psych test 2

critical period

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development is called

autism spectrum disorder

Deficient social interaction and an impaired understanding of another person's state of mind are MOST characteristic of

sensory adaption

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant, stimulation

They forgot all of their classmates

Imagine that 10-year-old children were shown photographs of 3-year-old preschoolers and asked to spot former classmates. What were the probable results?

egocentrism

In Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view is called

Conservation

Piagets theory of Cognitive development, the logical principle that rearranging the form or appearance of objects doesn't necessarily change the amount or number of objects

2

Rebecca and John took their daughter to Disney World. When they asked her two years later if she remembered going, she answered No. Their daughter was probably _____ at the time of the trip to Disney World?

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

webers law

The principle that, to be perceived as a diff, two stimuli must differ by a constant min percentage

sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Top-dow processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

nourishment

or many years, psychologists thought that _____ was a major key to attachment until an accidental discovery by psychologists Harry and Margaret Harlow overturned this assumption.

harlow

This famous experiment by Harry and Margaret _____ involved raising monkeys with two artificial mothers

assimilation

When a child interprets a new experience in terms of an existing schema, this is known as _____.

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

autism spectrum disorder

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interactions

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Temperament

a persons characteristics emotional reactivity and intensity

cognition

all t he mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

attachment

an emotional tie with another person

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up the the brains integration of sensory information

Subliminal

below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness

maturation

biological processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience

sensorimotor stage

birth - 2 infants know he world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another. in sensations, the transformation of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smell, and neural impulses our brain can interpret

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Absolute threshold

the min stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

difference threshold

the minimum diff btw two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable diff

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form a strong attachments during early life

Perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to cognize meaningful objects and events

preoperational stage

the stage 2-6 during which a child learns to use a language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic