Psych. Test 1
Order by
54 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Illusory Correlation | the perception of a relationship where no relationship actually exists Example: parents conceive children after adoption - just a correlation, NOT a causation |
| Theory | explanation that integrates principles and organizations and predicts behavior or events (NEVER prove it - just SUPPORT it) |
| Hypothesis | testable prediction Example: People with low self-esteem are apt to feel more depressed |
| Control Group | the group that stays constant; where the variable isn't changed |
| Experimental Group | the group where the variable/factor is changed/manipulated to test a hypothesis |
| Random Assignment | puts people randomly in groups for an experiment IMPORTANT - decreases bias BUT can't always be done |
| Random Sample | randomly pick people from a population to get a more valid outcome of data |
| Double-Blind Procedure | when patients and experimenters assistants remain unaware of which patients has the real or placebo drug (related to random assignment) |
| Independent Variable | factor manipulated by the experimenter; focus of the study Example: whether a baby is breast fed or not |
| Dependent Variable | factor that may change based on the independent variable Example: grades, intelligence |
| Case Study | one person is studied in depth to reveal underlying behavioral principles Provides a lot of rich information BUT takes a lot of time and makes it harder to generalize to other people |
| Survey | technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes, opinions or behaviors of people usually done by questioning a representative random selection of people Provides a lot of peoples responses and is less expensive BUT might not be as representational because people may not respond to a given survey or take it seriously |
| Correlation | when one trait or behavior accompanies another they 'correlate' this does NOT prove causation |
| Naturalistic Observation | observing and recording behavior of animals in the wild and recording self-seating patterns in a multiracial lunch room Provides more accurate information because your in their environment collecting data BUT takes a lot of time |
| Experiment | manipulation of an independent variable in order to understand its effect on a dependent variable; identifies cause-and-effect relationships |
| Sample | a group of subjects selected for a study; a subset (random sample) of a population |
| Population | a group of people about whom the researcher wants to make conclusions (a sample should be representative of the population) |
| Hindsight Bias | when people hear the answer for something and claim they knew it all along Example: finding out that the answer to question 5 was B and claiming you knew it all along |
| Operational Definition | a working definition of something Example: when you operationalize a variable, you explain how you will measure it |
| Dendrites | branching extensions at the cell body that receive messages from other neurons |
| Axons | long, single extension of a neuron, covered with myelin sheath to insulate and speed up the transfer |
| Synapse | junction between the axon tip (terminal bulb) of the sending neuron and the dendrite of the cell body of the receiving neuron (where information is exchanged from neuron to another) |
| Action Potential | neural impulse - brief electrical charge that travels down the axon and is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms moving in and out of the channels in the axon's membrane |
| Threshold | each neuron receives excitatory and inhibitory signals from many neurons - when excitatory signals minus the inhibitory signals exceed a minimum intensity, action potential occurs |
| Central Nervous System | CNS - brain and spine |
| Cerebellum | "the little brain" - helps coordinate voluntary movements and balance |
| Split Brain Patients | usually done to prevent seizures from continuing to occur by the cutting the corpus callosum they cannot orally report information presented to the right hemisphere (left eye) since language is located in the left hemisphere |
| Occipital Lobe | in the back of the brain - controls vision |
| Brain Plasticity | when the brain can modify itself over time after an injury |
| Right Brain vs. Left Brain | left side = right body right side = left body |
| Biological Psychology | focuses on the relationship between the body and the mind |
| Sympathetic Nervous System | gets the body ready for emergency action (arousing) |
| Parasympathetic Nervous System | becomes active during states of relaxation (calming) |
| Corpus Callosum | the nerve bundle that connects the two hemispheres |
| Consciousness | an awareness of ourselves and our environment |
| Manifest Content | literal content of our dreams; Freudian term meaning the story line of dreams Example: if you dream about showing up at school naked, the literal content is your nudity, the people around you, the room in school, ect. |
| Latent Content | unconscious meaning of the literal content Example: Freud thought that material in our dreams were symbols of our repressed desires |
| Change Blindness | blind to something that changes Example: when a man asks a person for directions, the person will be so focused on giving directions that he won't notice a new man has taken the other mans place |
| Circadian Rhythm | "biological clock"; 24-hour cycle including sleep and awake time; can be altered by artificial light |
| REM Rebound | when allowed to sleep when REM deprived, we begin to have increased REM sleep (during the sleep cycle) |
| Alpha Waves | beginning of sleep stages - awake but relaxed |
| Theta Waves | sleep stage 1-2 - early, light sleep; may also get sleep "spindles" |
| Delta Waves | sleep stage 3-4 - deepest sleep |
| REM Sleep | rapid eye movement cycles, vivid dreams, body is paralyzed MOST crucial sleep stage |
| Sleep Deprivation | when you don't get enough sleep can cause... 1. fatigue and subsequent death 2. impaired consciousness 3. emotional irritability 4. depressed immune system 5. greater vulnerability |
| Night Terrors | sudden arousal from sleep with an intense fear with physiological reactions COMMON in children |
| Hypnosis | social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another person (the subject) where the hypnotist opens up the subject to 'the power of suggestion' - once the subject is in an altered state, he or she may act, perceive, think or feel according the the hypnotists suggestions Example: people go threw this sometimes to quick smoking |
| Nature vs. Nurture | some human traits are fixed, such as having two eyes - however, most psychological traits are liable to change with environmental experience (how they are raised) Example: growing up in a house that speaks french, you'll speak french genes influence responses but environment can change gene activity |
| Twin Studies | studies the effects of heredity and environment - identical twins separated at birth were raised in different environments but were found to have numerous similarities such as... personality, intelligence, abilities, interests, brain waves, ect. |
| Natural Selection | an evolutionary process where adaptive traits are passed on and nonadaptive traits are not passed on "survival of the fittest" Example: butterflies with better camo colors reproduce more because more of them survive then the others |
| Norms | developed by each culture as rules for acceptance of behavior (expected) Example: playing marco polo in kroger is NOT considered this |
| Individualist Culture | focuses on ME; children raised as independent people Example: American Society - do better then everyone else |
| Collectivist Culture | focuses on WE; children raised as a team Example: Asian Society |
| Question 45 | answer = B |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.