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572 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Social Psychology
An approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy.
Eclectic Approach
The theory that we explain someone's behaviour by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition.
Attribution Theory
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
Hindsight Bias
The tendency for observers, when analysing another's behaviour, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Fundamental Attribution Error
Treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions b/w a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth.
Psychotherapy
Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
Attitude
The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behaviour.
Behaviour Genetics
Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favourable thoughts
Central Route to Persuasion
In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material
Resistance
Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
Sensation
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request
Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
In psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviours and events in order to promote insight
Interpretation
A set of explanations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
Role
The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information
Memory
The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
The patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)
Transference
Adjusting one's or thinking to coincide with a group standard
Conformity
Our awareness of ourselves and out environment
Consciousness
Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Normative Social Influence
Therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality
Informational Social Influence
An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Personality
Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others
Social Facilitation
A variety of therapies which aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing the client's awareness of underlying motives and defences.
Insight Therapies
The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
Social Loafing
An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind
Structuralism
The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
De-individuation
A humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate client's growth (a.k.a. person-centred therapy)
Client-Centred Therapy
The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group
Group Polarisation
A response of the whole organism involving (1) psychological arousal, (2) expressive behaviours, and (3) conscious experience
Emotion
The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives
Groupthink
Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centred therapy
Active Listening
An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members; generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.
Prejudice
A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus
Higher-Order Conditioning
A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralised) belief about a group of people.
Stereotype
A caring, accepting, non-judgemental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed to be conductive to developing self-awareness and self-acceptance.
Unconditional Positive Regard
Unjustifiable negative behaviour toward a group and its members
Discrimination
A need or desire that energises and directs behaviour
Motivation
"Us"- people with whom we share a common identity
Ingroup
Therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviours
Behaviour Therapy
"Them"- those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup
Outgroup
A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.
Intelligence Test
The tendency to favour our own group
Ingroup Bias
A behaviour therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviours; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning
Counterconditioning
The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame
Scapegoat Theory
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
Developmental Psychology
The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races. a.k.a cross-race effect and own-race bias
Other-Race Effect
Behavioural techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid.
Exposure Therapies
The tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Just-World Phenomenon
A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behaviour.
Biological Psychology
Any physical or verbal behaviour intended to hurt or destroy
Aggression
A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias
Systematic Desensitisation
The principle that frustration - the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal - creates anger, which can generate aggression
Frustration-Aggression Principle
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions
Critical Thinking
The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
Mere Exposure Effect
An anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to stimulations of their greatest fears, such as aeroplane flying, spiders, or public speaking.
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship
Passionate Love
The theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
James-Lange theory
The deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined
Companionate Love
A type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behaviour (such as drinking alcohol)
Aversive Conditioning
A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.
Equity
The processing of info into the memory system
Encoding
Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
Self-Disclosure
An operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behaviour and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats
Token Economy
Unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Altruism
The process of organising and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognise meaningful objects and events.
Perception
The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Bystander Effect
Therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene b/w events and our emotional reactions
Cognitive Therapy
The theory that our social behaviour is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximise benefits and minimize costs
Social Exchange Theory
The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosome
Genes
An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them
Reciprocity Norm
A popular integrated therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behaviour therapy (changing behaviour)
Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy
An expectation that people will help those dependent upon them
Social-Responsibility Norm
Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Intelligence
A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
Conflict
Therapy that treats the family as a system; views and individual's unwanted behaviours as influenced by, or directed at, other family members
Family Therapy
A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behaviour
Social Trap
focuses on genetically predisposed behaviours;
replaced by______
Instinct Theory; Evolutionary Perspective
Mutual views often held by conflicting people as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive
Mirror-Image Perceptions
The tendency for extremes of unusual scores to fall back (regress) toward their average
Regression Toward the Mean
Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation
Superordinate Goals
Behaviour that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus
Respondent Behaviour
Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction - a strategy designed to decrease international tensions
GRIT
A procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies
Meta-Analysis
Agents that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
Teratogens
Clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences
Evidence-Based Practice
A school of psychology that focused on how out mental and behavioural processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish
Functionalism
Prescribed medications or medical procedure that act directly on the patient's nervous system
Biomedical Therapy
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
Neuron
The study of the effects of drugs on mind and behaviour
Psychopharmacology
A method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
Free Association
Drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder
Antipsychotic Drugs
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Concept
Involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and limbs; a possible neurotoxic side effect of long-term use of anti-psychotic drugs that target certain dopamine receptors
Tardive Dyskinesia
Thorndike's principle that behaviours followed by favourable consequences become more likely, and the behaviours followed by unfavourable consequences become less likely.
