AP Psychology Coach Watson AP Exam Vocabulary Study Guide

Client Centered Therapy

(Carl Rodgers) Respect between therapist and client. Acceptance, understanding, trust.

Psychoanalysis

(Freud) Mental activity is unconscious, and understanding people requires interpreting unconscious meaning underling behavior.

Superego

, the moral component of the personality that represents parental and societal standards and determines personal standards of right and wrong, or conscience, as well as aims and aspirations

glucose

. a soluble sugar, abundant in nature, that is a major source of energy for body tissues. The brain relies almost exclusively on glucose for its energy needs.

Mental Set

. a temporary readiness to perform certain psychological functions that influences the response to a situation or stimulus, such as the tendency to apply a previously successful technique in solving a new problem. It is often determined by instructions but need not be. Essentially synonymous with the older term Einstellung, mental set is the embodiment of the earlier concepts of Aufgabe and determining tendency.

encoding failure

1. the conversion of a sensory input into a form capable of being processed and deposited in memory. encoding is the first stage of memory processing 2. in communications, the conversion of messages or data into codes or signals capable of being carried by a communication channel

Sensorimotor Stage

1st stage in Piaget's theory. Birth-2years. Development of sensory and motor processes and babies first info of the world.

Preoperational Stage

2nd major period in Jean Piaget theory. 2-7years old. Child can record experiences in a symbolic fashion and represent an object, event, feeling in speech, movement, drawing.

plateau phase

2nd phase of sex cycle

Trichromatic theory of colour perceptiion

3 types of cones: red, green, blue; all colours are percieved as varius shades of this

orgasm phase

3rd phase of sex cycle

Opponent process theory:

4 primary colours: red, green, blue, yellow, colours are arranged in pairs and when one pair is activated, the other is not

Concrete Operational Stage

7-12 years old. Kids can decenter perception, are less egocentric, can think logically, about objects and situations.

Galvanic skin response

A change in the electrical properties of the skin in reaction to stimuli owing to the activity of sweat gland located in fingers and palms

Emotion

A complex reaction pattern involving experimental, behavioral, and psychological elements, by which an individual attempts to deal with a personally significant matter or event

Polygraph

A device that measures and records several physiological indicators of stress such as heart rate, blood pressure, and galvanic skin response

Conversion Disorder

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

Formal Concepts

A formal concept is an idea or category defined by a concrete or specific set of rules, guidelines, or properties. For a concept to be considered a formal concept then it must meet all of the guidelines and rules required to fit the concept or it is not included in the category.

Drive

A generalized state of readiness precipitating or motivating an activity or course of action

Morphemes

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful lexical item in a language. A morpheme is not a word. The difference between a morpheme and a word is that a morpheme sometimes does not stand alone, but a word on this definition always stands alone. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology

Natural Concepts

A natural concept is a mental representation of events or objects drawn from personal experience, because of this ability to create a mental representation, kind of like a mental blueprint, we are able to perform previously learned tasks (like tying shoes) without needing instructions each time.

Refractory period

A period of inactivity after a neuron or muscle cell has undergone excitation

Display rules

A socially learned standard that regulates the expression of emotion

Glucose

A soluble sugar, abundant in nature, that is a major source of energy for body tissues

Body mass index (BMI)

A widely used measure of adiposity or bestie based on the following formula: weight divided by height squared

Stimulus Discrimination

Ability to distinguish different stimuli and respond differently to them.

Learning

Acquisition of info, behavior, abilities, after practice/observation, shown by permeant change in behavior/brain function.

Observational Learning

Acquisition of info, skills, behavior through watching others (also called vicarious learning).

Accommodation

Adjustment/modification. (Jean Piaget).

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Adverse of infant health affects associated with heavy maternal alcohol intake during pregnancy.

Teratogens

Agent that includes developmental abnormalities in a fetus.

Alfred Binet

Alfred Binet, born Alfredo Binetti, was a French psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test, the Binet-Simon test.

leon festigner

American social psychologist, perhaps best known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory

Incentive

An external stimulus such as a condition or an object that enhances or serves as a motive for behavior

self-efficacy

An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.

S-Factor

An s-factor score represents a person's ability within one particular area. Put all the s-factors together, and you get the g-factor. Commonly measured s-factors of intelligence include memory, attention and concentration, verbal comprehension, vocabulary, spatial skills, and abstract reasoning

Panic Disorder

Anxiety disorder characterized by unexpected panic attacks caused by fear of having attack.

Social motives

Any motive acquired as a result of interaction with others

Androgens

Any of a class of steroid hormones that act as the principal may sex hormones, major one being testosterone

Estrogens

Any of a class of steroid hormones that are produced mainly by the ovaries and act as the principle female sex hormones

Bipolar Disorder

Any of a group of disorders where symptoms of mania and depression alternate.

Partial Reinforcement

Any pattern of reinforcement where only some responses are reinforced.

Erotic material

Any pictorial or three dimensional material depicting human sexual intercourse

Behavior Therapy

Applies principles of learning operant conditioning, and classical conditioning, to eliminate symptoms and modify maladaptive behavior.

solomon asch

Asch is best known for his conformity experiments. His main finding was that peer pressure can change opinion and even perception

John Atkinson

Atkinson was a leader in establishing motivation as a distinct field of study in psychology research. His belief that scientific progress came from conceptual breakthroughs fueled his formulation and reformulation of a theory of motivation.

alfred adler

Austrian physician and psychiatrist who is best-known for forming the school of thought known as individual psychology. He is also remembered for his concepts of the inferiority feeling and inferiority complex, which he believed played a major part in the formation of personality

Sigmund Freud

Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis.

fritz heider

Austrian psychologist whose work was related to the Gestalt school. In 1958 he published The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, which expanded upon his creations of balance theory and attribution theory

Reflex

Automatic, unlearned response to stimuli that don't require conscious effort.

Conservation

Awareness that physical quantities do not change in amount when altered in appearance.

reciprocal determinism

Bandura's idea that though our environment affects us, we also affect our environment

Free Association

Basic process of psychoanalysis where the patient is encouraged to verbalize w/out censorship, no matter what it is.

Systematic Desensitization

Behavior therapy where counterconditioning is used to reduced anxiety associated with a particular stimulus.

Hypochondriasis

Belief that one is sick when they are not.

Maturation

Biological process involved in organisms becoming functional or fully developed.

Resolution phase

Body slowly returns to its normal level of functioning

Unconditional Positive Regard

Caring, acceptance, and prizing that others express toward an individual without regard to other situations.

Charles Spearman

Charles Edward Spearman, FRS was an English psychologist known for work in statistics, as a pioneer of factor analysis, and for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient

Aversion Therapy

Client conditioned to change/eliminate undesirable behavior by associating them w/ unpleasant experiences.

Orgasm phase

Climax of the sexual response cycle; shortest of phases

Thinking (cognition)

Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses"

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

Cognitive behavior therapy based on the idea that ones self-defeating beliefs cause negative feelings and undesirable behaviors.

Schemas

Collection of basic knowledge about a concept that's a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, problem solving.

stanly milgram

Collectively known as The Milgram Experiment, this groundbreaking work demonstrated the human tendency to obey commands issued by an authority figure, and more generally, the tendency for behavior to be controlled more by the demands of the situation than by idiosyncratic traits of the person

Law of Effect

Consequences of behavior act to modify future probability of occurrence of behavior.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ETC)

Controversial treatment where a seizure is caused by passing controlled shock through temples.

Longitudinal Study

Correlational research study that involves looking at variables over extended time.

Cross Sectional Study

Data from population at one specific point in time.

nonconscious/unconscious

Describing that which is not explicitly in the contents of conscious experience

Token Economy

Desired behavior is reinforced by tokens that can be exchanged for prizes.

Carl Rogers

Developed "client-centered" therapy

Edward Tolman

Developed Cognitive Maps.

John Garcia

Developed Garcia Effect, less common name for taste aversion.

