CSCC Psychology 1100 Final Exam

________ __________ involves changes that occur with age in people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding the principles and values that guide them as they interact with others. Kohlberg proposed a cognitive-developmental theory of ______ _________ with three levels (preconventional, conventional, and postconventional)

Moral development

The force that moves people to behave, think, and feel the way they do.

Motivation

A parenting style that is characterized by the lack of parental involvement in the child's life

Neglectful style parenting

The nerve cells that handle the information-processing function.

Neurons

Chemical substances that are stored in tiny sacs inside neuron's terminal buttons and are involved in transmitting information across the synaptic gap to the next neuron.

Neurotransmitters

A ____ stimulus is a stimulus which initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention.

Neutral stiumulus

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve, with a majority of the scores falling in the middle of the possible range and few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range.

Normal distribution

The part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body

Parasympathetic nervous system

Can write perscriptions

Psychiatrist

The ways that infants use their caregiver, usually their mother, as a secure base from which to explore the environnment

Secure attachment

Rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior

Shaping

Limited capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only 30 sec unless strategies are used to retain it longer

Short-term memory

Freudian structure of personality that serves as the harsh internal judge of an individual's behavior; what is often referred to as conscience.

Superego

The idea that intelligence captures a common general ability that is reflected in performance on various cognitive tests was introduced by (who?); he noted that schoolchildren who did well in math also did well in reading, and he came up with the idea that intelligence is a general ability. This view of intelligence suggests that (this concept) underlies performance in a variety of areas, whether it is mathematics, verbal ability, or abstract reasoning. It essentially assumes that the intelligent person is a jack-of-all-cognitive trades.

Spearman's theory of General Intelligence (G)

Experiment that showed that once we assign people to a role, they begin to behave differently and lose their individuality and become almost stereotypical, following the role they're placed into

Stanford Prison Experiment

A _______ is a generalization about a group's characteristics that does not consider any variations from one individual to another.

Stereotype

__________ ______ is an individual's fast-acting, self-fulfilling fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about his or her group

Stereotype threat

Sterberg's theory that intelligence comes in three forms: analytical, creative, and practical

Sternberg's Triarchic theory of successful intelligence

Psychoactive drugs, including caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine, that increase the central nervous system's activity.

Stimulants

The retention of information over time and how this information is represented in memory

Storage

Response to environmental stressors; circumstances and events that threaten individuals and tax their coping abilities

Stress

A ________ is any event, experience, or environmental stimulus that causes stress in an individual.

Stressors

In sleep stage __ drowsy sleep, jerking movement, very relaxed body

1

In stage __ muscle activity decreases, and the person is no longer consciously aware of the environment

2

Stages __ and __ of sleep are characterized by delta waves, the slowest and highest-amplitude brain waves during sleep.

3 and 4

Type __ behavior pattern. They theorized that a cluster of characteristics—being excessively competitive, hard-driven, impatient, and hostile—is related to the incidence of heart disease.

A

One of the most common psychological disorders of childhood, in which individuals show one or more of the following: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

ADHD

Deviant, maladaptive, or personally distressful over a relatively long period of time. Only one of these criteria needs to be present for a behavior to be labeled "abnormal," but typically two or all three are present.

Abnormal behavior

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect

Absolute threshold

An individuals adjustment of her schemas to new information

Accomodation

Social behavior whose objective is to harm someone, either physically or verbally

Aggression

Strategies- including formulas, instructions, and testing of all possible solutions- that guarantees a solution to a problem

Algorithms

Giving to another person with the ultimate goal of benefiting that person, even if it incurs a cost to oneself.

Altruism

Involved in the discrimination of objects that are necessary for the organism's survival, such as appropriate food, mates, and social roles; Senses and interprets threats in surrounding environment.

