| Term | Definition |
|---|
| psychology | the scientific study of behavior and mental processes |
| behavior | observable and measurable actions of people and animals |
| cognitive activity | private, unobservable mental processes such as sensation, perception, thought, and problem solving |
| theory | a set of assumptions about why something is the way it is and happens the way it does |
| basic research | research that is conducted for its own sake, without seeking a solution to a specific problem |
| introspection | an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings |
| structuralism | the school of psychology, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, that maintains that conscious experience breaks down into objective sensations and subjective feelings |
| functionalism | the school of psychology, founded by William James, that emphasizes the purposes of behavior and mental processes |
| behaviorism | the school of psychology, founded by John B. Watson, that defines psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior |
| Gestalt psychology | the school of psychology that emphasizes the tendency to organize perceptions into meaningful wholes |
| psychoanalysis | the school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior |
| biological perspective | the psychological perspective that emphasizes the influence of biology on behavior |
| cognitive perspective | the point of view that emphasizes the role of thought processes in determining behavior |
| humanistic perspective | the psychological view that assumes the existence of the self and emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and the freedom to make choices |
| psychoanalytic perspective | the perspective that emphasizes the influence of unconscious forces in behavior |
| learning perspective | the psychological point of view that emphasizes the effects of experience on behavior |
| social-learning perspective | the theory that suggests that people have the ability to change their environments or create new ones |
| sociocultural perspective | in psychology, the perspective that focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in personality formation, behavior, and mental processes |
| goals of psychology | observe, describe, explain, predict, and control behavior and mental processes |
| clinical psychologist | a psychologist trained to deal with serious mental illness; they do psychological testing, psychotherapy, and conduct research |
| counseling psychologist | a psychologist who helps people with day to day types of problems |
| psychiatrist | a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders; can prescribe medication |
| school psychologist | a psychologist who helps students with problems that interfere with learning |
| sports psychologist | a psychologist who helps athletes improve their performance using techniques like relaxation and visualization |
| forensic psychologist | a psychologist who works in the legal system |
| consumer psychologist | a psychologist who studies the behavior of consumers |
| social psychologist | a psychologist who studies how people and social situations affect the individual person |
| developmental psychologist | a psychologist who studies how people change throughout their lives |
| Wilhelm Wundt | founder of structuralism |
| William James | founder of functionalism |
| Sigmund Freud | founder of psychoanalysis |
| John B. Watson | founder of behaviorism |
| B.F. Skinner | psychologist who studied the effects of rewards and punishments on behavior |
| Socrates | Greek philosopher who said, "Know thyself" |
| Hippocrates | Greek physician who said that abnormal behavior is linked to abnormalities in the brain |
| Aristotle | Greek philosopher who wrote Peri Psyches (About the Mind) |
| Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler | the founders of Gestalt psychology |
| consciousness | awareness of things inside you and outside you |
| construct | Something that we can't directly see or measure |
| altered state of consciousness | a state of awareness that is not regular, waking consciousness |
| circadian rhythms | Biological rhythms that change over a 24-hour period |
| EEG | Measures electrical activity in brain (brain waves) |
| frequency | how fast a brain wave is |
| amplitude | how large a brain wave is |
| Stage 1 sleep | the lightest stage of sleep |
| Stage 2 sleep | stage of sleep a little deeper than stage 1 |
| Stages 3 & 4 sleep | deep sleep; difficult to wake person; often disoriented if wake up; talking and walking in sleep happen here |
| NREM sleep | non-REM sleep; includes sleep stages 1-4 |
| rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep | sleep that features vivid, long-lasting dreams; similar to being awake; irregular breathing, heart rate; difficult to awaken from; body "paralyzed" |
| sleep debt | lost sleep must be "paid back" |
| reasons we sleep | REM sleep important for memory; restorative; fight infection; deal with stress |
| narcolepsy | a sleep disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable episodes of REM sleep |
| sleep apnea | a sleep disorder characterized by temporary breathing stoppages during sleep and repeated awakenings |
| sleepwalking | walking while in stage 3 or 4 of sleep (i.e., deep sleep) |
| night terror | a sleep disorder characterized by terror and physical arousal; unlike nightmares, night terrors are not usually remembered |
| insomnia | the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep |
| dream | state of consciousness that occurs during sleep |
