AP Psychology Review
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436 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 flashbulb memory | clarity in memories for surprising, significant events |
| sensory memory | the immediate initial recording of sensory information |
| short-term memory | consciously activated, limited capacity, unrehearsed information |
| long-term memory | the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of memory |
| working memory | the integration of new information with knowledge retrieved from long-term memory |
| serial position effect | better recollection of the first and last items in a list |
| semantic encoding | encoding the meaning of words |
| Rosy Retrospection | people recall events more positively than evaluated at the time |
| loci mnemonics | use associations between words and familiar physical locations |
| episodic memory | recalling specific incidents from the past |
| semantic memory | associations and concepts that underlies general knowledge of the world |
| procedural memory | enables people to learn and remember skills |
| ionic memory | the fleeting photographic memory that only lasts a few tenths of a second |
| echoic memory | the fleeting, auditory sensory memory |
| synapses | sites where nerve cells communicate with each other through neurotransmitter messengers |
| synaptic changes | when learning occurs more of the neurotransmitter serotonin is released at certain synapses and they become more efficient |
| long-term potentiation | the increase in a synapses firing potential after brief, rapid, stimulation |
| amygdala | brain part that processes emotion and encodes the emotional aspects of implicit memories |
| implicit memory (procedural memory) | learning and remembering how to do something |
| explicit memory (declarative memory) | the memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare |
| hippocampus | part of the limbic system that processes explicit memories for storage |
| priming | the usually unconscious activation of particular associations in memory |
| transience | storage decay over time |
| proactive interference | the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information |
| retroactive interference | the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information |
| positive transfer | old information facilitating the learning of new information |
| empiricism | the view that knowledge comes from experience via the senses and science flourishes through observation and experiment |
| structuralism | an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind |
| functionalism | a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function |
| introspection | self-reflection, looking inward |
| neuroscience perspective | how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences |
| evolutionary perspective | how the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes |
| behavior genetics perspective | how much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences |
| psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective | how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts |
| behavioral perspective | how we learn observable responses |
| cognitive perspective | how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information |
| social-cultural perspective | how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures |
| basic research | pure science that aim to increase the scientific knowledge base |
| applied research | scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
| pragmatism | a philosophy that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs by its practical application |
| William James | the father of pragmatism, a darwinist, used functionalism |
| John B. Watson | psychologist in the behavioral perspective, used conditioning, little albert |
| Sigmund Freud | psychologist in the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective |
| B.F. Skinner | psychologist in the behavioral perspective, used conditioning |
| Jean Piaget | psychologist in the cognitive perspective |
| Carl Rogers | psychologist in the humanistic perspective |
| Albert Bandura | psychologist in the cognitive perspective, bobo doll experiment |
| Michael Gazzaniga | psychologist in the neuroscience perspective, did experiments on left and right brain interactions |
| Socrates and Plato | mind is separable from the body and will continue after death, derived ideas from logic |
| Aristotle | derived ideas from data and observation, nature |
| Augustine | the condition of the body influences the mind and the condition of the mind influences the body |
| René Descartes | the existence of innate ideas, the mind is separable from the body, dissected animals |
| Francis Bacon | used experiment, experience, and common-sense, founder of modern science |
| false consensus effect | the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors |
| correlation coefficient | a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together |
| biological psychology | a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior |
| neuron | a nerve cell, the basic building block of the nervous system |
| dendrite | the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body |
| axon | the extensions of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands |
| myelin sheath | a layer of fatty tissue encasing the axons, enables faster transmission speed of neural impulses |
| action potential | a neural impulse, is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane |
| threshold | the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse |
| synapse | the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron |
| phrenology | the idea that specific mental processes are located in or associated with specific region of the brain |
| soma | contains the cell nucleus and much of the chemical machinery common to most cells |
| acetylcholine (ACh) | a neurotransmitter in the peripheral and central nervous system, triggers muscle contraction, associated with Alzheimer's Disease, involved with plasticity and memory function |
| endorphins | natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure |
| resting potential | a neuron's stable polarized state when it's inactive |
| selectively permeable | allowing only certain substances from the outside environment to enter the cell |
| refractory period | the recharging time before it can fire again |
| central nervous system | the brain and spinal cord |
| peripheral nervous system | the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body |
| sensory neurons | neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system |
| interneurons | CNS neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs |
| motor neurons | neurons that carry outgoing info from the CNS to muscles and glands |
| somatic nervous system | a division of the PNS that controls the body's skeletal muscles |
| autonomic nervous system | part of the PNS that controls the glands and muscles of internal organs |
| sympathetic nervous system | division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations |
| parasympathetic nervous system | division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy |
| synaptic vesicle | small sacs located in the axon terminal branches that stores neurotransmitters |
| reuptake | the re-absorption of neurotransmitters by the sending neuron |
| agonist | a chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter |
| antagonist | a chemical that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter |
| lesion | tissue destruction |
| electroencephalogram (EEG) | an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweeps across the brain's surface, measured by electrodes on the scalp |
| computed tomography (CAT/CT scan) | a series of x-ray photographs of the brain |
| PET scan | a visual of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task |
| magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) | a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue |
| brainstem | the oldest part and central core of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions |
| medulla | the base of the brainstem, controls heartbeat and breathing |
| reticular formation | a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal |
| thalamus | the brain's sensory switchboard |
| endocrine system | the body's slow chemical communication system that consists of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream |
| pituitary gland | the master gland that controls other endocrine glands |
| adrenal glands | secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine that help arouse the body in times of stress |
| cerebellum | the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem that helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance |
| hypothalamus | a neural structure responsible for eating, drinking, sexual motivation, fight or flight, regulates biological needs, the connection between the endocrine and nervous system |
| cerebral cortex | an intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres, the body's ultimate control and information processing center |
| glial cells | cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons |
| frontal lobes | a portion of the cerebral cortex involved in emotion, personality, speaking, making muscle movements, and making plans and judgements |
| parietal lobes | a portion of the cerebral cortex involved in movement, orientation, recognition, and perception that includes the motor and sensory cortex |
| occipital lobes | a portion of the cerebral cortex that is the visual processing center |
| temporal lobes | a portion of the cerebral cortex involved in receiving auditory information and the processing of semantics in speech and vision |
| motor cortex | in the parietal lobe, controls voluntary movements |
| sensory cortex | in the parietal lobe, registers and processes body sensations |
| association areas | areas of the cerebral cortex that aren't involved in primary motor or sensory functions, involved in higher mental functions |
| aphasia | impairment of language |
| Broca's area | controls language expression, directs muscle movements involved in speech |
| Wernicke's area | control language reception, involved in language comprehension and expression |
| plasticity | the brain's capacity for modification |
| corpus callosum | a large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them |
| angular gyrus | a part of the brain that organizes language and thoughts, helps perceive words using images, sensations, and or ideas |
| memes | self-replicating cultural mutations, a fad |
| heritability | the proportion of variations among individuals that we can attribute to genes |
| molecular genetics | a subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes |
| gender identity | one's sense of being male or female |
| gender typing | acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role |
| social learning theory | the theory that gender roles are acquired through the basic processes of learning |
| gender schema theory | the theory that gender roles are influenced by the formation of schemas of masculinity and femininity |
| teratogens | chemicals and viruses that cause harm to a fetus |
| FAS | the physical and cognitive abnormalities in a fetus caused by drinking |
| developmental psychology | a type of psychology that studies how people change over their lifespan and the social and mental development of children |
| physical development | nature, genetics, maturation, temperament |
| social development | nurture, family, culture, pressure, models |
| cognitive development | thinking, capabilities, disabilities, perceptions |
| moral development | reasoning, ethics, behavior |
| prenatal period | a period of time extending from conception to birth, divided into the germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages |
| assimilation | interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas |
| accommodation | adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information |
| sensorimotor stage | birth-2, stage when infants know the world mostly in terms of sensory impressions and motor activities |
| object permanence | the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived, in sensorimotor stage |
| pre-operational stage | 2-6, stage where children learn to use language but don't comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic |
| conservation | the principal that properties remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects, in pre-operational stage |
| egocentrism | the inability of a pre-operational child to take another's point of view |
| theory of mind | a person's ideas about their own and other's mental states, feeling, perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors |
| habituation | the decreasing response to a stimulus to which one is repeatedly exposed |
| dishabituation | occurs if a new stimulus elicits an increase in the strength of a response |
| autism | a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of other's states of mind |
| concrete operational stage | 6-11, a stage of cognitive development where children gain mental operations that let them think logically about concrete events |
| formal operational stage | a stage of cognitive development where people begin to think logically about abstract concepts |
| basic trust | by Erik Erikson, the sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy |
| cross-sectional study | a study where people of different ages are compared to one another |
| longitudinal study | research where the same people are restudied and retested over a long period of time |
| crystallized intelligence | one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills that tends to increase with age |
| fluid intelligence | one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly that tends to decrease during late adulthood |
| secure attachment | from Ainsworth, children use their mothers to venture out and explore the world |
| anxious- ambivalent attachment | from Ainsworth, children appear anxious even with their mother near, protest when she leaves, and aren't very comforted when she returns |
| avoidant attachment | from Ainsworth, children seek little contact with their mother and not distressed when she leaves |
| permissive | a style of parenting where parents are very tolerant, not demanding, and don't punish |
