Psychology Test 2 (Chp 4-6)

Front 1

behavior genetics

Back 1

the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior

Front 2

environment

Back 2

every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us

Front 3

chromosomes

Back 3

threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes

Front 4

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Back 4

a complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes

Front 5

genes

Back 5

the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; a segment of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein

Front 6

genome

Back 6

the complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes

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identical twins

Back 7

twins that develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into two, creating two genetically identical organisms

Front 8

fraternal twins

Back 8

twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs,. They are genetically no closer than brother and sisters, but they share a fetal environment.

Front 9

temperament

Back 9

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

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heritability

Back 10

the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.

Front 11

interaction

Back 11

the interplay occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)

Front 12

evolutionary psychology

Back 12

the study of evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection

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natural selection

Back 13

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

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mutation

Back 14

a random error in gene replication that leads to change

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gender

Back 15

in psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female

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culture

Back 16

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

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norm

Back 17

an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper" behavior

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personal space

Back 18

the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies

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individualism

Back 19

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

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collectivism

Back 20

giving priority to goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

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aggression

Back 21

physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone

Front 22

X chromosome

Back 22

the sex chromosomes found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes, makes have one. An X chromosome from each parent produces a female child.

Front 23

Y chromosome

Back 23

the sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produced a male child.

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testosterone

Back 24

the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics in puberty.

Front 25

role

Back 25

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

Front 26

gender identity

Back 26

our sense of being male or female

Front 27

gender typing

Back 27

the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

Front 28

social learning theory

Back 28

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished

Front 29

molecular genetics

Back 29

the subfield of geology that studies the molecular structure and functions of genes

Front 30

gender role

Back 30

a set of expected behaviors for males or for females

Front 31

zygote

Back 31

the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

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embryo

Back 32

the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month

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fetus

Back 33

the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

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teratogens

Back 34

agents, such a chemicals and viruses, that can reach an embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

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fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

Back 35

physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In sever cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions

Front 36

habituation

Back 36

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner

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maturation

Back 37

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively influenced by experience

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cognition

Back 38

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

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schema

Back 39

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

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assimilation

Back 40

interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas

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accommodation

Back 41

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

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sensorimotor stage

Back 42

on Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world most in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

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object permanence

Back 43

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Front 44

preoperational stage

Back 44

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

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conservation

Back 45

the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

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egocentrism

Back 46

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view

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theory of mind

Back 47

people's ideas about their own and others' mental states-- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

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concrete operational stage

Back 48

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations enable them to think logically about concrete events

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formal operational stage

Back 49

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Front 50

autism

Back 50

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind

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stranger anxiety

Back 51

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning about 8 months of age

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attachment

Back 52

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing stress of seperation

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critical period

Back 53

an optimal period shortly after birth when an ogranism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

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imprinting

Back 54

the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

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basic trust

Back 55

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

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self-concept

Back 56

our understanding and evaluation of who we are

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adolescence

Back 57

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

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puberty

Back 58

the period of sexual maturation, how during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

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primary sex characteristics

Back 59

the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible

Front 60

secondary sex characteristics

Back 60

non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

Front 61

identity

Back 61

our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles

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social identity

Back 62

the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships

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intimacy

Back 63

in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood

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emerging adulthood

Back 64

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

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menopause

Back 65

the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

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cross-sectional study

Back 66

a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

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longitudinal study

Back 67

research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period

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crystallized intelligence

Back 68

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

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fluid intelligence

Back 69

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late childhood

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social clock

Back 70

the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement

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developmental psychology

Back 71

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive and social change through the life span

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menarche

Back 72

the first menstrual period

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sensation

Back 73

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

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perception

Back 74

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

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bottom-up processing

Back 75

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

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top-down processing

Back 76

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

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psychophysics

Back 77

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Front 78

absolute threshold

Back 78

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

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signal detection theory

Back 79

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, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue

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subliminal

Back 80

below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

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priming

Back 81

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Front 82

difference threshold

Back 82

the minimum difference between the two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd).

Front 83

Webster's Law

Back 83

the principle that to be perceived as a different two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

Front 84

sensory adaptation

Back 84

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

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transduction

Back 85

conversion of one form of energy into another in sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret

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wavelength

Back 86

the distance from the peak of one light of sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission

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intensity

Back 87

the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude

Front 88

hue

Back 88

the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as color names blue, green and so forth

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pupil

Back 89

the adjustable opening in the center of eye through which light enters

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iris

Back 90

a ring of muscle that forms the color portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

Front 91

lens

Back 91

the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Front 92

retina

Back 92

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin processing of visual information

Front 93

accommodation

Back 93

the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Front 94

rods

Back 94

retina receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

Front 95

cones

Back 95

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

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optic nerve

Back 96

the nerve that carries nerve impulses from the eye to the brain

Front 97

blind spot

Back 97

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there

Front 98

fovea

Back 98

the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster

Front 99

feature detectors

Back 99

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

Front 100

parallel processing

Back 100

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrast with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and conscious problem solving.

Front 101

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory

Back 101

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors-- one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue-- which, when stimulated in combination can produce perception of any color

Front 102

audition

Back 102

the sense or act of hearing

Front 103

frequency

Back 103

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a give time (for example, a second)

Front 104

pitch

Back 104

a tone's experience highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Front 105

middle ear

Back 105

the chamber between the eardrum and the cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window

Front 106

cochlea

Back 106

a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

Front 107

inner ear

Back 107

the innermost part of the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Front 108

place theory

Back 108

in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated

Front 109

frequency theory

Back 109

in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve match the frequency of tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Front 110

conduction hearing loss

Back 110

hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Front 111

sensorineural hearing loss

Back 111

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves, also called nerve deafness

Front 112

cochlear implant

Back 112

a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Front 113

kinesthesis

Back 113

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Front 114

vestibular sense

Back 114

the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Front 115

gate-control theory

Back 115

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the acitivty of pain signals travelings up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in large fibers or by information coming from the brain

Front 116

sensory implication

Back 116

the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

Front 117

gestalt

Back 117

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Front 118

figure-ground

Back 118

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

Front 119

grouping

Back 119

the perceptual tendency organize stimuli into coherent groups

Front 120

depth perception

Back 120

the ability to see object in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Front 121

visual cliff

Back 121

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Front 122

binocular cues

Back 122

depth cues, such as retinal disparity; that depend on the use of two eyes

Front 123

retinal disparity

Back 123

a binocular cue for perceiving depth; By comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes the distance-- the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

Front 124

monocular cues

Back 124

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Front 125

phi phenomenon

Back 125

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Front 126

perceptual constancy

Back 126

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, lightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change

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color constancy

Back 127

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

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perceptual adaptation

Back 128

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field

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perceptual set

Back 129

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

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human factors psychology

Back 130

a branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use

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extrasensory perception (ESP)

Back 131

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

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parapsychology

Back 132

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

Front 133

opponent-process theory

Back 133

the theory that opposing retinal process (red- green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by red; other are stimulated by red or inhibited by green