AP Psychology Exam Review flashcards

Terms	Definitions
psychology	the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
behavior	an observable action
monism	seeing mind and body as different aspects of the same thing
dualism	seeing mind and body as two different things that interact
eclectic	use of techniques and ideas from a variety of approaches
empiricism	the view that knowledge should be acquired through observation and often an experiment
science	way of getting knowledge about the world based on observation
theory	a collection of interrelated ideas and facts put forward to describe, explain, and predict behavior and mental processes
scientific method	in psychology, the techniques used to discover knowledge about human behavior and mental processes
hypothesis	a tentative statement or idea expressing a causal relationship between two events or variables that is to be evaluated in a research study
experiment	a procedure in which a researcher systematically manipulates and observes elements of a situation in order to test a hypothesis and make a cause-and-effect statement
independent variable	the variable in a controlled experiment that the experimenter directly and purposefully manipulates to see how the other variables under study will be affected
dependent variable	the variable in a controlled experiment that is expected to change due to the manipulation of the independent variable
experimental group	in an experiment, the group of participants to whom a treatment is given
control group	subjects and not exposed to a changing variable in an experiment
variable	a condition or characteristic of a situation or a person that is subject to change (it varies) within or across situations or individuals
sample	a group of participants who are assumed to be representative of the population about which an inference is being made
random sample	selection of a part of the population without reason; participation is by chance
operational definition	a definition of a variable in terms of the set of methods or procedures used to measure or study that variable
participant	an individual who takes part in an experiment and whose behavior is observed as part of the data collection process
double-blind procedure	technique in which neither the persons involved for those conducting the experiment know in what group to participate is involved
debriefing	a procedure to inform participants about the true nature of an experiment after its completion
ethics	rules of proper and acceptable conduct that investigators use to guide psychological research
ethnocentrism	tendency to believe that one's own group is the standard, the reference point by which other people and groups should be judged
case study	a highly detailed description of a single individual or a vent
ex post facto study	describes differences between groups of participants that differ naturally on a variable such as race or gender
naturalistic observation	observing and recording behavior naturally without trying to manipulate and control the situation
correlational research	establish the relationship between two variables
survey research	the measurement of public opinion through the use of sampling and questioning
experimenter bias	expectation of the person conducting an experiment which may be affect the outcome
observer bias	expectations of an observer which may distort an authentic observation
response bias	preconceived notions of a person answering [a survey] which may alter the experiments purpose
informed consent	the agreement of participants to take part in an experiment and their acknowledgement that they understand the nature of their participation in the research, and have been fully informed about the general nature of the research, its goals, and methods
normal distribution	approximate distribution of scores expected when a sample is taken from a large population, drawn as a frequency polygon that often takes the form of a bell-shaped curve, called the normal curve
placebo	typically a pill that is used as a control in the experiment; a sugar pill
pseudoscience	an unscientific system which pretends to discover psychological information that his means are unscientific or deliberately fraudulent
representative sample	selection of a part of the population which mirrors the current demographics
significant difference	in an experiment, a difference that is unlikely to have occurred because of chance alone and is inferred to be most likely due to the systematic manipulations of variables by the researcher
self-fulfilling prophecy	when a researcher's expectations unknowingly create a situation that affects the results
statistics	branch of mathematics that deals with collecting, classifying, and analyzing data
descriptive statistics	general set of procedures used to summarize, condense, and describe sets of data
frequency distribution	a chart or array of scores, usually arranged from highest to lowest, showing the number of instances for each score
frequency polygon	graph of a frequency distribution that shows the number of instances of obtained scores, usually with the data points connect by straight lines
measure of central tendency	a descriptive statistic that tells which result or score best represents an entire set of scores
mean	the arithmetic average of a set of scores
median	the measure of central tendency that is the data point with 50% of the scores above it and 50% below it
mode	the most frequently occurring score in a set of data
range	the spread between the highest and the lowest scores in a distribution
correlation coefficient	a number that expresses the degree and direction of the relationship between 2 variables, ranging from -1 to +1
inferential statistics	procedures used to draw conclusions about larger populations from small samples of data
normal distribution	approximate distribution of scores expected when a sample is taken from a large population, drawn as a frequency polygon that often takes the form of a bell-shaped curve, called the normal curve
standard deviation	a descriptive statistic that measures the variability of data from the mean of the sample
variability	the extent to which scores differ from one another
structuralism	school of psychological thought that considered the structure and elements of conscious experience to be the proper subject matter of psychology
introspection	a person's description and analysis of what he or she is thinking and feeling or what he or she has just thought about
functionalism	school of psychological thought that was concerned with how and why the conscious mind works
psychoanalytic	perspective developed by freud, which assumes that psychological problems are the result of anxiety resulting from unresolved conflicts and forces of which a person might be unaware
Gestalt psychology	school of psychological thought that argued that behavior cannot be studied in parts but must be viewed a s whole
behaviorism	perspective that defines psychology as the study of behavior that is directly observable or through assessment instruments
cognitive psychology	perspective that focuses on the mental processes involved in perception, learning, memory, and thinking
humanistic psychology	perspective that emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the idea that humans have free will
self-actualization	the human need to fulfill one's potential
sociocultural psychology	perspective concerned with how cultural differences affect behavior
evolutionary psychology	perspective that seeks to explain and predict behaviors by analyzing how the human brain developed over time, how it functions, and how input from the environment affects human behaviors
positive psychology	in emerging Theo psychology that focuses on positive experiences; includes subjective well-being, self-determination, the relationship between positive emotions and physical health, and the factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to boorish
psychologist	professional who studies behavior and uses behavioral principles in scientific research or in applied settings
clinical psychologist	psychologist who treats people serious psychological problems or conducts research into the causes of behavior
counseling psychologist	psychologist who treats people with adjustment problems
psychiatrist	a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders
psychoanalyst	one who uses psychoanalysis to treat psychological problems
developmental psychologist	studies psychological development across the lifespan
educational psychologist	focuses on how effective teaching and learning take place
engineering psychologist	does research on how people function best with machines
forensic psychologist	applies psychological concepts to legal issues
health psychologist	focuses on psychological factors in illness
industrial/organizational psychologist	applies psychological principles to the workplace to improve productivity and the quality of work life
neuropsychologist	concerned with the relationship between brain/nervous system and behavior
psychometrician	focuses on methods of acquiring and analyzing data
school psychologist	assesses and counsels students, consults with educators and parents, and performs behavioral intervention when necessary
social psychologist	focuses on how the individual's behavior and mental processes are affected by interactions with other people
sports psychologist	helps athletes improve their focus, increase motivation, and deal with anxiety and fear of failure
confounding variable	anything that causes a difference between the IV and the DV other than the independent variable
demand characteristics	clues participants discover about the purpose of a study that suggest how they should respond
placebo effect	response to the belief that the IV will have an effect, rather than the IV's actual effect, which can be a confounding variable
percentile score	the percentage of scores at or below a certain score
refractory period	after firing when a neuron will not fire again no matter how strong the incoming message may be
acetylcholine (ACh)	neurotransmitter that causes contraction of skeletal muscles; lack of Ach linked with Alzheimer's disease;
action potential	an electrical current sent down the axon of a neuron and is initiated by the rapid reversal of the polarization of the cell membrane
ACTH (arenocorticotropic hormone)	released by adrenal glands; triggered by norepinephrine to prolong the response to stress (used in the sympathetic nervous system)
adrenal glands	endocrine glands located above the kidney and secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine, which prepare the body for "fight or flight"
afferent neuron	nerve cell that sends messages to brain or spinal cord from other parts of the body; also called sensory neurons
all-or-none principle	the law that the neuron either fires at 100% or not at all
amygdala	part of the limbic system; influences emotions such as aggression, fear, and self-protective behaviors
aphasia	inability to understand or use language
association areas	areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions, rather, they are involved in higher mental processes such as thinking, planning, and communicating
autonomic nervous system	a division of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary functions; made up of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
axon terminal	terminal button, synaptic knob; the structure at the end of an excellent terminal branch; houses the synaptic vesicles and neurotransmitters
axon	a single long, fiber that carries outgoing messages to other neurons, muscles, or glands
behavioral genetics	study of hereditary influences and how it influences behavior and thinking
brain	portion of the CNS above the spinal cord; consists of hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain
brainstem	top of the spinal column
Broca's area	located in left frontal lobe; controls production of speech
central nervous system	the brain and spinal cord
cerebellum	part of the brain that coordinates balance, movement, reflexes
(cerebral) cortex	wrinkled outer portion of brain; center for higher order brain functions such as thinking, planning, judgment; processes sensory information and directs movement
chromosome	threadlike structure within the nucleus of cells that contain genes
computerized axial tomography (CT scan)	creates a computerized image using x-rays passed through the brain
convolutions	the folds in the cerebral cortex that increase the surface area of the brain
corpus callosum	large band of white neural fibers that connects to to brain hemispheres and carries messages between them; myelinated; involved in intelligence, consciousness, and self-awareness; does it reach full maturity until 20s
dendrites	branching extensions of neuron that receives messages from neighboring neurons
DNA	deoxyribonucleic acid; genetic formation in a double-helix; can replicate or reproduce itself; made of genes
dominant genes	member of a gene terror that controls the appearance of a certain trait
dopamine	neurotransmitter that influences voluntary movement, attention, alertness; lack of dopamine linked with Parkinson's disease; too much is linked with schizophrenia
EEG (electroencephalogram)	shows brain's electrical activity by positioning electrodes over the scalp
efferent neuron	nerve cell that send messages from brain and spinal cord to other parts of body; also called motor neurons
