AP Psychology Semester 1

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintain a starvation diet despite being significantly (15 percent or more) underweight.

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person alternates binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomit ing or laxative use) or fasting.

attachment

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 488)

sexual orientation

an enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one's own sex (homosexual orientation), the other sex (heterosexual orientation), or both sexes (bisexual orientation). (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 531)

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

lobotomy

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

mutation

a random error in gene replication that leads to a change.

dissociative identity disorder (DID)

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

functionalism

a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function--how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

CT (computed tomography) scan

a series of X-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body. Also called CAT scan.

gender role

a set of expected behaviors for males or for females. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 503)

reflex

a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response.

cross-sectional study

a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 543)

psychological disorder

a syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior. (Adapted from American Psychiatric Association, 2013.)

fMRI (functional MRI)

a technique for revealing bloodflow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. These scans show brain function.

token economy

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

critical period

an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 489)

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissue. They scans show brain anatomy.

aversive conditioning

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

systematic desensitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant, relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

insight therapies

a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses.

PET (positron emission tomography) scan

a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.

The _____ school of psychology focused on how mental and behavioral processes enable us to adapt and flourish.

a. Functionalist

The study of current environmental influences and the importance of satisfying the needs for love and acceptance best describe which school of psychology?

a. Humanistic

10.) Why is random assignment of participants to groups an important aspect of a properly designed experiment? a. If the participants are randomly assigned, the researcher can assume that people in each of the groups are pretty similar. b. By randomly assigning participants, the researcher knows that whatever is learned from the experiment will also be true of the population from which the participants were selected. c. Random assignment keeps expectations from influencing the results of the experiment. d. If participants are not randomly assigned, it is impossible to replicate the experiment. e. Statistical analysis cannot be performed on an experiment if random assignment is not used.

a. If the participants are randomly assigned, the researcher can assume that people in each of the groups are pretty similar.

2.) Which statistical measure of central tendency is most affected by extreme scores? a. Mean b. Median c. Mode d. Skew e. Correlation

a. Mean

1.) Which of the following is an example of negative correlation? a. People who spend more time exercising tend to weigh less. b. Teenage females tend to have fewer speeding tickets than teenage males. c. Students with low IQ scores tend to have lower grades. d. As hours studying for a test decreases, so do grades on that test. e. Students´ shoe sizes are not related to their grades.

a. People who spend more time exercising tend to weigh less.

Which of the following professionals is also a medical doctor?

a. Psychiatrist

1.) Which of the following is a measure of variation? a. Range b. Median c. Mode d. Frequency e. Median

a. Range

5.)Which of the following represents naturalistic observation? a. Researchers watch and record how elementary school children interact on the playground. b. Researchers bring participants into a laboratory to see how they respond to a puzzle with no solution. c. A principal looks at the relationship between the number of student absences and their grades. d. A social worker visits a family home and gives feedback on family interactions. e. Two grandparents sit in the front row to watch their grandson's first piano recital.

a. Researchers watch and record how elementary school children interact on the playground.

14.) There is a negative correlation between TV watching and grades. What can we conclude from this research finding? a. We can conclude that a student who watches a lot of TV is likely to have lower grades. b. We can conclude that TV watching leads to lower grades. c. We can conclude that TV watching leads to higher grades. d. We can conclude that the grades students get impact their TV watching habits. e. We can conclude that this is a illusory correlation.

a. We can conclude that a student who watches a lot of TV is likely to have lower grades.

4.) A testable prediction that drives research is known as a(n) a. theory. b. hypothesis. c. operational definition. d. guess. e. random sample.

b. hypothesis.

For behaviorists, psychological science is rooted in

b. observation

when kluver and bucy surgically lesioned the amygdala of a rhesus monkey's brain, what was the impact on the monkey's behavior?

became less aggressive

Which would be a sign of secure attachment as age 1?

becoming distressed when the parent leaves and seeking contact upon return

what is the study of specific genes and teams of genes that influence behavior called?

behavior genetics

counterconditioning

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning.

exposure therapies

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid.

According to Mary Ainsworth's research on attachment, what would a child need most to become "securely attached"?

consistent, responsive caregivers

In the attachment study with infant monkeys, what did Harlows find?

contact comfort is the most important factor in attachment

Kimberly tells her brother to put on a suit on a warm summer day. Kimberly's brother knows to put on a swimsuit instead of a business suit because of

context

dissociative disorders

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

5.) The purpose of random assignment is to a. allow participants in both the experimental and control groups to be exposed to the independent variable. b. ensure that every member of the population had an equal chance of being selected to participate in the research. c. eliminate the placebo effect. d.reduce potential co-founding variables. e. generate operational definitions for the independent and dependent variables.

d.reduce potential co-founding variables.

Generally speaking, heritability is the extent to which

differences among people are accounted for by genes

binge-eating disorder

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

sensory neurons

neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.

motor neurons

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.

Which statement about the impact of aging is true?

older people become less susceptible to short-term illnesses

The basketball players could remember the main point of their coach's halftime talk, but not her exact words. This is because they encoded the information

semantically.

Tyshane went swimming with friends who did not want to get into the pool because the water felt cold. Tighten jumped in and after a few minutes declared, "It was cold when I first got in, but now my body is used to it. Come on in" Tyshane's body became accustomed to the water due to

sensory adaptation

What neurotransmitters are most likely in undersupply in someone who is depressed

serotonin and norepinephrine

Which would indicate that a child understood conservation?

she would believe that a clay snake would have the same amount of clay as a clay ball that was used to make it.

Which of the following illustrates the serial position effect?

Alp is unable to remember the middle of his list of vocabulary words as well as he remembers the first or last words on the list.

What part of the brain triggers the release of adrenaline to boost heart rate when you're afraid

Amygdala

Near Death Experience

An altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with dead (such as through cardiac arrest) often similar to drug induced hallucinations.

intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Informed Consent

An ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate.

Double-Blind Procedure

An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies.

Theory

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.

What do we call the sleep disorder that caused you to stop breathing and awaken in order to take a breath?

sleep apnea

psychosurgery

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

If you showed a 2 yr old that you had hidden a toy behind the bed in a model of her bedroom and she would not be able to find the toy in her real bedroom because she lacks...

symbolic thinking

Which of the following most likely represents a prototype for the concept indicated in parentheses?

A golden retriever (dog)

Scatterplot

A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables.

Random Sample

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

Dreams

A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind.

heuristic

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

Night Terrors

A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during Stage 4 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep, and are seldom remembered.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times.

Dissociation

A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others.

REM Sleep

A stage of sleep that occurs approximately every 90 minutes, marked by bursts of rapid eye movements occurring under closed eyelids, REM seep periods are associated with dreaming.

Operational Definition

A statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables.

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1).

Statistical Significance

A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance.

insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Normal Curve

A symmetrical, bell-shape that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes.

Ectasy (MDMA)

A synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen. Produces Euphoria and social intimacy, but with short-term health risks and longer-term harm to serotonin-producing neurons and to mood and cognition.

Survey

A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

mental set

A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.