Albert Bandura

Developed Social Learning Theory & concept of Self Efficacy.

Mary Ainsworth

Developed attachment theory. Designed strange attachment procedure.

Edward Thorndike

Developed learning theory that lead to development of operant conditioning.

Albert Bandura

Developed social learning theory, and the theory of self efficiency. Bobo The Clown

B.F. Skinner

Developed the theory of Operant Conditioning.

Diana Baumrind

Did research on parenting styles.

Ivan Pavlov

Discovered Classical Conditioning.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Disorders characterized by intrusive obsessions that prompt performance of rituals.

Dissociative Fugue

Dissociative disorder where individual suddenly, unexpectedly travels "away", and can't recall the past.

Antidepressant Drug

Drugs to treat depression by increasing neurotransmitters.

Critical Period

Early stage in life when an organism is open to specific learning, emotional, or socializing experiences. Only happens once.

Fetus

Embryo in later stages of development. 8 weeks after fertilization to birth.

Attachment

Emotional bond between young human and caregiver.

Projective test

Examination that commonly employs ambiguous stimuli, notably Rorschach inkblots, and enigmatic pictures to evoke responses that may reveal facets of the subject's personality by projection of internal attributes

Dissociative Amnesia

Failure to recall important info about ones personal experiences, usually of a traumatic nature.

Hallucinations

False sensory perceptions that has a compelling sense of reality despite absence of external stimulus.

Agoraphobia

Fear of public situations, and unfamiliar open places, where escape may be difficult.

Zygote

Fertilized Egg. 2 sets of chromosomes, one from mom, one from dad.

John B. Watson

Founded classical behaviorism.

Konrad Lorenz

Founder of ethology. Discovered imprinting.

Carl Rodgers

Founder of humanistic psychology; personality = real and ideal self.

Sigmund Freud

Founder of psychoanalysis.

Reinforcement

Frequency/probability of response increased by dependent relationship with stimulus/circumstance (strengthen wanted behavior).

Oral stage

Freud's first stage of psychosexual development during which pleasure is centered in the mouth, occurs in the first year of life

Genital stage

Freud's last stage of personality development, from the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of childhood resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence).

anal stage

Freud's pychosexual period during which a child learns to control his bodily excretions, second stage of psychosexual development; typically occurs during the second year of life

pleasure principle

Freud's theory regarding the id's desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain in order to achieve immediate gratification.

Phallic stage

Freud's third stage of development, when the penis becomes the focus of concern and pleasure, occurs in the third year of life

Robert Trivers

Guided the parental investment theory.

martin seligman

He is a leading authority in the fields of Positive Psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism. He is also a recognized authority on interventions that prevent depression, and build strengths and well-being.

Delusions

Highly personal idea not endorsed by culture, yet maintained despite evidence stating otherwise.

Howard Gardner

Howard Earl Gardner is an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

Ecology Validity

In the behavioral sciences, ecological validity is often used to refer to the judgment of whether a given study's variables and conclusions are sufficiently relevant to its population.

Biological motives

Includes hunger, thirst, the pursuit of pleasure,and the avoidance of pain

Positive Reinforcement

Increase in probability of occurrence of activity because activity results in presentation of a stimulus (something good added, treat train dog).

Plateau phase

Increased heart and respiratory rates increased sexual pleasure; increased muscle tension

Coolidge effect

Increased sexual vigor when a human or nonhuman animal mates with multiple partners

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Individual relives a traumatic event where they think they are going to die. Severe trauma.

models of memory

Information Processing Model Parallel Distributed Processing Model Levels of Processing Model

Object Permanence

Knowledge that something is still there when you can't see it. (Jean Piaget).

Albert Elis

Known for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).

Jean Piaget

Known for child development and cognitive development theories.

Jean Piaget

Known for his theory of cognitive development in children

Sigmund Freud

Known for psychoanalysis

Lev Vygotsky

Known for studying psychological development in children.

Joseph Wolpe

Known for systematic Desensitization.

Lawrence Kohlberg

Known for theory of stages of moral development.

Erik Erikson

Known for theory on psychological development.

Conditioned Response (CR)

Learned response to a conditioned stimulus (also called conditioned reflex).

Latent Learning

Learning caused w/out conscious effort, awareness, reinforcement & isn't manifested as change in performance until specific need arises.

Classical Conditioning

Learning where neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that causes a response.

Lewis Terman

Lewis Madison Terman was an American psychologist and author. He was noted as a pioneer in educational psychology in the early 20th century at the Stanford Graduate School of Education

Gender

Male/Female

Harry Harlow

Maternal/Separation experiments. Worked with monkeys.

david mcClelland

McClelland's Human Motivation Theory states that every person has one of three main driving motivators: the needs for achievement, affiliation, or power. These motivators are not inherent; we develop them through our culture and life experiences. Achievers like to solve problems and achieve goals.

Cognitive Map

Mental understanding of environment formed through trial & error, and observation.

Imprinting

Mom=first living thing seen.

Carol Gilligan

Moral/Ethical development. (Girls).

Mary Cover Jones

Mother of behavior therapy. Developed technique's to reduce phobias in children.

Menopause

Natural decline in reproductive hormones. 40-50 years old.

Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudian; introduced concept of "inferiority complex" and stressed the importance of birth order. Individual psychology.

Secondary Reinforcers

Neutral stimulus gains ability to influence future probability of response by pairing w/ another stimulus that enhances probability.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Neutral stimulus repeatedly associated with unconditioned stimulus until it causes a response.

DSM-5

Nonaxial approach to diagnose separate notations for psychosocial and contextual factors.

Resistance

Obstruction where clients words/behavior, of the therapists methods of interpreting material in therapy.

Sexual orientation

One's enduring sexual attraction to male partners, female partners, or both

Gender Identity

One's self identification as male or female.

Menarche

Onset of puberty (first period, body hair).

B.F. Skinner

Operant conditioning, skinner box, behaviorism.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

Original response that occurs naturally without conditioning.

Adrian Dove

Originally named the Dove Counterbalance General Intelligence Test, the Chitling Test (1968) was designed to demonstrate differences in understanding and culture between races, specifically between African Americans and Whites.

Evolutionary theory of emotion

Our emotions exist because they serve an adaptive role. Helps improve chance of success and survival

Punishment

Painful, undesirable event/circumstance imposed as penalty on wrongdoer.

Personality Disorders

Passive patters of perceiving, relating to and thinking about the environment and how the indivdual self interferes with long term functioning.

Phobia

Persistent and irrational fear of a specific object or activity.

Major Depressive Disorder

Persistent sadness without episodes of mania. (Sleep issues, loss of apatite, lack of joy in hobbies.) LOSS OF FUNCTION

Learned Helplessness

Phenomenon where repeated exposure to uncontrollable stressors cause individual failing to use any control options in future situations.

Schachter's two-factor theory

Physiological arousal and our cognitive interpretation of the arousal

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Presence of chronic disposition to disregard and violate the rights of others.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

Presence on one individual of two or more distant identities or personalities that take control of behavior. Severe trauma.

Primary Reinforcers

Presentation of stimulus following response increases future probability of response.

Assimilation

Process of absorbing, incorporating, or making similar.

Operant Conditioning

Process where behavioral change occurs from consequences of behavior.

Shaping

Production of new forms of operant behavior by reinforcement of successive approximations to the behavior.

Mania

Prolonged state of excitement or overactivity.

Mood Disorders

Psychiatric condition where principal feature is a prolonged emotional disturbance.

Cognitive Therapy (CT)

Psychotherapy based on idea that emotional and behavioral problems are a result of maladaptive ways of thinking and attitude.

Family Therapy

Psychotherapy focusing on improvement of family relationships.

Schizophrenia

Psychotic disorder characterized by disturbances in cognition, emotional responses, and behavior.

Meta-Analysis

Quantitative Technique for synthesizing the result of multiple studies of a phenomenon into a single result.

Spontaneous Recovery

Reappearance of conditioned response after it's been experimentally extinguished.