Amygdala

Eating disorder that involves the relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation

Anorexia Nervosa

________ disorders involve fears that are uncontrollable, disproportionate to the actual danger the person might be in, and disruptive of ordinary life. ______: Disabling psychological disorders that feature motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations and thoughts

Anxiety

Experiment that tested influence and conformity, in which everyone says one thing though it goes against reality, to test if the control would change their answer and conform to the group consensus. Identified factors that influence whether a person will yield to pressure

Asch experiment

An individuals incorporation of new information into existing knowledge

Assimilation

An individuals opinions and beliefs about people, objects, and ideas- how the person feels about the world

Attitudes

A restrictive, punitive parenting style in which the parent exhorts the child to follow the parents directions and to value hard work and effort

Authoritarian style parenting

A parenting style that encourages the child to be independent but that still places limits and controls on behavior

Authoritative style parenting

The body system that takes messages to and from the body's internal organs, monitoring such processes as breathing, heart rate, and digestion

Autonomic nervous system

A prediction about the probability of an event based on the ease of recalling or imagining similar events

Availability heuristic/ bias

The part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells.

Axon

The healthier group, who were typically relaxed and easygoing, the Type __ behavior pattern.

B

The ___________ approach emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants. It focuses on an organism's visible behaviors, not thoughts or feelings.

Behavioral

Therapy with principles of learning to produce or eliminate maladaptive behavior... treats symptoms and behaviors, not the root

Behavioral therapy

Some psychologists examine behavior and mental processes through the ___________ approach, which is a focus on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.

Biological

________ Therapies, also called biomedical therapies; treatments that reduce of eliminate the symptoms of psychological disorders by altering aspects of body functioning.

Biological therapy

The (BPS) model incorporates interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors to help determine why an individual might suffer from a disorder.

Biopsychosocial model

The stemlike brain area that includes much of the hindbrain. Basic life support functions; sleeping, eating, breathing, body temperature regulation. Injury to this area can kill you!

Brainstem

Eating disorder in which an individual consistently follows a binge-and-purge eating pattern

Bulimia Nervosa

Tendency for an individual to be less likely to help in an emergency when others are present

Bystander effect

The proposition that emotion and physiological reactions occur simultaneously

Cannon-bard theory

A _____ ______ is an in-depth look at a single individual.

Case study

The part of the neuron that contains the nucleus, which directs the manufacture of substances that the neuron needs for growth and maintenance.

Cell body

The network of nerves that connects to the brain and spinal cord

Central nervous system

Associated with balance and fine motor movements

Cerebellum

The __________ is important for practiced movement

Cerebellum

Part of the forebrain (outer layer) responsible for most complex mental functions, such as thinking and planning.

Cerebral cortex

What theory is this and who made it?; According to (this man) and many other language experts, the strongest evidence for language's biological basis is the fact that children all over the world reach language milestones at about the same time and in about the same order, despite vast variations in the language input they receive from their environments. For example, in some cultures adults never talk to infants under 1 year of age, yet these infants still acquire language. He proposed some ideas that were new ways of thinking about language: the theory of universal grammar, the idea that language is innate and the notion that language acquisition occurs during critical development stages.

Chomsky's language acquisition theory

________ ________ are daily behavioral or physiological cycles. Daily ________ ________ involve the sleep/wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level

Circadian rhythms

Learning process in which an neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response

Classical conditioning

The _________ approach emphasizes the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.

Cognitive

_______ __________ is the psychological discomfort caused by two inconsistent thoughts. According to the theory, we feel uneasy when we notice an inconsistency between what we believe and what we do.

Cognitive dissonance

A therapy that combines cognitive and behavior therapy with the goal of developing the client's self-efficacy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

A mental category that is used to group objects, events, and characteristics

Concept

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after a conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairing.

Conditioned response

A previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus

Part of the retina that allow for color perception (day vision)

Cones

The tendency to search for and use information that supports one's ideas rather than refutes them

Confirmation bias

A change in a person's behavior to coincide more closely with group standard

Conformity

An individual's awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal, including awareness of the self and thoughts about one's experiences.

Consciousness

What are the frontal lobes associated with?

Control of movement; Portion of the cerebral cortex behind the forebrain, involved in personality, intelligence, and the control of voluntary muscles.

