FINAL

Discontinuous development

Discontinuous development

Which of the following is an example of an empirical question that could be tested using systematic observation?

Do teenagers spend more time on their cell phones in a shopping mall than do adults?

Agnosias

Due to damage of Wernicke's area. An inability to recognize objects, words, or faces.

________methods in psychological research are approaches to data-gathering that are tied to actual measurement and observation.

Empirical

Personality traits

Enduring dispositions in behavior that show differences across individuals, and which tend to characterize the person across varying types of situations.

Personality

Enduring predispositions that characterize a person, such as styles of thought, feelings and behavior.

Adaptations

Evolved solutions to problems that historically contributed to reproductive success.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Excessive worry about everyday things that is at a level that is out of proportion to the specific causes of worry.

Malingering

Fabrication or exaggeration of medical symptoms to achieve secondary gain (e.g., receive medication, avoid school).

Confounds

Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment

Myelin

Fatty tissue, produced by glial cells (see module, "Neurons") that insulates the axons of the neurons; myelin is necessary for normal conduction of electrical impulses among neurons.

Reinforced response

Following the process of operant conditioning, the strengthening of a response following either the delivery of a desired consequence (positive reinforcement) or escape from an aversive consequence.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): A neuroimaging technique that infers brain activity by measuring changes in oxygen levels in the blood.

Generalize

Generalizing, in science, refers to the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. For these conclusions to be true the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn.

Quantitative changes

Gradual, incremental change, as in the growth of a pine tree's girth

Cohort

Group of people typically born in the same year or historical period, who share common experiences over time; sometimes called a generation (e.g., Baby Boom Generation).

Theories

Groups of closely related phenomena or observations.

Age identity

How old or young people feel compared to their chronological age; after early adulthood, most people feel younger than their chronological age.

Specific vulnerabilities

How our experiences lead us to focus and channel our anxiety.

Operational definitions

How researchers specifically measure a concept

Psychopathology

Illnesses or disorders that involve psychological or psychiatric symptoms.

Conditioned compensatory response

In classical conditioning, a conditioned response that opposes, rather than is the same as, the unconditioned response. It functions to reduce the strength of the unconditioned response. Often seen in conditioning when drugs are used as unconditioned stimuli.

Unconditioned response (UR)

In classical conditioning, an innate response that is elicited by a stimulus before (or in the absence of) conditioning.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

In classical conditioning, the stimulus that elicits the response before conditioning occurs.

Discriminative stimulus

In operant conditioning, a stimulus that signals whether the response will be reinforced. It is said to "set the occasion" for the operant response.

Limbic system

Includes the subcortical structures of the amygdala and hippocampal formation as well as some cortical structures; responsible for aversion and gratification. -A loosely defined network of nuclei in the brain involved with learning and emotion.

Successful aging

Includes three components: avoiding disease, maintaining high levels of cognitive and physical functioning, and having an actively engaged lifestyle.

Multicultural experiences

Individual exposure to two or more cultures, such as obtained by living abroad, emigrating to another country, or working or going to school in a culturally diverse setting.

Birth cohort

Individuals born in a particular year or span of time.

Global subjective well-being

Individuals' perceptions of and satisfaction with their lives as a whole

Psychological vulnerabilities

Influences that our early experiences have on how we view the world.

Goal-directed behavior

Instrumental behavior that is influenced by the animal's knowledge of the association between the behavior and its consequence and the current value of the consequence. Sensitive to the reinforcer devaluation effect.

Habit

Instrumental behavior that occurs automatically in the presence of a stimulus and is no longer influenced by the animal's knowledge of the value of the reinforcer. Insensitive to the reinforcer devaluation effect.

Heterogeneity

Inter-individual and subgroup differences in level and rate of change over time.

Syndrome

Involving a particular group of signs and symptoms.

Where does the definition of creativity used in this module come from?

It is based on the criteria the US patent office uses for issuing patents.

Qualitative changes

Large, fundamental change, as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly; stage theories such as Piaget's posit that each stage reflects qualitative change relative to previous stages.

Observational learning

Learning by observing the behavior of others.

Vicarious reinforcement

Learning that occurs by observing the reinforcement or punishment of another person.

Contralateral

Literally "opposite side"; used to refer to the fact that the two hemispheres of the brain process sensory information and motor commands for the opposite side of the body (e.g., the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body).

What is the difference between little-c creativity and Big-C Creativity?

Little-c has a smaller impact and is less widely recognized than Big-C.

Average life expectancy

Mean number of years that 50% of people in a specific birth cohort are expected to survive. This is typically calculated from birth but is also sometimes re-calculated for people who have already reached a particular age (e.g., 65).

Correlation

Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together

Psychological adaptations

Mechanisms of the mind that evolved to solve specific problems of survival or reproduction; conceptualized as information processing devices.

Bounded rationality

Model of human behavior that suggests that humans try to make rational decisions but are bounded due to cognitive limitations.

Homo sapiens

Modern man, the only surviving form of the genus Homo.

Extrinsic motivation

Motivation stemming from the benefits associated with achieving a goal such as obtaining a monetary reward.

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation stemming from the benefits associated with the process of pursuing a goal such as having a fulfilling experience.

Nomenclature

Naming conventions.

Efferent nerves

Nerves that carry messages from the brain to glands and organs in the periphery.

Afferent nerves

Nerves that carry messages to the brain or spinal cord.

Social network

Network of people with whom an individual is closely connected; social networks provide emotional, informational, and material support and offer opportunities for social engagement.

_____ factors are those processes that influence how the brain changes and matures, either in utero or as a child is growing up.

Neurodevelopmental

An artificial coffee bean has ten times the caffeine of standard coffee beans. Is it a creative invention?

No, because it is not original or surprising.

A car is made of materials that can fold up and be stored in a box but it is unsafe for driving. Is this a creative invention? Question Mark

No, because it is not very useful.

Your friend draws a sketch of you during class. Is her sketch creative?

No.

Of the various anxiety disorders, which one is seen far more often in men than in women?

None. They are all diagnosed more frequently in women than in men.

Though medications have been found effective for anxiety disorders (other than specific phobia), there is a specific problem with such an approach. What is it?

Once the medications are stopped, relapse rates are very high.

Which of the following is the most accurate statement regarding a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?

One must experience either obsessions or compulsions in order to be diagnosed with OCD.

Openness to experience

One of the factors of the Big Five Model of personality, the factor assesses the degree that a person is open to different or new values, interests, and activities.

Promotion focus

One of two self-regulatory orientations emphasizing hopes, accomplishments, and advancement needs, and viewing goals as "ideals." This self-regulatory focus seeks to approach gains (the presence of positives) and avoid non-gains (the absence of positives).

Prevention focus

One of two self-regulatory orientations emphasizing safety, responsibility, and security needs, and viewing goals as "oughts." This self-regulatory focus seeks to avoid losses (the presence of negatives) and approach non-losses (the absence of negatives).

System 1

Our intuitive decision-making system, which is typically fast, automatic, effortless, implicit, and emotional.

System 2

Our more deliberative decision-making system, which is slower, conscious, effortful, explicit, and logical.

Hypothalamus

Part of the diencephalon. Regulates biological drives with pituitary gland.