Extinction (Classical Conditioning)

Reinforcement discontinued. Reinforcing stimulus no longer presented. No response to stimulus.

Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR Schedule)

Reinforcement is given after specified number of responses.

Continuous Reinforcement

Reinforcement of very desired response.

Variable Interval Schedule

Reinforcement/reward presented for first response after variable period has elapsed since previous reinforcement.

Extinction (Operant Conditioning)

Reinforcing stimulus no longer shown, declined response.

Dietary

Relating to diets or dieting

Negative Reinforcement

Removal/prevention of unpleasant/aversive stimulus as consequence of a response, which increases probability of response (something taken from situation).

Robert Rescorla

Rescorla-Wagner Theory. Expanded knowledge on learning processes.

Variable Ratio Schedule (VR Schedule)

Response reinforced after variable number of responses.

Schedule of Reinforcement

Rule that determines which instances of a response will be reinforced.

ivan pavlov

Russian physiologist that showed that a reflex can be used to cause an involuntary response

Psychotherapy

Service by trained professional, using communication and interactions to diagnose thinking and behavior.

Homo-sexual

Sexual attraction or activity between members of the same sex

Hetero-sexual

Sexual attraction to or activity between members of opposite sex

Bi-sexual

Sexual attraction to or sexual behavior with both men and women

Glucostats

Special receptor neurons in the brain that monitor and regulate glucose levels and their fluctuations in the bloodstream

Stimulus Generalization

Spread of effects of conditioning to stimuli that differ in certain aspects from stimulus present in original conditioning.

Puberty

Stage when genital organs mature and secondary sex characteristics begin to appear, adolescence.

Embryo

Stages of development between cleavage of fertilized egg and birth. First 8 weeks.

Formal Operations Stage

Starts at age 12. Complex intellectual functions, abstract thought, conceptualization and judgement develop. (Jean Piaget).

Adolescence

Starts with puberty (10-12 years old). End with physiological maturity. (19 years old).

Set point theory

States that the human body tries to maintain its weight within a preferred range

Unconditioned Stimulus

Stimulus that causes unconditioned response.

Discriminative Stimulus

Stimulus that increases probability of response BC of previous history of differential reinforcement in presence of stimulus.

Harry Harlow

Studied attachment in monkeys with artificial mothers

Developmental Psychology

Study of physical, mental, and behavioral changes from conception to old age.

Dissociative Disorders

Sudden disruption in normal functions of consciousness, memory and perception of environment.

Egocentrism

Tendency to emphasize one's own needs, concerns and outcomes rather than others. (Not selfish).

Collective Nonconscious

Term introduced by Carl Jung to represent a form of the unconscious, common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain

Stanford-Binet Test

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales is an individually administered intelligence test that was revised from the original Binet-Simon Scale by Lewis Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Wechsler Test

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents.

Excitement phase

The body prepares for sexual activity by tensing muscles and increasing heart rate and blood pressure

Obesity

The condition of having excess body fat resulting in being overweight

Achievement motive

The desire to perform well and be successful (need for achievement)

Personality

The enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individuals unique adjustment to life, such as traits, interests, drives, and emotional patterns

Body language

The expression of feelings and thought, which may or may not be verbalized, through posture, gesture, facial expression, or other movements

Fixed Interval Schedule (FI Schedule)

The first response that occurs after a set interval has elapsed is reinforced.

G-Factor

The g factor is a construct developed in psychometric investigations of cognitive abilities and human intelligence.

Settling-point theory

The idea that physical exercise can help us "hack" our predispositions to get within our desire weight range

Motivation

The impetus that gives purpose or direction to behavior and operates in humans at a conscious or unconscious level

Parental investment theory

The proposition that many sex differences in sexually reproducing species can be understood in terms of the amount of time, energy, and risk that males and females put into parenting versus mating

Homeostasis

The regulation by an organism of al aspects of its internal enviornment

Ego

The self, particularly the conscious sense of self

Cognitive Universalism

The structuralist notion, found in Lévi-Strauss and analogous to Chomsky's notion of transformational grammar, that all human beings unconsciously impose structure on the world through the same fundamental mental categories: see also binary opposition; deep structure; transformation.

Vasocongestion

The swelling of bodily tissues cause by increased vascular blood flow and a localized increase in blood pressure

James-Lange theory

The theory that different feeling states stem from the feedback from the visceral and voluntary musculature to the brain

Cannon-bard theory

The theory that emotional states result from the influence of lower brain centers on higher thalamus and hypothalamus simultaneously

Character

The totality of an individual's attributes and personality traits, particularly his or her character moral, social, and religious attributes

Theodore Simon

Théodore Simon was a French psychologist who worked with Alfred Binet to develop the Binet-Simon scale, one of the most widely used scales in the world for measuring intelligence. This scale was revised in 1908 and 1911, and served as a template for the development of newer scales.

Psychosurgery

Treatment of a mental disorder by surgical removal of selective brain areas.

Group Therapy

Treatment of psychological problems where 2 or more participants interact with each other or group for therapy.

Specific Phobia

Unreasonable Fear.

Antipsychotic Drugs

Used to manage psychosis, hallucinations, paranoia, schizophrenia, and more.

Representative Heuristic

What is the representativeness heuristic? The representativeness heuristic is a mental shortcut that we use when estimating probabilities. When we're trying to assess how likely a certain event is, we often make our decision by assessing how similar it is to an existing mental prototype.

explanation

Why is it happening, finding explanations for behavior is a very important step in the process of forming theories and behavior

philip zimbardo

Zimbardo is probably best known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which demonstrated the power of social situations to influence people's behavior

counter conditioning

a behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors; based on classical conditioning

retrieval failure

a brief inability to recall a specific piece of information accompanied by the feeling that there is an impediment to block to recollection

Basic Level Type

a category formed at the level that people find most natural and appropriate in their normal, everyday experience of the things so categorized

galvanic skin response

a change in the electrical properties (conductance or resistance) of the skin in reaction to stimuli, owing to the activity of sweat glands located in the fingers and palms

extrasensory perception

a claim of perception that occurs without the use of normal sensory channels such as sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell

Availability Heuristic

a common strategy for making judgments about likelihood of occurrence in which the individual bases such judgments on the salience of the information held in his or her memory about the particular type of event: The more available and relevant information there is, the more likely the event is judged to be. Use of this strategy may lead to errors of judgment when information that is highly available in memory (e.g., about well-publicized events, such as plane crashes) leads people to believe that those kinds of events are more probable than they actually are, or when the relative unavailability of information (e.g., about less well-publicized causes of death, as from diabetes) leads people to believe that those kinds of events are less probable than they are.

emotion

a complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral, and physiological elements, by which an individual attempts to deal with a personally significant matter or event.

central executive

a component that manages the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. In coordinating the numerous processes of working memory, the central executive thus performs such varied function as manipulating material held within the loop and sketchpad, focusing attention on and switching attention between different tasks, dividing attention between simultaneous task, and initiating long term memory encoding and retrieval. the central executive is of limited capacity and does not have any storage ability of its own

reciprocal determinism

a concept that opposes exclusive emphasis on environmental determination of responses and asserts that a reciprocal relationship exists among environment, behavior, and the individual.

state dependent memory

a condition in which memory for a past event is improved when the person is in the same biological or psychological state as when the memory was initially formed

psychodynamic theories

a constellation of theories of human functioning that are based on the interplay of drives and other forces within the person

locus of control

a construct that is used to categorize people's basic motivational orientations and perceptions of how much control they have over the conditions of their lives

Intellectual Disability

a developmental disability characterized by mild to profound limitations in cognitive function (e.g., learning, problem solving, reasoning, planning) and in adaptive behavior, impairing one's ability to acquire skills typical for one's age group as a child or necessary for one's later independent functioning as an adult. It is now the preferred term for mental retardation. In DSM-5, a diagnosis of intellectual disability, including its degree of severity, requires clinical assessment of an individual's level of difficulty with conceptual skills (e.g., reading, writing, arithmetic), social skills (e.g., communication, emotion regulation), and practical skills (e.g., self-care, ability to manage activities of daily living). Deficits in cognitive function may be assessed with standardized intelligence tests, but an individual's IQ as measured by such tests is less emphasized in the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability than in the traditional criteria for mental retardation.

zygote

a fertilized egg

cognitive psychology

a field focusing not only on perception but also on learning, memory, thought processes, and problem solving

theory

a general explanation of a set of observations or facts

drive

a generalized state of readiness precipitating or motivating an activity or course of action. Drive is hypothetical in nature, usually created by deprivation of a needed substance (e.g., food), the presence of negative stimuli

fetal alcohol syndrome

a group of adverse fetal and infant health effects associated with heavy maternal alcohol intake and is characterized by low birth rate and neurobehavioral problems

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

a hypothesis, first advanced by Edward Sapir in 1929 and subsequently developed by Benjamin Whorf, that the structure of a language determines a native speaker's perception and categorization of experience.

