AP Psychology Midterm Vocabulary
What is not psychology?
- "pop psychology" (Dr. Phil) - psychics - self-help books
Ebbinghaus
- he did research on memory
Social-Cultural Perspective
- says that much of your behavior & your feelings are dictated by the culture you live
developmental psychology
- studies show how organisms change over time as the result of biological and environmental influences - asks how one is thinking, feeling, and behavior change through infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood - asks how the brain changes, how our bodies change, and what effects these changes have on sensation, perception, cognition, motivation, emotion, and personality - nature vs. nurture
Functionalism was founded by:
William James
structuralism was founded by:
Wundt & his student Titchener
swallowing
a contraction of throat muscles that enables food to pass into the esophagus without the neonate choking
menarche
a female's first menstrual period
longitudinal study
a study that follows the same group of people over a period of time from months to many years in order to evaluate changes in those individuals
critical period
a time interval during which specific stimuli have a major effect on development that the stimuli do not produce at other times
nature vs. nurture controversy
deals with the extent to which heredity & the environment each influences behavior & how they do so
continuity vs. discontinuity
deals with the question of whether development is a gradual, cumulative change from conception to death or a sequence of distinct stages in one's life
habituation
decreasing responsiveness with repeated presentation of the same stimulus
cohort effect
differences in the experiences of each age group as a result of growing up in different historical times
Behaviors are everything that we do that can be ...
directly observed (yelling, running, eating)
Descartes
he came up with the idea of dualism (seeing mind & body as two different things that interact)
embryo
in humans, the name for the developing organism during the first eight weeks after conception
placenta
is the organ interface between the embryo or fetus and the mother. The placenta separates the bloodstreams, but it allows the exchange of nutrients and the release of fetal waste products
Because psychology is a science it uses scientific methods to ...
observe, describe, predict, & explain behavior
primary sex characteristics
reproductive organs (ovaries & testes)
monism
seeing mind & body as different aspects of the same thing
dualism
seeing mind & body as two different things that interact
rehabilitation psychologists
these psychologists help clients with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, & disabilities resulting from strokes or accidents adapt to their situations
counseling psychologists
these psychologists help people adapt to change or make changes in their lifestyle
developmental psychologists
these psychologists study psychological development throughout the lifespan
Hippocrates
thought that the mind & soul were two different things that interact (dualism)
mental processes
thoughts, feelings, & motives that are not directly observable (sensations, perceptions)
startle effect (moro effect)
when a sound noise or sudden drop causes the neonate to automatically arch his/her back, fling his/her limbs out, & quickly retract them
grasping (gripping) effect
when the infant closes his/her fingers tightly around an object put in his/her hand
exhibitionism
"flashing" genitals to unwilling viewers
trial
(in classical conditioning) consists of any presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli
internal locus of control
- "I control the consequences of my behavior" - better academic achievement - better interpersonal relations - greater efforts to learn - lower cigarette smoking - lower hypertension & heart attacks
James-Lange theory of emotion
- "I feel afraid because I tremble" - order: 1. stimuli (aggressive dog barking) 2. autonomic arousal 3. conscious feeling (fear) - faking a smile (by putting a pencil in your mouth to make your lips curl up) has been proven to make one happier - states that experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli - states that different patterns of autonomic activation lead to the experience of different emotions - subjects report feeling more sad when viewing scenes of war, sickness & starvation if their "sad face" muscles are activated - subjects also find comic strips funnier if their "happy face" muscles are activated
Schacter-Singer (Schacter- two factor) theory
- "I label my trembling as fear because I appraise the satisfaction as dangerous" - order: 1. stimulus (aggressive dog barking) 2. autonomic arousal 3. appraisal 4. conscious feeling (fear) - states that to experience emotion, one must: - be physically aroused - cognitively label the arousal - epinephrine (adrenaline) study - states that multiple emotions have similar responses - this theory agreed with James-Lange that emotion is inferred from arousal - this theory agreed with Cannon-Bard that different emotions yield indistinguishable patterns of activity
common sense for emotion
- "I tremble because I feel afraid" - order: 1. stimulus (aggressive dog barking) 2. conscious feeling (fear) 3. autonomic arousal
misattribution of arousal
- "Rickety-Bridge" experiment - "Painful Shock" experiment - "Running in Place" experiment - "Centerfold" experiment
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
- "The dog makes me tremble & feel afraid" - order: 1. stimulus ((aggressive dog barking) 2. subcortical brain activity 3. conscious feeling (fear) & autonomic arousal - states that humans don't discern emotion from different patterns of autonomic arousal - emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger: - physiological responses - subjective experience of emotion - according to this theory: - thalamus sends impulses to the cortex - perception of emotion arousing stimulus - conscious experience of emotion - general physiological changes - thalamus sens impulses to hypothalamus
similarity
- "birds of the same feather flock together" - this breeds content
glial cells
- "glue cells" in the cortex that guide neural connections, provide nutrients and insulating myelin, and mop up ions and neurotransmitters - support cells that help sensory neurons & motor neurons
external locus of control
- "the consequences of my behavior are outside of my control" - more resigned to conditions "as they are" - lower efforts to deal with health - lower levels of psych adjustment - but in non responsive environments, there is a greater sense of satisfaction
repression
- "unconscious forgetting" - Sigmund Freud believed that this of painful memories occurs as a defense mechanism to protect out self-concepts & minimize anxiety
hierarchy of needs (motives)
- Abraham Maslow (1970) suggested that certain needs have priority over others - physiological needs like breathing, thirst, and hunger come before psychological needs such as achievement, self-esteem, and the need for recognition - this is the humanistic hierarchy of motivation
working memory
- Alan Baddeley developed this memory model, which consists of 4 components: 1. phonological loop - represented all of short-term memory in earlier models - this component is at work when you use recitation to temporarily hold onto a phone number 2. visuospatial sketchpad - permits people to temporarily hold & manipulate visual images - this element is at work when you try to mentally rearrange the furniture in your bedroom or to map out a route to travel somewhere 3. central executive system - controls the deployment of attention, switching the focus of attention & dividing attention as needed - coordinates the actions of the other modules 4. episodic buffer - a temporary, limited- capacity store that allows the various components of working memory to integrate information - serves as the interface between working memory & long-term memory - along with short-term memory, it lasts less than a minute - apart of short-term memory - examples: - remembering a phone umber as you dial it - tying your shoe
theories of aggression
- Bandura's Modeling (Bobo-doll experiment) - Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
overlearning effect
- Ebbinghaus found that if he continued to practice a list after memorizing it well, the information was more resistant to forgetting
psychoanalytic theory
- Freud's ideas - grew out of decades of interactions with his clients in psychoanalysis - more of a philosophy, than a psychology
critiques of Freud
- Freud's ideas were too sexual - his ideas were unverifiable - one does not know if there IS a superego, id, or ego
Gestalt Principles
- Gestalt = an organized whole - these principles suggested that we tend to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes - these principles are sometimes called heuristics--they provide "best guesses" about the stimulus object - these principles include: - proximity - simplicity - connectedness - closure - continuity - similarity - phi phenomenon
the role of body chemistry & the brain in hunger
- Levels of glucose in the blood are monitored by receptors (neurons) in the stomach, liver, and intestines - they send signals to the hypothalamus in the brain - the hypothalamus sends messages to the pituitary gland to release hormones
hierarchy of needs
- Maslow's systematic arrangement of needs according to priority, which assumes that basic needs must be met before less basic needs - From most basic to least: - physiological needs - safety needs - love/belonging needs - esteem needs - self-actualization
polygraph machines
- NOT RELIABLE - similar emotions give similar patterns of physical arousal - Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
contiguity model
- Pavlov believed that the close time between the conditioned stimulus sand the unconditional stimulus was most important for making the connection between the two stimuli & that the conditioned stimulus eventually substituted for the unconditional stimulus - Pavlov's view of classical conditioning
umami
- a Japanese word for the savory taste of glutamate found in foods like meat & cheese - protein & dairy - remember: "the first time you taste milk is from your mommy"
pons
- a brain structure that relays information from the cerebellum to the rest of the brain - this generates bursts of action potentials in the forebrain, which is activation
approach-avoidance conflict
- a choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects - example: "do I want to study to pass the test?"
split-brain
- a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain cannot communicate - this is caused by the severing of the corpus callosum
confounding variable (confounding error)
- a difference between the experimental group & the control group other than a difference resulting from the independent variable - the object of an experiment is to prove that A causes B - an example of this is anything that could cause change in B, that is not A
sexually transmitted disease (STD)
- a disease that is passed from one person to another by intimate physical contact - a venereal disease - asymptomatic
obesity
- a disorder characterized by being excessively overweight - this increases the risk for health issues like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and back problems - the death rate is high among very overweight men - more common among those who watched the most television
instrumental learning
- a form of association learning in which a behavior becomes more or less probable depending on its consequences - Thorndike came up with this
learning
- a long-lasting change in behavior due to experience - any relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience
conduction deafness
- a loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate - this occurs in the outer ear and the middle ear
relearning
- a measure of retention of memory that assesses the time saved compared to learning the first time when learning information again - if learning takes as much time as initial learning, then our memory of the information has decayed
additive color
- a method to create color by mixing a number of different light colors, with shades of red, green, and blue being the most common primary colors - examples of this type of color are: - sunlight - white light
algorithm
- a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem - example: - a math formula
antagonist
- a molecule that binds to receptors but blocks a neurotransmitter's functioning - example: Botulin, a poison that can form in improperly canned food, causes paralysis by blocking Ach release for muscle movement
agonist
- a molecule that may be similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor and mimic its effects (blocks the original neurotransmitter) - example: the body thinks morphine is close enough to the naturally made endorphins so it binds to the endorphin receptors to block pain
Premack Principle
- a more probable behavior can be used as a reinforcer for a less probable one - you have to take into consideration the reinforcers used - is the reinforcer wanted or at least is it more preferable than the targeted behavior? - example: if a kid likes cookies, you can give that kid cookies to do things for you
temperament
- a natural disposition to show a particular mood at a particular intensity for a specific period - affects his or her behavior
parallel processing
- a natural mode of information processing that involves several information streams simultaneously - this emphasizes the simultaneous processing of information, which occurs automatically & without our awareness
neuron
- a nerve cell - the basic building block of the nervous system
action potential
- a neural impulse - a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon
animal homosexuality
- a number of animal species are devoted to same-sex partners, suggesting that homosexuality exists in the animal world - suggests something biological plays a role in sexual orientation
correlational coefficient
- a number that measures the strength of a relationship - the range is from -1 to +1 (cannot be below -1 or above +1) - the relationship gets weaker the closer the number gets to zero
identical twins
- a pair who started life as a single fertilized egg, which later split into two distinct individuals - have exactly the same genes - also referred to as monozygotic
fraternal twins
- a pair who started life as two separate fertilized eggs that happened to share the same womb - on average, have about 50% of their genetic material in common (like any other two siblings) - also referred to as dizygotic
the McGurk Effect
- a perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception - the illusion occurs when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception of a third sound
hypoactive sexual desire
- a persistent, upsetting loss of sexual desire - both aspects must be present
group polarization
- a phenomenon wherein the decisions and opinions of people in a group setting become more extreme than their original, privately held beliefs - the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the decisions that would be made by the members acting alone
proximity
- a predictor of attraction - geographic nearness - examples: - people who live on you floor in college are more likely to become your friend - mere-exposure effect
external cues
- a psychological factor of hunger - include: - time of day - seeing food - smelling food - some else's growling stomach
observational learning
- a psychological factor of hunger - includes: - mimicking/modelling a behavior
Alien Hand Syndrome
- a rare neurological disorder that causes hand movement without the person being aware of what is happening or having control over the action - this usually occurs after a person has had the two hemispheres of the brain surgically separated, as in split-brain surgery
unconditional response (UCR)
- a response to the unconditional stimulus - this is unlearned - this is a physiological response
representativeness heuristic
- a rule of thumb of judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they match our prototype - this can cause us to ignore important information
heuristic
- a rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgements & solve problems efficiently - a short cut that can also be prone to errors
script
- a schema for an event - for example, because we have a script for elementary school, even if we've never been to a particular elementary school, we expect it to have teachers, young students, a principal, classrooms with desks & chairs, etc.
social acceptance
- a sense of belonging with others increases our self-esteem - social segregation decreases this
discontinuity
- a sequence of distinct stages in one's life - developmental psychologists focus on qualitative changes in kind, structure, or organization
social script
- a sequence of expected behaviors for a given situation - example: the expected behaviors of both "guards" and "prisoners" in the Sanford Prison Experiment
reflex
- a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus - example: the knee-jerk response that doctors use to test your reflexes
transference
- a situation where the feelings, desires, and expectations of one person (client) are redirected and applied to another person (therapist) - this can allow the client to replay previous experiences & reactions, enabling him or her to gain insight about current feelings & behaviors - the shifting of emotions from someone in the patient's emotional life to the therapist (displacement)
night terrors
- a sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified - most frequently childhood sleep disruptions from stage 4 sleep characterized by a bloodcurdling scream & intense fear - occur during NREM sleep
sexual jealousy
- a special form of jealousy in sexual relationships, present in animals that reproduce through internal fertilization, and is based on suspected or imminent sexual infidelity - it is founded on the instinct of keeping genes in the gene pool and expecting sexual partners to care for the offspring - an evolutionary psychology perspective
corticosteroid (cortisol)
- a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones - it functions to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis, to suppress the immune system, and to aid in the metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates - it also decreases bone formation
personal unconscious
- a storehouse of all of our own past memories, hidden instincts, & urges that are unique to us - this contains complexes, which are groups of associated, emotional, unconscious thoughts that significantly influence our attitudes, and & associations that act as driving forces - this is similar to Freud's preconscious & unconscious
insight
- a sudden & often novel realization of the solution to a problem - there is no real strategy involved
fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
- a technique for revealing bloodflow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans - these scans show brain function
mental set
- a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if it has worked in the past - this may or may not be good thing
Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
- a tool for measuring facial expressions - it is an anatomical system for describing all observable facial movement - it breaks down facial expressions into individual components of muscle movement - it was first published in 1978 by Ekman & Friesen
aversive conditioning
- a type of behavior conditioning in which noxious stimuli are associated with undesirable or unwanted behavior that is to be modified or abolished - example: the use of nausea-inducing drugs in the treatment of alcoholism - the Garcia Effect - Little Albert experiment
divergent thinking
- a type of creative thinking in which one generates new solutions to problems - example: - using an object for many uses other than its typical/common use
classical conditioning
- a type of learning that occurs when an association is made between a meaningful stimulus & a non-meaningful stimulus - you can CHOOSE to carry out a behavior - Ivan Pavlov (Pavlovian Conditioning) - John Watson (Little Albert experiment) - this is passive learning - this is automatic learning; therefore, the learner does NOT have to think - the first thing you need for this is an unconditional relationship - next, you find a neutral stimulus - then, you present the stimulus with the unconditional stimulus - also called Pavlovian conditioning
fantasy
- a way to escape real problems - example: imagining that one is successful may lead to feelings of success, especially when one's reality is the opposite of success - a defense mechanism
excitatory synapses
- accelerate the neuron's firing speed - for a neuron to fire, there has to be more of these than inhibitory synapses
unconditional positive regard
- acceptance & love from others independent of how we behave - Carl Rogers believed that we are born with this
stage 5 of psychosocial development
- adolescents (about 12-20 years old) face the crisis of identity vs. role confusion - "Who am I?"
