Term
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Definition
| the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time. |
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Term
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Definition
| adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. |
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Term
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Definition
| the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
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Term
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Definition
| a desire for significant accomplishment; for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for rapidly attaining a high standard |
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Term
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Definition
| a test designed to assess what a person has learned |
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Term
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Definition
| the encoding of a sound, especially the sound of words |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 operational conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. |
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Term
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Definition
| a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon |
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Term
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Definition
| empathetic listening in which the listener echos, retates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy. |
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Term
| adaptation-level phenomenon |
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Definition
| our tendency to form judgements (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience |
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Term
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Definition
| compulsive drug craving and use, despite adverse consequences |
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Term
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Definition
| the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 |
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Term
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Definition
| sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety |
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Term
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Definition
| physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone |
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Term
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Definition
| a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier- but also more error-prone- use of heuristics |
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Term
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Definition
| the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state |
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Term
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Definition
| unselfish regard for the welfare of others |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes |
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Term
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Definition
| two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion |
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Term
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Definition
| an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) diets and becomes significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve. |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs used to control anxiety and agitation |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety. Different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder |
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Term
| antisocial personality disorder |
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Definition
| a personality disorder in which the person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrong-doing, even toward friends and family members. May be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist. |
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Term
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Definition
| psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety |
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Term
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Definition
| impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding). |
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Term
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Definition
| scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
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Term
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Definition
| a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn |
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Term
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Definition
| interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 |
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Term
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Definition
| learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning) |
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Term
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Definition
| an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation |
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Term
| attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) |
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Definition
| a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. |
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Term
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Definition
| feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events |
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Term
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Definition
| the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition |
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Term
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Definition
| the sense or act of hearing |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings |
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Term
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Definition
| the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms. |
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Term
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Definition
| estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common |
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Term
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Definition
| a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol) |
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Term
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Definition
| the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, though which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement |
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Term
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Definition
| the body's resting rate of energy expenditure |
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Term
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Definition
| pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors |
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Term
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Definition
| an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medicinal knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease |
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Term
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Definition
| the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2). |
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Term
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Definition
| clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. |
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Term
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Definition
| significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging, fasting, or excessive exercise that marks bulimia nervosa. |
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Term
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Definition
| depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes |
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Term
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Definition
| a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension |
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Term
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Definition
| a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior. (Some biological psychologists call themselves behavioral neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.) |
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Term
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Definition
| prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system |
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Term
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Definition
| an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels or analysis |
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Term
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Definition
| a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania (formerly called manic-depressive disorder). |
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Term
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Definition
| the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there |
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Term
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Definition
| analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
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Term
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Definition
| the oldest and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions |
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Term
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Definition
| controls language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech |
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Term
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Definition
| an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise. |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present |
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Term
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Definition
| the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) psychological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion |
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Term
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Definition
| an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles |
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Term
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Definition
| emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges. |
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Term
| central nervous system (CNS) |
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Definition
| the brain and spinal cord |
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Term
| central route to persuasion |
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Definition
| occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts |
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Term
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Definition
| the "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance |
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Term
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Definition
| the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center |
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Term
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Definition
| failing to notice changes in the environment |
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Term
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Definition
| threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes |
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Term
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Definition
| organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically |
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Term
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Definition
| the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur in a 24-hour cycle |
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Term
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Definition
| a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events |
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Term
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Definition
| a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy) |
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Term
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Definition
| a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders |
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Term
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Definition
| a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses |
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Term
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Definition
| a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea |
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Term
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Definition
| all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating |
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Term
| cognitive dissonance theory |
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Definition
