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219 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
What is psychology?
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
List the five major perspectives of psychology
1. Neuroscience
2. Cognitive
3. Behavioral
4. Humanistic
5. Psychodynamic
Define the neuroscience perspective
The approach that views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and other biological functions.
Define the Cognitive perspective
The approach that focuses on how people think,
understand, and know about the world.
Define the Behavioral perspective
The approach that suggests that observable, measurable behavior should be the focus of study.
Define the Humanistic perspective
The approach that suggests that all individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behavior.
Define the Psychodynamic Perspective
The approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious
inner forces over which the individual has little control.
Explain the subfield: Behavioral
genetics
Behavioral genetics studies the inheritance of traits related to behavior
Explain the subfield: Behavioral
neuroscience
Behavioral neuroscience examines the biological basis of behavior
Explain the subfield: Clinical
psychology
Clinical psychology deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of
psychological disorders
Explain the subfield: Clinical
neuropsychology
Clinical neuropsychology unites the areas of biopsychology and clinical
psychology, focusing on the relationship between biological factors and
psychological disorders
Explain the subfield: Cognitive
psychology
Cognitive psychology focuses on the study of higher mental processes
Explain the subfield: Counseling
psychology
Counseling psychology focuses primarily on educational, social, and
career adjustment problems
Explain the subfield: Cross-cultural
psychology
Cross-cultural psychology investigates the similarities and differences in
psychological functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic
groups
Explain the subfield: Developmental
psychology
Developmental psychology examines how people grow and change from
the moment of conception through death
Explain the subfield: Educational
psychology
Educational psychology is concerned with teaching and learning
processes, such as the relationship between motivation and
school performance
Explain the subfield: Environmental
psychology
Environmental psychology considers the relationship between people
and their physical environment
Explain the subfield: Evolutionary
psychology
Evolutionary psychology considers how behavior is influenced by our
genetic inheritance from our ancestors
Explain the subfield: Experimental
psychology
Experimental psychology studies the processes of sensing, perceiving,
learning, and thinking about the world
Explain the subfield: Forensic
psychology
Forensic psychology focuses on legal issues, such as determining the
accuracy of witness memories
Explain the subfield: Health
psychology
Health psychology explores the relationship between psychological
factors and physical ailments or disease
Explain the subfield: Industrial/
organizational
psychology
Industrial/organizational psychology is concerned with the psychology
of the workplace
Explain the subfield: Personality
psychology
Personality psychology focuses on the consistency in people’s behavior
over time and the traits that differentiate one person from another
Explain the subfield: Program
evaluation
Program evaluation focuses on assessing large-scale programs, such as
the Head Start preschool program, to determine whether they are
effective in meeting their goals
Explain the subfield: Psychology of women
Psychology of women focuses on issues such as discrimination against women and the causes of violence against women
Explain the subfield: School psychology
School psychology is devoted to counseling children in elementary
and secondary schools who have academic or emotional problems
Explain the subfield: Social psychology
Social psychology is the study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others
Explain the subfield: Sport psychology
Sport psychology applies psychology to athletic activity and exercise
In the 19th century who established the first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena?
William Wundt
Define Structuralism:
Wundt’s approach,which focuses on uncovering the
fundamental mental components of consciousness, thinking, and other kinds of mental states and activities.
Define Introspection:
A procedure used to study the structure of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when they are exposed to a stimulus
Define Functionalism:
An early approach to psychology that concentrated on what the mind does—the functions of mental activity—and the role of behavior in allowing
Define Gestalt (geh SHTALLT)
psychology:
An approach to psychology that focuses on the organization of perception and thinking in a “whole” sense rather than on the individual elements of perception.
In what year did Sigmund Freud develop the
psychodynamic perspective?
1900
Who was the first woman to receive a doctorate in psychology?
Margaret Floy Washburn
What if freewill?
The idea that behavior is caused primarily by choices that are made freely by the individual.
Define Determinism:
The idea that people’s behavior is produced primarily by factors outside of their willful control.
Define the scientific method:
The approach used by psychologists to systematically acquire knowledge and understanding about behavior and other phenomena of interest.
Explain theories:
Broad explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest.
What is a hypothesis?
A prediction, stemming from a theory, stated in a way that
allows it to be tested.
Explain Operational definition:
The translation of a hypothesis into specific, testable procedures that can be measured and observed.
What is descriptive research?