| authoritarian | a style of parenting where parents are demanding, unresponsive, and use harsh discipline |
| authoritative | a style of parenting in-between demanding and responsive, they set standards, and explain their reasons |
| Kohlberg's moral ladder | a theory that says as moral development progresses, the focus of concern moves from the self to the wider social world |
| activity theory of aging | a theory that life satisfaction in late adulthood is highest when people maintain levels of activity they had earlier in life |
| Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief | denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance |
| Trust vs. Mistrust | Erikson's first stage, infants develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide, care, and affection |
| Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt | Erikson's second stage, children develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence |
| Initiative vs. Guilt | Erikson's third stage, children begin asserting control and power over their environment |
| Industry vs. Inferiority | Erikson's fourth stage, children cope with new social and academic demands |
| Identity vs. Role Confusion | Erikson's fifth stage, teens develop a sense of self and personal identity |
| Intimacy vs. Isolation | Erikson's sixth stage, young adults form intimate, loving relationships with other people |
| Generativity vs. Stagnation | Erikson's seventh stage, adults create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having children or creating a positive change that benefits other people |
| Integrity vs. Despair | Erikson's eighth stage, older adults look back and feel a sense of fulfillment |
| agnosia | complete sensation without complete perception |
| bottom-up processing | the progression from individual elements to the whole |
| top-down processing | the progression from the whole to the elements |
| psychophysics | the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experiences (light and brightness, sound and volume, pressure and weight, taste and sweetness) |
| synesthesia | one sensory experience described in terms of another sensory experience |
| pupil | the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters |
| iris | a ring of muscle tissue that controls the size of the pupil opening |
| lens | the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina |
| accommodation | the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
| retina | the light sensitive inner surface of the eye that contains receptor rods and cones and layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information |
| rods | retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray and are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision |
| cones | receptor cells concentrated near the center of the retina and function in daylight or well-lit conditions, they detect fine detail and color sensations |
| optic nerve | the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain |
| difference threshold | the smallest difference in stimulus intensity that a specific sense can detect |
| Weber's law | to be perceived as different two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage |
| sensory adaptation | the gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged stimulation |
| blind spot | the point where the optic nerve leaves the eye and no receptor cells are located |
| fovea | the central focal point in the retina around which the cones cluster |
| feature detectors | nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus like shape, angle, or movement |
| Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory | the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors (one for red,green,blue) which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color |
| opponent-process theory | the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision |
| color constancy | perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object |
| middle ear | the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer,anvil,stirrup) that concentrate the vibration of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window |
| inner ear | the innermost part of the ear containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs |
| cochlea | a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses |
| place theory | the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated |
| frequency theory | the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch |
| conduction hearing loss | hearing loss caused by damage to the middle ear (hammer,anvil,stirrup) |
| sensorineural hearing loss | hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves |
| ganglion | bundled cells that form the optic nerve |
| optic chiasm | the point in the brain where the optic nerves from each eye cross over to the opposite side of the brain |
| gate control theory | the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain |
| kinesthesis | the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts |
| vestibular sense | the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance |
| gestalt | an organized whole |
| figure-ground | the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings |
| grouping | the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups |
| proximity | a type of grouping, nearby figures go together |
| similarity | a type of grouping, figures similar to each other go together |
| continuity | a type of grouping, smooth continuous patterns go together |
| connectedness | a type of grouping, uniform and linked things go together |
| closure | filling in gaps to create a complete, whole object |
| visual cliff | a lab device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals |
| binocular cues | depth cues, such as retinal disparity, convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes |
| retinal disparity | a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from two eyes the brain computes distance, the greater the disparity between the two images the closer the object |
| convergence | a binocular cue for perceiving depth, the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object |
| monocular cues | distance cues available to either eye alone |
| relative clarity | a monocular cue, hazy objects appear farther away than clear ones |
| texture | a monocular cue, the closure you are the more detail you can see |
| relative height | a monocular cue, objects higher in the visual field are farther away |
| relative motion | a monocular cue, closer objects move faster than ones farther away |
| linear perspective | a monocular cue, the relative size, shape, and position of objects determined by a convergence point on the horizon |
| relative brightness | a monocular cue, objects up close appear brighter than objects farther away |
| phi phenomenon | an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession |
| perceptual constancy | perceiving objects as unchanging (lightness,color,shape,size) even as illumination and retinal images change |
| perceptual adaptation | in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field |
| human factors psychology | a branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be adapted to human behaviors |
