Term
| Absolute Refractory Period |
|
Definition
The minimum length of time after an action potential during which another action potential
cannot begin. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect for a specific type of sensory input. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| The degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The need to master difficult challenges, to outperform others, and to meet high standards of
excellence. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Tests that gauge a person's mastery and knowledge of various subjects. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The formation of a new conditioned response tendency. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A brief change in a neuron's electrical charge. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An inherited characteristic that increased in a population (through natural selection) because it helped solve a problem of survival or reproduction during the time it emerged. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Formation of colors by superimposing lights, putting more light in the mixture than exists in any one light by itself. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Research studies that assess hereditary influence by examining the resemblance between adopted children and both their biological and their adoptive parents. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
Axons that carry information inward to the central nervous system from the periphery of the body. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The need to associate with others and maintain social bonds. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The age at which a baby can survive in the event of a premature birth. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Any behavior that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A fear of going out to public places. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A variety of beverages containing ethyl alcohol. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem. |
|
|
Term
| Alternative outcomes effect |
|
Definition
| Phenomenon that occurs when people's belief about whether an outcome will occur changes depending on how alternative outcomes are distributed, even though the assumed probability of the alternative outcomes is held constant. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A significant memory loss that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting. See also Anterograde amnesia, Retrograde amnesia. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The principal class of gonadal hormones in males. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The belief that all things are living. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Eating disorder characterized by intense fear of gaining weight, disturbed body image, refusal to maintain normal weight, and dangerous measures to lose weight. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A chemical that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In behavior modification, events that typically precede the target response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Loss of memories for events that occur after a head injury. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Medications that relieve tension, apprehension, and nervousness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Medications that gradually elevate mood and help bring people out of a depression. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Medications used to gradually reduce psychotic symptoms, including hyperactivity, mental confusion, hallucinations, and delusions. |
|
|
Term
| Antisocial personality disorder |
|
Definition
| A type of personality disorder marked by impulsive, callous, manipulative, aggressive, and irresponsible behavior that reflects a failure to accept social norms. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A class of disorders marked by feelings of excessive apprehension and anxiety. |
|
|
Term
| Approach-approach conflict |
|
Definition
| A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two attractive goals. |
|
|
Term
| Approach-avoidance conflict |
|
Definition
| A conflict situation in which a choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychological tests used to assess talent for specific types of mental ability. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Jung, emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| One or more premises used to provide support for a conclusion. |
|
|
Term
| Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) |
|
Definition
| The afferent fibers running through the reticular formation that influence physiological arousal. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing menal structures without changing them. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Premises for which no proof or evidence is offered. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| A close, emotional bond of affection between infants and their caregivers. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Orientations that locate objects of thought on dimensions of judgment. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others' behavior, and their own behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Locating the source of a sound in space. |
|
|
Term
| Autonomic nervous system (ANS) |
|
Definition
| The system of nerves that connect to the heart, blood vessels, smooth muscles, and glands. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| A behavior therapy in which an aversive stimulus is paired with a stimulus that elicits an undesirable response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Learning that has occurred when an organism engages in a response that prevents aversive
stimulation from occurring. |
|
|
Term
| Avoidance-avoidance conflict |
|
Definition
| A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two unattractive goals. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A long, thin fiber that transmits signals away from the neuron cell body to other neurons, or to muscles or glands. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A structure that runs the length of the cochlea in the inner ear and holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
A systematic approach to changing behavior through the application of the principles of
conditioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Application of the principles of learning to direct efforts to change clients' maladaptive behaviors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A systematic approach to changing behavior through the application of the principles of
conditioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An interdisciplinary field that studies the influence of genetic factors on behavioral traits. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency to hang onto beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The acquisition of two languages that use different speech sounds, vocabularies, and grammatical rules. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Physiological interventions intended to reduce symptoms associated with psychological disorders. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A model of illness that holds that physical illness is caused by a complex interaction of
biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (formerly known as manicdepressive disorder) Mood disorder marked by the experience of both depressed and manic periods. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Persons who seek emotional-sexual relationships with members of either sex. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Weight (in kilograms) divided by height (in meters) squared (kg/m2). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In form perception, progression from individual elements to the whole. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Eating disorder characterized by habitually engaging in out-of-control overeating followed by unhealthy compensatory efforts, such as self-induced vomiting, fasting, abuse of laxatives and diuretics, and excessive exercise. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that is attributable to work-related stress. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A paradoxical social phenomenon in which people are less likely to provide needed help when they
are in groups than when they are alone. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The hemp plant from which marijuana, hashish, and THC are derived. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An in-depth investigation of an individual subject. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Unrealistically pessimistic appraisals of stress that exaggerate the magnitude of one's problems. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A type of schizophrenia marked by striking motor disturbances, ranging from muscular rigidity
to random motor activity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The release of emotional tension. |
|
|
Term
| Central nervous system (CNS) |
|
Definition
The brain and the spinal cord. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The head-to-foot direction of motor development. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The convoluted outer layer of the cerebrum. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The right and left halves of the cerebrum. |
|
|
Term
| Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) |
|
Definition
A solution that fills the hollow cavities (ventricles) of the brain and circulates around the brain and spinal cord. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The medium through which a message is sent. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Threadlike strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules that carry genetic information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many other species. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was
originally evoked by another stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An insight therapy that emphasizes providing a supportive emotional climate for clients, who play a major role in determining the pace and direction of their therapy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and everyday behavioral problems. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency to remember similar or related items in groups |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The fluid-filled, coiled tunnel in the inner ear that contains the receptors for hearing. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Transitions in youngsters' patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering, and problem
solving. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A psychological state that exists when related cognitions are inconsistent. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An insight therapy that emphasizes recognizing and changing negative thoughts and maladaptive beliefs. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Jung, a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from people's ancestral past. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one's identity in terms of the groups one belongs to. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Deficiency in the ability to distinguish among colors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An intent to maintain a relationship in spite of the difficulties and costs that may arise. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The coexistence of two or more disorders. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Warm, trusting, tolerant affection for another whose life is deeply intertwined with one's own. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| People, objects, events, and other standards that are used as a baseline for comparisons in making judgments. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Adler, efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one's abilities |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when added together. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A multilevel classification system based on common properties among items. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives that exhibit the same disorder. |
|
|
Term
| Concurrent schedules of reinforcement |
|
Definition
| Two or more reinforcement schedules that operate simultaneously and independently, each for a different response. |
|
|
Term
| Conditioned Stimulus (CS) |
|
Definition
A previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a
conditioned response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| See Secondary reinforcers. |
|
|
Term
| Conditioned response (CR) |
|
Definition
| A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning. |
|
|
Term
| Conditioned stimulus (CS) |
|
Definition
A previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a
conditioned response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Specialized visual receptors that play a key role in daylight vision and color vision. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The tendency to seek information that supports one's decisions and beliefs while ignoring
disconfirming information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A state that occurs when two or more incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses compete for expression. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency for people to yield to real or imagined social pressure. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An error that occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| See parallel distributed processing (PDP) models. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Piaget's term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of information into durable memory codes stored in long-term memory. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The extent to which there is evidence that a test measures a particular hypothetical
construct. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Relatively healthful efforts that people make to deal with stressful events. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The degree to which the content of a test is representative of the domain it's supposed to cover. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Reinforcing every instance of a designated response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A cue to depth that involves sensing the eyes converging toward each other as they focus on closer objects. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Narrowing down a list of alternatives to converge on a single correct answer. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A somatoform disorder characterized by a significant loss of physical function (with no
apparent organic basis), usually in a single organ system. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Active efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The structure that connects the two cerebral hemispheres. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The extent to which two variables are related to each other. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychologists who specialize in the treatment of everyday adjustment problems. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The generation of ideas that are original, novel, and useful. |
|
|
Term
| Criterion-related validity |
|
Definition
Test validity that is estimated by correlating subjects' scores on a test with their scores on
an independent criterion (another measure) of the trait assessed by the test. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A limited time span in the development of an organism when it is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experiences. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A research design in which investigators compare groups of subjects of differing age who are
observed at a single point in time. |
|
|
Term
| Crystallized intelligence |
|
Definition
| One's ability to apply acquired skills and knowledge in problem solving. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Abnormal syndromes found only in a few cultural groups. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A graphic record of reinforcement and responding in a Skinner box as a function of time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Exhibiting chronic but relatively mild symptoms of bipolar disturbance. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process in which the eyes become more sensitive to light in low illumination. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of evaluating alternatives and making choices among them. |
|
|
Term
| Declarative memory system |
|
Definition
| Memory for factual information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety
and guilt. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The tendency to blame victims for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a
similar way. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Transferring the treatment of mental illness from inpatient institutions to community-based facilities that emphasize outpatient care. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| False beliefs that are maintained even though they are clearly out of touch with reality. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An abnormal condition marked by multiple cognitive defects that include memory impairment. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far away objects are. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The sequence of age-related changes that occur as a person progresses from conception to death. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The average age at which individuals display various behaviors and abilities. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Scores that locate subjects precisely within the normal distribution, using the standard
deviation as the unit of measurement. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Distinguishing one illness from another. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or
nonreinforcement) of a response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An increase in the strength of a habituated response elicited by a new stimulus. |
|
|
Term
| Disorganized schizophrenia |
|
Definition
| A type of schizophrenia in which particularly severe deterioration of adaptive behavior is seen. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Cultural norms that regulate the appropriate expressions of emotions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A splitting off of mental processes into two separate, simultaneous streams of awareness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A class of disorders in which people lose contact with portions of their consciousness or
memory, resulting in disruptions in their sense of identity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A sudden loss of memory for important personal information that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A disorder in which people lose their memory for their entire lives along with their sense of personal identity. |
|
|
Term
| Dissociative identity disorder (DID) |
|
Definition
| A type of dissociative disorder characterized by the coexistence in one person of two or more largely complete, and usually very different, personalities. Also called multiple-personality disorder. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Stimuli that lie in the distance (that is, in the world outside the body). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Trying to expand the range of alternatives by generating many possible solutions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A gene that is expressed when paired genes are heterozygous (different). |
|
|
Term
| Door-in-the-face Technique |
|
Definition
Making a large request that is likely to be turned down as a way to increase the chances
that people will agree to a smaller request later. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A psychoanalytic technique in which the therapist interprets the symbolic meaning of the client's dreams. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce the tension. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Paivio's theory that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can
lead to recall. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A chronic depression that is insufficient in severity to merit diagnosis of a major depressive episode. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Severe disturbances in eating behavior characterized by preoccupation with weight concerns and unhealthy efforts to control weight. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In psychotherapy, drawing ideas from two or more systems of therapy instead of committing to just one system. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Axons that carry information outward from the central nervous system to the periphery of the body. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A limited ability to share another person's viewpoint. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding. |
|
|
Term
Electrical
stimulation of
the brain (ESB) |
|
Definition
| Sending a weak electric current into a brain structure to stimulate (activate) it. |
|
|
Term
| Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) |
|
Definition
| A biomedical treatment in which electric shock is used to produce a cortical seizure accompanied by convulsions. |
|
|
Term
Electroencephalograph
(EEG) |
|
Definition
| A device that monitors the electrical activity of the brain over time by means of recording electrodes attatched to the surface of the scalp. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A device that records muscular activity and tension. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A device that records eye movements. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| To draw out or bring forth. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The second stage of prenatal development, lasting from two weeks until the end of the second
month. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A subjective conscious experience (the cognitive component) accompanied by bodily arousal (the physiological component) and by characteristic overt expressions (the behavioral component). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and
reason with emotion, and regulate emotion. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Encoding specificity principle |
|
Definition
| The idea that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A group of glands that secrete chemicals into the bloodstream that help control bodily functioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The entire family of internally produced chemicals that resemble opiates in structure and effects. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The study of the distribution of mental or physical disorders in a population. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Chronological, or temporally dated, recollections of personal experiences. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A type of learning in which an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive
stimulation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The principal class of gonadal hormones in females. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The apparent causation and developmental history of an illness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Theoretical perspective that examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for a species over the course of many generations. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
An electric potential that increases the likelihood that a postsynaptic neuron will fire
action potentials. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Intentional recollection of previous experiences. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Ascribing the causes of behavior to situational demands and environmental constraints. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| People who tend to be interested in the external world of people and things. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Statistical analysis of correlations among many variables to identify closely related clusters of variables. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A sequence of stages that families tend to progress through. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Scientific studies in which researchers assess hereditary influence by examining blood relatives to see how much they resemble each other on a specific trait. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A vision deficiency in which distant objects are seen clearly but close objects appear blurry. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure to the word. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A psychophysical law stating that larger and larger increases in stimulus intensity are required to produce perceptible increments in the magnitude of sensation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A collection of congenital (inborn) problems associated with excessive alcohol use during
pregnancy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The third stage of prenatal development, lasting from two months through birth. |
|
|
Term
| Field dependence-independence |
|
Definition
| Individuals' tendency to rely primarily on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting themselves in space. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A physiological reaction to threat in which the autonomic nervous system mobilizes the organism for attacking (fight) or fleeing (flight) an enemy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The reproductive success (number of descendants) of an individual organism relative to the average reproductive success of the population. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, failure to move forward from one psychosexual stage to another as expected. |
|
|
Term
| Fixed-interval (FI) Schedule |
|
Definition
A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a
fixed time interval has elapsed. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced
responses. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| One's reasoning ability, memory capacity, and speed of information processing. |
|
|
Term
Foot-in-the-
door technique |
|
Definition
Getting people to agree to a small request to increase the chances that they will agree to a larger
request later. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The largest and most complicated region of the brain, encompassing a variety of structures, including the thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, and cerebrum. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A graph showing retention and forgetting over time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A tiny spot in the center of the retina that contains only cones; visual acuity is greatest at this spot. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| How issues are posed or how choices are structured. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Twins that result when two eggs are fertilized simultaneously by different sperm cells, forming two separate zygotes. Also called Dizygotic twins. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A psychoanalytic technique in which clients spontaneously express their thoughts and feelings exactly as they occur, with as little censorship as possible |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The theory that perception of pitch corresponds to the rate, or frequency, at which the entire basilar membrane vibrates. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The feeling that people experience in any situation in which their pursuit of some goal is thwarted. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use. |
|
|
Term
| Fundamental attribution error |
|
Definition
| Observers' bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining others' behavior. |
|
|
Term
| Galvanic Skin response (GSR) |
|
Definition
An increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat glands increase their
activity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that incoming pain sensations must pass through a “gate“ in the spinal cord that can be closed, thus blocking pain signals. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Culturally constructed distinctions between masculinity and femininity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Actual disparities between the sexes in typical behavior or average ability. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Expectations about what is appropriate behavior for each sex. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Widely held beliefs about males' and females' abilities, personality traits, and behavior. |
|
|
Term
| General adaptation syndrome |
|
Definition
| Selye's model of the body's stress response, consisting of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. |
|
|
Term
| Generalized anxiety disorder |
|
Definition
| A psychological disorder marked by a chronic, high level of anxiety that is not tied to any specific threat. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| DNA segments that serve as the key functional units in hereditary transmission. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of determining the location and chemical sequence of specific genes on specific chromosomes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A person's genetic makeup. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The first phase of prenatal development, encompassing the first two weeks after conception. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A theoretical orientation based on the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A simple sugar that is an important source of energy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Neurons sensitive to glucose in the surrounding fluid. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Two or more individuals who interact and are interdependent. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The strength of the liking relationships linking group members to each other and to the group itself. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A phenomenon that occurs when group discussion strengthens a group's dominant point of view
and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The simultaneous treatment of several clients in a group. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A process in which members of a cohesive group emphasize concurrence at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The sensory system for taste. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sensory perceptions that occur in the absence of a real, external stimulus, or gross distortions of perceptual input. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A diverse group of drugs that have powerful effects on mental and emotional functioning, marked most prominently by distortions in sensory and perceptual experience. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The subfield of psychology concerned with how psychosocial factors relate to the promotion and maintenance of health and with the causation, prevention, and treatment of illness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
An effect that occurs when the mental scale that people use to judge the pleasantness-
unpleasantness of their experiences shifts so that their neutral point, or baseline for comparison, changes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
An estimate of the proportion of trait variability in a population that is determined by
variations in genetic inheritance. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Persons who seek emotional-sexual relationships with members of the other sex. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The situation that occurs when two genes in a specific pair are different. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A strategy, guiding principle, or rule of thumb used in solving problems or making decisions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Maslow's systematic arrangement of needs according to priority, which assumes that basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused. |
|
|
Term
| Higher-order conditioning |
|
Definition
A type of conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned
stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The part of the brain that includes the cerebellum and two structures found in the lower part of the brainstem: the medulla and the pons. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency to mold one's interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A state of physiological equilibrium or stability. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Persons who seek emotional-sexual relationships with members of the same sex. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The situation that occurs when two genes in a specific pair are the same. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The chemical substances released by the endocrine glands. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A systematic procedure that typically produces a heightened state of suggestibility. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A somatoform disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with health concerns and incessant worry about developing physical illnesses. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A structure found near the base of the forebrain that is involved in the regulation of basic biological needs. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Twins that emerge from one zygote that splits for unknown reasons. Also called Monozygotic twins. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A misperception that occurs when people estimate that they have encountered more confirmations
of an association between social traits than they have actually seen. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The body's defensive reaction to invasion by bacteria, viral agents, or other foreign substances. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Type of memory apparent when retention is exhibited on a task that does not require intentional
Interference
remembering. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Objects that can be represented in two-dimensional pictures but cannot exist in three- dimensional space. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaivor. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The sum of an individual's own reproductive success plus the effects the organism has on the reproductive success of related others. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The group that people belong to and identify with. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
An electric potential that decreases the likelihood that a postsynaptic neuron will fire action potentials. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A legal status indicating that a person cannot be held responsible for his or her actions because of mental illness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In problem solving, the sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychotherapy methods characterized by verbal interactions intended to enhance clients' self-knowledge and thus promote healthful changes in personality and behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Chronic problems in getting adequate sleep. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency for an animal's innate responses to interfere with conditioning processes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| See Operant conditioning. |
|
|
Term
| Intelligence Quotient (IQ) |
|
Definition
| A child's mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychological tests that measure general mental ability. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that people forget information because of competition from other material. |
|
|
Term
| Intermittent reinforcement |
|
Definition
| A reinforcement schedule in which a designated response is reinforced only some of the time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Ascribing the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Spending an inordinate amount of time on the Internet and being unable to control online use. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Positive feelings toward another. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In psychoanalysis, the therapist's attempts to explain the inner significance of the client's thoughts, feelings, memories, and behaviors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Warmth, closeness, and sharing in a relationship. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Careful, systematic observation of one's own conscious experience. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| People who tend to be preoccupied with the internal world of their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A civil proceeding in which people are hospitalized in psychiatric facilities against their will. |
|
|
Term
| Just noticeable difference (JND) |
|
Definition
| The smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A mnemonic technique in which one associates a concrete word with an abstract word and
generates an image to represent the concrete word |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The sensory system that monitors the positions of the various parts of one's body. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A set of symbols that convey meaning, and rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages. |
|
|
Term
| Language Acquisition Device (LAD) |
|
Definition
| An innate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the hidden or disguised meaning of the events in a dream. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A process in the retina that occurs when neural activity in a cell opposes activity in surrounding cells. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The principle that if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Passive behavior produced by exposure to unavoidable aversive events. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Destroying a piece of the brain. |
|
|
Term
| Levels-of-processing theory |
|
Definition
| The theory holding that deeper levels of mental processing result in longer-lasting memory codes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Any noticeable alterations in one's living circumstances that require readjustment. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process whereby the eyes become less sensitive to light in high illumination. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A densely connected network of structures roughly located along the border between the cerebral cortex and deeper subcortical areas. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The theory that one's language determines the nature of one's thought. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A chemical used to control mood swings in patients with bipolar mood disorders. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time. |
|
|
Term
| Long-term potentiation (LTP) |
|
Definition
| A long-lasting increase in neural excitability in synapses along a specific neural pathway. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Getting someone to commit to an attractive proposition before revealing the hidden costs. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Dreams in which people can think clearly about the circumstances of waking life and the fact that they are dreaming, yet they remain asleep in the midst of a vivid dream. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A compound drug related to both amphetamines and hallucinogens, especially mescaline; commonly called “ecstasy.“ |
|
|
Term
| Major depressive disorder |
|
Definition
| Mood disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness and despair and a loss of interest in previous sources of pleasure. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the plot of a dream at a surface level. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The idea that males and females of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select
each other as partners. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The fact that, under concurrent schedules of reinforcement, organisms' relative rate of responding to each alternative tends to match each alternative's relative rate of reinforcement. |
|
|
Term
| Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) |
|
Definition
| The average length of children's spoken statements (measured in phonemes). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The view that it is useful to think of abnormal behavior as a disease. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A family of mental exercises in which a conscious attempt is made to focus attention in a nonanalytical way. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Persisting in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In intelligence testing, a score that indicates that a child displays the mental ability typical of a child of that chronological (actual) age. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A medical institution specializing in providing inpatient care for psychological disorders. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Subnormal general mental ability accompanied by deficiencies in everyday living skills
originating prior to age 18. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The information transmitted by a source. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The ability to reflect on the use of language. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A mnemonic device that involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The segment of the brain stem that lies between the hindbrain and the forebrain. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Strategies for enhancing memory. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A person whose behavior is observed by another. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Clues about distance based on the image from either eye alone. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A mating system in which one male and one female mate exclusively, or almost exclusively, with each other. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A class of disorders marked by emotional disturbances of varied kinds that may spill over to disrupt physical, perceptual, social, and thought processes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The smallest units of meaning in a language. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Cue to depth that involves images of objects at different distances moving across the retina at different rates. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Purposeful suppression of memories. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Purposeful suppression of memories. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Multiple-personality
disorder |
|
Definition
| See Dissociative identity disorder. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A spontaneous, heritable change in a piece of DNA that occurs in the individual organism. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Insulating material, derived from glial cells, that encases some axons of neurons. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A disease marked by sudden and irresistible onsets of sleep during normal waking periods. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Drugs derived from opium that are capable of relieving pain. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Principle stating that heritable characteristics that provide a survival reproductive advantage are more likely than alternative characteristics to be passed on to subsequent generations and thus come to be “selected“ over time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A vision deficiency in which close objects are seen clearly but distant objects appear blurry. |
|
|
Term
| Need for self-actualization |
|
Definition
| The need to fulfill one's potential. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The strengthening of a response because it is followed by the removal of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral deficits, such as flattened emotions, social withdrawal, apathy, impaired attention, and poverty of speech. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Bundles of neuron fibers (axons) that are routed together in the peripheral nervous system. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Abrupt awakenings from NREM sleep accompanied by intense autonomic arousal and feelings of panic. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Anxiety-arousing dreams that lead to awakening, usually from REM sleep. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Sleep stages 1 through 4, which are marked by an absence of rapid eye
movements, relatively little dreaming, and varied EEG activity. |
|
|
Term
| Nondeclarative memory system |
|
Definition
| Memory for actions, skills, and operations. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A symmetric, bell-shaped curve that represents the pattern in which many characteristics
are dispersed in the population. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A form of compliance that occurs when people follow direct commands, usually from someone in a position of authority. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The condition of being overweight. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A type of learning that occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of
others, who are called models. |
|
|
Term
| Obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD) |
|
Definition
| A type of anxiety disorder marked by persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in senseless rituals (compulsions). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, children's manifestation of erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex parent |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The sensory system for smell. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The theory that color perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses
to three pairs of colors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The point at which the optic nerves from the inside half of each eye cross over and then project to the opposite half of the brain. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A hole in the retina where the optic nerve fibers exit the eye. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that the food-seeking behaviors of many animals maximize the nutrition gained in relation to the energy expended to locate, secure, and consume various foods. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A general tendency to expect good outcomes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| People who are not part of the ingroup. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Using a word incorrectly to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Continued rehearsal of material after one first appears to have mastered it. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In children, incorrect generalization of grammatical rules to irregular cases where they do not apply. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly. |
|
|
Term
| Parallel distributed proccessing (PDP) Models |
|
Definition
| Models of memory that assume cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks. Also called connectionist models. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Simultaneously extracting different kinds of information from the same input. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of schizophrenia that is dominated by delusions of persecution. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The branch of the autonomic nervous system that generally conserves bodily resources. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| What each sex invests-in terms of time, energy, survival risk, and forgone opportunities-to produce and nurture offspring. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| See Intermittent reinforcement. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A complete absorption in another that includes tender sexual feelings and the agony and ecstasy of
intense emotion. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| See Classical conditioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A figure that indicates the percentage of people who score below the score one has
obtained. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Left-right imbalances between the cerebral hemispheres in the speed of visual or auditory processing. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An inference about which distal stimuli could be responsible for the proximal stimuli sensed. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way. |
|
|
Term
| Peripheral nervous system |
|
Definition
| All those nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of forming impressions of others. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Jung, the level of awareness that houses material that is not within one's conscious awareness because it has been repressed or forgotten. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An individual's unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A class of psychological disorders marked by extreme, inflexible personality traits that cause
subjective distress or impaired social and occupational functioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychological tests that measure various aspects of personality, including motives, interests, values, and attitudes |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations. |
|
|
Term
| Phenomenological approach |
|
Definition
| The assumption that one must appreciate individuals' personal, subjective experiences to truly understand their behavior |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The ways in which a person's genotype is manifested in observable characteristics. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Irrational fears of specific objects or situations. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of anxiety disorder marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The smallest units of sound in a spoken language. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The conditions that exists when a person must continue to take a drug to avoid to avoid withdrawal illness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Clues about distance that can be given in a flat picture. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The “master gland“ of the endocrine system; it releases a great variety of hormones that fan out through the body, stimulating actions in the other endocrine glands. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that perception of pitch corresponds to the vibration of different portions, or places, along the basilar membrane. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The fact that subjects' expectations can lead them to experience some change
even though they receive an empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the principle upon which the id operates, demanding immediate gratification of its urges. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A mating system in which each female seeks to mate with multiple males, while each male mates with only one female. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Characteristics that are influenced by more than one pair of genes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A device that records autonomic fluctuations while a subject is questioned, in an effort to determine whether the subject is telling the truth. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A mating system in which each male seeks to mate with multiple females, while each female mates with only one male. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The larger collection of animals or people from which a sample is drawn and that researchers want to generalize about. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Reinforcement that occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the
presentation of a rewarding stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral excesses or peculiarities, such as hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behavior, and wild flights of ideas. |
|
|
Term
| Postsynaptic potential (PSP) |
|
Definition
| A voltage change at the receptor site on a postsynaptic cell membrane. |
|
|
Term
| Posttraumatic stress disorder |
|
Definition
Disturbed behavior that is attributed to a major stressful event but that emerges after the stress is
over. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the level of awareness that contains material just beneath the surface of conscious awareness that can easily be retrieved |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A negative attitude held toward members of a group. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The reasons presented to persuade someone that a conclusion is true or probably true. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A species-specific predisposition to be conditioned in certain ways and not others. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The percentage of a population that exhibits a disorder during a specified time period. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs. |
|
|
Term
| Primary sex characteristics |
|
Definition
| The sexual structures necessary for reproduction. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A memory problem that occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of
new information |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily available. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The set of possible pathways to a solution considered by the problem solver. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The repository of memories for actions, skills, and operations. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| A forecast about the probable course of an illness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Attributing one's own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Psychological tests that ask subjects to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal the subjects' needs, feelings, and personality traits. |
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Term
|
Definition
| The ability to remember to perform actions in the future. |
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Term
|
Definition
| The stimulus energies that impinge directly on sensory receptors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Chemical substances that modify mental, emotional, or behavioral functioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An insight therapy that emphasizes the recovery of unconscious conflicts, motives, and defenses through techniques such as free association and transference |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| All the diverse theories descended from the work of Sigmund Freud that focus on unconscious mental forces. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The condition that exists when a person must continue to take a drug in order to
satisfy intense mental and emotional craving for the drug. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A standardized measure of a sample of a person's behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The treatment of mental disorders with medication. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Physical ailments with a genuine organic basis that are caused in part by psychological
