AP Psychology Review
About this set
Created by:
jaquiwilson on April 4, 2008
Subjects:
wilson, psych, hoco, psychology
Description:
A comprehensive review of terminology for AP Psychology. Definitions are for triggering other information. (Pulled from other lists.)
Classes:
Psychology, Mrs. Bonham's AP Psych, AP Pyschology, St. Chris Exam Study, Random Collection, AP Psychology (see more)
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.
Order by
394 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 ablation | removal or destruction of brain tissue in a surgical procedure |
| absolute threshold | intensity level at which one can detect a stimulus 50% of the time |
| accommodation | the process of modifying a schema to account for new information; the process of the eyes lens changing shape in order to focus on distant or near objects |
| acetylcholine (ACh) | a neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory and muscle movement |
| need for achievement | desire for accomplishment, mastery of people, ideas, things, desire for reaching a high standard |
| achievement test | a test that assesses what one has learned |
| acquisition | a process in classical conditioning by which the association of a neutral stimulus with a natural stimulus is first established |
| action potential | the electrical process by which information is transmitted the length of an axon |
| activation synthesis | the idea that dreams are the result of the cerebral cortex interpreting and organizing random flashes of brain activity, originating in the lower brain structures, especially the pons |
| adrenal gland | source of the hormone norepinephrine which affects arousal |
| affective disorders | psychological disturbances of mood |
| need for affiliation | desire to associate with others, to be part of a group, to form close and intimate relationships |
| after image | an image that remains after a stimulus is removed, especially one in which the colors are reversed |
| agonists | drugs which mimic the activity of neurotransmitters |
| alcohol | the most frequently used and abused CNS depressant in most cultures; its use affects mood, judgment, cognition |
| all-or-nothing | description of the action of neurons when firing |
| alpha waves | seen when an individual is in a relaxed, unfocused, yet still awake state |
| amygdala | limbic system component associated with emotion, particularly fear and anger |
| anal stage | Freud's pychosexual period during which a child learns to control his bodily excretions |
| anorexia (nervosa) | an eating disorder in which one starves oneself even though significantly underweight |
| antagonist | drug which blocks the activity of neurotransmitters |
| anterograde amnesia | loss of memory for events that occur after the onset of the amnesia; eg, see in a boxer who suffers a severe blow to the head and loses memory for events after the blow |
| retrograde amnesia | loss of memory for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia; eg a soldier's forgetting events immediately before a shell burst nearby, injuring him |
| antisocial personality disorder | psychological disorder in which one demonstrates a lack of conscience |
| anvil | the middle of the three ossicles |
| aphasia | impairment of language usually caused by damage to the left hemisphere |
| arousal | condition in which the sympathetic nervous system is in control |
| artificial intelligence | a subdiscipline of computer science that attempts to simulate human thinking |
| assimilation | interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schema |
| association areas | areas of the cerebral cortex which have no specific motor or sensory repsonsibilities, but rather are involved in thinking, memory and judgment |
| associative learning | learning in which an organism learns that certain events occur together, such as my cat knowing that she will be fed when I get home from work |
| attachment | theory developed by Harlow; types include secure and insecure |
| attitude | a relatively enduring evaluation of a person or thing; Asch demonstrated that this doesn't always match one's behavior |
| attraction | feeling of being drawn toward another and desiring the company of a person |
| attribution theory | a way of explaining others' behavior by either one's disposition or one's situation |
| auditory canal | the area that sound waves pass through to reach the eardrum |
| authoritarian | style of parenting in which the parent creates strict rules for the child and the child has little or no input into determining the rules |
| autonomic nervous system | division of the nervous system that control the glands and organs; its divisions arouse or calm |
| autonomy vs. shame and doubt | Erikson's stage in which a toddler learns to exercise will and to do things independently; failure to do so causes shame and doubt |
| availability heuristic | this cognitive shortcut features the idea that events which are vividly in memory seem to be more common |
| axon | extension of the neuron which carries, via an action potential, information that will be sent on to other neurons, muscles or glands |
| babbling | stage of language development at about 4 months when an infant spontaneously utters nonsense sounds |
| basic research | scientific investigations intended to expand the knowledge base |
