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Library AP Psychology Unit 2: Cognition
⁂   AP Psychology · Unit 2

2. Cognition

15–25% of the AP exam. Key topics: 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.

20 instructional periods 15–25% exam weight standard track

Unit 2: Cognition

Study guide content for this unit is being prepared. Check back soon for complete lesson notes, formula sheets, and worked examples.

Topics in this unit

  • 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