hostile aggression
- aggression that is carried-out out of impulse & intent - intention to hurt someone
psychodynamic theory
- all of the diverse theories, descended from the work of Freud, which focus on unconscious mental forces - the ideas of people after Freud who elaborated on his ideas
gender
- all the psychological and social characteristics associated with being male or female - defined by one's gender identity and learned gender roles - a societal determinant
explicit memory
- also called "declarative memory" - this type of LTM is responsible for facts & experiences that we consciously know & can actually verbalize - this type of LTM is further divided into semantic memory & episodic memory
implicit memory
- also called "non-declarative" - this type of LTM is responsible for skills & procedures to do things affected by previous experience without that experience being consciously recalled - this type of LTM is further divided into procedural memory as well as classing & operant conditioning
echoic memory
- also known as "auditory memory" - this type of sensory memory lasts for about 4 seconds, just long enough for us to to hear a flow of information
iconic memory
- also known as "visual memory" - this type of sensory memory completely represents a visual stimulus that lasts for less than a second
fundamental attribution error
- also known as correspondence bias or attribution effect - this is the tendency to overestimate the effect of disposition or personality and underestimate the effect of the situation in explaining social behavior
misattribution effect
- also referred to as "source amnesia"
hypnosis
- an altered state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation & heightened suggestibility - this method may reveal hidden conflicts - this is only valid for treating pain
catharsis
- an emotional release of negative energy - a Freudian Term
sexual orientation
- an enduring sexual attraction or a degree of emotional & erotic attraction toward members of either one's own sex (homosexual orientation), the other sex (heterosexual orientation), or either sex (bisexual orientation)
self-fulfilling prophecy
- an expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true - example: Rosenthal & Jacobson's "Pygmalion in the Classroom" experiment
fat
- an ideal form of stored energy and is readily available - in times of famine, an overweight body was a sign of affluence
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
- an increase in electrical activity of skin when sweat glands increase activity
leptin
- an increase of this hormone decreases hunger - located in fat cells
PPY/CCK
- an increase of this hormone decreases hunger - located in the digestive tract
orexin
- an increase of this hormone increases hunger - located in the hypothalamus
ghrelin
- an increase of this hormone increases hunger - located in the stomach - remember: stomach GROWL
insulin
- an increase of this hormone increases hunger - located the pancreas
temperament
- an infant's natural disposition to show a particular mood at a particular intensity for a specific period - generally considered the hereditary component of one's personality
color
- an object will be perceived as the same color even if the color reflected on the retina changes - example: when an object is placed in the shade, you will still be able to perceive the same color
shape
- an object will be perceived as the same shape even if the shape reflected on the retina changes - example: the door opening toward you is still perceive as rectangular
size
- an object will be perceived as the same size even if the size reflected on the retina changes - example: a dog running toward you is not seen as grown in size
cognitive dissonance
- an unpleasant state of psychological tension that occurs when two thoughts or perceptions are inconsistent. (attitude and behavior conflict) - the idea that your attitude is inconsistent with your behavior, which causes tension - people want to have consistent attitudes & behaviors--when they are not, they experience dissonance (unpleasant tension) - usually they will change their attitude
experimenter bias
- another confounding variable - this is not a conscious act (the experimenter is not aware of their bias) - to avoid this, a double-blind procedure would be used (where both the experimenters and participants are not informed of the groups their are in)
method of loci
- another mnemonic - this uses association of words on a list with visualization of places on a familiar path (example: "The Memory Palace")
stress
- any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one's well-being and that thereby tax one's coping abilities - threat may be to one's immediate physical safety, long-range security, self- esteem, reputation, peace of mind, or any other things a person values. - not necessarily negative
life changes
- any significant alternations in one's living circumstances that require readjustment
heterozygous traits
- any time an individual has two different alleles for a gene, the individual's genotype is heterozygous - for genes with simple dominance, like the pea example, the dominant allele is always expressed, so heterozgyous individuals have the dominant trait
genital stage
- approximate age: 11- adult (adolescent) - with puberty, the sexual impulses of the phallic stage reappear - if development has been successful during earlier stages, it leads to marriage, mature in sexuality, & the birth & rearing of children - the growing adolescent shakes off old dependencies & learns to deal maturely with the opposite sex
anal stage
- approximate age: 2-3 years old - toddlers & preschoolers enjoy holding & releasing urine and feces - if parents insist that children be trained before they are ready, or if they make too few demands, conflicts about anal control may appear in the form of extreme orderliness & cleanliness or messiness & disorder - potty training: learning to control one's own bowels
phallic stage
- approximate age: 3-7 years old - preschoolers begin to take pleasure in genital stimulation - children begin to feel an unconscious sexual desire for the other-sex parent & hostility toward the same-sex parent - to avoid punishment & the loss of parental love, they suppress these impulses & instead, adopt the same-sex parent's characteristics & values - castration anxiety - as a result of this, the superego is formed, & the children feel guilty whenever they violate its standards - Frued attributes many psychological disorders to something going wrong during this stage - during this stage, the child also learns to realize the differences between males & females and becomes aware of sexuality
latency stage
- approximate age: 7-11 years old - during this stage, sexual instincts die down - the superego develops further - the child then acquires new social values from adults & same-sex peers/friends outside of the family - castration anxiety leads to sexual desires being dormant - this is a period of guilt - the child continues his or her development but sexual urges are relatively quiet
oral stage
- approximate age: birth - 2 years old - in this stage, the infant achieves gratification through oral activities such as feeding, thumb sucking, & babbling - if oral needs are to met appropriately, then the individual may develop such habits as thumb sucking, fingernail biting, &pencil chewing in childhood as well as overeating & smoking later on in life - the ego develops during this stage - oral fixation: if this stage is failed, then one would always find pleasure with putting things in their mouths (gum, etc.)
pain messages
- are transmitted to the brain via two types of pathways that pass through different areas in the thalamus
identification
- associating with people or groups that are of higher status in order to increase your own status - example: group identification
Just-World Hypothesis
- assumption that the world is fair and therefore people get what they deserve and deserve what they get - the tendency to blame an innocent victim of misfortune for having somehow caused the problem or prevented it
prenatal development
- begins with fertilization, or conception, & ends with birth - remember: Coach ZEFf (1. Zygote 2. Embryo 3. Fetus)
discrimination
- behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group - an action resulting from prejudice
operant conditioning
- behaviors one chooses to do - example: - giving someone candy after he or she does chores, to increase the likelihood of them completing their chores
rape statistics
- between one in three & one in five college-aged women will experience some form of relationship or sexual violence while in college - 85% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by an acquaintance - alcohol is the number one predatory drug on college campuses - less than 2 percent of reported rape cases have been proven false
gender role stereotypes
- broad categories that reflect our impressions & beliefs about males & females - instrumental traits (self-reliance, leadership ability, etc.) are masculine - expressive traits (warmth, understanding) are feminine
rigid gender stereotypes
- can restrict behavior, especially male behavior - this is socially constructed - like: men wearing make-up, men crying because of TV commercials, etc.
sensory nuerons (afferent neurons)
- carry information from the body's tissues & organs to the central nervous system (CNS) - example: when you touch something hot, these send messages to the spinal cord to pull your hand away
projection
- casting the feelings that you have onto another person - blaming another person for the feelings that you have - examples: - if you did poorly on the test, but you find someone else who did worse that you did & push your feelings onto that person - if someone has helped you through a tough time & you start to develop feelings for them
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
- caused by HIV and frequently fatal - the immune system is weakened, allowing other diseases and infections to invade the body - White Blood Cell count is often lowered dangerously
neurotransmitters
- chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons - when released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse - are needed because chemical messengers can cross the fluid-filled synaptic gap/cleft
stage 3 of psychosocial development
- children (3-5 years old) face the crisis of initiative vs. guilt - children need to lean to make plans & carry out tasks through play, asking questions, making choices, & using their imaginations to develop initiative - if they are not severely criticized, discouraged from asking questions, not permitted to make choices, or prevented from playing, then the children feel guilty
pre-conventional level of morality
- children do the right thing to avoid punishment (stage 1) or to further their self-interests (stage 2) - occurs at the pre-operational stage of cognitive development
conventional level of morality
- children follow the rules to live up to the expectations of others, "good boy/nice girl" (stage 3) or to maintain "law & order" and do their duty (stage 4) - occurs at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development
gender schema
- children form a schema of gender that filters their perceptions of the world according to what is appropriate for males & what is appropriate for females - was theorized by Sandra Bem
natural selection
- claims that heritable characteristics that provide a survival or reproductive advantage are more likely than alternative characteristics to e passed on to subsequent generations & thus come to be "selected" over time - Charles Darwin came up with this idea
liking through association
- classical conditioning can play a part in attraction - example: when you're around something you like & you experience that thing with a specific person, then you are more likely to associate that thing with that particular person
information processing model
- compares our mind to a computer - consists of encoding, storing, & retrieving
self-awareness
- consciousness of oneself as a person - develops between the age of 1 & 2
Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome
- consists of three stages: 1. alarm 2. resistance 3. exhaustion - remember: these ARE the stages for this syndrome
locus of control
- consists of: - internal - external
nonsense syllables
- consonant-vowel-consonat arrangements that do not correspond to words - Ebbinghaus invented these
contact theory
- contact between hostile groups will reduce animosity if they are made to work towards a superordinate goal - example: the Sherif camp study
massed practice
- cramming the memorization of information of the learning of skills into one session
contingency model
- created by Robert Rescorla - challenged Pavlov's contiguity model - suggests that the conditioned stimulus tells the organism that the unconditioned stimulus will follow
dopamine
- creates feelings of motivation and drive, liking, attention, pleasure - (think of Dopey in Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs) - agonists: Cocaine, Amphetamines, Methamphetamines, L-Dopa - antagonists: Antipsychotics
display rules
- cultural norms that regulate the appropriate expression of emotion
collectivistic cultures
- cultures that put group goals ahead of personal goals and define one's identity in terms of the groups one belongs to - cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships, and harmony with ones group is prized above individual goals and wishes
individualistic cultures
- cultures that put personal goals ahead of group goals and define one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships - cultures in which people are considered fundamentally independent and which value standing out by achieving private goals
cognitive maps
- deals with spatial learning - Edward Tolman theorized this idea
Stage 3 & Stage 4 sleep
- deep sleep occurs during thee stages of sleep - delta waves
achievement motivation
- defined as a desire for significant accomplishment - people with a high need to achieve tend to: - choose tasks that allow for success, yet - still require skill and effort, and - keep persisting until success is achieved - a term that was coined by McKelellan
the Pratfall Effect
- describes how people like how people make mistakes (no one's perfect)
reciprocal liking
- describes the phenomenon of people tending to better like those people who like them - this reflects the notion that people feel better about themselves knowing that they are likable and enjoy the company of those who give them positive feelings
intellectualization
- describing painful or emotional personal events in academic or philosophical terms - *basically rationalization with fancy terminology - example: Tamika was just told that she had failed a project/ Tamika thought it was the best work she had ever done. Although very upset, she talked endlessly about how the educational system is an antiquated institution that grades students without fair standards.
sex
- determines whether you are biologically male or female - a biological determinant - whether a male has a Y chromosome or a female has a second X chromosome
sensory adaptation
- diminished sensitivity with constant stimulation - the receptors that are higher up in the sensory system get tired & fire less frequently
dominant gene
- dominance in genetics is a relationship between alleles of one gene, in which the effect on phenotype of one allele masks the contribution of a second allele at the same locus - the first allele is dominant and the second allele is recessive
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep
- dreaming occurs during this sleep - these dreams are vivid in nature & normally don't make sense - these sleep brain patterns mimics awake brain patterns - this lasts for 90 minutes - this sleep does not occur until 90 minutes into your sleep cycle - during this sleep: • heart rate increases • breathing becomes more rapid • eyes dart behind the lids • genital arousal
affective forecasting
- efforts to predict one's emotional reactions to future events - good at predicting general emotion - bad at predicting duration or intensity
premature ejaculation
- ejaculation that persistently occurs before the male and his partner want it to occur - squeeze technique
sexual satisfaction
- elements necessary for a continuing healthy sexual relationship - sexual anticipation - valuing one's sexuality - feeling that you deserve sexual pleasure - valuing intimacy
consciousness
- enables one to analyze, compare, & interpret experiences - allows one to integrate what you already know, what you perceive in the present, & what you anticipate - can be altered by sleep, hypnosis, meditation, & drugs
effortful processing
- encoding that requires our focused attention & conscious effort
availability heuristic
- estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory - if it comes to mind easily (maybe a vivid event) we presume it is common
token economy
- every time a desired behavior is performed, a token is given - they can trade tokens in for a variety of prizes (reinforces) - used in homes, prisons, mental institutions, & schools
avoidance learning
- example: - studying hard to reduce (avoid) stress
escape learning
- example: - trying to hurry home to get out of the cold weather
pressure
- expectations or demands that one behave a certain way - Weiten Developed a Pressure Index with a higher correlation than the SRRS to psychological problems associated with stress
George Miller
- experiments done by him demonstrated that the capacity of short-term memory is approximately seven (plus or minus two)
subtractive color
- explains the mixing of a limited set of dyes, inks, paint pigments or natural colorants to create a wider range of colors, each the result of partially or completely subtracting (that is, absorbing) some wavelengths of light and not others - examples of this type of color are: - pigment - artificial wavelength - pens - paint
farsightedness
- faraway objects are seen more clearly - the lens focuses on the image of near objets behind the retina
gender roles
- favored patterns of behavior for males and females - example: girls are expected to be sensitive, and boys are expected to be dominant - these appear to be learned - sometimes known as sex roles
norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
- feelings of alertness, attention, concentration, raises blood pressure, lifts mood, can increase anxiety - agonists: Cocaine, Amphetamines
estrogen
- female hormone - more of it = more affectionate behavior - women have large amounts of this, while men have small amounts of it - along with pro-estrogen, this helps to release an egg from the ovaries - female receptivity may be heightened with estrogen injections
interaction (nature vs. nurture)
- forces work together or influence each other-as in the interaction between the forces of heredity and environment - an interaction between nature & nurture
dyspareunia
- genital pain before, during, and after intercourse - this is rare in males
superordinate goal
- goals that are achieved by the contribution and co-operation of two or more people, with individual goals mutually interdependent of each other - having people working together to solve a shared issue - often performed by "Work Teams"
chunking
- grouping information into meaningful units - for example, this can be a word rather than individual letters, or a date rather than individual numbers
olfactory cilia
- hairlike structures located in upper portion (the roof) of nasal passages - receptors for smell
asymptomatic
- having a disease while lacking obvious symptoms of illness - makes the disease harder to detect
androgyny
- having both masculine and feminine traits in a single person - these type of individuals are more adaptable in our society - example: a tom boy
Sigmund Freud
- he (& Skinner) tried to create a theory which explained ALL human behavior behavior (a broader scope) - he said that much of human behavior is influenced by the unconscious - he said that many mental illnesses were due to "sexual repression" - because no one talked about - most of his patients were young girls who came from wealthy backgrounds - he tried to fix/solve the continuous model of psychopathology - he was Jewish & escaped the Nazis - however, he was not a practicing Jew - his ideas were pretty atheist
Chomsky
- he believed that we acquire language too quickly for it to be learned - he also believed that we have this "learning box" inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language (Language Acquisition Device) - he stated that there was a critical period for a child to learn language - he stated that children are primed to learn through the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - inborn universal grammar
John Watson
- he brought classical conditioning to psychology with his Little Albert experiment
Leon Festinger
- he coined the term for "cognitive dissonance" - he conducted an experiment where
Harry Harlow
- he conducted an experiment studying attachment through baby monkeys - he provided the evidence of "contact comfort" - he performed an experiment on a baby monkey showing that the cloth mother (which provided warmth & comfort) was loved more than the wire mother (which provided only milk) - this experiment undermined the behavioral views
Philip ZImbardo
- he conducted an experiment to study how social context can change or determine social behavior - he created a prison setting, the "Stanford County Prison" - he split the participants into 2 groups, prison guards & prisoners, to determine how one's behavior can alter as a response to one's environment or social context - this study showed how we deindividuate AND become the roles in which we are given
Stanley Milgram
- he conducted an experiment which tested ordinary people's level of obedience toward authoritative figures - these results were shocking, in that many of the participants continued to persist with this experiment because the authoritative figure (the experimenter) said to do so, totally disregarding whether the confederate participant was being severely harmed by the shocks - 65% of the participants completed the full experiment, fulfilling each level of shocks
Abraham Maslow
- he created the Hierarchy of Needs: 1. self-actualization 2. esteem 3. love/belonging 4. safety needs 5. physiological needs
Kohler
- he exhibited that chimpanzees can problem solve - he conveyed that chimpanzees used insight learning
Hermann Ebbinghaus
- he experimentally investigated the properties of human memory using lists of meaningless syllables - he practiced lists by repeating the syllables & keeping records of his attempts at mastering them - he drew a learning curve - he also drew a forgetting curve - he found that recognition was sometimes easier than recall to measure forgetting
Max Wertheimer
- he founded Gestalt Psychology - he dealt with how your brain perceives things - he lived in the 1900s
William James
- he founded functionalism - he posed the question: "does your heart pound because you are afraid ... or are you afraid because you feel your heart pounding?"
Edward Thorndike
- he introduced the Law of Effect - he locked cats in a cage - he concluded that behavior changes because of its consequences - "rewards strengthen behavior" - if consequences are unpleasant, the Stimulus-Reward connection will weaken - he called this whole process INSTRUMENTAL LEARNING
Solomon Asch
- he studied & conducted an experiment on conformity - he found that an individual with different views would alter his or her view to aid to the harmony of the entire group - he found that 1/3 of the participants conformed - 70% of participants conformed at least once
Albert Bandura
- he studied how aggression can be observed & learned through children with a Bobo doll - the children participants were separated into 2 groups: the experimental group that was exposed to aggression (by a demonstrator attacking a Bobo doll) & the control group that was not exposed to any form of aggression
Martin Seligman
- he theorized "learned helplessness"
Carl Young
- he theorized the collective unconscious (the idea that all of human nature inherits the unconscious if their ancestors) - he introduced archetypes - "personal unconscious" = Freud's unconscious
Skinner
- he thought that we can explain language development through operant conditioning & social learning theory
Robert Rescorla
- he took behaviorist ideas & added cognitive ideas to them - this was a newer way to understand behaviorist ideas
Phineas Gage
- he was 1800s railroad worker who had a tamping iron shoot through his left cheek and out the top of his skull - he miraculously lived but massively damaged his frontal lobes - the once calm and rational Gage became irritable and dishonest - this incident paved the way for research on the functions of the frontal lobes
Lev Vygotsky
- he was a Russian psychologist - he emphasized the role of the environment (nurture) & gradual growth (continuity) in intellectual functioning
Ivan Pavlov
- he was a behaviorist - he was a Russian psychologist - he studied the digestion of dogs in 1903 - he believed that dogs would salivate before they were given food if they were triggered by sounds, lights, etc. - he concluded from his study of dogs that they must have LEARNED to salivate
altruism
- helping behavior that is not linked to personal gain - recognition and reward are not expected
Paul Ekman
- his research conveyed 6 basic emotions - he was a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions - he published the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
sexual orientation statistics
- homosexuality in men & women 10%
twin studies
- homosexuality is more common in identical twins than fraternal twins; however, there are mixed results
origins of sexual orientation
- homosexuality is more likely based on biological factors like differing brain centers, genetics, and parental hormone exposure rather than environmental factors - most likely biologically pre-disposed
four basic skin senses
- hot - cold - pressure - pain
hemispheric specialization
- how the brain is divided into two halves: the right side & the left side - how the right and left sides have different functions/responsibilities
recognition
- identification of learned items when they are presented
sampling
- identify the population you want to study - this must be representative of the population you want to study - get a random sample - do stratified sampling
Tsang
- in 1938, he removed rat stomachs, connected the esophagus to the small intestines, & the rats still felt hungry (and ate food) - this proved that other factors affect/influence hunger, besides the stomach
interaction between twins
- in a case study done in Minnesota, researchers concluded that genetic factors play a bigger role than environmental factors when researching twins raised together versus twins raised apart
morphemes
- in a language, this is the smallest unit that carries meaning - this can be a word or a part of a word (prefix or suffix) - example: - the "-ed" at the end of a word is used to communicate the past tense
phonemes
- in a spoken language, this is the smallest distinctive sound unit - there are about 40 in the English language
stage 7 of psychosocial development
- in middle adulthood (41-65 years old), the crisis is generativity vs. stagnation - during this stage, adults need to express their caring about the next & future generations by mentoring others or producing creative work that enriches the lives of others - people who fail to achieve gernerativity can become stagnant & preoccupied with their own needs & comforts
just-world phenomenon
- in one popular study, female & male subjects were told two versions of a story about an interaction between a man & a woman - both variations were exactly the same, except at the very end, the man raped the woman in one and in the other he proposed marriage - in both conditions, both female and male subjects viewed the woman's (identical) actions as inevitable leading to the (very different) results
stage 8 of psychosocial development
- in the late adulthood (about 65 years old to death), the crisis is integrity vs. despair - these people look back on tier lives with satisfaction that they have had lived in their lives develop a sense of wholesome & integrity, while those in disparities look back with regrets & disappoint in the lives that they've won
"Centerfold" experiment
- in this experiment, men were shown women as they listened to "their heartbeat" (which was actually a tape-recording of a heart beat) - when the men were asked who they were most attracted to, they picked the woman whose picture was paired with the fastest heart-beat recording
top-down processing
- in this type of information processing, information is affected by memory & experience: 1. comprehension 2. phrase processing 3. word processing 4. letter processing 5. feature processing - this type of information processing starts "at the top" with higher-level cognitive processes (such as expectations & knowledge) & then "working down" - this is a type of conceptually-driven processing that moves from the whole to the parts - this is theory-driven, content-driven, & experience-driven - a person's background knowledge, experiences, & expectations influence what is perceived
stage 1 of psychosocial development
- infants (newborns to 1 years old) face the crisis of trust vs. mistrust - parents must provide a safe, consistent, loving environment for children to successfully leave this stage
Alfred Adler
- inferiority complex - birth order affecting your personality - compensation
liking or friendship
- intimate liking characterizes true friendships, in which a person feels a bondedness, a warmth, and a closeness with another but not intense passion or long-term commitment - this only includes the intimacy aspect of love
amygdala
- involved with emotional memory
source monitoring
- involves making attributions about the origin of memories
destination memory
- involves recalling to whom has told you what
the Duchenne smile
- involves the contraction of both the zygomatic major muscle (which raises the corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi muscle (which raises the cheeks and forms crow's feet around the eyes) - a true smile
Hawthorne Effect
- just the fact that you know you are in an experiment can cause change in naturalistic observation results
crystallized intelligence
- learned knowledge & skills, such as vocabulary - Warner Schaie found that this generally improves with age (at least through the 60s)
emotional roots
- learning to associate achievement with positive emotions - example: if your parents put your test, that you got a good grade on, on the refrigerator
cochlea
- located in the inner ear - inside this is basilar membrane with hair cells that are bent by the vibrations & transduce this mechanical energy into electrochemical energy of neural impulses - a fluid-filled, coiled tunnel that contains the receptors for hearing
glutamate
- main excitatory neurotransmitter - turns brain on, builds memory, regulates awareness, movement, sensation, and mood - (remember: "Being GLUTtonous on Thanksgiving Day excites me!")
GABA
- main inhibitory neurotransmitter - turns brain off - involved in sleep, sedation, relaxation, reducing anxiety, and decreasing muscle tension - (remember: "I fell asleep while watching Yo Gabba Gabba!") - agonists: Alcohol, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines
rationalization
- making logical excuses for illogical behavior - example: if you watched Netflix instead of doing homework, so you can "rest your mind"
sexual problems
- male & female sexual problems are not due to personality disorders & can be treated through behavior therapy & drugs such as VIAGRA
"Rickety-Bridge" experiment
- male college students were used as participants - an attractive female college student would stand on the other side of the bridge, which would motivate the men to walk across the bridge - if the men could not do it, then they would walk along less intimidating path - when the men would reach the woman, the woman would give them her number & email address - the results conveyed that the men who actually walked across the bridge were more likely to call/email the woman - the men would unconsciously associate their feelings of arousal with liking her
androgens
- male hormones - any male hormone - establishes testosterone
testosterone
- male sex hormone (androgen) secreted mainly by the testes - more of it = more aggression - men have large amounts of this, while women have small amounts of this - these levels increase in men when they socialize with women - these levels remain relatively constant in males, so it is difficult to manipulate & activate sexual behavior
central tendency
- mean - median - mode
punishment
- meant to DECREASE a behavior - this works best when it is immediately done after behavior & if it is harsh
the psychology of hunger
- memory plays an important role in hunger - due to difficulties with retention, amnesia patients eat frequently if given food - like H.M.: if he was presented with another meal 30 minutes after eating Pamela before, he would eat again because he would not be able to remember that he had eaten
external stimuli
- men become sexually aroused when browsing through erotic material - however, women experience similar heightened arousal under controlled conditions
male sexual problems
- men generally suffer from two kinds of sexual problems: 1. premature ejaculation 2. erectile disorder
attribution
- mental process of inferring the causes of people's behavior and own behavior - the explanation for a particular behavior - how we explain behavior
schemas
- mental representation that organize & categorize information processed by by our brain - building blocks - Piaget believed that all knowledge begins with these
concepts
- mental representations of related things - these may represent physical objects, events, organisms, attributes, or even abstractions - these can be simple or complex - many these have prototypes - a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people - these are similar to Piaget's idea of schemas
hypothalamus
- monitors a number of hormones that are related to hunger - the reward center of the brain
semantic networks
- more irregular & distorted systems than strict hierarchies, with multiple links from one concept to others - elements of these are not limited to particular aspects of items - for example, the concept of bird ca be linked to fly, feathers, wings, animals, vertebrate, robin, canary, & others, which can be linked to many other concepts
child molestation
- most are males and married - two-thirds are fathers - most molestations rarely exceed fondling - impact of molestation depends on how long the abuse lasts and whether genital sexual acts are involved
endorphins
- natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure - creates feelings of pleasure and reward; decreases pain - agonists: Opioid/Narcotic Drugs-Morphine, Heroin, Painkillers
nearsightedness
- nearby objects are seen more clearly - the lens focuses on the image of distant objects in front of the retina
motor neurons (efferent neurons)
- neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands - carry instructions from the central nervous system (CNS) to the body's organs & tissues
interneurons
- neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally, intervene between the sensory inputs and the motor outputs, & link the sensory motor neurons - these neurons do the additional processing of the information needed to make sense of the events occurring within your body and outside in the environment
emotional response to stress
- no 1:1 connection between certain type of life events and particular emotions - however, researchers have found some strong links between specific cognitive reactions to stress (appraisals) and specific emotions - self blame ——>guilt - helplessness ——-> sadness
Non-REM (NREM) sleep
- non-rapid-eye-movement stages of sleep that alternate with REM stages during the sleep cycle - dreams during this type of sleep tend to be more realistic
safer sex practices
- not having sex - not injecting drugs - using a condom - sex with one mutually faithful, uninfected partner - not engaging in sex while intoxicated - reducing the number of sex partners
perception of taste & flavor
- numerous factors can affect the flavor of food: - temperature of the food - texture - prior condition of the mouth - health state of the organism - smell
social referencing
- observing the behavior of others in social situations to obtain information or guidance - develops between the age of 1 & 2
castration anxiety
- occurs during the phallic stage because the boy desires his mother; therefore, he unconsciously plots against his father to kill him to be with his mother - the boy then becomes scared that his father would find out about his plan & castrate him as a punishment
spontaneous recovery
- occurs sometimes after extinction - when the conditioned response still randomly appears after the conditioned stimulus is presented
source-monitoring error
- occurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source
imprinting
- occurs when an animal is born & the first thing it sees becomes its BIGGEST influence - example: the movie "Fly Away Home" - this was discovered by Conrad Lorenz
over-justification effect
- occurs when an expected external incentive such as money or prizes decreases a person's intrinsic (internal) motivation to perform a task - when someone is intrinsically motivated to achieve a goal to receive a reward - so, when someone is opted to do something they are interested in, another should not present them with a reward after down that thing because it would decrease the likelihood of that person performing that act in the future without a reward - this decreases intrinsic motivation
central route to persuasion
- occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts
peripheral route to persuasion
- occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness
delayed conditioning
- occurs when the neutral (conditioned) stimulus is present just before the unconditional stimulus, with a brief overlap between the two - this is the most successful and strongest type of conditioning -this is all about timing
risky-shift phenomenon
- once thought that groups tended to make more dangerous decisions in general than the individual members would have - research suggests it is more accurate to say that the group simply exaggerates the predispositions of the individuals
random assignment
- once you have a random sample, randomly assign the into two groups helps control for confounding variables
the Kinsey Report
- one of the first surveys to be anonymous - this allowed people to be honest about their sex lives because the survey was anonymous - this yielded very accurate results - this mapped sexual behaviors in males & females
menarche
- onset of menstruation - a woman's first menstrual period
parts of the eye
- optic nerve - cornea - pupil - iris - lens - retina - fovea - blind spot
imagined stimuli
- our imagination in our brain can influence sexual arousal and desire - people with spinal cord injuries and no genital sensation can still feel sexual desire
context-dependent memory
- our recall is often better when we try to recall information in the same physical setting in which we encoded it, possibly because along with the information, the environment is part of the memory trace
Adaptive-Level Principle
- our tendency to form judgements (of sounds, flights, of income) relative to a "neutral" level defined by our prior experience - this principle describes the reason WHY we are happy
narcotics
- pain reducers which work by depressing the central nervous system - also known as opiates
post-conventional level of morality
- people evidence a social contract orientation that promotes the society's welfare (stage 5) or evidence an ethical principle orientation that promotes justice & avoids self-condemnation (stage 6)
illusory correlation
- perceiving a relationship between variables (typically people, events, or behaviors) even when no such relationship exists
classical conditioning
- physiological response to a response - example: - flinching after your little brother yells "Titanic!" when he has repeatedly splashed you with water on previous occasions of saying this
daydream
- pleasant thoughts that you are not actually experiencing - "wish fulfillment"
ego
- preconscious: material that is just beneath the surface of awareness - psychological component - adheres to the "reality principle" (reality testing) - behavior takes into account the external world - this is an organized, rational, reality-oriented system - this is developed during the first 2 years of life as an infant experiences reality - this holds the "id" in-check until a suitable object is found - this helps the "id" achieve gratification or pleasure within the confines of reality
skin sensations
- pressure - only skin sensation with identifiable receptors - warmth - cold - pain
self-actualization
- reaching toward the best person we can be - this was theorized by Abraham Maslow
homozygous traits
- refers to a particular gene that has identical alleles on both homologous chromosomes - is referred to by two capital letters (XX) for a dominant trait, and two lowercase letters (xx) for a recessive trait
reality monitoring
- refers to the process of deciding whether memories are biased on external sources (one's perceptions of actual events) or internal sources (one's thoughts & imaginations)
serotonin
- regulates mood, anxiety, sleep cycle, and body temperature - (remember: "Sarah is always so moody and sleepy on Mondays.") - agonists: Hallucinogens, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs; e.g. Prozac, Antidepressants)
shaping
- reinforcing small steps on the way to the desired behavior - example: - to train a dog to get your slippers, you would have to reinforce him in small steps - first, to find the slippers - then, to put them in his mouth - then to bring them to you and so on ...
mere-exposure effect
- repetition is an effective technique for achieving persuasion, which is the same reason why advertisements run so frequently - - this is based on the idea that we have more positive feelings about things to which we are frequently exposed
reaction formation
- replacing feelings that are socially or personally unacceptable with emotions that are acceptable - example: Mrs. Smith's husband left her soon after the birth of their child, Adam. Unconsciously, she feels that the baby is the cause of the break up of her marriage. Still, she smothers Adam with love & affection.
reconstruction
- retrieval of memories that can be distorted by adding, dropping, or changing details to fit a schema
recall
- retrieval of previously learned information
regression
- reverting to childlike behavior to get the attention you got when you were younger or to get your way - examples: - crying - Sandy a 3-year-old who has been potty trained for some time, starts wetting the bed after the birth of her baby sister, Erika.
romantic love
- romantic lovers are bonded emotionally (as in liking) and physically through passionate arousal - this includes the passion and intimacy aspects of love
stage 4 of psychosocial development
- school-aged children (6-12) face the crisis of industry vs. inferiority - children need to be positively reinforced for productive activities, in order to develop a healthy self-concept & a sense of industry - if children's efforts are considered inadequate, feelings of social or mental inferiority in this stage can result in poor self-concept in the future
pheromones
- secreted or excreted chemical factors that trigger a social response in members of the same species - how they work: 1. our bodies naturally secrete fluids through glands in our body that contain natural pheromones 2. the vomeronasal organ detects the pheromones & sends a signal to the olfactory nerves 3. the olfactory nerves stimulate the hypothalamus in the context of the brain which stimulates emotions 4. this scent triggers illicit emotions in the hypothalamus such as attraction, sexual desires & arousal
gonads
- sex glands - testes in males - ovaries in females
pedophilia
- sex with children - child molestation
paraphilias
- sexual deviations - tend to be compulsive or destructive preferences or behaviors - examples: pedophilia & exhibitionism
forcible rape
- sexual intercourse that is carried out against the victim's will, usually under the threat of bodily violence - rape is a crime of violence, brutality, and aggression - men can also be subjected to rape
risky STD behaviors
- sharing drug needles and syringes - anal sex, with or without a condom - unprotected sex (without a condom) with an infected partner - sex with someone you know, or do not know, who has several partners - vaginal or oral sex with an intravenous drug user - having many sex partners
Dr. Loftus
- she emphasizes how memory is very important, especially when investigating crimes & during questioning - she showed how easy it was to create false memories
Eleanor Gibson
- she tested whether or not depth perception was innate or developed - she studied infants with the visual cliff
adoption studies
- similarities with the biological family point to effects of nature - similarities with the adoptive family point to the effects of nurture - has revealed genetic contributions to variety of psychological characteristics; intelligence, sexual orientation, temperament, and impulsive behavior
inhibitory synapses
- slow the neuron's firing speed - make a neuron less likely to fire
superego
- social component - these include moral imperatives - this contains the conscience & the ego-ideal - this is learned - this inhibits the id's urges - this strives for perfection - this is "irrational" - it operates on the extremes (good or bad) - ego ideals: the person we would like to be - this is developed through rewards & punishments (operant conditioning) - this is one's conscience (decides between right & wrong) - this is formed around the age of 5 - these are like the "internalized values of your parents" instilled inside of you
conditioned stimulus (CS)
- something that by itself elicits no response - also called the neutral stimulus
neutral stimulus
- something that by itself elicits no response - also known as the conditioned stimulus
unconditional stimulus (UCS)
- something that elicits a natural, reflexive response - something that is "unlearned"
empty love
- sometimes, a stronger love deteriorates into this love, in which the commitment remains, but the intimacy and passion have died - in cultures in which arranged marriages are common, relationships often begin as this type of love - this only includes the commitment aspect of love
distributed practice
- spreading out the memorization of information or the learning skills over several sessions - this facilitates remembering better than massed practice
slow wave sleep (SWS)
- stage of sleep in which EEG delta waves are present - synonymous with stage 3 and 4 combined
arousal theory (optimum arousal theory)
- states that people are motivated to reach an optimal state of alertness or activation - human motivation aims to seek optimum levels of arousal, not to eliminate it - humans like to optimally stimulated, which engages them
acetylcholine
- stimulates muscle contraction - regulates sleep cycle and alertness - (remember: "an ACE bandage heals hurt muscles") - agonists: Nicotine, Alzheimer's Drugs - antagonists: Curare, Botox
chromosomes
- strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules that carry genetic information - every cell in humans, except the sex cells (sperm and eggs), contain 46 chromosomes - these chromosomes operate in 23 pairs, with one chromosome of each pair being contributed by each parent
teratogens
- substances from the environment, including viruses, drugs, and other chemicals, that can damage the developing organism during the prenatal period - examples: viruses, alcohol, drugs - can cause birth defects - anything that can have a negative effect on the developing fetus
taste sensations
- sweet - sour - salty - bitter - hot/spicy
physiological component of emotion
- sympathetic nervous system - hormones - bodily arousal accompanies feeling states - fight or flight - assess with GSR/ Polygraph - as you are being asked questions, respiration will change if you are not being truthful - blood pressure with change, skin response will change
hierarchies
- systems in which concepts are arranged from more general to more specific classes
displacement
- taking out one's anger or frustration on a person or object that is not the cause of the offense - example: if you punch a pillow after your mom takes away your phone
Garcia Effect
- taste aversion
insular cortex
- taste signals are routed through thalamus and onto here - this is located in the frontal lobe
ventral stream
- the "what" stream - this stream deals with: - color - texture - pictorial detail - shape - size - this deals with object processing - remember: "when the barista at Starbucks asks WHAT sized drink I want, I ask for a VENTI"
dorsal stream
- the "where" stream - this stream deals with: - location - movement - spatial transformations - spatial relations - this deals with spatial processing - remember: "you have to look WHERE the DOOR is"
B.F. Skinner
- the Mac Daddy of operant conditioning - he was a nurture guy through & through - he used a Skinner Box (operant conditioning chamber) to prove his concepts - he said that the reason that people were the way they were was because of their experiences, NOT biology or nature - he believed that people are born with a "blank slate" - he stated that some animals & humans learn the same way
fluid intelligence
- the abilities that require speed or rapid learning - Warner Schaie found that this generally diminishes with aging
lucid dreaming
- the ability to be aware that one is dreaming and to direct one's dreams - this has been used to help people make recurrent nightmares less frightening
perceptual constancies
- the ability to experience a constant perception even when what is reflected on the retina changes - color - size - shape
delay of gratification
- the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward and wait for later reward - example: the kid marshmallow test
internalization
- the absorbing of information from a specified social environmental context - Vygotsky thought that development proceeds mainly from the outside-in by this process
positive reinforcement
- the addition of something pleasant - example: giving students candy after they get an answer right
positive punishment
- the addition of something unpleasant - examples: - a teacher giving you detention - a spanking
overlearning
- the additional rehearsal
intensity
- the amount of energy in a wave that is determined by amplitude - brightness - loudness
association areas
- the areas of the cerebral cortex involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking - (remember: "the association areas let people make associations between things") - example: "my stomach is growling, I must be hungry"
circadian rhythm
- the biological clock - regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle - the sleep-wake cycle - normally lasts 24 hours - regulates our hormone levels, body temperatures, etc.
