Ap Psych Flashcards 8-13

Terms in this set (198)

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

a 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 (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

hierarchy of needs

Maslow's 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

the 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.

the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight.

basal metabolic rate

the body's resting rate of energy expenditure

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise

binge-eating disorder

significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging, fasting, or excessive exercise that marks bulimia nervosa.

sexual response cycle

The four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson - excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution

refractory period

a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm

sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females that by males. In nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promotion sexual receptivity.

the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

sexual orientation

an enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one's own sex or the other sex

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience

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 (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

two-factor theory

Schachter's theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion

facial feedback

the effect of facial expressions on experienced emotions, as when a facial expression of anger or happiness intensifies feelings of anger or happiness

emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life.

adaptation-level phenomenon

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) 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 that knowledge to health and disease

health psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Seyle's concept that the body responds to stress with alarm, resistance and exhaustion

coronary heart disease

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries

Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people

psychophysiological illness

Literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches.

psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health.

the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.

Automatic processing

refers to our unconscious encoding of incidental information such as space,time, and frequency, and of well-learned information.

is the memory technique of organizing material into familiar, meaningful units.

is the false sense that you have already experienced a current situation.

is the momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, lasting about 3 or 4 seconds.

Effortful processing

is encoding that requires attention and some degree of conscious effort

the first step in memory; information is translated into some form that enables it to enter our memory system.

Explicit memories

are memories of facts, including names, images and events. They are also called declarative memories.

Flashbulb memory

an unusually vivid memory of an emotionally important moment in one's life.

is a neural region within the limbic system that is important in the processing of explicit memories for storage.

is the visual sensory memory consisting of a perfect photographic memory, which lasts no more than a few tenths of a second.

refers to mental pictures and can be an important aid to effortful processing.

Implicit memories

are memories of skills, preferences and dispositions. These memories are evidently processed, not by the hippocampus, but by a more primitive part of the brain, the cerebellum. They are also called procedural or nondeclarative memories.

Long-term memory

is the relatively permanent and unlimited capacity memory system into which information from short-term memory may pass.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

is an increase in a synapse's firing potential following brief, rapid stimulation. LTP is believed to be the neural basis for learning and memory.

the persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information

misinformation effect

is the tendency of eyewitnesses to an event to incorporate misleading information about the event into their memories. At the heart of many false memories, source amnesia refers to misattributing an event to the wrong source.

are memory aids (the method of loci,acronyms, peg-words, etc.), which often use visual imagery.

memory is the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood.

is the activation, often unconscious, of a web of associations in memory in order to retrieve a specific memory.

Proactive interference

is the disruptive effect of something you already have learned on your efforts to learn or recall new information.

is a measure of retention in which the person must remember, with few retrieval cues, information learned earlier.

is a measure of retention in which one need only identify, rather than recall, previously learned information.

is the conscious, effortful repetition of information that you are trying either to maintain in consciousness or to encode for storage.

is also a measure of retention in that the less time it takes to relearn information, the more that information has been retained.

is an example of motivated forgetting in that painful and unacceptable memories are prevented from entering consciousness.

is the process of bringing to consciousness information from memory storage.

Retroactive interference

is the disruptive effect of something recently learned on old knowledge.

Semantic encoding

is the processing of information into memory according to its meaning.

is the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Serial position effect

is the tendency for items at the beginning and end of a list to be more easily retained than those in the middle.

Short-term memory

is conscious memory, which can hold about seven items for a short time; also called working memory.

is the tendency for distributed practice to yield better long-term retention than massed practice, or cramming.

is the passive process by which encoded information is maintained over time.

Visual encoding

is the use of imagery to process information into memory.

acoustic encoding

the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

a newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from longterm memory.

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

free association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

reservoir of our most primitive impulses, including sex and aggression

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

pyschosexual stages

the childhood stages of development 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

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos

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 methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

reaction formation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

rationalization

defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

In psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism by which people rechannel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities

defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities

collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history

projective test

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, 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 the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach inkblot test

the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Roschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

terror-management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

self-actualization

according to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

unconditional positive regard

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "who am I?"

a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

personality inventory

a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes.

empirically derived test

a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

social-cognitive perspective

views behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context

reciprocal determination

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

personal control

the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless

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

positive psychology

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

spotlight effect

overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our apperance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)

one's feelings of high or low self-worth

self-serving bias

a readliness to perceive oneself favorably

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals, and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

general intelligence

a general intelligence factor that according to Spearman and others underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one's total score

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test

intelligence quotient

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

achievement tests

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

standardization

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested standardization group

the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

content validity

The extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.

predictive validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.

Intellectual disability

(formerly referred to as mental retardation) a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound

a condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup

stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

psychological disorder

deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional behavior patterns

attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

the concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital

the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, with an updated "text revision"; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

anxiety disorders

psychological disorders 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

an anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations

an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation

obsessive-compulsive disorder

An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsession) and/ or actions (compulsions).

post-traumatic stress disorder

an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience

post-traumatic growth

positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises

somatoform disorder

psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause

conversion disorder

a rare somatoform disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found

hypochondriasis

a somatoform disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease

dissociative disorders

disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings

dissociative identity disorder (DID)

a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Also called multiple personality disorder.

psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes. See major depressive disorder, mania, and bipolar disorder.

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

a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state

bipolar disorder

a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania

a group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions

false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders

personality disorders

psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning

antisocial personality disorders

a personality disorder in which the person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members. May be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.

eclectic approach

an approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy

treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

Freud's theory of personality and therapeutic technique Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the therapist's interpretations of them—released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 597)

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material

in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors in order to promote insight

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent).

psychodynamic therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight

insight therapies

a variety of therapies which aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing the client's awareness of underlying motives and defenses

client-centered therapy

A humanistic therapy based on Carl Roger's beliefs that an individual has an unlimited capacity for psychological growth and will continue to grow unless barriers are placed in the way.

active listening

empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy.

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed to be conducive to developing self-awareness and self-acceptance.

behavior therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors

counterconditioning

a behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors; based on classical conditioning. Includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning.

exposure therapies

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid

systematic desensitization

a type of counterconditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli

virtual reality exposure therapy

an anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

aversive conditioning

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats.

cognitive therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

cognitive-behavioral therapy

a popular integrated therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

therapy that treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

regression towards the mean

the tendency for extremes of unusual scores to fall back (regress) toward their average.

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

evidence-based practice

clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences

biomedical therapy

prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

antipsychotic drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder

tardive dyskinesia

involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and limbs; a possible neurotoxic side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs that target D2 dopamine receptors

antianxiety drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety; different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity

surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior.

a now-rare psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. the procedure cut the nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

the personal strength that helps most people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma

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