| applied research | scientific investigations intended to solve practical problems |
| behavioral | perspective on psychology that sees psychology as an objective science without reference to mental states |
| belief perseverance | situation in which one's beliefs continue despite the fact that the ground for the beliefs have been discredited |
| big 5 personality factors | openness to new experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism |
| binocular cues | retinal disparity and convergence which enable people to determine depth using both eyes |
| biological | perspective that stresses links between biology and behavior |
| bipolar cells | eye neurons that receive information from the retinal cells and distribute information to the ganglion cells |
| bipolar disorder | mood disorder in one experiences both manic and depressed episodes |
| blind spot | point in the retinal where the optic nerve leaves the retina so there are no rods or cones there |
| bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works its way up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
| hemispheres | we have two, right and left, and some brain functions seem to centered in one or the other |
| brainstem | oldest part of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells upon entering the skull; controls fundamental survival processes like heartrate and breathing |
| bulimia | eating disorder characterized by excessive eating followed by purging |
| bystander effect | the tendency to not offer help when needed if others are present who do not offer help |
| Cannon-Baird | theory of emotion that says that a stimulus causes simultaneously psyiological arousal and the subjective experience of an emotion |
| case study | scientific investigation in which a single subject is studied in great detail |
| CAT scan | a method of creating static images of the brain through computerized axial tomography |
| catatonic | a form of schizophrenia in which the patient has muscle immobility and does not move |
| catharsis | release of aggressive energy through activity or fantasy |
| Central Nervous System | consists of the brain and the spinal cord |
| cerebellum | brain structure that controls well-learned motor activities like riding a bike |
| cerebral cortex | the fabric of interconnecting cells that blankets the brain hemispheres; the brain's center for information processing and control |
| chaining | using operant conditioning to teach a complex response by linking together less complex skills |
| chunking | organizing units of information into manageable units such as memorizing a phone number as three groups of information 248-555-1212 |
| circadian rhythm | the daily biological rhythms that occur in a 24-hour period |
| classical conditioning | method of learning in which a neutral stimulus can be used to elicit a response that is usually a natural response to a stimulus |
| client-centered therapy | developed by Carl Rogers, this humanistic therapy includes unconditional positive regard |
| clinical | this type of psychologist studies, assesses and treats those with psychological disorders |
| cochlea | this coiled structure in the inner ear is fluid-filled and in it the energy from sound waves stimulate hair cells |
| cognitive dissonance theory | this says that we will suffer discomfort and act to change the situation when our thoughts and actions seem to be inconsistent |
| cognitive | perspective on psychology that stresses the importance of mental activities associated with thinking, remembering, etc |
| cognitive therapy | treatment for psychological disorders that centers on changing self-defeating thinking |
| collective unconscious | Jung's theory that we all share an inherited memory that contains our culture's most basic elements |
| color blindness | a variety of disorders marked by inability to distinguish some or all colors |
| collectivist | this adjective describes cultures in which the individual is less important than the group |
| concrete operations | Piaget's stage in which children learn such concepts as conservation and mathematical transformations; about 7 - 11 years of age |
| concurrent validity | the extent to which two measures of the same trait or ability agree |
| conditioned response | in classical conditioning, the response elicited by the conditioned stimulus |
| conditioning | generally, learning in which certain experiences make certain behaviors more or less likely; there are two forms of this |
| conduction | one type of hearing impairment caused by mechanical problems in the ear structures |
| cones | neurons in the retina that are responsible for color vision |
| confirmation bias | a tendency to search for information that supports one's preconceptions |
| conformity | adjusting behavior to meet a group's standard |
| confounding variable | extraneous factor that interferes with the action of the independent variable on the dependent variable |
| consciousness | one's awareness of one's environment and oneself. |
| consummate love | includes passion, intimacy and committment |
| control group | subjects in an experiment who do not receive application of the independent variable but are measured nonetheless for the dependent variable |
| convergent thinking | a type of critical thinking in which one evaluates existing possible solutions to a problem to choose the best one |