| the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes |
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Term
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Definition
| a mental representation of the layout of one's environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it |
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Term
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Definition
| the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language). |
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Term
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Definition
| therapy that teaches people new, more adaptiv ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions |
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Term
| cognitive-behavior therapy |
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Definition
| a popular integrated therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior). |
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Term
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Definition
| Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object |
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Term
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Definition
| the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined |
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Term
| complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) |
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Definition
| as yet unproven health care treatments intended to supplement (complement) or serve as alternatives to conventional medicine, and which typically are not widely taught in medical schools, used in hospitals, or reimbursed by insurance companies. When research shows a therapy to be safe and effective, it usually then becomes part of accepted medical practice. |
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Term
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Definition
| a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people |
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Term
| concrete operational stage |
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Definition
| 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 that enable them to think logically about concrete events. |
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Term
|
Definition
| a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer |
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Term
| conditioned response (CR) |
|
Definition
| in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS). |
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Term
| conditioned stimulus (CS) |
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Definition
| in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response |
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Term
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Definition
| hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea |
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Term
|
Definition
| retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations |
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Term
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Definition
| a tendency to search for information that supports out preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence |
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Term
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Definition
| a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas |
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Term
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Definition
| adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard |
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Term
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Definition
| our awareness of ourselves and our environment |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of intrest (such as a driving test that samples driving tasks). |
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Term
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Definition
| reinforcing the desires response every time it occurs |
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Term
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Definition
| in an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment |
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Term
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Definition
| a rare somatoform disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found |
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Term
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Definition
| alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods |
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Term
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Definition
| the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries |
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Term
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Definition
| the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them |
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Term
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Definition
| a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other |
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Term
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Definition
| a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1) |
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Term
|
Definition
| a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being. |
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Term
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Definition
| a behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning |
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Term
|
Definition
| the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas |
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Term
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Definition
| an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development |
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Term
|
Definition
| a study in which people of different ages are compared with each other |
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Term
| crystallized intelligence |
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Definition
| our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age |
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Term
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Definition
| the enduring behaviors, ideas, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality |
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Term
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Definition
| the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity |
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Term
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Definition
| that eerie sense that "I've experience this before." Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience |
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Term
|
Definition
| the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep. |
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Term
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Definition
| false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders. |
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Term
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Definition
| the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body |
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Term
|
Definition
| defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities |
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Term
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Definition
| the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions |
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Term
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Definition
| the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance |
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Term
|
Definition
| a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd). |
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Term
|
Definition
| unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members |
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Term
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Definition
| psychoanalytic defense 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. |
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Term
|
Definition
| in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus |
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Term
|
Definition
| a split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others |
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Term
|
Definition
| disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. |
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Term
| dissociative identity disorder (DID) |
|
Definition
| a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Formerly called multiple personality disorder. |
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Term
| DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) |
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Definition
| a complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes |
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Term
|
Definition
| an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies. |
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Term
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Definition
| a condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. |
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Term
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Definition
| a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind. Dreams are notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities, and incongruities and for the dreamer's delusional acceptance of the content and later difficulties remembering it |
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Term
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Definition
| the idea that a physiological need creates and aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need |
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Term
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Definition
| the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, with an updated "text revision": a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders |
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Term
|
Definition
| the principle that information in often simultaniously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks |
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Term
|
Definition
| a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. |
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Term
|
Definition
| an approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy. |
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Term
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Definition
| a 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 |
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Term
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Definition
| encoding that requires attention and conscious effort |
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Term
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Definition
| the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. It operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in a way that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain. |
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Term
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Definition
| in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view. |
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Term
| electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) |
|
Definition
| a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient |
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Term
| electroencephalogram (EEG) |
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Definition
| an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp |
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Term
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Definition
| the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
|
Definition
| a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience |
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Term
|
Definition
| attempting to alleviate stress bu avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction |
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Term
|
Definition
| the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions |
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Term
|
Definition
| a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups |
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Term
|
Definition
| the processing of information into the memory system- for example, by extracting meaning. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the processing of information into the memory system- for example, by extracting meaning. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream |
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Term
|
Definition
| "morphine within"- natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure |
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Term
|
Definition
| every nongenetic influence, from parental nutrition to the people and things around us |
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Term
|
Definition
| a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it. |
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Term
|
Definition
| sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics. In nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity. |