| ESP | the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input |
| telepathy | mind-to-mind communication, sending thoughts or receiving them from someone |
| clairvoyance | perceiving remote events |
| precognition | perceiving future events |
| parapsychology | the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis |
| strobo-scopio movement | an illusion, a series of still images that produces the illusion of movement |
| Müller-lyer | an illusion, arrows pointed outward extends an image and arrows pointed inward make it shorter |
| Immanuel Kant | a german philosopher who said knowledge comes from inborn ways of organizing sensory experiences |
| John Locke | a british philosopher who said knowledge comes from learning |
| perceptual set | the influence of prior assumptions and expectations on perceptual interpretations |
| alpha waves | the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state |
| delta waves | large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep |
| manifest content | from Freud, the remembered storyline of a dream |
| latent content | from Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream |
| Activation synthesis model | the idea that dreams are simply the by product of bursts of activity emanating from sub-cortical areas in the brain |
| posthypnotic amnesia | the supposed inability to recall what one experienced during hypnosis |
| posthypnotic suggestion | a suggestion made during hypnosis to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized |
| dissociation | a split in consciousness that allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others |
| pinial gland | regulates sleep cycles with melatonin |
| psychoactive drug | a chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood |
| tolerance | a diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug |
| physical dependence | the physiological need for a drug with unpleasant withdrawal symptoms |
| psychological dependence | the psychological need to use a drug to relieve negative emotions |
| depressants | drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions |
| stimulants | drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions |
| hallucinogens | drugs that distort perception and evoke sensory images |
| barbiturates | drugs that depress the CNS, reduce anxiety, and impair memory and judgement |
| opiates | opium and its derivatives, drugs that depress neural activity and temporarily lessen pain and anxiety |
| amphetamines | drugs that stimulate neural activity, body functions speed up, mood changes |
| ecstasy | a stimulant and hallucinogen that causes euphoria |
| LSD | a strong hallucinogen |
| THC | a major active ingredient in marijuana that triggers a variety of effects |
| dualism | the presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact |
| monism | the presumption that mind and body are different aspect of the same thing |
| associative learning | learning when two events occur together, 2 stimuli and response and its consequences |
| classical conditioning | a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus |
| unconditioned response | an unlearned, natural response to the unconditioned stimulus |
| unconditioned stimulus | a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response |
| conditioned response | the learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus |
| conditioned stimulus | an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with the unconditioned stimulus triggers a conditioned response |
| generalization | the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses |
| discrimination | the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus |
| respondent behavior | behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus, Skinner's term for behavior learned through classical conditioning |
| operant behavior | behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences |
| law of effect | Thorndike's principal that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely |
| shaping | reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of a desired goal |
| fixed-ratio schedule | a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses |
| variable-ratio schedule | a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses |
| fixed-interval schedule | a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed |
| variable-interval schedule | a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals |
| punishment | an event that decreases the behavior it follows |
| cognitive map | a mental representation of the layout of one's environment |
| latent learning | learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it |
| over-justification effect | the effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do |
| intrinsic motivation | a desire to perform a behavior for its own sake and to be effective |
| extrinsic motivation | a desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment |
| modeling | the process of observing and imitating specific behavior |
| mirror neurons | frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so |
| concept | a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people |
| prototype | the mental image or best example of a category |
| algorithm | the methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem |
| heuristic | a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently |
| confirmation bias | the tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions |
| fixation | the inability to see a problem from a new perspective |
| mental set | the tendency to approach a problem in a particular way especially if its been successful in the past |
| functional fixedness | the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions |
| representativeness heuristic | judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes |
| availability heuristic | estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory |
| overconfidence | the tendency to be more confident than correct |
| framing | the way an issue is posed, can effect decisions and judgements |
| belief bias | the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning |
| belief perseverance | clinging to one;s initial conceptions after the bias on which they were formed has been discredited |
| phoneme | the smallest unit in a language that can be distinguished perceptually |
| Whorf's linguistic determinism | the hypothesis that one's language determines the nature of one's thoughts |
| morpheme | in language, the smallest unit that carries meaning |
| grammar | a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others |
| semantics | a set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language |
| syntax | rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences |
| mental age | a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet, the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance |
| Stanford-Binet | the most widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test |
| eugenics | a 19th century movement that proposed measuring human traits and using the results to encourage or discourage people from reproducing |