Hallucinations

Perceptual experiences that occur even when there is no stimulus in the outside world generating the experiences. They can be auditory, visual, olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), or somatic (touch).

Preoperational reasoning stage

Period within Piagetian theory from age 2 to 7 years, in which children can represent objects through drawing and language but cannot solve logical reasoning problems, such as the conservation problems.

Sensorimotor stage

Period within Piagetian theory from birth to age 2 years, during which children come to represent the enduring reality of objects.

Internal bodily or somatic cues

Physical sensations that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic events.

Concrete operations stage

Piagetian stage between ages 7 and 12 when children can think logically about concrete situations but not engage in systematic scientific reasoning.

Formal operations stage

Piagetian stage starting at age 12 years and continuing for the rest of life, in which adolescents may gain the reasoning powers of educated adults.

Highlighting a goal

Prioritizing a focal goal over other goals or temptations by putting more effort into the focal goal.

Conservation problems

Problems pioneered by Piaget in which physical transformation of an object or set of objects changes a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity that is being asked about.

Instrumental conditioning/operant conditioning

Process in which animals learn about the relationship between their behaviors and their consequences. Also known as operant conditioning.

Neurodevelopmental

Processes that influence how the brain develops either in utero or as the child is growing up.

Ethics

Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions that protect research participants from potential harm and that help steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research.

Under-determined or misspecified causal models

Psychological frameworks that miss or neglect to include one or more of the critical determinants of the phenomenon under analysis.

Renewal effect

Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs when the context is changed after extinction. Especially strong when the change of context involves return to the context in which conditioning originally occurred. Can occur after extinction in either classical or instrumental conditioning.

Spontaneous recovery

Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs with the passage of time after extinction. Can occur after extinction in either classical or instrumental conditioning.

Motor cortex

Region of the frontal lobe responsible for voluntary movement; the motor cortex has a contralateral representation of the human body.

Longitudinal studies

Research method that collects information from individuals at multiple time points over time, allowing researchers to track cohort differences in age-related change to determine cumulative effects of different life experiences.

Cross-sectional studies

Research method that provides information about age group differences; age differences are confounded with cohort differences and effects related to history and time of study.

Marshall does not have any problems going out in public, but he gets terrified when he has to give a speech in front of a class or any group of people. Because his fear is so focused on a given public action, he might be diagnosed with ______ .

SAD, performance only

Quantitative genetics

Scientific and mathematical methods for inferring genetic and environmental processes based on the degree of genetic and environmental similarity among organisms.

Subjective well-being scales

Self-report surveys or questionnaires in which participants indicate their levels of subjective well-being, by responding to items with a number that indicates how well off they feel.

Balancing between goals

Shifting between a focal goal and other goals or temptations by putting less effort into the focal goal—usually with the intention of coming back to the focal goal at a later point in time.

G

Short for "general factor" and is often used to be synonymous with intelligence itself.

IQ

Short for "intelligence quotient." This is a score, typically obtained from a widely used measure of intelligence that is meant to rank a person's intellectual ability against that of others.

Converging evidence

Similar findings reported from multiple studies using different methods.

"Bottom-up" or external causes of happiness

Situational factors outside the person that influence his or her subjective well-being, such as good and bad events and circumstances such as health and wealth.

Five-Factor Model

(also called the Big Five) The Five-Factor Model is a widely accepted model of personality traits. Advocates of the model believe that much of the variability in people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can be summarized with five broad traits. These five traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Lateral geniculate nucleus

(or LGN) A nucleus in the thalamus that is innervated by the optic nerves and sends signals to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe.

Positron Emission Tomography

(or PET) An invasive procedure that captures brain images with positron emissions from the brain after the individual has been injected with radio-labeled isotopes.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

(or fMRI) A noninvasive brain-imaging technique that registers changes in blood flow in the brain during a given task (also see magnetic resonance imaging).

Fornix

(plural form, fornices) A nerve fiber tract that connects the hippocampus to mammillary bodies.

Gyri

(plural) Folds between sulci in the cortex.

Sulci

(plural) Grooves separating folds of the cortex.

Researchers have found that about ______ percent of the population of adolescents and young adults in Kenya have had one or more schizophrenia-like experiences at some point in their lives.

19

To demonstrate the vast changes that have taken place in the world around us over the last century, consider that average human life expectancy in 1900 was ______ years, and that number has jumped to 79 years in 2010.

47

Filomena has been seeing a therapist for two weeks. Based on the symptoms, Dr. Sharma believes that Filomena is suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. For how long will the symptoms need to have been present for this diagnosis to be appropriate?

6 months

Stria terminalis

A band of fibers that runs along the top surface of the thalamus.

Adoption study

A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents.

Twin studies

A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of the similarity of identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins

Operant

A behavior that is controlled by its consequences. The simplest example is the rat's lever-pressing, which is controlled by the presentation of the reinforcer.

Humorism (or humoralism)

A belief held by ancient Greek and Roman physicians (and until the 19th century) that an excess or deficiency in any of the four bodily fluids, or humors—blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm—directly affected their health and temperament.

Fight or flight response

A biological reaction to alarming stressors that prepares the body to resist or escape a threat.

Hypothalamus

A brain structure located below the thalamus and above the brain stem.

Pons

A bridge that connects the cerebral cortex with the medulla, and reciprocally transfers information back and forth between the brain and the spinal cord.

​Sexual strategies theory

A comprehensive evolutionary theory of human mating that defines the menu of mating strategies humans pursue (e.g., short-term casual sex, long-term committed mating), the adaptive problems women and men face when pursuing these strategies, and the evolved solutions to these mating problems.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD)

A condition marked by acute fear of social situations which lead to worry and diminished day to day functioning.

Panic disorder (PD)

A condition marked by regular strong panic attacks, and which may include significant levels of worry about future attacks.

Attraction

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs because individuals with particular traits are drawn to certain environments.

Attrition

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs because individuals with particular traits drop out from certain environments.

Selection

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs whenever individuals with particular attributes choose particular kinds of environments.

Manipulation

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs whenever individuals with particular traits actively shape their environments.

Spina bifida

A developmental disease of the spinal cord, where the neural tube does not close caudally.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by the desire to engage in certain behaviors excessively or compulsively in hopes of reducing anxiety. Behaviors include things such as cleaning, repeatedly opening and closing doors, hoarding, and obsessing over certain thoughts.

Parasympathetic nervous system

A division of the autonomic nervous system that is slower than its counterpart—that is, the sympathetic nervous system—and works in opposition to it. Generally engaged in "rest and digest" functions.

Sympathetic nervous system

A division of the autonomic nervous system, that is faster than its counterpart that is the parasympathetic nervous system and works in opposition to it. Generally engaged in "fight or flight" functions.

Arcuate fasciculus

A fiber tract that connects Wernicke's and Broca's speech areas.

Individual level

A focus on individual level statistics that reflect whether individuals show stability or change when studying personality development. An example is evaluating how many individuals increased in conscientiousness versus how many decreased in conscientiousness when considering the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Group level

A focus on summary statistics that apply to aggregates of individuals when studying personality development. An example is considering whether the average score of a group of 50 year olds is higher than the average score of a group of 21 year olds when considering a trait like conscientiousness.

Gyrus

A fold between sulci in the cortex. -A bulge that is raised between or among fissures of the convoluted brain.

Rostrocaudal

A front-back plane used to identify anatomical structures in the body and the brain.

Sulcus

A groove separating folds of the cortex.

Flashbulb memory

A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.

Homo habilis

A human ancestor, handy man, that lived two million years ago.

Wernicke's area

A language area in the temporal lobe where linguistic information is comprehended (Also see Broca's area).

Conditioned response

A learned reaction following classical conditioning, or the process by which an event that automatically elicits a response is repeatedly paired with another neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus), resulting in the ability of the neutral stimulus to elicit the same response on its own.

Hypotheses

A logical idea that can be tested.

Quantitative law of effect

A mathematical rule that states that the effectiveness of a reinforcer at strengthening an operant response depends on the amount of reinforcement earned for all alternative behaviors. A reinforcer is less effective if there is a lot of reinforcement in the environment for other behaviors.

Cingulate gyrus

A medial cortical portion of the nervous tissue that is a part of the limbic system.

Selective listening

A method for studying selective attention in which people focus attention on one auditory stream of information while deliberately ignoring other auditory information.

Introspection

A method of focusing on internal processes.

Immunocytochemistry

A method of staining tissue including the brain, using antibodies.

Lived day analysis

A methodology where a research team follows an individual around with a video camera to objectively document a person's daily life as it is lived.

Daily Diary method

A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the day at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method (DRM)

A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day.

Experience-sampling method

A methodology where participants report on their momentary thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at different points in time over the course of a day.

Electronically activated recorder, or EAR

A methodology where participants wear a small, portable audio recorder that intermittently records snippets of ambient sounds around them.

Biopsychosocial model

A model in which the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors is seen as influencing the development of the individual.

Practitioner-Scholar Model

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice.

Scientist-practitioner model

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both research and clinical skills.

Anxiety

A mood state characterized by negative affect, muscle tension, and physical arousal in which a person apprehensively anticipates future danger or misfortune.

Subjective age

A multidimensional construct that indicates how old (or young) a person feels and into which age group a person categorizes him- or herself

Diffuse optical imaging (DOI)

A neuroimaging technique that infers brain activity by measuring changes in light as it is passed through the skull and surface of the brain.

Positron emission tomography (PET)

A neuroimaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting the presence of a radioactive substance in the brain that is initially injected into the bloodstream and then pulled in by active brain tissue.

Electroencephalography (EEG)

A neuroimaging technique that measures electrical brain activity via multiple electrodes on the scalp.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

A neuroscience technique that passes mild electrical current directly through a brain area by placing small electrodes on the skull.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

A neuroscience technique whereby a brief magnetic pulse is applied to the head that temporarily induces a weak electrical current that interferes with ongoing activity.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter in the brain that is thought to play an important role in regulating the function of other neurotransmitters.

Computerized axial tomography

A noninvasive brain-scanning procedure that uses X-ray absorption around the head.

Phrenology

A now-discredited field of brain study, popular in the first half of the 19th century that correlated bumps and indentations of the skull with specific functions of the brain.

Hippocampus

A nucleus inside (medial) the temporal lobe implicated in learning and memory.

Globus pallidus

A nucleus of the basal ganglia.

Chutes and Ladders

A numerical board game that seems to be useful for building numerical knowledge.

Preoptic region

A part of the anterior hypothalamus.

Thalamus

A part of the diencephalon that works as a gateway for incoming and outgoing information.

Forebrain

A part of the nervous system that contains the cerebral hemispheres, thalamus, and hypothalamus.

Autonomic nervous system

A part of the peripheral nervous system that connects to glands and smooth muscles. Consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.

Somatic nervous system

A part of the peripheral nervous system that uses cranial and spinal nerves in volitional actions.

Split-brain patient

A patient who has had most or all of his or her corpus callosum severed.

Life satisfaction

A person reflects on their life and judges to what degree it is going well, by whatever standards that person thinks are most important for a good life.

Conscientiousness

A personality trait that reflects a person's tendency to be careful, organized, hardworking, and to follow rules.

Agreeableness

A personality trait that reflects a person's tendency to be compassionate, cooperative, warm, and caring to others. People low in agreeableness tend to be rude, hostile, and to pursue their own interests over those of others.

Extraversion

A personality trait that reflects a person's tendency to be sociable, outgoing, active, and assertive.

Openness to Experience

A personality trait that reflects a person's tendency to seek out and to appreciate new things, including thoughts, feelings, values, and experiences.

Neuroticism

A personality trait that reflects the tendency to be interpersonally sensitive and the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger.

White coat hypertension

A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital or doctor's office but not in their everyday lives.

Event-related potentials

A physiological measure of large electrical change in the brain produced by sensory stimulation or motor responses.

Asylum

A place of refuge or safety established to confine and care for the mentally ill; forerunners of the mental hospital or psychiatric facility.

Realism

A point of view that emphasizes the importance of the senses in providing knowledge of the external world.

Transduction

A process in which physical energy converts into neural energy.

Intersexual selection

A process of sexual selection by which evolution (change) occurs as a consequences of the mate preferences of one sex exerting selection pressure on members of the opposite sex.

Intrasexual competition

A process of sexual selection by which members of one sex compete with each other, and the victors gain preferential mating access to members of the opposite sex.

Neural induction

A process that causes the formation of the neural tube.

Autobiographical narratives

A qualitative research method used to understand characteristics and life themes that an individual considers to uniquely distinguish him- or herself from others.

Linguistic inquiry and word count

A quantitative text analysis methodology that automatically extracts grammatical and psychological information from a text by counting word frequencies.

Alogia

A reduction in the amount of speech and/or increased pausing before the initiation of speech.

Flat affect

A reduction in the display of emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and speech intonation.

Anhedonia/amotivation

A reduction in the drive or ability to take the steps or engage in actions necessary to obtain the potentially positive outcome.

Lesion

A region in the brain that suffered damage through injury, disease, or medical intervention.

Nucleus accumbens

A region of the basal forebrain located in front of the preoptic region.

Orbital frontal cortex

A region of the frontal lobes of the brain above the eye sockets.

Longitudinal study/design

A research design that follows the same group of individuals at multiple time points.

Cross-sectional study/design

A research design that uses a group of individuals with different ages (and birth cohorts) assessed at a single point in time.

Contingency management

A reward or punishment that systematically follows a behavior. Parents can use contingencies to modify their children's behavior.

Functionalism

A school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness.

Structuralism

A school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of conscious experience.

Full-cycle psychology

A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A sense of intense fear, triggered by memories of a past traumatic event, that another traumatic event might occur. PTSD may include feelings of isolation and emotional numbing.

Neural crest

A set of primordial neurons that migrate outside the neural tube and give rise to sensory and autonomic neurons in the peripheral nervous system.

Magnetic resonance imaging

A set of techniques that uses strong magnets to measure either the structure of the brain (e.g., gray matter and white matter) or how the brain functions when a person performs cognitive tasks (e.g., working memory or episodic memory) or other types of tasks. -Or MRI is a brain imaging noninvasive technique that uses magnetic energy to generate brain images (also see fMRI).

Coronal plane

A slice that runs from head to foot; brain slices in this plane are similar to slices of a loaf of bread, with the eyes being the front of the loaf.