Biological Clock

An internal timekeeper that controls an organism's biological rhythms; marks time with or without environmental cues but often requires signals from the environment to remain tuned to an appropriate period.

Case Study

An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.

Which of the following is an example of flashbulb memory?

Anna remembers when her father returned from an overseas military deployment because the day was very emotional for her.

People with ______ show little regret over violating others' rights

Antisocial personality disorder

A psychologist works with children whose parents are divorcing. She helps them develop skills they need to cope with the situation. Of the following, what kind of psychologist is most likely helping these children?

D. Counseling

Which school of psychology focuses on the adaptive nature of thinking and how our consciousness evolves to meet our needs?

D. Humanistic

The science of behavior and mental processes is the definition of which field of study?

D. Psychology

The debate about the relative contributions of biology and experience to human development is most often referred to as what

D. The nature-nurture issue

Which of the following statements concerning memory is true?

Memories are often a blend of correct and incorrect information.

Which of the following is true regarding the initiation of sexual activity

Men are more likely to initiate sexual activity than women

Generalized anxiety disorder is diagnosed when a person

Is unexplainably and continually tense and uneasy

Juan returns to his grandparent's house after a 10 year absence. The flood of memories about his childhood visits is best explained by which of the following?

Priming

What do mental health workers call patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that are deviant distressful and dysfunctional?

Psychological disorders

Caitlin, a fifth grader, is asked to remember her secondgrade teacher's name. What measure of retention will Catlin use to answer this question?

Recall

Which of the following is an example of the primacy effect?

Remembering the names of the first two co-workers you met on the first day of your new job

Replication

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.

Junita does not feel like getting out of bed, has lost her appetite, and feels tired for most of the day. Which of the following neurotransmitters likely is in short supply for Junita?

Serotonin

Which of the following is most likely to be a function of the left hemisphere

Speech

Which of the following is produced by perceptual set

Surprise at hearing an Oklahoma cowboy speak with a British accent

functional fixedness

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.

The nearly 1 in-100 odds of any person being diagnosed with schizophrenia become about 1 in 10 among those

Whose sibling or parent has the disorder

counseling psychology

a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e pp. 14, 462)

clinical psychology

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

a complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes.

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 477)

split brain

a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them.

Stage 5-moral reasoning

actions are based on utilitarianism and the social contract-rule of law in general is good for society and should not be broken

Stage 2-moral reasoning

actions are motivated by self-interest and morally acceptable if they are personally gratifying

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

a confrontational cognitive therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, that vigorously challenges people's illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions.

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

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

obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

a disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions).

Epinephrine and norepinephrine increase energy and are released by the

adrenal glands

opiate drugs such as morphine are classified as what?

agonist, because they mimic other neurotransmitters' pain-diminishing effects

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?" (Myers Psychology for AP 2e pp. 495, 572)

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e pp. 356, 476)

conversion disorder

a disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found. (Also called functional neurological symptom disorder.)

illness anxiety disorder

a disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease. (Formerly called hypochondriasis.)

client-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy.)

myelin sheath

a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier; as on a fill-in-the-blank test

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

relearning

a memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic of picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

bipolar disorder

a mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the over-excited state of mania. (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder.)

major depressive disorder

a mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or another medical condition, two or more weeks with fi ve or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

mania

a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state.

neuron

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

reticular formation

a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal.

hippocampus

a neural center that is located in the limbic system and helps process explicit memories for storage

action potential

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.

hypothalamus

a neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward.

reuptake

a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron.

working memory

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

adrenal glands

a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that help arouse the body in times of stress.

temperament

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 490)

electroencephalogram (EEG)

an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.

generalized anxiety disorder

an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.

phobia

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

panic disorder

an anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations. Often followed by worry over a possible next attack.

virtual reality exposure therapy

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

eclectic approach

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

motor cortex

an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.

structuralism

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemntral structure of the human mind

antisocial personality disorder

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

cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

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

meta-analysis

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

schizophrenia

a psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished or inappropriate emotional expression.

psychosis

a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions.

somatic symptom disorder

a psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause. (See conversion disorder and illness anxiety disorder.)

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

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

Which division of the nervous system produces the startle response

sympathetic

thalamus

the brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

dendrites

the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

axon

the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 488)

zygote

the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 466)

menarche

the first menstrual period. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 527)

heritability

the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. This may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

storage

the retention of encoded information over time

why do researchers study the brains of nonhuman animals?

the same principles govern neural functioning in all species

psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

peripheral nervous system (PNS)

the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body.

gender

the socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 500)

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior.

behavior genetics

the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

evolutionary psychology

the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection.

molecular genetics

the sub-field of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes.

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study of practice to yield better long-term retention than is achived through massed study or practice

regression toward the mean

the tendency for extreme or unusual scores to fall back (regress) toward their average.

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

social learning theory

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 504)

menopause

the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 540)

adolescence

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 513)

empiricism

the view that knowledge comes from experience via the senses and science flourishes through observation and experiment

Compared with rats raised in an enriched environment, which is true of rats raised in isolation?

their brain cortex is less developed

group therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, permitting therapeutic benefits from group interaction.

psychodynamic therapy

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

behavior therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors.

cognitive therapy

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

family therapy

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

Which is generally true of males?

they are more likely to commit suicide

Which is true of the early formation of brain cells?

they are overproduced early in the prenatal period, and then the rate decreases and stabalizes

why do researchers find the study of fraternal twins important?

they are the same age and usually raised in similar environments, but they do not have the same genetic code

You are more likely to remember psychology information in your psychology classroom than in other environments because of what memory principle?

Context effects

Which of the following is the best phrase for the narrowing of available problem solutions with the goal of determining the best solution?

Convergent thinking

What do we call the transparent, protective layer that light passes through as it enters the eye

Cornea

Cognitive neural prosthetics are placed in the brain to help control parts of the

motor cortex

George can move his hand to sign a document because the ___________, located in the ____________ lobe of the brain, allows him to activate the proper muscles

motor cortex; frontal lobe

Which of the following carries the information necessary to activate withdrawal of the hand from a hot object

motor neuron

evolutionary psychologists seek to understand how traits and behavioral tendencies have been shaped by what?

natural selection

As the infants brain develops, some neural pathways will decay if not used. This use-it-or-lose-it process is known as...

pruning

Neurologically, what is the function of pruning?

pruning eliminates unused neural pathways

anxiety disorders

psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.

mood disorders

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

personality disorders

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

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

endorphins

"morphine within"—natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

fixation

(1) The inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set. (2) according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

accommodation

(2) in developmental psychology, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 477)

Alpha Waves

(8-13 Hz) Regular and rhythmic, low amplitude, synchronous waves; they indicate a brain is idling - calm, relaxed state of wakefulness.

teratogens

(literally, "monster makers") agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 467)

Confounding Variable

A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment.

Which perspective would be most useful when explaining how people from different countries express anger?

A. Social-cultural

visual cliff

1960 experiment conducted by Gibson and Walk in which 6-14 month old infants were placed on a "visual cliff" apparatus. When infants' mothers coaxed them to crawl out over the "cliff" and onto the glass, most refused to do so, indicating they could perceive depth.

