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128 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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psychology |
The scientific study of mental processes and behavior |
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Ethical guidelines for experimentation per the APA |
-Do no harm -ensure that participation is voluntary -remove any misconceptions caused by deception (debrief) -provide results and interpretations to participants -maintain confidentiality -accurately describe risks to potential patients |
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Introspection |
The process of looking into yourself and describing what is there |
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Eclectic approach |
The process of making your own system by borrowing from two or more other systems |
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Behaviorism |
A personality theory that focuses on overt acts or behaviors |
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Humanism |
A personality theory that emphasizes the positive potential of a person |
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Cognitive approach |
An approach that emphasizes how humans use mental processes to handle mental problems or develop certain personality characteristics |
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Psychoanalysis |
Therapy practiced by followers of Freud, who who analyze the psyche via the unconscious |
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Placebo |
A "medicine" that has no active ingredients and works by the power of suggestion |
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Dependent variable |
The factor in a study that that changes or varies as a result of changes in the independent variable. |
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Independent variable |
The factor that the experimenter manipulates or changes in a study |
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Hypothesis |
A statement of the results that the experimenter expects |
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Theory |
A general framework for scientific study; smaller aspects can be tested |
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Experimental group |
The group on which the critical part of the experiment is performed |
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Control group |
The group that does not participate in the critical part of the experiment |
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Naturalistic observation |
A research method that involves studying subjects without their being aware they're being watched |
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Case study |
research that collects lengthy, detailed information about a persons background, usually for psychological treatment |
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Longitudinal study |
A method of research that studies the same group if people over an extended period of time |
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Cross-sectional study |
A method of research that looks at different age groups at the same time in order to understand changes that occur during the life span |
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Interview method |
A research method that involves studying people face to face and asking questions |
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Double blind study |
A study during which neither researchers or participants know which group any subject belongs to |
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Sigmund Freud |
He developed one of the first comprehensive theories of personality. His areas of interest were how personality develops, what can go wrong, and how to fix it. He theorized that we are influenced by things we are unaware of, as well as our early childhood. |
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Personality |
A persons broad, long lasting patterns of behavior |
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Free association |
The process of saying whatever comes to mind, thought to uncover the unconscious in psychoanalysis |
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Consciousness |
The organisms awareness of, or possibility of knowing, what is happening inside or outside of itself |
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Subconscious |
Consciousness just below out level of present awareness |
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Unconscious |
According to psychoanalytical belief, the part of the mind that is beyond consciousness. Although we are unaware of its contents, they strongly affect our behavior; thoughts or desires about which we have no direct knowledge |
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Self actualization |
Needs at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs; establishing meaningful goals and a purpose in life |
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Maslow's hierarchy |
1) self actualization 2) self esteem 3) belonging 4) safety needs 5) psychological needs |
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First intelligence test |
Intelligent quotient (IQ), a measure of intelligence originally obtained by comparing mental age, as determined by tests, with chronological age |
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Intelligence |
The ability to understand and adapt to the environment by using a combination of inherited abilities and learning experiences |
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Mental age vs. Chronological age |
Mental age is the level of intellectual functioning in years, which is compared with chronological age, (how old you are) to derive IQ |
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Construct |
A concept requiring a belief in something that cannot be seen or touched but that seems to exist |
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REM |
Rapid eye movement sleep; dreams occur during REM sleep |
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NREM |
Non rapid eye movement; less important part of sleep, dreams do not occur |
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Stages of the sleep cycle |
Awake, light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep |
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Twilight state |
Relaxed state right before we fall asleep |
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Biopsychological approach |
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Biopsychological approach |
An approach that views behavior as strongly influenced by physiological functions |
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Why is Wilhelm Wundt regarded as the father of Psychology? |
He started the first laboratory to study humans |
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Free will |
The idea that we are able to have some choice in how we act and assumes that we are free to chose out behavior; self determined |
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Cognition
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Higher order thought processes, such as reasoning and problem solving |
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Central nervous system |
The brain and spinal cord |
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Peripheral nervous system |
All the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord |
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Autonomic nervous system |
The automatic control system of the body; regulates breathing, heart rate, digestion, etc. |
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Somatic nervous system |
A division of the peripheral nervous system containing sensory and motor nerves |
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Thyroid |
The gland that controls and regulates the speed of bodily processes, called metabolism |
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Androgens |
Male sex hormone |
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Estrogen |
Female sex hormone |
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Sensation |
The process of receiving information from the environment |
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White light |
Light from the sun or a bulb before it is broken into different frequencies |
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Rods |
Sees black and white; sensitive to violet-purple wavelengths and good for night vision |
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Cones |
Sees color; responds to daylight |
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Lens |
The part of the eye that focuses an image on the retina |
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Pupil |
The opening in the eye |
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Retina |
The back of the eye, which contains millions of receptors for light |
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Afterimages |
Cones not used fire to bring the visual system back to homeostasis. Results in image of opposite colors being seen |
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Decibels |
Measure of the intensity of a sound |
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Pitch |
Measure of how high or low a sound is |
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Timbre |
The complexity of a sound |
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Intensity |
How loud a sound is |
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Cutaneous receptors |