Axial plane/Horizontal plane/transverse plane

A slice that runs horizontally through a standing person (i.e., parallel to the floor); slices of brain in this plane divide the top and bottom parts of the brain; this plane is similar to slicing a hamburger bun.

Sagittal plane

A slice that runs vertically from front to back; slices of brain in this plane divide the left and right side of the brain; this plane is similar to slicing a baked potato lengthwise.

Agoraphobia

A sort of anxiety disorder distinguished by feelings that a place is uncomfortable or may be unsafe because it is significantly open or crowded.

Biological vulnerability

A specific genetic and neurobiological factor that might predispose someone to develop anxiety disorders.

Factor analysis

A statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to how highly they are associated.

Punisher

A stimulus that decreases the strength of an operant behavior when it is made a consequence of the behavior.

Mnemonic devices

A strategy for remembering large amounts of information, usually involving imaging events occurring on a journey or with some other set of memorized cues.

Primary Somatosensory Cortex

A strip of cerebral tissue just behind the central sulcus engaged in sensory reception of bodily sensations.

Primary Motor Cortex

A strip of cortex just in front of the central sulcus that is involved with motor control.

Longitudinal study

A study that follows the same group of individuals over time

Metabolite

A substance necessary for a living organism to maintain life.

Lesion studies

A surgical method in which a part of the animal brain is removed to study its effects on behavior or function.

Dichotic listening

A task in which different audio streams are presented to each ear. Typically, people are asked to monitor one stream while ignoring the other.

Shadowing

A task in which the individual is asked to repeat an auditory message as it is presented

Electroencephalography

A technique that is used to measure gross electrical activity of the brain by placing electrodes on the scalp.

Positron emission tomography

A technique that uses radio-labelled ligands to measure the distribution of different neurotransmitter receptors in the brain or to measure how much of a certain type of neurotransmitter is released when a person is given a specific type of drug or does a particularly cognitive task.

Memory traces

A term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event.

Engrams

A term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event; also, memory trace.

Temporal resolution

A term that refers to how small a unit of time can be measured; high temporal resolution means capable of resolving very small units of time; in neuroscience it describes how precisely in time a process can be measured in the brain.

Spatial resolution

A term that refers to how small the elements of an image are; high spatial resolution means the device or technique can resolve very small elements; in neuroscience it describes how small of a structure in the brain can be imaged.

Unusual uses

A test of divergent thinking that asks participants to find many uses for commonplace objects, such as a brick or paperclip.

Error management theory (EMT)

A theory of selection under conditions of uncertainty in which recurrent cost asymmetries of judgment or inference favor the evolution of adaptive cognitive biases that function to minimize the more costly errors.

C​athartic method

A therapeutic procedure introduced by Breuer and developed further by Freud in the late 19th century whereby a patient gains insight and emotional relief from recalling and reliving traumatic events.

"Traitement moral" (moral treatment)

A therapeutic regimen of improved nutrition, living conditions, and rewards for productive behavior that has been attributed to Philippe Pinel during the French Revolution, when he released mentally ill patients from their restraints and treated them with compassion and dignity rather than with contempt and denigration.

Case study

A thorough study of a patient (or a few patients) with naturally occurring lesions.

Parent management training

A treatment for childhood behavior problems that teaches parents how to use contingencies to more effectively manage their children's behavior.

Fear conditioning

A type of classical or Pavlovian conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus (CS) is associated with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), such as a foot shock. As a consequence of learning, the CS comes to evoke fear. The phenomenon is thought to be involved in the development of anxiety disorders in humans.

Inhibitory functioning

Ability to focus on a subset of information while suppressing attention to less relevant information.

Means

Activities or objects that contribute to goal attainment.

Broca's area

An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language production.

Medulla oblongata

An area just above the spinal cord that processes breathing, digestion, heart and blood vessel function, swallowing, and sneezing.

Gestalt psychology

An attempt to study the unity of experience.

Heritability coefficient

An easily misinterpreted statistical construct that purports to measure the role of genetics in the explanation of differences among individuals.

Neural impulse

An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate.

Affect

An emotional process; includes moods, subjective feelings, and discrete emotions.

Quasi-experimental design

An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions

Dichotic listening

An experimental task in which two messages are presented to different ears.

Intelligence

An individual's cognitive capability. This includes the ability to acquire, process, recall and apply information.

Self-perceptions of aging

An individual's perceptions of their own aging process; positive perceptions of aging have been shown to be associated with greater longevity and health.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

An initially neutral stimulus (like a bell, light, or tone) that elicits a conditioned response after it has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

Ambulatory assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior, physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings.

Ecological momentary assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that repeatedly sample participants' real-world experiences, behavior, and physiology in real time.

Which of the following statements would be an accurate argument for the benefit of anxiety?

Anxiety can motivate us to plan for the future.

Reinforcer

Any consequence of a behavior that strengthens the behavior or increases the likelihood that it will be performed it again.

Psychometric approach

Approach to studying intelligence that examines performance on tests of intellectual functioning.

Empirical methods

Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation.

Norm

Assessments are given to a representative sample of a population to determine the range of scores for that population. These "norms" are then used to place an individual who takes that assessment on a range of scores in which he or she is compared to the population at large.

Standardize

Assessments that are given in the exact same manner to all people . With regards to intelligence tests standardized scores are individual scores that are computed to be referenced against normative scores for a population (see "norm").

Random assignment

Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance

Remote associations

Associations between words or concepts that are semantically distant and thus relatively unusual or original.

Social models

Authorities that are the targets for observation and who model behaviors.

Interoceptive avoidance

Avoidance of situations or activities that produce sensations of physical arousal similar to those occurring during a panic attack or intense fear response.

Consciousness

Awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Phonemic awareness

Awareness of the component sounds within words

Disorganized behavior

Behavior or dress that is outside the norm for almost all subcultures. This would include odd dress, odd makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or unusual rituals (e.g., repetitive hand gestures).

Catatonia

Behaviors that seem to reflect a reduction in responsiveness to the external environment. This can include holding unusual postures for long periods of time, failing to respond to verbal or motor prompts from another person, or excessive and seemingly purposeless motor activity.

How could going to college help someone become Big-C Creative?

Big-C Creativity requires expertise.

Neuroblasts

Brain progenitor cells that asymmetrically divide into other neuroblasts or nerve cells.

Facets

Broad personality traits can be broken down into narrower facets or aspects of the trait. For example, extraversion has several facets, such as sociability, dominance, risk-taking and so forth.

Continuous distributions

Characteristics can go from low to high, with all different intermediate values possible. One does not simply have the trait or not have it, but can possess varying amounts of it.

Specific abilities

Cognitive abilities that contain an appreciable component of g or general ability, but also contain a large component of a more content-focused talent such as mathematical, spatial, or verbal ability; patterns of specific abilities channel development down different paths as a function of an individual's relative strengths and weaknesses.

Hedonic well-being

Component of well-being that refers to emotional experiences, often including measures of positive (e.g., happiness, contentment) and negative affect (e.g., stress, sadness).

Absolute stability

Consistency in the level or amount of a personality attribute over time.

Differential stability

Consistency in the rank-ordering of personality across two or more measurement occasions.

Heterotypic stability

Consistency in the underlying psychological attribute across development regardless of any changes in how the attribute is expressed at different ages.