It was one away from 69 so i had to make one more

69

Albert Hofmann

A Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

A split-brain patient has a picture of a dog flashed to his right hemisphere and a cat to his left hemisphere. He will be able to identify the

A cat using his right hand

Barbiturates

A category of depressant drugs that reduce anxiety and produce sleepiness.

Opiates

A category of psychoactive drugs that are chemically similar to morphine and have strong pain-relieving properties.

Standard Deviation

A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.

Hallucinogens

A diverse group of drugs that have powerful effects on mental and emotional functioning, marked most prominently by distortions in sensory and perceptual experience.

Correlation

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.

concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

prototype

A mental image or best example of a category.

algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics.

Withdrawl

A period of adjustment that occurs when a person stops taking a drug on which the body is dependent.

Consciousness

A person's subjective experience of the world and the mind.

Addiction

A physical dependence on a substance.

Circadian Rhythm

A physiological cycle of about 24 hours that is present in all eukaryotic organisms and that persists even in the absence of external cues.

Physical Dependence

A physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued.

Nathaniel Kleitman

A physiologist, he directed a sleep laboratory at the University of Chicago for decades. It was in his laboratory that REM sleep was discovered.

Which of the following is not one of Robert Sternberg's component of creativity?

A position of ignorance

Social development researchers suggest that infancy's major social achievement is attachment. Childhood's major social achievement is developing which of the following?

A positive sense of self

LSD

A powerful hallucinogenic drug; also known as acid (lysergic acid diethylamide).

Methamphetamine

A powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system, with sped-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels.

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.

Experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the investigator aims to control other relevant factors.

Which of the following psychologists most strongly emphasize that human behavior is powerfully influenced by the interaction between people and their physical, social, political, and economic environments?

A. Community

A psychologist investigates the methods teachers use to enhance student learning. With which of the following sub fields is the psychologist most likely aligned?

A. Educational psychology

A humanistic psychologist working with some poets might ask which of the following questions?

A. How can we get them to reach their highest potential

Who among the following would most likely study the interaction of people machines and physical environments?

A. Human factors psychologist

Which of the following professionals is required to have a medical degree?

A. Psychiatrist

Brain-scanning techniques reveal that people with chronic schizophrenia tend to have

Abnormal activity in multiple brain areas

Latent Content of dreams

According to Freud, the "disguised" meanings of dreams, hidden by more obvious subjects.

Manifest Content of dreams

According to Freud, the apparent story line of dreams.

What is another term for a methodical, logical rule that guarantees solving a particular problem?

Algorithm

Population

All the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.

cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups.

When instances come readily to mind, we often presume such events are common. What of the following is the term for this phenomenon?

Availability heuristic

Which of the following is the best example of kinesthesia

Awareness of the position of your arms when swimming the backstroke

Phrenology has been discredited, but which of the following ideas has its origins in phrenology?

Brain function localization

Which of the following psychologists would most likely conduct psychotherapy?

B. Clinical

Which psychological principle best explains why studying one hour a day for a week is more effective than one 7-hour study session?

B. Distributed practice

According to the behavioral perspective, psychological science should be rooted in what?

B. Observation

Which philosopher proposed that nerve pathways allowed for reflexes?

B. René Descartes

Which of the following statements is the best example of applied research?

B. Using psychological concepts to boost worker productivity

two-word stage

Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements.

babbling stage

Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

Adolescent mood swings are often misdiagnosed as

Bipolar disorder

Which of the following is not anxiety disorder

Bipolar disorder

In general, damage to ____________ disrupts speaking, while damage to ______________ disrupts understanding of language

Broca's area (expressive language), Wernicke's area (receptive language)

Which field of psychology is most interested in studying the link between mental activity and brain activity?

C. Cognitive neuroscience

Which of the following best describes research typical of Wilhelm Wundt's first psychology laboratory?

C. Measuring the reaction Time between hearing a sound and pressing a button

With which of the following statements would John B. Watson most likely agree?

C. Psychology should focus on observable behavior

Self-reflective introspection about the elements of experience best describes a technique used by which school of psychology?

C. Structuralists

Be seeking to measure "atoms of the mind", who established the first psychology laboratory?

C. Wilhelm Wundt

The study of the importance of satisfying love and acceptance needs best describes which school of psychology?

C. humanistic

Which of the following is the most accurate description of the capacity of short term and working memory?

Can handle about a half dozen of items total

A gymnast falls and hits her head on the floor. She attempts to continue practicing, but has trouble maintaining balance. What part of her brain has probably been affected

Cerebellum

Which of the following describes longterm potentiation (LTP)?

Changes in synapses allow for more efficient transfer of information

Psychoactive drugs

Chemical substances that modify mental, emotional, or behavioral functioning.

When someone provides his phone number to another person, he usually pauses after the area code and again after the next three numbers. This pattern underscores the importance of which memory principle?

Chunking

belief perseverance

Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Which of the following is the best term for mental activities associated with remembering, thinking, and knowing?

Cognition

Which of the following is true of depression? Depression usually develops during middle age. Depression usually happens without major cognitive or behavioral changes. A major depressive episode usually gets worse and worse unless it's treated. True depression is usually not related to stress in one's work or relationships. Compared with men, nearly twice as many women have been diagnosed with depression.

Compared with men, early twice as many women have been diagnosed with depression

Computer-enhanced X-rays used to create brain images are known as

Computed Tomography Scans (CT scan)

"Chair," "freedom," and "ball" are all examples of what?

Concepts

What type of hearing loss is due to damage to the mechanism that transmits sound waves to the cochlea

Conduction

Which of the following is the tendency to search for supportive information of preconceptions while ignoring contradictory evidence?

Confirmation bias

Producing valuable and novel ideas best defines which of the following?

Creativity

Which of the following kinds of psychologists would most likely explore how we process and remember information?

D. Cognitive

Which of the following perspectives is most likely to address how the encoding, storing, and retrieval of information might alter our thoughts?

D. Cognitive

Which of the following demonstrates the representativeness heuristic?

Deciding that a new kid in school is a nerd because he looks like a nerd

Stanley Coren

Demonstrated that even the slight change in our internal clock associated with the one-hour sleep loss we experience when we put our clocks forward in the spring for daylight savings time is associated with a significant increase in traffic accidents and deaths. He was also a sleep specialist, who claimed that we need to get 9 hours of sleep every night to function properly.

The number one reason people seek mental health services is

Depression

Natalia is washing her hands and adjusts the faucet handle until the water feels just slightly hotter than it did before. Natalia's adjustment until she feels a difference is an example of

Difference threshold

Insomnia

Difficulty falling and staying asleep.

Which of the following is the diagnosis given to people with multiple personalities? Schizophrenia Antisocial personality disorder Fugue state Conversion disorder Dissociative identity disorder

Dissociative identity disorder

Stimulants

Drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines, cocaine, and Ecstasy) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

Amphetamines

Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes.