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Term
|
Definition
| clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences |
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Term
|
Definition
| the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection |
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Term
|
Definition
| a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors |
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Term
|
Definition
| in an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable |
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Term
|
Definition
| memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." Also called declarative memory. |
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Term
|
Definition
| behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid. |
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Term
| external locus of control |
|
Definition
| the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate |
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Term
|
Definition
| the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced. |
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|
Term
| extrasensory perception (ESP) |
|
Definition
| the controversial claim that perception can occur appart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition |
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Term
|
Definition
| a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment |
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Term
|
Definition
| 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 |
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Term
|
Definition
| therapy that treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members |
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Term
|
Definition
| nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement |
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Term
| feel-good, do-good phenomenon |
|
Definition
| people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood |
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|
Term
| fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) |
|
Definition
| physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth |
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Term
|
Definition
| the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground). |
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Term
|
Definition
| the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set |
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Term
|
Definition
| according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved |
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Term
|
Definition
| in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed |
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Term
|
Definition
| in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses |
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Term
|
Definition
| a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event |
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Term
|
Definition
| a completely involved, focused state of consciousness, with diminished awareness of self and time, resulting from optimal engagement of one's skills |
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Term
|
Definition
| our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood |
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|
Term
| fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) |
|
Definition
| a technique for revealing bloodflow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. They show brain function. |
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|
Term
| foot-in-the-door phenomenon |
|
Definition
| the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. |
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Term
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Definition
| in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning at about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts) |
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Term
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Definition
| the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster |
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Term
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Definition
| the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements |
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Term
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Definition
| twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment. |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing. |
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Term
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Definition
| the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second). |
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Term
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Definition
| the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second). |
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Term
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Definition
| in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch |
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Term
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Definition
| portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; invoved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements |
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Term
| frustration-aggression principle |
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Definition
| the principle that frustration- the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal- creates anger, which can generate aggression |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving. |
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Term
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Definition
| a school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral process function- how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish |
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Term
| fundamental attribution error |
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Definition
| the tendency for observers, when alalyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female |
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Term
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Definition
| our sense of being male or female |
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Term
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Definition
| a set of expected behaviors for males or for females |
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Term
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Definition
| the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role |
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Term
| general adaptation syndrome (GAS) |
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Definition
| Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three states- alarm, resistance, exhaustion. |
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Term
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Definition
| a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses |
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Term
| generalized anxiety disorder |
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Definition
| an anxiety disorder in which a person in continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal. |
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Term
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Definition
| the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; a segment of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein |
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Term
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Definition
| the complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes |
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Term
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Definition
| an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information onto meaningful wholes. |
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Term
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Definition
| cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons |
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Term
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Definition
| the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When its level is low, we feel hunger. |
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Term
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Definition
| in language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others |
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Term
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Definition
| Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction- a strategy designed to decrease international tensions. |
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Term
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Definition
| the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group |
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Term
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Definition
| the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups |
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Term
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Definition
| the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus |
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Term
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Definition
| psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input |
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Term
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Definition
| a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine |
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Term
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Definition
| 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. |
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Term
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Definition
| a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms. |
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Term
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Definition
| Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with psychological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active. |
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Term
| higher-order conditioning |
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Definition
| a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience in paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (also called second-order conditioning) |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon) |
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Term
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Definition
| a neural center that is located in the limbic system and helps process explicit memories for storage |
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Term
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Definition
| a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level. |
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Term
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Definition
| chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues |
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Term
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Definition
| the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth. |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth |
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Term
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Definition
| a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur |
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Term
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Definition
| a somatoform disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease |
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Term
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Definition
| a neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward |
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Term
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Definition
| a testable prediction, often implied by a theory |
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Term
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Definition
| a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second |
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Term
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Definition
| contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. It operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. |
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Term
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Definition
| twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms. |
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Term
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Definition
| the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos. |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
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Definition
| the perception of a relationship where none exists |
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Term
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Definition
| mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding |
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Term
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Definition
| retention independent of conscious recollection. (also called non declarative memory) |
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Term
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Definition
| the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life |