Homotypic stability

Consistency of the exact same thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across development.

Satisfactoriness

Correspondence between an individual's abilities and the ability requirements of the environment.

Satisfaction

Correspondence between an individual's needs or preferences and the rewards offered by the environment.

Magnification factor

Cortical space projected by an area of sensory input (e.g., mm of cortex per degree of visual field).

Little-c creativity

Creative ideas that appear at the personal level, whether the home or the workplace. Such creativity needs not have a larger impact to be considered creative

Big-C Creativity

Creative ideas that have an impact well beyond the everyday life of home or work. At the highest level, this kind of creativity is that of the creative genius.

According to the code of ethics that governs research in psychology, which of the following statements regarding the use of deception is the most accurate?

Deception may be used when necessary, but must be followed by a debriefing after the research participation is complete.

Extinction

Decrease in the strength of a learned behavior that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or when the behavior is no longer reinforced (in instrumental conditioning). The term describes both the procedure (the US or reinforcer is no longer presented) as well as the result of the procedure (the learned response declines). Behaviors that have been reduced in strength through extinction are said to be "extinguished."

Mesmerism

Derived from Franz Anton Mesmer in the late 18th century, an early version of hypnotism in which Mesmer claimed that hysterical symptoms could be treated through animal magnetism emanating from Mesmer's body and permeating the universe (and later through magnets); later explained in terms of high suggestibility in individuals.

Positive feelings

Desirable and pleasant feelings. Moods and emotions such as enjoyment and love are examples.

Supernatural`

Developing from origins beyond the visible observable universe.

Somatogenesis

Developing from physical/bodily origins.

Psychogenesis

Developing from psychological origins.

What book allows psychiatrists to standardize their diagnoses of mental illness?

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)

Age effects

Differences in personality between groups of different ages that are related to maturation and development instead of birth cohort differences.

Cohort effects

Differences in personality that are related to historical and social factors unique to individuals born in a particular year.

Intra- and inter-individual differences

Different patterns of development observed within an individual (intra-) or between individuals (inter-).

Natural selection

Differential reproductive success as a consequence of differences in heritable attributes.

SAD performance only

Social anxiety disorder which is limited to certain situations that the sufferer perceives as requiring some type of performance.

Disorganized speech

Speech that is difficult to follow, either because answers do not clearly follow questions or because one sentence does not logically follow from another.

External cues

Stimuli in the outside world that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic events.

Context

Stimuli that are in the background whenever learning occurs. For instance, the Skinner box or room in which learning takes place is the classic example of a context. However, "context" can also be provided by internal stimuli, such as the sensory effects of drugs (e.g., being under the influence of alcohol has stimulus properties that provide a context) and mood states (e.g., being happy or sad). It can also be provided by a specific period in time—the passage of time is sometimes said to change the "temporal context."

Subcortical

Structures that lie beneath the cerebral cortex, but above the brain stem.

Psychophysics

Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli.

Basal ganglia

Subcortical structures of the cerebral hemispheres involved in voluntary movement.

Flashback

Sudden, intense re-experiencing of a previous event, usually trauma-related.

Callosotomy

Surgical procedure in which the corpus callosum is severed (used to control severe epilepsy).

Ablation

Surgical removal of brain tissue

Maladaptive

Term referring to behaviors that cause people who have them physical or emotional harm, prevent them from functioning in daily life, and/or indicate that they have lost touch with reality and/or cannot control their thoughts and behavior (also called dysfunctional).

Hysteria

Term used by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to describe a disorder believed to be caused by a woman's uterus wandering throughout the body and interfering with other organs (today referred to as conversion disorder, in which psychological problems are expressed in physical form).

Brain stem

The "trunk" of the brain comprised of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and diencephalon.

HEXACO model

The HEXACO model is an alternative to the Five-Factor Model. The HEXACO model includes six traits, five of which are variants of the traits included in the Big Five (Emotionality [E], Extraversion [X], Agreeableness [A], Conscientiousness [C], and Openness [O]). The sixth factor, Honesty-Humility [H], is unique to this model.

Object permanence task

The Piagetian task in which infants below about 9 months of age fail to search for an object that is removed from their sight and, if not allowed to search immediately for the object, act as if they do not know that it continues to exist.

Depth perception

The ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself of objects in the environment.

Functional capacity

The ability to engage in self-care (cook, clean, bathe), work, attend school, and/or engage in social relationships.

Latent inhibition

The ability to filter out extraneous stimuli, concentrating only on the information that is deemed relevant. Reduced latent inhibition is associated with higher creativity.

Episodic memory

The ability to learn and retrieve new information or episodes in one's life. Memory for events in a particular time and place.

Working memory

The ability to maintain information over a short period of time, such as 30 seconds or less. -Memory system that allows for information to be simultaneously stored and utilized or manipulated.

Subliminal perception

The ability to process information for meaning when the individual is not consciously aware of that information.

Selective attention

The ability to select certain stimuli in the environment to process, while ignoring distracting information.

Goal priming

The activation of a goal following exposure to cues in the immediate environment related to the goal or its corresponding means (e.g., images, words, sounds).

Inattentional deafness

The auditory analog of inattentional blindness. People fail to notice an unexpected sound or voice when attention is devoted to other aspects of a scene.

Occipital lobe

The back most (posterior) part of the cerebrum; involved in vision. -The back part of the cerebrum, which houses the visual areas.

Animism

The belief that everyone and everything had a "soul" and that mental illness was due to animistic causes, for example, evil spirits controlling an individual and his/her behavior.

Empiricism

The belief that knowledge comes from experience.

Anchoring

The bias to be affected by an initial anchor, even if the anchor is arbitrary, and to insufficiently adjust our judgments away from that anchor.

Framing

The bias to be systematically affected by the way in which information is presented, while holding the objective information constant.

Overconfident

The bias to have greater confidence in your judgment than is warranted based on a rational assessment.

Self-control

The capacity to control impulses, emotions, desires, and actions in order to resist a temptation and adhere to a valued goal.

Systematic observation

The careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it. Observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally, or otherwise organize information about the natural world.

Etiology

The causal description of all of the factors that contribute to the development of a disorder or illness.

Cerebral hemispheres

The cerebral cortex, underlying white matter, and subcortical structures.

Goal

The cognitive representation of a desired state (outcome).

Internal validity

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship between two variables has been unambiguously established.

External validity

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings.

Ecological validity

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

Cerebellum

The distinctive structure at the back of the brain, Latin for "small brain." -A nervous system structure behind and below the cerebrum. Controls motor movement coordination, balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone

Trephination

The drilling of a hole in the skull, presumably as a way of treating psychological disorders.

Behavioral genetics

The empirical science of how genes and environments combine to generate behavior.

Nurture

The environments, starting with the womb, that influence all aspects of children's development.

Sexual selection

The evolution of characteristics because of the mating advantage they give organisms.

Ego-depletion

The exhaustion of physiological and/or psychological resources following the completion of effortful self-control tasks, which subsequently leads to reduction in the capacity to exert more self-control.

Adaptation

The fact that after people first react to good or bad events, sometimes in a strong way, their feelings and reactions tend to dampen down over time and they return toward their original level of subjective well-being.