You are aware that a dog is viciously barking at you, but you are not aware of the type of dog. Later, you are able to describe the type and color of the dog. This ability to process information without conscious awareness best exemplifies which of the following

Dual processing

Psychiatrists differ from psychologists in that they

E. Are medical doctors licensed to prescribe medication

Which psychological perspective is most likely to focus on how our interpretation of a situation affects how we react to it?

E. Cognitive

Dwayne is interested in helping people make good decisions regarding their physical well-being. Dwayne should consider a career as a

E. Health psychologist

Betsy works in a human resources department. She plans training sessions, recruits people to work for the company, and implements techniques to boost morale around the office. Of the following, Betsy is most likely a

E. Industrial-organizational psychologist

Who coined the term "tabula rasa" (blank slate) to help explain the impact experience has on shaping an individual?

E. John Locke

What was the main difference between the psychological thinking of Wilhelm Wundt and earlier philosophers who were also interested in thinking and behavior?

E. Wundt and his students gathered data about human thinking and behavior In a laboratory setting

Which of the following psychologists would be most likely to investigate biological, psychological, cognitive, and social changes over time?

E.Developmental

telegraphic speech

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs.

Which of the following statements most accurately reflects the relationship between emotions and memory?

Emotion enhances memory because it is important for our survival to remember events that make us emotional.

Muhammad has been in his school cafeteria hundreds of times. It is a large room, and there are nine freestanding pillars that support the roof. One day, to illustrate the nature of forgetting, Muhammad's teacher asks him how many pillars there are in the cafeteria. Muhammad has difficulty answering the question, but finally replies that he thinks there are six pillars. What memory concept does this example illustrate?

Encoding Failure

Morphine elevates mood and eases pain, and is most similar to which of the following

Endorphins

Which of the following refers to an effect of life experience that leaves a molecular mark that affects gene expression

Epigenetics

availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

Placebo Effect

Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.

Our way of thinking-who or what we blame for our successes and failures-is called

Explanatory style

According to Noam Chomsky, what is the most essential environmental stimulus necessary for language acquisition?

Exposure to language in early childhood

Hallucinations

False perceptions that have a compelling sense of reality.

What do we call the specialized neurons in the occipital lobe's visual cortex that respond to particular edges, lines, angles, and movements

Feature detectors

Which of the following is most closely associated with the idea of epigenetics

Gene display base on environmental factors

Which of the following is true? Those born during winter and spring are less likely to develop schizophrenia later in life. People born in densely populated areas are less likely to develop schizophrenia later in life. Fetuses exposed to flu virus are more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life. Maternal influenza during pregnancy does not affect brain development in monkeys. The retrovirus HERV is found more often in people who do not develop schizophrenia.

Fetuses exposed to flu virus are more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life

Bryanna and Charles are in a dancing competition. It is easy for spectators to see them against the dance floor because of

Figure ground relationships

The inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective is called what?

Fixation

People are more concerned about medical procedure when told it has 10 percent death rate than they are told it has a 90 percent survival rate. Which psychological concept explains this difference in concern?

Framing

What is another word for the way an issue is presented to you?

Framing

Which of the following reflects the notion that pict is related to the number of impulses traveling up the auditory nerve in a unit of time

Frequency theory

What two parts of the brain are most involved in explicit memory?

Frontal lobes and hippocampus

Which Neurotransmitter inhibits CNS activity in order to calm a person down during stressful situation

GABA

Sensory experiences without sensory stimulation are called

Hallucinations

The risk of major depression and bipolar disorder dramatically increases if you

Have a parent or sibling with the disorder

Which of the following explains reversed-color afterimages

Hering's opponent-process theory

Benjamin Lee Whorf's linguistic determination hypothesis related to what aspect of the power of language?

How language influences thinking

Which of the following brain areas is responsible for regulating thirst

Hypothalamus

grammar

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

morpheme

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).

Experimental Group

In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.

Control Group

In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

phoneme

In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Which of the following is true of suicide? Marijuana use is related to suicide, but alcohol use is not. Women are more likely to end their lives than men. Suicide is a bigger problem among the poor than the rich. In the United States, suicide is more common among Whites than Blacks. Married individuals are more likely to commit suicide than single people.

In the United States, suicide is more common among whites than blacks

The dual-processing model refers to which of the following ideas

Incoming information is processed by both conscious and unconscious tracks

representativeness heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

Which of the following is the defining characteristic of antisocial personality disorder? Violence Lack of conscience Mood swings Unexplained physical symptoms Committing serial murders

Lack of conscience

Your best friend decides to paint her room an extremely bright electric blue. Which of the following best fits the physical properties of the color's light waves

Long wavelength; large amplitude

Which of the following is an example of anterograde amnesia?

Louis can remember his past, but has not been able to form new long-term memories since experiencing a brain infection 4 years ago.

Delta Waves

Low frequency and high amplitude; NREM stage 3 (latter half) and stage 4 (deep sleep).

a researcher interested in determining the size of a particular area of the brain would be most likely to use what kind of test?

MRI

Who identified secure and insecure attachment?

Mary Ainsworth

Mnemonic devices are least likely to be dependent upon which of the following?

Massed rehearsal

Which of the following is an accurate conclusion based on Hermann Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve research?

Most forgetting occurs early on and then levels off

Multiple sclerosis is a result of degeneration in the

Myelin sheath

Today's psychologists countered that all behavior, whether it is called normal or disordered, arises from the interaction of

Nature and nurture

Human Genome (DNA) researchers have discovered that

Nearly every other human is your genetically identical twin

Which of the following kinds of information is not likely to be automatically processed?

New information

Naturalistic Observation

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

One reason that identical twins might show slight differences at birth is

One twin's placenta may have provided slightly better nourishment

Which of the following best identifies the early speech stage in which a child speaks using mostly nouns and verbs?

One-word stage Telegraphic speech

language

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

Which concept best explains why people often underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete a project?

Overconfidence

Which of the following scanning techniques measures the glucose consumption as an indicator of brain activity

PET scan

A teacher used distortion goggles, which shifted the wearer's gaze 20 degrees, to demonstrate an altered perception. A student wearing the goggles initially bumped into numerous desks and chairs while walking around, but chose to wear the goggles for a half hour. After 30 minutes, the student was able to smoothly avoid obstacles, illustrating the concept of

Perceptual adaptation

What do we call the illusion of movement that results from two or more stationary, adjacent lights blinking on and off in quick succession

Phi phenomenon

What do we call the smallest distinctive sound units in language?

Phonemes

According to research, which of the following has been identified as an early warning sign of schizophrenia? Emotional predictability Poor peer relations and solo play Long attention span Good muscle coordination High birth weight

Poor peer relations and solo play

NREM Sleep

Quiet, typically dreamless sleep in which rapid eye movements are absent; divided into four stages; also called quiet sleep.

According to research, which of the following are we most likely to experience after sleep deprivation?

REM rebound

Which of the following best describes genetic mutation

Random errors in gene replication

The view from Narmeen's left eye is slightly different from the view from her right eye. This is due to which depth cue

Retinal disparity

Which of the following abilities is an example of implicit memory?

