The document provides examples comparing various psychological concepts to everyday experiences and observations. It uses over 40 comparisons to explain concepts related to neuroscience, learning and conditioning, intelligence and testing, motivation and emotion, personality and psychotherapy. The comparisons make these complex psychological phenomena more accessible by relating them to common activities, objects and situations.

3. Functionalism emphasizes how behavior and mental processes enable the
organism to adapt and survive, and would therefore focus on how this giraffe
adapts and survives in his environment at the zoo.

4. Basic research is pure science that aims to increase psychology’s scientific
knowledge base, and would simply include general research on these elephants
at the zoo.

5. Naturalistic observation involves observing behavior in naturally occurring situations
without trying to manipulate or control anything, which is what I did as I observed
this hog playing at the zoo.

6. A double-blind procedure is when neither the experimenter nor the research participants have
any expectations about the experiment. This is similar to when my friends and I had zero
expectations about the movie we were about to see, and were totally “blind” to the storyline.

8. A dendrite receives messages from other nerve cells and conducts impulses
toward the cell body, just like this cable dish receives and carries signals to its
receiver.

9. Axons send impulses to other nerve cells or to muscles or glands, just like these
telephone wires send digital signals to houses around the area.

10. The myelin sheath helps speed neural impulses, just like the caffeine in my Dunkin
Donuts coffee speeds up my body’s functioning.

11. Reuptake is the absorption of excess neurotransmitters, and is similar to a sponge
absorbing water.

13. The amygdala influences the emotions of fear, and allowed me to be frightened
by these bats on a ceiling at the zoo.

14. The hypothalamus performs various body maintenance functions, including the
control of hunger. Similar to the hypothalamus, Joe’s American Bar and Grill
controlled and stimulated my hunger when I went out to eat with my family.

15. The frontal lobes are responsible for muscle movements of the body, and allow me
to work out on this gym equipment.

16. The occipital lobes are responsible for vision, and allow me to see through these
glasses at the store.

18. Delta waves are the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep, which
are present in my dad’s brain as he sleeps here.

19. Barbiturates are depressants that are sometimes used to induce sleep, just like
NyQuil is used to cause drowsiness and to provide a better nights sleep.

20. Opiates are depressants that temporarily lessen pain, just like Band-Aids and First
Aid Ointment would temporarily reduce the pain of a scratch or wound.

21. Amphetamines are a type of stimulant that speeds up body functions and neural
activity, just like sugar makes me hyper and speeds up my body functions.

23. Teratogens are literally poisons, or any harmful chemicals or viruses, similar to these
toxic cleaning products found in my kitchen.

24. Schemas are mental concepts or frameworks that organize information, just like my
makeup organizers neatly arrange my cosmetics.

25. Conservation is the principle that volume and mass remain constant despite
changes in the forms of objects, like these two different-sized glasses.

26. Attachment is an emotional tie with another person, shown in young children by
their seeking closeness to a caregiver, as shown in this picture.

28. Bottom-up processing is analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to
the brain’s integration of sensory information, just like these flower buds begin as
seeds and eventually work up and blossom into these beautiful flowers.

29. The absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50
percent of the time, similar to the minimum volume control on a stereo.

30. Weber’s Law states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is a
constant proportion of the stimulus. For instance, the just noticeable difference for
a 3 pound weight is different than the one for a 15 pound weight.

31. Transduction refers to the process by which receptor cells convert stimulus energies
into neural impulses, just as water is converted into ice when frozen.

33. That’s my dad!
Rods are visual receptors that allow us to detect black, white and gray
objects, including these old yearbook photos.

34. Cones are visual receptors that allow us to see colors, including the wide variety of
shades found in this crayon box.

35. Kinesthesis is the sense of the position and movement of parts of the body, in which
my dad feels as he runs through my neighborhood.

36. Gate-control theory maintains that a “gate” in the spinal chord determines
whether pain signals are permitted to reach the brain, just like this gate determines
whether cars can enter the private property.

38. Generalization refers to the tendency for stimuli similar to the original CS to evoke a
CR. For example, if one were conditioned to fear flamingos, they could generalize
their fear and be afraid of any other animal with wings.

39. Mirror neurons may be the neural basis for observational learning, and allow
monkeys to generate impulses when another monkey performs a certain action.

40. Positive reinforcement strengthens a response by presenting a pleasurable stimulus
to that response. This includes my mom giving me money for my good report card.

41. Negative reinforcement strengthens a response by removing an aversive stimulus
after that response. This includes me pressing the snooze button to stop the
annoying sound of the alarm in the morning.

