Intro To Psych Final

Front 1

Independent variable

Back 1

the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied. p.32

Front 2

Dependent variable

Back 2

the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

Front 3

Cause and effect

Back 3

---??

Front 4

Correlation ____ ___ prove causation

Back 4

does not

Front 5

Random Assignment

Back 5

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by change, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

Front 6

dendrite

Back 6

the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

Front 7

Axon

Back 7

the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons tor to muscles or glands.

Front 8

myelin sheath

Back 8

insulates the axon of some neurons and helps speed their impulses

Front 9

action potential

Back 9

a brief electrical charge that travels down its axon

Front 10

brainstem

Back 10

central core of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions

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medulla

Back 11

base of the brainstem;controls heartbeat and breathing

Front 12

reticular formaiton

Back 12

a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controling arousal

Front 13

thalamus

Back 13

brain's sensory switchboard, directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla

Front 14

cerebellum

Back 14

"little brain" processes sensory input and coordinates movement, output and balance

Front 15

amygdala

Back 15

lima bean sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emiotion

Front 16

frontal lobes

Back 16

behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements

Front 17

parietal lobes

Back 17

top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position

Front 18

occipital lobes

Back 18

back of the head; recieves information form the visual fields

Front 19

temporal lobes

Back 19

above the ears; each receives information primarily form the opposite ear.

Front 20

circadian rhythm

Back 20

the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle.

Front 21

Rem sleep

Back 21

when vivid dreams commonly occur

Front 22

stage 1 of sleep

Back 22

heart rate rises, breathing becomes rapid and irregular

Front 23

Effects of sleep deprivation

Back 23

increases hunger-arousing hormones, increases stress hormones, suppresses immune cells, irritability, slowed performance, impaired creativity, concentration, and communication

Front 24

sleep apnea

Back 24

when you stop breathing during sleep.

Front 25

susceptibility to hypnosis

Back 25

anyone who can turn attention inward and imagine is able to experience some degree of hypnosis.

Front 26

heritability

Back 26

the extent to which variation among individuals can be attributed to their differing genes

Front 27

twin studies

Back 27

understanding how shared genes can translate into shared experiences. Identical twins are much more similar than fraternal on extraversion and neuroticism

Front 28

selection effect

Back 28

kids tend to seek out peers with similar attitudes and interestes to their own.

Front 29

gender roles

Back 29

a set of expected behaviors for males or for females.

Front 30

biosocial approach

Back 30

---??

Front 31

Sensorimotor stage

Back 31

from birth to 2 years.
-inflants know the world mostly in terms of sensory impressions and motor activities.
-object permanence, stranger anxiety

Front 32

preoperational stage

Back 32

2-6 or 7 years old.
-learning to use language but not comprehending the mental operations of concrete logic

Front 33

Concrete operational stage

Back 33

7-11 years
-children gain the metal operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

Front 34

formal operational stage

Back 34

12-adulthood
-people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.

Front 35

assimilate

Back 35

interpreting things in terms of our current understandings

Front 36

accommodation

Back 36

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Front 37

attachment

Back 37

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation

Front 38

Parental influence on adolescents

Back 38

they being to pull away from their parents. Arguments between them occur more often. Parent-child conflict greater with first-born than second-born

Front 39

life satisfaction in old age

Back 39

peaks in the fifties and then gradually declines after 65

Front 40

Sensation

Back 40

process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Front 41

Perception

Back 41

process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Front 42

What happens to the light as it enters the eye?

Back 42

Enters through the cornea, passes through the pupil, the lens focuses the incoming light rays on the retina and then lens focuses the rays by changing its curvature called accommodation.

Front 43

Gestalt

Back 43

an organized whole. Emphasizing our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Front 44

Figure/ground

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organization of the visual field into objects that stand out form their surroundings.

Front 45

Classical conditioning

Back 45

learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Front 46

operant conditioning

Back 46

learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Front 47

fixed-ratio schedules

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reinforce behavior after a set number of responses

Front 48

variable-ratio schedules

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provide reinforces after an unpredictable number of responses

Front 49

fixed-interval schedules

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reinforce the first response after a Fixed Period of Time.