endocrine glands	the bodies "slow" chemical communication by secreting hormones directly into the bloodstream
endocrine system	glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream, which regulate body and behavioral processes
endorphins	chemical similar to opiates that relieves pain; may induce feelings of pleasure
epinephrine	adrenaline; activates a sympathetic nervous system by making the heart beat faster, stopping digestion, enlarging pupils, sending sugar into the bloodstream, preparing a blood clot faster
excitatory neurotransmitter	chemical secreted at terminal button that causes the neuron on the other side of the synapse to fire
family studies	studies of hereditability on the assumption that if a gene influences a certain trait, close relatives should be more similar on that trait in distant relative
forebrain	top of the brain which includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebral cortex; responsible for emotional regulation, complex thought, memory aspect of personality
fraternal twins	twins from two separate fertilized eggs (zygotes); share half of the same genes
frontal lobes	control emotional behaviors, make decisions, carry out plans; speech (Broca's area); controls movement of muscles
functional MRI (fMRI)	shows brain activity at higher reolution than PET scan when changes in oxygen concentration in neurons alters its magnetic qualities
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)	neurotransmitter that inhibits firing of neurons; linked with Huntington's disease
gene	a DNA segment on a chromosome that controls transmission of traits
genetics	study of how traits are transmitted from one generation to the next
genotype	an individual's genetic make-up
glial cells	supportive cells of nervous system that guide growth of new neurons; forms myelin sheath; holds neuron in place; provides nourishment and removes waste
gonads	reproductive glands-male, testes; female, ovaries
graded potential	shift in electrical charge in a tiny area of the neuron (temporary); transmits a long cell membranes leaving neuron and polarized state; needs higher than normal threshold of excitation to fire
heritability	the proportion of variation among individuals that is due to genetic causes
hindbrain	division which includes the cerebellum, Pons, and medulla; responsible for involuntary processes: blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, breathing, sleep cycles
hippocampus	part of the limbic system and is involved in learning and forming new long-term memories
hormone	chemical that carries messages that travel through the bloodstream to help regulate bodily functions
human genomes	30,000 genes needed to build a human
hypothalamus	area of the brain that is part of the limbic system and regulates behaviors such as, eating, drinking, sexual behaviors, motivation; also body temperature
identical twins	twins from a single fertilized egg (zygote) with the same genetic makeup; also called monozygotic (MZ) twins
inhibitory neurotransmitter	chemical secreted at terminal button that prevents (or reduces ability of) the neuron on the other side of the synapse from firing
insulin	hormone backpacks in the regulation of blood sugar by acting in the utilization of carbohydrates; released by pancreas; too much-hypoglycemia, too little-diabetes
interneurons	nerve cell that transmits messages between sensory and motor neurons
ions	electrically charged particles found both inside and outside a neuron; negative ions are found inside the cell membrane in a polarized neuron
limbic system	a donut ring-shaped of loosely connected structures located in the forebrain between the central core and cerebral hemispheres; consists of: septum, cingulate gyrus, endowments, hypothalamus, and to campus, and amygdala; associated with emotions and memories
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)	creates a computerized image using a magnetic field and pulses of radio waves
medulla (also medulla oblongata)	part of the brain which controls living functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature
midbrain	the middle division of brain responsible for hearing and sight; location where pain is registered; includes temporal lobe, occipital lobe, and most of the parietal lobe
motor neurons	efferent neurons; neurons that carry messages from spinal cord/brain to muscles and glands
motor projection areas	primary motor cortex; areas of the three boat cortex for response messages from the brain to the muscles and glands
myelin sheath	a white, fatty covering of the axon which speeds transmission of message
nature-nurture controversy	deals with the extent to which heredity and the environment each influence behavior
nerve	bundles of axons
neural impulse	action potential; the firing of a nerve cell; the entire process of the electrical charge (message/impulse) traveling through inner on; can be as fast as 400 fps (with myelin) or 3 fps (no myelin)
neural plasticity	Ability of the brain to change their experience, both structurally and chemically
neurogenesis	production of new brain cells; November 1988: cancer patients proved that new neurons grew until the end of life
neuron	individual cells that are the smallest unit of the nervous system; it has three functions: receive information, process it, send to rest of body
neuroscience	study of the brain and nervous system; overlaps with psychobiology
neurotransmitters	chemical messengers released by terminal buttons into the synapse
norepinephrine	noradrenaline; chemical which is excitatory, similar to adrenaline, and affects arousal and memory; raises blood pressure by causing blood vessels to become constricted, but also carried by bloodstream to the anterior pituitary which relaxes ACTH thus prolonging stress response
occipital lobes	primary area for processing visual information
pancreas	organ lying between the stomach and small intestine; regulates blood sugar by secreting to regulating hormones insulin and glucagon
parasympathetic nervous system	a branch of the autonomic nervous system that maintains normal body functions; it calms the body after sympathetic stimulation
parathormone	hormone that controls imbalances levels of calcium and phosphate in the blood and tissue fluid; influences levels of excitability; secreted by parathyroids
parathyroid	for glands embedded in the thyroid; secretes parathormone; controls announces level of calcium and phosphate (which influence levels of excitability)
parietal lobes	processes sensory information including touch, temperature, and pain from other body parts
peripheral nervous system	division that connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body; includes all sensory and motor neurons; divided into somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system
phenotype	the expression of genes
pineal gland	endocrine gland that produces melatonin that helps regulate sleep/wake cycle
pituitary gland	endocrine gland that produces a large amount of hormones; it regulates growth and helps control other endocrine glands; located on underside of brain; sometimes called the "master gland"
polarization	when the neuron is at rest; condition of neuron when the inside of the neuron is negatively charged relative to the outside of Enron; is necessary to generate the neuron signal in release of this polarization
polygenic inheritance	process by which several genes interact to produce a certain trait; responsible for most important traits
pons	part of the brain involved in sleep/wake cycles; also connects cerebellum and medulla to the cerebral cortex
positron emission tomography (PET scan)	shows brain activity when radioactively tagged glucose rushes to active neurons
psychobiology	study that focuses on biological foundations of behavior and mental processes; overlaps with neuroscience
receptor site	a location on a receptor neurons which is like a key to a lock (with a specific nerve transmitter); allows for orderly pathways
recessive gene	member of the gene terror that controls the appearance of a certain trait only if it is paired with the same gene
relative refractory period	a period after firing when a neuron is returning to its normal polarize state and will only fire again if the incoming message open parentheses impulse) is stronger than usual; returning to arresting state
resting potential	when a neuron is in polarization; more negative ions are inside the neuron cell membrane with a positive ions on the outside, causing a small electrical charge; release of this charge generates a neuron's impulse (signal/message)
reticular formation (RF) (RES)	netlike system of neurons that weaves through limbic system and plays an important role in attention, arousal, and alert functions; arouses and alerts higher parts of the brain; anesthetics work by temporary shutting off RF system
selection studies	studies that estimate the hereditability of a trait by breeding animals with another animal that has the same trait
sensory neurons	afferent neurons; neurons that carry messages from sensory organs to the brain and spinal cords
serotonin	neurotransmitter that affects sleep, arousal, mood, appetite; lack of it is linked with depression
somatic nervous system	division of peripheral nervous system; controls voluntary actions
spinal cord	portion of the CNS that carries messages to the PNS; connects brain to the rest of the body
strain studies	studies of hereditability it be a behavioral traits using animals that have been inbred to produce strains that are genetically similar to one another
sympathetic nervous system	a branch of the autonomic nervous system and prepares the body for quick action in emergencies; "fight or flight"
synapse	the space between two neurons where neurotransmitters are secreted by terminal buttons and received by dendrites
synaptic cleft	synaptic gap or synaptic space; tiny gap between the terminal of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron (almost never touch); location of the transfer of an impulse from one neuron to the next
synaptic vesicles	tiny oval-shaped sacs in a terminal of one neuron; assist in transferring mineral impulse from one neuron to another neuron by releasing specific neurotransmitters
temporal lobes	main area for hearing, understanding language (Wernicke's area), understanding music; smell
terminal buttons (axon terminals)	ends of axons that secrete neurotransmitters
thalamus	motor sensory relay center for four of the five senses; and with a brain stem and composed of two egg-shaped structures; integrates in shades incoming sensory signals; Mnemonic-"don't smell the llamas because the llamas smell bad"
thyroid gland	located in neck; regulates metabolism by secreting thyroxine
thyroxine	released by thyroid; hormone that regulates the body's metabolism; OVERACTIVE-over-excitability, insomnia, reduced attention span, fatigue, snap decisions, reduced concentration (hyperthyroidism); UNDERACTIVE-desire to sleep, constantly tired, weight gain (hypothyroidism)
twin studies	studies as identical and rhetorical twins to determine relative influence of heredity and environment on human behavior
Wernicke's area	located in left temporal lobe; plays role in understanding language and making meaningful sentences
nature	a person's inherited traits, determined by genetics
nurture	a person's experiences in the environment
mutation	unexpected changes in the gene replication process that are not always evident in phenotype and create unusual and sometimes harmful characteristics of body or behavior
genetic mapping	dividing the chromosomes into smaller fragments that can be characterized and ordered so that the fragments reflect their respective locations on specific chromosomes
natural selection	the principle that those characteristics and behaviors that help organisms adapt, be fit, and survive will be passed on to successive generations, because flexible, fit individuals have a greater chance of reproduction
adaptation	a trait or inherited characteristic that has increased in a population because it solved a problem of survival or reproduction
nervous system	the structures and organs that facilitate electrical and chemical communication in the body and allow all behavior and mental processes to take place
agonist	chemical that mimics or facilitates the actions of a neurotransmitter
antagonist	chemical that opposes the actions of a neurotransmitter
hindbrain	the most primitive of the three functional divisions of the brain, consisting of the pons, medulla, reticular formation, and cerebellum
midbrain	the second level of the three organizational structures of the brain that receives signals from other parts of the brain or spinal cord and either relays the information to other parts of the brain or causes the body to act immediately; involved in movement
forebrain	largest, most complicated, and most advanced of the three divisions of the brain; comprises the thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, basal ganglia, corpus callosum, and cortex
split brain patients	people whose corpus callosum has been surgically severed
Phineas Gage	railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury that dramatically changed his personality and behavior; case played a role in the development of the understanding of the localization of brain function
Aaron Beck	pioneer in Cognitive Therapy. Suggested negative beliefs cause depression.