An approach to research designed to systematically
investigate a person, group, or patterns of behavior.
Explain archival research:
Research in which existing data, such as census
documents, college records, and newspaper clippings, are examined to test a hypothesis.
What is naturalistic observation?
Research in which an investigator simply observes some naturally occurring behavior and does not make a change in the situation.
Describe study research:
A group of people chosen to represent a larger population are asked a series of questions abut their behavior, thoughts, or attitudes.
What is a case study?
An in-depth, intensive investigation of an individual or small group of people.
What are variables?
Behaviors, events, or other characteristics that can change, or vary, in some way
What is correlative research?
Two sets of variables are examined to determine whether they are associated, or “correlated."
What is an independent variable?
The condition that is manipulated by an experimenter
What is a dependent variable?
The variable that is measured and expected to change due to the experimenter’s manipulation of the independent variable
What 4 safeguards or guidelines are to be followed in the event of ethical research to protect the rights of the participants?
1. Protection of participants from physical and mental harm
2. The right of participants to privacy regarding their behavior
3. The assurance that participation in research is completely voluntary
4. The necessity of informing participants about the nature of procedures before their participation in the experiment
What is experimental bias?
Factors that distort how the independent variable affects the dependent variable in an experiment.
What are experimentor expectations?
An experimenter unintentionally transmits
cues to participants about the way they are expected to behave in a given experimental condition.
What is a placebo?
A false treatment, such as
a pill, “drug,” or other substance, without any significant chemical properties or active ingredient.
What are neurons?
Nerve cells, the basic
elements of the nervous system
Explain dendrites
A cluster of fibers at one end of the neuron that receives messages from other neurons
Define an axon
The part of the neuron that
carries messages destined for other neurons.
What are terminal buttons?
Small bulges at the end of the axons that send messages to other neurons.
Explain a Myelin sheath
A protective coat of fat and protein that wraps around
the axon.
What is the All-or-none law?
The rule that neurons are either on or off.
Explain the Resting state:
The state in which there is a negative electrical charge of about 70 millivolts within a neuron.
Define Synapse
The space between two
neurons where the axon of a sending neuron communicates with the
dendrites of a receiving neuron by using chemical messages
What are Neurotransmitters?
Chemicals that carry messages across the synapse to the dendrite (and sometimes the cell body) of a receiver neuron.
Explain Excitatory messages:
Chemical messages that make it more likely that a receiving neuron will fire and an action potential will travel down its axon
What are Inhibitory messages:
Chemical messages that prevent or decrease the
likelihood that a receiving neuron will fire.
What is a reuptake?
The reabsorption of neurotransmitters by a terminal button
What is the Central nervous system (CNS)?
The part of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.
Explain the spinal cord:
A bundle of neurons that leaves the brain and runs down the length of the back and is the main means of transmitting messages between the brain and the body.
What is a reflex?
An automatic, involuntary response to an incoming stimulus
What are the 3 types of neurons involved in reflexes and how do they work?
Sensory neurons transmit information from the perimeter of the body to the central nervous system.

Motor neurons communicate information from the nervous system to muscles and glands.

Interneurons connect sensory and motor neurons, carrying messages between the two.
What is the Peripheral nervous system?
The part of the nervous system that includes the
autonomic and somatic subdivisions; made up of neurons with long axons and dendrites, it branches out from the spinal cord and brain and reaches the extremities of the body.
Explain the Somatic division:
The part of the peripheral nervous system that
specializes in the control of voluntary movements and the communication of information to and from the sense prgans.
Explain the Autonomic division:
The part of the peripheral nervous system that
controls involuntary movement of the heart, glands, lungs, and other organs
What does the parasympathetic division do?
Acts to calm the body after the emergency has ended
What system produces hormones, chemicals that circulate through the blood via the bloodstream?
Endocrine system
What are hormones?
Chemicals that circulate through the blood and regulate the functioning or growth of the body.
Explain the pituitary gland:
The major component of the endocrine system, or “master gland,” which secretes hormones that control growth and other parts of the endocrine system.
Which of the 4 scanning techniques (PET, MRI, EEG, or TMS) examine the brain structure?
MRI, PET
Which of the 4 scanning techniques (PET, MRI, EEG, or TMS) examine the functioning of the brain?
EEG, TMS
The central core of the brain controls which functions?
Basic functions such as eating and sleeping and is common to all vertebrates
What is the Cerebellum?