Law of Effect
Drugs used to control anxiety and agitation
Anti-anxiety Drugs
The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behaviour without reference to mental processes
Behaviourism
Drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety. Different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters
Antidepressant Drugs
The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion
Cannon-Bard theory
A biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anaesthetized patient
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
The retention of encoded info over time
Storage
The application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks
Dual Processing
Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behaviour
Psychosurgery
The complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosome
Genome
A now-rare psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centres of the inner brain
Lobotomy
Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord
Sensory Neurons
Freud's theory of personality that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; technique used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions
Psychoanalysis
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation
Habituation
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
Bottom-Up Processing
An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organises observations and predicts behaviours or events
Theory
A mental image or best example of a category
Prototype
A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and other, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
General Intelligence (g)
Twins who develop from a single fertilized egg
Identical Twins
The Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) to be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal
Two-Factor Theory
The process of getting info out of memory storage
Retrieval
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Selective Attention
Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
Motor Neurons
Info processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perception drawing on our experience and expectation
Top-Down Processing
Historically significant perspective that growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth
Humanistic Psychology
focuses on finding the right level of stimulation
Arousal theory
An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need
Primary Reinforcer
According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware
Unconscious
A testable prediction, often implied theory
Hypnosis
A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test, used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score
Factor Analysis
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
Algorithm
A concept of framework that organises and interprets information
Schema
Twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs
Fraternal Twins
The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them
Psychophysics
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
Cognitive Neuroscience
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory info in the memory system
Sensory Memory
Neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.
Interneurons
Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas
Assimilation
Instinct theory failed because it____?
"instincts" were readily named but not explained.
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
Inattentional Blindness
Contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives; operates on the "pleasure principle," demanding immediate gratification
id
A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer
Conditioned Reinforcer (Secondary Reinforcer)
A statement of the procedures used to define research variables
Operational Definition
A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently
Heuristic
A machine that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes)
Polygraph
A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill
Savant Syndrome
The science of behaviour and mental processes
Psychology
The mimimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time
Absolute Threshold
The largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, acc. to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality; operates on the "reality principle," satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain
Ego
The interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor depends on another factor
Interaction
The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.
Dendrite
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
Creativity
Repeating the essence of a research study to whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
Replication
Failing to notice changes in the environment
Change Blindness
Emotional release
Catharsis
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
Accommodation
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten
Short-Term Memory
A sudden and often novel realisation of the solution to a problem
Insight
A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses
Fixed-Ratio Schedule
a complex behaviour that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned
Instinct
The sub-field of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes
Molecular Genetics
The stage (birth - app. 2 years) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
Sensorimotor Stage
The relatively persistent and limitless storehouse of the memory system, includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
Long-Term Memory
The part of personality that, acc. to Freud, represents internalised ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations
Superego
The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviours
Nature-Nurture issue
The idea that a physiological need creates an arousal tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
Drive-Reduction Theory
The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibres, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands
Axon
The biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle
Circadian Rhythm
The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Emotional Intelligence
maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
Catharsis Hypothesis
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
Case Study
A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectation, motivation, and level of fatigue.
Signal Detection Theory
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore distort contradictory evidence
Confirmation Bias
A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
Variable-Ratio Schedule
The study of the evolution of behaviour and the mind using principles of natural selection
Evolutionary Psychology
The inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set
Fixation
The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analysing any given phenomenon
Levels of Analysis
The childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) during which, acc. to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zone
Psychosexual Stage
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
Object Permanence
People's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
Feel-Good, Do-Good Phenomenon
Below one's absolute threshold for concious awareness
Subliminal
A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose
Homeostasis
A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviours of a particular group
Survey
A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.
Fixed-Interval Schedule
A recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur; paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed but other body systems are active
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep
A new understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information retrieved from long-term memory
Working Memory
A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.
Mental Age
A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibres of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.