Abraham Maslow	humanistic psychology; hierarchy of needs-needs at a lower level dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied; self-actualization, transcendence
Albert Bandura	pioneer in observational learning (AKA social learning), stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated 'appropriate' play with dolls, children mimicked play
Albert Ellis	pioneer in Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), focuses on altering client's patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotions
Alfred Adler	neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; Contributions: inferiority complex, organ inferiority; Studies: birth order influences personality
Alfred Binet	pioneer in intelligence (IQ) tests, designed a test to identify slow learners in need of help-not applicable in the U.S. because it was too culture-bound (French)
Anna Freud	child psychoanalysis; emphasized importance of the ego and its constant struggle
Anna O.	Austrian-Jewish woman (real name: Bertha Pappenheim) diagnosed with hysteria, treated by Josef Breuer for severe cough, paralysis of the extremities on the right side of her body, and disturbances of vision, hearing, and speech, as well as hallucinations and loss of consciousness. Her treatment is regarded as marking the beginning of psychoanalysis.
Benjamin Whorf	language; his hypothesis is that language determines the way we think
B.F. Skinner	behaviorism; pioneer in operant conditioning; behavior is based on an organism's reinforcement history; worked with pigeons
Carl Jung	neo-Freudian, analytic psychology; archetypes; collective unconscious; libido is all types of energy, not just sexual; dream studies/interpretation
Carl Rogers	humanistic psychology; Contributions: founded client-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard,
Carol Gilligan	moral development studies to follow up Kohlberg. She studied girls and women and found that they did not score as high on his six stage scale because they focused more on relationships rather than laws and principles. Their reasoning was merely different, not better or worse
Charles Darwin	biologist; developed theory of evolution; transmutation of species, natural selection, evolution by common descent; "The Origin of Species" catalogs his voyage on The Beagle
Charles Spearman	intelligence; found that specific mental talents were highly correlated, concluded that all cognitive abilities showed a common core which he labeled 'g' (general ability)
Clark Hull	motivation theory, drive reduction; maintained that the goal of all motivated behavior is the reduction or alleviation of a drive state, mechanism through which reinforcement operates
Daniel Goleman	emotional intelligence
Darley & Latane	social psychology; bystander apathy, diffusion of responsibility
David McClelland	achievement motivation; developed scoring system for TAT's use in assessing achievement motivation
David Rosenhan	did study in which healthy patients were admitted to psychiatric hospitals and diagnoses with schizophrenia; showed that once you are diagnosed with a disorder, the label, even when behavior indicates otherwise, is hard to overcome in a mental health setting
David Weschler	established an intelligence test especially for adults (WAIS); also WISC and WPPSI
Hermann Ebbinghaus	memory; studied memorization of meaningless words
Edward Thorndike	behaviorism; Law of Effect-relationship between behavior and consequence
Ekman & Friesen	Universal Emotions (based upon facial expressions); Study Basics: Constants across culture in the face and emotion
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross	developmental psychology; wrote "On Death and Dying": 5 stages the terminally ill go through when facing death (1. denial, 2. anger, 3. bargaining, 4. depression, 5. acceptance)
Elizabeth Loftus	cognition and memory; studied repressed memories and false memories; showed how easily memories could be changed and falsely created by techniques such as leading questions and illustrating the inaccuracy in eyewitness testimony
Erik Erikson	neo-Freudian, humanistic; 8 psychosocial stages of development: theory shows how people evolve through the life span. Each stage is marked by a psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"
Ernst Weber	perception; identified just-noticeable-difference (JND) that eventually becomes Weber's law
Francis Galton	differential psychology AKA "London School" of Experimental Psychology; Contributions: behavioral genetics, maintains that personality & ability depend almost entirely on genetic inheritance; compared identical & fraternal twins, hereditary differences in intellectual ability
Gazzaniga or Sperry	neuroscience/biopsychology; studied split brain patients
Gibson & Walk	developmental psychology; "visual cliff" studies with infants
Gordon Allport	trait theory of personality; 3 levels of traits: cardinal, central, and secondary
Harry Harlow	development, contact comfort, attachment; experimented with baby rhesus monkeys and presented them with cloth or wire "mothers;" showed that the monkeys became attached to the cloth mothers because of contact comfort
Harry Stack Sullivan	interpersonal psychoanalysis; groundwork for enmeshed relationships, developed the Self-System, a configuration of personality traits
Henry Murray	personality assessment; created the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with Christina Morgan, stated that the need to achieve varied in strength in different people and influenced their tendency to approach and evaluate their own performances
Hermann Rorschach	developed one of the first projective tests, the Inkblot test which consists of 10 standardized inkblots where the subject tells a story, the observer then derives aspects of the personality from the subject's commentary
Hans Eysenck	personality theorist; asserted that personality is largely determined by genes, used introversion/extroversion
Hobson & McCarley	sleep/dreams/consciousness; pioneers of Activation-Synthesis Theory of dreams; sleep studies that indicate the brain creates dream states, not information processing or Freudian interpretations
Holmes & Rahe	stress and coping; used "social readjustment scale" to measure stress
Howard Gardner	devised theory of multiple intelligences: logical-mathematic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, linguistic, musical, interpersonal, naturalistic
Ivan Pavlov	discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell
Jean Piaget	cognitive psychology; created a 4-stage theory of cognitive development, said that two basic processes work in tandem to achieve cognitive growth (assimilation and accommodation)
John B Watson	behaviorism; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat
Judith Langlois	developmental psychology;: social development & processing, effects of appearance on behavior, origin of social stereotypes, sex/love/intimacy, facial expression
Karen Horney	neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; criticized Freud, stated that personality is molded by current fears and impulses, rather than being determined solely by childhood experiences and instincts, neurotic trends; concept of "basic anxiety"
Karl Wernicke	"Wernicke's area"; discovered area of left temporal lobe that involved language understanding: person damaged in this area uses correct words but they do not make sense
Kenneth Clark	social psychology; research evidence of internalized racism caused by stigmatization; doll experiments-black children chose white dolls
Kurt Lewin	social psychology; German refugee who escaped Nazis, proved the democratic style of leadership is the most productive; studied effects of 3 leadership styles on children completing activities
Langer & Rodin	Social Psychology; Helping behavior, personal responsibility; studied the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and helping behavior
Lawrence Kohlberg	moral development; presented boys moral dilemmas and studied their responses and reasoning processes in making moral decisions. Most famous moral dilemma is "Heinz" who has an ill wife and cannot afford the medication. Should he steal the medication and why?
Leon Festinger	social cognition, cognitive dissonance; Study Basics: Studied and demonstrated cognitive dissonance
Lev Vygotsky	child development; investigated how culture & interpersonal communication guide development; zone of proximal development; play research
Lewis Terman	revised Binet's IQ test and established norms for American children; tested group of young geniuses and followed in a longitudinal study that lasted beyond his own lifetime to show that high IQ does not necessarily lead to wonderful things in life
Little Albert	subject in John Watson's experiment, proved classical conditioning principles, especially the generalization of fear
Konrad Lorenz	ethology (animal behavior); studied imprinting and critical periods in geese
Martin Seligman	learning; Positive Psychology; learned helplessness theory of depression; Studies: Dogs demonstrating learned helplessness
Mary Ainsworth	developmental psychology; compared effects of maternal separation, devised patterns of attachment; "The Strange Situation": observation of parent/child attachment
Mary Cover-Jones	behaviorism/learning; pioneer in systematic desensitization, maintained that fear could be unlearned
Masters & Johnson	motivation; human sexual response—studied how both men and women respond to and in relation to sexual behavior
Noam Chomsky	language development; disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language
Paul Ekman	emotion; found that facial expressions are universal
Phillip Zimbardo	social psychology; Stanford Prison Study; college students were randomly assigned to roles of prisoners or guards in a study that looked at who social situations influence behavior; showed that peoples' behavior depends to a large extent on the roles they are asked to play
Phineas Gage	Vermont railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury that changed his personality and behavior; his accident gave information on the brain and which parts are involved with emotional reasoning
Raymond Cattell	intelligence: fluid & crystal intelligence; personality testing: 16 Personality Factors (16PF personality test)
Robert Rosenthal	social psychology; focus on nonverbal communication, self-fulfilling prophecies; Studies: Pygmalion Effect-effect of teacher's expectations on students
Robert Sternberg	intelligence; devised the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (academic problem-solving, practical, and creative)
Robert Yerkes	intelligence, comparative; Yerkes-Dodson law: level of arousal as related to performance
Robert Zajonc	motivation; believes that we invent explanations to label feelings
Rosenhan	Psychopathology and Social Psychology; effects of labeling; Rosenhan and colleagues checked selves into mental hospitals with symptoms of hearing voices say "empty, dull and thud." Diagnosed with schizophrenia. After entered, acted normally. Never "cleared" of diagnosis. Roles and labels in treating people differently.
