1. Sensory Processes and Perception
Sensation vs. Perception
Sensation is the passive reception of data from the senses; perception is its active interpretation and organization in the brain.
Sensory Thresholds
Absolute threshold (minimum to detect a stimulus), difference threshold (JND – just noticeable difference).
Weber-Fechner Law
The relationship between stimulus intensity and change; remember that this law fails at extreme values.
Visual Receptors
Rods (black and white vision, dim light) vs. cones (colors, details, fovea).
Blind Spot vs. Yellow Spot (Fovea)
Yellow spot = area of sharpest vision; Blind spot = no receptors (exit of the optic nerve).
Illusion vs. Hallucination
Illusion = distorted real stimulus. Hallucination = false perception without an external stimulus (originates in the brain).
Gestalt Laws
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts; law of Pragnanz (good figure), proximity, similarity, figure-ground relationship.
2. Attention, Memory, and Learning
Properties of Attention
Tenacity (sustained attention), capacity, vigilance (alertness), oscillation (fluctuation), selectivity.
G. A. Miller
Short-term memory capacity is the "magic number" 7 ± 2 items.
H. Ebbinghaus
Forgetting curve; we forget the most and the fastest immediately after learning.
Amnesia
Retrograde (loss of past memories) vs. Anterograde (inability to form new memories).
Trap: Implicit Memory
A patient with anterograde amnesia does not lose the ability to learn new motor skills (implicit memory still functions).
Interference
Proactive (old information disrupts the learning of new) vs. Retroactive (new information overwrites old).
Basic Forms of Learning
Habituation (weakening of a response to a harmless stimulus) vs. Sensitization (strengthening of a response).
Learning: Who is Who?
Pavlov (classical conditioning), Skinner/Thorndike (operant conditioning, law of effect), Köhler (insight learning), Bandura (observational learning, Bobo doll).
3. Thinking, Imagination, and Emotions
Types of Thinking
Convergent (seeking one correct solution) vs. Divergent (creative, seeking multiple alternatives).
Phases of Creativity
1. Preparation, 2. Incubation (ripening in the unconscious), 3. Illumination (Aha-experience), 4. Verification.
Whorf's Hypothesis
The structure of the language we speak fundamentally influences our cognitive categories (linguistic relativity).
Theories of Emotion
James-Lange (body/physiology precedes emotion), Cannon-Bard (occur simultaneously), Schachter-Singer (physiological arousal + cognitive label).
Paul Ekman
Described 6 universal, innate emotions across cultures. Trap: Pain is not an emotion!
Yerkes-Dodson Law
A moderate level of arousal (motivation) is optimal for the best possible performance. Both too low and too high arousal impair performance.
Parapraxis
A Freudian slip (slip of the tongue), which, according to Freud, reveals unconscious wishes.
4. Consciousness, Sleep, and Altered States
Topographic Model
Freud's division of the psyche into the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.
Sleep Stages
NREM sleep (physical regeneration) vs. REM sleep (psychological regeneration, dreams).
REM Sleep Paradox
The brain is highly active (like in wakefulness), but skeletal muscles are completely paralyzed.
Sleepwalking (Somnambulism)
Occurs exclusively in deep NREM sleep. It would be impossible in the REM phase due to muscle paralysis.
Drugs: Alcohol Trap
From a pharmacological perspective, alcohol is a depressant, slowing down the nervous system (relaxation is caused by the suppression of inhibitions).
5. Methodology and Psychodiagnostics
Correlation vs. Causation
Correlation does not imply causation! Just because two phenomena occur together (ice cream sales and drownings) does not prove one causes the other.
Experiment
The only research method that can prove causality.
Variables
Independent variable = cause (we manipulate it); Dependent variable = effect (we measure it).
Longitudinal vs. Cross-sectional
Longitudinal (studies the same group over a long period) vs. Cross-sectional (studies different age groups at the same time).
Projective Techniques
Personality tests with ambiguous stimuli onto which the client projects their unconscious (Rorschach test, TAT).
Validity vs. Reliability
Validity (Does the test actually measure what it claims to?); Reliability (Does the test measure consistently over time?).