The part of the brain that controls bodily balance
Explain the reticular formation:
The part of the brain extending from the medulla through the pons and made up of groups of nerve cells that can immediately activate other parts of the brain to produce general bodily arousal.
What does the thalamus do?
The part of the brain located in the middle of the central
core that acts primarily to relay information about the senses.
What is the hypothalamus?
A tiny part of the brain, located below the thalamus, that maintains homeostasis and produces and regulates vital behavior, such as
eating, drinking, and sexual behavior.
What system is a part of the brain that controls eating, aggression, and reproduction?
The Limbic system
Define the duties of the cerebral cortex
The “new brain,” responsible for the most sophisticated
information processing in the brain; contains four lobes.
What are the lobes of the "new brain"?
The four major sections of the cerebral cortex: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.
What function does the motor area service in the cerebral cortex?
The part of the cortex that is largely responsible for the body’s voluntary movement.
What is the sensory area?
The site in the brain of the tissue that corresponds to
each of the senses, with the degree of sensitivity related to the amount of tissue allocated to that sense.
What are the association areas of the brain?
One of the major regions of the cerebral cortex; the site
of the higher mental processes, such as thought, language, memory, and speech.
What is the difference between neuroplasticity and neurogenisis?
Neuroplasticity is the reorganization of existing neuronal connections, while neurogenesis is the creation of new neurons
What are the hemispheres of the brain?
Symmetrical left and right halves of the brain that control the side of the body opposite to their location.
What is lateralization?
The dominance of one hemisphere of the brain in specific functions, such as language
What is biofeedback?
A procedure in which a person learns to control through conscious thought the internal physiological processes such as blood
pressure, heart and espiration rate, skin temperature, sweating, and the constriction of particular muscles.
What is the differenece between sensation and perception?
Sensation refers to the activation of the sense organs (a physical response), while perception refers to how stimuli are interpreted (a psychological response).
What is stimulus?
Energy that produces a response in a sense organ.
What is psychophysics?
The study of the relationship between the physical aspects of stimuli and our psychological experience of them
What is the absolute threshold?
The smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for the stimulus to be detected.
What is the difference threshold?
The smallest level of added or reduced stimulation
required to sense that a change in stimulation has occurred.
Weber's Law states what?
A just noticeable difference is in constant proportion to the intensity of an initial stimulus
What is adapation?
An adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli
What are the Gestalt Laws of organization?
A series of principles that describe how we organize bits and pieces of information
into meaningful wholes.
What is top-down processing?
Perception that is guided by higher-level knowledge, experience, expectations,
and motivations.
Explain bottom-up processing
Perception that consists of the progression of recognizing and processing information from individual components of a stimuli and moving to the perception of the whole.
Define depth perception:
The ability to view the world in three dimensions and to
perceive distance.
What are visual illusions?
Physical stimuli that consistently produce errors in
perception.
Explain consciousness:
The awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at a given moment
How many stages of sleep are there?
5
Explain stage 1 sleep:
The stage of transition between wakefulness and sleep, characterized by relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain waves
Explain stage 2 sleep:
A sleep deeper than that of stage 1, characterized by a
slower, more regular wave pattern, along with momentary interruptions of sleep spindles.
Explain stage 3 sleep:
A sleep characterized by slow brain waves, with greater peaks and valleys in the wave pattern than in stage 2 sleep
Explain stage 4 sleep:
The deepest stage of sleep, during which we are least
responsive to outside stimulation.
Define REM sleep or rapid eye movement sleep
Sleep occupying 20 percent of an adult’s sleep time, characterized by increased heart rate, blood pressure,
and breathing rate; erections (in males); eye movements; and the experience of dreaming.
What is the unconscious fulfillment theory?
Sigmund Freud’s theory that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled.
What is the latent content of dreams?
According to Freud, the “disguised” meanings of dreams, hidden by more obvious subjects.
Explain the manifest content of dreams
According to Freud, the apparent story line of dreams.
What is the Dream-For-Survival Theory?
The theory suggesting that dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep.
What is the Activation-Synthesis Theory?
J. Allan Hobson’s theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories lodged in various portions of the brain.
What is the circadium rhthym?
Biological processes that occur regularly on approximately a 24-hour cycle.
What is hypnosis?
A trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others.
Describe meditation:
A learned technique for refocusing attention that brings about an altered state of consciousness.