| cornea | the transparent outer covering of the eye |
| corpus callosum | the fibers that connect the right and left hemispheres, enabling them to communicate |
| correlation | the degree of relationship between two variables |
| correlation coefficient | a positive one near 1.0 indicates two variable are positively related; a negative number indicates a negative relationship; zero indicates no relationship |
| cross-sectional | type of study that measures a variable across several age groups at the same time |
| debriefing | giving participants in a research study a complete explanation of the study after the study is completed |
| defense mechanisms | Freud's processes by which individuals express uncomfortable emotions in disguised ways |
| deindividuation | when an individual seems to lose himself or herself in the group's identity |
| deinstitutionalization | moving people with psychological or developmental disabilities from highly structured institutions to home- or community-based settings |
| delta waves | largest brain waves, associated with deep, dreamless sleep |
| delusion | irrational, highly improbable belief |
| dendrite | a branch off the cell body of a neuron that receives new information from other neurons |
| denial | a defense mechanism in which unpleasant thought or desires are ignored or excluded from consciousness |
| dependent variable | the variable that the experimenter measures at the end of the experiment |
| depressant | any agent that reduces the activity of the CNS |
| depth perception | an ability that we exercise by using both monocular and binocular cues |
| difference threshold | also called the jnd; smallest distinction between two stimuli that can consistently be detected |
| diffusion of responsibility | reduction in sense of responsibility often felt by individuals in a group; may be responsible for the bystander effect |
| discrimination | treating members of different races, religions, ethnic groups differently; usually associated with prejudice |
| displacement | defense mechanism in which unwanted feelings are directed towards a different object |
| dispositional attribution | assuming that another's behavior is due to personality factors, not situational ones |
| dissociative identity disorder | also called multiple personality disorder |
| dissociative fugue | disorder in which one travels away from home and is unable to remember details of his past, including often his identity |
| divergent thinking | a type of creative thinking in which one generates new solutions to problems |
| dopamine | a neurotransmitter that is associated with Parkinson's disease (too little of it) and schizophrenia (too much of it) |
| double blind | this term describes an experiment in which neither the subjects nor the experimenter knows whether a subject is a member of the experimental group or the control group |
| dreams | occur most often during REM sleep; may be caused by activation-synthesis, or may be a way of cementing memories |
| drive reduction | theory that claims that behavior is driven by a desire to lessen drives resulting from needs that disrupt homeostasis |
| DSM | initials of the American Psychiatric Association's book that lists diagnostic criteria for many psychological disorders |
| dyslexia | a learning disability that results in difficulty reading and writing |
| eardrum | also called the tympanic membrane |
| echoic | term that describes memory of sounds |
| EEG | initials of a method of representation of brain waves |
| ego | the Latin for "I"; in Freud's theories, the mediator between the demands of the id and the superego |
| egocentrism | in a toddler, the belief that others perceive the world in the same way that he or she does |
| Electra complex | counterpart to the Oedipus complex for females |
| electroconvulsive therapy | a treatment in which low level electric current is passed through the brain |
| embryo | early stage of human development, when cells have begun to differentiate |
| emotion theories | James-Lange, Cannon-Baird and Singer-Schachter are three |
| encoding | conversion of sensory information into a form that can be retained as a memory |
| endocrine system | the slow messenger system of the body; produces hormones that affect many bodily functions |
| endorphins | neurotransmitters that give one a feeling of well-being, euphoria or eliminate pain |
| episodic | describes a type of memory that includes specific events that one has personally experienced |
| evolutionary | perspective that stresses the value of behavior in Darwinian terms |
| experiment | form of scientific investigation in which one variable is tested to determine its effect on another |
| experimental group | subjects in an experiment to whom the independent variable is administered |
| explicit | term that describes memories that can be consciously recalled |
| external locus of control | this term describes what you have if your behaviors are driven mainly by outside forces |
| extinction | in classical conditioning, the process of eliminating the previously acquired association of the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response |
| extraversion | one of the Big 5, a personality trait orients one's interests toward the outside world and other people, rather than inward |
| extrinsic | term that describes motivations that drive behavior in order to gain rewards from outside forces |