Riding a bicycle while talking to your friend about something that happened in class

A split from reality that shows itself in disorganized thinking, disturbed perceptions and inappropriate emotions and actions is called

Schizophrenia

Although some psychological disorders are culture-bound, others are universal. For example, in every known culture some people suffer from

Schizophrenia

Working memory is most active during which portion of the information processing model?

Short term memory

psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the therapist's interpretations of them—released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

The text discusses therapistguided "recovered" memories. Which of the following statements represents an appropriate conclusion about this issue?

Since the brain is not sufficiently mature to store accurate memories of events before the age of 3, memories from the first 3 years of life are not reliable.

which of the following statements is false?

Someone suffering from depression will get better only with therapy or medication.

Which of the following is an example of source amnesia?

Stephen misremembers a dream as something that really happened.

What occurs when experiences influence our interpretation of data

Top-down processing

TCH (Marijuana)

Tetrahydrocannabinol (marijuana) --> Dronabinol

Which of the following is sometimes referred to as the brain's train hub, because it directs incoming sensory messages (with the exception of smell) to their proper places in the brain

Thalamus

creativity

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Which of the following is true regarding the role of the amygdala in memory?

The amygdala help make sure we remember events that trigger strong emotional responses

Mean

The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.

Based on brain scans, which of the following is true of brain function and mood? The brain is more active during manic episodes and less active during depressive episodes. The brain is less active during manic episodes and more active during depressive episodes. There is no consistent relationship between brain activity and mood. The brain is more active than normal during both manic and depressive episodes. The brain is less active than normal during both manic and depressive episodes.

The brain is more active during manic episodes and less active during depressive episodes

What does the "magical number seven, plus or minus two' refer to?

The capacity of short-term memory

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.

Culture

The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Independent Variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

Median

The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it.

Mode

The most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.

Dependent Variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Illusory Correlation

The perception of a relationship where none exists.

Debriefing

The post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants.

What does Hermann Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve show about the nature of storage decay?

The rate of forgetting decreases as time goes on.

syntax

The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.

semantics

The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning.

one-word stage

The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

REM Rebound

The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep).

overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.)

framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Which of the following is most likely to lead to semantic encoding of a list of words?

Thinking about how the words relate to your own life.

Critical Thinking

Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Eugene Aserinsky

This pioneer in the field of sleep studies, who discovered rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, later served as head of the physiology and pharmacology department at Marshall University.

William Dement

This sleep specialist opened the first sleep lab and helped to discover REM sleep and establish the relationship between REM sleep and dreaming. Coined the term "REM sleep."

What do we call the conversion of stimulus energies, like sights and sounds, into neural impulses

Transduction

Which phrase best describes the concept of phonemes?

Units of sound in a language

Your memory of which of the following is an example of implicit memory?

Which way to turn the car key to start the engine

Which of the following illustrates a heuristic?

Using news reports of corporate fraud to estimate how much business fraud occurs in American business

sociocultural theory of cognitive development

Vygotsky's continuity theory suggesting children's cognitive development occurs through interaction with their social environment and culture (more so than physical environment as Piaget suggested)

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

What principle states that to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a minimum percentage rather than a constant amount

Weber's law

Sigmund Freud

Wrote in his book The Interpretation of Dreams, that dreams provided a safety for us to lay out our most inner desires. He brought forth the concepts of manifest content and latent content. He considered dreams to be the key to understanding our conflicts.

Which of the following is an example of gene environment interactions

Yeh Lin experiences flushing syndrome, which mostly occurs in those of Asian Heritage

Which of the following is an example of proactive interference?

You can't recall your new cell phone number because your old number interferes.

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

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

therapeutic alliance

a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem.

psychiatry

a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy

biological psychology

a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior.

1.) Why is an operational definition necessary when reporting research findings? a. An operational definition allows others to replicate the procedure. b. An operational definition provides more context and includes many examples of the concept described. c. An operational definition is easier to translate into multiple languages than a dictionary definition. d. An operational definition uses more scientific language than a dictionary definition. e. An operational definition is not necessary since a dictionary definition will work as well for replication.

a. An operational definition allows others to replicate the procedure.

9.) Which of the following is a positive correlation? a. As study time decreases, students achieve lower grades. b. As levels of self-esteem decline, levels of depression increase. c. People who exercise regularly are less likely to be obese. d. Gas mileage decreases as vehicle weight increases. e. Repeatedly shooting free throws in basketball is associated with a smaller percentage of missed free throws.

a. As study time decreases, students achieve lower grades.

7.) Which of the following is most important when conducting survey research? a. Choosing a representative sample b. Choosing a large sample c. Choosing a biased sample d. Choosing a sample that includes every member of the population. e. Choosing a sample whose answers will likely support your hypothesis.

a. Choosing a representative sample

3.) Researchers have discovered that individuals with lower income levels report having fewer hours of total sleep. Therefore, a. income and sleep levels are positively correlated. b. income and sleep levels are negatively correlated. c. income and sleep levels are inversely correlated. d. income and sleep levels are not correlated. e. lower income levels cause individuals to have fewer hours of sleep.

a. income and sleep levels are positively correlated.

7.) Researchers studying gender have found that a. there are more similarities than differences between the genders. b. there are no significant cognitive differences between the genders. c. there are so significant emotional differences between the genders. d. research tools are not capable of determining if there are true differences or not. e. differences between genders are becoming more pronounced over time.

a. there are more similarities than differences between the genders.

classification

ability to arrange things in logical groups or categories based on similarities and differences; typical of the concrete operational stage of cognitive development

an individual is having trouble with cognitive tasks related to learning and memory. which of the following neurotransmitters is most likely to be involved with the problem?

acetylcholine

what is the brief electrical charge that travels down an axon?

action potential

Stage 4-moral reasoning

actions are based on concern over maintaining the social order, respecting authority, and doing one's duty (critical for understanding civic responsibilities and good citizenship)

Stage 6-moral reasoning

actions are based on principles of personal conscience and balancing social customs and laws with individual rights to better society

Stage 3-moral reasoning

actions are based on seeking the approval of others and conforming to a peer group (majority)

transgender

an umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 505)

sensory cortex

area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.

association areas

areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.

Your friends baby brother Matt loves to play with his pet cat. when he sees a puppy, he calls it "MiMi", the same thing he calls his cat. this is piaget's concept of...

assimilation

The most noticeable difference between human brains and other mammalian brains is the size of the

association areas

source amnesia

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

Which of the following is NOT a symptom of major depressive disorder? Weight gain or loss Auditory hallucinations Sleep disturbance Inappropriate guilt Problems concentrating

auditory hallucinations

Which identifies the parenting style most likely to ground a teen who missed a curfew- and to explain the rationale for doing so after considering the teens reasons?

authoritative

2.) What must a researcher do to fulfill the ethical principle of informed consent? a. Keep information about participants confidential. b. Allow participants to choose whether to take part. c. Protect participants from potential harm. d. Proved participants with a pre-experimental explanation of the study. e. Provide participants with a post-experimental explanation of the study.

b. Allow participants to choose whether to take part.