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Term
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Definition
| failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere |
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Term
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Definition
| a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied |
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Term
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Definition
| 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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Term
| industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology |
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Definition
| the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces |
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Term
| informational social influence |
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Definition
| influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality. |
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Term
| informational social influence |
|
Definition
| influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality. |
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Term
|
Definition
| "Us"- people with whom we share a common identity |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency to favor our own group |
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Term
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Definition
| the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs |
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Term
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Definition
| a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions. |
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Term
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Definition
| a variety of therapies which aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing the client's awareness of underlying motives and defenses |
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Term
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Definition
| recurring problems in falling or staying asleep. |
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Term
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Definition
| a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned |
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Term
|
Definition
| mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations |
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Term
| intelligence quotient (IQ) |
|
Definition
| defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca*100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. |
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Term
|
Definition
| a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores. |
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Term
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Definition
| the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude |
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Term
|
Definition
| the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity) |
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Term
| internal locus of locus of control |
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Definition
| the perception that you control your own fate |
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Term
|
Definition
| neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight |
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Term
|
Definition
| 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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Term
|
Definition
| a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake |
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Term
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Definition
| an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning |
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Term
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Definition
| a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening |
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Term
|
Definition
| the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get |
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Term
|
Definition
| the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts |
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Term
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Definition
| our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning |
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Term
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Definition
| according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream (as distinct from its manifest content). |
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Term
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Definition
| learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it |
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Term
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Definition
| Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely |
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Term
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Definition
| the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events |
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Term
|
Definition
| a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience |
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Term
|
Definition
| the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina |
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Term
|
Definition
| tissue destruction. A brain lesion is naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon |
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Term
|
Definition
| neural system (including the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives. |
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Term
|
Definition
| Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think |
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Term
|
Definition
| 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 centers of the inner brain. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences |
|
|
Term
| long-term potentiation (LTP) |
|
Definition
| an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory. |
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Term
|
Definition
| research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. |
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Term
|
Definition
| a powerful hallucinogenic drug; also known as acid (lysergic acid diethylamide) |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B lymphocytes form in the b one marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the t hymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances |
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Term
| major depressive disorder |
|
Definition
| a mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities. |
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Term
|
Definition
| a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state |
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Term
|
Definition
| according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden, content). |
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Term
|
Definition
| biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience |
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Term
|
Definition
| the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it |
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Term
|
Definition
| the concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing |
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Term
|
Definition
| the persistance of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information |
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Term
|
Definition
| the first menstrual period |
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Term
|
Definition
| 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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Term
|
Definition
| a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that mostly corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| (also called intellectual disability) a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound |
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Term
|
Definition
| a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past |
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Term
|
Definition
| the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them |
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Term
|
Definition
| a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies |
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Term
|
Definition
| 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 |
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Term
|
Definition
| the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window |
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|
Term
| Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) |
|
Definition
| the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes. |
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Term
|
Definition
| frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation and empathy. |
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Term
|
Definition
| 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. |
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Term
|
Definition
| incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event |
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Term
|
Definition
| memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices |
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Term
|
Definition
| the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution |
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Term
|
Definition
| the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior |
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Term
|
Definition
| the subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes |
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Term
|
Definition
| depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone |
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Term
|
Definition
| psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes. See major depressive disorder, mania, and bipolar disorder. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood |
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Term
|
Definition
| in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix) |
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Term
|
Definition
| a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. |
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Term
|
Definition
| an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements. |
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Term
|
Definition
| neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands |
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|
Term
| MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) |
|
Definition
| a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissue. MRI scans show brain anatomy. |
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Term
|
Definition
| a random error in gene replication that leads to a change |
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Term
|
Definition
| a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next |
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Term
|
Definition
| a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations |
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Term
|
Definition
| observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation |
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Term
|
Definition
| the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's science sees traits and behaviors as arising from the interaction of nature and nurture. |
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Term
|
Definition
| an altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death (such as through cardiac arrest); often similar to drug-induced hallucinations |
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Term
|
Definition
| increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: IT IS NOT PUNISHMENT) |
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Term
|
Definition
| bundled axons that form neural "cables" connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs |
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Term
|
Definition
| the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems |
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Term
|
Definition
| the formation of new neurons |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a normal impulse |
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Term
|
Definition
| a sleep disorder characterized 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. |
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Term
|
Definition
| an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper" behavior. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| (normal distribution) a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean, or average (68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it), and fewer and fewer near the extremes |
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|
Term
| normative social influence |
|
Definition
| influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval |
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Term
|
Definition
| the awareness that things continue to exist even when not percieved |
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Term
|
Definition
| learning by observing others |
|
|
Term
| obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) |
|
Definition