_______ research is interested in discovering relationships between variables.

Correlational. The degree of relationship between two variables is expressed as a numerical value called a correlational coefficient, which is most commonly represented by the letter r. The correlation coefficient is a statistic that tells us two things about the relationship between two variables—its strength and its direction. The value of a correlation always falls between −1.00 and +1.00. The number or magnitude of the correlation tells us about the strength of the relationship. The closer the number is to ±1.00, the stronger the relationship. The sign (+ or −) tells us about the direction of the relationship between the variables. A positive sign means that as one variable increases, the other also increases, or as one decreases the other does as well. When variables are positively correlated, they change in the same direction. A negative sign means that as one variable increases, the other decreases. Negatively correlated variables change together but do so in the opposite direction. A zero correlation means that there is no systematic relationship between the variables.

There has been increased interest in the Type ___ behavior pattern, which describes individuals who are generally distressed, frequently experience negative emotions, and are socially inhibited. Even after adjustment for depression, Type ___ individuals face a threefold increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes

D

Book of psychological disorders that is the major classification system used in the US.

DSM-5

Theory stating that when an individual learns something new, a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates; suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting

Decay

The mental activity of evaluating alternatives and choosing among them

Decision making

Tactics the ego uses to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Defense mechanisms

The reduction in personal identity and erosion of the sense of personal responsibility when one is part of a group

Deindividuation

False, unusual, and sometimes magical beliefs that are not part of an individuals culture.

Delusion

Treelike fibers projecting from a neuron, which receive information and orient it toward the neuron's cell body.

Dendrites

The outcome; the factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independent variable

Dependent variable

Psychoactive drugs that slow down mental and physical activity.

Depressants

__________ research involves finding out about the basic dimensions of some variable.

Descriptive

The pattern of continuity and change in human capabilities that occurs throughout life, involving both growth and decline

Development

Behavior that deviates from what is acceptable in a culture

Deviance

Suggests that preexisting conditions (such as genetic characteristics, personality dispositions, or experiences) may put a person at risk of developing a psychological disorder. This vulnerability in combination with stressful experiences can lead to a psychological disorder.

Diathesis-stress model

The degree of difference that must exist between TWO stimuli before the difference is detected

Difference threshold

The perception that OTHERS can or should do something, rather than us

Diffusion of responsibility

An unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group

Discrimination

This disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder, is the most dramatic, least common, and most controversial dissociative disorder. Individuals with this disorder have two or more distinct personalities or identities. Each identity has its own memories, behaviors, and relationships. One identity dominates at one time, another takes over at another time.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Behavior in which the person engaging in the behavior finds it troubling.

Distress

Explains that as a drive becomes stronger, we are motivated to reduce it. The goal of _____ _________ is homeostasis, the body's tendency to maintain an equilibrium, or steady state. Most psychologists believe that _____ ___________ theory does not provide a comprehensive framework for understanding motivation because people often behave in ways that increase rather than reduce a drive. For example, when dieting, you might choose to skip meals, but this tactic can increase your hunger drive rather than reduce it. Similarly, many other things that you might opt to do involve increasing (not decreasing) tensions—for example, taking a challenging course in school, raising a family, and working at a difficult job.

Drive-reduction theory

Freudian structure of personality that deals with reality

Ego

Also called shock therapy, a treatment, sometimes used for depression, that sets off a seizure in the brain.

Electroconvulsive therapy

The coping strategy that involves responding to the stress that one is feeling trying to manage one.s emotional reaction- rather than focusing on the root problem itself.

Emotion-focused coping

The first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage.

Encoding

Proposed eight psychosocial stages of development from infancy through late adulthood. In calling the stages psychosocial, it is meant to emphasize how a person's psychological life is embedded in and shaped by social relationships and challenges faced by the developing person. Goes through sections of Human Life/ ages.

Erikson's psychosocial development (8 stages)

Some psychologists emphasize an __________ approach that uses evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.

Evolutionary

Motivation that involves external incentives such as rewards and punishments

Extrinsic motivation

Like other sorts of memories, may contain errors, and faulty memory in criminal matters has especially serious consequences. When ________ __________ is inaccurate, the wrong person might go to jail or even be put to death, or the perpetrator of the crime might not be prosecuted. It is important to note, however, that witnessing a crime is often traumatic for the individual, and so this type of memory typically fits in the larger category of memory for highly emotional events.

