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| every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us |
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| the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior |
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| threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes |
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| a complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes |
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| the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; a segment of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein |
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| twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms |
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| twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs. they are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but the share a fetal environment |
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| a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and ntensity |
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| the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor, such as environment, depends on another factor, such as heredity. |
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| the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes, using the principles of natural selection |
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| the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to increased reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations |
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| a random error in gene replication that leads to a change |
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| in psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female |
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| the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next |
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| an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. prescribe "proper" behavior |
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| the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies |
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| 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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| giving priority to group goals, often those of the extended family or work group, and defining one's identity accordingly |
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| physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone |
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| the sex chromosome found in both men and women. females have two males have one. |
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| the sex chromosome found only in males. |
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| the most important of the male sex hormones. booth males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty |
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| a set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave |
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| a set of expected behaviors for males or for females |
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| our sense of being male or female |
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| the acquistion of traditional masculine or feminine role. |
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| the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished |
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| the fertilized egg; it enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo |
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| the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month |
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| the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth |
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| agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm |
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| FAS-- 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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| biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience |
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| all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating |
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| a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information |
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| interperting our new experiences in terms f our existing schemas |
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| adapting our current understandings to incorporate new information |
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| in piaget's theory, the stage from birth to about 2 years of age during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities |
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| the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived |
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| in Piaget's theory the stage from about 2 to 7 years of age during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic |
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| the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects |
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| in piaget's thery, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view |
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| people's ideas about their own and others' mental states about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict |
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| concrete operational stage |
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| in piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development from 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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| in piaget's theory the stage of cognitive development beginning about age 12 during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts |
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| the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age |
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| 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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| an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development |
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| the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life |
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| 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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| the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence |
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| the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing |
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| primary sex characteristics |
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| the body structures that make sexual reproduction possible |
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| secondary sex characteristics |
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| nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair |
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| the first menstrual period |
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| in erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary development task in late adolescence and early adulthood |
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| for some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood |
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| 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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| crystallized intelligence |
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| our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age |
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| our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood |
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| the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood and retirement |
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| the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment |
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| the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events |
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| analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
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| information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations |
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| the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them |
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| the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time |
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| below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness |
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| the activation, often unconsciously, of ertain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response |
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| the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. we experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference |
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| the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage, rather than a constant amount |
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| diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation |
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| 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 |
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| 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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| 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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| 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 |
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| the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
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| retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond |
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| 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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| the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain |
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| 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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| the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster |
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| nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of a stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement |
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| the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. contrasts with the step by step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving |
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| Young- helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory |
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| 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 |
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| the theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision for example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green |
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| the sense or act of hearing |
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| the number of complete wave lengths that pass a point in a given time |
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| a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequencey |
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| 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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| a coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses |
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| the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. |
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| the system for sensing the position and movement of individual bodys parts |
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| the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance |
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| the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological 'gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on 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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| the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste |
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| an organized whole. psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes. |
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| the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings |
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| the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups |
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| 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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| a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals |
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| depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes |
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| a binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object |
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| depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone |
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| perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change |
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| perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wave lengths reflected by the object |
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| in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificaially displaced or even inverted visual field |
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| a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another |
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| (ESP) the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition |
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| the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis |
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