Front 50

variable-interval schedules

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reinforce the first response after varying time intervals.

Front 51

reinforcement

Back 51

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

Front 52

punishment

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any consiquence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior

Front 53

encoding

Back 53

the processing of information into the memory system. Get into the brain!)

Front 54

retrieval

Back 54

getting information out of memory storage

Front 55

long term memory

Back 55

permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Knowledge, skills, and experiences

Front 56

short term memory

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activated memory that holds a few items briefly, before the information is stored or forgotten

Front 57

implicit memory

Back 57

retention independent of conscious recolletion

Front 58

Cognition

Back 58

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Front 59

confirmation bias

Back 59

seeking evidence verifying our ideas more eagerly than we seek evidence that might refute them

Front 60

syntax

Back 60

the rules we use to order words into sentences

Front 61

babbling

Back 61

at 4 months, stage of speech development where they spontaneously utter a variety of sounds.

Front 62

Binet's contribution to IQ

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IQ- a person's mental age/ chronological age

Front 63

Spearman's g factor

Back 63

general intelligence- underlies specific mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test.

Front 64

Mental age

Back 64

the level of performance typically associated with a certain chronological age

Front 65

Twins and IQ

Back 65

identical twins reared together are virtually as similar as those of the same person taking the same test twice.

Front 66

bias

Back 66

tests are biased if they detect innate differences in intelligence and also performance differences caused by cultural experiences

Front 67

motivation

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a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal

Front 68

drive

Back 68

a physiological need that creates an aroused state

Front 69

instincts

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a complex behavior that has a fixed pattern throughout a species and is unlearned.

Front 70

arousal theory

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human motivation aims to seek optimum levels of arousal

Front 71

Maslow hierarchy

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base=physiological needs that must be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active.

Front 72

need to belong

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we have a need to affiliate with others. When we feel included, accepted and loved by those important to us, our sself-esteem rides high

Front 73

components of emotion

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a mix of: physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, consciously experienced thoughts.

Front 74

general adaptation syndrome

Back 74

Sey'es concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three stages
-alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Front 75

problem-focused coping

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attempting to alleviate stress directly
-change the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

Front 76

perceived control

Back 76

percieving a loss of control, we become more vulnerable to ill health. . Helps explain a well-established link between economic status and longevity

Front 77

internal locus of control

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the perception that you control your own fate

Front 78

external locus of control

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the perception that chance our outside forces beyond your control determine your fate

Front 79

Id

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striving to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce and aggress. Operates on the pleasure principle. seek immediate gratification

Front 80

ego

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reality principle. -seeking to gratify the id's impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure

Front 81

superego

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the voice of our moral compass. forces the ego to consider not just the real but the ideal. Focuses on how we out to behave.

Front 82

Big 5 factors of Personality

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Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Extraversion

Front 83

self-serving bias

Back 83

our readiness to perceive ourselves favorably

Front 84

medical model

Back 84

concept that diseases-psychological disorders- have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, cured

Front 85

anxiety disorders

Back 85

episodes characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety

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Phobia

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anxiety disorders in which an irrational fear cuses a person to avoid an object, activity, or situation

Front 87

bipolar disorder

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alternating between depression and overexcited state of mania. Manic-depressive disorder

Front 88

schizophrenia symptoms

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disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, inappropriate emotions and actions, paranoia

Front 89

Eclectic approach

Back 89

uses techniques form various forms of therapy

Front 90

client centered therapy

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focusing on the person's conscious self-perceptions. Active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate clients' growth. developed by Carl Rogers.

Front 91

Group therapy

Back 91

provides a setting to allow people to discover that others have problems similar to their own and receive feedback as they try out new ways of behaving

Front 92

Stanford Prison Experiment

Back 92

how role-playing affects attitude

Front 93

Milgram studies

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Obedience. How far we will go because we feel that we have to obey someone

Front 94

stereotypes

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generalized belief about a group of people

Front 95

bystander effect

Back 95

being less likely to give aid when other bystandards are present