Eyewitness testimony

Looks at many factors of personality and clumps them until you have factors that encompass many others at a time; yielding 5 personality traits we all can be ranked on. (This is a trait theory)

Factor analysis

Using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a fresh new perspective

Fixation

The brain, in addition to being divided into the left and right hemispheres, can also be divided into lobes. These 4 lobes are which?

Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.

Failing to solve a problems as a result of a fixation on a things usual functions

Functional fixedness

When observers make attributions about behaviors, they often overestimate the importance of internal traits and underestimate the importance of external situations when they seek explanations of another person's behavior

Fundamental attribution error

Suggests there are nine types of intelligence, or "frames of mind." These are described here, with examples of the types of vocations in which they are reflected as strengths. Verbal: The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning. Occupations: author, journalist, speaker. Mathematical: The ability to carry out mathematical operations. Occupations: scientist, engineer, accountant. Spatial: The ability to think three-dimensionally. Occupations: architect, artist, sailor. Bodily-kinesthetic: The ability to manipulate objects and to be physically adept. Occupations: surgeon, craftsperson, dancer, athlete. Musical: The ability to be sensitive to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone. Occupations: composer, musician. Interpersonal: The ability to understand and interact effectively with others. Occupations: teacher, mental health professional. Intrapersonal: The ability to understand oneself. Occupations: theologian, psychologist. Naturalist: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and human-made systems. Occupations: farmer, botanist, ecologist, landscaper. Existentialist: The ability to grapple with the big questions of human existence, such as the meaning of life and death, with special sensitivity to issues of spirituality. Gardner has not identified an occupation for existential intelligence, but one career path would likely be philosopher.

Gardener's Multiple Intelligence's theory

The social and psychological aspects of being female and male, and the roles that reflect expectations about how females and males should think, act, and behave

Gender and gender roles

Sensory experiences that occur in the absence of real stimuli

Hallucinations

Psychoactive drugs that modify a persons perceptual experiences and produce visual images that are not real.

Hallucinogens

A personality trait characterized by a sense of commitment rather than alienation and control rather than powerlessness; a perception of problems as challenges rather than threats.

Hardiness

A subfield of psychology that emphasizes psychology's role in establishing and maintaining health and preventing and treating illness

Health Psychology

Shortcut strategies or guidelines that suggest a solution to a problem but do not guarantee an answer

Heuristics

Located at the skull's rear, the lowest portion of the brain, consisting of the brainstem, medulla, cerebellum, and pons

Hindbrain

The structure of the limbic system that has a special role in the storage of memories

Hippocampus

The _________ approach emphasizes a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose one's destiny.

Humanistic

Theoretical views stressing a person's capacity for personal growth and positive human qualities

Humanistic perspectives

Therapies that uniquely emphasize peoples self-healing capacities and that encourage clients to understand themselves and to grow personally

Humanistic therapy

The ________ monitors three pleasurable activities—eating, drinking, and sex and is a regulator for the body's internal state.

Hypothalamus

A _______ is a testable prediction that derives logically from a theory. A theory can generate many of these. If more and more _________ related to a theory turn out to be true, the theory gains in credibility.

Hypothesis

"Intelligence quotient", an individual's mental age divided by chronological age multiplied by 100 If mental age is the same as chronological age, then the individual's IQ is 100 (average); if mental age is above chronological age, the IQ is more than 100 (above average); if mental age is below chronological age, the IQ is less than 100 (below average). For example, a 6-year-old child with a mental age of 8 has an IQ of 133, whereas a 6-year-old child with a mental age of 5 has an IQ of 83.

IQ scores

A manipulated experimental factor; the variable that the experimenter changes to see what its effects are.

Independent variable

Influence because we want to be right

Informational Influence

Insight learning is a form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden insight into or understanding of a problem's solution.

Insight learning

A common sleep problem is _______, the inability to sleep. ______ can involve a problem in falling asleep, waking up during the night, or waking up too early

Insomnia

All-purpose ability to do well on cognitive tasks, to solve problems, and to learn from experience.

Intelligence

Theory that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember

Interference

The idea that the Self ("I") control the fate of what happens

Internal Locus of Control

An ________ is a data-gathering methodology that involves a standard set of questions asked in the same manner and order. For example, when doing research, you may do this instead of asking them to fill out a questionnaire.