factors, especially emotional distress. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The period of early adolescence marked by rapid physical growth and the development of sexual (reproductive) maturity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An event that follows a response that weakens or suppresses the tendency to make that response |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The opening in the center of the iris that helps regulate the amount of light passing into the rear chamber of the eye. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A deep stage of sleep marked by rapid eye movements, high-frequency brain waves, and dreaming. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
An approach to therapy that focuses on altering clients' patterns of irrational thinking to reduce
maladaptive emotions and behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An approach to therapy that focuses on altering clients' patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive emotions and behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Behaving in a way that's exactly the opposite of one's true feelings. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Genetically determined limits on IQ or other traits. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The process of deciding whether memories are based on external sources (our perceptions of
actual events) or internal sources (our thoughts and imaginations) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the principle on which the ego operates, which seeks to delay gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A memory test that requires subjects to reproduce information on their own without any cues. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The person to whom a message is sent. |
|
|
Term
| Receptive field of a visual cell |
|
Definition
| The retinal area that, when stimulated, affects the firing of that cell. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A gene whose influence is masked when paired genes are different (heterozygous). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The assumption that internal mental events, external environmental events, and overt behavior all influence each other. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Liking those who show that they like you. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The rule that people should pay back in kind what they receive from others. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A memory test that requires subjects to select previously learned information from an array of options. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A time following orgasm during which males are largely unresponsive to further stimulation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A reversion to immature patterns of behavior. |
|
|
Term
| Regression toward the mean |
|
Definition
| Effect that occurs when people who score extremely high or low on some trait are measured a second time and their new score falls closer to the mean (average). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about information to be stored in memory. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Giving an abstract concept a name and then treating it as though it were a concrete, tangible object. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An event following a response that strengthens the tendency to make that response. |
|
|
Term
| Reinforcement contingencies |
|
Definition
| The circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforcers. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A memory test that requires a subject to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The measurement consistency of a test (or of other kinds of measurement techniques). |
|
|
Term
| Representativeness heuristic |
|
Definition
| Basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Largely unconscious defensive maneuvers a client uses to hinder the progress of therapy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
In operant conditioning, the phenomenon that occurs when an organism continues to make a
response after delivery of the reinforcer for it has been terminated. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| See Classical conditioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The stable, negative charge of a neuron when it is inactive. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The proportion of material retained (remembered). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye; it absorbs light, processes
images, and sends visual information to the brain. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A cue to the depth based on the fact that objects within 25 feet project images to slightly different locations on the left and right retinas, so the right and left eyes see slightly different views of the object. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Recovering information from memory stores. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A memory problem that occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned
information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Loss of memories for events that occurred prior to a head injury. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The ability to remember events from the past or previously learned information. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A process in which neurotransmitters are sponged up from the synaptic cleft by the presynaptic membrane. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A drawing that is compatible with two different interpretations that can shift back and forth. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Making choices under conditions of uncertainty. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Specialized visual receptors that play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The collection of subjects selected for observation in an empirical study. |
|
|
Term
| Schedule of reinforcement |
|
Definition
| A specific presentation of reinforcers over time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of events. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A class of psychological disorders marked by disturbances in thought that spill over to affect perceptual, social, and emotional processes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of schema that organizes what people know about common activities. |
|
|
Term
| Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers |
|
Definition
| Stimulus events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers. |
|
|
Term
| Secondary sex characteristics |
|
Definition
| Physical features that are associated with gender but that are not directly involved in reproduction. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sleep-inducing drugs that tend to decrease central nervous system activation and behavioral activity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| People with exceptionally healthy personalities, marked by continued personal growth. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| One's belief about one's ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A person's overall assessment of her or his personal adequacy or worth |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The degree to which people attend to and control the impression they make on others in social interactions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Deciding how or whether information is personally relevant. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Personality tests that ask individuals to answer a series of questions about their characteristic behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The tendency to attribute one's successes to personal factors and one's failures to situational
factors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| General knowledge that is not tied to the time when the information was learned. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Concepts joined together by links that show how the concepts are related. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The area of language concerned with understanding the meaning of words and word combinations. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The stimulation of sense organs. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A generalized preference for high or low levels of sensory stimulation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged stimulation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The preservation of information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of
a second. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
In memory tests, the fact that subjects show better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list
than for items in the middle. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that the body monitors fat-cell levels to keep them (and weight) fairly stable). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The idea that weight tends to drift around a level at which the constellation of factors that
determine food consumption and energy expenditure achieve an equilibrium. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A person's preference for emotional and sexual relationships with individuals of the same sex, the