resistance
- the blocking of anxiety-provoking feelings & experiences, evidenced by behavior such as taking about trivial issues or coming late for sessions - a sign that the client has reached an important issue that needs to be discovered - resisting the want to see what is in one's unconscious
sensory pathway
- the bundles of neurons that carry information from the sense organs to the brain - visual pathway: - eye - thalamus - optic nerve - optic chaiasm - occipital lobe - visual cortex
dendrite
- the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body - receives signals from other nerve cells - (remember: "dendrites detect")
signs of child molestation
- the child fears being seen nude (e.g., bathing), when these fears were previously absent - the child develops physical complaints like headaches, stomachaches, and other stress-related symptoms - the child becomes markedly emotional and irritable
genital sex
- the clitoris and vagina in females - the penis and scrotum in males
vaginismus
- the condition where muscle spasms of the vagina making penetration by the penis difficult, painful, or impossible
imagery
- the creation of visual images to represent words - Allan Paivio has pointed out that it is easier to form images of concrete objects rather than abstract concepts
compensation
- the defense mechanism that emphasizes personal strengths in one area to shift focus from failure in another area - example: someone who is not very smart, always saying how attractive they are - was theorized by Alfred Adler
denial
- the defense mechanism that refuses to accept an obvious situation because of the emotional pain it causes - example: the first stage of grief
convergence
- the degree to which the two eyes must converge to focus on the object - when you look at something, both of your eyes rotate at the same angle to focus on that thing
Weber's Law
- the detection of a stimulus depends of the original stimulus itself - example: if a 300-pound person loses 20 pounds & a 120-pound person loses 20 pounds, which one would you notice lost the weight first? - you would notice the 120-pound person first because 20 pounds is a larger percent of their body weight - to perceive a difference between 2 stimuli, they must differ by a constant proportion (like a percentage)
wavelength
- the distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next - determines color & hue - the normal human is able to see 400-700 nanometers in this unit
Gender Dysphoria (GD)
- the distress a person experiences as a result of the sex and gender they were assigned at birth - in this case, the assigned sex and gender do not match the person's gender identity, and the person is transgender - was once called Gender Identity Disorder (GID)
somatic nervous system
- the division of the PNS that controls the body's skeletal muscles - also known as the skeletal nervous system - (think of "soma" meaning body--it controls all bodily movements)
autonomic nervous system
- the division of the PNS that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs - controls the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems - (think of "auto")
sympathetic nervous system
- the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations - "fight or flight"
parasympathetic nervous system
- the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy - "rest and disgest"
menopause
- the end of monthly menstrual cycles - usually occurs in the late 40's or early 50's
axon
- the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons, muscles, or glands - carry signals to other nerve cells - (remember: "axons announce") - this is polarized in its resting state (because of the negative charge)
retinal disparity
- the fact that the right & left eyes see slightly different views of the object - this is the merging of the image that the left eye sees & the image that the right eye sees
stranger anxiety
- the fear of unfamiliar people - according to Piaget, infants at about 8 months of age seem to develop this which indicates that hey can differentiate among people they know & people they don't know
excitement
- the first phase of the human sexual response cycle - during this stage: - the genitals become engorged with blood - the vagina expands secretes lubricant - the penis enlarges
alarm
- the first stage of General Adaptation Syndrome - when stressors are threatening or perceived to be threatening, the body activates physiological changes the treaty for fight or flight - when you first encounter distress - during this stage, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in
resting potential
- the fluid interior of a resting axon has an excess of negatively charged ions, while the fluid outside the axon membrane has more positively charged ions - (positive- outside/negative-inside state) - there is a negative charge in the axon when in its resting state
resolution
- the fourth & final stage of the human sexual response cycle - during this stage: - engorged genital releases blood - male goes through refractory phase (a time following orgasm during which males are largely unresponsive to further stimulation)
formal operational stage
- the fourth stage of Piaget's cognitive development that occurs after the age of 12 - during this stage, children are now able to think abstractly & hypothetically
to strengthen conformity...
- the group is unanimous - the group is at least 3 people - one admires the group's status - one had madden prior commitment
activation-synthesis theory
- the idea that dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of random neural activity - psychiatrists Robert McCarley & J. Alan Hobson theorized this
erectile disorder
- the inability to maintain an erection for lovemaking and intercourse - was once known as impotence - also known as erectile dysfunction
fixation
- the inability to see a problem from a new perspective
amygdala
- the integrative center for emotions, emotional behavior, and motivation - teens rely more on this
synapse
- the junction between the terminal branch of the synaptic gap - here, information is transmitted from one neuron to another via neurotransmitters
retention interval
- the length of time between the presentation of materials to be remembered & the measurement of forgetting
acquisition
- the linking together of the neutral (conditioned) stimulus with the unconditional stimulus, after a lot of conditioning - this does not last forever
social inhibition (social impairment)
- the lowering of performance on a given task in presence of others - - often occurs with tasks that are not well rehearsed
absolute threshold
- the minimal amount of a stimuli one needs to perceive something - the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus - usually defined as the stimulus needed for detection 50% of the time
difference threshold
- the minimum difference between 2 stimuli that a subject can detect 50 % of the time - Just Noticeable Difference (JND) - increases with magnitude - example: it is easier to tell the difference between 4 & 5Hz than 1000 & 1001Hz
nucleotides
- the monomers of nucleic acids - groups of molecules that, when linked together, form the building blocks of DNA & RNA: composed of a phosphate group, he bases cytosine, guanine, adenine, & thymine, and a pentose sugar, in RNA the thymine base is replaced by uracil
prototypes
- the most typical examples of the concept - a mental image of best example of a category
soma (cell body)
- the neuron's life support center that also produces neurotransmitters - contains the nucleus, which control she function of the entire cell
brainstem
- the oldest and innermost region of the brain that is responsible for automatic survival functions - it begins where the spinal cord swells and enters the skull
pinna
- the outer ear - the visible portion of the ear
Relative Deprivation Level
- the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself (others' attainment) - example: social media
female orgasmic disorder
- the persistent inability to reach orgasm during lovemaking - the woman may reach orgasm during masturbation, however
set point
- the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set - the idea that your body already has a set weight; therefore, it manipulates your body to maintain a certain weight - manipulating the lateral and the ventromedial hypothalamus alters the body's "weight thermostat" - heredity influences this as well as body type - if weight is lost, food intake increases and energy expenditure decreases (and if weight is gained, the opposite takes place) - when the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight - when your calorie rate plunges, your metabolism slows down
scapegoating
- the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame as a scapegoat - this may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "Hattie Francis did it, not me!"), individuals against groups (e.g., "I failed because our school favors girls"), groups against individuals (e.g., "Jane was the reason our team didn't win"), and groups against groups (e.g., "Immigrants are taking all of the jobs").
groupthink
- the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility - he tendency of a decision-making group to filter out undesirable input so that a consensus may be reached, especially if it is in line with the leader's viewpoint
dual processing
- the principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks - example: visual learning paired with auditory learning
sensory interaction
- the principle that one sense may influence another - example: as when the smell of food influences its taste
sound localization
- the process by which you determine the location of a sound - sound is heard in the nearest ear first - sound is heard loudest in the nearest ear
attachment
- the process in which the mother (or other caregiver) bonds with the infant, through frequent interactions, the infant gradually forms a close emotional relationship with his or her mother (or caregivers) - Harry Harlow's experimental research on baby monkeys (contact comfort)
sensation
- the process of detecting, converting, & transmitting raw sensory information from the external & internal environments to the brain - the stimulation of the sense organs
elaboration
- the process of linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding - semantic encoding can often be enhanced through this process
rehearsal
- the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information
perception
- the process of selecting, organizing, & interpreting sensory information - enables us to recognize meaningful objects & events
inferential statistics
- the purpose of this type of statistic is to discover whether the results can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was collected--to draw conclusions
long-term memory (LTM)
- the relatively permanent & practically unlimited capacity memory system into which information from short-term memory may pass - this type of memory is subdivided into explicit memory & implicit memory
catharsis
- the release of emotional tension after remembering or reliving an emotionally charged experience from the past - this may ultimately result in relief of anxiety - once the patient realizes what causes their behavior, they would have a "cathartic release" of emotions
ovulation
- the release of ova (eggs) from the ovaries - women are more likely to have sex when it is close to ovulation for them
negative punishment (omission training)
- the removal of something pleasant - example: if your parents take away your car, after coming hime late after curfew
negative reinforcement
- the removal of something unpleasant - example: Ms. Fay dropping our lowest quiz grade if we get good grade on a test - two types of this: - escape learning - avoidance learning
thalamus
- the role of this part of the brain in memory seems to involve the encoding of sensory memory into short-term memory - STM seems to be located primarily in the prefrontal cortex & temporal lobes
syntax
- the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences - this is concerned with order
conditioned response (CR)
- the same as the unconditional response
plateau
- the second phase of the human sexual response cycle - during this stage: - excitement peaks (such as breathing, pulse, and blood pressure)
resistance
- the second stage of General Adaptation Syndrome - during this stage, the fight-or-flight response occurs - long-term coping with stressors depletes adaptive energy, resulting in exhaustion
pre-operational stage
- the second stage of Piaget's cognitive development that occurs from age 2 to age 7 - during this stage, language develops with the ability to think - a child uses trial & error to figure out how things work & answers questions intuitively rather than logically
vestibular sense
- the sense of equilibrium, balance, & body orientation - the sense of body movement * body's position relative to gravity - controlled by the fluid in the inner ear in the semicircular canals
olfaction
- the sense of smell - does not get filtered by the thalamus
semantics
- the set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language - adding "-ed" at the end of words means past tense
somatosensation
- the skin sensations: touch/pressure, warmth, cold, and pain - another word for youch
REM (rapid eye movement) sleep
- the stage of sleep characterized by flickering eyes behind closed lids - this indicates dreaming
psychophysics
- the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience - this was discovered by Wilhelm Wundt - the study of the relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli & our psychological experience of them - light: brightness - sound: volume - pressure: weight - taste: sweetness
insight learning
- the sudden appearance of an answer or solution to a problem - this idea suggest that some animals learn thorough the "ah-ha" experience - Wolfgang Kohler & his chimpanzees
castration
- the surgical removal of the testes or ovaries - removing the testes would reduce testosterone levels & lower sexual interest in males
kinesthesis
- the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts - "hand-eye coordination" - sense of movement - depth perception
meta-analysis
- the systematic statistical method for synthesizing the results of numerous research studies dealing with the same variables - indicates that clients who receive psychotherapy are better off than most of those who receive no treatment
belief bias
- the tendency for one's preexisting belies to distort logical reasoning - this sometimes makes invalid conclusions valid or vice-versa
overconfidence
- the tendency to be more confident than correct - to oversestimat the accuracy of your beliefs & judgements
in-group bias
- the tendency to favor one's own group
false-consensus effect
- the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors - we assume that people see & explain things the same as we do
exhaustion
- the third & final stage of General Adaptation Syndrome - when the body has used up its adaptive energy & can no longer cope with stressors, it breaks down in disease, collapse, or death - the time when you are most likely to sick is hen you are stressed or sleep-deprived
orgasm
- the third phase of the human sexual response cycle - during this stage: - contractions all over the body - increase in breathing, pulse, & blood pressure - sexual release
concrete operational stage
- the third stage of Piaget's cognitive development that occurs from age 7 to age 12 - during this stage, children develop simple logic & master conservation concepts
standard deviation
- the variance of scores around the mean - (are most of the scores around the same number or not?) - the higher the variance or standard deviation, the more spread out the distribution is
framing
- the way in which an issue is posed - how are phrase is worded - this can have drastic effects on your decisions & judgements
attachment
- theorized by Harry Harlow (research on infant attachment with baby monkeys) - a close emotional bond of affection between infant and caregiver
fat cells
- there are 30-40 billion fat cells in the body - these cells can increase in size (2-3 times their normal size) and number (75 billion) in an obese individual - they produce leptin
mirror neurons
- these allow us to put ourselves in someone's else's place & feel what they feel (mimic the behavior) - observable behavior - example: - if you see someone crying, that would make you feel sad - if you watch a sad movie & then feel sad yourself - these are important in feelings of empathy
pheromones
- these are airborne molecules that signal whether an animal/human is ready to mate - one's pheromones are unappealing/unattractive to his or her relatives - secreted or excreted chemical factors that trigger a social response in members of the same species
chloride ions (Cl-)
- these are anions - they have a negative charge
emotions
- these are basically mechanisms that set goals & priorities - life would be impossible without these - can cause motivation - motivation can cause this - they are shaped by our cultural context (different cultures have somewhat different emotional triggers & emotional baselines to respond to) - they have universal roots - some are not innate - it's good for us to feel stressed sometimes & happy sometimes
sodium ions (Na+) & potassium ions (K+)
- these are cations - they have a positive charge - when a neuron is firing, these ions rush into the neuron making the charge positive
feature detectors
- these are neurons in the visual cortex that respond to specific features: - shape - angle - movement
schemas
- these are preexisting mental frameworks that start as basic organizations & then get more and more complex as we gain additional information - these frameworks enable us to organize & interpret new information, & can be easily expanded - these large knowledge structures influence the way we encode, make inferences about, & recall information
retrieval cues
- these are reminders associated with information that we are trying to get out of memory - these aid us in remembering - these can be other words or phrases in a specific hierarchy or semantic network, context, & mood or emotions - these prime our memories
social bonds
- these boosted our ancestors' survival rates & led to the following: 1. protecting against predators, especially for the young 2. procuring food 3. reproducing the next offspring
conservation concepts
- these concepts state that changes in the form of an object do not alter physical properties of mass, volume, & number - example: 12 ounces of juice in a tall, thin glass is the same as 12 ounces of juice in a short, fat glass - during this stage, children are able to recognize reversibility (transformation) - example: 3+4=4+3
monocular cues
- these cues are clues about distance based on the image in either eye - seeing an image with one eye - linear perspective - relative size - interposition - texture gradient - light & shadow - height in plane
binocular cues
- these cues are clues about distance that are based on the differing views of the two eyes -seeing an image with 2 eyes - you can see depth with these cues - retinal disparity - convergence
mnemonic devices
- these devices will help us retrieve concepts
Order Effects
- these effects observe the observation of a result due to the order that something is given
parathyroids
- these glands help regulate the level of calcium in the blood
stress hormones
- these hormones include: - adrenaline (epinephrine) - noradrenaline (norepinephrine) - corticosteroid (cortisol) - stress, through the action of these, has detrimental effects on immune function, including reduced NK cell activity, lymphocyte populations, lymphocyte proliferation, antibody production and reactivation of latent viral infections
Type-A individuals
- these individuals are: - impatient time-conscious - controlling - concerned about their status - highly competitive - ambitious business-like - aggressive - having difficulty relaxing - high-achieving workaholics who multi-task - drive themselves with deadlines - are unhappy about delays - often described as "stress junkies"
Type-B individuals
- these individuals are: - patient - relaxed - easy-going - generally lacking an overriding sense of urgency
rods & cones
- these parts of the eye capture light waves to commence transduction - these convert vision into neural energy for the brain to process
APA Ethical Guidelines
- these rules were put in place to make sure research/experiments would not bring harm to humans or animals
mental illnesses
- these were both culture-bound & gender-bound - during the Victorian age, young girls would be institutionalized - these were also classified as genetic/biological disorders
Hubel & Whesel
- they concluded from their experiment that visual processes occur in the brain, rather than the actual eye - this experiment won the Nobel Prize - they stated that lines & shapes contribute to our vision
Skinner & Watson
- they did not believe that one's nature/biology & internal factors influenced one's behavior - they in believed observational learning
Roger Sperry, Ronald Meyers and Michael Gazzaniga
- they divided the brains of cats and monkeys with no serious ill effects - they set the stage to study split brain in people
Garcia & Koelling study
- they studied rats & how they make associations - they concluded that some associations seem to be adaptive
John Darley & Bibb Latane
- they studied the bystander effect - they studied this through the Kitty Genovese murder case, in which over 30 people stood by as Genovese was brutally murdered & did nothing about it until after the attack was over
B.F. Skinner & John Watson
- they were opposite as Freud - they believed that one's own experience shapes one's nature
primary reinforcer
- things that are in themselves rewarding - necessary in survival & drives (food, water, sex, etc.)
