Glossary Myers Psychology 1-2
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78 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Absolute threshold | the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 % of the time |
| Accommodation | adapting one's current schemas to incorporate new information |
| Accommodation | the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
| Acetylcholine (ACh) | a neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contractions |
| Achievement motivation | a desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, ideas; for attaining a high standard |
| Achievement test | a test designed to assess what a person has learned |
| acoustic encoding | the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words |
| acquisition | the initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response |
| action potential | a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon |
| active listening | empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy |
| acuity | the sharpness of vision |
| adaptation-level phenomenon | our tendency to form judgments relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience |
| addiction | compulsive drug craving and use |
| adolescence | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence |
| adrenal glands | a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. they secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine which help to arouse the body in times of stress |
| aerobic exercise | sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety |
| aggression | any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy |
| algorithm | a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with heuristics |
| alpha waves | the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state |
| altruism | unselfish regard for the welfare of others |
| Alzheimer's disease | a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language and physical functioning |
| amnesia | the loss of memory |
| amphetamines | drugs that stimulate neural activity, cause speeded up body functions and associated energy and mood changes |
| amygdala | two lima bean-sized neural clusters that are part of the limbic system and are linked to emotion |
| anorexia nervosa | an eating disorder in which a normal weight person diets and becomes 15% or more underweight, yet still feels fat |
| antisocial personality disorder | a personality disorder in which the person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrong doing even towards friends and family. Might be aggressive, ruthless, or a clever con artist |
| anxiety disorders | psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety |
| aphasia | impairment of language, cause by damage to left hemisphere (Broca's or Wernicke's) |
| applied research | scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
| aptitude test | a test designed to predict a person's future performance |
| assimilation | interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas |
| association areas | areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions, but higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, speaking |
| associative learning | learning that certain events occur together. (two stimuli) (response and consequence) |
| attachment | an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by seeking closeness to caregiver and showing distress on separation |
| Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) | a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more 3 key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity |
| Attitude | feelings, based on beliefs that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people and events |
| attribution theory | suggests how we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition |
| audition | the sense or act of hearing |
| autism | a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind |
| automatic processing | unconscious encoding of incidental info such as time, space, frequency, and well learned info such as word meanings |
| autonomic nervous system | part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs |
| availability heuristic | estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory, if instances come readily to mind, e presume such events are common |
| aversive conditioning | a type of counterconditioning where an unpleasant state is associated with an unwanted behavior |
| axon | the extension of a neuron |
| babbling stage | at 4 months, the stage of speech development where the infant will say gibberish |
| barbiturates | drugs that depress the activity of the CNS, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgment |
| basal metabolic rate | the body's resting rate of energy expenditure |
| basic research | pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base |
| basic trust | according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy, formed during infancy |
| behavior genetics | study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior |
| behavior therapy | therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors |
| behavioral medicine | an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease |
| behaviorism | the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. modern research psychologists agree with 1 but not 2 |
| belief bias | the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid and vice versa |
| belief perseverance | clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited |
| binocular cues | depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence that depend on the use of 2 eyes |
| biofeedback | a system for electronically recording, amplifying and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension |
| biological psychology | branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior |
| biological rhythms | periodic physiological fluctuations |
| biomedical therapy | prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system |
| biopsychosocial approach | an integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological and social-cultural levels of analysis |
| bipolar disorder | a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania |
| blind spot | the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye and a blind spot is created because there are no receptors there |
| bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with the sensory preceptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
| brainstem | the oldest part and central core of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions |
| Broca's area | controls language expression-an area of the frontal lobe, muscle movement in speech |
| bulimia nervosa | an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting or excessive exercise |
| bystander effect | the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present |
| cannon-bard theory | the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion |
| case study | an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in hope of revealing universal principles |
| catharsis | emotional release |
| central nervous system (CNS) | brain and spinal cord |
| cerebellum | the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem, functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance |
| cerebral cortex | the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that cover the cerebral hemispheres' this is the body's ultimate contrl and information-processing center |
| chromosomes | threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes |
| chunking | organizing items into familiar, manageable units, often occurs automatically |
| circadian rhythm | biological clock' regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle |
| classical conditioning | a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli |
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