scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
clinical psychology - ✔✔a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people
with psychological disorders
psychiatry - ✔✔a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by
physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as
psychological therapy
hindsight bias (I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon) - ✔✔the tendency to believe, after
learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
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,critical thinking - ✔✔thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions.
Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and
assesses conclusions
theory - ✔✔an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and
predicts observations
hypothesis - ✔✔a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition - ✔✔a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define
research variables. For example, intelligence may be operationally defined as what an
intelligence test measures
replication - ✔✔repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different
participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding generalizes to other
participants and circumstances
case study - ✔✔an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the
hope of revealing universal principles
survey - ✔✔a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of
people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them
false consensus effect - ✔✔the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share
our beliefs and behaviors
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, population - ✔✔all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
random sample - ✔✔a sample that fairly represents a population because each member
has an equal chance of inclusion
naturalistic observation - ✔✔observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring
situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
correlation coefficient - ✔✔a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary
together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
scatterplot - ✔✔a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two
variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the
two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of correlation (little scatter
indicates high correlation).
illusory correlation - ✔✔the perception of a relationship where none exists
experiment - ✔✔a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more
factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental
process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants the
experimenter controls other relevant factors)
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and Answers 100% Pass
psychology - ✔✔the science of behavior and mental processes
nature-nurture issue - ✔✔the long-standing controversy over the relative contributions
that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and
behaviors
natural selection - ✔✔the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations,
those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to
succeeding generations
neuroscience - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how the body
and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
evolutionary - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how nature
selects traits that promote the perpetuation of one's genes
behavior genetics - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how
much our genes, and our environment, influence our individual differences
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
,psychodynamic - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how
behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
behavioral - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we learn
observable responses
cognitive - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we encode,
process, store, and retrieve information
social-cultural - ✔✔the perspective of psychological science that deals with how
behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
basic research - ✔✔pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
applied research - ✔✔scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
clinical psychology - ✔✔a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people
with psychological disorders
psychiatry - ✔✔a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by
physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as
psychological therapy
hindsight bias (I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon) - ✔✔the tendency to believe, after
learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 2
,critical thinking - ✔✔thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions.
Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and
assesses conclusions
theory - ✔✔an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and
predicts observations
hypothesis - ✔✔a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition - ✔✔a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define
research variables. For example, intelligence may be operationally defined as what an
intelligence test measures
replication - ✔✔repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different
participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding generalizes to other
participants and circumstances
case study - ✔✔an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the
hope of revealing universal principles
survey - ✔✔a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of
people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them
false consensus effect - ✔✔the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share
our beliefs and behaviors
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 3
, population - ✔✔all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
random sample - ✔✔a sample that fairly represents a population because each member
has an equal chance of inclusion
naturalistic observation - ✔✔observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring
situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
correlation coefficient - ✔✔a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary
together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
scatterplot - ✔✔a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two
variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the
two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of correlation (little scatter
indicates high correlation).
illusory correlation - ✔✔the perception of a relationship where none exists
experiment - ✔✔a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more
factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental
process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants the
experimenter controls other relevant factors)
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