Interview

Motivation based on internal factors such as organismic needs (competence, relatedness, autonomy), as well as curiosity, challenge, and fun

Intrinsic motivation

The theory that emotion results from physiological states triggered by stimuli in the environment. Essentially, the theory proposes that after the initial perception of a stimulus, the experience of the emotion results from the perception of one's own physiological changes (changes in heart rate, breathing, and sweating patterns, for example). In the case of the charging bull, you see the bull approaching and you run away. Your aroused body then sends sensory messages to your brain, at which point emotion is perceived. You do not run away because you are afraid; rather, you are afraid because you are running away.

James-Lange theory

Senses that provide information about movement, posture, and orientation.

Kinesthetic senses

A form of communication- whether spoken, written, or signed- that is based on a system of symbols

Language

________ learning (or implicit learning) is unreinforced learning that is not immediately reflected in behavior. _______ learning is sometimes called incidental learning because it "just happens" as a result of experience.

Latent

The organism, exposed to uncontrollable aversive stimuli, learns that it has no control over negative outcomes

Learned helplessness

A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time

Long-term memory

__________ ________ are disorders in which the individual suffers from depression, an unrelenting lack of pleasure in life.

Major depressive disorder

_________ behavior interferes with one's ability to function effectively in the world.

Maladaption

Theory that human needs must be satisfied in the following sequence: physiological needs, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

This man made a Heirachy of Needs to explain motivation, says we learn about personality by focusing on self-actualizers

Maslow's approach to Humanistic Psychology

Experiment that tested obedience, raised ethical concerns, and showed that if we want people to do bad things, we have to make them do it in small increments.

Milgram's experiment

______ _________ come in two types; unipolar and bipolar, accompanied by depression and manic episodes.

Mood disorder (Bipolar)

The cerebrum is divided into left and right hemispheres. What does the RIGHT side of the brain control?

Movements on the LEFT side of the body, also language/ speech, logic, math.

The cerebrum is divided into left and right hemispheres. What does the LEFT side of the brain control?

Movements on the RIGHT side of the body, also spacial skills (space around us), music, and art

A layer of fat cells that encase and insulates most axons

Myelin sheath

The disorder __________ involves the sudden, overpowering urge to sleep

Narcolepsy

The observation of behavior in a real-world setting.

Naturalistic observation

An individuals biological inheritance, especially her genes (nurture or nature?)

Nature

Influence because we want others to like us

Normative Influence

An individuals environmental and social experiences (nurture or nature?)

Nurture

Change in behavior in response to the command of others

Obedience

Learning that occurs when a person observes and imitates behavior

Observational learning

Features anxiety-provoking thoughts that will not go away and/or urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors to prevent or produce some future situation.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

The lining of the roof of the nasal cavity, containing a sheet of receptor cells for smell

Olfactory epithelium

A form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of the behavior's occurrence

Operant conditioning

Theory that states that cells in the visual system respond to red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue.

Opponent process theory

According to Piaget, we go through four stages in understanding the world. Each stage involves a qualitatively different way of making sense of the world than the one before it. Sensorimotor stage (object permanence, understanding the world, birth-2) Preoperational stage (thinking and word formation, 2-7) Concrete operational stage (logical reasoning, classify objects into sets, 7-11) Formal operational stage (reasoning logically and idealistically, 11-adulthood)

Paiget's Developmental Theory (4 stages)

Rounded bumps above the tongue's surface that contain the taste buds, the receptors for taste.

Papillae

Which lobe processes the sense of touch, containing the "sensory cortex"?

Parietal lobe, located on the sides of the head. Touching with right hand stimulates the left parietal lobe).

The brain gives meaning to sensation through ________. _______ is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense, starts with cognitive processing in the brain. In top-down processing we begin with some sense of what is happening (the product of our experiences) and apply that framework to incoming information from the world.

Perception (Top-down processing)

The recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input about them is changing

Perceptual constancy

The network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body

Peripheral nervous system

A parenting style characterized by the placement of few limits on the child's behavior

Permissive style parenting

A patterns of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world

Personality

Psychological disorder in which an individual has an irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation.

Phobia

The physiological need for a drug that causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms such as physical pain and a craving for the drug when it is discontinued.