| lucid dream | a dream in which the dreamer is aware that he/she is dreaming |
| manifest content | according to Sigmund Freud, the part of a dream that is remembered, the "story" of the dream |
| latent content | according to Sigmund Freud, the hidden meaning of a dream |
| dreamwork | the ways in which the mind hides the true meaning of a dream |
| condensation | combining different dream ideas and images into single image |
| displacement | disturbing image or idea is replaced by something related but less disturbing |
| purpose of a dream according to Freud | to fulfill unacceptable wishes |
| purpose of a dream according to Jung | make sense of day's activities; express unconscious urges; predict future |
| collective unconscious | the shared unconscious images and ideas passed down through human history from our ancestors |
| activation-synthesis theory | a biological theory of dreams that states that neurons in brain stem fire randomly, activate higher areas ; then higher areas try to make sense of what's going on |
| cognitive theory of dreams | dreams show same kind of thinking people do when awake, and is a type of "mental housekeeping" |
| preconscious | according to Freud, the part of the mind that is not currently in consciousness, but could be made conscious with a little effort; includes memories and stored knowledge |
| conscious | according to Freud, the part if the mind that contains what a person is currently aware of |
| unconscious | according to Freud, the part of the mind holding information that a person is not aware of; contains unacceptable wishes, immoral urges, shameful experiences, etc. |
| psychological disorder | behavior patterns or mental processes that cause serious personal suffering or interfere with one's ability to cope with daily life |
| maladaptive | interfering with the ability to cope in daily life |
| culture-bound syndrome | a pattern of abnormal behavior recognized in specific cultures that may or may not be linked to an official category of psychological disorder |
| anxiety | a general state of dread or uneasiness that occurs in response to a vague or imagined danger |
| phobia | fear (from the Greek word for fear "phobos") |
| specific phobia (simple phobia) | an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation |
| social phobia | fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated by other people |
| panic attack | an episode of intense fear or discomfort accompanied by physical and psychological symptoms such as dizziness, breathing difficulties, chest pain, fear of impending doom, etc. |
| agoraphobia | fear of being in places in which escape may be difficult or impossible |
| obsession | Unwanted thought that a person can't stop thinking about |
| compulsion | Ritualistic behavior that person feels they must do |
| post-traumatic stress disorder | extreme anxiety after event that almost anyone would find stressful |
| mood | long-lasting emotion that affects how one perceives the world |
| depression | feelings of sadness, helplessness, guilt, worthlessness, and hopelessness; the "common cold" of serious mental illness |
| mania | state characterized by excessive elation, irritability, talkativeness, inflated self-esteem, and expansiveness |
| atypical | statistically uncommon |
| socially unacceptable | society's "rules" discourage it |
| DSM-IV-TR | Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; used to diagnose mental disorders |
| obsessive-compulsive disorder | disorder that features either obsessions, compulsions, or both |
| major depressive disorder | a mood disorder in which a person, for no apparent reason, experiences two or more weeks of depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminishes interest or pleasure in most activities |
| delusions | false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders |
| schizophrenia | a group of disorders marked by lack of reality testing, and disturbances in thought, perception, language, behavior, and emotions |
| psychotic | inability to reliably determine reality from imaginary |
| paranoid schizophrenia | type of schizophrenia characterized by hallucinations and delusions of persecution or grandeur (or both), and sometimes irrational jealousy. |
| disorganized schizophrenia | type of schizophrenia characterized by disturbed thought and language processes, disorgananized behavior, and inappropriate emotions |
| undifferentiated schizophrenia | mixture of symptoms and does not meet the diagnostic criteria for any one type of schizophrenia |
| bipolar disorder | a mood disorder characterized by episodes of mania and depression |
| personality disorders | Ongoing pattern of inner experience and behavior that differs from cultural expectations |
| seasonal affective disorder | symptoms of major depression during fall and winter |
| hallucinations | false sensory perceptions |
| loose associations | thoughts are unrelated |
| poverty of content | using many words, but conveying little meaning |
| clanging | using words together only because they rhyme or sound similar |
| word salad | language is so jumbled that it makes no sense |
| negative symptoms | an absence of certain normal behaviors |
| catatonic rigidity | abnormal stiffness of the arms and/or legs |
| catatonic posturing | holding an odd position for long periods of time |
| catatonic stupor | symptom of schizophrenia marked by inability to move or react to the environment. |
Combine with other sets
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