secondary reinforcer
- things that we have learned to value - things that do not have survival survival value, BUT can be used to obtain primary reinforcers - money is a special one called a GENERALIZED REINFORCER (because it can be traded for just about anything)
Phi Phenomenon
- this Gestalt principle conveys the optical illusion of perceiving a series of still images, when viewed in rapid succession, as continuous motion - this is a good example of the perception of movement, where movement is not really present
Law of Simplicity
- this Gestalt principle suggests that every stimulus is perceived in its most simple form - Gestalt theorists followed the basic principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts - also known as the "Law of Good Form"
priming
- this activates specific associations in memory either consciously or unconsciously - this creates the likelihood to remember something - framing - example: - being fast to recognize the name of a famous artist when you had only recently heard the name in-passing
mood congruence
- this aids retrieval - we recall experiences better that are consistent with our mood at retrieval - we remember information of other happy times when we are happy, & information other sad times when we are unhappy
frontal cortex
- this brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior - adults rely more on this
lateral hypothalamus (LH)
- this brings on hunger (stimulation) - if this is destroyed, then the animal would have no interest in eating - the reduction of blood glucose stimulates orexin in this, which leads rats to eat ravenously - remember: when it's LATE & you haven't eaten you'll be hungry
Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
- this consists of 60 personal traits, 20 each for "masculine," "feminine," & "neutral" - was created by Sandra Bem
ventromedial hypothalamus (VHM)
- this depresses hunger (stimulation) - if this is destroyed, then the animal eats excessively (it never knows when it's hungry) - remember: caffeine is a depressant; therefore, when you get a VENTI from Starbucks & drink it, drowsiness is decreased/lessened
forgetting curve
- this diagram graphs retention & forgetting overtime - most forgetting occurs very rapidly after learning something
Placebo Effect
- this effect is another confounding variable - this effect changes neurotransmitter to make someone think they feel a certain way, where they have not been exposed to something
primacy effect
- this effect refers to better recall of the first items
recency effect
- this effect refers to better recall of the last items
happiness
- this emotion conveys: - crows feet wrinkles (at the eyes) - pushed up cheeks - movement from the muscle that orbits the eye
sadness
- this emotion conveys: - drooping upper eyelids - losing focus in eyes - slight pulling down of lip corners
anger
- this emotion conveys: - eyebrow down & together - eyes glare - narrowing of the lips
fear
- this emotion conveys: - eyebrow raised & pulled together - raised upper eyelids - tensed lower eyelids - lips slightly stretched horizontally back to ears
surprise
- this emotion conveys: - eyebrows raised - eyes widened - mouth open
contempt
- this emotion conveys: - lip corner tightened & raised on only one side of face - this emotion was not in Ekman's original research
disgust
- this emotion conveys: - nose wrinkling - upper lip raised
triangular theory of love
- this explains the topic of love in an interpersonal relationship - Psychologist Robert Sternberg's theory describes types of love based on three different scales: intimacy, passion, and commitment
operational defintion
- this explains what you mean in your hypothesis
thyroid gland
- this gland affects metabolism, among other things
pancreas
- this gland regulates the level of sugar in the blood
ovary
- this gland secretes female sex hormones
testis
- this gland secretes male sex hormones
Yerkes-Dodson Law
- this idea conveys a bell curve which shows that the optimal level is somewhere between really calmer really stressed/distressed (the middle) - however, the bell curve depends on what the task is (different tasks have different levels or optimal performance) - this theory suggests that people perform best at optimal (moderate) level of arousal
latent learning
- this idea suggests that sometimes learning is not immediately evident - this is learning that is not apparent from behavior when it first occurs - introduced by Edward Toleman - three-rat experiment - "latent" means hidden - the rats needed a reason to display what they have learned - example: when your mom always drives you to your friend's house, but you think you never pay attention; however, you do unconsciously learn where to go & how to get there
active listening
- this involves echoing, restating, & seeking clarification of what the client says & does - this acknowledges feelings - Carl Rogers' technique
attention
- this involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events - is likened/compared to a "filter" that screens out most potential stimuli while allowing a select few to pass through into conscious awareness - the location of this "filter" may be flexible, rather than fixed - studies show that multi-tasking conveys results where large reductions in memory are seen
retrograde amnesia
- this involves memory loss for a segment of the past, usually around the time of an accident, such as blow to the head - this may result from disruption of the process of long-term potentiation
consummate love
- this is "complete love" - this includes all 3 scales of love (intimacy, passion, & commitment)
conditioning
- this is a learned stimulus that leads to a specific response - this is divided into classical conditioning & operant conditioning
incentive
- this is a positive negative stimulus that pulls us in reducing our drives - examples: - if you get twenty dollars or cookie for doing well on a test - a food-deprived person who smells baking bread (incentive) feels a strong hunger drive
flashbulb memory
- this is a vivid memory of an emotionally arousing event - this is associated with an increase of adrenal hormones triggering the release of energy for neural processes & the activation of the amygdala & hippocampus, which are involved in emotional memories
unconscious
- this is comprised of wishes, impulses, memories, & feelings - also known as the subconscious
stereopsis
- this is depth information provided by binocular disparity - a stereoscope uses two pictures from slightly different viewpoints - 3D movies use the same principle & viewers wear glasses to see the effect
hippocampus
- this is involved in explicit long-term memory - this is highly involved with getting short-term memory to long-term memory (long-term memory consolidation) - this involved with encoding new information
cerebellum
- this is involved with the implicit memory of skills (muscle memory, or procedural memory)
operant conditioning
- this is learning based on consequence - learning is NOT passive - these are behaviors that one can CHOOSE - B. F. Skinner was the behaviorist behind this type of conditioning
behavioral component of emotion
- this is observable - characteristic overt expression of emotion - body language and facial expression - the six basic emotions generally able to identify
fovea
- this is the "point of central focus" on the back of the eye - this is responsible for what one is directly looking at & concentrated on - this focuses on DIRECT vision
savings method
- this is the amount of repetitions required to relearn the list compared to the amount of repetitions it took to learn the list originally - Ebbinghaus used this method to measure retention of information
retroactive interference
- this is the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information - this is backward-acting
confabulation
- this is the filling of gaps in memory by combining & substituting memories from events other than the one we are trying to remember
Whorf's Linguistic Relativity
- this is the idea that language determines the way we think (not vice versa)
procedural memory
- this is the memory of "knowing how" - apart of long-term memory - examples: - tying your shoe - riding a bike - figuring out a tip for your waiter
semantic memory
- this is the memory of general knowledge - uses recall over recognition - apart of long-term memory - examples: - knowing all of the words of the National Anthem - knowing/remembering all of the parts of the limbic system
episodic memory
- this is the memory of personally experienced events - apart of long-term memory - example: - remembering your best friend's birthday party that happened last month
prospective memory
- this is the memory of remembrance for the prospective future - examples: - remembering that you have to buy a gift for your friend's birthday tonight
size constancy
- this is the perception of an object's size that remains relatively constant - this effect remains even if the size of the object on the retina changes
anterograde amnesia
- this is the result of destruction of the hippocampus - this is the inability to put new information into explicit memory; therefore, no new semantic memories are formed
self theory
- this is the self, an organized, consistent set of beliefs & perceptions about ourselves, which develops in response to our life experiences - experiences that are inconsistent with our self-concept cause us to feel threatened & anxious - this was theorized by Carl Rogers
parallel processing
- this is the simultaneous processing of several dimensions through multiple pathways: - color - motion - form - depth
transduction
- this is the transformation of stimulus energy into the electrochemical energy of neural impulses - the conversion of one form of energy to another - the transformation of one form of energy into another--especially the transformation of stimulus information into nerve impulses
cornea
- this is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber - this also refracts light
negative correlation
- this is the type of correlation where the variables go in opposite directions - "indirect relationship"
positive correlation
- this is the type of correlation where the variables go in the SAME direction - "direct relationship"
state-dependent
- this is when the things we learn in one internal state are more easily recalled when in the same state again
long-term potentiation (LTP)
- this is where learning involves strengthening of neural connections at the synapses - this involves an increase in the efficiency with which signals are sent across the synapses within neural networks of long-term memories - this requires fewer neurotransmitter molecules to make neurons fire & increase in receptor sites
semantic encoding
- this level of processing emphasizes the meaning of verbal input - this involves thinking about the objects & actions in which the words represent
phonemic encoding
- this level of processing emphasizes what a word sounds like - this involves naming or saying (perhaps silently) the words
structural encoding
- this level of processing is relatively shallow, which emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus - for example, if words are flashed on a screen, this level of processing would register such things as how the words are printed (capital, lowercase, etc.) or the length go the words (how many letters)
fatuous love
- this love can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage in which a commitment is motivated largely by passion, without the stabilizing influence of intimacy - this includes the passion and commitment aspects of love
companionate love
- this love is often found in marriages in which the passion has gone out of the relationship, but a deep affection and commitment remain - this love is generally a personal relation you build with somebody you share your life with, but with no sexual or physical desire - this includes the intimacy and commitment aspects of love
infatuation or limerence
- this love is often what is felt as "love at first sight" - BUT: without the intimacy and the commitment components of love, this love may disappear suddenly - this only includes the passion aspect of love
Atkinson-Shriffin three-stage model memory
- this model describes three different memory systems by time frames: - sensory memory - short-term memory (STM) - long-term memory (LTM)
interference
- this occurs when learning some things may prevent retrieving others, especially when the items are similar
bottom-up processing
- this occurs when one takes in information from raw sensory data, processes it, & does something about it: 1. feature processing 2. letter processing 3. word processing 4. phrase processing 5. comprehension - this type of information processing begins "at the bottom" with raw sensory data that is sent "up" to the brain for higher-level analysis -this is a type of data-driven processing that moves from the parts to the whole - the processing of current stimulation influences what is perceived
proactive interference
- this occurs when something we learned earlier disrupts recall of something we experience later - for example, trying to remember a new phone number may be disrupted by the memory of an old phone number - this is forward-acting
misinformation effect
- this occurs when we incorporate misleading information into our memory of an event - forgetting what really happened, or distortion of information at retrieval, can result when we confuse the source of information
Muller-Lyer Illusion
- this optical illusion consists of a stylized arrow - when viewers are asked to place a mark on the figure at the midpoint, they invariably place it more towards the "tail" end
slow pathway
- this pain pathway lags a second behind the fast system - this pathway (which also carries information about temperature) conveys the less localized, longer-lasting, aching, or burning pain that comes after the initial injury - this pathway depends on thin neurons called C fibers
fast pathway
- this pain pathway registers localized pain & relays it to the cortex in a fraction of a second - this is the system that hits you with a sharp pain when you first cut your finger - this pathway is mediated by thick neurons called A-delta fibers
outer ear
- this part of the ear includes: - auditory canal - eardrum
inner ear
- this part of the ear includes: - oval window - cochlea - basilar membrane - hair cells - auditory transduction occurs here
middle ear
- this part of the ear includes: - the ossicles - hammer - anvil - stirrup
iris
- this part of the eye controls whether the pupils constrict or dilate - this also conveys the color of one's eyes
cones
- this part of the eye deals with color vision & fine detail - this detects daylight or well-lit conditions well - this is located near the fovea
lens
- this part of the eye deals with near-sightedness & far-sightedness - this helps to refract (change the direction of) light to be focused on the retina
rods
- this part of the eye deals with peripheral vision & night vision - this is located in the periphery of the retina - this detects black, white, & gray, twilight, or low light
blind spot
- this part of the eye holds the small portion of the visual field of each eye that corresponds to the position of the optic disk (also known as the optic nerve head) within the retina - there are no photoreceptors (i.e., rods or cones) in the optic disk, and, therefore, there is no image detection in this area - the area of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the back of the eye
retina
- this part of the eye is located in the back of the eye - this contains the rods & cones - this contains layers of neurons on the inner surface of the eye - this is sensitive to light - this part begins visual information processing
optic nerve
- this part of the eye leads to the "blind spot"
pupil
- this part of the eye varies (adjusts) in size to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina - this is located in the center of the eye
semicircular canals
- this part of the inner ear is filled with a liquid substance, known as endolymph - every time the head moves, the endolymph moves the cilia - this functions as a type of motion sensor, as the movements of the cilia are communicated to the brain
The Law of Effect
- this principle stated that: - if a behavior has positive consequences, then one is more likely to do it in the future - if a behavior has negative consequences, then one is less likely to do it in the future - this principle was introduced by Edward Thorndike
encoding
- this process of memory is involved with getting information into storage - this process involves forming a memory code - for example, when you form a memory code for a word, you might emphasize how it looks, how it sounds, or what it means
retrieval
- this process of memory is involved with getting the information out of storage - this process recovers information from memory stores
storage
- this process of memory is involved with maintaining information - this process maintains encoded information overtime
prefrontal cortex
- this region of the brain registers what emotion one is feeling - this strives to voluntarily control emotional reactions - the pole that struck Phineas Gage went through this region of his brain
continuous reinforcement
- this reinforces the behavior EVERYTIME the behavior is exhibited - this type of reinforcement is usually done when the subject is first learning to make the association - acquisition comes really fast - extinction comes fast too
partial reinforcement
- this reinforces the behavior only SOME of the rimes it is exhibited - acquisition comes more slowly - this is more resistant to extinction - there are FOUR types of these reinforcement schedules
peg word mnemonic
- this requires us to first memorize a scheme such as "One is a bun, two is a shoe," & so on, then mentally picture using the chicken in the bun, the corn in the shoe, etc. - these images help to both encode items into LTM & then later to retrieve them back into our working memory
experimental research
- this research method allows for the researcher to systematically manipulate a variable under controlled conditions & then observe the response - this research method is used when the experimenter wants to find a cause-and-effect relationship between the independent & dependent variables, while comparing two treatment groups - strength of this research method: - establishes a cause-and-effect relationship - weakness of this research method: - there could be a confounding variable - example of this research method: - research carried out to determine whether sugar increases hyperactivity
case studies
- this research method is an in-depth examination of a specific group or individual/single person that typically includes interviews, observations, & test scores - this research method is used when an experimenter wants to answer a question that can only be answered by a specific person or group of people who are are in a certain type of situation - strength of this research method: - this research method has enabled us to understand a wider range of topics - weakness of this research method: - this research method just focuses on the individual, not the majority - does not give us correlational data because there is only 1 participant or a group of individuals - example of this research method: - research done on patients with gunshot wounds to the head enabling scientists to better understand how the loss of brain tissue affected specific aspects of behavior
naturalistic observation
- this research method is carried out in the field where naturally-occurring behavior can be observed - this research method gathers descriptive information about typical behavior of people or animals without manipulating any variables - this method is used when observing a person's or animal's natural/normal behavior is crucial to the experiment - strength of this research method: - using this research method mostly effectively supplies the experimenter with results depicting the candid behavior of the subjects - weakness of this research method: - using this research method could impact the results negatively because with someone watching, a person or animal could act unnaturally - example of this research method: - Jane Goodall's observation of chimpanzees
correlational research
- this research method looks at the relationship between two variables without establishing cause-and-effect relationships - this research method is used when a researcher wants to establish a relationship between two variables without establishing causation - strength of this research method: - establishes a relationship between two variables - weakness of this research method: - does not show causation - example of this research method: - research is carried out to establish a relationship between ice cream & murder
surveys
- this research method uses questionnaires or interviews to ask a large number of people about their behaviors, thoughts, & attitudes - this research method ONLY measures correlation - this research method is used when asking a large number of people the same question (about their behavior, thoughts, & attitudes) - strength of this research method: - effective when doing an experiment on a large number of people - weakness of this research method: - accuracy of data - people sometimes distort their answers to appear more "politically correct" - people fail to remember information correctly - low-response rate - example of this research method: - sending out a poll (or Google Forms), asking people their favorite ice cream flavor
secondary stream
- this stream is focused on hearing - Broca's Area
primary stream
- this stream sends information to the dorsal stream & ventral stream - found in the occipital lobe
learned helplessness
- this suggested that if people keep trying to do things, and keep on failing, then they would eventually learn to give up - this develops an apathy towards trying & motivation
observational learning
- this suggests the we learn through modeling behavior from others - occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models - Albert Bandura & his BoBo Doll experiment
door-in-the-face technique
- this technique involves starting big and then "settling" - example: to sell the most expensive guitar possible you show a custom made model w/ a price affordable only to wealthy buyers, after rejecting the purchase coming down to a lower price is easier for the potential buyer (AKA High Ball Technique)
foot-in-the-door technique
- this technique is based on methods sometimes employed in the past by door-to-door salespeople, who operate on the assumption that if they could just "get their foot in the door" their chance of sales success would be high - example: if you want to make a big commission by selling expensive guitars you would show guitars of lesser value, while encouraging shopper to commit to idea of buying from you, invite shopper to try guitars out and then move on to the more expensive model
Signal Detection Theory
- this theory replaced Weber's Law - whether or not you detect a stimulus is dependent upon 3 kinds of variables: 1. stimulus variables (how weak or strong the stimulus is) 2. environmental variables (what's going on around you) 3. organismic variables (your own experience, expectations, motivation, & alertness) - the set of formulas & principles that predict when we will detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise) - this seeks to understand why people respond differently to the same stimuli & why the same person's reactions would vary as circumstances change - example: tired parents of newborns will awaken to a whimper but sleep through their alarm - this assumes that there is no single absolute threshold - detection depends partly on a person's: - experience - expectations - motivation - level of fatigue
drive-reduction theory
- this theory states that a physiological (biological) need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need - because of this, one will have a physiological reaction which motivates one to satisfy their need - this is a psychological experience
instinct theory
- this theory states that instincts are complex behaviors that have fixed patterns throughout different species and are not learned - example: where the woman builds different kinds of houses the bird builds only one kind of nest - this was replaced by the evolutionary perspective
connectionism
- this theory states that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections between neurons, many of which work together to process a single memory
Trichromatic (three color) Theory
- this theory suggested that the eye contains 3 different types of cones (red, green, & blue) that are capable of responding to various wavelengths of light - S-Cones: - sensitive to blue - these are short in length - M-Cones: - sensitive to green - these are medium in length - L-Cones: - sensitive to red - these are long in length - this was developed by Young & Helmholtz
Place Theory
- this theory suggests that the position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depends on the frequency of a tone - WHERE the sound/vibration is hitting the basilar membrane - concerned with high-pitched tones
Frequency Theory
- this theory suggests that the rate of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matched the frequency of a tone, enabling you to sense its pitch - concerned with high-pitched & low-pitched tones
Gate-Control Theory
- this theory that explains how the nervous system blocks or allows pain signals to pass to the brain - the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain - example: someone bumping their elbow or knee & rubbing it to lessen the pain by stimulating the large fibers - "gate" opened the the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers - "gate" closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain
selective attention
- this type of attention focuses awareness on a specific stimulus in sensory memory - this determines which very small fraction of information perceived in sensory memory is encoded
self-referent encoding
- this type of encoding involves deciding how or whether information is personally relevant
variable interval
- this type of interval requires a RANDOM amount of time to elapse before giving the reinforcement - under this, it is very hard to acquisition but also it is very resistant to extinction
fixed interval
- this type of interval requires a SET amount of time to elapse before giving the reinforcement - example: she gets a manicure for every 7 days she stays other diet
short-term memory (STM)
- this type of memory can hold a limited amount of information for about 30 seconds unless it is processed further - "rehearsal" can be used to maintain information in one's short-term memory indefinitely
sensory memory
- this type of memory results from touch, hearing, vision, smell, & taste - attention is important with this type of memory - allows the sensation of a visual pattern, sound, or touch to linger for a brief moment after the sensory stimulation is over with - in this case, people really perceive an "afterimage" rather than the actual stimulus - this type of memory lasts less than a second - apart of short-term memory - example: - when one sees a word flash on a screen & tries to remember it - when a student is sitting through a lecture & tries to recall what the teacher had said a few seconds before
variable ratio
- this type of ratio provides a reinforcement after a RANDOM number of responses - under this, it is very hard to get acquisition but also very resistant to extinction
fixed ratio
- this type of ratio provides a reinforcement after a SET number of responses - example: she gets a manicure for every 5 pounds she loses
descriptive statistics
- this type of statistics describes/explains sets of data - one might create a frequency distribution, frequency polygons, or histograms
ossicles
- three tiny bones in the middle ear: 1. the hammer 2. the anvil 3. the stirrup - they vibrate
fully functioning
- to become this, Rogers says that we must learn to accept ourselves (unconditional positive self-regard) & unite the real & ideal selves into one again - Carl Rogers' term for self-actualization
stage 2 of psychosocial development
- toddlers (2 years old) face the crisis of autonomy vs. shame & doubt - children who are encouraged to try new skills develop autonomy, while those who are ridiculed or overprotected may count their abilities & feel ashamed of their actions
automatic processing
- unconscious encoding of information about space, time, & frequency that occurs without inferring with our thinking about other things
id
- unconscious: it is difficult to retrieve material - this is located well-below the surface of awareness - this includes things that we are not aware of that influence our behavior - this adheres to the "pleasure principle" (wish fulfillment) and is influenced by our drives (hunger, thirst, sex, etc.) - "pleasure is good and nothing else matters" - biological & instinctual component - this is innate (born with it) - this seeks immediate, indiscriminate gratification - this is the source of alimental energy - gratifying urges returns the body to homeostasis - libido - thanatos
repression
- unconsciously forgetting information that is too painful to recall - example: Juliet was very afraid of her temper & constantly tried to control it. As a child, she had beaten her baby sister but does not recall having done so.