Physical Dependence

_____ is the perceptual experience of the frequency of a sound, whether it is high like a whistle or low like a bass horn. We perceive high-frequency sounds as having a high ______, and low-frequency sounds as having a low ______.

Pitch

The brain's special capacity for change

Plasticity

Disorder that develops through exposure to a traumati event, a severely oppressive situation, cruel abuse, or a natural or unnatural disaster.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

An unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based to the individual's membership in a group

Prejudice

The mental process of fining an appropriate way to attain a goal when the goal is not readily available

Problem solving

The coping strategy of squarely facing ones troubles and trying to solve them

Problem-focused coping

Any behavior that benefits someone else

Prosocial behavior

A model emphasizing that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept, they compare the item with the most typical items in that category and look for a "family resemblance" with that items properties

Prototype

What factors lead to attraction?

Proximity effect (physical nearness, where we live influences who we meet), mere exposure (the more we are exposed to a stimulus the more we like it), similarity (similarity doesn't drive us toward others, rather dissimilarity drives is away from others), physical attractiveness (we are enlightened by being in the presence of beautiful people but most people find average looking people most attractive)

The __________ approach emphasizes unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives (such as the drive for sex) and society's demands, and early childhood family experiences. Practitioners of this approach believe that sexual and aggressive impulses buried deep within the unconscious mind influence the way people think, feel, and behave.

Psychodynamic

Psychological approach/ Theoretical views emphasizing that personality is primarily unconscious (beyond awareness)

Psychodynamic approach

Therapy that stresses the importance of the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences

Psychodynmaic therapy

The strong desire to repeat the use of a drug for emotional reason reasons, such as a feeling of well-being and reduction of stress.

Psychological dependence

Cannot write perscriptions

Psychologist

Study of behavior and mental processes

Psychology

Conflicts between id impulses and societies demands. If you don't resolve conflict of stages you end up with fixation (Energy stuck in a stage)

Psychosexual stages

__________ is a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur.

Punishment

An active stage of sleep during which dreaming occurs

REM Sleep

Researchers' assignment of participants to groups by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment's results will be due to preexisting differences between groups.

Random assignment

___________-- is the process by which a stimulus or event (a reinforcer) following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again. Such consequences of a behavior fall into two types, called positive and negative. Both types of consequences increase the frequency of a behavior.

Reinforcement

The extent to which a test yields a consistent, reproduceable measure of performance.

Reliability

A defense mechanism by which a person is so traumatized by an event that he or she forgets it and then forgets the act of forgetting. According to psychodynamic theory, repression's main function is to protect the individual from threatening information.

Repressed memories

A persons ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times

Resilience

The memory process that occurs when information that was retained in memory comes out of storage

Retrieval

Believed all people are born with all the ingredients for a fulfilling life, we simply need the right conditions to thrive. Also believed in unconditional positive regard.

Rodger's approach to Humanistic Psychology

Part of retina that are sensitive to light but not very useful for color vision (twilight vision)

Rods

Severe psychological disorder characterized by highly disordered thought processes; individuals suffering from ________ may be referred to as psychotic, because they are so far removed from reality.

Schizophrenia

Most of the studies psychologists publish in research journals follow the _______ ________, which may be summarized in these five steps: Observing some phenomenon Formulating hypotheses and predictions Testing through empirical research Drawing conclusions Evaluating conclusions

Scientific Method

The act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others

Selective attention

The process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy (the operation in sensation in which sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation)

Sensation (Bottom-up processing)

A change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation

Sensory adaptation

Memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory for for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses

Sensory memory

Common effects of the body when demands are placed upon it. ARE... Alarm (shock, body releases hormones affecting immune system), Resistance (body highly protected by immune system response), Exhaustion (wear and tear takes toll).

Seyle's General Adaptation Syndrome

Argued that language acquisition and development are learned behaviors. Behaviorists believe we learn by associating events, known as classical conditioning. We also learn through rewards and punishments, a process known as operant conditioning.

Skinner's language acquisition theory

______ ______ is a sleep disorder in which individuals stop breathing because the windpipe fails to open or because brain processes involved in respiration fail to work properly

Sleep apnea

Theoretical views emphasizing conscious awareness, beliefs, expectations, and goals

Social cognitive perspectives

The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people.