Myelin Sheath
Unconscious encoding of incidental information (i.e. space, time, and frequency and of well learned information such as word meanings)
Automatic Processing
The widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test
Stanford-Binet
The relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state
Alpha Waves
the activation, often unconciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response
Priming
Stage during which a child learns to used language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Preoperational Stage
Self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life
Subjective Well-Being
An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis
Biopsychosocial Approach
All the cases in a group being studied from which samples may be drawn
Population
acc. to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
Oedipus Complex
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
Mental Set
A set of expectation about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave
Role
A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
Variable-Interval Schedule
A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behaviour
Incentive
A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon
Action Potential
The theory that we learn social behaviour by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished
Social Learning Theory
The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual function
Functional Fixedness
The process by which, acc. to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos
Identification
The preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view
Egocentrism
the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time; experienced as the "just noticeable difference"
Difference Threshold
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
Threshold
Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
Basic Research
Periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness
Sleep
Our tendency to form judgements relative to a neutral defined by out prior experience
Adaptation-Level Phenomenon
Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the vase with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active
Hierarchy of Needs
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Effortful Processing
Defined originally as the ration of mental age (ma) to chron. age (ca) times 100 (thus IQ=ma/ca x 100).
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
Random Sample
A relatively permanent change in an organism's behaviour due to experience
Learning
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage
Weber's Law
The perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself
Relative Deprivation
The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.
Synapse
The form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues
Glucose
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
Rehearsal
Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
Applied Research
People's ideas about their own and others' mental states
Theory of Mind
Observing and recording behaviour in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
Naturalistic Observation
Learning that certain events occur together
Associative Learning
Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes
Representativeness Heuristic
False sensory experiences
Hallucinations
Every nongenetic influence from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us
Environment
acc. to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved
Fixation
A test designed to assess what a person has learned
Achievement Test
Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes
Chromosomes
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through masses study or practice
Spacing effect
The stage of cognitive development during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Concrete Operational Stage
The point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set
Set Point
The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep
Delta Waves
In psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
Defence Mechanisms
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory
Availability Heuristic
diminished sensativity as a consequence of contant stimulation
Sensory Adaptation
designed to predict a person's future performance (... capacity to learn)
Aptitude Test
Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons.
Neurotransmitters
An interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioural and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease
Behavioural Medicine
A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events
Classical Conditioning
A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together and thus oh how well either factor predicts the other
Correlation
A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living and in achieving greater well-being
Counselling Psychology
The tendency to be more confident than correct - to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements
Overconfidence
The stage of cognitive development during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
Formal Operational Stage
the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
The body's resting rate of energy expenditure
Basal Metabolic Rate
Recurring problems in failing or staying asleep
Insomnia
our tendency to recall vest the last and first items in a list
Serial Position Effect
Conversion of one form of energy into another
Transduction
Complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
A sub-field of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioural medicine
Health Psychology
A statistical index of the relationship between two things
Correlation Coefficient
A neurotransmitter's re-absorption by the sending neuron.
Reuptake
A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
Clinical Psychology
The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
Stress
The encoding of picture images
Visual Encoding
The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next
Wavelength
Psychoanalytic defence mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
Regression
Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Crystallized Intelligence
In classical conditioning, the unlearning naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Standardization
Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Belief Perseverance
An eating disorder in which a person diets and becomes significantly underweight yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve
Anorexia Nervosa
A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviours to occur simultaneously with others
Dissociation
A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
Temperament
A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables
Scatterplots
A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatment as well as psychology therapy
Psychiatry
"morphine within;" natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure
Endorphins
The symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psych. attributes.
Normal Curve
The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes; may vary depending on the the range of populations and environments studied
Heritability
The perception of a relationship where none exists
Illusory Correlation
The encoding of sound
Acoustic Encoding
the dimension of colour that is determined by the wavelength of light
Hue
The body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems
Nervous System
Selye's concept of the body' adaptive response to stress in three states - alarm, resistance, exhaustion
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Psychoanalytic defence mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites; thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings
Reaction Formation
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
Fluid Intelligence
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
Drugs that depress the activity of the CNS; reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement
Barbiturates
An effortless, immediate automatic feeling or thought
Intuition
An eating disorder characterised by episodes of overeating usually of high-calorie foods followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise
Bulimia Nervosa
A study method incorporating five steps
Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review (SQ3R)
The way an issue is posed
Framing
The principle that among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to increased reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
Natural Selection
The major active ingredient in marijuana; triggers a variety of effects, including mild hallucinations
THC
The fertilised egg; enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
Zygote
The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of a test, or on retesting
Reliability
The encoding of meaning
Semantic Encoding
The clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries
Coronary Heart Disease
The brain and spinal cord
Central Nervous System (CNS)
the amount of energy in a light or sounds wave, which we percieve as brightness or oloudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude
Intensity
Research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behaviours or mental process (the dependent variable)
Experiment
Psychoanalytic defence mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
Projection
In classical conditioning, the learning response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus
Conditioned Response (CR)
Episodes of significant overeating, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging, fasting, or excessive exercise that marks bulimia nervosa
Binge-Eating Disorder
The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
The four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution
Sexual Response Cycle
The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
Validity
The developing human organism from about 12 weeks after fertilisation through the second month
Embryo
the adjustable opening in the centre of the eye through which light enters
Pupil
Sleep disorder characterised by uncontrollable sleep attacks; sufferers may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times
Narcolepsy
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Language
Mental pictures
Imagery
In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people
Type A
Defence mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions
Rationalization
Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance
Random Assignment
A random error in gene replications that lead to a change
Mutation
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
Fetus
Sleep disorder characterised by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings
Sleep Apnea
Psychoanalytic defence mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet
Displacement
Memory aids, esp. those techniques that used vivid imagery and organizational devices
Mnemonics
In psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female
Gender
In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Phoneme
In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response
Acquisition
Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people
Type B
extent to which a test samples the behaviour that is of interest
Content Validity
Bundled axons that form neural "cables" connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.