Rosenthal & Jacobson	Intelligence and learning, self-fulfilling prophecy; Study Basics: Researchers misled teachers into believing that certain students had higher IQs. Teachers changed own behaviors and effectively raised the IQ of the randomly chosen students
Solomon Asch	conformity; showed that social pressure can make a person say something that is obviously incorrect ; in a famous study in which participants were shown cards with lines of different lengths and were asked to say which line matched the line on the first card in length
Stanley Milgram	obedience to authority; had participants administer what they believed were dangerous electrical shocks to other participants; wanted to see if Germans were an aberration or if all people were capable of committing evil actions
Stanley Schachter	emotion; stated that in order to experience emotions, a person must be physically aroused and know the emotion before you experience it
Tolman	cognition; studied rats and discovered the "cognitive map" in rats and humans
Walter B. Cannon	motivation; believed that gastric activity as in empty stomach, was the sole basis for hunger; did research that inserted balloons in stomachs
William James	founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment
William Sheldon	personality; theory that linked personality to physique on the grounds that both are governed by genetic endowment: endomorphic (large), mesomorphic (average), and ectomorphic (skinny)
Wilhelm Wundt	structuralism; in 1879 founded first psychology laboratory in world at University of Leipzig; introspection, basic units of experience
Wolpe	learning; systematic desensitization
Zajonc & Markus	intelligence and development; discovered that first born and only children tend to have higher IQs than latter born children
John Locke	17th century English philosopher. Wrote that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, people are born without innate ideas. We are completely shaped by our environment .
René Descartes	17t century French philosopher. Famously known for writing "cogito ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am"). Wrote about concept of dualism.
Socrates	Ancient Greek philosopher. Promoted introspection by saying, "Know thyself."
Aristotle	Ancient Greek philosopher. Wrote "Peri Psyches" ("About the Mind").
William Dement	Sleep researcher who discovered and coined the phrase "rapid eye movement" (REM) sleep.
John Garcia	Researched taste aversion. Showed that when rats ate a novel substance before being nauseated by a drug or radiation, they developed a conditioned taste aversion for the substance.
memory	the ability to recall past events, images, ideas, or previously learned information or skills; the storage system that allows a person to retain and retrieve previously learned information
encoding	organizing sensory information so it can be processed by the nervous system
levels-of-processing approach	brain encodes information in different ways or on different levels; deeper processing leads to deeper memory
encoding specificity principle	retrieval cues that match original information work better
transfer appropriate processing	occurs when initial processing of information is similar to the process of retrieval; the better the match, the better the recall
storage	the process of maintaining or keeping information readily available; the locations where information is held
sensory memory	performs initial encoding; provides brief storage; also called sensory register
short-term storage	holds information for processing; fragile; also called short term memory or working memory
Lloyd and Margaret Peterson	did work on short-term memory
memory span	the number of items a person can reproduce from short-term memory, usually consisting of one or two chunks
chunks	manageable and meaningful units of information organized in such a way that it can be easily encoded, stored, and retrieved
rehearsal	process of repeatedly verbalizing, thinking about, or otherwise acting on or transforming information in order to keep that information active in memory
maintenance rehearsal	repetitive review of information with little or no interpretation
elaborative rehearsal	rehearsal involving repletion and analysis, in which a stimulus may be associated with (linked to) other information and further processed
working memory	Temporarily holds current or recent information for immediate or short-term use; Information is maintained for 20-30 seconds while active processing (e.g., rehearsal) takes place
long-term memory	storage mechanism that keeps a relatively permanent record of memory
procedural memory	memory for skills, including perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills required to complete tasks
declarative memory	memory for specific information
episodic memory	memory of specific personal events and situations (episodes) tagged with information about time
semantic memory	memory of ideas, rules, words, and general concepts about the world
explicit memory	conscious memory that a person is aware of
implicit memory	memory a person is not aware of possessing
consolidation	the process of changing a short-term memory to a long-term one
retrieval	process by which stored information is recovered from memory
ex post facto study	a type of design that contrasts groups of people who differ on some variable of interest to the researcher
state-dependent learning	the tendency to recall information learned while in a particular physiological state most accurately when one is in that physiological state again
primacy effect	the more accurate recall of items presented at the beginning of a series
recency effect	the more accurate recall of items presented at the end of a series
imagery	the creation or re-creation of a mental picture of a sensory or perceptual experience
schema	a conceptual framework that organizes information and allows a person to make sense of the world
decay	loss of information from memory as a result of disuse and the passage of time
Von Restorff effect	occurs when recall is better for a distinctive item, even if it occurs in the middle of a list
interference	the suppression of one bit of information by another
proactive interference	previously learned information interferes with the ability to learn new information
retroactive interference	newly learned information interferes with the ability to recall previously learned information
amnesia	inability to remember information (typically, all events within a specific period), usually due to physiological trauma
retrograde amnesia	loss of memory of events and experiences that preceded an amnesia-causing event
anterograde amnesia	loss of memory for events and experiences occurring from the time of an amnesia-causing event forward
motivated forgetting	occurs when frightening, traumatic events are forgotten because people want to forget them
long-term potentiation	the biochemical processes that make it easier for the neuron to respond again when it has been stimulated
flashbulb memories	detailed memory for events surrounding a dramatic event that is vivid and remembered with confidence
Hermann Ebbinghaus	the first person to study memory scientifically and systematically; used nonsense syllables and recorded how many times he had to study a list to remember it well
Cognitive Psychology	The study if the overlapping fields of perception, learning, memory, and thought, with a special emphasis on how people attend to, acquire, transform, store, and retrieve knowledge.
Concept	Mental category used to classify an event or object according to some distinguishing property or feature.
Prototype	An abstraction, an idealized pattern of an object or idea that is stored in memory and used to decide whether similar objects or ideas are members of the same class of items.
Problem Solving	The behavior of individuals when confronted with a situation or task that requires insight or determination of some unknown elements.
Algorithm	Procedure for solving a problem by implementing a set of rules over and over again until the solution is found.
Heuristics	Sets of strategies, rather than strict rules, that act as guidelines for discovery-oriented problem solving.
Subgoal analysis	Heuristic procedure in which a problem is broken down into smaller steps, each of which has a subgoal.
Means-ends analysis	Heuristic procedure in which the problem solver compares the current situation with the desired goal to determine the most efficient way to get from one to the other.
Backward search	Heuristic procedure in which a problem solver works backward from the goal or end of a problem to the current position, in order to analyze the problem and reduce the steps needed to get from the current position to the goal.
Functional fixedness	Inability to see that an object can have a function other than its stated or usual one.
Creativity	A feature of thought and problem solving that includes the tendency to generate or recognize ideas considered to be high-quality, original, novel, and appropriate.
Convergent thinking	In problem solving, the process of narrowing down choices and alternatives to arrive at a suitable answer.
Divergent thinking	In problem solving, the process of widening the range of possibilities and expanding the options for solutions.
Brainstorming	Problem-solving technique that involves considering all possible solutions without making prior evaluative judgments.
Reasoning	The purposeful process by which a person generates logical and coherent ideas, evaluates situations, and reaches conclusions.
Logic	The system of principles of reasoning used to reach valid conclusions or make inferences.
Decision making	Assessing and choosing among alternatives.
Language	A system of symbols, usually words, that convey meaning and a set of rules for combining symbols to generate an infinite number of messages.
Linguistics	The study of language, including speech sounds, meaning, and grammar.
Psycholinguistics	The study of how language is acquired, perceived, understood, and produced.
Phonology	The study of the patterns and distributions of speech sounds in a language and the tacit rules for their pronunciation.
Phoneme	A basic or minimum unit of sound in a language.
Morpheme	A basic unit of meaning in a language.
Semantics	The analysis of the meaning of language, especially of individual words.
Syntax	The way words and groups of words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Grammar	The linguistic description of how a language functions, especially the rules and patterns used for generating appropriate and comprehensible sentences.
Naturalistic observation	A descriptive research method in which researchers study behavior in its natural context.
Developmental Psychology	The study of the lifelong, often age-related, processes of change in the physical, cognitive, moral, emotional, and social domains of functioning; such changes are rooted in biological mechanisms that are genetically controlled, as well as in social interactions
Zygote	A fertilized egg
Embryo	The prenatal organism from the 5th through the 49th day after conception
Fetus	The prenatal organism from the 8th week after conception until birth
Placenta	A mass of tissue that is attached to the wall f the uterus and connected to the developing fetus by the umbilical cord; it supplies nutrients and eliminates waste products
Teratogen	Substance that can produce developmental malformations (birth defects) during the prenatal period
Babinski reflex	Reflex in which a newborn fans out the toes when the sole of the foot is touched
Moro reflex	Reflex in which a newborn strectches out the arms and legs and cries in response to a loud noise or an abrupt change in the environment
Rooting reflex	Reflex that causes a newborn to turn the head toward a light touch on lips or cheek
Sucking reflex	Reflex that causes a newborn to make sucking motions when a finger or nipple if placed in the mouth
Grasping reflex	Reflex that causes a newborn to grasp vigorously any object touching the palm or fingers or placed in the hand
Critical Period	The time in to development of an organism when it is especially sensitive to certain environmental influences; outside of that period the same influences will have far less effect
Schema	In Piaget's view, a specific mental structure; an organized way of interacting with the environment and experiencing it- a generalization a child makes based on comparable occurences of various actins, usally physical, motor actions
Assimilation	According to Piaget, the process by which new ideas and experiences are absorbed and incorporated into existing mental structures and behaviors
Accommodation	According to Piaget, the process by which existing mental structures and behaviors are modified to adapt to new experiences
Sensorimotor stage	The first of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development (covering roughly the first 2 years of life), during which the child develops some motoer coordination skills and a memory for past events
Object permanence	The realization of infants that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight
Preoperational stage	Piaget's second stage of cognitive development (lasting from about age 2 to age 6 or 7), during which the child begins to represent the world symbolically
Egocentrism	Inability to perceive a situation or event except in relation to oneself; also know as self-centeredness
Decentration	Process of changing from a totally self-oriented point of view to one tha recognizes other people's feelings, ideas, and viewpoints
Concrete operational stage	Piaget's thrid stage of cognitive development (lasting from approximately age 6 or 7 to age 11 or 12), during which the child develops the ability to understand constant factors in the environment, rules, and higher-order symbolic systems
Conservation	Ability to recognize that objects can e transformed in some way, visually or phycially, yet still be the same in number, weight, substance, or volume
Formal operational stage	Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development (beginning at about age 12), during which the individual can think hypothetically, can consider future possibilites, and can use deductive logic
Cross-sectional study	A type of research design that compares individuals of different ages to determine how they differ on an important dimension
Theory of mind	An understanding of mental states such as feelings, desires, beliefs, and intentions and of the causal role they play in human behavior
Morality	A system of learned attitudes about social practices, instituations, and individual behavior used to evaluate situations and behavior as right or wrong, good or bad
Sex	The biologically based categories of male and female
Gender	A socially and culturally constructed set of distinctions between masculine and feminine sets of behaviors that is promoted and expected by society
Attachment	The strong emotional tie that a person feels toward special other persons in his or her life
Bonding	Special process of emotional attachment that may occur between parents and babies in the minutes and hours immediately after birth
Temperament	Early-emerging and long-lasting individual differences in disposition and in the intensity and especially the quality of emotional reactions
Gender stereotype	A fixed, overly simple, sometimes incorrect idea about traits, attitudes, and behaviors of males or females
Consciousness	The general state of being aware of and responsive to events in the environment, as well as one's own mental processes
Circadian Rhythms	Internally generated patterns of body functions, including hormonal signals, sleep, blood pressure, and temperature regulation, which have approximately a 24-hour cycle and occur even in the absence of normal cues about whether it is day or night
Electroencephalogram (EEG)	Graphical record of brain-wave activity obtained through electrodes placed on the scalp and forehead
Rapid Eye Movement Sleep	Stage of sleep characterized by high-frequency, low-amplitude brain-wave activity, rapid and systematic eye movements, more vivid dreams, and postural muscle paralysis
Non-rapid Eye Movement Sleep	Four distinct stages of sleep during which no rapid eye movements occur.