sublimation
- using exercise or physical activity as a substitute for sexual energies - example: Buddy is very attracted to the girl who sits next to him in Biology class. However, she is dating his best friend, & Buddy wouldn't think of interfering with their relationship, Fortunately, Buddy has PE class right after biology & runs 3 laps around the track at the beginning of every PE class.
blocking effect
- was introduced by Leon Kamin - challenged Pavlov's contiguity model - this suggested that the conditioning effect of the neutral (conditioned) stimulus can be blocked
dependent variable
- whatever is being measured - this variable is dependent on the independent variable
babbling
- when a baby makes spontaneous sounds - the baby speaks the phonemes of the household language - this is a pre-linguistic event
internalization
- when a person accepts the views of a group and adopts them as an individual - seen in conformity
undoing
- when a person tries to 'undo' an unhealthy, destructive or otherwise threatening thought or action by engaging in contrary behavior - example: after thinking about being violent with someone, one would then be overly nice or accommodating to them - a defense mechanism
one-word stage
- when a toddler uses one word to communicate big meanings - example: - "no"
two-word stage (telegraphic speech)
- when a toddler uses two words to communicate meanings - example: - "get cup" - a linguistic milestone
adolescent sexuality
- when individuals reach adolescence, their sexual behavior develops - however, there are cultural differences
depolarized
- when the axon is no longer at resting potential - the outside is now negatively charged, and the inside is now positively charged
tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
- when we know that we know something but cannot pull it out of memory
serial position effect
- when we try to retrieve long list of words, we usually recall the last words & the first words best, forgetting the words in the middle
Karen Horney
- while Freud believed that women were jealous of men's penises, she believed that men were jealous of women's wombs - she was a neo-Freudian - she thought that Freud's ideas were too male-focused
female sexual problems
- women may suffer from orgasmic disorders
stage 6 of psychosocial development
- young adults (about 21-40 years old) face the crisis of intimacy vs. isolation - without intimacy, one can feel alone & isolated
types of stressors
1. acute stressors 2. chronic stressors
three typical dimensions of emotion in response to stress
1. annoyance, anger, rage 2. apprehension, anxiety, fear 3. dejection, sadness, grief
three basic types of conflict
1. approach-approach conflict 2. avoidance-avoidance conflict 3. approach-avoidance conflict - Kurt Lewin & Neal Miller theorized these
Bandura's Four Key Processes in Observational Learning
1. attention 2. retention 3. reproduction 4. motivation
animal research ethical guidelines
1. clear purpose for using animals in the experiment 2. the animals are treated in a humane way 3. the researchers/experimenters acquire the animals legally 4. the experiment elicits the least amount of suffering for the animals that is possible
three components of emotion
1. cognitive component 2. physiological component 3. behavioral component
three levels of response to stress
1. emotional response 2. physiological response 3. behavioral response
sources of achievement motivation
1. emotional roots 2. cognitive roots 3. cultural roots
three key processes involved in memory
1. encoding 2. storage 3. retrieval - these basic process explain WHY people forget
four phases of the human sexual response cycle
1. excitement 2. plateau 3. orgasm 4. resolution - William Masters & Virgina Johnson introduced this in 1966
three reasons that suggest that homosexuality may be due to genetic factors
1. family 2. twin studies 3. fruit flies
four lobes of the brain
1. frontal lobe 2. parietal lobe 3. temporal lobe 4. occipital lobe
four major models which account for the organization of LTM
1. hierarchies 2. semantic networks 3. schemas 4. connectionist networks
factors that reduce sexual activity in teens
1. high intelligence 2. religiosity 3. father presence 4. learning programs
four perspectives used to explain motivation
1. instinct theory 2. drive-reduction theory 3. arousal theory 4. hierarchy of needs (motives)
human research ethical guidelines
1. no coercion--test subjects must volunteer to participate in the experiment/study 2. informed consent 3. anonymity (for privacy reasons) 4. no significant risk/effect on the participant 5. the researchers must debrief the participants before the beginning the experiment, if deception is apart of the experiment
Freud's Psychosexual Development Stages
1. oral stage 2. anal stage 3. phallic stage 4. latency stage 5. genital stage - these stages are controversial because people tend to think that Freud is saying that babies/young children are sexual
retinal processing
1. photo receptors (rods & cones) [PAPARAZZI TAKING PHOTOS OF]--> 2. bipolar cells [A BIPOLAR] --> 3. ganglion cells [GANG]--> 4. bipolar cells--> 5. photo receptors (rods & cones)
theories of moral development
1. pre-conventional level of morality 2. conventional level of morality 3. post-conventional level of morality - theorized by Lawrence Kohlberg
evolved module for fear learning
1. preferentially activated by stimuli related to survival threats in evolutionary history 2. automatically activated by these stimuli 3. relatively resistant to conscious efforts to suppress the resulting fears 4. dependent on neural circuitry running through the amygdala
the six basic emotions
1. sadness 2. happiness 3. fear 4. anger 5. disgust 6. surprise
visual information processing
1. scene 2. retinal processing 3. feature detection 4. abstraction 5. recognition
reasons for eating disorders
1. sexual abuse 2. family 3. genetics
three levels of processing
1. structural encoding 2. phonemic encoding 3. semantic encoding - Fergus Craik & Robert Lockhart (1972) proposed that incoming information can be processed at different levels - they maintained that in dealing verbal information, people engage in these - their theory proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes
belongingness
1. wanting to belong 2. social acceptance 3. maintaining relationships 4. ostracism
Behaviorism was founded by:
B.F. Skinner & John Watson
genes
DNA segments that serve as the key functional units to hereditary transmission
occipital lobe
LOCATION: - bottom, back part of the cortex FUNCTION: - responsible for processing visual information from the eyes DAMAGED? - loss of vision - visual hallucinations and illusions
temporal lobe
LOCATION: - bottom, middle part of the cortex - located right behind the temples FUNCTION: - responsible for processing auditory information from the ears (hearing) DAMAGED? - left temporal lesions disturb recognition of words - right temporal damage can cause a loss of inhibition of talking - hearing can also be impaired
corpus callosum
LOCATION: - found in the cerebrum & forebrain between the 2 hemispheres - located between the cerebral cortex FUNCTION: - connects the 2 hemispheres & carries messages between them DAMAGED? - effects of damage: - split-brain - a surgery that intentionally cuts the corpus collosum to reduce epileptic seizures - Alien-Hand Syndrome
hypothalamus
LOCATION: - found in the forebrain - above the pituitary gland - below the thalamus FUNCTION: - responsible for behaviors such as hunger and thirst, as well as the maintenance of body temperature - (remember: "if your body temperature drops, you get HYPOthermia) DAMAGED? - damage would cause: - changes in body temperature - fluid balance (anti - diuretic hormone)
pituitary gland
LOCATION: - found in the forebrain - immediately below the hypothalamus FUNCTION: - controls several other hormone glands in your body, including the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries, & testicles - the endocrine system's most influential gland - under the influence of the hypothalamus, this regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands DAMAGED? - the production of one or more of its hormones would not be enough
medulla
LOCATION: - found in the hindbrain - located in the lower part of the brain stem FUNCTION: - controls necessary unconscious functions/actions: - circulation of blood - breathing - maintaining muscle tone - regulation of reflexes (sneezing, coughing, salivating, etc.) - regulation of respiration - heart rate - digestion - (remember the 2 Ls: life & love for heartbeat and breathing) DAMAGED? - medial medullary syndrome: partial paralysis of the opposite side of the body, loss of touch, partial paralysis of the tongue - lateral medullary syndrome: los of pain & temperature sensations, gag reflex, difficulty swallowing, loss of coordination - extreme injuries result in the stopping of breathing & heart beat immediately, thus ending life
Broca's Area
LOCATION: - found in the left frontal lobe - in the cerebrum - near the motor cortex FUNCTION: - speech production - muscle movements involved in speech DAMAGED? - Broca's Aphasia: occurs when the patient knows what they want to say but cannot produce/articulate the correct words
Wernicke's Area
LOCATION: - found in the left temporal lobe - next to the auditory cortex - in the cerebrum FUNCTION: - involved with/is responsible for language comprehension DAMAGED? - Wernickes Aphasia: occurs when a patient is unaware that their words are nonsensical & cannot understand spoken words
limbic system
LOCATION: - found in the top of the brain stem - lies on both sides of the thalamus & under the cerebrum - in the forebrain FUNCTION: - structures within this system are associated with emotions (fear, anger, pleasure) & drives (hunger, sex, care of offspring) DAMAGED? - damage to parts of this system may cause: - inappropriate emotional responses - change in appetite - difficulty learning/maintaining body temperature - anxiety disorders - binge eating - Alzheimer's disease
frontal lobe
LOCATION: - frontal & upper area of the cortex FUNCTION: - carries out higher mental processes such as thinking, decision-making, & planning - (remember: "when you misspeak or do something wrong, you hit your forehead") DAMAGED? - damage may cause: - memory impairment - increased irritability, which may include a change in mood & an inability to regulate behavior (Phineas Gage)
motor cortex
LOCATION: - in the frontal lobe of the brain - in the cerebrum FUNCTION: - controls voluntary movements by activating skeletal muscles DAMAGED? - if damaged: - this would impair one's ability to move - the damage could impair one or more body part - the impairment could be anything between muscle weakness to paralysis
sematosensory cortex
LOCATION: - in the parietal lobe of the brain - in the cerebrum FUNCTION: - registers & processes sensory information from the body DAMAGED? - if damaged: - this would impair one's ability to detect different sensory stimuli - this could affect how well someone can sense touch, temperature, & pressure
pons
LOCATION: - in the upper part of the brainstem - found in the midbrain FUNCTION: - involved with/responsible for: - facial movements - senses - involuntary hearing - REM sleep - regulation of breathing DAMAGED? - damage may cause: - Locked-In Syndrome: when the patient is paralyzed & mute but can still understand sensory stimuli - reduction or elimination of REM sleep - loss of muscle function except for eye movement
amygdala
LOCATION: - located deep within the temporal lobes of the brain - medial to the hypothalamus - adjacent to the hippocampus - found in the forebrain FUNCTION: - a limbic system structure that is involve in many of our emotions & motivations, particularly those that are related to survival (arousal, autonomic responses associated with fear, emotional responses, etc.) - (remember: "Amy--grrrrrrr") DAMAGED? - if damaged, there is a reduction of fear & aggression - bilateral lesion: causes the individual to have impaired ability to interpret the emotional aspect of facial expressions
reticular formation
LOCATION: - located in the lower part of the brainstem in the hindbrain - distributed throughout the medulla, pons, & midbrain FUNCTION: - involved with/responsible for: - behavioral arousal - motor control - sensory control - control consciousness - flight-or-flight responses - transmission of sensory stimuli to higher brain centers - (remember: "reticularousal") DAMAGED? - if damaged, one may experience: - fatigue - change in sexual arousal - disrupted sleep patterns - coma - even death
thalamus
LOCATION: - part of the forebrain - situated at the top of the brain stem near the center of the brain where fibers extend out of the cerebral cortex - located below the corpus collosum FUNCTION: - this is responsible for transferring information from sensory receptors to the proper areas of the brain where it can be effectively processed - controls four out of the five senses (vision, hearing, taste, & touch) - the only sensory information that is not controlled by the thalamus is the sense of smell DAMAGED? - if damaged, the information from sensory receptors would not be transferred to the proper areas of the brain where this information can be processed - therefore, this sensory information would not be processed and sensory confusion would result from this - one with a damaged thalamus could be expected to be unable to hear, see, taste, or touch
hippocampus
LOCATION: - part of the limbic system - in the brain's medial temporal lobe - near the center of the brain - found in the forebrain FUNCTION: - stores long-term memory - declarative memory: things that can be consciously remembered (facts) - allows one to make new memories - spatial navigation: lets you get to a destination - (remember: "you do a lot of learning and memorization at a college CAMPUS") DAMAGED? - damage to this would cause: - Alzheimer's disease - long-term memory is affected - spatial orientation - problem with spatial navigation - amnesia - hyperactivity - anterograde amnesia (when one cannot form new memories)
cerebellum
LOCATION: - situated at the base of the skull--above the brainstem & beneath the occipital lobes of the cerebral cortex - found in the hindbrain FUNCTION: - known as the "little brain" - mostly related to voluntary movement & coordination - balance - equilibrium - muscle tone - sense of body position DAMAGED? - asynergia: loss of coordination - aysmertria: inability to judge distance & when to stop - weak muscles - movement tremors - slurred speech - inability to perform
cerebral cortex
LOCATION: - the surface of the cerebral hemispheres - found in the cerebrum FUNCTION: - includes the brain areas that control complex mental processes (learning, thinking, remembering, etc.) - covers both hemispheres DAMAGED? - when parts of this are damaged, neural reorganization occurs - example: the blind - parts of the occipital lobe (responsible for sight) begin to help verbal processing
parietal lobe
LOCATION: - upper, back part of the cortex - the portion of the cerebral cortex between the frontal and occipital lobes FUNCTION: - processes sensory information that had to do with taste, temperature, and touch DAMAGED? - "Gerstmann's Syndrome": it includes right-left confusion, difficulty with writing (agraphia), & difficulty with mathematics (acalculia) - it can also produce disorders of language (aphasia) & the inability to perceive objects normally (agnosia)
What does psychology have in common with biology, physics, & economics?
When we refer to a field as being "scientific," it simply means that this field adheres to the scientific method to collect & interpret its data
genetic sex
XX or XY chromosomes
face-blindness
a brain disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces
biological psychology
a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior
adaptation
a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment
polygenic trait
a characteristic that is influenced by more than one pair of genes
psychoactive drug
a chemical that can las through the blood-brain barrier into the brain to alter perception, thinking, behavior, & mood, producing a wide-range of effects from mild relaxation or increased alertness to vivid hallucinations
approach-approach conflict
a choice must be made between two attractive goals
avoidance-avoidance conflict
a choice must be made between two unattractive goals
halo effect
a cognitive bias in which one's judgments of a person's character can be influenced by one's overall impression of him or her
passionate love
a complete absorption in another that includes tender, sexual feelings and the agony and ecstasy of intense emotions
sleep
a complex combination of states of consciousness, each with it down level of consciousness, awareness, responsiveness, & physiological arousal
narcolepsy
a condition in which an awake person suddenly and uncontrollably falls into REM sleep
equity
a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it
instinctive drift
a conditioned response the drifts back toward the natural (instinctive) behavior of the organism
electromyograph (EMG)
a device that measures muscle contractions under the surface of a person's skin
Electrooculograph (EOG)
a device that records eye movements
bulimia nervosa
a disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, using laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise
reversible figure
a drawing that is compatible with two interpretations that can shift back and forth
social loafing
a eduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups as compared to when they work by themselves
father presence
a father's absence from home can contribute to higher teen sexual activity
the Asch effect
a form of conformity in which a group majority influences individual judgments
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
a graphical record of brain-wave activity obtained through electrodes placed on the scalp and forehead
cohort
a group of people in one age group
adrenaline (epinephrine)
a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, especially in conditions of stress, increasing rates of blood circulation, breathing, and carbohydrate metabolism and preparing muscles for exertion
noradrenaline (norepinephrine)
a hormone that is released by the adrenal medulla and by the sympathetic nerves and functions as a neurotransmitter. It is also used as a drug to raise blood pressure
myelin sheath
a layer of fatty tissue that covers the axon which aides in the speed of neural impulses; the thicker the myelin sheath, the faster the impulse. If the myelin sheath degenerates, it could lead to multiple sclerosis (communication to muscles slows, with eventual loss of muscle control)
motivation
a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it towards a goal
prejudice
a negative attitude held toward members of a group
reticular formation
a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal
reuptake
a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron
adrenal glands
a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinphrine/adrenaline and norepinephrine/noradrenaline) that help arouse the body in times of stress
biofeedback
a patient guided treatment target teaches an individual to control muscle tension, pain, body temperature, and other bodily functions and processes through relaxation, visualization, and other control techniques
tolerance
a progressive decrease in a person's responsiveness to a drug
psychological dependence
a psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions
perpetual set
a readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way
CT/CAT (Computed Tomography)
a series of x-ray photographs of the brain taken from different angles and combined by computer to create an image that represents a slice through the brain
attitudes
a set of beliefs & feelings
meditation
a set of techniques that are used to focus concentration away from thoughts & feelings in order to calmness, tranquility, & inner peace
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
a sexually transmitted virus that disables the immune system
sleep apnea
a sleeping disorder characterized by interruptions of normal breathing patterns during sleep or even temporary cessation's of breathing that awaken the sufferer repeatedly during the night
operant chamber (Skinner box)
a small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences of the response are systematically controlled
daydreaming
a state of consciousness in which a seemingly purposeless flow of thoughts comes to mind
attention
a state of focused awareness
physiological dependence (physiological addiction)
a state of physical dependence on a drug caused by repeated usage that changes body/brain chemistry
longitudinal study
a study that takes a long time (like what developmental psychologists study)
demand characteristics
a subtle cue that makes participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find or how participants are expected to behave
sterilization
a surgery (vasectomy or tubal ligation) to make a man or woman infertile
grammar
a system of rules in a language that enable us to communicate & understand others
perceptual constancy
a tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input
social desirability bias
a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that confirms one's perconceptions
evolutionary psychology
a theoretical approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological structure from a modern evolutionary perspective
Z Score
a unit that measures the distance of one score from the mean
afterimage
a visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed
body mass index (BMI)
a weight-to-height ratio, calculated by dividing one's weight in kilograms by the square of one's height in meters and used as an indicator of obesity and underweight
plasticity
ability to be molded
manifest content
according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream
latent content
according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream
sensory neurons
afferent neurons
sodium ions (Na+)
although they are present on both sides of the membrane, they are more concentrated in the extracellular fluid
confederate
an actor used in an experiment
EEG (Electroencephalogram)
an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface
angular gyrus
an area of the left occipital lobe that transforms visual representation into an auditory code
perceptual hypothesis
an inference about what form could be responsible for a pattern of sensory stimulation
conditioned taste aversion
an intense dislike & avoidance of a food because of its association with an unpleasant or painful stimulus through backward conditioning
stereotype
an overgeneralized idea about a group of people
cognition
another term for thinking, knowing, & remembering
stereotype threat
anxiety that influences members of a group concerned that their performance will confirm a negative stereotype
reinforcer
anything that INCREASES a behavior
double standard
applying different rules for judging the appropriateness of male and female sexual behaviors
potassium ions (K+)
are more concentrated in the intracellular fluid
erogenous zones
areas of the body that produce pleasure and/or provoke erotic desires (genitals, breasts, etc.)