Fixation (Freud)

a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved, from childhood into adult life

recency effect

a memory phenomenon in which the most recently presented facts impressions or items are learned or remembered better than material presented earlier. this effect can occur in both formal learning situation and social contexts

big five

a model of personality in which five dimensions of individual differences—extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience—are viewed as core personality structures.

prejudice

a negative attitude toward another person or group formed in advance of any experience with that person or group

Mental Age

a numerical scale unit derived by dividing an individual's results in an intelligence test by the average score for other people of the same age. Thus, a 4-year-old child who scored 150 on an IQ test would have a mental age of 6 (the age-appropriate average score is 100; therefore, MA = (150/100) × 4 = 6). The MA measure of performance is not effective beyond the age of 14.

Transference

a patient's displacement or projection onto the analyst of those unconscious feelings and wishes originally directed toward important individuals, such as parents, in the patient's childhood.

refractory period

a period of inactivity after a neuron or muscle cell has undergone excitation.

termperament

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

Autobiographical memory

a person's memory for episodes or experiences that occurred in his or her own life. often the terms autobiographical memory and episodic memory are used interchangeable,

Locus of control

a person's tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal to the self or external in the environment

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

a personality inventory first published in 1940 and now one of the most widely used self-report tools for assessing personality.

Alzheimer's Disease

a progressive neurodegenerative disease

Alzheimer's disease

a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by cortical atrophy

Alzheimer's disease

a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by cortical atrophy, neuronal death, synapse loss, and causes dementia and significant decline in functioning; global deterioration of cognitive capacities

Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT)

a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

retrieval cue

a prompt or stimulus used to guide memory recall

attitude

a relatively enduring and general evaluation of an object, person, group, issue, or concept on a dimension ranging from negative to positive.

long term memory

a relatively permanent information storage system that enables one to retain retrieve and make use of skills and knowledge hours weeks or even years after they were originally learned; various theories have been proposed to explain the biological processes

recognition

a sense of awareness and familiarity experienced when one encounters people events or objects that have been encountered before or when one comes upon material that has been learned

stereotype

a set of cognitive generalizations (e.g., beliefs, expectations) about the qualities and characteristics of the members of a group or social category

display rules

a socially learned standard that regulates the expression of emotion

excitement phase

a state of physiological arousal elicited by sexual contact or by other erotic stimulation (e.g., fantasies, dreams, odors, objects), resulting in impulses being transmitted through the central nervous system to the sacral region of the spinal cord

groupthink

a strong concurrence-seeking tendency that interferes with effective group decision making

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

a theory of intelligence in which three key abilities—analytical, creative, and practical—are viewed as largely (although not entirely) distinct. According to the theory, intelligence comprises a number of information-processing components, which are applied to experience (especially novel experiences) in order to adapt to, shape, and select environments. The theory is triarchic because it contains three subtheories: one specifying the components of intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

a type of intelligence that involves the ability to process emotional information and use it in reasoning and other cognitive activities, proposed by U.S. psychologists Peter Salovey (1958- ) and John D. Mayer (1953- ). According to Mayer and Salovey's 1997 model, it comprises four abilities: to perceive and appraise emotions accurately; to access and evoke emotions when they facilitate cognition; to comprehend emotional language and make use of emotional information; and to regulate one's own and others' emotions to promote growth and well-being.

Archetype

a very typical example of a certain person or thing

flashbulb memories

a vivid enduring memory associated with a personally significant and emotional event often including such details as where the individual was or what he or she was doing at the time of the event.

algorithms

a well-defined procedure or set of rules that is used to solve a problem or accomplish a task or that is used for conducting a series of computations.

BMI (body mass index)

a widely used measure of adiposity or obesity based on the following formula: weight (kg) divided by height squared (m2)

Depth perception

ability to see in 3 Dimension

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

self-actualization

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

Cognition (thinking)

all forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving. Along with affect and conation, it is one of the three traditionally identified components of mind.

evolutionary theory of emotion

all human cultures share several primary emotions, including happiness, contempt, surprise, disgust, anger, fear, and sadness.

behavior

all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, and movement

Self-concept

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

kinesethic senses

allow the brain to know the position and movement of the body through the activity of special receptors responsive to movemnt of joints and limbs

Brightness corresponds to

amplitude of light waves

teratgogens

an agent that induces developmental abnormalities in a fetus

social phobia

an anxiety disorder that is characterized by extreme and persistent social anxiety or performance anxiety and that causes significant distress or prevents participation in social activities

altruism

an apparently unselfish behavior that provides benefit to others at some cost to the individual

Humanistic Psychology

an approach to psychology that flourished between the 1940s and the early 1970s and that is most visible today as a family of widely used approaches to psychotherapy and counseling

Humanistic psychology

an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings

Attachment

an emotional bond between a human infant and its caregiver; developed as a step in establishing a feeling of security and demonstrated by calmness in while in the caregiver's precense; can they form bonds with other individuals and seek emotionally supportiverelationships

elaborative rehearsal

an encoding strategy to facilitate the formation of memory by linking new information to what one already know

Trait

an enduring personality characteristic that describes or determines an individual's behavior across a range of situations.

Trait

an enduring quality that makes a person tend to act a certain way

deindividuation

an experiential state characterized by loss of self-awareness, altered perceptions, and a reduction of inner restraints that results in the performance of unusual and sometimes antisocial behavior

incentive

an external stimulus, such as a condition or an object, that enhances or serves as a motive for behavior.

Concepts

an idea that represents a class of objects or events or their properties

self-efficacy

an individual's subjective perception of his or her capability to perform in a given setting or to attain desired results, proposed by Albert Bandura as a primary determinant of emotional and motivational states and behavioral change.

attribution

an inference regarding the cause of a person's behavior or an interpersonal event

phobia

an irrational fear

Cognitive dissonance

an unpleasant psychological state resulting from inconsistency between two or more elements in a cognitive system

bottom-up processing

analysis of smaller features, building up to a complete perception

cross sectional study

analyzes the data from a population or a representative subset

Parallel Distributed processing processing model

any model of cognition based on the idea that the representation of information is distributed as patterns of activations over a richly connected set of hypothetical neural units that function interactively and in parallel

social motives

any motive acquired as a result of interaction with others. It may be universal (e.g., need for affiliation) or culture specific

androgens

any of a class of steroid hormones that act as the principal male sex hormones, the major one being testosterone.

estrogens

any of a class of steroid hormones that are produced mainly by the ovaries and act as the principal female sex hormones, inducing estrus in female mammals and secondary female sexual characteristics in humans.

glucostats

any of certain cells in the hypothalamus that bind glucose. Glucoreceptors are a putative mechanism for detecting levels of circulating glucose and conveying this information to brain areas.