| false consensus | a belief that others share the same opinion about something, when actually most don't |
| feature detection | the ability of the brain to identify specific components of visual stimuli such as corners or edges |
| fetal alcohol syndrome | sometimes the result in a child of the mother's excessive drinking while pregnant, characterized by low birth weight, facial abnormalities, mental retardation |
| fetus | a stage in human development extending from about ten weeks after conception to birth |
| figure-ground | refers to our ability to distinguish foreground from background in visual images |
| fixed interval | describes the schedule of reinforcement wherein a worker receives a paycheck every Friday |
| fixed ratio | describes a schedule of reinforcement wherein a worker is paid for a certain sum for each product produced |
| flashbulb | term describes a vivid memory of a personally significant and emotionalevent |
| fluid | term describes a type of intelligence used to cope with novel situations and problems |
| crystallized | term describes a type of intelligence which applies cultural knowledge to solving problems |
| foot-in-the-door | term describes a phenomenon in which people who agree to a small request are more likely to later agree to a larger request |
| formal operations | One of Piaget's stages; includes the ability to use abstract thinking |
| fovea | the central focus area of the retina |
| frequency | theory of hearing which states that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the tone's frequency |
| functional fixedness | the tendency to think about things only in terms of their usual uses; can be a hindrance to creative thinking |
| functionalism | William James's school of thought that stressed the adaptive and survival value of behaviors |
| fundamental attribution error | tendency to attribute others' behavior to their dispositions and our own behaviors to our situations |
| ganglion cells | their axons form the optic nerve |
| general adaptation syndrome | Seyle's concept that the body responds to stress with alarm, resistance and exhaustion |
| generativity vs. stagnation | Erikson's stage of social development in which middle-aged people begin to devote themselves more to fulfilling one's potential and doing public service |
| gene | made of DNA, it is the basic building block of heredity |
| genital stage | Freud's stage of psychosexual development when adult sexuality is prominent |
| gestalt | German word for "whole", it refers to our tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete |
| glial cell | this acts as a support system for neurons |
| grammar | a system of rules in a language |
| social norm | a group's determination of socially acceptable behavior |
| group polarization | tendency of group members to move to an extreme position after discussing an issue as a group |
| groupthink | tendency for group members to think alike with certainty of correctness, biased perceptions of outgroup members, and generally defective decision-making processes |
| hallucination | a false sensory perception that seems to be real but for which there is not an actual external stimulus |
| hallucinogen | a substance capable of producing a sensory effect in the absence of real external sensory stimuli |
| heritability | the extent to which differences in a group of a characteristic is due to genetics, not environment |
| heuristic | a useful, but unprovable, cognitive shortcut, such as a "rule of thumb" |
| hierarchy of needs | Maslow's theory of the most important motivations people have |
| hindsight bias | the tendency, after an event occurs, to overestimate the likelihood that an event could have been predicted |
| hippocampus | limbic system component associated with memory |
| homeostasis | the steady, stable state that is the body's regulatory processes try to maintain |
| hormone | chemical substance secreted by endocrine glands that affect body processes |
| humanist | perspective in psychology that stresses the goodness of people and their possibility of reaching their fullest potential |
| hunger | it is regulated by the lateral hypothalamus and the ventromedial hypothalamus |
| hypnosis | a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain events or emotions will occur |
| hypochondriasis | a disorder characterized by an unreasonable fear that one has a serious disease |
| hypothalamus | limbic system component that regulates hunger, body temperature and other functions |
| hypothesis | a prediction of how the an experiment will turn out |
| iconic | term that describes the memory of images |
| id | in Freud's conception, the repository of the basic urges toward sex and agression |
| identity vs. role confusion | Erikson's stage during which teenagers and young adults search for and become their true selves |
| imprinting | evidence of critical period in some animals; they follow the first moving thing they see after hatching |
| in-group bias | tendency to favor one's own group over other groups |
| incentive | an external stimulus that tends to encourage behavior |
| independent | type of variable manipulated by the experimenter |
| individualist | culture in which the individual is valued more highly than the group |
| industry vs. inferiority | Erikson's stage between 6 and 11 years, when the child learns to be productive |