Insomnia	Problems in going to sleep or maintaining sleep
Dream	A state of consciousness that occurs during sleep, usually accompanied by vivid visual, tactile, or auditory imagery.
Lucid Dream	Dream in which the dreamer is aware of dreaming while it is happening
Manifest Content	The overt story line, characters, and setting of a dream-the obvious, clearly discernible events of the dream
Latent Content	The deeper meaning of a dream, usually involving symbolism hidden meaning, and repressed or obscured ideas and wishes
Collective Unconscious	Jung's theory of a shared storehouse of primitive ideas and images that are inherited ideas and images, called archetypes, are emotionally charged and rich in meaning and symbolism
Descriptive Studies	A type of research method that allows researchers to measure variables so that they can develop a description of a situation or phenomenon
Biofeedback	A process through which people receive information about the status of a physical system and use this feedback information to learn to control the activity of that system
Mediation	The use of a variety of techniques including concentration, restriction of incoming stimuli, and deep relaxation to produce a state of consciousness characterized by a sense of detachment.
Drug	Any chemical substance that, in small amounts, alters biological or cognitive processes or both
Psychoactive Drug	A drug that alters behavior, thought, or perception by altering biochemical reactions in the nervous system, thereby affecting consciousness
Tolerance	The characteristic of requiring higher and higher doses of a drug to produce the same effect.
Dependence	The situation that occurs when the drug becomes part of the body's functioning and produces withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued
Blood-Brain Barrier	A mechanism that prevents certain molecule from entering the brain but allows others to cross
depressants (AKA sedative-hypnotics)	Any of a class of drugs that relax and calm a user and, in higher doses, induce sleep; also known as a depressant
opiates (AKA narcotics)	Drugs derived from the opium poppy, including opium, morphine, and heroin
Stimulant	A drug that increases alertness, reduces fatigue, and elevates mood
hallucinogens (AKA psychedelic drugs)	Consciousness-altering drugs that affect moods, thoughts, memory, judgment, and perception and that are consumed for the purpose of producing those results
Substance Abuser	A person who overuses and relies on drugs to deal with everyday life
Withdrawal Symptoms	The Reaction experienced when a substance abuser stops using a drug with dependence properties
Adolescence	The period of extending from the onset of puberty to early adulthood
Puberty	The period during which the reproductive system matures; it begins with an increase in the production of sex hormones, which signals the end of childhood
Secondary Sex Characteristics	The genetically determined physical features that differentiate the sexes but are not directly involved with reproduction
Imaginary Audience	A cognitive distortion experienced by adolescents, in which they see themselves as always "on stage" with an audience watching
Personal Fable	A cognitive distortion experienced by adolescents, in which they believe they are so special and unique that other people cannot understand them and risky behaviors will not harm them
Longitudinal Study	A research method that focuses on a specific group of individuals at different ages to examine changes that have occurred over time
Cross-sectional Studies	A type of research design that compares individuals of different ages to determine how they differ
Gender Identity	A person's sense of being male or female
Gender Schema Theory	The theory that children and adolescents use gender as an organizing theme to classify and interpret their perceptions about the world and themselves
Anorexia Nervosa	An eating disorder characterized by an obstinate and willful refusal to eat, a distorted body image, and an intense fear of being fat
Androgynous	Having both stereotypically male and stereotypically female characteristics
Bulimia Nervosa	An eating disorder characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating (and a fear of not being able to stop eating) followed by purging
Ageism	Prejudice against the elderly and the resulting discrimination against them
Dementia	Impairment of mental functioning and global cognitive abilities in otherwise alert individuals, causing memory loss and related symptoms and typically having a progressive nature
Alzheimer's Disease	A chronic and progressive disorder of the brain that is the most common cause of degeneration dementia
Thanatology	The study of the psychological and medical aspects of death and dying
Motivation	any internal condition, although usually an internal one, that initates, activates, or maintains an organism's goal directed behavior
Drive theory (aka, drive-reduction theory)	an explanation of behavior that assumes that an organism is motivated to act because of a need to attain, reestablish, or maintain some goal that helps with survival
Drive	an internal aroused condition that directs an organism to satisfy a physiological need
Need	State of physiological imbalance usually accompanied by arousal
Homeostasis	Maintenance of a constant state of inner stability or balance
Conflict	The emotional state or condition that arises when a person must choose between two or more competing motives, behaviors, or impulses
Approach-approach conflict	Conflict that results from having to choose between two attractive alternatives
Avoidance-avoidance conflict	Conflict that results from having to choose between two distasteful alternatives
Approach-avoidance conflict	Conflict that results from having to choose an alternative that has both attractive and unappealing aspects
Arousal	Activation of the central nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, and the muscles and glands
Cognitive theories	In the study of motivation, an explanation of behavior that asserts that people actively and regularly determine their own goals and the means of achieving them through thought.
Expectancy Theories	Explanations of behavior that focus on people's expectations about reaching a goal and their need for achievement as energizing factors
Motive	a specific (usually internal) condition, usually involving some form of arousal, which directs an organism's behavior toward a goal.
Social Need	An aroused condition that directs people to behave in ways that allow them to feel good about themselves and others and to establish and maintain relationships
Extrinsic motivation	Motivation supplied by rewards that come from the external environment
Intrinsic motivation	Motivation that leads to behaviors engaged in for no apparent reward except the pleasure and satisfaction of the activity itself
Overjustification effect	Decrease in likelihood that an intrinsically motivated task, after having been extrinsically rewarded, will be performed when the reward is no longer given.
Humanistic theory	An explanation of behavior that emphasizes the entirety of life rather than individual components of behavior and focuses on human dignity, individual choice, and self-worth
Self-actualization	In humanistic theory, the final level of psychological development, in which one strives to realize one's uniquely human potential-to achieve everything one is capable of achieving
Excitement phase	the first phase of the sexual response cycle during which there are increases in heart rate blood pressure and respiration
Vasocongestion	In the sexual response cycle, engorgement of the blood vessels, particularly in the genital area, due to increased blood flow
Plateau phase	the second phase of the sexual response cycle, during which physical arousal continues to increase as the partners bodies prepare for orgasm
Orgasm phase	the third phase of the sexual response cycle, during which autonomic nervous system activity reaches its peak and muscle contractions occur in spasms throughout the body, but especially in the genital area
Resolution Phase	the fourth phase of the sexual response cycle, following orgasm, during which the body returns to its resting, or normal state
Survey	One of the descriptive methods of research; it requires construction of a set of questions to administer to a group of participants
Representative sample	A sample that reflects the characteristics of the population from which it is drawn
Need for achievement	A social need that directs a person to strive constantly for excellence and success
Self-efficacy	The belief that a person can successfully engage in and execute a specific behavior
Emotion	A subjective response, usually accompanied by a physiological change, which is interpreted n a particular way by the individual and often leads to a change in behavior
Appraisal	the evaluation of the significance of a situation or event as it relates to a person's well-being
Sensation	Process in which the sense organs' receptor cells are stimulated and relay initial information to higher brain centers for further processing.
Perception	Process by which an organism selects and interprets sensory input so that it acquires meaning.
Psychophysics	Subfield of psychology that focuses on the relationship between physical stimuli and people's conscious experiences of them.
Absolute threshold	The statistically determined minimum level of stimulation necessary to excite a perceptual system.
Subliminal perception	Perception below the threshold of awareness.
Signal Detection Theory	Theory that holds that an observer's perception depends not only on the intensity of a stimulus but also on the observer's motivation, the criteria he or she sets for determining that a signal is present, and on the background noise.
Electromagnetic Radiation	The entire spectrum of waves initiated by the movement of charged particles.
Light	The small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye.
Myopic	Able to see clearly things that are close but having trouble seeing objects at a distance; nearsighted.
Hyperopic	Able to see objects at a distance clearly but having trouble seeing things up close; farsighted
Photoreceptors	The light-sensitive cells in the retina- the rods and cones.
Transduction	Process by which a perceptual system analyzes stimuli and converts them into electrical impulses; also known as coding.
Visual cortex	The most important area of the brain's occipital lobe, which receives and further processes information from the lateral geniculate nucleus; also known as the striate cortex.
Dark adaptation	The increase in sensitivity to light that occurs when the illumination level changes from high to low, causing chemicals in the rods and cones to regenerate and return to their inactive state.
Optic chiasm	Point at which half of the optic nerve fibers from each eye cross over and connect to the other side of the brain.
Receptive fields	Areas of the retina that, when stimulated, produce a change in the firing of cells in the visual system.
Saccades	Rapid voluntary movements of the eyes.
Hue	The psychological property of light referred to as color, determined by the wavelengths of reflected light.
Brightness	The lightness or darkness of reflected light, determined in large part by the light's intensity.
Saturation	The depth and richness of a hue determined by determined by the homogeneity of the wavelengths contained in the reflected light; also known as purity.
Trichromatic theory	Visual theory, stated by Young and Helmholtz that all colors can be made by mixing the three basic colors: red, green, and blue; a.k.a the Young-Helmholtz theory.
Color Blindness	The inability to perceive different hues.
Opponent-process theory	Visual theory, proposed by Herring, that color is coded by stimulation of three types of paired receptors; each pair of receptors is assumed to operate in an antagonist way so that stimulation by a given wavelength produces excitation (increased firing) in one receptor of the pair and also inhibits the other receptor.
Trichromats	People who can perceive all three primary colors and thus can distinguish any hue.
Monochromats	People who cannot perceive any color, usually because their retinas lack cones.
Dichromats	People who can distinguish only two of the three basic colors.
Size constancy	Ability of the visual perceptual system to recognize that an object remains constant in size regardless of its distance from the observer or the size of its image on the retina.
Learning	Relatively permanent change in an organism that occurs as a result of experiences in the environment
Conditioning	Systematic procedure through which associations and responses to specific stimuli are learned
Reflex	Automatic behavior that occurs involuntarily in response to a stimulus and without prior learning and usually shows little variability from instance to instance
Classical Conditioning	Conditioning process in which an originally neutral stimulus, by repeated pairing with a stimulus that normally elicits a response, comes to elicit a similar or even identical response; aka Pavlovian conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus	Stimulus that normally produces a measurable involuntary response
Unconditioned Response	Unlearned or involuntary response to an unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus	Neutral stimulus that, through repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, begins to elicit a conditioned response
Conditioned Response	Response elicited by a conditioned stimulus
Higher-order Conditioning	Process by which a neutral stimulus takes on conditioned properties through pairing with a conditioned stimulus
Extinction (classical conditioning)	The procedure of withholding the unconditioned stimulus and presenting the conditioned stimulus alone, which gradually reduces the probability of the conditioned response
Spontaneous Recovery	Recurrence of an extinguished conditioned response, usually following a rest period
Stimulus Generalization	Process by which a conditioned response becomes associated with a stimulus that is similar but not identical to the original conditioned stimulus
Stimulus Discrimination	Process by which an organism learns to respond only to a specific stimulus and not to other stimuli
Operant Conditioning	Conditioning in which an increase or decrease in the probability that a behavior will recur is affected by the delivery of reinforcement or punishment as a consequence of the behavior;
Skinner Box	Named for its developer, B.F. Skinner, a box that contains a responding mechanism and a device capable of delivering a consequence to an animal in the box whenever it makes the desired response
Shaping	Selective reinforcement of behaviors that gradually approach the desired response
Reinforcer	Any event that increases the probability of a recurrence of the response that preceded it
Positive Reinforcement	Presentation of a stimulus after a particular response in order to increase the likelihood that the response will recur
Negative Reinforcement	Removal of a stimulus after a particular response to increase the likelihood that the response will recur
Primary Reinforcer	Reinforcer that has survival value for an organism; this value does not have to be learned
Secondary Reinforcer	Any neutral stimulus that initially has no intrinsic value for an organism but that becomes rewarding when linked with a primary reinforcer
Superstitious Behavior	Behavior learned through coincidental association with reinforcement
Punishment	Process of presenting an undesirable or noxious stimulus, or removing a desirable stimulus, to decrease the probability that a preceding response will recur
Primary Punisher	Any stimulus or event that is naturally painful or unpleasant to an organism
Secondary Punisher	Any neutral stimulus that initially has no intrinsic negative value for an organism but acquires punishing qualities when linked with a primary punisher
Learned Helplessness	The behavior of giving up or not responding to punishment, exhibited by people or animals exposed to negative consequences or punishment over which they have no control
Fixed-interval Schedule	A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer (reward) is delivered after a specified interval of time, provided that the required response occurs at least once in the interval
Variable-interval Schedule	A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer (reward) is delivered after predetermined but varying amounts of time, provided that the required response occurs at least once after each interval
Fixed-ratio Schedule	A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer(reward) is delivered after a specified number of responses has occurred
Variable-ratio Schedule	A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer (reward) is delivered after a predetermined but variable number of responses has occurred
Extinction (operant conditioning)	The process by which the probability of an organism's emitting a response is reduced when reinforcement no longer follows the response
Latent Learning	Learning that occurs in the absence of direct reinforcement and that is not necessarily demonstrated through observable behavior
Observational Learning Theory	Theory that suggests that organisms learn new responses by observing the behavior of a model and then imitating it; aka. Social learning theory
Social Psychology	The scientific study of how people think about, interact with, influence, and are influenced by the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of other people.
Attitudes	Patterns of feelings and beliefs about other people, ideas, or objects that are based on a person's past experiences, shape his or her future behavior, and are evaluative in nature.
Elaboration Likelihood Model	Theory suggesting that there are two routes to attitude change: the central route, which focuses on thoughtful consideration of an argument for change, and the peripheral route, which focuses on less careful, more emotional, and even superficial evaluation.
Cognitive Dissonance	A state of mental discomfort arising from a discrepancy between two or more of a person's beliefs or between a person's beliefs and overt behavior.
Self-perception Theory	Approach to attitude formation that assumes that people infer their attitudes and emotional states from their behavior.
Reactance	The negative response evoked when there is an inconsistency between a person's self-image as being free to choose and the person's realization that someone is trying to force him or her to choose a particular occurrence.
Social Cognition	The process of analyzing and interpreting events, other people, oneself, and the world in general.
Impression Formation	The process by which a person uses behavior and appearance of others to form attitudes about them.
Nonverbal Communication	The communication of information by cues or actions that include gestures, tone of voice, vocal inflections, and facial expressions.
Body Language	Communication of information through body positions and gestures.
Attributions	The process by which a person infers other people's motives or intensions by observing their behavior.
Fundamental Attribution Error	The tendency to attribute other people's behavior to dispositional (internal) causes rather than situational (external) causes.
Actor-observer Effect	The tendency to attribute the behavior of others to dispositional causes but to attribute one's own behavior to situational causes.
Self-serving Bias	People's tendency to ascribe their positive behaviors to their own internal traits, but their failures and shortcomings to external, situational factors.
Prejudice	Negative evaluation of an entire group of people, typically based on unfavorable (and often wrong) stereotypes about groups.
Stereotypes	Fixed, overly simple and often erroneous ideas about traits, attitudes, and behaviors of groups of people; stereotypes assume that all members of a given group are alike.
Discrimination	Behavior targeted at individuals or groups and intended to hold them apart and treat them differently.
Social Categorization	The process of dividing the world into "in" groups and "out" groups.
Social Influence	The ways people alter the attitudes or behaviors of others, either directly or indirectly.
Conformity	People's tendency to change attitudes or behaviors so that they are consistent with those of other people or with social norms.
Obedience	Compliance with the orders of another person or group of people.
Debriefing	Informing participants about the true nature of a experiment after its completion.
Group	Two or more individuals who are working with a common purpose or have some common goals, characteristics, or interests.
Social Facilitation	Change in behavior that occurs when people believe they are in the presence of other people.
Social Loafing	Decrease in effort and productivity that occurs when an individual works in a group instead of alone.
Group Polarization	Shifts or exaggeration in group members' attitudes or behavior as a result of group discussion.
Groupthink	The tendency of people in a group to seek concurrence with one another when reaching a decision, rather than effectively evaluating options.
Deindividuation	The process by which individuals lose their self-awareness and distinctive personality in the context of a group, which may lead them to engage in antinormative behavior.
Aggression	Any behavior intended to harm another person or thing.
Prosocial Behavior	Behavior that benefits someone else or society but that generally offers no obvious benefit to the person performing it and may even involve some personal risk or sacrifice.
Altruism	Behaviors that benefit other people and for which there is no discernable extrinsic reward, recognition, or appreciation.
Sociobiology	A discipline based on the premise that even day-to-day behaviors are determined by the process of natural selection - that social behaviors that contribute to the survival of a species are passed on via the genes from one generation to the next.
Bystander Effect	Unwillingness to help exhibited by witnesses to an event, which increase when there are more observers.
Interpersonal Attraction	The tendency of one person to evaluate another person (or a symbol or image of another person) in a positive way.
Equity Theory	Social psychological theory that states that people attempt to maintain stable, consistent interpersonal relationships in which the ratio of member's contributions is balanced.
Intimacy	A state of being or feeling in which each person in a relationship is willing to self-disclose and to express important feelings and information to the other person.
Ex Post Facto Design	A type of design that contrasts groups of people who differ on some variable of interest to the researcher.
Personality	A pattern of relatively permanent traits, dispositions, or characteristics that give some consistency to people's behavior.
Consciousness	Freud's level of mental life that consists of those experiences that we are aware of at any given time.
Preconscious	Freud's level of the mind that contains those experiences that are not currently conscious but may become so with varying degrees of difficulty.
Unconscious	Freud's level of mental life that consists of mental activities beyond people's normal awareness.
Id	In Freud's theory, the source of a person's instinctual energy, which works mainly on the pleasure principle.
Ego	In Freud's theory, the part of personality that seeks to satisfy instinctual needs in accordance with reality.
Superego	In Freud's theory, the moral aspect of mental functioning comprising the ego ideal (what a person would ideally like to be) and the conscience and taught by parents and society.
Oral Stage	Freud's first stage of personality development, from birth to about age 2, during which the instincts of infants are focused on the mouth as the primary pleasure center.