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice a fully visible object when attention is devoted to something else

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice a fully visible, but unexpected, object or event when attention is devoted to something else.

Reinforcer devaluation effect

The finding that an animal will stop performing an instrumental response that once led to a reinforcer if the reinforcer is separately made aversive or undesirable.

Deliberative phase

The first of the two basic stages of self-regulation in which individuals decide which of many potential goals to pursue at a given point in time.

Frontal lobe

The front most (anterior) part of the cerebrum; anterior to the central sulcus and responsible for motor output and planning, language, judgment, and decision-making.

g or general mental ability

The general factor common to all cognitive ability measures, "a very general mental capacity that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—'catching on,' 'making sense of things,' or 'figuring out' what to do"

Maturity principle

The generalization that personality attributes associated with the successful fulfillment of adult roles increase with age and experience.

Cumulative continuity principle

The generalization that personality attributes show increasing stability with age and experience.

Nature

The genes that children bring with them to life and that influence all aspects of their development.

Periaqueductal gray

The gray matter in the midbrain near the cerebral aqueduct.

Visual hemifield

The half of visual space (what we see) on one side of fixation (where we are looking); the left hemisphere is responsible for the right visual hemifield, and the right hemisphere is responsible for the left visual hemifield.

Encoding specificity principle

The hypothesis that a retrieval cue will be effective to the extent that information encoded from the cue overlaps or matches information in the engram or memory trace.

Preparedness

The idea that an organism's evolutionary history can make it easy to learn a particular association. Because of preparedness, you are more likely to associate the taste of tequila, and not the circumstances surrounding drinking it, with getting sick. Similarly, humans are more likely to associate images of spiders and snakes than flowers and mushrooms with aversive outcomes like shocks.

Cultural relativism

The idea that cultural norms and values of a society can only be understood on their own terms or in their own context.

Law of effect

The idea that instrumental or operant responses are influenced by their effects. Responses that are followed by a pleasant state of affairs will be strengthened and those that are followed by discomfort will be weakened. Nowadays, the term refers to the idea that operant or instrumental behaviors are lawfully controlled by their consequences.

Corresponsive principle

The idea that personality traits often become matched with environmental conditions such that an individual's social context acts to accentuate and reinforce their personality attributes.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

The inability to pull a word from memory even though there is the sensation that that word is available.

Encoding

The initial experience of perceiving and learning events.

White matter

The inner whitish regions of the cerebrum comprised of the myelinated axons of neurons in the cerebral cortex.

Person-environment transactions

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that ends up shaping both personality and the environment.

Evocative person-environment transactions

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that occurs whenever attributes of the individual draw out particular responses from others in their environment.

Reactive person-environment transactions

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that occurs whenever attributes of the individual shape how a person perceives and responds to their environment.

Active person-environment transactions

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that occurs whenever individuals play a key role in seeking out, selecting, or otherwise manipulating aspects of their environment.

Lexical hypothesis

The lexical hypothesis is the idea that the most important differences between people will be encoded in the language that we use to describe people. Therefore, if we want to know which personality traits are most important, we can look to the language that people use to describe themselves and others.

Lateral sulcus

The major fissure that delineates the temporal lobe below the frontal and the parietal lobes.

Central sulcus

The major fissure that divides the frontal and the parietal lobes.

Gene Selection Theory

The modern theory of evolution by selection by which differential gene replication is the defining process of evolutionary change.

Semantic memory

The more or less permanent store of knowledge that people have.

Frontal lobe

The most forward region (close to forehead) of the cerebral hemispheres.

Subjective well-being

The name that scientists give to happiness—thinking and feeling that our lives are going very well.

Limited capacity

The notion that humans have limited mental resources that can be used at a given time.

Divergent thinking

The opposite of convergent thinking, the capacity for exploring multiple potential answers or solutions to a given question or problem (e.g., coming up with many different uses for a common object).

Convergent thinking

The opposite of divergent thinking, the capacity to narrow in on the single "correct" answer or solution to a given question or problem (e.g., giving the right response on an intelligence tests).

Gray matter

The outer grayish regions of the brain comprised of the neurons' cell bodies. -Composes the bark or the cortex of the cerebrum and consists of the cell bodies of the neurons

Cerebral cortex

The outermost gray matter of the cerebrum; the distinctive convolutions characteristic of the mammalian brain.

Visual cortex

The part of the brain that processes visual information, located in the back of the brain.

Parietal lobe

The part of the cerebrum between the frontal and occipital lobes; involved in bodily sensations, visual attention, and integrating the senses. -An area of the cerebrum just behind the central sulcus that is engaged with somatosensory and gustatory sensation.

Temporal lobe

The part of the cerebrum in front of (anterior to) the occipital lobe and below the lateral fissure; involved in vision, auditory processing, memory, and integrating vision and audition. -An area of the cerebrum that lies below the lateral sulcus; it contains auditory and olfactory (smell) projection regions.

Progress

The perception of reducing the discrepancy between one's current state and one's desired state in goal pursuit.

"Top-down" or internal causes of happiness

The person's outlook and habitual response tendencies that influence their happiness—for example, their temperament or optimistic outlook on life.

Taste aversion learning

The phenomenon in which a taste is paired with sickness, and this causes the organism to reject—and dislike—that taste in the future.

Stereotype threat

The phenomenon in which people are concerned that they will conform to a stereotype or that their performance does conform to that stereotype, especially in instances in which the stereotype is brought to their conscious awareness.

Retroactive interference

The phenomenon whereby events that occur after some particular event of interest will usually cause forgetting of the original event.

Happiness

The popular word for subjective well-being. Scientists sometimes avoid using this term because it can refer to different things, such as feeling good, being satisfied, or even the causes of high subjective well-being.

Eugenics

The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits.

Cue overload principle

The principle stating that the more memories that are associated to a particular retrieval cue, the less effective the cue will be in prompting retrieval of any one memory.

Distinctiveness

The principle that unusual events (in a context of similar events) will be recalled and recognized better than uniform (nondistinctive) events.

Classical conditioning/pavlovian conditioning

The procedure in which an initially neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus, or CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (or US). The result is that the conditioned stimulus begins to elicit a conditioned response (CR). Classical conditioning is nowadays considered important as both a behavioral phenomenon and as a method to study simple associative learning. Same as Pavlovian conditioning.

Consolidation

The process occurring after encoding that is believed to stabilize memory traces.

Retrieval

The process of accessing stored information. `

Self-regulation

The processes through which individuals alter their emotions, desires, and actions in the course of pursuing a goal.

Motivation

The psychological driving force that enables action in the course of goal pursuit.

Somatosensory (body sensations) cortex

The region of the parietal lobe responsible for bodily sensations; the somatosensory cortex has a contralateral representation of the human body.

Conditioned response (CR)

The response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus after classical conditioning has taken place.

Implemental phase

The second of the two basic stages of self-regulation in which individuals plan specific actions related to their selected goal.

Commitment

The sense that a goal is both valuable and attainable

Numerical magnitudes

The sizes of numbers.

Delusions

The specific criteria used to determine whether an individual has a specific type of psychiatric disorder. Commonly used diagnostic criteria are included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, 5th Edition (DSM-5) and the Internal Classification of Disorders, Version 9 (ICD-9)

Processing speed

The speed with which an individual can perceive auditory or visual information and respond to it. -The time it takes individuals to perform cognitive operations (e.g., process information, react to a signal, switch attention from one task to another, find a specific target object in a complex picture).