| inferiority complex | Adler's conception of a basic feeling of inadequacy stemming from childhood experiences |
| information processing | humans accomplish this either in parallel (unconsciously) or in serial fashion (consciously) |
| informed consent | agreement to participate in psychology research, after being appraised of the dangers and benefits of the research |
| initiative vs guilt | Erikson's third stage in which the child finds independence in planning, playing and other activities |
| insanity | a legal term describing one's inability to be responsible for one's action due to the condition of the mind |
| insight | in psychoanalysis, the basic understanding one develops of the underlying sources of emotion or behavioral difficulty |
| insomnia | inability to fall asleep or remain asleep long enough for sufficient rest |
| instinct | a complex pattern of behavior that is fixed across a species |
| integrity vs despair | Erikson's final stage in which those near the end of life look back and evaluate their lives |
| Intelligence | the ability to learn from experience, to use information, to understand things |
| IQ | the average is 100; there are many definitions of this attribute, including multiple and crystallized |
| internal locus of control | people with this tned to respond to internal states and desires; they tend to see their successes as the result of their own efforts |
| interneurons | cells in the spinal cord through which reflexes travel without going to the brain |
| interposition | monocular visual cue in which two objects are in the same line of vision and one patially conceals the other, indicating that the first object concealed is further away |
| intimacy vs isolation | Erikson's stage in which individuals form deeply personal relationships, marry, begin families |
| intrinsic | term that describes motivations that derive from one's interest in the object of the motivation, rather than from rewards that one might gain |
| introversion | a personality trait that signifies that one finds energy from internal sources rather than external ones |
| James-Lange | theory of emotion in which physiological arousal precedes the emotion |
| just world | phenomenon that describes the belief that what happens to people is what they deserve |
| just noticeable difference | the threshold at which one can distinguish two stimuli that are of different intensities, but otherwise identical |
| kinethesis | sense of balance and of one's physical position |
| latent | Freud's stage of psychosexual development occuring from about age 6 to puberty during which little happens in psychosexual terms |
| latent content | the hidden or disguised meaning of dreams |
| latent learning | a change in behavior due to experience acquired without conscious effort, s, for example, a student using a quote in an exam essay that the student had never tried to memorize, though eh had encountered it in studying |
| law of effect | Thorndike's rule that behaviors which have positive outcomes tend to be repeated |
| learned helplessness | lack of motivation to avoid unpleasant stimuli after one has failed before to escape similar stimuli |
| lens | a curved, transparent element of the vision system that provides focus |
| lesion | any destruction or damage to brain tissue |
| lithium | in psychopharmacology, this is used to control bipolar symptoms |
| longitudinal | describes research that measures a trait in a particular group of subjects over a long period of time |
| long term | refers to memory that is stored effectively in the brain and may be accessed over an extended period of time |
| long term potentiation | a possible source of the formation of memories; improvement in a neuron's ability to transmit caused by repeated stimulations |
| lucid | describes a dream in which the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming and is able to influence the progress of the dream narrative |
| eidetic | describes a type of visual memory that is retained for a long time; photographic |
| mania | high state of arousal, often accompanied by poor judgment |
| manifest | describes, in Freudian terms, the surface content of a dream |
| marijuana | a drug, often smoked, whose effects include euphoria, impairment of judgment and concentration and occasionally hallucinations; rarely reported as addictive |
| mean | numerical average of a set of numbers |
| median | the middle one of a set of numbers |
| medulla | part of the brain nearest the spinal cord which controls breathing, heart rate and blood pressure |
| memory | functions associated with this include encoding, storage and retrieval |
| mental age | developed by Binet; equal to one's chronological age times the percentage score on an IQ test |
| mere exposure effect | this phenomenon causes one to prefer a stimulus as a consequence of repeated exposures to that stimulus, particularly is there is no adverse result of the exposure |
| metacognition | thinking about thinking |
| MMPI | the initials of a long, detailed personality inventory |
| mnemonic device | method of improving memory by associating new information with previously learned information |
| mode | the most commonly occurring term in a batch of data |
| modeling | the process of observing and imitating a behavior |
