Psychology Study Library.

Heredity and environment: nature vs. nurture, behavior genetics, twin and adoption studies, epigenetics · Nervous system structure: central vs. peripheral, somatic vs. autonomic, sympathetic vs. parasympathetic divisions · Neural communication: neuron anatomy (dendrites, axon, myelin, nodes of Ranvier), action potential, all-or-none law, synaptic transmission · Neurotransmitters and associated disorders: dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate, norepinephrine, endorphins · Brain structures and function: hindbrain (medulla, pons, cerebellum), midbrain (reticular formation), forebrain (thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, cerebral cortex) · Corpus callosum and split-brain research · Neuroimaging and research methods: EEG, fMRI, PET scan, CT/MRI, lesion studies · Endocrine system: pituitary and adrenal glands, hormones (cortisol, testosterone, estrogen, melatonin) · Sleep and circadian rhythms: sleep stages, REM sleep, sleep disorders (insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea) · Sensation and perception: transduction, absolute and difference thresholds, Weber's Law, signal detection theory · Visual system: rods, cones, opponent-process and trichromatic theories · Auditory system: place vs. frequency theories of hearing · Gestalt principles, depth cues, perceptual constancies, top-down vs. bottom-up processing

Attention and consciousness: selective attention, inattentional blindness, change blindness · Memory systems: sensory, short-term/working, long-term memory (explicit: episodic and semantic; implicit: procedural and priming) · Encoding strategies: levels of processing, elaborative rehearsal, mnemonics; storage and retrieval (recognition vs. recall, context- and state-dependent memory) · Forgetting: encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, proactive and retroactive interference, motivated forgetting; Ebbinghaus forgetting curve · Memory distortion: misinformation effect, source monitoring errors, constructive memory, Elizabeth Loftus research · Thinking and problem solving: mental sets, algorithms vs. heuristics, confirmation bias, fixation, insight, representativeness and availability heuristics, framing effect, belief perseverance · Language: morphemes, phonemes, semantics, syntax, pragmatics; Chomsky's universal grammar; Whorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis; language development stages · Intelligence theories: Spearman's g factor, Gardner's multiple intelligences, Sternberg's triarchic theory, emotional intelligence · Intelligence testing: Stanford-Binet, WAIS; reliability, validity, standardization, normal distribution · Stereotype threat, nature vs. nurture in intelligence, Flynn effect

Developmental research methods: cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cohort-sequential designs · Physical development: prenatal stages, teratogens, infant reflexes, brain development, puberty, aging · Cognitive development: Piaget's stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational); schemas, assimilation, accommodation, object permanence, conservation · Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding · Social development: Harlow's attachment studies, Ainsworth's attachment styles (secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant), Bowlby · Erikson's 8 stages of psychosocial development · Kohlberg's stages of moral development (3 levels, 6 stages) · Parenting styles (Baumrind): authoritative, authoritarian, permissive · Gender and sexuality: biological, cognitive, and social-cultural influences · Classical conditioning: Pavlov; unconditioned and conditioned stimuli/responses; acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination, higher-order conditioning; Watson's Little Albert; taste aversion (Garcia effect) · Operant conditioning: Thorndike's law of effect, Skinner; reinforcement (positive/negative) vs. punishment (positive/negative); primary vs. secondary reinforcers; schedules of reinforcement (fixed/variable ratio/interval); shaping, chaining, learned helplessness · Observational and social learning: Bandura, Bobo doll experiment, modeling, vicarious reinforcement, mirror neurons · Cognitive maps: Tolman's latent learning; insight learning (Köhler)

Attribution theory: Heider, fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias, actor-observer bias · Attitudes and persuasion: central vs. peripheral route (elaboration likelihood model), cognitive dissonance (Festinger) · Conformity: Asch line studies · Compliance techniques: foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, reciprocity norm · Obedience: Milgram shock experiment · Group dynamics: social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, groupthink, group polarization · Bystander effect: diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance (Kitty Genovese case) · Prejudice and discrimination: stereotypes, in-group vs. out-group bias, scapegoating, just-world hypothesis, realistic group conflict theory (Robbers Cave), contact hypothesis (Allport) · Aggression: biological, psychological (frustration-aggression hypothesis), and social-cultural explanations · Prosocial behavior: altruism, reciprocal altruism · Motivation theories: drive-reduction (Hull), instinct/evolutionary, arousal theory, incentive theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-determination theory · Hunger and eating: hypothalamus (lateral and ventromedial nuclei), set-point theory, ghrelin and leptin, eating disorders · Emotion theories: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer two-factor, Lazarus cognitive appraisal; Ekman's universal facial expressions; polygraph validity · Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic personality: Freud (id, ego, superego; defense mechanisms; psychosexual stages), Jung, Adler, neo-Freudians · Humanistic personality: Maslow, Rogers (unconditional positive regard, self-concept, self-actualization) · Trait theories: Allport, Cattell, Big Five OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) · Social-cognitive personality: Bandura's reciprocal determinism, self-efficacy, Rotter's locus of control, Seligman's learned helplessness · Personality assessment: projective tests (Rorschach, TAT), objective tests (MMPI-2)

Stress: stressors (life events, daily hassles, catastrophes), appraisal, physiological stress response, general adaptation syndrome (Selye), HPA axis, cortisol, psychoneuroimmunology · Coping: problem-focused vs. emotion-focused coping, resilience, social support, positive psychology (Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi — flow) · Health behaviors: exercise, sleep, substance use · Psychological disorders classification: DSM-5-TR, medical model vs. biopsychosocial model, culture-bound syndromes · Anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific and social phobias, OCD, PTSD; biological and cognitive-behavioral explanations · Depressive disorders: major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder; neurotransmitter theories, Beck's cognitive triad, learned helplessness model · Bipolar disorders: bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia · Schizophrenia: positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech) and negative symptoms (flat affect, alogia, avolition); dopamine hypothesis; genetic and prenatal risk factors · Dissociative disorders: dissociative identity disorder (DID), dissociative amnesia · Personality disorders: borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder · Neurodevelopmental disorders: ADHD, autism spectrum disorder · Eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa · Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy: free association, dream analysis, transference, resistance · Humanistic therapy: client-centered therapy (Rogers), active listening, empathy, unconditional positive regard · Behavioral therapies: exposure therapy, systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, token economies · Cognitive and CBT: Beck's cognitive therapy, Ellis's REBT, cognitive restructuring; evidence base for CBT · Biomedical treatments: antidepressants (SSRIs, SNRIs), anxiolytics (benzodiazepines), antipsychotics (typical and atypical), mood stabilizers (lithium); ECT; TMS; lobotomy (historical context) · Community and preventative approaches: deinstitutionalization, community mental health centers, prevention frameworks