43. A fixed-ratio schedule is when reinforcement is presented after a set number of
responses. This includes taking $20 off a purchase only after spending $100 or more.

44. A variable-ratio schedule is when reinforcement is presented after a varying
number of responses. This includes winning money after an unpredicted number of
times buying a scratch-ticket.

45. A fixed-interval schedule is when reinforcement is presented after a specific time
has elapsed. This includes enjoying a warm, batch of muffins after a necessary 15
minutes in the oven.

46. A variable-interval schedule is when reinforcement is presented after varying
intervals of time. This includes catching a fish after an unpredicted time spent at
the lake.

48. Recall is a measure of memory in which we must retrieve information with few
retrieval cues, which is what I did as I took this practice fill-in-the-blank test for AP
Psych.

49. Recognition is a measure of memory in which one just needs to identify previously
learned information, which is what I did for this practice multiple-choice test for AP
Psych.

50. Explicit memories are memories of facts, including special events and
vacations, that I relive as I look through these yearbooks and photo albums.

51. Implicit memories are memories of skills that are evidently processed by the
cerebellum, which includes the memory of how to drive my car.

53. Factor analysis is a statistical procedure that identifies factors, or clusters of related
items, which is what I did as I grouped these M&Ms by color.

54. A person with savant syndrome has a very low intelligence score, yet possesses an
exceptional ability. In the movie “Rainman”, Raymond is autistic but is able to calculate
complicated math problems in his head with great speed and accuracy.

55. Gardner proposed that there were eight intelligences, symbolized by the eight
sides of this stop sign.

56. Sternberg proposed that there were three intelligences, symbolized by the three
sides of this yield sign.

58. Standardization is the process of defining meaningful scores by comparison with a
pretested standardization group, which is what Feehan did to create these honor
roll standards.

59. Reliability is the extent to which a test produces consistent results, just like my mom
is reliable when it comes to making dinner each night.

60. Validity is the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to, just as these
passports do what they are supposed to and prove my family’s identity.

61. Test-retest reliability is the method used to measure a tests reliability. The SATs
definitely demonstrate test-retest reliability, since my SAT Math Scores are similar
over a three month period.

63. Drive-reduction theory attempts to explain behavior as arising from a physiological
need, which explains why my mom drinks when she’s thirsty.

64. Flow is a completely involved, focused state of consciousness on a task that
optimally engages a person’s skills, which is displayed here as my dad is hard at
work.

65. Incentives are positive or negative environmental stimuli that motivate
behavior, and would include these delicious meals that motivate me to enjoy
them.

66. Homeostasis refers to the body’s tendency to maintain a balanced or constant
internal state, just as this thermostat maintains a constant temperature of my
house.

68. The James-Lange theory states that the body’s responses to a stimuli trigger, or
cause, an emotion, just like this microwave triggers, or causes, popcorn to pop.

69. The Cannon-Bard theory states that the experience of an emotion occurs at the
same time as the body’s physical reaction, just like a washer and dryer can run
simultaneously.

70. Facial feedback effect states that the face not only displays our feelings, but also
feeds our feelings. Therefore, just activating one of the smiling muscles by biting a
pencil instantly makes my mom happier and more relaxed.

71. Paul Ekman stated that there are universal facial expressions, and believed that
this expression of anger would be recognized around the world.

73. Relative deprivation is the perception that we are worse off relative to those with
whom we compare ourselves, just like my mom would be disappointed with her
functioning Envy-3 after comparing it to my IPhone-5.

74. Type A personality is the term for the coronary-prone behavior pattern of
competitive and hard-driving people who are extremely organized and would
most likely have DVDs arranged in alphabetical order like this.

75. Type B personality is the term for the coronary-resistant behavior pattern of
easygoing, relaxed people who are usually disorganized and would most likely
have shelves looking like this.

76. Biofeedback refers to a system for electronically feeding back information
regarding a subtle physiological state, similar to when an organization asks
customers to fill out a survey with feedback on their performance.

78. The id is the unconscious system of personality that operates on the pleasure
principle and instant gratification. It was what controlled my motive to devour this
left-over pizza without any thought to it being almost dinner time.

79. The superego is the division of personality that contains the conscience and
develops by incorporating the perceived moral standards of society, or church.

80. Projection is the unconscious attribution of one’s own unacceptable feelings and
attitudes to others, just like this projector projects its own images onto the wall at
my dad’s office.

81. The spot-light effect is the tendency of people to overestimate the extent to which
other people notice and evaluate them, and would believe that this flashlight was
consistently shining on them at all times.