What is the definition of learning?
A relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience.
Who developed the principles of classical conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov
What is classical conditioning?
A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response.
What is a neutral stimulous?
A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not naturally bring about the response of interest
What is an unconditioned stimulous?
A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response without having been learned.
What is an unconditioned response? (UCR)
A response that is natural and needs no training (e.g., salivation at the smell of food).
What is a Conditioned stimulus (CS)?
A once neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
What is a Conditioned response (CR)
A response that, after conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus
(e.g., salivation at the ringing of a bell).
What is extinction?
A basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears.
Explain spontaneous recovery
The reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further conditioning.
What is the difference between stimulous generalization and stimulous discrimination?
Stimulus generalization relates to stimuli that are similar to one another, while stimulus discrimination relates to
stimuli that are different from one another.
What is operant conditioning?
Learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences.
What is reinforcement?
The process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated
What does it mean to reinforce?
The process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior wlll be repeated
What is the difference betwen a primary reinforcer and a seconary reinforcer?
Primary reinforcers satisfy a biological need; secondary
reinforcers are effective due to previous association with
a primary reinforcer.
Define positive reinforcement:
A stimulus added to the environment that brings about
an increase in a preceding response.
Define negative reinforcement:
An unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in the probability that a preceding response will be repeated in the future.
Explain punishment
A stimulus that decreases the probability that a
previous behavior will occur again
What is the schedule of reinforcement?
Different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following
desired behavior.
What is a Continuous reinforcement schedule?
Reinforcing of a behavior every time it occurs
What is a Partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule?
Reinforcing of a behavior some but not all of the time.
Explain a fixed-ratio schedule
A schedule by which reinforcement is given only after a specific number of responses are made.
Define a variable-ratio schedule
A schedule by which reinforcement occurs after a varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number.
What is a fixed interval schedule?
A schedule that provides reinforcement for a response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall rates of response relatively low.
What is a variable-interval schedule?
A schedule by which the time between reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed.
Explain shaping
The process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
What is behavior modification?
A formalized technique for promoting the frequency
of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.
What is the difference between cognitive learning and classical operant conditioning?
Cognitive learning approach focuses on the internal thoughts and expectations of learners, whereas classical
and operant conditioning approaches focus on external
stimuli, responses, and reinforcement
What is the cognitive learning theory?
An approach to the study of learning that focuses on the thought processes that underlie learning.
Explain latent learning
Learning in which a new behavior is acquired but is not demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying it.
Define observational learning
Learning by observing the behavior of another person, or model.
The process by which we
encode, store, and retrieve information is what?
Memory
What are the brain's three memory systems?
1) Sensory memory
2) Short Term memory
3) Long Term memory
Explain Sensory memory:
The initial, momentary storage of information, lasting only an instant.
Define Short Term Memory:
Memory that holds information for 15 to 25 seconds.
What is Long Term Memory?
Memory that stores information on a relatively
permanent basis, although it may be difficult to retrieve
A meaningful grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a unit in short-term memory is called what?
A chunk
What is a rehersal?
The repetition of information that has entered short-term memory.
What are the two memory modules located in long term memory?
Procedural and declarative memory
Define declarative memory:
Memory for factual information: names, faces,
dates, and the like.
What is procedural memory?
Memory for skills and habits, such as riding a bike or hitting a baseball, sometimes referred to as nondeclarative memory
What are the two subdivisons of declarative memory?
1) Semantic memory
2) Episodic memory
Explain semantic memory:
Memory for general knowledge and facts about the world, as well as memory for the rules of logic that are used to deduce other facts.
Defie episodic memory:
Memory for events that occur in a particular time, place,
or context.
What is the Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon?
The inability to recall information that one realizes one knows—a result of the difficulty of retrieving information from long-term memory.
What is it to recall?
Memory task in which specific information must be retrieved.
What is recognition?
Memory task in which individuals are presented with a stimulus and asked whether they have been exposed to it in the past or to identify it from a list of alternatives.
What is the difference between recall and recognition?
To recall (in which specific information must be retrieved) and recognition (in which information is presented and must be identified or distinguished from other material).
What is the Level of Processing Theory?
The theory of memory that emphasizes the degree to which new material is mentally analyzed.
What type of memory is the intentional or conscious recollection of information?
Explicit memory
What are memories of which people are not consciously aware, but which can affect subsequent performance and behavior?
