Psych 101 concepts

double blind procedure

a procedure in which participants and research staff are ignorant (blind) about who has received the treatment or a placebo

attachment

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver, and showing distress on separation

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age; sensorimotor stage

zygote

the fertilized egg; it enters a two week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

heredity

the genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or person learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

cognitive neuroscience

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

critical thinking

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. rather, it examines assumptions, uncovers hidden values, weighs evidence, and assesses conclusions

monozygotic twins

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

dizygotic twins

twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs; share prenatal environment; aka fraternal twins

tend and befriend response

under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)

correlation

a measure of the extent to which two events vary together and thus of how well either one predicts the other

experiment

a method in which researchers vary one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (dependent variable)

critical period

a period early in life when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences is needed for proper development

temperament

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

hypothesis

a testable prediction, often implied by a theory

basic trust

according to Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

accommodation

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

teratogen

an agent, such as a chemical or virus, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

fight or flight response

an emergency response, including activity of the sympathetic nervous system, that mobilizes energy and activity for attacking or escaping a threat

theory

an explanation using principles that organize observations and predict behaviors or events

developmental psychology

branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

b lymphocytes

release antibodies that fight bacterial infections

operational definition

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

survey

a descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a group, usually be questioning a representative, random sample of that group

case study

a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

naturalistic observation

a descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to change or control the situation

t lymphocytes

attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances

emotion focused coping

attempting to reduce stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

problem focused coping

attempting to reduce stress directly-by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

mindfulness meditation

attending to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner

nature vs nurture*

controversy over the relative influence of genes and experience in the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

humanistic psychology

emphasized the growth potential of healthy people

testing effect (aka retrieval practice effect)

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information

type a

friedman and rosenman's term for competitives, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

type b

friedman and rosenman's term for easygooing, relaxed people

informed consent

giving people enough information about a study to enable them to decide whether they wish to participate

confounding variable

in an experiment, a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

personal control

our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

identity

our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and blending various roles

theory of mind

people's ideas aout their own and others' mental states-about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

egocentrism

piaget's theory; the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view

preoperational stage

piaget's theory; the stage (2 t0 6/7) in which a child learns to use language but cannot yet perform the mental operations of concrete logic

sensorimotor stage

piaget's theory; the stage (birth-2 years old) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

formal operational stage

piaget's theory; the stage of cognitive development (age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

concrete operational stage

piaget's theory; the stage of cognitive development (from about 6/7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

coping

reducing stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods

general adaptation syndrome

selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three stages-alarm, resistance, exhaustion

social identity

the "we" aspect of our self concept; the part of our answer to "who am i?" that comes from our group memberships

pessimism

the anticipation of negative outcomes; are people who expect the worst and doubt that their goals will be achieved

optimism

the anticipation of positive outcomes; optimists are people who expect the best and expect their efforts to lead to good things

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived; sensorimotor stage

genome

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

external locus of control

the perception that chance or outside fores beyond our personal control determine our fate

relative deprivation

the perception that we are worse off relatives to those with whom we compare ourselves

internal locus of control

the perception that we control our own fate

resilience

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

conservation

the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in shapes (concrete operational stage)

dual processing

the principle that, at the same time, our mind processes information on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

psychology

the science of behavior and mental processes

epigenetics

the study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change

psychoneuroimmunology

the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes combine to affect our immune system and health

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we could have predicted (I knew it all along)

lymphocytes

the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system

behaviorism

the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes