Term
| rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences |
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Definition
| levels of analysis (molecular, neurochemical, neurological/ physiological, mental, behavioural, social) |
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Term
| variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior |
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Definition
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Term
| the fact that we mutually influence each others' behaviour |
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Definition
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Term
| studying behaviour of a culture from an insider's perspective |
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Definition
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Term
| studying behaviour of a culture from an outsider's perspective |
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Definition
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Term
| belief we see the world precisely as it is |
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Definition
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Term
| premise knowledge that should initially be acquired through observation |
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Definition
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Term
| explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world |
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Definition
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Term
| testable prediction derived from a scientific theory |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them |
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Definition
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Term
| assertion about the world that is not testable |
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Definition
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Term
| approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them |
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Definition
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Term
| set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion |
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Definition
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Term
| Why shouldn't we believe the media when they only report one explanation? |
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Definition
| Ruling out rival hypotheses |
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Term
| error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other |
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Definition
| correlation-causation fallacy |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| capable of being disproved |
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Definition
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Term
| when a study's findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators |
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Definition
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Term
| Did aliens really make crop circles? How do we know? |
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Definition
| No, because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence |
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Term
| principle of logical simplicity |
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Definition
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Term
| surgical procedure that severs fibers connecting the frontal lobes of the brain from the underlying thalamus |
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Definition
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Term
| mental shortcut that helps us to streamline our thinking and make sense of our world |
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Definition
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Term
| heuristic that involves judging the probability of an event by it superficial similarity to a prototype |
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Definition
| representativeness heuristic |
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Term
| how common a characteristic or behaviour is in the general population |
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Definition
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Term
| heuristic that involves estimating the likelihood of an occurrence based on the ease with which it comes to our minds |
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Definition
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Term
| systematic errors in thinking |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency to overestimate how well we could have successfully predicted known outcomes |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency to overestimate our ability to make correct predictions |
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Definition
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Term
| watching behaviour in real-world settings without trying to manipulate the situation |
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Definition
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Term
| extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings |
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Definition
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Term
| extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study |
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Definition
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Term
| research design that examines one person or a small number of people in depth, often over an extended period of time |
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Definition
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Term
| demonstration that a given psychological phenomenon can occur |
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Definition
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Term
| procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate |
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Definition
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Term
| consistency of measurement |
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Definition
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Term
| extent to which different people agree on the characteristics they're measuring |
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Definition
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Term
| reliable questionnaire yielding similar scores over time |
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Definition
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Term
| extent to which a measure assesses what it purports to measure (how often it's right) |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire items. |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency to make ourselves look better than we are |
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Definition
| positive impression management |
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Term
| tendency to make ourselves appear psychologically disturbed with the aim of achieving a clear-cut personal goal |
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Definition
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Term
| tendency of ratings of one positive characteristic to spill over to influence the ratings of other positive characteristics (same thing for negative characteristics influencing others) |
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Definition
| halo effect (horns effect) |
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Term
| research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated |
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Definition
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Term
| grouping of points on a 2D graph in which each dot represents a single person's data |
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Definition
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Term
| if one thing goes up, so does the other (same for going down) |
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Definition
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Term
| the two things don't go together |
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Definition
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Term
| perception of a statistical association between two variables where none exists |
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Definition
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Term
| research design characterized by random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable |
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Definition
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Term
| randomly sorting participants into two groups |
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Definition
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Term
