AP Psychology Important Theories
Cannon-Bard Theory
An emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion
Gender-Schema Theory
Children learn from their cultures a concept of what it means to be male or female and that they adjust their behavior accordingly.
Place Theory
Links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.
Opponent-Process Theory
Opposing retinal processes enable color vision (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black).
James-Lange Theory
Our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.
Social Exchange Theory
Our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
Signal Detection Theory
Predicts how and when we detect the presences of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation.
Scapegoat Theory
Prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.
Terror-Management Theory
Proposes that faith in one's worldview and the pursuit of self-esteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death.
Two-Factor Theory
Schachter's theory that to experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal.
Drive-Reduction Theory
The idea that psychological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the needs.
Frequency Theory
The rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.
Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory
The retina contains three different color receptors--one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue--which when stimulated in a combination, can produce the perception of any color.
Gate-Control Theory
The spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.
Cognitive-Dissonance Theory
We act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent.
Social Learning Theory
We learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
Attribution Theory
We tend to give a casual explanation for someone's behavior, often by creating either the situation or the person's disposition.