libido
biological force/energy
accommodation
change in shape of the lens focus near objects
hormones
chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues
psychoactive drugs
chemical substances that alters mental, emotional, or behavioral functioning
olfactory stimuli
chemical substances that are soluble
taste stimuli
chemical substances that are soluble
sexual abuse
childhood sexual abuse does not cause eating disorders
belief perseverance
clinging to your initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
cultural roots
collectivist (interdependent) achievement or individualistic (independent/personal) achievement
Erikson's stage theory of psychosocial development
consists of 8 stages during which we face an important issue or crisis
axon terminals (terminal buttons)
contain small sacs called synaptic vesicles
cumulative recorder
creates a graphic record of responding & reinforcement in a Skinner box as a function of time
discriminative stimuli
cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or non-reinforcement) of a response
visual angle
depends on both the size of the object & the distance from the observer
sexual sadism
deriving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain
sexual masochism
deriving sexual pleasure from receiving pain
loudness
determined by the amplitude of a sound wave of vibrating molecules in the air that causes our hair cells to fire
timbre
determined by the complexity of a sound wave of vibrating molecules in the air that causes our hair cells to fire
pitch
determined by the length of a sound wave of vibrating molecules in the air that causes our hair cells to fire
the father
determines the sex of the baby
schedule of reinforcement
determines which occurrences of a specific response result in the presentation of a reinforcer
internal attribution
dispositional attribution
stimulants
drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions & the central nervous system
depressants
drugs that tend to slow down the central nervous system
polarized
during the resting state of a neuron when the outside is positively charged and the inside is negatively charged
sex hormones
effect the development of sexual characteristics and (especially in animals) activate sexual behavior
ions
electrically charged atoms
reproduction
enacting a modeled response depends on your ability to reproduce the response by converting your stored mental images into overt behavior
inferiority complex
every child experiences the feelings of inferiority as the result of being surrounded by stronger and more capable adults
reinforcement schedules
every time or just sometimes you see the behavior
negatively skewed distributions
example: - if most students in their class score high on their test but one person, this makes the mean artificially low
positively skewed distributions
example: - if most students in their class score low on their test but one person, this makes the mean artificially high
insecure attachment
example: occurred when the baby monkeys' mothers were present, the babies avoided & ignored their mothers
secured attachment
example: occurred when thereby monkeys were returned to their mothers periodically; therefore, when their mothers had returned from an absence, the babies were happy to see them & receptive to their contact
situational (external) attribution
explains a person's outcome due to something totally unrelated to that person
dispositional (internal) attribution
explains an outcome in relation to one's characteristics
expressive behaviors
expresses or communicates emotion or personal feelings
homophobia
fear of homosexuality
secondary sexual characteristics
features other than genitals and reproductive organs (breasts, facial hair, etc.) that appear at puberty
sexual aversion
feelings of fear, anxiety or disgust about engaging in sex
behavioral genetics
field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behavior
acquaintance (date) rape
forced intercourse that occurs in the context of a date or other voluntary encounter
nightmares
frightening dreams that occur during REM sleep
fruit flies
genetic engineers can genetically manipulate females to act like males during courtship and males to act like females
the mother
gives the second X chromosome
instrumental behaviors
goal-directed behaviors
psychogenic
having psychological and not physical causes
Carl Jung
he emphasized ancestral thought patterns as the primary determinant of behavior
Alfred Alder
he emphasized social interest as the primary determinant of behavior
Franz Gall
he invented phrenology, an ill-fated theory that claimed bumps on the skull could reveal our mental abilities and our character traits
Ernest Hilgard
he researched hypnosis, especially with regard to pain control
Albert Ellis
he said that altering your appraisal of stress can alter your emotional response
Richard LaPiere
he studied cognitive dissonance
Carl Rogers
he was a behaviorist
Aron Ralston
he was motivated to cut his arm in order to free himself from a rock that pinned him down
Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM)
helps to diagnose mental disorders & mental illnesses
family (reason that suggest that homosexuality may be due to genetic factors)
homosexuality seems to run in families
relative size
if 2 objects are the same, the larger one is seen as closer
renewal effect
if a response is extinguished in a different environment than where it was acquired, the extinguished response will reappear if the animal is returned to the original environment where acquisition originally took place
p-value
if this is less than 0.05 (or 5%), then the results of the research are likely due to chance (which means the findings are reliable)
level of arousal
if you are interested/excited by a task, you would want this to high
deindividuation
immersion in a group to the point that one loses a sense of self- awareness and feels lessened responsibility for one's actions
aphasia
impairment of language usually caused by damage to the Broca's Area or the Wernicke's Area
Figure-Ground Principle
in Gestalt psychology it known as identifying a figure from the background
feature detection
in the 3rd step of visual information processing, the brain's detector cels respond to elementary features-bars, edges, or gradients of light
abstraction
in the 4th step of visual information processing, the brain's higher-level cells respond to combined information from feature-detector cells
recognition
in the 5th step of visual information processing, the brain matches the constructed image with the stored images
cognitive consistency
in the cognitive dissonance theory, when beliefs and attitudes are not conflicting (they are consistent)
normal distribution
in this type of distribution, the mean, median, & mode are all the SAME
behavior therapy
in this type of therapy, the therapist's goal is to extinguish unwanted behavior & replace it with more adaptive behavior
Gestalt therapy
in this type of therapy, the therapist's goal is to put clients to decide whether they will allow past conflicts to control their future or whether they will choose right now to take control of their own destiny
withdrawal symptoms
include intense craving for the drug & effects opposite to those the drug usually induces
meta-analysis
indicates that, for cognitive skills, the differences within either gender are large than the differences between the two genders
informational influence
influence that operates when people conform to social norms for fear of negative social consequences
normative influence
influence that operates when people conform to social norms for fear of negative social consequences
archetypes
inherited memories or common themes found in all cultures religions, & literature (both ancient & modern)
auditory pathway
inner ear: 1. auditory canal 2. eardrum middle ear: 3. hammer 4. anvil 5. stirrup inner ear: 6. oval window 7. cochlea 8. basilar membrane 9. hair cells
polite smile
involves the contraction of the muscles around the mouth (which raises the corners of the mouth)
phobias
irrational fears of specific objects or situations
synaptic transmission
is chemical in nature
exercise
lack of this is a major contributor to obesity
cognitive roots
learning to attribute achievements to one's own competence, thus raising expectations of oneself
unconsciousness
loss of responsiveness to the environment resulting from disease, trauma, or anesthesia
REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)
marked by potentially troublesome dream enactments during REM periods
affect
means mood
PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
measures the different levels of activity in the brain by detecting where a radioactive form of glucose (dye) goes while the brain is performing a given task
weight control
most lost weight is regained
atonia
muscle paralyzation during REM sleep
sexual motivation
nature's clever way of making people procreate, enabling our species to survive
sensory neurons
neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord
impossible figures
objects that can be represented in two-dimensional pictures but cannot exist in three-dimensional space
social learning theory
observational learning + operant conditioning = this
sleepwalking (somnambulism)
occurring during deep sleep, an episode of moving around or walking around in one's sleep
neurotransmission
occurs between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrite of another
frustration
occurs in any situation in which the pursuit of some goal is thwarted
non-contingent reinforcement
occurs when a response is accidentally strengthened by a reinforcer that follows it, even though delivery of the reinforcer was not a result of the response
resistance to extinction
occurs when an organism continues to make a response after the delivery of the reinforcer has been terminated
trace conditioning
occurs when the neutral stimulus is presented & then disappears before the unconditional stimulus appears
simultaneous conditioning
occurs when the unconditional stimuli sand the neutral stimulus are paired together at the same time
backward conditioning
occurs when the unconditional stimulus comes before the neutral stimulus
conflict
occurs when two or more incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses compete for expression
gender identity
one's subjective sense of being male or female
consciousness
our awareness of ourselves and our environment, including your own mental processes, thoughts, feelings, & perceptions
gender identity
our sense of being male or female, usually linked to our anatomy & physiology
language
our spoken written or gestured words & the way we combine them to communicate meaning (also includes sign language)
gonadal sex
ovaries or testes
gender role stereotypes
oversimplified beliefs (stereotypes) about what men and women are really like
complementary colors
pairs of colors that produce gray tones when mixed together
out-group
people who are not part of the in-group
mid-life crisis
people who experience anxiety, instability, & change about themselves, their work, & their relationships during this time have a challenging experience sometimes termed as this
color-deficient vision
people who suffer from red-green color-blindness have rouble with perceiving the number within the design
high-achievement motivation
people with this choose goals that are realistic that they can achieve
low-achievement motivation
people with this prefer very easy or very difficult tasks
biological rhythms
periodic physical fluctuations (the menstrual cycle--lasts for 28 days)
how many words do you think you know now?
probably around 80,000
dual processing
processing information on conscious and unconscious levels at the same time
flavor
produced by the interaction between taste & smell
schwann cell
produces myelin
hallucinogens
psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input
psychoanalysist
psychodynamic psychologist
genotype
refers to a person's genetic makeup
coping
refers to active efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress (can be positive or negative)
evaluative conditioning
refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that result from pairing that stimuli with other positive or negative stimuli
reproductive fitness
refers to the reproductive success (number of descendants) of an individual organism relative to the average reproductive success in the population
phenotype
refers to the ways in which a person's genotype is manifested in observable characteristics
hypnagogic state
relaxed state of dreamlike awareness between wakefulness and sleep
religiosity
religious teens and adults often reserve sex for a marital commitment
refractory period
resting state after firing in which the neuron goes back to its polarized resting state
self-disclosure
revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
bisexual
romantically and erotically attracted to both sexes
heterosexual
romantically and erotically attracted to the opposite sex
homosexual
romantically and erotically attracted to the same sex
egocentric
seeing the world from his or her point of view
masturbation
self-stimulation of the genitals that causes sexual pleasure or orgasm
gender roles
sets of expectations that prescribe how males & males should act, think, & feel
the psychology of sex
sex is not a need because if we do not have sex, we do not die
primary sexual characteristics
sexual and internal reproductive organs
Frotteurism
sexually touching or rubbing against a nonconsenting person (usually in a public place like an elevator or subway)
sleep spindles
short bursts of brain waves detected in stage 2 sleep
external attribution
situational attribution
Stage 2 sleep
sleep spindles & K complexes occur during this stage of sleep
papillae
small protuberances in which taste buds are found on
Do scientists want a big or small standard deviation?
small standard deviation (for better results)
primary olfactory cortex
smell sensations are processed here from the olfactory bulb
ostracism
social exclusion leads to demoralization, depression, and at times nasty behavior
unstable attribution
something that can change
experience
something that is external that contributes to who one is as a person
stable attribution
something that will not change
nodes of ranvier
spaces between the myelin sheath
dissociation
split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others
vision
stabilized images on the retina
physiology of hunger
stomach contractions (pangs) send signals to the brain making us aware of our hunger
cognitive component of emotion
subjective conscious experience, includes an "appraisal" or evaluation of the situation
hypothalamus
systematically regulates changes in your body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar levels, hormonal levels, & activity levels over the course of about a day
avoidance behavior
takes away the aversive stimuli before it begins
escape behavior
takes away the aversive stimulus after it has already started
taste receptors
taste buds (live for about two weeks)
learning programs
teens who volunteer and tutor in programs dedicated to reducing teen pregnancy are less likely to engage in unsafe sex
high intelligence
teens with higher intelligence are likely to delay sex
texture gradient
textures are coarser the closer they are
the pygmalion effect
the "Pygmalion effect," also sometimes known as the "Rosenthal effect" for the psychologist credited with discovering it, is a theory teaching that people will act or behave in the way that others expect them to
median
the "middle" number in a set of numbers
depth perception
the ability to perceive spatial relations in 3D
socialization
the acquisition of the norms, roles, and behaviors expected of people in a particular society
compliance
the act or process of doing what you have been asked or ordered to do
neural transmission
the action potential causes information to be transmitted from the axon terminal of one neuron to the dendrite of another by the secretion of chemical messengers, known as neurotransmitters
visual cortex
the area of the occipital lobe that receives visual information from the eyes
auditory cortex
the area of the temporal lobe that receives auditory information from the ears
mean
the average of a group of numbers
selectively permeable
the axon's surface is very selective about what it allows in
social norms
the behavioral expectations and cues within a society or group
ethnocentrism
the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture
artificialism
the belief that all objects are made by people
animism
the belief that all things are living just like him or her
endocrine system
the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
basal metabolic rate
the body's base rate of energy expenditure
endorphins
the body's own natural morphine-like painkillers
nervous system
the body's speedy electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous system
plasticity
the brain's ability to modify itself after tissue damage
social psychology
the branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others
mutation
the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes
reinforcement contingencies
the circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforcers
genome
the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism
object permeance
the concept that states that objects continue to exist even when out of sight
bonding
the creation of a close emotional relationship between the mother (or parents) & the baby shortly after birth
thanatos
the death instinct
incongruence
the difference between our real self & the ideal self
hue
the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light
actor-observer bias
the discrepancy between attributions for one's own behavior and for that of others
range
the distance from the highest scores to the lowest scores
inattentional blindness
the failure to see visual objects or events because one's attention is focus elsewhere
learned helplessness
the feeling of futility & passive resignation that results from the inability to avoid repeated aversive events
molecular genetics
the field of biology that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level and thus employs methods of both molecular biology and genetics
neurogenesis
the formation of new neurons
in-group
the group that a person belong to and identify with
latent content
the hidden, underlying meaning of a dream
matching hypothesis
the idea that males and females of approximately equal physical attraction are likely to select each other as partner
social comparison theory
the idea that people compare themselves with others to understand and evaluate their own behavior
insomnia
the inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep
dietary concern ("restrained eating")
the intention to restrict food intake deliberately in order to prevent weight gain or to promote weight loss
cognitive neuroscience
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory and language)
nonconscious
the level of consciousness devoted to processes completely inaccessible to conscious awareness, such as blood flow, filtering of the blood my kidneys, secretion of hormones, & lower level processing of sensations, such as detecting edges, estimating doze & distance of objects, recognizing patterns, etc.