Phonemes

any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another

social norms

any of the socially determined consensual standards that indicate (a) what behaviors are considered typical in a given context

archetypes

any one of a set of symbols representing aspects of the psyche that derive from the accumulated experience of humankind

working memory

any various hypothetical systems involved in the brief retention of information in a highly accessible state. the term has evolved to refer primarily to the short term maintenance and manipulation of information necessary for performing complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning and comprehension

psychologists

are interested in both description and explanation

depth perception changes

as we age

gestalt principels of perception

based on interpreting patterns in visual perception ; figure-ground relationships, closure, similarity, contunity, contiguity, and common region

perceiving

becoming aware of something through the senses

aggression

behavior aimed at harming others physically or psychologically

obedience

behavior in compliance with a direct command, often one issued by a person in a position of authority

similairity between taste and smell

both chemical senses

Lev Vygotsky

child development; investigated how culture & interpersonal communication guide development; zone of proximal development; play research

latency stage

child's attention is focused on skills and peer activities with members of his or her own sex.

ESP

clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition

Mental Images

cognitive generation of sensory input from the five senses, individually or collectively, which is recalled from experience or self-generated in a nonexperienced form.

Schemas

collection of basic knowledge about an entity that serves as a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, or problem solving

colour-deficient vision

colour perception that is limited to yellow and blues or reds and greens only

selective attention

concentration on certain stimuli in the environment and not on others, enabling important stimuli to be distinguished from peripheral or incidental ones. Selective attention is typically measured by instructing participants to attend to some sources of information but to ignore others at the same time and then determining their effectiveness in doing this.

the vestibular sense

contributes to the body's sense of spatial orientatin and movement through the activity of the otolith organs and semicircular canals

binocular cues

convergence and binocular overlap

Divergent Thinking

creative thinking in which an individual solves a problem or reaches a decision using strategies that deviate from commonly used or previously taught strategies.

Paul Costa & Robert McCrae

creators of the "Big Five" model of personality traits

Convergent Thinking

critical thinking in which an individual uses linear, logical steps to analyze a number of already formulated solutions to a problem to determine the correct one or the one that is most likely to be successful.

nerve hearing impariment

damage ot the inner ear or or auditory pathways i the brain

Conduction hearing impairment

damage to the outer or middle ear strucutres;

reaction formation

defense mechanism in which unacceptable or threatening unconscious impulses are denied and are replaced in consciousness with their opposite

Rationalization

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

Sensorimoter stage

describing activity, behavior, or brain processes that involve both sensory and motor functions

Rods

detect changes in brightness but do not see colour and function best in low light. found everywhere in the retina except the fovea

olfcation:

detection of chemicals suspended in air

prediction

determining what will happen in the future

abraham maslow

developed a hierarchy of needs to explain human motivation.

william james

developed functionalism, professor of psych, wanted to understand how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings,

albert bandura

developed social learning theory and the concept of self-efficacy, which have had enormous influence across social, cognitive, developmental, educational and clinical psychology.

paul costa/ robert mcCrae

developed the NEO Personality Inventory (or NEO-PI) to measure neuroticism, extraversion, and openness, and later they developed the Revised NEO-PI, or NEO-PI-R, which also measures agreeableness and conscientiousness

carl jung

developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious.

Abraham Maslow

developed the hierarchy of needs, which he theorized to be the unconscious desires that motivate people

carl rogers

developed the person-centered, also known as client-centered, approach to psychotherapy and developed the concept of unconditional positive regard while pioneering the field of clinical psychological research

sigmund freud

development of the theory and practice of psychoanalysis.

Mary Ainsworth

developmental psychology; compared effects of maternal separation, devised patterns of attachment; "The Strange Situation": observation of parent/child attachment

discrimination

differential treatment of the members of different ethnic, religious, national, or other groups

phallic stage

discovery and manipulation of the body

Critical Period

early stage in life when an organism is especially open to specifc learning or socialzing expereinces that occur as part of normal development that will not recur at a later stage

edward titchner

elaborated on structuralism, and formalized it, student of Wundt, focused on the structure of the mind

3 processes of memory

encoding, storage, retrieval

fetus

end of the 8th week of fertilzation until birth

Structuralism

every experience can be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations"-objective introspection; "the study of the mental experience through a systematic program of experiments based on introspection-uncovering the basic structures that make up thought and mind-looking inside to see how you're built

Projective Test

examination that commonly employs ambiguous stimuli, notably inkblot to evoke responses that may reveal facets of the subject's personality by projection of internal attitudes

Accommodation (Piaget)

existing structures are changed to accomodate new information

objectivity

expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as they really are without allowing the influence of personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations

wilhelm wundt

father of psychology, applied scientific principles to the study of the human mind, made objective introspection and structuralism

Formal operations stage

final stage in Piaget's theory, starts at age 12, thisis where complex intellectual functions, such as abstract thinking, logical processes, conceptualization, and judgement

lens

focuses light on the retina

behaviorism

focusing only on observable behavior-can bee seen or measured; wanted to bring focus back on scientific inquiry and only focus on observable behavior

Sigmund Freud

founder of psychoanalysis

frustration aggression hypothesis

frustration always produces an aggressive urge and (b) aggression is always the result of prior frustrations

lens allows light to pass through the retina and

ganglion and bipolar cells

Diana Baumrind

her theory of parenting styles had three main types (permissive, authoratative, & authoritarian)

imprinting

highly effective learning process that occurs during a critical period

gender identity

how one identifies and is influenced by both biological and environmental factors

functionalism

how the mind allows people to function in the real world-how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings, behavioral traits; "focus on how you adapt to the world around you, and the processing of events and emotions in the mind-looking at the outside forces acting upon you

Set Point theory

human body tries to maintain its weight within a preferred range.

curve of forgetting

hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time

Heuristic

in cognition, an experience-based strategy for solving a problem or making a decision that often provides an efficient means of finding an answer but cannot guarantee a correct outcome. By contrast, an algorithm guarantees a solution but may be much less efficient. Some heuristics, such as the availability heuristic or representativeness heuristic, involve systematic bias. Also called cognitive heuristic.

information-processing model

in cognitive psychology the flow of information through the human nervous system involving operation of perceptual systems, memory stores, decision processes, and response mechanisms

Prototype

in concept formation, the best or average exemplar of a category. For example, the prototypical bird is some kind of mental average of all the different kinds of birds of which a person has knowledge or with which a person has had experience.

Transference

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

projection

in psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theories, the process by which one attributes one's own individual positive or negative characteristics, affects, and impulses to another person or group.

Repression

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

Id

in psychoanalytic theory, the earliest and most primitive personality structure. It is unconscious and operates with the goal of seeking pleasure; libido

Defense mechanism

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Analytical Intelligence

in the triarchic theory of intelligence, the skills measured by conventional tests of intelligence, such as analysis, comparison, evaluation, critique, and judgment. Compare creative intelligence; practical intelligence.

Retrograde Amnesia

inability to recall previously learned information

fixation

inappropriate attachment to an early psychosexual object or mode of gratification

coolidge effect

increased sexual vigor when a human or nonhuman animal mates with multiple partners.

motion sickness

information from the yes conflicts with the vestibular sense

longitudinal study

information obtained through multiple measurements of the same individuals over a period of time

proactive interference

interference in new learning due to previous learning of similar or related material

perception

interpretation and organization of sensations

gustationL

invovles detection of chemicals dissolved in salvia

Collective Nonconscious

is common to all humankind and contains the inherited accumulation of primitive human experiences in the form of ideas and images called archetypes and manifested in myths as well as other cultural phenomena (e.g., religion) and in dreams.