| an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions). |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields. |
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Term
|
Definition
| according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words. |
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Term
|
Definition
| behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animals's rate of bar pressing or key pecking. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures. |
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Term
|
Definition
| opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; they depress neural activity, temporarily lessening the pain and anxiety. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain |
|
|
Term
| organizational psychology |
|
Definition
| a subfield of I/O psychology that examines organizational influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitates organizational change |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Them"- those perceived as different or apart from the ingroup |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| an anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode o information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis |
|
|
Term
| parasympathetic nervous system |
|
Definition
| the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position |
|
|
Term
| partial (intermittent) reinforcement |
|
Definition
| 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. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| perceiving objects as unchanging (having constant shapes, size, lightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another |
|
|
Term
| peripheral nervous system (PNS) |
|
Definition
| the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body |
|
|
Term
| peripheral route to persuasion |
|
Definition
| occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a sense of controlling your environment rather than feeling helpless |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| 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 behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits. |
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Term
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Definition
| a subfield of I/O psychology that focuses on employee recruitment, selection, placement, training, appraisal, and devlopment. |
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Term
| PET (positron emission tomography) scan |
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Definition
| a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task |
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Term
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Definition
| an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession. |
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Term
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Definition
| an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation (p603) |
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Term
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Definition
| in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit (p383) |
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Term
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Definition
| a physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued. |
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Term
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Definition
| a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency. |
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Term
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Definition
| the endocrine system's most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, it regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands (p59) |
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Term
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Definition
| in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated. |
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Term
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Definition
| experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent (p31) |
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Term
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Definition
| the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience. |
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Term
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Definition
| a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) |
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Term
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Definition
| all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn. (Note: except for national studies, this does not refer to a country's whole population) (p24) |
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Term
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Definition
| the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. |
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Term
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Definition
| increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. (307) |
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Term
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Definition
| a suggestion, made during a hypnotic session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors (p109) |
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Term
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Definition
| positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises. (p605) |
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Term
| post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) |
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Definition
| an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience (p604) |
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Term
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Definition
| the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and criterion behavior (also called criterion-related validity). (p421) |
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Term
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Definition
| an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. It generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action (p691). |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 (p183). |
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Term
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Definition
| an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need (p307). |
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Term
| primary sex characteristics |
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Definition
| the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible (p197) |
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Term
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Definition
| the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response (p232). |
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Term
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Definition
| the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory (347) |
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Term
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Definition
| the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information (353) |
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Term
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Definition
| attempting to alleviate stress directly- by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor (538) |
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Term
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Definition
| psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributin them to others (p557). |
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Term
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Definition
| a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics (559) |
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Term
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Definition
| positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior. (321) |
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Term
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Definition
| a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to this thing provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin). (p370) |
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Term
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Definition
| a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy (p11). |
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Term
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Definition
| a chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods (112) |
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Term
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Definition
| Freud's theory of personality and theraputic technique that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences- and the therapist's interpretations of them- released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight (p554, 638) |
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Term
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Definition
| therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight (p640). |
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Term
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Definition
| a psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions (113) |
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Term
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Definition
| deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional behavior patterns (594) |
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Term
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Definition
| the science of behavior and mental processes (6) |
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Term
| psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) |
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Definition
| the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health (534) |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior (660) |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them (231) |
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Term
| psychophysiological illness |
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Definition
| literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches (p534) |
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Term
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Definition
| the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones (556) |
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Term
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Definition
| surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior (667) |
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Term
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Definition
| treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth (638) |
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Term
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Definition
| the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing (197) |
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Term
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Definition
| an event that decreases the behavior that it follows (310) |
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Term
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Definition
| the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters (237) |
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Term
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Definition
| assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups (31) |
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Term
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Definition
| a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion (24) |
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Term
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Definition
| the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution (35) |
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Term
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Definition
| defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions (557) |
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Term
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Definition
| psychoanalytic defense 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 (557) |
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Term
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Definition
| a measure of memory in which a person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test (345) |
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Term
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Definition
| the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment (577) |
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Term
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Definition
| an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them (714) |
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Term
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Definition
| a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test (345) |
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Term
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Definition
| a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response |
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Term
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Definition
| a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm (466) |
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Term
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Definition
| psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated (557) |
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Term
| regression toward the mean |
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Definition
| the tendency for extremes of unusual scores to fall back (regress) toward their average (652) |
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Term
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Definition
| the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage (331) |
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Term
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Definition
| in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows (307) |
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Term
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Definition
| the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself (524) |
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Term
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Definition
| a memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time. (345) |
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Term
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Definition
| the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed b the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting (421) |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep) (107) |
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Term
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Definition
| rapid eye movement sleep, a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxal sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active (93). |
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Term
| repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) |
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Definition
| the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity (665) |
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Term
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Definition
| repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances |
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Term
| representativeness heuristic |
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Definition
| judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information (374) |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness (355, 557) |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material (639) |
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Term
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Definition
| behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus (304) |
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Term
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Definition
| a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal (63) |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 (237) |
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Term
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Definition
| a binocular cue for perceiving depth: By comparing images from the retinal in the two eyes, the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object (267) |
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Term
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Definition
| the process of getting information out of memory storage (328) |
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Term
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Definition
| the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information (353) |
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Term
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Definition
| a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron (51) |
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Term
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Definition
| retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond (238) |
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Term
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Definition
| a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position out to behave (164, 677) |
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Term
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Definition
| the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots (560) |
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Term
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Definition
| a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing (407) |
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Term
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Definition
| the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame (696) |
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Term
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Definition
| a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation (little scatter indicates high correlation). (25) |
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Term
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Definition
| a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information (180) |
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Term
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Definition
| a group of sever disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and innapropriate emotions and actions (622) |
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Term
| secondary sex characteristics |
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Definition
| nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair (197) |
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Term
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Definition
| the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus (89) |
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Term
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Definition
| in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of a personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 fulfill one's potential. |
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Term
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Definition
| all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?" (194, 566) |
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Term
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Definition
| revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others |
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Term
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Definition
| one's feelings of high or low self-worth (585) |
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Term
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Definition
| a readiness to perceive oneself favorably (586) |
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Term
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Definition
| the encoding of meaning, including the maning of words |
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Term
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Definition
| the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning (384) |
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Term
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Definition
| the pocess by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment (230) |
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Term
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Definition
| in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in term of their sensory impression and motor activities (181). |
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Term
| sensorineural hearing loss |
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Definition
| hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness (250) |
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Term
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Definition
| diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation (234) |
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Term
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Definition
| area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations (71) |
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Term
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Definition
| the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste (259) |
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Term
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Definition
| the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information from the sensory receptors in the memory system (329) |
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Term
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Definition
| neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord (49) |
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Term
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Definition
| our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list (332) |
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Term
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Definition
| the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rte may act to restore the lost weight (451). |
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Term
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Definition
| a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning (466) |
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Term
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Definition
| an enduring sexual attraction toward members of of either one's own sex (homosexual orientation) or the other sex (heterosexual orientation). (471) |
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Term
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Definition
| the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson- excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution |
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Term
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Definition
| an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior (305) |
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Term
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Definition
| activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten (329) |
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Term
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Definition
| 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. (231) |
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Term
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Definition
| periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation (94) |
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Term
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Definition
| a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessassions of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings. (102) |
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Term
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Definition
| the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. (217) |
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Term
| social-cognitive perspective |
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Definition
| views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context (576). |
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Term
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Definition
| the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs (714) |
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Term
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Definition
| stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others (687) |
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Term
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Definition
| the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships (203) |
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Term
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Definition
| group-oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support (492) |
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Term
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Definition
| the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. (165) |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable |
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Term
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Definition
| the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another (673) |
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Term
| social-responsibility norm |
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Definition
| an expectation that people will help those dependent upon them (714) |
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Term
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Definition
| a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior (715) |
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Term
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Definition
| the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles. Also called skeletal nervous system. (55) |
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Term
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Definition
| psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause. (see conversion disorder and hypochondriasis) (608) |
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Term
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Definition
| attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (Also called source misattribution) Along with the misinformation effect, this is at the heart of many false memories (358) |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice (332) |
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Term
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Definition
| a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them (75) |
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Term
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Definition