4.) Which of the following beliefs would most likely be held by an individual with an individual in a collectivist culture? a. Children should be encouraged to focus on personal goals and aspirations. b. Children should be encouraged to develop harmonious relationships. c. It is important to be competitive and assertive in order to get ahead in life. d. If you want something done well, you should do it yourself. e. It is important to satisfy personal needs before those of a larger community.

b. Children should be encouraged to develop harmonious relationships.

Which of the following psychologists would most likely conduct psychotherapy?

b. Clinical

Which perspective would most look at how our interpretation of a situation affect how we react to it?

b. Cognitive

2.) Which method should a psychology researcher use if she is interested in testing whether or a specific reward in a classroom situation causes students to behave better? a. Case study b. Experiment c. Survey d. Naturalistic observation e. Correlation

b. Experiment

6.) "Monday morning quarterbacks" rarely act surprised about the outcome of weekend football games. This tendency to believe they knew how the game would turn out is best explained by which psychological principle? a. Overconfidence b. Hindsight bias c. Intuition d. Illusory correlation e. Random sampling

b. Hindsight bias

3.) What do we call the tendency to exaggerate the correctness or accuracy of our beliefs and predictions prior to testing? a. Hindsight Bias b. Overconfidence c. Critical thinking d. Skepticism e. Reliability

b. Overconfidence

Which perspective would most likely explain anger as "an outlet for unconscious hostility"?

b. Psychodynamic

4.) A researcher wants to conduct an experiment to determine if eating a cookie before class each day improves student grades. He uses two psychology classes for the experiment, providing daily cookies to one and nothing to the other. At the end of the semester, the researcher compares the final grades of students in the two classes. What is the independent variable for this experiment? a. The students in the class that receive cookies b. The presence or absence of cookies c. The students in the class that didn't receive the cookies d. The period of the day that the two classes met e. Semester grades

b. The presence or absence of cookies

8.) A journalism student is writing an article about her school's net cell-phone policy, and she'd like to interview a random sample of students. Which of the following is the best example of a random sample? a. The writer arrives at school early and interviews the first five students who come through the main entrance. b. The writer pulls the name of five students from a hat that contains all student's names. She interviews the five selected students. c. The writer asks her teacher if she can distribute a brief survey to the students in her AP Psychology class. d. The writer passes out brief surveys to 50 students in the hall and uses the 18 surveys returned to her as the basis of her article. e. The writer asks the principal for the names of 10 students who have had their cell phones confiscated for a day for violating the policy. She interviews these 10 students.

b. The writer pulls the name of five students from a hat that contains all student's names. She interviews the five selected students.

3.) A researcher calculates statistical significance for her study and finds a 5 percent chance that results are due to chance. Which of the following is an accurate interpretation of this finding? a. This is well beyond the range of statistical significance. b. This is the minimum result typically considered statistically significant. c. This is not statistically significant. d. There is no way to determine statistical significance without replication of the study. e. Chance or coincidence is unrelated to statistical significance.

b. This is the minimum result typically considered statistically significant.

Which of the following is the best example of applied research?

b. Using psychological concepts to boost morale and productivity.

The key difference between obsessions and compulsions is that compulsions involve repetitive thoughts. experiences. behaviors. memories. concerns.

behaviors

maturation

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 471)

Which of the following is most closely associated with hairlike receptors in the semicircular canals

body position

Neural networks grow more complex by...

branching outwards to form multiple connections

nerves

bundled axons that form neural "cables" connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

What aspect of development did Jean Piaget's development theory force?

cognitive

1.) After the student council election, a friend tells you he has known for weeks who would be elected president. What does this seem to illustrate? a. Skepticism b. Critical thinking c. Hindsight Bias d. Overconfidence e. Perceiving order in random events

c. Hindsight bias

2.) While taking a standardized test with randomly scrambled answers, you notice that your last four answers have been ¨c.¨ Which of the following is true concerning the probability of the next answer being ¨c¨? a. It is higher. Once a streak begins, it is likely to last for a while. b. It is lower. Since answers are distributed randomly, ¨c¨ answers become less common. c. It is unaffected by previous answers. It is as likely to be ¨c¨ as any other answer. d. You should check your previous answers. Four ¨c´s¨ in a row is simply impossible. e. It is higher. Test constructors trick students by keeping the same answer many times in a row.

c. It is unaffected by previous answers. It is as likely to be ¨c¨ as any other answer.

5.) Researchers are interested in finding out if winning Congressional candidates display more positive facial expressions than losing candidates. The researchers attend political debates and record how frequently each candidate displays positive facial expressions. Which research method are the researchers using? a. Random sample b. Case study c. Naturalistic observation d. Survey e. Interview

c. Naturalistic observation

11.) Which of the following demonstrates the need for psychological science? a. Psychology's methods are more unlike those of any other science. b. Psychological experiments are less valuable without psychological science. c. Our intuitions about human thinking and behavior are not always accurate. d. Intuition does not provide correct answers unless it is applied through the scientific method. e. Psychological science research is superior to that of other sciences like biology and physics.

c. Our intuitions about human thinking and behavior are not always accurate.

1.) Which of the following is more likely to be emphasized in individualist cultures than in collectivist cultures? a. Gender differences b. Shared goals c. Personal achievement d. Cooperation with the group e. Preservation of tradition

c. Personal achievement

Which of the following psychologists would most likely explore how we view and affect each other?

c. Social

12.) Which of the following is a potential problem with case studies? a. They provide too much detail and the researcher is likely to lose track of the most important facts. b. They are generally to expensive to be economical. c. They might be misleading because they don't fairly represent other cases. d. They are technically difficult and most researchers don't have the skills to them properly. e. The dependent variable is difficult to operationally define in a case study.

c. They might be misleading because they don't fairly represent other cases.

The study of mental activity linked with brain activity best describes

c. cognitive neuroscience

15.) A scientist's willingness to admit that she is wrong is an example of a. curiosity. b. intelligence. c. humility. d. skepticism. e. cynicism.

c. humility.

Self-reflective introspection (looking inward) to discern the elements of experience best describes a technique used by

c. structuralists

glial cells (glia)

cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons.

to walk across a street, a person would rely most directly on which division of the nervous system?

central nervous system

hormones

chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues.

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.

Hormones are _______ released into the __________

chemical messengers; bloodstream

Stage 1-moral reasoning

children motivated to obey rules to avoid punishment

evidence-based practice

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

rumination

compulsive fretting; overthinking about our problems and their causes.

