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| the weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least half the time |
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| learning in which the relationship between and among stimuli is more important than the physical features of the stimuli |
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| process by which we modify our schemas to fit new information; process of changing the curvature of the lens to focus light rays on the retina of the eye |
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| activation-synthesis theory |
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| during REM sleep the brainstem stimulates the forebrain with random neural activity, which we interpret as a dream |
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| tendency to focus on our own situations and the other person, rather than his or her situation, when we interpret behavior |
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| a problem-solving strategy that involves step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution |
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| anti-anxiety drugs such as librium, valium, xanax |
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approach-avoidance: a conflict in which one must decide whether or not to choose a circumstance involving a stimulus with positive and negative characteristics
approach-approach: choosing between two positive stimuli |
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| a tendency to estimate the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind |
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| the tendency for our own beliefs to distort logical reasoning |
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| openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism |
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| bottom-up processing vs. top-down |
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bottom-up: date-driven, begins with sensory receptors and works up to integrating perceptions
top-down: starts with perceptions and creates schemas based on those |
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| central route of persuasion |
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| changes attitudes by requiring a person to think critically about an argument; usually results in stable change of attitudes |
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classical: US is paired with stimulus until it elicits a CS
operant: behavior is modified with consequences/rewards |
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| disparity between a person's beliefs or attitudes and their behavior |
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| filling in gaps in memory by replacing them with memories from other events |
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| factors that cause differences between the experimental group and the control group (other than the independent variable) |
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| continuity-discontinuity controversy |
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| the issue of whether development is gradual or a sequence of separate stages |
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| crystallized intelligence |
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| learned knowledge and skills such as vocab which tend to increase with age |
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| the idea that mental disorders develop when a person possesses a genetic predisposition, and then stress brings out the disorder |
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| focuses on internal states of tension (aka hunger) that motivate us to fix it--bring us back to homeostasis |
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| encoding specificity principle |
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| retrieval depends upon the match between the way information is encoded and the way it's received |
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| a measure of the extend to which content of a test seems to be related to what is being tested |
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| the tendency of a person to perceive their own views as representative of a consensus |
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| according to Adler, these direct our behavior and are unattainable so they should be modified |
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| schedule of reinforcement where it is presented after a set number of responses since the last one |
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| a factor of intelligence common to all intellectual task--general intelligence |
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| idea that pain is experienced only if pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain |
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| humanistic therapy emphasizing unity of mind and body and "getting in touch" with unconscious |
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| outcome of like-minded group being more extreme than individuals' ideas |
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| people changing their behavior to make themselves look good when they know they're being observed |
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| relaxed state of dreamlike awareness as we fall asleep |
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| freud--operates on pleasure principle, seeks immediate gratification |
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| informational social influence |
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| accepting others' opinions about reality, especially in conditions of uncertainty |
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| learning some items may prevent retrieving others, especially when the two are similar |
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| thorndike's observation that behavior followed by reward gets strengthened, vice versa w/ punishment |
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| tendency to apply problem-solving methods that have worked in the past rather than trying new or different strategies |
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| a mnemonic device that uses visualization of familiar objects on a familiar path to recall info in a list |
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| distortion of info at retrieval, coming from confusion about the source--"putting words in someone's mouth" |
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| the tendency for people to incorporate misleading info into their memories of a given event--evidenced in eyewitness testimony |
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morpheme: smallest unit of language that has meaning
phoneme: sound that can change the meaning of a word |
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| personality techniques like tests/surveys/observations that focus on variables at the group level |
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| where getting a reward for doing something we already like to do results in our seeing the reward as motivation for performing the task; behavior disappears when reward is removed |
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| parallel distributive processing |
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| performing several operations simultaneously |
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| the level of conscious that is outside of awareness but contains feelings/memories that can easily be brought to conscious awareness |
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| research method in which random assignment is not possible |
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| representativeness heuristic |
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| tendency to judge the likelihood of things according to how they relate to a prototype--like prejudging people |
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| encoding into memory superficial sensory information without making it relevant; seldon results in enduring memory |
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| william sheldon's theory that body types determine personality |
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| CS is presented first, removed, and then UCS is presented |
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