Nerves
An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo
Double-Blind Procedure
a ring of muscle tissue that forms the coloured portion of the eye around the pupil and controld the size of the pupil opening
Iris
A resting period after orgasm during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm
Refractory Period
the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
Lens
The success with which a test predicts the behaviour it is designed to predict assessed by computing the correlation b/w test scores and and criterion behaviour
Predictive Validity
The enduring behaviours, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
Culture
The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles; a.k.a the skeletal nervous system
Somatic Nervous System
The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced
Extinction
Sleep disorder characterised by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during Stage 4 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep and are seldom remembered
Night Terrors
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Organising items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Chunking
Literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness
Psychophysiological Illness
In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with an understand others
Morpheme
Experimental results cause by expectations alone
Placebo Effect
Defence mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities
Denial
A problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning
Sexual Disorder
The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response
Spontaneous Recovery
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs; its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms
Autonomic Nervous System
the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information
Retina
Sex hormones secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics
Estrogens
In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment (i.e. the independent variable)
Experimental Group
In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
Grammar
Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from out species' history
Collective Unconscious
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behaviour, relatively uninfluenced for experience
Maturation
An understood rule for accepted and expected behaviour; prescribe "proper" behaviour
Norm
A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind. Dreams are a notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities, and incongruities, and for the dreamer's delusional acceptance of the content and later difficulties remembering it
Dream
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; "photographic"
Iconic Memory
A condition of limited mental ability indicated by an i.s of 70 - and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life
Mental Retardatiion
The two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B-type form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T-type form in the thymus and similar tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances
Lymphocytes
The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
Generalization
The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language
Semantics
The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
Accommodation
The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations
Sympathetic Nervous System
The buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies
Personal Space
In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment
Control Group
An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one's own sex (homo-) or the opposite sex (hetero-)
Sexual Orientation
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Cognition
According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream
Manifest Content
A personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics
Projective Test
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli
Echoic Memory
A condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of a chrm 21
Down syndrome
The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
Syntax
The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects; believed by Piaget to be part of concrete operational thinking
Conservation
The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied
Independent Variable
The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and grey; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond
Rods
In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal unconditioned stimulus
Discrimination
Giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.
Individualism
An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory
Long-Term Potentiation
Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioural methods
Coping
According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream
Latent Content
A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated on a negative stereotype
Stereotype Threat
A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
A completely involved, focused state of conciousness, with diminished awareness of self and time, resulting from optimal engagement of one's skills
Flow
The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep)
REM Rebound
The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
Dependent Variable
The most widely used projective test, a set of 100 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analysing their interpretations of the blots
Rorschach Inkblot test
The application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behaviour in workplaces
Industrial-Organizational (I/O) psychology
retinal receptors cells that are concentrated near the centre of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions; detect find detail and give rise to colour sensation
Cones
Giving priority to goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly
Collectivism
Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
Babbling Stage
Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction
Emotion-Focused Coping
A type of learning in which behaviour is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher
Operant Conditioning
A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response
Reflex
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind
Autism
A clear memory of and emotionally significant moment or event
Flashbulb Memory
The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
One-Word Stage
the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
Optic Nerve
The most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution
Mode
The loss of memory
Amnesia
The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
Stranger Anxiety
The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
Endocrine System
Social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviours will spontaneously occur
Hypnosis
Physical or verbal chromosome intended to hurt someone
Aggression
Behaviour that operates on the environment, producing consequences
Operant Behaviour
Attempting to alleviate stress directly - by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor
Problem-Focused Coping
According to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfil one's potential
Self-Actualisation
A sub-field of I/O psychology that focuses on employee recruitment, selection, placement, training, appraisal, and development
Personnel Psychology
The sex chromosome found in both men and women; females have two; males have one
X Chromosome
the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye; no receptor cells are located there
Blind Spot
The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores
Mean
Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety
Aerobic Exercise
Retention independent of conscious recollection
Implicit (non-declarative) Memory
In operant conditioning research, a chamber (a.k.a. Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.