Deviation IQ Score

is scored based on how an individual deviates from the average IQ of 100. I

Weber's law

just noticeable difference between two stimuli is always a constant

Object permanence

knowledge of the continued existence of objects even when not directly perceived, develops during the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development,

resolution phase

last phase of sex cycle

Martin Seligman

learned helplessness

conditioning

learned reflexive response-a reflex could be caused to occur in response to a formerly unrelated stimulus

colour corresponds to

length of the light waves

monocular cues

linear perspective, relative size, overlap, aerial, texture gradient, motion parallax, and accommodation

semantic network model

link to model human information storage with latencies

Place theory

location of hair cells on the organ of corti correspond to different pitches of sound. explains pitch above 1000 hz

rationaliszation

logical reasons are given to justify unacceptable behavior that is motivated by unconscious instinctual impulses.

declarative (explicit) memory

long-term memory that can be consciously recalled: general knowledge or information about personal experiences that an individual retrieves in response to a specific need or request to do so

anterograde amnesia

marked by the inability to learn new information

Puberty

maturity reached and adolescence

non declarative (implicit) memory

memory for a previous event or experience that is produced indirectly without an explicit request to recall the event and without awareness that memory is involved.

semantic memory

memory for general factual knowledge and concepts of the kind that endows information with meaning and ultimately allows people to engage in such complex cognitive processes as recognizing objects and using language

Somatoform Disorders

mental health condition that causes an individual to experience physical bodily symptoms in response to psychological distress.

Carol Gilligan

moral development studies to follow up Kohlberg. She studied girls and women and found that they did not score as high on his six stage scale because they focused more on relationships rather than laws and principles. Their reasoning was merely different, not better or worse

Lawrence Kohlberg

moral development; presented boys moral dilemmas and studied their responses and reasoning processes in making moral decisions. Most famous moral dilemma is "Heinz" who has an ill wife and cannot afford the medication. Should he steal the medication and why?

Grammar

n linguistics, an abstract system of rules that describes how a language works. Although it is traditionally held to consist of syntax (rules for arranging words in sentences) and morphology (rules affecting the form taken by individual words), phonology and semantics are also included in some modern systems of grammar.

Pragmatics

n linguistics, the analysis of language in terms of its functional communicative properties (rather than its formal and structural properties, as in phonology, semantics, and grammar) and in terms of the intentions and perspectives of its users.

Semantics

n linguistics, the study of meaning in language, as opposed to the study of formal relationships

Creative Intelligence

n the triarchic theory of intelligence, the set of skills used to create, invent, discover, explore, imagine, and suppose. This set of skills is alleged to be relatively (although not wholly) distinctive with respect to analytical and practical skill

polygraph

n. a device that measures and records several physiological indicators of stress, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and galvanic skin response.

vasocongestion

narrowing of blood vessels, which is controlled by vasomotor nerves of the sympathetic nervous system

Carl Jung

neo-Freudian who created concept of "collective unconscious" and wrote books on dream interpretation

Erik Erikson

neo-Freudian, humanistic; 8 psychosocial stages of development: theory shows how people evolve through the life span. Each stage is marked by a psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"

Volley principle

neurons take turns firing for sounds above 400 Hz and below 4000 Hz

Assimilation

new information is incoporated into an already existing cogntive structure

menopause

no more reproduction in women

Intelligence Quotient

ntelligence quotient: a standard measure of an individual's intelligence level based on psychological tests. In the early years of intelligence testing, IQ was calculated by dividing the mental age by the chronological age and multiplying by 100 to produce a ratio IQ. This concept has now mostly been replaced by the deviation IQ, computed as a function of the discrepancy of an individual score from the mean (or average) score. The mean IQ is customarily 100, with slightly more than two thirds of all scores falling within plus or minus 15 points of the mean (usually one standard deviation). More than 95% of all scores fall between 70 (two standard deviations below the mean) and 130 (two standard deviations above the mean). Some tests yield more specific IQ scores, such as a verbal IQ, which measures verbal intelligence, and a performance IQ, which measures nonverbal intelligence. Discrepancies between the two can be used diagnostically to detect learning disabilities or specific cognitive deficiencies. Additional data are often derived from IQ tests, such as performance speed, freedom from distractibility, verbal comprehension, and perceptual organization indices. There are critics who consider the concept of IQ (and other intelligence scales) to be flawed. They point out that the IQ test is more a measure of previously learned skills and knowledge than of underlying native ability and that many participants are simply not accustomed to sitting still and following orders (conditions that such tests require), although they function well in the real world. Critics also refer to cases of misrepresentation of facts in the history of IQ research

description

observing a behavior and noting everything about it: what is happening, where it happens, to whom it happens, and under what circumstances it seems to happen

how smell works

olfactory receptors in the upper part of nasal passages recieve molecules of substances and create neural signals that then go to the olfactory bulbs under the frontal lobes

organ of corti

on basilar membrane and contains the auditory recpetors; signals are sent ot the brain about sound qualities as they vibrate

self concept

one's description and evaluation of oneself, including psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, skills, roles and so forth

sexual orientation

one's enduring sexual attraction to male partners, female partners, or both.

margaret washburn

only graduate student of Titchener in 1894, studied structuralism and wrote the Animal Mind

Big five

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

thematic appreciation test

participants are held to reveal their attitudes, feelings, conflicts, and personality characteristics in the oral or written stories they make up about a series of ambiguous black-and-white pictures.

Gestalt Psychology

people seek out patterns in sensory information available to them-focus on studying whole patterns instead of pieces

illusions

perceptions that do not respond to reality or distortions of visual stimuli

misinformation effect

phenomenon in which a person mistakenly recalls misleading information that an experimenter has provided, instead of accurately recalling the correct information that had been presented earlier. the misinformation effect is studied in context

biological motives

physiological motives. These motives are essential for the survival of the organism. Such motives are triggered when there is imbalancement in the body

Albert Bandura

pioneer in observational learning (AKA social learning), stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated 'appropriate' play with dolls, children mimicked play

3 aspects of sound:

pitch (frequency), loudness, and timbre (purity)

just noticable difference

point at which a stimulus is detectable half the time it is present

Trial and Error (mechanical solution)

problem solving method in which multiple attempts are made to reach a solution.

Means-end analysis

problem solving technique used commonly in artificial intelligence for limiting search in AI programs. It is also a technique used at least since the 1950s as a creativity tool, most frequently mentioned in engineering books on design methods.

automatic encoding

process of memory where information is taken in and encoded without deliberate effort

rorschach inkblot test

projective technique in which the participant is presented with 10 unstructured inkblots (half in black and gray and half including color) and is asked "What might this be?"

john b watson

proposed behaviorism, which focused only on the study of observable stimuli and responses; demonstrated that a phobia could be learned by conditioning a baby to be afraid of a white rat

sigmund frued

proposed that the unconscious mind controls much of our conscious behavior , developed psychoanalysis

Projection

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

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.

Displacement

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

saturation

psychological interpretation of wavelengths that are all the same or varying

Joseph LeDoux

psychologist who believed that some of our emotional reactions involve no deliberate thinking and cognition is not always necessary for emotion

constructive processing

referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered

reality principle

regulatory mechanism that represents the demands of the external world and requires the individual to forgo or modify instinctual gratification or to postpone it to a more appropriate time.

psychosexual

relating to or denoting any aspects of human sexuality that are based on or influenced by psychological factors, as opposed to genetic, chemical, and other biologically based (organic) aspects.

sensory memory

relating to the senses to sensation or to part or all of neural apparatus and its supporting structures that are involved in any of these

maintenance rehearsal

repeating items over and over to maintain them in short term memory as in repeating a telephone number until it has been dialed; maintenance rehearsal does not effectively promote long-term retention because it involves little elaboration of the information to be remembered

Albert Bandura

researcher famous for work in observational or social learning including the famous Bobo doll experiment; developed social learning theory and the concept of of self-efficacy

Konrad Lorenz

researcher who focused on critical attachment periods in baby birds, a concept he called imprinting

certain nerve endings around hair follicles

respond to pain and pressure

free nerve endigns

respond to pain pressure and temperature

Pacinian corpuscles

respond to pressure

cochlear implants

restore hearing to those with nerve impairment

stirrup

rests on oval window and the cochlea and baislar membrane vibrate with sound

dietary

s the study of the mental processes behind how and why we eat

sensing

seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling something

oflaction

sense of smell

gustation

sense of taste

Cones

sensitve to colours and work best in bright light; responsible for sharpness of visual information and found in the fovea

sensory adaptation

sensory receptors stop responding to a constant stimulus

homo-sexual

sexual attraction or activity between members of the same sex.

hetero-sexual

sexual attraction to or activity between members of the opposite sex

bi-sexual

sexual attraction to or sexual behavior with both men and women.

somesetic senses

skin senses and vestubular senses

absoulute threshold

smallest amount of energy needed for consious detection of a stimulus at least half the time itis present

Sensory receptors:

specialized forms of neurons that are activated by different stimuli, such as light and sound

Frequency theory

states the speed with which the baisilar membrane vibrates corresponds to different pitches of sound. explains pitch below 1000 hz

sublimal stimuli

stimuli presentted just below the level of consious awareness

David McClelland

studied achievement motivation; found those with high levels are driven to master challenging tasks

Subordinate Concept

subordinate concept. the most specific category of a concept, such as one's pet dog or a pear in one's hand; subordinate refers to lowest in status or standing. formal concepts. concepts that are defined by specific rules or features.