| Sternberg's triarchic theory | the theory that there are three types of intelligence - analytical, creative, practical |
| aptitude test | a test designed to predict a person's future performances |
| achievement test | a test designed to assess what a person has learned |
| Wechsler adult intelligence scale | the most widely used intelligence test, contains verbal and performance subtests |
| standardization | defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pre-tested group |
| reliability | the extent to which a test yields consistent results |
| validity | the extent to which a test measures or predicts what its supposed to |
| content validity | extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest |
| predictive validity | the success with which a test predicts the behavior its designed to |
| downs syndrome | a condition of retardation and associated with physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome |
| heritability ratio | the proportion of variability in a group that is determined by variations in genetic factors |
| motivation | a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior |
| instinct | complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned |
| drive-reduction theory | the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy a need |
| homeostasis | the tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state |
| incentive | positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior |
| Maslow's hierarchy of needs | pyramid of human needs beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active |
| glucose | a form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues, when its level is low we feel hunger |
| set point | the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set |
| anorexia nervosa | an eating disorder in which a person diets and becomes significantly underweight |
| bulimia nervosa | an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise |
| external incentive theory | the theory that humans are motivated by environmental stimuli |
| optimum arousal theory | the theory that some motivated behaviors increase arousal |
| sexual response cycle | the four stages of sexual responding by Master and Johnson - excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution |
| estrogen | a sex hormone, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males |
| androgens | the principal class of gonadal hormones in males |
| flow | a completely involved, focused state of consciousness with diminishing awareness of self and time |
| industrial-organizational psychology | the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces |
| personnel psychology | a subfield of industrial-organizational psychology that focuses on employee recruitment, selection, placement, training, etc. |
| organizational psychology | a subfield of industrial-organizational psychology that examines organizational influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitates organizational change |
| theory X | a theory that assumes that workers are basically lazy, error-prone, and extrinsically motivated by money and thus should be directed from above |
| theory Y | a theory that assumes that given challenges and freedom, workers are motivated to achieve self-esteem and to demonstrate their competence and creativity |
| James-Lange theory | the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli |
| Cannon-Bard theory | the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion |
| two-factor theory | Schachter's theory that to experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal |
| feel-good-do-good phenomenon | people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood |
| subjective well-being | self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life |
| adaption-level phenomenon | our tendency to form judgements relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience |
| relative deprivation | the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself |
| behavioral medicine | an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge and applies it to health and disease |
| general adaption syndrome | Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three stages - alarm,resistance,exhaustion |
| type A | Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger prone people |
| type B | Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people |
| psychophysiological illness | any stress-related physical illness |
| lymphocytes | the two types of blood cells that are part of the body's immune system |
| biofeedback | a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state |
| psychoanalysis | the attempt to explain personality, motivation, and disorders which focuses on the influence of: early childhood experiences, unconscious motives and conflicts, and methods people use to cope with sexual and aggressive urges |
| free association | the method of exploring the unconscious by expressing thoughts and feelings exactly as they occur with as little censorship as possible |
| dream analysis | a psychoanalysts interpretations of the symbolic meaning of a client's dreams |
| conscious | what one is aware of at a particular point in time |
| preconscious | the just beneath the surface awareness that we can easily retrieve |
| unconscious | thoughts, desires, feelings, and memories that we're largely unaware of but greatly influence behavior |
| id | a reservoir of unconscious energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operates on the pleasure principal that demands immediate gratification |
| ego | the largely conscious part of personality that mediates among the id, superego, and reality, it operates on the reality principal satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain |
| superego | the representation of internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement and for future aspirations |
| psychosexual stages | childhood stages of development (oral,anal,phallic,latency,genital) during which the id's pleasure seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones |
| oedipus complex | according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father |
| identification | the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos |
| fixation | according to freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved. |
| defense mechanism | in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective method of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distoring reality |
| repression | in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from conciousness |
| regression | a defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage |
| reaction formation | a defense mechanism where the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites |
| projection | a defense mechanism where people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others |
| rationalization | a defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions |
| displacement | a defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person |
| projective test | a personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics |
| thematic apperception test (TAT) | a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through stories they make up about ambiguous scenes |