Storage

The stage in the learning/memory process that bridges encoding and retrieval; the persistence of memory over time.

Behaviorism

The study of behavior.

Cognitive psychology

The study of mental processes.

Neuroscience

The study of the nervous system.

Biases

The systematic and predictable mistakes that influence the judgment of even very talented human beings.

Bounded self-interest

The systematic and predictable ways in which we care about the outcomes of others.

Bounded ethicality

The systematic ways in which our ethics are limited in ways we are not even aware of ourselves.

Bounded awareness

The systematic ways in which we fail to notice obvious and important information that is available to us.

Hostile attribution bias

The tendency of some individuals to interpret ambiguous social cues and interactions as examples of aggressiveness, disrespect, or antagonism

Stress reaction

The tendency to become easily distressed by the normal challenges of life.

Thought-action fusion

The tendency to overestimate the relationship between a thought and an action, such that one mistakenly believes a "bad" thought is the equivalent of a "bad" action.

Bounded willpower

The tendency to place greater weight on present concerns rather than future concerns.

Transformation

The term for personality changes associated with experience and life events.

Social Learning Theory

The theory that people can learn new responses and behaviors by observing the behavior of others.

Recoding

The ubiquitous process during learning of taking information in one form and converting it to another form, usually one more easily remembered.

Independent variable

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment

Dependent variable

The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment

Information processing theories

Theories that focus on describing the cognitive processes that underlie thinking at any one age and cognitive growth over time.

Sociocultural theories

Theory founded in large part by Lev Vygotsky that emphasizes how other people and the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture influence children's development.

Life span theories

Theory of development that emphasizes the patterning of lifelong within- and between-person differences in the shape, level, and rate of change trajectories.

Life course theories

Theory of development that highlights the effects of social expectations of age-related life events and social roles; additionally considers the lifelong cumulative effects of membership in specific cohorts and sociocultural subgroups and exposure to historical events.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

Theory proposed to explain the reduction of social partners in older adulthood; posits that older adults focus on meeting emotional over information-gathering goals, and adaptively select social partners who meet this need.

Piaget's theory

Theory that development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Convoy Model of Social Relations

Theory that proposes that the frequency, types, and reciprocity of social exchanges change with age. These social exchanges impact the health and well-being of the givers and receivers in the convoy.

What is one of the biggest problems with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia? Question Mark

They may not be apparent to others and thus not get appropriate attention.

Pathologizes

To define a trait or collection of traits as medically or psychologically unhealthy or abnormal.

Categorize

To sort or arrange different items into classes or categories.

Lateralized

To the side; used to refer to the fact that specific functions may reside primarily in one hemisphere or the other (e.g., for the majority individuals, the left hemisphere is most responsible for language)

Amygdala

Two almond-shaped structures located in the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Independent

Two characteristics or traits are separate from one another-- a person can be high on one and low on the other, or vice-versa. Some correlated traits are relatively independent in that although there is a tendency for a person high on one to also be high on the other, this is not always the case.

Crystallized intelligence

Type of intellectual ability that relies on the application of knowledge, experience, and learned information.

Fluid intelligence

Type of intelligence that relies on the ability to use information processing resources to reason logically and solve novel problems.

Recognition

Type of memory task where individuals are asked to remember previously learned information with the assistance of cues.

Recall

Type of memory task where individuals are asked to remember previously learned information without the help of external cues.

Negative feelings

Undesirable and unpleasant feelings that people tend to avoid if they can. Moods and emotions such as depression, anger, and worry are examples.

Cerebrum

Usually refers to the cerebral cortex and associated white matter, but in some texts includes the subcortical structures Consists of left and right hemispheres that sit at the top of the nervous system and engages in a variety of higher-order functions.

flashbulb memory

Vivid personal memories of receiving the news of some momentous (and usually emotional) event.

Continuous development

Ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather than through sudden jumps.

Individual differences

Ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition, and development.

Drug diversion

When a drug that is prescribed to treat a medical condition is given to another individual who seeks to use the drug illicitly.

Conscious goal activation

When a person is fully aware of contextual influences and resulting goal-directed behavior.

Nonconscious goal activation

When activation occurs outside a person's awareness, such that the person is unaware of the reasons behind her goal-directed thoughts and behaviors.

Originality

When an idea or solution has a low probability of occurrence.

Stimulus control

When an operant behavior is controlled by a stimulus that precedes it.

Misinformation effect

When erroneous information occurring after an event is remembered as having been part of the original event.

Participant demand

When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave

Placebo effect

When receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior

Experimenter expectations

When the experimenter's expectations influence the outcome of a study

Prediction error

When the outcome of a conditioning trial is different from that which is predicted by the conditioned stimuli that are present on the trial (i.e., when the US is surprising). Prediction error is necessary to create Pavlovian conditioning (and associative learning generally). As learning occurs over repeated conditioning trials, the conditioned stimulus increasingly predicts the unconditioned stimulus, and prediction error declines. Conditioning works to correct or reduce prediction error.

A device can transport objects instantaneously anywhere in the world without damaging them. Is it a creative invention?

Yes, because it is original, useful, and surprising.`

Today, a behavior is considered ______ if it interferes with effective functioning in daily work or relationships.

abnormal

How much experience in a particular field is usually necessary to develop Big-C Creativity?

about 10 years

Anna is invited by her friends to go to a choir performance in a large recital hall. They do not know that she has a terrible fear of such places, because the crowds make her feel trapped. Anna declines to go, but does not tell her friends that she suffers from ______

agoraphobia

Some people with schizophrenia use only one-word answers or silence. This symptom, called ______ , is a negative symptom of schizophrenia.

alogia

______is best thought of as a negative mood state that is marked by bodily symptoms, such as accelerated pulse, muscle tension, feeling uneasy, and worries about the future.

anxiety

During the 16th and 17th centuries, people with mental illness were often imprisoned in ______ , where they lived under horrific and inhumane conditions.

asylums

Tyler, who suffers from schizophrenia, has recently developed a series of symptoms that his physician calls "metabolic syndrome." What type of medication is he likely to be taking?

atypical antipsychotics

About once every 5 minutes, Laszlo hears a clear voice saying to him, "You aren't safe." What kind of symptom of schizophrenia is Lazlo experiencing?

auditory hallucination

Researchers have found that some schizophrenia-related genes are also associated with other mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, depression, and ______ .

autism

Which of the following is an example of the "situational" type of specific phobia?

being afraid of flying

specific genetic factors that might make someone particularly susceptible to developing an anxiety disorder are called ______ vulnerabilities; however, no single gene has been identified as directly causing anxiety or panic symptoms.

biological

Modern day psychology and psychiatry use what model to explain mental illness?

biopsychosocial

How do multicultural experiences promote creativity?

by immersing individuals in novel environments

Researchers have found that people who have various risk factors who also use ______ will have an increased risk of developing psychosis.

cannabis

Karl has been suffering from the symptoms of schizophrenia for about a year. He has a reduction in his responsiveness to events in his surroundings, and his motor behavior is often slow or aimless. Which of the following best describes these symptoms?

catatonia

Breuer and Freud's ______method involved patients reliving traumatic events in order to gain emotional relief

cathartic

Oppositional defiant disorder

childhood behavior disorder that is characterized by stubbornness, hostility, and behavioral defiance. This disorder is highly comorbid with ADHD.