other sex, or either sex. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for about 20 to 30 seconds. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A psychophysiological theory proposing that the detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are influenced by a variety of factors besides the physical intensity of a stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is systematically recorded while the consequences of the response are controlled. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A sleep disorder characterized by frequent reflexive gasping for air that awakens a person and disrupts sleep. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sleep stages 3 and 4, during which low-frequency delta waves become prominent in EEG recordings. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The idea that people compare themselves with others to understand and evaluate their own behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Organized clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A behavior therapy designed to improve interpersonal skills that emphasizes shaping, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Various types of aid and succor provided by members of one's social networks. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The cell body of a neuron; it contains the nucleus and much of the chemical machinery common to most cells. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The system of nerves that connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and to sensory receptors. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of somatoform disorder marked by a history of diverse physical complaints that appear to be psychological in origin. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A class of psychological disorders involving physical ailments with no authentic organic basis
that are due to psychological factors |
|
|
Term
Somnambulism
(sleepwalking) |
|
Definition
| Arising and wandering about while remaining asleep. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The person who sends a communication. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of making attributions about the origins of memories. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An error that occurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A procedure in which the bundle of fibers that connects the cerebral hemispheres (the corpus callosum) is cut to reduce the severity of epileptic seizures. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
In classical conditioning, the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of
nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Recovery from a disorder without formal treatment. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An index of the amount of variability in a set of data. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The uniform procedures used in the administration and scoring of a test. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very
low. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Drugs that tend to increase central nervous system activation and behavioral activity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Any detectable input from the environment. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The phenomenon that occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus
does not respond in the same way to stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The phenomenon that occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus
responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Maintaining encoded information in memory over time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one's well-being and that thereby tax one's coping abilities. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Adler, the universal drive to adapt, improve oneself, and master life's challenges. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The perception of contrours where none actually exist. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Individuals' perceptions of their overall happiness and life satisfaction. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The registration of sensory input without conscious awareness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Formation of colors by removing some wavelengths of light, leaving less light than was
originally there. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, the moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The branch of the autonomic nervous system that mobilizes the body's resources for emergencies. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to the next. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A microscopic gap between the terminal button of a neuron and the cell membrane of another neuron. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A system of rules that specify how words can be combined into phrases and sentences. |
|
|
Term
| Systematic desensitization |
|
Definition
| A behavior therapy used to reduce clients' anxiety responses through counterconditioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The sensory system for touch. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A neurological disorder marked by chronic tremors and involuntary spastic movements. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Speech that consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less critical words are omitted. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Small knobs at the end of axons that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Standards that provide information about where a score on a psychological test ranks in relation to other scores on that test. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A structure in the forebrain through which all sensory information (except smell) must pass to get to the cerebral cortex. |
|
|
Term
| Theory of Bounded Rationality |
|
Definition
| Simon's assertion that people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in “irrational“ decisions that are less than optimal. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have a detectable effect. |
|
|
Term
| Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon |
|
Definition
| A temporary inability to remember something accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A system for doling out symbolic reinforcers that are exchanged later for a variety of genuine
reinforcers. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A progressive decrease in a person's responsiveness to a drug. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In form perception, a progression from the whole to the elements. |
|
|
Term
| Transfer-appropriate processing |
|
Definition
| The situation that occurs when the initial processing of information is similar to the type of processing required by the subsequent measures of attention. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In therapy, the phenomenon that occurs when clients start relating to their therapists in ways that mimic critical relationships in their lives. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In classical conditioning, any presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Trying possible solutions sequentially and discarding those that are in error until one works. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The theory of color vision holding that the human eye has three types of receptors with differing sensitivities to different wavelengths. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A research design in which hereditary influence is assessed by comparing the resemblance of identical twins and fraternal twins with respect to a trait. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Personality characterized by (1) a strong competitive orientation, (2) impatience and time
urgency, and (3) anger and hostility. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Personality characterized by relatively relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable behavior. |
|
|
Term
Unconditioned
response (UCR) |
|
Definition
| An unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning. |
|
|
Term
Unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) |
|
Definition
| A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Errors that occur when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to. |
|
|
Term
Undifferentiated
schizophrenia |
|
Definition
| A type of schizophrenia marked by idiosyncratic mixtures of schizophrenic symptoms. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure. |
|
|
Term
| Variable-interval (VI) schedule |
|
Definition
| A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed. |
|
|
Term
| Variable-ratio (VR) schedule |
|
Definition
A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a variable number of nonreinforced
responses. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Engorgement of blood vessels. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The sensory system that responds to gravity and keeps people informed of their body's location in space. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An inability to recognize objects. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The theory holding that groups of auditory nerve fibers fire neural impulses in rapid succession, creating volleys of impulses. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The theory stating that the size of a just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A one-celled organism formed by the union of a sperm and an egg. |
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|