Some people think development occurs much in the way a tree grows, slowly and steadily adding one ring each year. others think there are rather abrupt developmental jumps, like the transformation of a tadpole to a frog. which of the following issues would this difference of opinion relate to?

continuity and stages

Broca's area

controls language expression—an area, usually in the left frontal lobe, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Wernicke's area

controls language reception—a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

What is the correct term for a period of time when certain events must take place in order to facilitate proper development?

critical period

4.) Which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest relationship between the two variables? a. +.30 b. +.75 c. +1.3 d. -.85 e. -1.2

d. -.85

5.) In a normal distribution, what percentage of the scores in the distribution falls within one standard deviation of either side of the mean? a. 34 percent b. 40 percent c. 50 percent d. 68 percent e. 95 percent

d. 68 percent

6.) An individual with an exceptional memory is identified. She is capable of recalling major events, the weather, and what she did on any given date. What research method is being used if a psychologist conducts an in-depth investigation of this individual including questionnaires, brain scans, and memory tests? a.Naturalistic observation b. Survey c. Interview d. Case study e. Correlational method

d. Case study

3.) Which ethical principle requires that at the end of the study participants be told about the true purpose of the research. a. Institutional Review Board Approval b. Informed consent c. Confidentiality d. Debriefing e. Protection from physical harm

d. Debriefing

SQ3R is an acronym for a study method that includes survey, question, read, rehearse and

d. review

4.) Which of the following is an example of hindsight bias? a. Tom is certain that electric cars will represent 80 percent of vehicles in twenty years and only reads research studies that support his hypothesis. b. Liza underestimates how much time it will take her to finish writing her college application essays and as a result fails to meet an important deadline. c. Experts predicting world events with 80 percent confidence turned out to be correct less than 40 percent of the time. d. Marcy cannot recognize a definition on a flashcard. After turning the card over and viewing the term, she tells herself she knew what the answer was all along. e. Dr. Grace overestimates how effectively her new treatment method works because she fails to seek out any evidence refuting her theory.

d. Marcy cannot recognize a definition on a flashcard. After turning the card over and viewing the term, she tells herself she knew what the answer was all along.

3.) When a distribution of scores is skewed, which of the following is the most representative measure of a central tendency? a. Inference b. Standard deviation c. Mean d. Median e. Correlation coefficient

d. Median

2.) A researcher looking for gender differences in 3-year-olds observes a preschool class and records how many minutes children of each gender play with dolls. She then compares the two sets of numbers. What type of descriptive research is she conducting? a. Case study b. National Study c. Random sample method d. Naturalistic observation e. Survey

d. Naturalistic observation

2.) Which of the following is used only in correlation studies? a. Double-blind b. Placebo c. Random assignment d. Scatterplot e. Random sample

d. Scatterplot

1.) Which descriptive statistic would a researcher use to describe how close a student's SAT score is to a school's average SAT score? a. Correlation coefficent b. Mean c. Median d. Standard deviation e. Range

d. Standard deviation

The first psychological laboratory, opened in 1879, belonged to

d. Wilhelm Wundt

The debate on the relative contributions of biology and experience to human development is most often referred to as

d. the nature-nurture issue

How does fluid intelligence change as we age?

decreases slowly with age

habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e pp. 264, 468)

Which of the following is the best term or phrase for a false belief, often of persecution, that may accompany psychotic disorders? Psychosis Schizophrenia Delusion Split mind Dissociative identity disorder

delusion

Sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain, reduced muscle strength, suppression of the cells that fight common colds, and most likely which of the following?

depression

Which of the following is the primary purpose of the DSM? Diagnosis of mental disorders Selection of appropriate psychological therapies for mental disorders Placement of mental disorders in appropriate cultural context Selection of appropriate medicines to treat mental disorders Understanding the causes of mental disorders

diagnosis of mental disorders

limbic system

doughnut-shaped neural system (including the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives.

antianxiety drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation.

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. (Several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors—SSRIs.)

antipsychotic drugs

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

3.) Which of the following questions is best investigated by means of a survey? a. Is IQ related to grades? b. Are violent criminals genetically different from nonviolent criminals? c. Does extra sleep improve memory? d. What is the best study technique for AP tests? e. Are students more likely to be politically liberal or conservative?

e. Are students more likely to be politically liberal or conservative?

13.) Which of the following is not an ethical principle regarding research on humans? a. Researchers much protect participants from needless harm and discomfort. b. Participants must take part in the study of a voluntary basis. c. Personal information about individual participants must be kept confidential. d. Research studies must be fully explained to participants when the study is completed. e. Participants should always be informed of hypothesis of the study before they agree to participate.

e. Participants should always be informed of hypothesis of the study before they agree to participate.

4.) Descriptive statistics____________________, while functional statistics __________________. a. indicate the significance of data; summarize the data b. describe data from experiments; describe data from surveys and case studies c. are measures of central tendency; are measures of variance. d. determine if data can be generalized to other populations; summarize data e. Summarize data; determine if data can be generalized to other populations

e. Summarize data; determine if data can be generalized to other populations

The science of behavior and mental processes best defines

e. psychology

Which identifies children's difficulty seeing another's perspective?

egocentric thinker

What do we call a mental predisposition that influences our interpretation of a stimulus

emotion

Temperament refers to what aspect of an infant's development?

emotional reactivity

active listening

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

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

environment

every non-genetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us.

Even as newborns, we prefer sights and sounds that facilitate social responsiveness. This can be seen as a newborns preference for...

face-like images

delusions

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

hallucination

false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus.

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide-open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic.

Which is the longest prenatal stage?

fetus

Which of the following is the best example of sensory interaction

finding that food tastes bland when you have a bad cold

social-cultural perspective

focuses on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

psychodynamic perspective

focuses on how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

evolutionary perspective

focuses on how natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes

neuroscience

focuses on how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences

cognitive perspective

focuses on how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

behavioral perspective

focuses on how we learn observable responses

emerging adulthood

for some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid-twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 523)

According to research, which type of aggression is more common among males then females?

harmful physical aggression

Most adolescents can ponder and debate human nature, good and evil, truth and justice. According to Piaget, this thinking ability is due to the emergence of which stage?

formal operational

Damage to which of the following could interfere with the ability to plan for the future

frontal lobe

an individual experiences brain damage that produces a coma. which part of the brain was probably damaged?

frontal lobe

Which is a primary sex characteristic that changes at puberty?

full development of external genitalia in both sexes

Diego likes to play sports and video games whereas Sara likes to sing, dance, and play "house". This example best depicts which?

gender typing

What is the primary means by which parents influence the behavior of their children?

genetic contributions

habitability refers to the percentage of what?

group variation in a trait that can be explained by genetics

Bringing order and form to stimuli, which illustrates how the whole differs from the sum of its parts, is called

grouping

As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. the decrease in an infants responsiveness is called...

habituation

The more often the stimulus is presented, the weaker the response becomes. What do developmental researchers call this decrease in response intensity due to repeated stimulation?

habituation

what was one of the major findings of Thomas Bouchard's study of twins?

he discovered almost unbelievable similarities between adult identical twins who had been separated at birth

Which of the following's primary function is processing memories

hippocampus

humanistic psychology

historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people; used personalized methods to study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth

Which of the following communicates with the pituitary, which in turn controls the endocrine system

hypothalamus

egocentrism

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 479)

According to Erikson's psychosocial theory of development, the crisis that needs resolution for adolescents involves the search for what?

identity

Adela regularly interprets ordinary physical symptoms like stomach cramps and headaches as serious medical problems. Her doctor is unable to convince her that her problems are not serious. Adela suffers from illness anxiety disorder. conversion disorder. fugue state. dissociative identity disorder. anorexia nervosa.

illness anxiety disorder (hypochondriasis)

during which task might the right hemisphere of the brain be most active?

imagining what a dress would look like on a friend

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

intimacy

in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 521)

preoperational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 479)

sensorimotor stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 478)

concrete operational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 483)

formal operational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 483)

interpretation

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

resistance

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

transference

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

repression

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

Which is an example of a longitudinal study?

in the same month, researchers compare the reaction time of 20 sixth graders and 20 first graders

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

Which of the following dream theories states that dreams help us sort out the day's events and consolidate our memories?

information-processing

social anxiety disorder

intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such. (Formerly called social phobia.)

