5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition (82 page)

Five points are to be awarded for the sensory and brain issues addressed in
a
, 2 points for explaining the fight-or-flight theory in
b
, 1 and point for correctly identifying and explaining a current theory of emotion in
c
.

Point 1:
Eye focusing the image—cornea→pupil→lens→retina

Point 2:
Eye transducing energy—rods and cones
are photoreceptors that convert light energy to energy of the electrochemical impulse

Point 3:
Transmission of information to the brain—from the retina→optic nerve→thalamus or brain

Points 4 and 5:
Mention of at least two brain parts involved in visual processing of the bear: optic chiasma where information from one-half of each eye crosses to opposite hemisphere; thalamus as sensory relay and for color processing; occipital lobes or feature detectors in visual cortex; association areas of the cortex integrate sensory information to enable perception of bear

Point 6:
Explanation of the “fight-or-flight” response—sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate, pulse, and blood pressure and slows digestion making energy available to muscles

Point 7:
Pituitary signals adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline which gives the extra surge of energy to run faster than ever

Point 8:
Description of either Schachter’s two-factor theory or Lazarus’s cognitive appraisal theory or Ekman’s facial feedback system or LeDoux and role of amygdala

Seeing the brown bear in his backyard obviously caused an alarming sensory experience for John which was quickly translated into quick action thanks to his sympathetic nervous system and the expression of fearful emotion. Light rays bounced off the bear’s brown coat and entered John’s eyes through the cornea which begins the process of focusing. Next the light passes through the pupil controlled by the iris. John’s eyes open very wide! Next the light is focused by the curved lens which changes shape in relation to the distance of the bear and inverts the bear’s image to focus on the retina on the back part of the eye where receptors (rods and cones) are stimulated. The rods and cones transduce the light energy into the electrochemical energy of a neural impulse. The brown color stimulates the cones especially concentrated in the fovea which is where John’s best acuity is. If enough cells fire, the bipolar cells are activated and finally the ganglion cells are activated. The axons of the ganglion cells in each eye form the optic nerves which send the image to the thalamus in the brain (the sensory relay) which then sends it on to the occipital lobes where feature detectors will help John to perceive the dangerous image of the bear.

The “fight-or-flight” reaction is the physiological arousal of the body or sympathetic nervous system in response to a stressor (the bear) that enables John to get away fast. When John perceived the bear, messages were sent to his organs, glands, and muscles. John’s heart rate and blood pressure immediately accelerated and his breathing deepened. The pituitary gland also secreted hormones that commanded the adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline (epinephrine) which helped give him the extra energy to run faster than he had ever done.

There are several contemporary theories which are helpful in explaining why John felt fear and not anger or sadness. Schachter’s two-factor model explains that first John felt the physiological arousal as explained above. He could identify the reason for this arousal (the bear) and knowing that bears can be very dangerous, he felt the emotion of fear. Lazarus’s model says that a thought must come before any emotion or physiological arousal. John recognized that the bear could kill him, then he could actually experience the fear. Ekman would explain the fear as the experience of changes in his facial muscles. When reacting to the bear, John’s eyes widened, his teeth clenched, and these muscle cues alerted his brain to interpret this as fear. Anger or sadness would involve different muscles.

Now that you’ve finished Practice 2 Exam and scored your answers, you can examine your results. Did you get all of the questions correct for a particular chapter? That’s excellent. You don’t need to spend much time going over that topic. Did you answer several questions incorrectly for a particular chapter? Go over that materical carefully.

You can
roughly
equate your results to an AP test score. To put an approximate AP score on the results of your practice test, follow these steps:

Glossary

Bibliography

Websites

Abnormal behavior
—
behavior which is statistically unusual, maladaptive, and personally distressing to the individual.

Absolute threshold
—
the weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least half the time.

Abstract learning
—
learning in which the relationship between and among stimuli are more important than the physical features of the stimuli.

Accommodation
—
process by which we modify our schemas to fit new information; process of changing the curvature of the lens to focus light rays on the retina of the eye.