| monocular | terms that means "one eyed", used to indicate the sort of of enviromental cues to depth perception tha tonly require one eye, for example, interposition |
| morpheme | in language, the smallest unit that carries meaning |
| motion parallax | a depth cue in which the relative movement of elements in a scene gives depth information when the observer moves relative to the scene |
| motivation | a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior |
| motor cortex | an area of the brain, near the rear of the frontal lobes, that controls voluntary movement |
| motor neuron | this carries information from the brain to the muscles; also called "efferent" |
| MRI | a technique that enables us to see static images of the brain's structures; uses magnetism to achieve this effect |
| dissociative identity disorder | also called multiple personality disorder |
| myelin sheath | a layer of fatty tissue encasing a neuron's axon that speeds transmission |
| narcolepsy | a disorder characterized by sudden sleep attacks, often at inopportune times |
| naturalistic | term refers to observations made of individual's behavior in an everyday life setting |
| nature vs nurture | name for a controversy in which it is debated whether genetics or environment is responsible for driving behavior |
| negative reinforcement | in operant conditioning, removing something unpleasant in order to elicit more of a particular behavior |
| neural network | refers to interconnected neuron cells |
| neuron | the fundamental building block of the nervous system |
| neuroscience | perspective on psychology that emphasizes the study of the brain and its effects on behavior |
| neurotransmitter | a chemical that is released by a neuron for the purpose of carrying information across the gaps (synapses) between neurons |
| neutral | describes a stimulus in classical conditioning that would normally not elicit the response intended, such as the tone in Pavlov's experiments before it was associated with the food |
| night terrors | also called sleep terror disorder, these include the characteristic of waking abruptly in a state of panic, usually in children, less often in adults |
| normal distribution | describes a symmetrical, bell shaped curve that shows the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes |
| norm | an understood rule for social behavior |
| NREM | refers to sleep during which there is no rapid eye movement |
| obesity | condition of having excess body fat resulting in being greatly overweight |
| object permanence | recognition that things continue to exist even though hidden from sight; infants generally gain this after 3 to 7 months of age |
| observational learning | change in behavior due to watching other people behave |
| obsessive-compulsive disorder | an anxiety disorder characterized by repetitive obsessions and compulsions |
| occipital | this lobe contains the primary vision processing function |
| Oedipus complex | in Freud's theory, the conflict which results in a boy gaining a superego and beginning to emulate his father |
| olfactory bulb | the first brain structure to pick up smell information from the nose |
| omission training | a procedure in which reinforcement occurs when a specific behavior does not occur in a fixed period of time |
| operant conditioning | a method of influencing behavior by rewarding desired behaviors and punishing undesired ones |
| operational definition | a description of an experimental variable in such a way that the variable can be measured and the procedure can be replicated |
| optic chiasm | the point in the brain where the visual field information from each eye "crosses over" to the appropriate side of the brain for processing |
| optic nerve | the axons of the ganglion cells form this |
| oral stage | Freud's first stage of psychosexual development during which pleasure is centered in the mouth |
| opponent process theory | term used in both vision theory and emotion theory |
| outgroup | generally, any group that one does not belong to |
| oval window | membrane at the enterance to the cochlea through which the ossicles transmit vibrations |
| panic disorder | characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks |
| paranoid | a type of schizophrenia characterized by prominent delusions that are persecutory or grandiose |
| parasympathetic | the branch of the nervous system that automatically calms us down when the reason for arousal has passed |
| parietal | lobe that contains the sensory cortex |
| Parkinson's disease | this ailment, whose symptoms includes tremors and later difficulty walking, is caused by inability to produce dopamine |
| perception | the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information |
| peripheral nervous system | the subsystem of the nervous system that does not include the CNS |
| permissive | describes a parenting style that is characterized by the parent making few demands on the child |
| person-centered | therapy developed by Rogers featuring the patient's self-discovery and actualization; also called client-centered |
| personality | a consistent pattern of thinking, acting, feeling |
| PET scan | method of brain imaging using positron emissions |
| phallic | name for Freud's stage which features the Oedipus stage |
| phobia | fear |
| phoneme | in language, smallest distinctive sound unit |
| pituitary | gland that is the master gland of the endocrine system |