John Atkinson

suggested a theory of motivation in which people who set realistic goals with intermediate risk sets feel pride with accomplishment and want to succeed more than they fear failure

5 types of tastes

sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami

how taste works

taste buds in the tougne recieve molecules of substances, which fit into receptor sites

shape constancy

tedency to percieve objects as remaining the same shape even when the shape of the object changes on the retina of the eye

reality principle

tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet

retroactive interference

that occurs when new learning or exposure to new information impairs the ability to remember material or carry out activities previously learned, especially if the two sets of material are similar

Practical Intelligence

the ability to apply one's intelligence in practical, everyday situations. In the triarchic theory of intelligence, it is the aspect of intelligence that requires adaptation to, shaping of, and selection of new environments.

Intelligence

the ability to derive information, learn from experience, adapt to the environment, understand, and correctly utilize thought and reason.

Creativity

the ability to produce or develop original work, theories, techniques, or thoughts. A creative individual typically displays originality, imagination, and expressiveness. Analyses have failed to ascertain why one individual is more creative than another, but creativity does appear to be a very durable trait.

eidetic imagery

the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision for a brief period after seeing it only once and without using a mnemonic

episodic memory

the ability to remember personally experienced events associated with a particular time and place; addition to recalling facts of a past event

memory

the ability to retain information or a representation of a past experience based on the mental processes of learning or encoding, retention across some interval of time, and retrieval or reactivation of the memory

sensation

the activation of receptors located in the eyes, ears, skin, nasal cavaties,and tougne

conformity

the adjustment of one's opinions, judgments, or actions so that they become more consistent with (a) the opinions, judgments, or actions of other people or (b) the normative standards of a social group or situation

after going through the cornea, light passes through

the aquaeous humor

conservation

the awarenss that physical quantities do not change in amount when they are altered in appearence, comes up in concrete operational

Repression

the basic defense mechanism that excludes painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from consciousness

temperament

the basic foundation of personality, usually assumed to be biologically determined and present early in life, including such characteristics as energy level, emotional responsiveness, demeanor, mood, response tempo, behavioral inhibition, and willingness to explore

maturation

the biological processes involved in an organism's becoming functional or fully developed

developmental psychology

the branch of psychology that studies the changes, physical, mental, and behavioral that occur from coception to old age and investigates the various biologicals, neurobiological, factors that affect development throughout the lifespan

iconic memory

the brief retention of an image of a visual stimulus beyond cessation of the stimulus. this iconic image usually lasts less than a second

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Insight

the clear and often sudden discernment of a solution to a problem by means that are not obvious and may never become so, even after one has tried hard to work out how one has arrived at the solution. There are many different theories of how insights are formed and of the kinds of insights that exist. For example, in the 1990s, U.S. psychologists Robert J. Sternberg (1949- ) and Janet Davidson proposed a theory in which there are three main kinds of insights: (a) selective encoding insights, which are used to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information; (b) selective comparison insights, which are used to distinguish what information already stored in long-term memory is relevant for one's purposes; and (c) selective combination insights, which are used to put together the available information so as to formulate a solution to a given problem.

Infantile Amnesia

the commonly experienced inability to recall events from early childhood a. cognitive abilities necessary for encoding events for the long term have not yet been fully developed b. parts of the brain responsible for remembering personal events have not yet matured

self-actualization

the complete realization of that of which one is capable, involving maximum development of abilities and full involvement in and appreciation for life, particularly as manifest in peak experiences.

ID

the component of the personality that contains the instinctual, biological drives that supply the psyche with its basic energy

Ego

the component of the personality that deals with the external world and its practical demands.

gender

the condition of being male female or neuter

obesity

the condition of having excess body fat resulting in overweight,

encoding

the conversion of a sensory input into a form capable of being processed and deposited in memory encoding is the first stage of memory processing followed by retention and then retrieval

light enters the eye and is focused through

the cornea

Levels of processing model

the deeper information is processed, the longer a memory trace will last

Validity

the degree to which empirical evidence and theoretical rationales support the adequacy and appropriateness of conclusions drawn from some form of assessment. Validity has multiple forms, depending on the research question and on the particular type of inference being made. For example, the three major types of test validity are criterion validity, based on correlation with an accepted standard; construct validity, based on the conceptual variable underlying a test; and content validity, based on the subject matter of a test

achievement motive

the desire to perform well and be successful

diffusion of responsibility

the diminished sense of responsibility often experienced by individuals in groups and social collectives

after sound enters the pinna, it goes to

the eardrum and then small bones of the middle ear

serial position effect

the effect of an item's position in a list of items to be learned on how well it is remembered. the classic serial position effect shows best recall of the first items from a list and good recall of the last items

embryo

the embryo comprises the products of conception during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy

Personality

the enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individual's unique adjustment to life

Personality

the enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individual's unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns.

Oedipus complex

the erotic feelings of the son toward the mother, accompanied by rivalry and hostility toward the father, during the phallic stage of psychosexual development.

Super ego

the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by which the ego operates

body language

the expression of feelings and thoughts, which may or may not be verbalized, through posture, gesture, facial expression, or other movements.

genital stage

the final stage of psychosexual development,

menarche

the first incidence at the onset of puberty

oral stage

the first stage of psychosexual development; concentrated on the mouth

Latency stage

the fourth psychosexual stage, in which the primary focus is on the further development of intellectual, creative, interpersonal, and athletic skills

facial feedback hypothesis

the hypothesis that sensory information provided to the brain from facial muscle movements is a major determinant of intrapsychic feeling states, such as fear, anger, joy

self fulfilling prophecy

the hypothesis that sensory information provided to the brain from facial muscle movements is a major determinant of intrapsychic feeling states, such as fear, anger, joy

motivation

the impetus that gives purpose or direction to behavior and operates in humans at a conscious or unconscious level (see unconscious motivation). Motives are frequently divided into (a) physiological, primary, or organic motives, such as hunger, thirst, and need for sleep; and (b) personal, social, or secondary motives, such as affiliation, competition, and individual interests and goals.

social facilitation

the improvement in an individual's performance of a task that often occurs when others are present

Adaptive Behavior

the level of everyday performance of tasks that is required for a person to fulfill typical roles in society, including maintaining independence and meeting cultural expectations regarding personal and social responsibility. Specific categories in which adaptive behavior is usually assessed include self-help, mobility, health care, communication, domestic skills, consumer skills, community use, practical academic skills, and vocational skills. Limitations in adaptive behavior are one of the criteria for diagnosis or classification of intellectual disability and for determining legal competence.

control

the modification of some behavior to change a behavior from a desirable one to an undesirable one

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

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.