Heuristics

cognitive (or thinking) strategies that simplify decision making by using mental short-cuts

What ability is required to correctly answer the question, "What is the capital of Portugal?"

convergent thinking

What changes to the inhumane conditions in institutions did Dorothea Dix and her fellow reformers make?

created state-run hospitals

The idea that the cultural norms and values of a society can only be understood in their own context is known as what?

cultural relativism

Dr. Morabian is conducting research that was inspired by studies published 10 years before he got his doctorate. He reads those studies, thinks about how they can be improved, and designs research that will extend their findings. Dr. Morabian's work demonstrates that science is:

cumulative

When a person with schizophrenia uses sentences that seem disconnected from each other or are nonsensical, they are demonstrating ______ speech.

disorganized

Jules strikes those around her as being very odd. She smears lipstick across her cheeks and often hops on every third step when she walks. These examples of ______ indicate the possibility that Jules suffers from schizophrenia.

disorganized behaviors

An advertising agency wants to generate as many new ideas as possible for their new ad campaign. The employees that are selected to work on the campaign should be skilled at ______ Blank .

divergent thinking

Both "typical" and "atypical" antipsychotic medications work by blocking a specific type of ______ receptor in the brain.

dopamine

When he was 6 years old, Jason's grandparents took him on a train ride from Florida to Virginia, and he still remembers many details of that exciting experience. This is an example of ______ memory.

episodic

Individuals have often theorized on the cause, or ______ , of mental illness.

etiology

Which is more likely to have a positive influence on creativity?

experiencing something new and unusual

what kind of treatments have been found to be as good as, if not better than, medication for dealing with a variety of anxiety disorders?

exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT)

The alarm reaction that triggers a flood of physical changes in the body (e.g., racing heart, shortness of breath, tingling sensations) is called the "______ " response. It is the body's natural response to a threatening stimulus or fearful situation.

fight or flight

Roberto has been a combat soldier and is tortured by memories, suffering from severe posttraumatic stress disorder. Sometimes Roberto experiences a(n) _______, a period during which he feels that he is experiencing his time in the war all over again

flashback

After she receives an acceptance letter to her top choice university, Brenda says, "I guess that's good. I'll go there." This sort of absence of emotions is called ______ .

flat affect.

Cognitive problems in schizophrenia are a major source of loss of ______ , or the ability to engage in self-care, work, attend school, and/or engage in social relationships.

functional capacity

Many children incorrectly believe that if they have angry wishes about a friend or relative, such wishes could amount to actual harm befalling that person. This overestimation of the relationship between one's thoughts and actual actions is called thought-action ______

fusion

Brendon constantly worries, but can never really put his finger on why he is upset. He has trouble sleeping and concentrating, and is always tense, and has had this problem for several years. What anxiety disorder would be the best diagnosis in this case?

generalized anxiety disorder

What does it mean if someone demonstrates flexibility on the Unusual Uses Task?

hey imagine uses across multiple categories

What measures are common for the creative person's personality?

higher scores on openness and general intelligence

What is the name of the ancient Greco-Roman belief that mental illness was caused by an imbalance in the four bodily fluids?

humorism

Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud used ______ Blank to treat hysteria

hypnosis

In 1900 BCE, Egyptians believed that mental illness in women was due to the somatogenic issue of ______ , or a wandering uterus.

hysteria

Blocking

in classical conditioning, the finding that no conditioning occurs to a stimulus if it is combined with a previously conditioned stimulus during conditioning trials. Suggests that information, surprise value, or prediction error is important in conditioning.

Lamar has had panic attacks for some time, and when this happens he usually gets a feeling of tightness and squeezing in his chest. As a result he has stopped wearing compression t-shirts when he works out, and usually wears shirts that are one size too big. This attempt to avoid an internal sensation associated with a panic attack is called ______ .

interoceptive avoidance

Why is reduced latent inhibition a benefit to creativity?

it helps creative minds notice what others may miss

Highly creative societies are far more likely to be ______ than less creative societies.

multicultural

Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of side effects associated with the use of atypical antipsychotic medication, includes all but which of the following symptoms?

pancreatic cancer (canc cause mortality, increased cholesterol, )

Sophie has been experiencing unexpected periods of overwhelming dread and anxiety. These episodes have happened several times, and she now worries that they will happen again. Sometimes it is almost as if her worry causes such an attack! Sophie seems to be experiencing ______

panic disorder.

Whose creativity will benefit most from multicultural experiences? Question Mark

people who are high in openness to experience

Of the following, which type of delusion is most commonly experienced among those suffering from a psychotic disorder?

persecutory delusions

What kind of neuroimaging technique uses radio-labelled ligands to measure the distribution of different neurotransmitter receptors in the brain?

positron emission tomography

During the Middle Ages, European women with mental illness were considered to be ______ .

possessed

The Greek physician Galen was one of the first people to believe that mental illness could have a ______ cause such as stress, in addition to other bodily causes.

psychogenic

Which two etiologies comprise the biopsychosocial model of today? Question Mark

psychogenic and somatogenic

Lee is writing an essay on ______ vulnerabilities to anxiety disorders. He will spend his time researching early experiences and how they impact one's view of the world around them.

psychological

Schizophrenia is categorized as existing on a spectrum of ______ disorders.

psychotic

From a behavioral perspective, the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder may become inadvertently ______ when a person feels that their worry has led to some sort of positive outcome.

reinforced

Cultures that regarded mental illness as having supernatural causes would employ treatments such as ______.

religious healing ceremonies

Which etiological theory considers mental illness to be caused by disturbances in the physical body?

somatogenic

The explanations for mental illness can be separated into three major theories: supernatural, psychogenic, and ______ .

somatogenic.

When Olivia was a child, she observed how her mother would count calories and restrict her eating. Now Olivia deals with her stressors by avoiding food and staying slender. Olivia's early experiences being channeled into a food-related anxiety is an example of a(n) ______ vulnerability.

specific

Mr. Williams thought his daughter's mental illness was due to demonic possession. Which etiological theory does he possess?

supernatural

he DSM-5 considers patterns of co-occurring symptoms known as ______ in its classification system.

syndromes

What is tested by the Unusual Uses Task?

the ability to find novel uses for an object

Divided attention

the ability to flexibly allocate attentional resources between two or more concurrent tasks.

What is tested by the Remote Associates Test?

the ability to make connections between very different concepts

Neuroepithelium

the lining of the neural tube.

Ectoderm

the outermost layer of a developing fetus.

Person-situation debate

the person-situation debate is a historical debate about the relative power of personality traits as compared to situational influences on behavior. The situationist critique, which started the person-situation debate, suggested that people overestimate the extent to which personality traits are consistent across situations.

Which of the following parts of the brain normally activate when important, aka "salient," events happen? (These areas may under-perform in those with schizophrenia.)

the ventral striatum and the anterior prefrontal cortex

One of the earliest treatments for mental illness involved ______ , the drilling of holes in skulls to release evil spirits.

trephination

To be considered creative, an idea must be original, ______ Blank , and surprising.

useful