Nerve receptors in the skin that respond to pressure, temperature, or pain |
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Cilia |
Hairlike extension on cells |
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Pheromones |
Odor chemicals that communicate a message |
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Taste receptors |
Chemical receptors on the tongue that decode molecules of food or drink to identify them |
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Size constancy |
The ability to retain the size of an object no matter where it is |
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Shape constancy |
The ability to retain the shape of an object no matter how its positioned |
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Space constancy |
The ability to keep objects in the environment steady by perceiving either ourselves or outside objects as moving |
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Visual cliff |
An apparatus used to demonstrate depth perception |
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Subliminal messages |
Stimulation presented below the level of perception; not enough stimulus for us to consciously notice |
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Homeostasis |
The body's process of keeping a balanced internal state |
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Set point |
The body regulating mechanism that determines a persons typical weight |
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Intrinsic motivation |
Motivation that comes from within the individual |
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Extrinsic motivation |
Motivation that comes from outside the individual |
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Need for achievement |
Need for personal accomplishment |
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Need for affiliation |
Need to belong to and identify with groups |
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Schachter's cognitive theory |
People label a bodily response by giving it the name of the emotion they think they are feeling |
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James-Lange theory |
First the body responds, then one feels the emotion |
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Cannon-Bard theory |
The bodily reaction and the emotional response happen at the same time |
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Classical conditioning |
Ivan Pavlov's method of conditioning, where associations are made between a natural stimulus and a learned, neutral stimulus |
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Generalization |
A behavior that spreads from one situation to others like it |
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Conditioning |
Reinforcing a behavior |
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Discrimination |
Learning to tell the difference between one object or event and another |
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Shaping |
The process of gradually refining a response by successively reinforcing closer approximations of it |
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Extinction |
The gradual loss of an association over time |
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Ivan Pavlov |
First person to demonstrate classical conditioning |
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Primary reinforcement |
Something necessary for psychological or physical survival that is used as a reward |
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Secondary reinforcement |
Anything that comes to represent a primary enforcer |
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Positive reinforcement |
Reinforcement that adds something pleasant |
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Negative reinforcement |
Reinforcement that removes something unpleasant |
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Punishment |
The process of weakening a response by following it with unpleasant consequences |
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Albert Bandura |
Most prominent theorist in social learning; claimed that the most important aspect of learning, the " inner person", was missed by the other theorists |
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Cognitive map |
A mental image of where one is located in space |
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Listening while sleeping |
Has no effect on retention of the material, and only disrupts your sleep |
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Operant conditioning |
Conditioning that results from the individuals actions and the consequences they cause |
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Social learning |
All learning that occurs in a social situation |
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How amphetamines affect learning |
Can overstimulate the brain and actually cause learning loss |
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How depressant effect learning |
Blocks the firing of brain nerve cells and reduces learning |
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How caffeine effects learning |
Can increase learning by stirring up the body's activity level, which I'm turn increases memory |
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State dependent learning |
Learning that occurs in one chemical state and is best remembered in the same state |
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Positive transfer |
Transfer of learning that results from similarities between two tasks |
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Negative transfer |
Interference in learning that results from differences between two otherwise similar tasks |
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Transfer of training |
Learning process in which learning is carried over from one task to another based in similarities between the tasks |
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Schema |
An organized and systematic approach to answering questions or solving problems |
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Mnemonic devices |
Unusual associations made to aid memory |
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Principal learning |
Method of learning in which an overall view (principle) of the material to be learned is developed so that the material is better organized |
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Learning curve |
A gradual upwards slope representing increased retention of the material as the result of learning |
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Forgetting curve |
Graphic representation of the rate and amount of forgetting that occurs |
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Recognition |
The ability to pick the correct object or event from a list of choices |
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Recall |
The ability to bring back and integrate many specific learned details |
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Sensory memory system |
System that includes direct receivers of information from the environment. For example, iconic, acoustic. |
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Iconic memory |
A very brief visual memory that can be sent to the short term memory |
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Acoustic memory |
A very brief sound memory that can be sent to short term memory |
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Long term memory |
Memory system that retains information for hours, days, weeks, months, or decades |
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Short term memory |
Memory system that retains information for a few seconds to a few minutes |
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Eidetic memory |
An iconic memory that lasts for a minute or so that keeps images "in front of" the viewer so objects can be counted or analyzed. Also called photographic memory |
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Clairvoyance |
The ability to know information through esp |
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Pre-cognition |
To see a future or present event without actually being there |
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Telepathy |
Transfer of thought from one person to another |
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Psychokinesis |
The ability to move objects with ones mind |
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Puberty |
The time of sexual maturation |
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Critical period |
A specific period of development that is the only time when a particular skill can begin to develop or a particular association can occur |
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Dreams |
Are a result of neurons firing during sleep |
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John Watson |
One of the first american psychologists to study the impact of learning on human emotion. Associated with behaviorism |
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Apnea |
Condition in which a persons breathing often stops while the person is asleep |
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Insomnia |
Inability to fall asleep |
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Narcolepsy |
Disorder where a person falls instantly to sleep no matter what is going on in the environment |
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Longitudinal study |
A method of research that studies the same group of people over an extended period of time |