Operant Chamber
Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream and affects other tissues
Hormones
Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements
Two-Word Stage
An emotional tie with another person; shown in your children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
Attachment
According to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person
Unconditional Positive Regard
A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotised
Posthypnotic Suggestion
A sub-field of I/O psychology that examines organizational influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitates organizational change
Organizational Psychology
The sex chromosome found only in males
Y Chromosome
The middle score in a distribution
Median
the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster
Fovea
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"
Explicit (declarative) Memory
Interview process that asks the same job-relevant questions of all applicants, each of whom is rated on established scales
Structured Interviews
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - "go car" - using mostly nouns and verbs
Telagraphic Speech
An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development
Critical Period
An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviour toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behaviour
Shaping
A system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension
Biofeedback
A pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that help arouse the body in times of stress
Adrenal Glands
A chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood
Psychoactive drug
The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
Imprinting
The most important of the male sex hormones
Testosterone
The endocrine system's most influential gland
Pituitary Gland
The diminishing effect with regular used of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect
Tolerance
The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
Range
nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimuluos such as shape, angle, or movement
Feature Detectors
In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behaviour it follows
Reinforcer
Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)
Aphasia
As yet unproven health care treatments intended to supplement or serve as alternatives to conventional medicine, and which typically are not widely taught in medical schools, used in hospitals, or reimburse by insurance companies
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
A neural centre that is located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage
Hippocampus
A desire for significant accomplishment; for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for rapidly attaining a high standard
Achievement Motivation
A characteristic pattern of behaviour or a disposition to feel and act
Trait
Tissue destruction
Lesion
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously
Parallel Processing
The discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug
Withdrawal
Increasing behaviours by presenting positive stimuli such as food
Positive Reinforcement
Goal-oriented leadership that sets standards, organises work, and focuses attention on goals
Task Leadership
Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
Broca's Area
According to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
Basic Trust
A questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviours; used to assess selected personality traits
Personality Inventory
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier
Recall
A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
Standard Deviation
the theory that the retina contains three different colour recptors which, when stimulated in combonation, can produce the perception of any colour
Young-Heimholtz trichomatic (three-colour) theory
The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests; originally developed to identify emotional disorder (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued
Physical Dependence
Our understanding and evaluation of who we are
Self-Concept
Group-oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support
Social Leadership
Controls language reception; usually in the left temporal lobe
Wernicke's Area
Any stimulus that when presented after a response strengthens the response
Positive Reinforcer
An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by the electrodes placed on the scalp.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
Statistical Significance
A set of expected behaviours for males and for females
Gender Role
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items preciously learned
Recognition
Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Linguistic Determinism
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
Adolescence
the theory that opposing retinal processes enable colour vision
Opponent-Process Theory
Our sense of being male or female
Gender Identity
Increasing behaviours by stopping or reducing negative stimuli such as shock
Negative Reinforcement
A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of the glucose goes while the brain performs a given task
PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Scan
A test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups
Empiraclly Derived Test
A psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions
Psychological Dependence
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time
Relearning
Views behaviour as influenced by the interactions between people's traits and their social context
Social-Cognitive Perspective
The sense or act of hearing
Audition
The period of sexual maturation, during with a person becomes capable of reproducing
Puberty
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Priming
The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role
Gender Typring
Compulsive drug craving and use, despite adverse consequences
Addiction
Any stimulus that when removed after a response strengthens the response
Negative Reinforcer
A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissue; show brain anatomy
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
The interacting influences of behaviours, internal cognition, and environment
Reciprocal Determinism
The body structures (i.e. ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
Primary Sex Characteristics
That eerie sense that "I've experience this before."