| in an experiment, the group of participants that receives the manipulation |
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Definition
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Term
| the group of participants that doesn't receive the manipulation |
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Definition
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Term
| variable that an experimenter manipulates |
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Definition
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Term
| variable that an experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation has an effect |
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Definition
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Term
| working definition of what a researcher is measuring |
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Definition
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Term
| procedure that allows every person an equal chance to participate |
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Definition
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Term
| improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement |
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Definition
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Term
| any difference between the experimental and control groups other than the independent variable |
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Definition
| confound (confounding variable) |
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Term
| unaware of whether one is in the experimental or control group |
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Definition
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Term
| harm resulting from the mere expectation of harm |
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Definition
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Term
| when neither researchers nor participants are aware of who's in the experimental or control group |
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Definition
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Term
| phenomenon in which researchers' hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study |
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Definition
| experimenter expectancy effect (Rosenthal effect) |
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Term
| cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researcher's hypothesis |
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Definition
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Term
| informing research participants of what is involves in a study before asking them to participate |
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Definition
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Term
| research assistant who plays the part of a participant |
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Definition
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Term
| process where researchers inform participants what the study was about |
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Definition
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Term
| application of mathematics to describe and analyze data |
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Definition
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Term
| numerical characterizations that describe data |
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Definition
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Term
| measure of the central scores in a data set or where the group tends to cluster |
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Definition
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Term
| measure of how loosely or tightly bunched scores are |
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Definition
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Term
| measure of dispersion that takes into account how far each data point is from the mean |
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Definition
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Term
| mathematical methods that allow us to determine whether we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population |
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Definition
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Term
| how believable an event is |
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Definition
| statistically significance |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| sending articles to outside reviewers who screen the articles carefully for quality control |
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Definition
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Term
| nerve cell specialized for communication |
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Definition
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Term
| central region of the neuron |
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Definition
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Term
| portion of the neuron that receives signals |
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Definition
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Term
| portion of the neuron that sends signals |
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Definition
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Term
| knoblike structure at the end of the axon |
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Definition
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Term
| spherical sac containing neurotransmitters |
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Definition
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Term
| chemical messenger specialized for communication from neuron to neuron |
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Definition
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Term
| space between two connecting neurons though which messages are transmitted chemically |
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Definition
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Term
| gap into which neurotransmitters are released from the axon terminal |
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Definition
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Term
| cell in nervous system that plays a role in the formation of myelin and the blood-brain barrier, responds to injury, removes debris, and enhances learning and memory |
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Definition
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Term
| fatty coating that wraps around tiny blood vessels |
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Definition
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Term
| glial cells wrapped around axons that act as insulators of the neuron's signal |
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Definition
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Term
| gaps in the myelin sheath all along the axon |
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Definition
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Term
| electrical charge difference (-60 millivolts) across the neuronal membrane, when the neuron is not being stimulated or inhibited |
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Definition
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Term
| membrane potential necessary to trigger an action potential |
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Definition
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Term
| electrical impulse that travels down the axon triggering the release of neurotransmitters |
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Definition
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Term
| time during which another action potential is impossible; limits maximal firing rate |
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Definition
| absolute refractory period |
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Term
| location that uniquely recognizes a neurotransmitter |
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Definition
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Term
| means of recycling neurotransmitters |
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Definition
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Term
| most common excitatory neurotransmitter |
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Definition
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|
Term
| most common inhibitory neurotransmitter |
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Definition
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Term
| chemical in the brain that plays a specialized role in pain reduction |
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Definition
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Term
| increase receptor site activity |
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Definition
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Term