Social psychology

The __________ approach examines the influences of social and cultural environments on behavior.

Sociocultural

The body system consisting of the sensory nerves, whose function is to convey information from the skin and muscles to the central nervous system about conditioned such as pain and temperature, and the motor nerves, whose function is to tell muscles what to do.

Somatic nervous system

Managing taxing circumstances, expending effort to solve life's problems, and seeking to master or reduce stress.

Coping

Feeling, or affect, that can involve physiological arousal (such as a fast heartbeat), conscious experience (thinking about being in love with someone), and behavioral expression (a smile or grimace).

Emotion

The idea that the external environment/ God controls the fate of what happens

External Locus of Control

Freudian structure of personality containing the concept of "it", unconscious drives, reservoir of sexual energy and primal urges

Id

A related method that is especially useful when information from many people is needed is a ________, or questionnaire, which presents a standard set of questions, or items, to obtain people's self-reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic.

Survey. Surveys can measure only what people think about themselves. Furthermore, people do not always know the truth about themselves. If you were answering a survey that asked, "Are you a generous person?" how might your answer compare to that of a friend who is asked to make that same rating about you? One particular problem with surveys and interviews is the tendency of participants to answer questions in a way that will make them look good rather than in a way that communicates what they truly think or feel. Another challenge in survey construction is that when questionnaires are used to operationally define variables, it is crucial that the items precisely probe the specific topic of interest and not some other characteristic. The language used in surveys therefore must be clear and understandable if the responses are to reflect the participants' actual feelings.

The part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to mobilize it for action (fight or flight)

Sympathetic nervous system

Treats anxiety by teaching the client to associate deep relaxation with increasingly intense anxiety producing situations

Systematic desensitization

Brain structures central to emotion, memory, and reward processing, and houses habits and memories.

The limbic system

Which lobe is associated with vision, containing the visual cortex?

The occipital (back) lobe (Left and right lobe, left vision is right lobe, right vision is left lobe).

Which cortex processes information about body sensations and is located at the front of the parietal lobe?

The somatosensory cortex

A _______ is a broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations. They seek to explain why certain things are as they are or why they have happened, and can be used to make predictions about future observations.

Theory

The process of maniulating information mentally by forming concepts, colving problems, making decisions, and reflecting critically or creatively

Thinking

Theory stating that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Three-stage memory model (Atkinson-Shiffrin Theory)

The _____ perspective views personality as a collection of broad, enduring dispositions that lead to characteristic behaviors.

Trait

Theory stating that color is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different, but overlapping, wavelengths.

Trichromatic theory

Schacter's theory that emotion is determined by two factors- physiological arousal and cognitive labeling. We look to the external world for an explanation of why we are aroused. We interpret external cues and label the emotion. For example, if you feel good after someone has made a pleasant comment to you, you might label the emotion "happy." If you feel bad after you have done something wrong, you may label the feeling "guilty."

Two-factor theory of emotion

An unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned response

A stimulus that produces a response without prior learning

Unconditioned stimulus

According to Freud, a reservoir of unacceptable feelings, wishes, and thoughts that are beyond conscious awareness.

Unconscious thought/ processing

Extensive research has examined __________ __________ expressions and the ability of people from different cultures accurately to label the emotion that lies behind facial expressions. Paul Ekman's careful observations reveal that the many faces of emotion do not differ significantly from one culture to another

Universal facial

The soundness of the conclusions that a researcher draws from an experiment. In the realm f testing, the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Validity

The soundness of the conclusions that a researcher draws from an experiment. In the realm of testing, the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Validity

A ________ is anything that can change

Variable

Senses that provide information about balance and movement

Vestibular senses

Motor cortex controls what kind of movement?

Voluntary

______ determines the sound wave's frequency, that is, the number of cycles (full ________) that pass through a point in a given time interval.

Wavelength

A combination of components including short-term memory and attention, that allow individuals to hold information temporarily as they preform cognitive tasks; a kind of mental workbench on which the brain manipulates and assembles information to guide understanding, decision making, and problem solving.

Working memory