threshold
the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse
concept of heritability
the likelihood of a gene to passed down
squeeze technique
the method for inhibiting (premature) ejaculation by compressing the tip of the penis
extinction
the moment the conditioned is no longer associated with the unconditional stimulus, this occurs
proportional representation (in the primary motor & somatosensory cortex)
the more sensitive parts of the body take up more space on the sensory cortex
mode
the most frequent number in a set of numbers
interposition
the nearer object overlaps the object farther in the distance
wanting to belong
the need to belong colors our thinking and emotions
sensory integration
the norm in perceptual experience
somatosensory cortex
the part of the brain where the sense of touch is processed
olfactory bulb
the part of the brain which processes smell
obedience
the performance of an action in response to the direct orders of an authority or person of higher status
the bystander effect
the phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, less likely an individual is to help
diffusion of responsibility
the phenomenon in which the presence of others makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among others
optic chiasm
the pint at which the optic nerves from the inside half of each eye cross over & then project to the opposite half of the brain
collective unconscious
the powerful influential system of the psyche that contains universal memories & ideas that all people have inherited from our ancestors over the course of evolution
hormonal sex
the predominance of androgens or estrogens
androgyny
the presence of desirable masculine & feminine characteristics in the same individual
dark adaptation
the process in which the yes become more sensitive to light in low illumination
feature analysis
the process of detecting specific elements in visual input & assembling them into more complex forms
light adaptation
the process whereby the eyes become less sensitive to light in high illumination
individuation
the psychological process by which a person becomes an individual, a unified whole, including conscious & unconscious processes
Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD)
the range between the level at which a chid can solve a problem working alone with difficulty & the level at which a child can solve a problem with the assistance of adults or more-skilled children
manifest content
the recalled dream
limbic system
the region of the brain that controls emotion
receptive field
the retinal area that, when stimulated, affects the firing of that cell
audition
the sense of hearing
olfactory system
the sensory system for smell
gustatory system
the sensory system for taste
acuity
the sharpness of vision
just noticeable difference (JND)
the smallest difference in stimulus intensity that a specific sense can detect
gender
the sociocultural dimension of being biologically male or female
sex drive
the strength of one's motivation to engage in sexual behavior
The Barnum Effect
the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterizations of themselves & take them to be accurate
conformity
the tendency for people to adopt the behaviors, attitudes, and values of other members of a reference group
social facilitation
the tendency for the presence of others to enhance individual performance
self-serving bias
the tendency to attribute successful outcomes of one's own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessfulness with external causes
hindsight bias
the tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that you knew it all along
reciprocity
the tendency to return favors that others have extended to us or vice-versa
attractiveness bias
the tendency to see attractive people as more intelligent, moral, competent, and sociable than unattractive people
confirmation bias
the tendency to seek information that supports one's decisions and beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information
functional fixedness
the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions
overconfidence
the tendency to think you know more than you really do
situationism
the theory that individual behavior is a direct response of the social situation
synaptic gap/synaptic cleft
the tiny gap at the synapse in which neurotransmitters cross
frustration-aggression hypothesis
the view that frustration, or failure to reach a certain desired goal due to circumstance, often leads to aggression, or behavior which intends harm
hypercomplex
thee cells respond to movement with an end point
receptors
these are specialized neurons that are activated by stimulation & transduce (convert) it into a nerve impulse
simple cells
these cells respond to light orientation
complex cells
these cells respond to light orientation & movement
pictorial depth cues
these cues are clues about distance that can be given in a flat oicture
social development theories
these investigate influence of others on the development of a person
touch receptors
these receptors lie in varying depths in the skin
identical (monozygotic) twins
these twins emerge from one zygote that splits for unknown reasons
fraternal (dizygotic) twins
these twins result when two eggs are fertilized simultaneously by different sperm cells, forming two separate zygotes
uninvolved parents
these type of parents make few demands, show low responsiveness, & communicate little with their children
authoritative parents
these type of parents set limits, but explain the reasons for rules with their children & make exceptions when they are appropriate
authoritarian parents
these type of parents set up strict rules, expect their children to follow them, & punish wrongdoing
permissive parents
these type of parents tend to not set firm guidelines, if they set any at all in the first place
long wavelengths
these type of wavelengths (over 700 = infrared) tend to be red
short wavelengths
these type of wavelengths (under 400 = ultraviolet) tend to be blue
body chemistry & environmental factors
they influence not only WHEN we feel hunger but WHAT we feel hungry for
Philip Vogel and Joseph Bogen
they tried to alleviate seizures in epileptic patients by severing the corpus callosum and causing "split brain" patients
Law of Continuity
this Gestalt principle explains why the brain will interpret something as connected, or continuous because we prefer it as to what it really looks like
Law of Connectedness
this Gestalt principle refers to the fact that elements that are connected by uniform visual properties are perceived as being more related than elements that are not connected
Law of Closure
this Gestalt principle suggests that objects grouped together are perceived as a whole
Law of Similarity
this Gestalt principle suggests that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, value or orientation will be seen as belonging together
Law of Proximity
this Gestalt principle suggests that we perceive objects that are near each other to be grouped together
preconscious
this contains thoughts, memories, feelings, & images that we can easily recall
motivation
this depends on whether you encounter a situation in which you believe that the response is likely to pay off for you
amplitude
this determines the brightness of a color (how tall the wave is)
color blindness
this encompasses a variety of deficiencies in the ability to distinguish among colors
Little Albert experiment
this experiment introduced a type of classical conditioning known as aversive conditioning
"Running in Place" experiment
this experiment showed that running activates your central nervous system (sympathetic nervous system)
conscious
this includes everything in which we are aware of
visual illusion
this involves an apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus & its physical reality
subjective contours
this involves the perception of contours where non actually exist
recessive gene
this is a gene that can be masked by a dominant gene
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)
this is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses
mesolimbic dopamine pathway
this is associated with pleasure (cocaine, sex, & food)
saturation
this is determined by the complexity of a wavelength
statistics
this is used to record the results from our studies/ research
biopsychosocial model
this model ascribes gender, gender roles, & gender identity to the interaction of heredity (biology) & environment (including psychological & social-cultural factors)
peripheral nervous system (PNS)
this nervous system connects CNS to the limbs and organs, essentially serving as a communication relay going back and forth between the brain and the extremities
central nervous system (CNS)
this nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord
Ponzo Illusion
this optical illusion suggests that the human mind judges an object's size based on its background
sympathetic nervous system
this part of the autonomic nervous system can accelerate heart rate, widen bronchial passages, constrict blood vessels, increase peristalsis in the oesophagus, cause pupillary dilation, piloerection (goose bumps), & perspiration (sweating), and raise blood pressure
Principle of Smallness
this principle suggests that smaller areas tend to be seen as figures against a larger background
nerve (sensorineural) deafness
this results from damaged to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons
right side of brain
this side of the brain is in-charge of spatial navigation & reasoning
left side of brain
this side of the brain is responsible for language (speech) & logic
hypothesis
this statement expresses a relationship between two variable
Freud's Model of Personality Structure
this structure includes: - the ego - the id - the superego
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of cognitive development
this theory assigns a significant role to mentors such as parents, teachers, & other students
social learning theory
this theory proposes that people learn from each other
expectancy-value theory
this theory suggests that behavior is a function of the expectancies one has and the value of the goal toward which one is working
opponent-process theory
this theory suggests that the opposing retinal processes enable color vision
auditory nerve
this transmits sound messages through the medulla, pons, & thalamus to the auditory cortex of the temporal lobes
basic research
this type of research explores questions that you may be curious about, but not intended to be immediately used
applied research
this type of research has clear, practical applications
stratified sampling
this type of sampling helps study the effect son participants of the same age, gender, etc.
Positive Z Score
this type of score means a number above the mean
Negative Z Score
this type of score means a number below the mean
independent variable
this variable is whatever is being manipulated in the experiment
models
those who we observe
chronic stressors
threatening events that have a relatively long duration and no readily apparent time limit
acute stressors
threatening events that have a relatively short duration and a clear endpoint
preparedness
through evolution, animals are biologically predisposed to easily learn behaviors related to their survival as a species, & that behaviors contrary to an animal's natural tendencies are learned slowly or not at all
lesion
tissue destruction that is naturally or experimentally caused to help study regions and functions of the brain
attention
to learn through observation, you must pay attention to another person's behavior & its consequences
thermoreceptors
touch receptors located in the skin which respond to changes in temperature
nocioreceptors
touch receptors located in the skin which respond to painful stimuli
mechanoreceptors
touch receptors located in the skin which respond to skin deformation
genetics
twin studies show that eating disorders are more likely to occur in identical twins rather than fraternal twins
sexual scripts
unspoken mental plans that guide our sexual behavior
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of different structures within the brain
social support
various types of aid and help provided by members of one's social networks
compassionate love
warm, trusting, tolerant affection for another whose life is deeply intertwined with our own
maintaining relationships
we resist breaking social bonds, even bad ones
chameleon effect
we unconsciously mimic others' expressions, postures and voice tones to help us feel what they are feeling
rewards theory of attraction
we will like those whose behavior is rewarding to us and we will continue relationships that offer more rewards than costs
ideal self
what we think society wants us to be
anorexia nervosa
when a normal-weight person (usually an adolescent woman) diets and becomes significantly (>15%) underweight, yet still feeling fat, continues to starve
conservative detection
when a person is less likely to detect a signal but more likely to correctly notice when the stimulus is not there
liberal detection
when a person is more likely to correctly detect a signal but also more likely to falsely detect a signal
instrumental aggression
when aggression is used for a clear purpose (example: football)
linear perspective
when parallel lines converge in the distance
discrimination
when something is so different to the conditioned stimuli so you do not get a conditioned response
generalization
when something is so similar to the conditioned stimulus that you get a conditioned response
subliminal stimuli
when stimuli are detectable less than 50% of the time (below one's absolute threshold)
chaining behaviors
when subjects are taught a number of responses successively in order to get a reward
insight learning
when the solution all of sudden comes to someone
hunger pangs
when the stomach growls when it is empty
free association
when the therapist sits behind the patient & asks him other to say whatever comes to mind to break apart the patient's unconscious
social effects of obesity
when women applicants were made to look overweight, subjects were less willing to hire them
higher-order conditioning/ second-order conditioning
when you make a participant develop another conditioned stimulus for one conditioned response
stereotypes
widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group
social rule
widely shared expectations about how people in certain positions are supposed to behave
reciprocal love/liking
you are more likely to like someone who likes you
retention
you must store a mental representation of what you have witnessed in your memory
family (reason for eating disorders)
younger generations develop eating disorders when raised in families in which weight is an excessive concern
sensorimotor stage
- the first stage of Piaget's cognitive development that occurs from birth to approximately age 2 - when the baby explores the world using his or her senses & motor interactions with objects in the environment
rooting
- the neonate's response of turning his or her head when touched on the cheek & then trying to put the stimulus into his or her mouth - what touches the newborn's cheek is frequently a nipple
accommodation
- the process in which we modify our schemas to fit new information - as babies, we learn through this that not all people fir our schema of "mommy"
basic reflexes of the neonate
- these include: - rooting - sucking - swallowing - grasping (gripping) effect - startle effect (moro effect) - the Babinski Reflex
neuropsychologists
- these psychologists explore the relationships between brain/nervous systems & behavior - they are also called biological psychologists or biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, & behavioral neuroscientists
psychometricians
- these psychologists focus on methods for acquiring & analyzing psychological data - they are sometimes called psychometric psychologists or measurement psychologists
embryonic period
- this stage of prenatal development occurs from the third week through the eighth week following conception - during this stage, organs start to develop as a result of differentiation & specialization of cells - the placenta, umbilical cord, & other structures start to form from the outer cells of the embryo - as organs develop, the embryo is particularly sensitive to environmental stimuli such as chemicals & viruses - by the end of the eighth week of prenatal development, the embryo has a head with distinctively formed eyes, limbs, & a skeleton composed of cartilage
sports psychologists
these psychologists help athletes refine their focus competition goals, increase motivation, & deal with anxiety & fear of failure
Evolutionary Perspective
- focuses on Darwinism - we behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors from our ancestors - thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors' survival
B.F. Skinner
- he believed that one could learn how to behave/act - he demonstrated that organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive consequences & not to repeat responses that lead to negative consequences - he lived in the 1900s
Joseph Gall
- he would go around & feel people's heads for bumps on their skulls (phrenology) - he lived in the 1800s
menopause
- the cessation of the ability to reproduce in women - occurs in female at around the age of 50 - this is accompanied by the decrease of the production of female sex hormones
neonates
"newborn babies"
Why were Margaret Floy Washburn & Francis Cecil Sumner important to the field of psychology?
- Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman to earn her degree in psychology - Francis Cecil Sumner was the first African-American to earn his degree in psychology
retrospective study
- a case study that investigates development in one person at a time - a researcher interviews an individual at the older end of the age span of interest - this type of study is not always accurate because memory is not always accurate - this study may not be generalizable to a larger population
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
- a cluster of abnormalities that occurs in babies of mother who drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy - characteristics of children with this: - low intelligence - a small head with a flat face - misshapen eyes - a flat nose - a thin upper lip - intellectual impairment (from minor learning disabilities to sever intellectual disability)
zygote
- a fertilized ovum (egg) with the genetic instructions for a new individual normally contained in 46 chromosomes (23 from the egg & 23 from the sperm)
continuity
- a gradual, cumulative change from conception to death - behaviorists who favor this focus on quantitative changes in number or amount (height, weight, etc.)
eclecticism
- about variety - psychologists pick & choose what theorist to use depending on the situation, client, or specific type of behavior they are researching - use of techniques & ideas from a variety of approaches
Biopsychology (Neuroscience) Perspective
- all of your feelings & behaviors have an organic root - in other words, they come from your brain, body chemistry, neurotransmitters, etc.
John Locke believed:
- at birth the mind is a blank slate on which experience writes - this idea helped form modern empiricism (we can observe this learning taking place) - he lived around 1650
maturation
- biological growth processes that bring about orderly changes in behavior, though, or physical growth - relatively unaffected by experience
stability vs. change
- deals with the issue of whether or not personality traits present during infancy endure throughout the life span - psychoanalysts believe that personality traits developed in the first 5 years can predict adult personality - change theorists believe personalities are modified by interactions with family, experiences at school, & acculturation
zygotic period
- during the first 2 weeks following conception, the zygote divides again & again forming first a hollow ball of cells that buries itself into the wall of the uterus - then, a three-layered inner cell mass surrounded by outer cells attach to the uterine lining
fetal period
- during this stage of prenatal development: - the organ systems begin to interact - bone replaces cartilage in the skeleton - sex organs & sense organs become more refined
Cognitive Perspective
- focuses on how we think (or encode information) - how do we see the world? - how did we learn to act to happy or sad events? - cognitive theratpists attempt to change the way you think - focuses on our perception - important cognitive psychologists: - Jean Piaget (studied cognitive development in children) (1900s)
Behavioral Perspective
- focuses on observable behaviors while putting feelings to the side - we behave in ways in ways because we have been conditioned to do so - to change behaviors, we have to recondition the client - stated that behavior is determined mainly by environment & experience rather than by genetic inheritance - important behaviorists: - Ivan Pavlov (paved the way for behaviorism in the early 1900s) - John B. Watson (mid 1900s) - B.F. Skinner (1900s) - E.L. Thorndike (late 1800s-mid 1900s)
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Perspective
- focuses on the unconscious mind - we repress many of our true feelings & are not aware of them - inorder to get better, we must bring forward the true feelings we have in our unconscious - important psychoanylisists: - Sigmund Freud (early 1900s)
G. Stanley Hall
- he coined the term "adolescence" - he studied adolescent psychology - he started the very first American Psychology Journal - he was the first president of the American Psychological Association - he lived in the late 1800s
William James
- he founded functionalism - he was the father of American psychology - functionalism focused on how behavioral processes function--how they enable organisms to adapt, survive, & flourish - this paved the way for evolutionary psychology - he lived in the ate 1800s
Signmund Freud
- he founded psychoanalysis/psychodynamic - his psychoanalysis theory focused on unconscious internal conflicts to explain mental disorders, personality, & motivation - he thought that "the unconscious" is the source of desires, thoughts, & memories below surface of conscious awareness and that early life experiences are important to personality development
Wundt
- he founded structuralism - he is thought to be the father of psychology - he opened the first psychology lab in at the University of Leipzig in Germany - he used introspection (looking in to explore the elemental structure of the human mind) - he paved the way for cognitive psychology - he lived in the late 1800s
Jean Piaget
- he was a Swiss psychologist - he recognized that children think differently from adults - he thought that certain cognitive structures were innate, but only through a child's interaction with the environment could they grow & develop over time - he emphasized maturation (nature) & cognitive development in stages (discontinuity)
Martin Seligman
- he was known for "positive psychology" ("the scientific study of what makes life most worth living" or "the scientific study of positive human functioning & flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, & global dimensions of life") - he has done work in the late 1900s and is still alive
Babinski Reflex
- if the inner sole of a neonate's foot is stroked, then the neonate would curl his or her toes - while if a the outer sole of neonate's foot is stroked, then the toes would spread out
fetus
- in humans, the term for the developing organism between the embryonic stage and birth - the term that describes when the developing individual begins to resemble a human - the developing human organism from about 9 weeks after conception to birth
cohort-sequential study
- in this study, cross-sectional groups are assessed at least two times over a span of months or years, rather than just once - results from one cohort are then compared with other cohorts at the same age to evaluate their similarity - differences indicate a cohort effect - in using this, researchers can separate age-related changes from cohort effects - this study shares disadvantages with longitudinal research, but to a lesser extent
cross-sectional study
- in this type of study, researchers assess developmental changes with respect to a particular factor by evaluating different age groups of people at the same time - example: to study life span changes in mathematical skills, psychologists could give the same math test to groups of 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, and 75-year-olds at the same time - this study can be invalid if a cohort is significantly different in their experiences from other age groups, resulting the cohort effect
Biopsychosocial Model
- integrates biological processes, psychological factors, & social forces to provide a more complete picture of behavior & mental processes - this model is a unifying theme in modern psychology
Plato & Socrates believed:
- knowledge & the mind are "entirely distinct from the body" & thus able to survive its death - some ideas are innate--we are born with them - they lived around 350
Aristotle believed:
- knowledge was not preexisting - knowledge grows from experience that is stored in our memories - "we were born with a mind with a bank slate" - lived around 350
Psychology's Big Three Debates
- nature vs. nurture (environment vs. genetic make-up) - stability vs. change - continuity vs. discontinuity
secondary sex characteristics
- non-reproductive features associated sexual maturity: - hips - breasts - facial hair - muscles - Adam's apple - deep voice - pubic hair - underarm hair
Humanist Perspective
- peaked in the late 1960s and 1970s - focused on spirituality & free will - we have to strive to be the best we can be ("self-actualization") - happiness is defined by the distance between our "self-concept" & our "ideal self" - humanists believe that people have the ability to save their own problems - important humanists: - Abraham Maslow (1900s) - Carl Rogers (1900s)
puberty
- sexual maturation marked by the onset of the ability to reproduce - during this period, reproductive organs start producing mature sex cells & external genitals (vulva & penis) grow - secondary sex characteristics also grow during this period (widening of hips & breast development in females, growth of facial hair, muscular growth, development of the Adam's apple, & deepening of the voice in males, and growth of pubic hair & underarm hair in both)
Piaget's stages of cognitive development
1. sensorimotor stage 2. pre-operational stage 3. concrete operations; stage 4. formal operational stage
Gestalt Psychology was founded by:
Max Wertheimer
Psychoanalysis/Psychodynamic was founded by:
Sigmund Freud
trephination
the act of putting holes in people's skulls to let out evil spirits
sucking
the automatic response of drawing in anything at the mouth
prenatal period
the developmental period between conception and birth
assimilation
the process in which we fit new information into our existing schemas
psychology
the study of behavior & the mind
industrial/organizational psychologists
these psychologists aim to improve productivity & the quality of work life by applying psychological principles & methods to the workplace
engineering psychologists
these psychologists along with human factors psychologists promote the development & application of psychology to improve technology, consumer products, energy systems, communication & information, transportation, decision making, work settings, and living environments
forensic psychologists
these psychologists apply psychological principles to legal issues
school psychologists
these psychologists assess & counsel students, consult with educators & parents, and perform behavioral intervention when necessary
health psychologists
these psychologists concentrate on biological, psychological, & social factors involved in health & illness
clinical psychologists
these psychologists evaluate & treat mental, emotional, & behavioral disorders
personality psychologists
these psychologists focus on aspects of the individual such as traits, attitudes, & goals
social psychologists
these psychologists focus on how a person's mental life & behavior are shaped by interactions with other people
educational psychologists
these psychologists focus on how effective teaching & learning take place