Acetylcholine (ACh)
—
a neurotransmitter that causes contraction of skeletal muscles, helps regulate heart muscles, is involved in memory and also transmits messages between the brain and spinal cord. Lack of ACh is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Achievement motive
—
the desire to accomplish something, to excel, or reach a standard of excellence.

Achievement tests
—
tests that measure our current mastery of a subject or specific program of study.

Acoustic encoding
—
the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

Acquisition
—
learning a new behavior; refers to the initial stage of conditioning in which the new response is established and gradually strengthened.

Action potential
—
also called an impulse, the “firing” of a neuron; a net flow of sodium ions into the cell that causes a rapid change in potential across the membrane when stimulation reaches threshold.

Activation-synthesis theory
—
during REM sleep the brainstem stimulates the forebrain with random neural activity, which we interpret as a dream.

Active listening
—
Rogers’s term for hearing another person with complete attention to what he/she says and means through acknowledging feelings, echoing, restating, and seeking clarification.

Actor-observer bias
—
tendency to focus on our own situations and the other person, rather than his/her situation, when we interpret behavior.

Acuity
—
ability to detect fine details; sharpness of vision. Can be affected by small distortions in the shape of the eye.

Adaptations
—
structures or behaviors that increase chances of survival.

Addiction
—
physiological dependence on a drug that has changed brain chemistry, necessitating taking the drug to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Adrenal glands
—
endocrine glands atop kidneys. Adrenal cortex, the outer layer, produces steroid hormones such as cortisol which is a stress hormone. Adrenal medulla, the core, secretes adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) which prepare the body for “fight or flight” like the sympathetic nervous system does.

Affective (mood) disorder
—
disorder characterized by significant shifts or disturbances in mood that affect normal perception, thought, and behavior; e.g., depression and bipolar disorders.

Afferent neuron
—
also called sensory neuron, nerve cell in our PNS that transmits impulses from receptors to the brain or spinal cord.

Affiliation motive
—
the need to be with others.

Age of viability
—
the end of the second trimester in pregnancy; the point at which there is a reasonable chance the fetus will survive if born prematurely.

Aggression
—
any behavior intended to hurt someone, either physically or psychologically.

Alarm response
—
first stage of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome (GAS) to stress; involves increasing activity of the sympathetic nervous system speeding up heart rate, blood pressure, and releasing adrenaline.

Albinism
—
recessive trait that produces lack of pigment, and involves quivering eyes and inability to perceive depth with both eyes.

Algorithm
—
problem-solving strategy that involves a slow, step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to certain types of problems.

All-or-none-principle
—
the law that the neuron either generates an action potential when the stimulation reaches threshold or it doesn’t fire when
stimulation is below threshold. The strength of the action potential is constant whenever it occurs.

Altruism
—
an unselfish interest in helping others.

Alzheimer’s disease
—
a fatal degenerative disease in which brain neurons progressively die, causing loss of memory, reasoning, emotion, control of bodily functions, then death.

Amnesia
—
a loss of memory.

Amygdala
—
part of the limbic system of brain that influences emotions such as aggression, fear, and self-protective behaviors; is involved in the storage of emotional memories.

Anal stage
—
Freud’s second stage of development in which the child receives pleasure from the anal region especially during elimination.

Analytical
—
one of the three parts of Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence; is similar to what is tested by traditional IQ tests and what we are asked to do in school: compare, contrast, analyze, and figure out cause-effect relationships.

Anchoring effect
—
the tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response toward that point.

Androgyny
—
the presence of desirable masculine and feminine characteristics in one individual.

Animism
—
belief of a preoperational child that all things are living just like him/her according to Piaget.

Anorexia nervosa
—
eating disorder more common in the adolescent female characterized by weight less than 85% of normal, abnormally restrictive food consumption, and an unrealistic body image that she is still fat.

Anterograde amnesia
—
a disorder caused by brain damage that disrupts a person’s ability to form new long-term memories of events that occur after the time of the brain damage.