| place theory | the idea that different sound frequencies stimulate different locations on the basilar membrae |
| placebo | an inert substance given to the control group in an experiment |
| placebo effect | phenomenon that some people get better even though they receive not medication but an inert substance which should have no medical effect |
| plasticity | the ability of the brain to adapt to damage by reorganizing functions |
| pons | part of the brain, works with the cerebellum in coordinating voluntary movement; neural stimulation studied in activation synthesis theory may originate here |
| population | all of the individuals from which subjects for an experiment may be drawn |
| positive psychology | field of study which concentrates on good psychological traits such as contentment and joy; it also studies character traits such as wisdom, integrity and altruism |
| PTSD | initials representing a disorder in which one relives painfully stressful events |
| preconscious | in Freud's theory, the level of consciousness in which thoughts and feelings are not conscious but are readily retrieveable to consciousness |
| preconventional | Kohlberg's stage of moral development in which rewards and punishments dominate moral thinking |
| prejudice | a negative attitude formed toward an individual or group without sufficient experience with the person or group |
| preoperational | Piaget's second stage of cognitive development, when egocentrism declines |
| proactive interference | when prior learning disrupts the recall of new information |
| projection | defense mechanism in which one disguises one's won unacceptable impulses by attributing them to others |
| projective | term describes a personality test in which ambiguous stimuli trigger revelation of inner feelings, thoughts |
| psychiatrist | medical doctor who has specialized in treating psychological disorders |
| psychoanalysis | Freud's therapeutic technique |
| psychodynamic | term describes the perspective on psychology in which inner feeling and unconscious tensions are emphasized |
| psychopharmacology | the study of the effects of drugs on the mind and behavior |
| punishment | can be either positive or negative, intended to reduce the occurrence of a behavior |
| random | term that describes assignment in which all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to the control group or to the experimental group |
| REBT | Albert Ellis's form of therapy for psychological disorders |
| rationalization | "The only reason I flunked the test is because our teacher is no good." |
| reaction formation | defense mechanism in which unacceptable impulses are transformed into their opposite |
| reciprocal determinism | Bandura's idea that though our environment affects us, we also affect our environment |
| refractory period | resting time; occurs in both neuron firing and in human sexual response |
| regression | defense mechanism in which one retreats to an earlier stage of life |
| rehearsal | conscious repetition of information in order to fix it in memory, such as practicing a list of terms to memorize |
| reinforcer | in operant conditioning any event that strengthens the behavior it follows |
| reliability | in testing, the characteristic of a test that produces consistent scores through retesting or alternate halves or other methods |
| REM | describes sleep in which vivid dreams typically occur; this type of sleep increases as the night progresses while stage 4 sleep decreases |
| representative | this kind of sample accurately reproduces the characteristics of the population a researcher is studying |
| representativeness heuristic | this cognitive short cut enables one to generalization based on how closely a stimulus matches a typical member of a class; given a picture of a man in a tweed jacket with a textbook, is this man a professor or a truck driver? |
| repression | defense mechanism in which painful memories are excluded from consciousness |
| reticular formation | a network of cells in the brainstem that filters sensory information and is involved in arousal and alertness |
| retina | the sensory reception system of the eye; includes rods and cones |
| retrieval | the process of recovering information stored in memory |
| retroactive interference | when new learning disrupts the recall of previously-learned information |
| rods | responsible for black and white vision |
| role-play | technique in therapy and training in which participants act out new behaviors or skills |
| rooting | a reflex in which a newborn turns its head in response to a gentle stimulus on its cheek |
| Rorschach test | a projective test that uses inkblots as the ambiguous stimulus |
| safety | the second rung of Maslow's hierarchy; refers to need for freedom from danger |
| scapegoat | this theory says that having suffered negative experience, an individual might blame an innocent person or group for the experience and subsequently mistreat the person or group |
| scatterplot | name for a graph of data points in a two variable correlation |
| schedules of reinforcement | these include fixed interval and variable ratio |
| schema | a collection of basic knowledge about a category of information; serves as a means of organization and interpretation of that information |
| schemata | plural form of schema |
| schizophrenia | disorder characterized by hallucinations and delusions |