| the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response. (298) |
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Term
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Definition
| overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us) (585) |
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Term
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Definition
| a study method incorporating five steps: Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review (12) |
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Term
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Definition
| a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score (35) |
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Term
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Definition
| defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group (419) |
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Term
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Definition
| the widely used American revision (by Terman of Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test (417) |
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Term
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Definition
| a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance. (37) |
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Term
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Definition
| a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype (438) |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines, cocaine, and Ecstasy) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions (117) |
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Term
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Definition
| the retention of encoded information over time (328) |
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Term
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Definition
| the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning at about 8 months of age (188) |
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Term
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Definition
| the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging. (528) |
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Term
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Definition
| an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind (3) |
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Term
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Definition
| interview process that asks the same job-relevant questions of all applicants, each of whom is rated on established scales. (485) |
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Term
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Definition
| self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life (520) |
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Term
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Definition
| below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness (232) |
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Term
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Definition
| the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations |
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Term
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Definition
| shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation (717) |
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Term
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Definition
| a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually be questioning a representative, random sample of the group (23) |
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Term
| sympathetic nervous system |
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Definition
| the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations (55) |
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Term
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Definition
| the junction between the axon tip of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations (55) |
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Term
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Definition
| the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language (384) |
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Term
| systematic desensitization |
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Definition
| a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias (643) |
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Term
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Definition
| involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and limbs; a possible neurotoxic side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs that target certain dopamine receptors (661) |
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Term
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Definition
| goal-oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work, and focuses attention on goals (491) |
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Term
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Definition
| early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram- "go car"- using mostly nouns and verbs (386) |
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Term
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Definition
| a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity (139) |
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Term
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Definition
| portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear (68) |
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Term
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Definition
| agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (175) |
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Term
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Definition
| a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death (563) |
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Term
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Definition
| the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional amounts in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty (162, 466) |
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Term
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Definition
| the bain'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 (64). |
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Term
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Definition
| the major active ingredient in marijuana; triggers a variety of effects, including mild hallucinations (122) |
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Term
| Thematic Apperception Test |
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Definition
| a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes (559) |
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Term
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Definition
| an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events (21) |
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Term
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Definition
| people's ideas about their own and others' mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict (184) |
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Term
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Definition
| the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse (184) |
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Term
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Definition
| an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats (646) |
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Term
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Definition
| the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect (113) |
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Term
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Definition
| information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations (230) |
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Term
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Definition
| a characteristic pattern or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports (568) |
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Term
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Definition
| 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 (236) |
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Term
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Definition
| in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent). (639) |
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Term
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Definition
| the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal (498). |
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Term
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Definition
| beginning at about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements. (386) |
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Term
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Definition
| Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people. (532) |
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Term
|
Definition
| Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people. (532) |
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Term
| unconditional positive regard |
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Definition
| a caring, accepting, nonjudgemental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed to be conducive to developing self-awareness and self-acceptance. (565, 642) |
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Term
| unconditioned response (UR) |
|
Definition
| in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth. (295) |
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Term
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Definition
| in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally- naturally and automatically- triggers a response. (295) |
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Term
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Definition
| according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware. (554) |
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Term
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Definition
| the extent to which a test measures or predicts what is it supposed to. (See content validity and predictive validity) (421) |
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Term
| variable-interval schedule |
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Definition
| in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals |
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Term
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Definition
| in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses |
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Term
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Definition
| the sense of body movement an position, including the sense of balance. (254) |
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Term
| virtual reality exposure therapy |
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Definition
| An anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking. (644) |
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Term
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Definition
| a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals. (266) |
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Term
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Definition
| the encoding of picture images. (333) |
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Term
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Definition
| the distance from the peak of one light or 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. (237) |
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Term
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Definition
| the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount). (234) |
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Term
| Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) |
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Definition
| the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests. (418) |
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Term
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Definition
| controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the lower left temporal lobe. (389) |
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Term
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Definition
| the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug. (113) |
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Term
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Definition
| a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory. (329) |
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Term
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Definition
| the sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes; males have one. An X chromosome from each parent produces a female child. (162) |
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Term
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Definition
| the sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child. (162) |
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Term
| Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory |
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Definition
| 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 the perception of any color. (244) |
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Term
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Definition
| the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. (174) |
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