Implicit memory
Explain Flashbulb memories
Memories centered on a specific, important, or
surprising event that are so vivid it is as if they represented a snapshot of the event.
What are Constructive Processes?
Processes in which memories are influenced by the meaning we give to events.
Define Schemas
Organized bodies of information stored in memory that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and recalled.
Our recollections of circumstances and
episodes from our own lives are called what?
Autobiographical memories
What is decay?
The loss of information in memory through its nonuse
Explain Interference:
The phenomenon by which information in memory disrupts the recall of other information
What is Cue-dependent forgetting?
Forgetting that occurs when there are insufficient retrieval cues to rekindle information that is in memory.
What is the difference between memory loss through decay versus interference?
Memory loss through decay comes from nonuse of the
memory; memory loss through interference is due
to the presence of other information in memory
What is Proactive interference?
Interference in which information learned earlier
disrupts the recall of newer material.
Explain Retroactive interference:
Interference in which there is difficulty in the recall of information learned earlier because of later exposure to different material
What is motivation?
The factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other organisms.
What are instincts?
Inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically determined rather than learned.
What are the drive-reduction approaches to motivation?
Theories suggesting that a lack of a basic biological requirement such as water produces a drive to obtain that requirement (in this case, the thirst drive).
What is drive?
Motivational tension, or arousal, that energizes behavior to fulfill a need.
The body’s tendency to maintain a steady internal state is called what?
Homeostasis
Arousal approaches to
motivation are what?
The belief that we try to maintain certain levels of stimulation and activity, increasing or reducing them as necessary.
Explain Incentive approaches to motivation:
Theories suggesting that motivation stems from the desire to obtain valued external goals, or incentives.
Explain Cognitive approaches to motivation:
Theories suggesting that motivation is a product of people’s thoughts, expectations, and goals—their cognitions.
What is Self-Actualization?
A state of selffulfillment in which people realize their
highest potential, each in his or her own unique way.
What are the 5 needs in Maslov's hierarchy?
1) Physiological Needs
2) Safety Needs
3) Love and Belongingness
4) Esteem
5) Self-Actualization
What is obesity?
Body weight that is more than 20 percent above the average weight for a person of a particular height.
Explain the Weight Set Point:
The particular level of weight that the body strives to
maintain.
Define Metabolism:
The rate at which food is converted to energy and expended by the body.
What is anorexia nervosa?
A severe eating disorder in which people may refuse to
eat while denying that their behavior and appearance—which can become skeleton-like—are unusual.
What is bulimia?
A disorder in which a person binges on large quantities of food, followed by efforts to purge the food through vomiting or other means.
What are androgens?
Male sex hormones secreted by the testes.
What are genitals?
The male and female sex organs.
What is estrogen?
Class of female sex hormones.
What is progesterone?
A female sex hormone secreted by the ovaries
What is ovulation?
The point at which an egg is released from the ovaries.
Sexual self-stimulation is called what?
Masturbation
Sexual attraction and behavior directed to the other sex is called...
Heterosexuality
What is a double standard?
The view that premarital sex is permissible for males but not for females.
What is extramarital sex?
Sexual activity between a married person and someone who is not his or her spouse
What are homosexuals?
Persons who are sexually attracted to members of their own sex.
Define bisexuals
Persons who are sexually attracted to people of the same sex and the other sex.
What does it been to be transsexual?
A persons who believes they were born with the body of the other gender
What is the need for achievement?
A stable, learned characteristic in which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and attaining a level of excellence
What is the Thematic Apperception Test?
A test consisting of a series of pictures about which a person is asked to write a story.
What is a need for affiliation?
An interest in establishing and maintaining relationships with other people
Explain the need for power
A tendency to seek impact, control, or influence over others, and to be seen as a powerful individual.
What are emotions?
Feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behavior
What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?
The belief that emotional experience is a reaction to bodily events occurring as a result of an external situation (“I feel sad because I am crying”).
Explain the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion:
The belief that both physiological arousal and emotional experience are
produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus.
Define the Schachter-Singer theory of emotion:
The belief that emotions are determined jointly by a nonspecific kind of physiological arousal and its
interpretation, based on environmental cues.
What is the facial affect program?
Activation of a set of nerve impulses that make the face display the appropriate expression
Explain Facial-feedback hypothesis
The hypothesis that facial expressions not only reflect emotional experience but also help determine how people experience and label emotions.