Anal Stage	Freud's second stage of personality development, from about age 2 to about age 3, during which children learn to control the immediate gratification they obtain through defecation and to become responsive to the demands of society.
Phallic Stage	Freud's third stage of personality development, from about age 4 through age 7, during which children obtain gratification primarily from the genitals.
Oedipus Complex	Feelings of rivalry with the parent of the same sex and sexual desire for the parent of the other sex, occurring during the phallic stage and ultimately resolved through identification with the parent of the same sex.
Latency Stage	Freud's fourth stage of personality development, from about age 7 until puberty, during which sexual urges are inactive.
Genital Stage	Freud's last stage of personality development, from the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of childhood resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence).
Libido	In Freud's theory, the instinctual (and sexual) life force that, working on the pleasure principle and seeking immediate gratification, energizes the id.
Defense Mechanism	An unconscious way of reducing anxiety by distorting perceptions of reality.
Repression	Defense mechanism by which anxiety-provoking thoughts and feelings are forced to the unconscious.
Rationalization	Defense mechanism by which people reinterpret undesirable feelings or behaviors in terms that make them appear acceptable.
Fixation	An excessive attachment to some person or object that was appropriate only at an earlier stage of development
Regression	A return to a prior stage after a person has progressed through the various stages of development; caused by anxiety.
Projection	Defense mechanism by which people attribute their own undesirable traits to others.
Reaction Formation	Defense mechanism by which people behave in a way opposite to what their true but anxiety-provoking feelings would dictate.
Displacement	Defense mechanism by which people divert sexual or aggressive feelings for one person onto another person.
Denial	Defense mechanism by which people refuse to accept reality.
Sublimation	Defense mechanism by which people redirect socially unacceptable impulses toward acceptable goals.
Social Interest	In Adler's theory, a feeling of openness with all humanity.
Collective Unconscious	In Jung's theory, a shared storehouse of primitive ideas and images that reside in the unconscious and are inherited from one's ancestors.
Archetypes	In Jung's theory, the emotionally charged ideas and images that are rich in meaning and symbolism and exist within the collective unconscious.
Longitudinal Study	A research approach that follows a group of people over time to determine change or stability in behavior.
Trait	Any readily identifiable stable quality that characterizes how an individual differs from other individuals.
Types	Personality categories in which broad collections of traits are loosely tied together and interrelated.
Self-actualization	The process of growth and the realization of individual potential; in the humanistic view, a final level of psychological development in which a person attempts to minimize ill health, be fully functioning, have a superior perception of reality, and feel a strong sense of self-acceptance.
Fulfillment	In Roger's theory of personality, an inborn tendency directing people toward actualizing their essential nature and thus attaining their potential.
Self	In Roger's theory of personality, the perception an individual has of himself or herself and of his or her relationships to other people and to various aspects of life.
Ideal Self	In Roger's theory of personality, the self a person would ideally like to be.
Self-efficacy	A person's belief about whether he or she can successfully engage in and execute a specific behavior.
Assessment	Process of evaluating individual differences among human beings by means of tests interviews, observations, and recordings of physiological.
Projective Tests	Devices or instruments used to assess personality, in which examinees are shown a standard set of ambiguous stimuli and asked to respond to the stimuli in their own way.
Psychotherapy	The treatment of emotional or behavior problems through psychological techniques.
Placebo effect	A nonspecific improvement that occurs as a result of a person's expectations of change rather than as a direct result of any specific therapeutic treatment.
Double-blind techniques	A research technique in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the control and experimental groups.
Demand characteristics	Elements of an experimental situation that might cause a participant to perceive the situation in a certain way or become aware of the purpose of the study and thus bias the participant to behave in a certain way, and in so doing, distort results.
Psychoanalysis	A lengthy insight therapy that was developed by Freud and aims at uncovering conflicts and unconscious impulses through special techniques, including free association, dream analysis, and transference.
Psychodynamically	Therapies that use approaches or techniques derived from Freud, but that reject or modify some elements of Freud's theory.
Insight therapy	Any therapy that attempts to discover relationships between unconscious motivations and current abnormal behavior.
Free association	Psychoanalytic technique in which a person is asked to report to the therapist his or her thoughts and feelings as they occur, regardless of how trivial, illogical, or objectionable their content may appear.
Dream analysis	Psychoanalytic technique in which a patient's dreams are described in detail and interpreted so as to provide insight into the individual's unconscious motivations.
Interpretation	In Freud's theory, the technique of providing a context, meaning, or cause for a specific idea, feeling, or set of behaviors; the process of tying a set of behaviors to its unconscious determinant.
Resistance	In psychoanalysis, an unwillingness to cooperate, which a patient signals by showing a reluctance to provide the therapist with information or to help the therapist understand or interpret a situation.
Transference	Psychoanalytic phenomenon in which a therapist becomes the object of a patient's emotional attitudes about an important person in the patient's life, such as a parent.
Working through	In psychoanalysis, the repetitive cycle of interpretation, resistance to interpretation, and transference.
Client-centered therapy	An insight therapy, developed be Carl Rogers, that seeks to help people evaluate the world and themselves from their own perspective by providing them with a nondirective environment and unconditional positive regard; also known as person-centered therapy.
Behavior therapy	A therapy that is based on the application of learning principles to human behavior and that focuses on changing overt behaviors rather than on understanding subjective feelings, unconscious processes, or motivations; also known as behavior modification.
Symptom substitution	The appearance of one overt symptom to replace another that has been eliminated by treatment.
Token economy	An operant conditioning procedure in which individuals who display appropriate behavior receive tokens that they can exchange for desirable items or activities.
Time-out	An operant conditioning procedure in which a person is physically removed from sources of reinforcement to decrease the occurrence of undesired behaviors.
Counterconditioning	Process of reconditioning in which a person is taught a new, more adaptive response to a familiar stimulus.
Systematic desensitization	A three-stage counterconditioning procedure in which people are taught to relax when confronting stimuli that forming elicited anxiety.
Aversive counterconditioning	A counterconditioning technique in which an aversive or noxious stimulus is paired with a stimulus with the undesirable behavior.
Rational-emotive therapy	A cognitive behavior therapy that emphasizes the importance of logical, rational thought processes.
Group therapy	Psychotherapeutic process in which several people meet as a group with a therapist to receive psychological help.
Family therapy	A type of therapy in which two or more people who are committed to one another's well-being are treated at once, in and effort to change the ways the interact.
Psychosurgery	Brain surgery used in the past to alleviate symptoms of serious mental disorders.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)	A treatment for severe mental illness in which an electric current is briefly applied to the head in order to produce a generalized seizure.
Abnormal Behavior	Behavior characterized as atypical, socially unacceptable, distressing to the individual or others, maladaptive, and/or the result of distorted cognitions
Model:	an analogy or a perspective that uses a structure from one field to help scientists describe data in another field
Abnormal psychology	The field of psychology concerned with the assessment, treatment, and prevention of maladaptive behavior.
Prevalence	the percentage of a population displaying a disorder during any specified period.
Case study	a descriptive study that includes an intensive study of one person and allows an intensive examination of a single case, usually chosen for its interesting or unique characteristics
Anxiety	a generalized feeling of fear and apprehension that may be related to a particular situation or object and is often accompanied by increased physiological arousal.
Generalized anxiety disorder	An anxiety disorder characterized by persistent anxiety occurring on more days than not for at least 6 months, sometimes with increased activity of the autonomic nervous system, apprehension, excessive muscle tension, and difficulty in concentrating
Phobic disorders	Anxiety disorders characterized by excessive and irrational fear of, and consequent attempted avoidance of, specific objects or situations.
Agoraphobia	anxiety disorder characterized by marked fear and avoidance of being alone in a place from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing
Panic Attack	Anxiety disorders characterized as acute anxiety, accompanied by sharp increases in autonomic nervous system arousal, that is not triggered by a specific event.
Social phobia	Anxiety disorder characterized by fear of, and desire to avoid, situations in which the person might be exposed to scrutiny by others and might behave in an embarrassing or humiliating way.
Specific phobia	Anxiety disorder characterized by irrational and persistent fear of a particular object or situation, along with a compelling desire to avoid it.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder	Anxiety disorder characterized by persistent and uncontrollable thoughts and irrational beliefs that cause the performance of compulsive rituals that interfere with daily life.
Depressive disorders	general category of mood disorders in which people show extreme and persistent sadness, despair, and loss of interest in life's usual activities.
Major depressive disorder	Depressive disorder characterized by loss of interest in almost all of life's usual activities; a sad, hopeless, or discourage mood, sleep disturbance; loss of appetite; loss of energy; and feelings of unworthiness and guilt.
Delusions	False beliefs that are inconsistent with reality but are held in spite of evidence that disproves them.
Learned helplessness	the behavior of giving up or not responding, exhibited by people and animals exposed to negative consequences or punishment over which they feel they have no control.
Vulnerability	A person's diminished ability to deal with demanding life events.
Dissociative disorders	psychological disorders characterized by a sudden but temporary alteration in consciousness, identity, sensorimotor behavior, or memory
Dissociative amnesia	Dissociative disorder characterized by the sudden and extensive inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature.
Dissociative identity disorder	dissociative disorder characterized by the existence within an individual of two or more distinct personalities, each of which is dominant at different times and directs the individual's behavior at those times; commonly known as multiple personality disorder.
Schizophrenic disorders	a group of psychological disorders characterized by a lack of reality testing and by deterioration of social and intellectual functioning and personality beginning before age 45 and lasting at least 6 months
Psychotic	suffering from a gross impairment in reality testing that interferes with the ability to meet the ordinary demands of life.
Paranoid type of schizophrenia	type of schizophrenia characterized by hallucinations and delusions of persecution or grandeur (or both), and sometimes irrational jealousy.
Catatonic type of schizophrenia	Type of schizophrenia characterized either by displays of excited or violent motor activity or by stupor.