| collective unconscious | Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history |
| unconditional positive regard | according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person |
| minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) | the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests, originally developed to identify emotional disorders |
| empirically derived test | a test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups |
| reciprocal determinism | the interacting influences between personality and environmental factors |
| external locus of control | the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one's personal control determine one's fate |
| internal locus of control | the perception that one controls one's own fate |
| terror-management theory | the theory that faith in one's worldview and the pursuit of self-esteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death |
| psychological disorder | a harmful dysfunction in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing, maladaptive, and unjustifiable |
| medical model | the concept that diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and sometimes cured |
| neurotic disorder | a psychological disorder that is usually distressing but that allows one to think rationally and function socially |
| psychotic disorder | a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions |
| psychopathology | the scientific study of the origins, symptoms, and development of psychological disorders |
| anxiety disorder | a psychological disorder characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety |
| generalized anxiety disorder | an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal |
| panic disorder | an anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations |
| phobia | an anxiety disorder marked by persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation |
| obsessive-compulsive disorder | an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and/or actions |
| mood disorder | a disorder characterized by emotional extremes |
| major depressive disorder | a mood disorder where a person, for no apparent reason, experiences two or more weeks of depressed moods |
| manic episode | a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state |
| bipolar disorder | a mood disorder where a person alternates between depression and a manic state |
| dissociative disorder | a mood disorder where conscious awareness become separated from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings |
| dissociative identity disorder | a rare mood disorder where a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities |
| schizophrenia | a group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions |
| personality disorder | a psychological disorder characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning |
| antisocial personality disorder | a psychological disorder where a person exhibits a lack of conscious for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members |
| psychotherapy | an emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers from psychological difficulties |
| resistance | in psychoanalysis the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material |
| transference | in psychoanalysis the patients transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships |
| client-centered therapy | by Carl Rogers, the therapists use of techniques like active listening with a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment for clients |
| behavior therapy | a type of therapy that applies learning principals to the elimination of unwanted behaviors |
| counterconditioning | a behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors |
| exposure therapy | a behavioral therapy technique that treats anxieties by exposing people to things they fear |
| systematic desensitization | a type of counterconditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli |
| aversive conditioning | a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state with unwanted behavior |
| cognitive therapy | a type of therapy that teaches people a new, more adaptive way of thinking and acting |
| psychopharmacology | the study of the effects if drugs on the mind and behavior |
| lithium | a chemical that provides an effective drug therapy for the moods swings of bipolar disorders |
| electroconvulsive therapy | a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient |
| psychosurgery | a surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior |
| social psychology | the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another |
| attribution theory | the tendency to give a causal explanation for someone's behavior often by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition |
| fundamental attribution error | the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition |
| foot-in-the-door phenomenon | the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a large request |
| cognitive dissonance theory | the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent |
| defense attribution | the tendency to blame victims for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way |
| informational social influence | influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality |
| social facilitation | improved performance of tasks in the presence of others; occurs with simple or well-learned tasks |
| social loafing | people in a group exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward a common goal then when individually accountable |
| deindividuation | the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity |
| group polarization | the enhancement of a group's prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group |
| groupthink | a mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives |
| normative social influence | behavior that is motivated by the desire to gain social acceptance and approval |
| obedience | a from of compliance that occurs when people follow direct commands usually from someone in a position of authority |
| ingroup | "us" people with whom one shares a common identity |
| outgroup | "them" those perceived as different or apart from the ingroup |
| ingroup bias | the tendency to favor one's own group |
| just-world phenomenon | the tendency of people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get |
| social trap | a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior |
| mere exposure effect | the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them |
| social inequalities | those with wealth and power develop attitudes that justify things as they are |
| bystander effect | the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present |
| social exchange theory | the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs |
| superordinate goals | shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation |
| GRIT | a strategy designed to decrease international tensions |
| mirror-image perceptions | when two conflicting groups share the same negative view of one another |
| matching hypothesis | men and women of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other as partners |
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