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 477)

the peripheral nervous system...

is the part of the nervous system that does not include the brain and spinal cord

which is one of the major criticisms of evolutionary perspective in psychology?

it analyzes after the fact using hindsight

Sensing the position and movement of individual body parts is an example of which sense

kinesthetic

Evidence of words' subtle influence on thinking best supports the notion of

linguistic determinism

Carol Gilligan's research emphasizes prominent female characteristics, especially...

making social connections

Which of the following describes the idea that psychological disorders can be diagnosed and treated? Taijin-kyofusho The DSM The biopsychosocial approach Amok The medical model

medical model

which region of the brain controls our breathing and heartbeat?

medulla

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"; also called declarative memory

damage to the hippocampus result in what?

memory problems

which of the following statements has been supported by the research of evolutionary psychologists?

men are attracted the women who appear fertile and capable of bearing children

imagery

mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding

The three small bones of the ear are located in the

middle ear

Which of the following disorders do Americans report most frequently? Schizophrenia Mood disorders Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

mood disorders

The prefix "pre" in "preview" or the suffix "ed" in "adapted" are examples of

morphemes.

interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

secondary sex characteristics

nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 527)

Pitch depends on which of the following

number of sound waves that reach the ear in a given time

Which is a current belief of researchers that differs from piaget's original theories?

object permanence develops before piaget believed

A person troubled by repetitive thoughts or actions is most likely experiencing which of the following? Generalized anxiety disorder Post-Traumatic stress disorder Panic disorder Obsessive-compulsive disorder Fear conditioning

obsessive-compulsive disorder

According to Plomino and Daniels, "2 kids in the same family are as different from... as are pairs of kids selected randomly from the population"

one another

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

consciousness

our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

gender identity

our sense of being male or female. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 504)

identity

our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 519)

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items on a list

Which branch of the nervous system calms a person

parasympathetic

Which has been shown to be the most effective intervention to reduce teen pregnancies?

participation in service learning programs

theory of mind

people's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 480)

What do we call an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation? Obsessive-compulsive disorder Phobia Panic disorder Generalized anxiety disorder Post-Traumatic stress disorder

phobia

fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 467)

Which of the following endocrine glands may explain unusually tall height in a 12-year old?

pituitary

which is the most influential of the endocrine gland?

pituitary gland

Alcohol is a teratogen that can slip through the ... and damage the fetus or embryo

placenta

occipital lobes

portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields.

parietal lobes

portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.

frontal lobes

portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments.

temporal lobes

portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear.

posttraumatic growth

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

According to Lawrence Kohlberg, what stage of moral development is exhibited when actions are judged "right" because they flow from basic ethical principles?

postconventional

biomedical therapy

prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person's physiology.

Which is an example of a primary sex characteristic?

reproductive organs in both sexes

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious recollection; also called procedural memory

The hypothalamus is a(n) __________ center for the brain

reward

Gender... are the social expressions that guide men and women's behaviors. gender... is a person's sense of being male or female.

roles; identity

When there is a negative charge inside an axon and a positive charge outside it, the neuron is

said to have a resting potential

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

An 18 month old typically recognizes herself in a mirror. this self awareness is related to...

self concept

Cultural norms related to when to leave home, get a job, or marry are referred to as...

social clock

Stimulation at a point on which of the following may cause a person to report being touched on the knee

somatosensory cortex

surgical stimulation of the somotasensroy cortex might result in the false sensation of what?

someone tickling you

what is the purpose of the myelin sheath?

speed the transmission of information within a neuron

Neurotransmitters cross the __________ to carry information to the next neuron

synaptic gap

Which depends least on the maturation process?

telling time

scaffolding

temporary cognitive structures or methods of solving problems that help the child as he or she learns to function independently and advances his or her ZPD

deja vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before."; cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

cerebellum

the "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance.

DSM-5

the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

brain plasticity refers to which of the following?

the ability of brain tissue to take on new functions

gender typing

the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 504)

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

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

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 478)

medulla

the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing.

genes

the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; segments of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein.

primary sex characteristics

the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 527)

endocrine system

the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

nervous system

the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.

central nervous system (CNS)

the brain and spinal cord.

plasticity

the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

genome

the complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes.

medical model

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

rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage

What do we call an optimal window of opportunity for proper development?

the critical period

social clock

the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 544)

fetus

the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 466)

embryo

the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 466)

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

the difference between what a child can do/learn without help and what he or she can do/learn with help

perspectives of psychology

the differing complementary views, including neuroscience, evolutionary, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural, used for analyzing any given phenomenon

retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

sympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations

parasympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.

somatic nervous system

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.

semantic encoding

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

visual encoding

the encoding of picture images

acoustic encoding

the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words

pituitary gland

the endocrine system's most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.

neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons.

which of the following does a PET scan best allow researchers to examine?

the functions of various brain regions

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

cognitive neuroscience

the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).

interaction

the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity).

cerebral cortex

the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

synapse

the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.

corpus callosum

the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

nature-nurture issue

the longstanding controversy over the relative conributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors

amnesia

the loss of memory

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system--for example, by extracting meaning

testosterone

the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e pp. 408, 526)

brainstem

the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; It is responsible for automatic survival functions.

autonomic nervous system

the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.

puberty

the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 527)

memory

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

resilience

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

conservation

the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 479)

dual processing

the principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

natural selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

natural selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early life critical period. (Myers Psychology for AP 2e p. 489)

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

chromosomes

threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes.

Eleanor Maccoby's research found which factor to be the least positively correlated with problem behavior in preschool children?

time spent in day care

lesion

tissue destruction. A naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue.

in an effort to reveal genetic influences on personality, researchers use adoption studies mainly for what purpose?

to value whether adopted children more closely resemble their adoptive parents or their biological parents

Which ? the developmental issue of stability and change?

to what extend do certain traits persist through the lifespan?

Interneurons are said to

transmit and process information within the brain and spinal cord

psychotherapy

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

identical twins

twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms.

fraternal twins

twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment.

amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion.

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Which cognitive ability is only possible at the formal operational stage?

using hypothetical situations as the basis of moral reasoning

Light's _________ is the distance from one wave peak to the next. This dimension determines the ___________we experience

wavelength; hue

Vygotsky called the space between what a child could learn with and without help the...

zone of proximal development

Once a sperm penetrates the cell wall of an egg and fertilizes it, this structure is known as....

zygote

What is the prenatal development sequence?

zygote. embryo, fetus