| decrease receptor site activity |
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Definition
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Term
| ability of the nervous system to change |
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Definition
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Term
| ways network of neurons changes over the course of development |
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Definition
1. growth of dendrites and axons
2. synaptogenesis (new synapses)
3. pruning of certain neurons and retraction of connections that aren't useful
4. mylenation, insulation of axons with a myelin sheath |
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Term
| cell, often originating in embryos, having the capacity to differentiate into a more specialized cell |
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Definition
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Term
| creation of new neurons in the adult brain |
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Definition
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Term
| part of nervous system containing brain and spinal cord that controls the mind and behaviour |
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Definition
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Term
| nerves in the body that extend outside the central nervous system |
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Definition
| peripheral nervous system |
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Term
| clear liquid running through the ventricles in our brains, bathing them and spinal cords, providing nutrients, and protecting them from injury |
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Definition
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Term
| forward part of the brain that allows advanced intellectual abilities |
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Definition
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Term
| two halves of the cerebral cortex, each of which serve distinct yet highly integrated functions |
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Definition
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Term
| large band of fibers connection the two cerebral hemispheres |
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Definition
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Term
| outermost part of forebrain, responsible for analyzing sensory processing and higher brain functions |
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Definition
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Term
| forward part of the cerebral cortex responsible for motor function, language, memory, and planning |
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Definition
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Term
| part of frontal lobe responsible for body movement |
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Definition
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Term
| part of frontal lobe responsible for thinking, planning, and language |
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Definition
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Term
| language area in the prefrontal cortex that helps to control speech production |
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Definition
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Term
| condition where patients have difficulty producing speech |
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Definition
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Term
| upper middle part of the cerebral cortex lying behind the frontal lobe that specializes in touch and perception |
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Definition
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Term
| lower part of cerebral cortex that plays roles in hearing, understanding language, and memory |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the cortex devoted to hearing |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the temporal lobe involved in understanding speech |
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Definition
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Term
| condition where people can still speak, but they speak gibberish and don't understand what they or anyone else is saying |
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Definition
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Term
| back part of the cerebral cortex specialized for vision |
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Definition
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Term
| regions of the cerebral cortex that initially process information from the senses |
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Definition
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Term
| regions of the cerebral cortex that integrate simpler functions to perform more complex functions |
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Definition
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Term
| structures in the forebrain that help to control movement (damage causes Parkinson's) |
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Definition
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Term
| emotional center of the brain that also plays roles in smell, motivation, and memory |
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Definition
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Term
| gateway from the sense organs to the primary sensory cortex |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the brain responsible for maintaining a constant internal state (regulating body temperature, hunger, thirst, etc.) |
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Definition
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Term
| part of limbic system that plays key roles in fear, excitement, and arousal |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the brain that plays a role in spatial memory |
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Definition
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Term
| theory that memories are initially stored at multiple sites, where some grow weaker or stronger (meaning memories don't need to be transferred to the hippocampus) |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the brain between the spinal cord and cerebral cortex that contains the midbrain, pons, and medulla |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the brain stem that contributes to movement, tracking of visual stimuli, and reflexes triggered by sound |
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Definition
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Term
| brain area that plays a key area in arousal (if it gets hurt, you collapse and pass out) |
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Definition
| reticular activating system |
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Term
| region below the midbrain that contains the cerebellum, pons, and medulla |
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Definition
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Term
| brain structure responsible for our sense of balance, and plays a role in executive, spatial, and linguistic abilities |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the brain stem that connects the cortex with the cerebellum |
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Definition
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Term
| part of brain stem involved in basic functions, like heartbeat and breathing |
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Definition
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Term
| thick bundle of nerves that conveys signals between the brain and the body |
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Definition
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Term
| carries sensory information from body to brain |
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Definition
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Term
| carries motor commands from brain to body |
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Definition
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Term
| neurons that send messages to other nearby neurons |
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Definition
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Term
| automatic motor response to a sensory stimulus |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the nervous system that conveys information between the CNS and the body, controlling and coordinating voluntary movement |
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Definition
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Term
| part of the nervous system controlling the involuntary actions of our internal organs and glands, which (along with the limbic system) participates in emotional regulation |
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Definition
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Term