Rorschach inkblot test

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

consolidation

the neurobiological processes by which a permanent memory following a learning experience

magical number seven plus/minus two

the number of items that can be held in short term memory at any given time, and therefore accurately perceived and recalled after brief exposure

digit span test

the number of random digits from a series that a person can recall following a single auditory presentation

biases

the observer sees only what they expect to see, or use personal views to make faulty observations

gender roles

the pattern of behavior, personality traits, and attitudes that define masculinity or femininity in a particular culture

adolescence

the period of human development that starts with puberty and ends with physiological maturity, although the exact age span varies across individuals. major changes occur at varying rates in physical characteristics, and effects on body image, self concept, and self esteem; many cognitive developments take place as well-most young people acquire enhanced abilities to think abstractly, evaluate reality hypothetically, reconsider prior experiences from altered points of view...

Language

the principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture

encoding specificity

the principle that retrieval of memory is optimal when the retrieval conditions duplicate the conditions that were present when the memory

Problem Solving

the process by which individuals attempt to overcome difficulties, achieve plans that move them from a starting situation to a desired goal, or reach conclusions through the use of higher mental functions, such as reasoning and creative thinking. Problem solving is seen in nonhuman animals in laboratory studies involving mazes and other tests as well as in natural settings to obtain hidden foods. Many animals display problem-solving strategies, such as the win-stay, lose-shift strategy, which allows an animal to solve a new problem quickly based on whether the first response was successful or unsuccessful. In terms of conditioning, problem solving involves engaging in behavior that results in the production of discriminative stimuli in situations involving new contingencies.

objective introspection

the process of objectively examining and measuring one's own thoughts and mental activities

retrieval

the process of recovering or locating information stored in memory. retrieval is the final stage of memory

parental investment theory

the proposition that many sex differences in sexually reproducing species (including humans) can be understood in terms of the amount of time, energy, and risk to their own survival that males and females put into parenting versus mating

after going through the aqueaus humor light goes through

the pupil

social loafing

the reduction of individual effort that occurs when people work in groups compared to when they work alone

nonconscious

the region of the psyche containing memories, emotional conflicts, wishes, and repressed impulses that are not directly accessible to awareness but that have dynamic effects on thought and behavior.

homeostasis

the regulation by an organism of all aspects of its internal environment, including body temperature, salt-water balance (see osmoregulation), acid-base balance (see hydrogen-ion concentration), and blood sugar level.

short term memory

the reproduction, recognition, or recall of a limited amount of material after a period of about 10-30 seconds. STM is often theorized to be separate from LTM and the two are the components of the dual store model of memory. STM is frequently tested in intelligence or neuropsychological examinations

echoic memory

the retention of auditory information for a brief after the end of the stimulus

what happens when light passes through ganglion and bipolar cells

the rods and cones are stimulated

anal stage

the sadistic instinct is linked to the desire to both possess and destroy the object.

psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Pre-operational stage

the second stage and is from age 2 to 7 the child cannot use logic or transform

Syntax

the set of rules that describes how words and phrases in a language are arranged into grammatical sentences, or the branch of linguistics that studies such rules. With morphology, syntax is one of the two traditional subdivisions of grammar

erotic material

the sex drive

storage

the state of an item that is retained in memory after encoding and before retrieval

consciousness

the state of being aware of external events that can be broken into thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic elements

Gifted

the state of possessing a great amount of natural ability, talent, or intelligence, which usually becomes evident at a very young age. Giftedness in intelligence is often categorized as an IQ of two standard deviations above the mean or higher (130 for most IQ tests), obtained on an individually administered IQ test. Many schools and service organizations now use a combination of attributes as the basis for assessing giftedness, including one or more of the following: high intellectual capacity, academic achievement, demonstrable real-world achievement, creativity, task commitment, proven talent, leadership skills, and physical or athletic prowess. The combination of several attributes, or the prominence of one primary attribute, may be regarded as a threshold for the identification of giftedness

social psychology

the study of how an individual's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by the actual, imagined, or symbolically represented presence of other people

hindsight bias

the tendency after an event has occurred to overestimate the extent to which the outcome could have been foreseen. hindsight bias stems from a. cognitive inputs-people selectively recall information consistent with what they now know to be true b. metacognitive inputs-people may misattribute their ease of understanding an outcome to its assumed prior likelihood. c. motivational inputs-people have a need to see the world as orderly and predictable

primacy effect

the tendency for facts impressions or items that are presented first to be better learned or remembered than material presented later;

group polarization

the tendency for members of a group discussing an issue to move toward a more extreme version of the positions they held before the discussion began

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations, typically by emphasizing or pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence.

self serving bias

the tendency to interpret events in a way that assigns credit for success to oneself but denies one's responsibility for failure, which is blamed on external factors

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency to overestimate the degree to which an individual's behavior is determined by his or her abiding personal characteristics, attitudes, or beliefs and, correspondingly, to minimize the influence of the surrounding situation on that behavior

Functional Fixedness

the tendency to perceive an object only in terms of its most common use. For example, people generally perceive cardboard boxes as containers, thus hindering them from potentially flipping the boxes over for use as platforms upon which to place objects

perceptual set or expectancy

the tendency to percieve objects and situations in a particular way becuase of prior experiences

brightness constancy

the tendency to percieve objects as a certain level of brightness even when the light changes

size constancy

the tendency to percieve objects as always being the same size, no matter how close or far way they are

Egocentrism

the tendency to percieve the situation from from one's own perspective, believing that others see things from the same point of view as oneself, and that events will elcit the same thoughts feelings and behavior in others as in oneself

robert trivers

the theories of reciprocal altruism (1971), parental investment (1972), facultative sex ratio determination (1973), and parent-offspring conflict (1974).

psychoanalysis

the theory and therapy based on Freud's ideas, a process on which a trained psychological professional helps a person gain insight into and change his or her behavior; stressed importance of early life experiences, the role of the unconscious, and development through stages

james-lange theory

the theory that different feeling states stem from the feedback from the viscera and voluntary musculature to the brain

cannon-bard theory

the theory that emotional states result from the influence of lower brain centers (the hypothalamus and thalamus) on higher ones (the cortex), rather than from sensory feedback to the brain produced by peripheral internal organs and voluntary musculature.

schachter's two factor theory

the theory that experiencing and identifying emotional states are functions of both physiological arousal and cognitive interpretations of the physical state

decay/disuse

the theory that learned material leaves in the brain a trace or impression that autonomously recedes and disappears unless the material is practiced and used

Concrete Operational stage

the third stage of cognitive development, occurring 7-12 years of age, children can decenter their perception, are less egocentric, and can think logically about physical objects

Character

the totality of an individual's attributes and personality traits, particularly his or her characteristic moral, social, and religious attitudes.

Nurture

the totality of environmental factors that influence the development and behavior of a person, particularly sociocultural and ecological factors such as family attributes, parental child-rearing practices, and economic status.

Reliability

the trustworthiness or consistency of a measure, that is, the degree to which a test or other measurement instrument is free of random error, yielding the same results across multiple applications to the same sample.

pleasure principle

the view that human beings are governed by the desire for gratification, or pleasure, and for the discharge of tension that builds up as pain or "unpleasure" when gratification is lacking

sound enters the ear through

the visible outer structure/pinna

psychodynamic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences; freud

mental processes

to all the internal, covert activity of our minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering

recall

to transfer prior learning or past experience to current consciousness

colour blindness

total lack of colour perception

displacement

transfer of feelings or behavior from their original object to another person or thing.

Defense mechanism

unconscious reaction pattern employed by the ego to protect itself from the anxiety that arises from psychic conflict

top down processing

use of pre-exisiting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole

hearing aids

used for those with conductive hearing impairment

joseph leDoux

view emotional states as similar to other states of consciousness.

settling-point theory

weight is maintained when the various metabolic feedback loop, which are "fine-tuned" by the relevant genes, settle into an equilibrium with the environment.

habitation

when a brain ignores a stimulus

gate control theory of pain

when receptors sensitive to pain are stimulated; a neurotransmitter called Substance P is released into the spinal cord, activating other pain receptors by opening "gates" in the spinal column and sending the message to the brain