Disorganized type of schizophrenia	type of schizophrenia characterized by severely disturbed thought processes, frequent incoherence, disorganized behavior, and inappropriate affect.
Residual type of schizophrenia	a schizophrenic disorder in which the person exhibits inappropriate affect, illogical thinking, and/or eccentric behavior but seems generally in touch with reality.
Undifferentiated type of schizophrenia	a schizophrenic disorder that is characterized by a mixture of symptoms and does not meet the diagnostic criteria of any one type.
Concordance rate	The degree to which a condition or traits shared two or more individuals or groups
Double bind	a situation in which an individual is given two different and inconsistent messages.
Bipolar disorder	mood disorder originally know as manic-depressive disorder because it is characterized by behavior that vacillates between two extremes; mania and depression.
Personality disorders	psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and longstanding maladaptive behaviors that typically cause stress and/or social or occupational problems.
Antisocial personality disorder	Personality disorder characterized by egocentricity, and behavior that is irresponsible and that violates the rights of other people, a lack of guilt feelings, an inability to understand other people and a lack of fear of punishment.
Child abuse	physical, emotional, or sexual mistreatment of a child.
Rape	Forcible sexual assault on an unwilling partner.
Intelligence	The overall capacity of an individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment
Factor analysis	Statistical procedure designed to discover the independent elements (factors) in any set of data
Standardization	Process of developing uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test and for establishing norms
Norms	The scores and corresponding percentile ranks of a large and representative sample of individuals from the population for which a test was designed
Representative sample	A sample of individuals who match the population with whom they are being compared with regard to key variables such as socioeconomic status and age
Normal curve	A bell-shaped graphic representation of data showing what percentage of the population falls under each part of the curve
Raw score	A test score that has not been transformed or converted in any way
Standard score	A score that expresses an individual's position relative to the mean, based on the standard deviation
Percentile score	A score indicating what percentage of the test population would obtain a lower score
Deviation IQ	A standard IQ test score whose mean and standard deviation remain constant for all ages
Reliability	Ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings
Validity	Ability of a test to measure what it is supposed to measure and to predict what it is supposed to predict
Halo effect	The tendency for one characteristic of an individual to influence a tester's evaluation of other characteristics
Experimental design	A design in which researchers manipulate an independent variable and measure a dependent variable to determine a cause-and-effect relationship
Self-fulfilling prophecy	The creation of a situation that unintentionally allows personal expectancies to influence participants
Heritability	The genetically determined proportion of a trait's variation among individuals in a population
Mainstreaming	Practice of placing children with special needs in regular classroom settings, with the support of professionals who provide special education services
Metal retardation	Below-average intellectual functioning, as measured on an IQ test, accompanied by substantial limitations in functioning that originate before age 8
Burnout	State of emotional and physical exhaustion, lowered productivity, and feelings of isolation, often caused by work-related pressures
Stress	A nonspecific, emotional response to real or imagined challenges or threats; a result of a cognitive appraisal by the individual
Stressor	An environmental stimulus that affects an organism in physically or psychologically injurious ways, usually producing anxiety, tension, and physiological arousal
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)	Psychological disorder that may become evident after a person has undergone extreme stress caused by some type of disaster; common symptoms include vivid, intrusive recollections or reexperiences of the traumatic event and occasional lapses of normal consciousness
Type A behavior	Behavior pattern characterized by competitiveness, impatience, hostility, and constant efforts to do more in less time
Type B behavior	Behavior pattern exhibited by people who are calmer, more patient, and less hurried than Type A individuals
Psychoneuroimmunology	An interdisciplinary area of study that includes behavioral, neurological, and immune factors and their relationship to the development of disease
Coping	Process by which a person takes some action to manage, master, tolerate, or reduce environmental or internal demands that cause or might cause stress and that tax the individual's inner resources
Resilience	The extent to which people are flexible and respond adaptively to external or internal demands
Health psychology	Subfield concerned with the use of psychological ideas and principles to enhance health, prevent illness, diagnose and treat disease, and improve rehabilitation
Edward Bradford Titchener	Student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology.
Herman von Helmholtz	Theorist who both aided in the development of the trichromatic theory of color perception and Place theory of pitch perception.
difference threshold	minimum difference between any two stimuli that person can detect 50% of the time
just noticeable difference (JND)	experience of the difference threshold
cornea	transparent covering of the eye
iris	colored part of the eye that regulates size of pupil
pupil	small opeing in iris that is smaller in bright light and larger in darkness
lens	structure behind pupil that changes shape to focus light rays onto the retina
retina	light-sensitive surface on back of eye containing rods and cones
fovea	small area of retina where image is focused
photoreceptors	light sensitive cells (rods and cones) that convert light to electrochemical impulses
rods	photoreceptors that detect black, white, and gray, and movement; used for vision in dim light
cones	photoreceptors that detect color and fine detail in bright-light conditions; not present in peripheral vision
optic nerve	carries impulses from the eye to the brain
visual acuity	sharpness of vision
blind spot	area on retina with no receptor cells (where optic nerve leaves the eye)
parallel processing	simultaneously analyzing different elements of sensory information, such as color, brightness, shape, etc.
sensory adaptation	temporary decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs when stimulation is unchanging
frequency	number of wavelengths that pass a point in a given amount of time; determines hue of light and the pitch of a sound
audition	the sense of hearing
pitch	the highness or lowness of a sound
timbre	the quality of a sound determined by the purity of a waveform
sound localization	the process by which the location of sound is determined
cochlea	snail-shaped fluid-filled tube in the inner ear involved in transduction
gate control theory	pain is only experienced in the pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain
kinesthesis	body sense that provides information about the position and movement of individual parts of the body
vestibular sense	body sense of equilibrium and balance
gustation	sense of taste
olfaction	sense of smell
selective attention	focused awareness of only a limited amount of all you are capable of experiencing
bottom-up processing	information processing that begins at the sensory receptors and works up to perception
top-down processing	information processing guided by pre-existing knowledge or expectations to construct perceptions
monocular cues	depth cues that are based on one eye
binocular cues	depth cues that are based on two eyes
ESP	the controversial claim that sensation can occur apart from sensory input
preconscious	level of consciousness that is outside awareness but contains feelings and memories that can easily be brought into conscious awareness
unconscious	level of consciousness that includes unacceptable feelings, wishes, and thoughts not directly available to conscious awareness
nonconscious	the level of consciousness devoted to processes completely unavailable to conscious awareness (e.g., fingernails growing)
REM (rapid eye movement) sleep	sleep stage when the eyes move about, during which vivid dreams occur; brain very active but skeletal muscles paralyzed
hypnosis	state with deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility
aversive conditioning	learning involving an unpleasant or harmful stimulus or reinforcer
Law of Effect	behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are strengthened while behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are weakened (Thorndike)
Premack principle	commonly occurring behavior can reinforce a less frequent behavior
shaping	positively reinforcing closer and closer approximation of a desired behavior to teach a new behavior
token economy	operant training system that uses secondary reinforcers (tokens) to increase appropriate behavior; learners can exchange tokens for desired rewards
motive	a need or want that causes someone to act
instinct	inherited, automatic species-specific behaviors
set point	preset natural body weight, determined by the number of fat cells in the body
anorexia nervosa	eating disorder most common in adolescent females characterized by weight less than 85% of normal, restricted eating, and unrealistic body image
bulimia nervosa	eating disorder characterized by pattern 9of eating binges followed by purging (e.g., vomiting, laxatives, exercise)
James-Lange theory of emotion	conscious experience of emnotion results from one's awareness of physiological arousal
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion	conscious experience of emotion and physiological arousal occur at the same time
opponent-process theory of emotion	following a strong emotion, an opposing emotion counters the first emotion, lessening the experience of that emotion; on repeated occasions, the opposing emotion becomes stronger
Schachter-Singer theory of emotion	we determine our emotion based on our physiological arousal, then label that emotion according to our explanation for that arousal
cognitive-appraisal theory of emotion	our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are in
Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome	three-stage process which describes the body's reaction to stress: 1) alarm reaction, 2) resistance, 3) exahaustion
cohort effect	observed group differences based on the era when people were born and grew up, exposing them to particular experiences that may affect the results of cross-sectional studies
prenatal development	period of development from conception until birth
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)	group of abnormalities that occur in the babies of mothers who drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy
habituation	decreased responsiveness with repeated presentation of the same stimulus
schema	framework of basic ideas about people, objects and events based on past experience in long-term memory
zone of proximal development	the range between the level at which a child can solve a problem working alone with difficulty, and the level at which a child can solve a problem with the assistance of adults or children with more skill
preconventional level of moral development	morality based on consequences to self
moral development	growth in the ability to tell right from wrong, control impulses, and act ethically
conventional level of moral development	morality based on fitting in to the norms of society
postconventional level of moral development	morality based on one's own individual moral principles (i.e., conscience)
authoritarian parenting	style of parenting marked by emotional coldness, imposing rules and expecting obedience
authoritative parenting	parenting style characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making
menarche	first menstrual period
menopause	the cessation of the ability to reproduce
Stanford-Binet intelligence tests	constructed by Lewis Terman, originally used ratio IQ (MA/CA x 100); now based on deviation from mean
Wechsler intelligence tests	three age individual IQ tests: WPPSI (children), WISC (children), WAIS (adults)
fluid intelligence	cognitive abilities requiring speed or rapid learning that tends to diminish with age
crystallized intelligence	learned knowledge and skills such as vocabulary, which tends to increase with age
emotional intelligence	the ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions
triarchic theory of intelligence	Robert Sternberg's theory that describes intelligence as having analytic, creative and practical dimensions
aptitude test	a test designed to predict a person's future performance
achievement test	test designed to determine a person's level of knowledge in a given subject area
replication	the repetition of an experiment to test the validity of its conclusion
population	all of the individuals in the group to which a study applies

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