| division of the autonomic nervous system engaged during a crisis or after actions requiring fight or flight |
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Definition
| sympathetic nervous system |
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Term
| division of autonomic nervous system that controls rest and digestion |
|
Definition
| parasympathetic nervous system |
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Term
| assessing bumps on the head and attributing various personality and intellectual characteristics |
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Definition
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|
Term
| perception in which the way we perceive a stimulus doesn't match its physical reality |
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Definition
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|
Term
| detection of physical energy by sense organs, which then send information to the brain |
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Definition
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Term
| brain's interpretation of raw sensory inputs |
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Definition
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|
Term
| process of converting an external energy or substance into electrical activity within neurons |
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Definition
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Term
| specialized cell responsible for converting external stimuli into neural activity for a specific sensory system |
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Definition
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Term
| activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected |
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Definition
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Term
| study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics |
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Definition
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Term
| lowest level of a stimulus needed for the nervous system to detect a change 50% of the time |
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Definition
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Term
| the smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect |
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Definition
| just noticeable difference |
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Term
| states there's a constant proportional relationship between the JND and the original stimulus intensity |
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Definition
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|
Term
| tendencies to make one type of guess over another when we're in doubt about whether a weak signal is present or absent under noisy conditions |
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Definition
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Term
| theory regarding how stimuli are detected under different conditions |
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Definition
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Term
| even though there are many distinct stimulus energies, the sensation we experience is determined by the nature of the sense receptor, not the stimulus |
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Definition
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Term
| vivid sensations of light caused by pressure on your eye's receptor cells |
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Definition
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|
Term
| condition where people experience cross-modal sensations (ex: colored hearing, tasting colors, etc.) |
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Definition
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|
Term
| type of synesthesia where numbers are always a certain color |
|
Definition
| grapheme-color synesthesia |
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Term
| synesthesia where words have a certain taste |
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Definition
| lexical-taste synesthesia |
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Term
| ability to attend to many sense modalities simultaneously |
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Definition
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|
Term
| processing in which a whole is constructed from parts |
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Definition
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|
Term
| conceptually driven processing influenced by beliefs and expectations |
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Definition
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|
Term
| set formed when expectations influence perceptions |
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Definition
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|
Term
| process by which we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions |
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Definition
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Term
| process of selecting one sensory channel and ignoring or minimizing the others |
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Definition
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Term
| mental filter that enables us to pay attention to important stimuli and ignore others |
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Definition
| filter theory of attention |
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Term
| when subjects hear two different things, one in each ear |
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Definition
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|
Term
| our ability to pick out important information (ex: our name) in a conversation we're not a part of |
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Definition
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|
Term
| failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention is focused elsewhere |
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Definition
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|
Term
| failure to detect obvious changes in one's environment |
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Definition
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|
Term
| perception below the limen or threshold of conscious awareness |
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
| circular hole through which light enters the eye |
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Definition
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|
Term
| part of the eye containing transparent cells that focus light on the retina |
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Definition
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|
Term
| when eyes decrease the amount of light allowed into them |
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Definition
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|
Term
| part of the eye that changes curvature to keep images in focus |
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Definition
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|
Term
| changing the shape of the lens to focus on objects near or far |
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Definition
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|
Term
| when images are focused in front of the rear of the eye because the cornea is too steep or our eyes too long |
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Definition
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|
Term
| when the cornea is too flat or our eyes too short |
|
Definition
| hyperopia (farsightedness) |
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|
Term
| membrane at the back of the eye responsible for converting light into neural activity |
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Definition
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|
Term
| central portion of the retina |
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Definition
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|
Term
| sharpness of vision (determined by the fovea) |
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Definition
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|
Term
| receptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in low levels of light |
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Definition
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|
Term
| time in dark before rods regain maximum light sensitivity |
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Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
| receptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in color |
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Definition
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|
Term
| cells in the retinal circuit that contain axons |
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Definition
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|