Déjà Vu
Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
Continuous Reinforcement
Drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions
Depressants
coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses
Cochlea
A technique for revealing blood-flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans; show brain function
Function MRI (fMRI)
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with ones's current good or bad mood
Mood-Congruent Memory
The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skill; responsible for automatic survival functions
Brainstem
The extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless
Personal Control
Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement
Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; depress neural activity, temporarily, lessening pain and anxiety
Opiates
Non-reproductive sexual characteristics such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair
Secondary Sex Characteristics
contains three tiny bones(hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window
Middle Ear
The perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate
External Locus of Control
The first menstrual period
Menarche
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
Proactive Interference
The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing
Medulla
Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up bodily functions
Stimulants
contains cochlea, semicicular cannals, and vestibular sacs
Inner Ear
An event that decreases the behaviours that it follows
Punishment
The perception that you control your own fate
Internal Locus of Control
The disruptive effect of new information on the recall of old information
Retroactive Interference
Our sense of self
Identity
Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes
Amphetamines
A nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal
Reticular Formation
A mental representation of the layout of one's environment
Cognitive Map
___ channels the sound wavesthrough the ___ to the ___, a tight membrane that vibrates with the waves
Outer ear; auditory canal; eardrum
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
Learned Helplessness
The brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
Thalamus
The "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships
Social Identity
Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Latent Learning
incoming vibration cause the cochlea's membrane (the ___) to vibrate, causing ripples in the ___ bending the ___ lining its surface.
oval window; basicular membrane; hair cells
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defence mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Repression
A powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system, with speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels
Methamphetamine
The "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement out-put and balance
Cerebellum
Synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen; produces euphoria and social intimacy but with short-term health risks and longer-term harm to serotonin-producing neurons and to mood and cognition
Ecstasy (MDMA)
Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event
Misinformation Effect
In Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood
Intimacy
A desire to perform a behaviour effectively for its own sake
Intrinsic Motivation
The scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths, and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive
Positive Psychology
The ___ sends neural messages via the ___ to the ___ lobe's ___
auditory nerve; thalamus; temporal; auditory cortex
the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated
Place Theory
Psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input
Hallucinogens
Neural system (including the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives
Limbic System
In contemporary psychology, assumed to be the centre of personality, the organiser of our thoughts, feelings, and actions
Self
For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood
Emerging Adulthood
Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
Source Amnesia
A desire to perform a behaviour to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment
Extrinsic Motivation
Two lima bean-sizes neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion
Amygdala
The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
Menopause
The theory that the rate of nerve impulses travelling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch
Frequency theory
Overestimating others noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders
Spotlight Effect
Learning by observing others
Observational Learning
A powerful hallucinogenic drug; also known as "acid"
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)
The process of observing and imitating a specific behaviour
Modelling
One's feelings of high or low self-esteem
Self-esteem
hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea
Conduction Hearing Loss
Directs several maintenance activities, helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward; lies below the thalamus
Hypothalamus
An altered state of consiousness reported after a close brush with death; often similar to drug-induced hallucination
Near-Death Experience
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Cross-sectional study
The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing centre
Cerebral Cortex
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
Longitudinal Study
hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; (nerve deafness)
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so
Mirror Neurons
A readiness to perceive oneself favorable
Self-Serving Bias
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
Social Clock
Positive, constructive, helpful behaviour
Prosocial Behaviour
Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons
Glial Cells (Glia)
a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea
Cochlear Implant
the term for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
Kinethesis
Portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements
Frontal Lobes
the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance
Vestibular Sense
Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position
Parietal Lobes
the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain
Gate-Control Theory
Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields
Occipital Lobes
the principle that one sense may influence another
Sensory Interaction
Portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear.
Temporal Lobes
An organised whole; emphasis on our tendency to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes
Gestalt
An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements
Motor Cortex
The perceptual tendency to organise stimuli into coherent groups
Grouping
Area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations
Sensory Cortex
The ability to see objects in three dimension although the images that strike the retina are two-dimension; allows us to judge distance
Depth Perception
Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.
Association Areas
The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganising after damage or by building new pathways based on experience
Plasticity
lab device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Visual Cliff
The formation of new neurons
Neurogenesis
Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes
Binocular cues
The large band of neural fibres connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them
Corpus Callosum
A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the greater the disparity between two images, the closer the object
Retinal Disparity
Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone
monocular cues
A condition resulting from surgery that isolated the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibres (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them
Split Brain
an illusion of movement when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
Phi Phenomenon
Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
Perceptual Constancy
In vision, the ability to adjust to an artifically displaced or even inverted visual field
Perceptual Adaptation
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Perceptual Set
A branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environment can be made safe and easy to use
Human Factors Psychology
the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory inpu; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent colour
Colour Constancy
The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis
Parapsychology
The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time
Frequency
A tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time
Pitch
The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)
Figure-Ground Theory