| higher-order | term describes conditioning in which the CS for one experiment becomes the UCS in another experiment so that another neutral stimulus can be made to elicit the original UCR |
| selective attention | this term describes the situation when you are focused on certain stimuli in the environment while other stimuli are excluded |
| self-concept | one's idea and evaluation of oneself; this contributes to one's sense of identity |
| self-efficacy | one's ability to act effectively to bring about desired results; from Bandura |
| self-actualization | the highest of Malow's needs; "the full use of talent" |
| self-esteem | the more positive one's estimation of one's qualities and characteristics, the higher this is |
| self-fulfilling prophecy | a belief or expectation that helps to make itself true |
| self-serving bias | he tendency to assign oneself credit for successes but to blame failures on external forces |
| semantics | in language, study of meanings of words |
| sensorimotor | describes Piaget's stage in which the child explores the world through interaction of his mouth and hands with the environment |
| sensory adaptation | reduced responsiveness caused by prolonged stimulation |
| sensory cortex | the parts of the brain that receive information from the sensory receptors |
| sensory neurons | nervous system cells that receive information from the environment |
| afferent | in neurons, another name for sensory |
| serial position effect | this tells us that the best recall of a list of items will be of those at the beginning of the list |
| serotonin | a neurotransmitter; associated with improved mood and other positive emotions |
| SSRI | class of drugs used to relieve anxiety by limiting reuptake of a neurotransmitter |
| set point | the point at which one's body tries maintain weight |
| sexual response | its four stages are excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution |
| shaping | an operant conditioning technique in which reinforces guide behavior to closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior |
| short-term | type of memory that holds a few items briefly before they are lost |
| signal detection | this theory predicts how and in what circumstances we can detect a stimulus; assumes there is no single threshold |
| sleep apnea | a disorder characterized by cessation of breathing during sleep |
| sleep spindles | short bursts of brain waves detected in stage 2 sleep |
| socio-cultural | a perspective on psychology that emphasizes effects on behavior and thinking of one's culture and the people around one |
| social exchange | a theory that suggests that our behavior is based on maximizing benefits and minimizing costs |
| social facilitation | a phenomenon in which we perform simple or well-learned tasks better when in the presence of others |
| social learning | a theory that suggests we learn social behaviors by watching and imitating others |
| somatic | a division of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movements |
| somatoform disorder | any of a group of psychological disturbances characterized by physical symptoms for which there is not a medical cause |
| split brain | a condition in which the two brain hemispheres are isolated by cutting the corpus callosum |
| spontaneous recovery | in classical conditioning the re-occurence of conditioning after it had appeared to be extinct |
| standard deviation | a computation of how much scores vary around a mean |
| stereotype | a set of generalizations about a group |
| structuralism | school of psychology developed by Wilhelm Wundt |
| sublimation | a defense mechanism in which unacceptable energies are directed into socially admirable outlets, such as art |
| superego | the part of the personality in Freud's theory that is responsible for making moral choices |
| sympathetic | part of the nervous system that controls the "flight or fight" response |
| synaptic gap | space between the axon terminal of one neuron and the receptors of the next neuron |
| syntax | in language the set of rules that describe how words are arranged to make sentences |
| temperament | personality component that ranges from very calm to very exitable |
| temporal | the lobe that controls audition |
| thalamus | the sensory switchboard |
| TAT | a projective test in which subjects look at and tell a story about ambiguous pictures |
| theory | this organizes data and is used to make predictions |
| threshold | in a neuron, reaching this causes the neuron to fire |
| token economy | a technique in operant conditioning by which desired behaviors receive forms of currency that can be exchanged for rewards |
| twin studies | a common method of investigating whether nature or nurture affects behavior |
| unconditioned response | in conditioning the behavior elicited by the unconditioned stimulus |
| unconditioned stimulus | in conditioning it elicits the UCR |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.
Set Champions
Scatter Champion
2.0 secs by RobertKing85
Space Race Champion
258,820 points by LoLJoshwubsGasthoff
Speller Champion
96.6% correct by isabelle_tersio
Completed “Learn” mode
13ishap , kayley_peters , kiefemol000 , ajishot , escapingthelabyrinth , shushix , jenniferekoma , ssankar , Laceyf21 , eternalsunshine133 , Surreality , jesseabelson , flefebvre740 , acguba , eehayward (See all 48)