Term
| nerve that travels from the retina to the brain |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| part of the visual field we can't see because of an absence in rods and cones |
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Definition
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|
Term
| cells that detect lines and edges |
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Definition
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|
Term
| brain providing missing information about outlines |
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Definition
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|
Term
| rules governing how we perceive objects as wholes within their overall context |
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
| proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, symmetry, figure-ground |
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Term
| idea that color vision is based on our sensitivity to three primary colors (red, green, blue) |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| inability to see some or all colors |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| people who only have one type of cone, so they lose all color vision |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| people who have two cones (only missing one), so they can see most colors, just not red or green |
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Definition
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|
Term
| theory that we perceive colors in terms o three pairs of opponent colors: either red/green, blue/yellow, or black/white |
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Definition
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|
Term
| ability to judge distance and three-dimensional relations |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| disorder where patients can't seamlessly string still images processed by their brains into the perception of ongoing motion |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| deficit in perceiving objects (usually can't recognize or name the object) |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| when blind people who've experienced damage to a specific area of their cortex can still make correct guesses about the visual appearance of things around them |
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
| amplitude of the sound wave |
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
| little bones in the middle ear |
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Definition
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|
Term
| bony, spiral-shape sense organ used for hearing |
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Definition
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|
Term
| tissue containing the hair cells necessary for hearing |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| membrane supporting the organ of Corti and hair cells in the cochlea |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| specific place along the basilar membrane matches a tone with a specific pitch |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| rate at which neurons fire the action potential reproduces the pitch |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| variation of frequency theory that works for tones between 100 and 5000 Hz |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| malfunctioning of the ear, usually failure of the eardrum or ossicles |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| damage to the auditory nerve |
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
| sense receptor in the tongue that responds to sweet, salty, sour, bitter, savory (umami), and maybe fat |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| bumps on the tongue that contain taste buds |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| odorless chemical that serves as a social signal to members of one's species |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| sense of touch, temperature, and pain |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| how we sense light touch and deep pressure |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| when we touch a fire or hot stove, we pull away immediately to avoid getting burned |
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Definition
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|
Term
| idea that pain is blocked or gate from consciousness by neural mechanisms in the spinal cord |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| pain or discomfort felt in an amputated limb |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| state of being unable to move just after falling asleep or right before waking up |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| our subjective experience of the world, our bodies, and our mental perspectives |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| cyclical changes that occur on a roughly 24-hour basis in many biological processes |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| term of the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus that's responsible for controlling our levels of alertness |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| darting of the eyes underneath closed eyelids during sleep |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| stages 1-4 of the sleep cycle, during which rapid eye movements do not occur and dreaming is less frequent and vivid |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| light sleep, lasts 5-10 minutes, produces theta waves |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| produces sleep spindles and K-complexes, eye movements cease, slower heart rate and body temperature decreases |
|
Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
| stage of sleep during which the brain is most active and during which vivid dreaming most often occurs |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| experiences of becoming aware that one is dreaming |
|
Definition
| lucid dreaming (inception. :P) |
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|
Term
| difficulty falling and staying asleep |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| disorder characterized by the rapid and often unexpected onset of sleep |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| disorder caused by a blockage of the airway during sleep, resulting in daytime fatigue |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| sudden waking episodes characterized by screaming, perspiring, and confusion followed by a return to a deep sleep |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| walking while fully asleep |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| substance that contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in our brains that alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| when people experiences recurrent problems associated with a drug |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| reduction in the effect of a drug as a result of repeated use, requiring users to consume greater quantities to achieve the same effect |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| unpleasant effects of reducing or stopping consumption of a drug that users had consumed habitually |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| dependence on a drug that occurs when people continue to take it to avoid withdrawal symptoms |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| dependence on a drug that occurs when continued use of a drug is motivated by intense cravings |
|
Definition
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Term
| the theory that people consume alcohol to relieve anxiety |
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Definition
| tension reduction hypothesis |
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Term
| drug that exerts a calming effect |
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Definition
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Term
| drug that exerts a sleep-inducing effect |
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Definition
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Term
| barbiturates, nonbarbiturates, benzodiazepines |
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Definition
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Term
| drug that increases activity in the central nervous system, including heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure (ex: nicotine, cocaine, meth) |
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Definition
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Term
| drug that relieves pain and induces sleep (ex: heroin, morphine, codeine) |
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Definition
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Term
| causing dramatic alterations of perception, mood, and thought (ex: marijuana, LSD) |
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Definition
| hallucinogenics, psychedelics |
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