Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Semester 2
CH. 9-14
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| personality | an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. (p. 479) |
| free association | in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing. (p. 480) |
| psychoanalysis | Freud’s theory of personality and therapeutic technique that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. (pp. 480, 606) |
| unconscious | according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware. (p. 480) |
| id | a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. (p. 481) |
| ego | the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle. (p. 481) |
| superego | the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. (p. 482) |
| psychosexual stages | the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones. (p. 482) |
| Oedipus | complex according to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. (p. 482) |
| identification | the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos. (p. 482) |
| 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. (pp. 303, 483) |
| defense mechanisms | in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. (p. 483) |
| repression | in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. (pp. 284, 483) |
| regression | psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated. (p. 483) |
| reaction formation | psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings. (p. 483) |
| projection | psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others. (p. 483) |
| rationalization | psychoanalytic defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions. (p. 483) |
| displacement | psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet. (p. 483) |
| sublimation | psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people re-channel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities. (p. 484) |
| denial | psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities. (p. 484) |
| collective unconscious | Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history. (p. 485) |
| projective test | a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics. (p. 486) |
| Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) | a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes. (p. 486) |
| Rorschach inkblot test | the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots. (p. 486) |
| terror-management theory | a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death. (p. 489) |
| self-actualization | according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential. (p. 491) |
| unconditional positive regard | a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance. (pp. 491, 610) |
| self-concept | all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?” (pp. 432, 492) |
| trait | a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports. (p. 494) |
| personality inventory | a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits. (p. 496) |
| Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) | the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes. (p. 496) |
| empirically derived test | a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups. (p. 496) |
| social-cognitive perspective | views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context. (p. 503) |
| reciprocal determinism | the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment. (p. 503) |
| personal control | the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless. (p. 505) |
| external locus of control | the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate. (p. 505) |
| internal locus of control | the perception that you control your own fate. (p. 505) |
| positive psychology | the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. (p. 508) |
| self | in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. (p. 511) |
| spotlight effect | overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us). (p. 512) |
| self-esteem | one’s feelings of high or low self-worth. (p. 512) |
| self-serving bias | a readiness to perceive oneself favorably. (p. 513) |
| individualism | giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications. (p. 516) |
| collectivism | giving priority to goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly. (p. 516) |
| intelligence test | a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores. (p. 524) |
| intelligence | mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. (p. 524) |
| general intelligence (g) | a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. (p. 524) |
| factor analysis | a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score. (p. 524) |
| savant syndrome | a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing. (p. 525) |
| emotional intelligence | the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. (p. 528) |
| mental age | a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8. (p. 533) |
| Stanford-Binet | the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test. (p. 534) |
| intelligence quotient (IQ) | defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. (p. 534) |
| achievement tests | tests designed to assess what a person has learned. (p. 535) |
| aptitude tests | tests designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn. (p. 535) |
| Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) | the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests. (p. 535) |
| standardization | defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group. (p. 536) |
| normal curve | (normal distribution) a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve 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. (pp. 40, 536) |
| reliability | the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting. (p. 538) |
| validity | the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to. (See also content validity and predictive validity.) (p. 538) |
| content validity | the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest. (p. 538) |
| predictive validity | the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior. (Also called criterion-related validity.) (p. 538) |
| intellectual disability | (formerly referred to as mental retardation) a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound. (p. 542) |
| Down syndrome | a condition of intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. (p. 542) |
| stereotype threat | a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. (p. 555) |
| psychological disorder | deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. (p. 562) |
| 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. (p. 563) |
| 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. (p. 564) |
| DSM-IV-TR | the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, updated as a 2000 “text revision”; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders. (p. 565) |
| anxiety disorders | psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety. (p. 569) |
| generalized anxiety disorder | an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal. (p. 570) |
| 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. (p. 570) |
| phobia | an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation. (p. 571) |
| obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) | an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions). (p. 571) |
| post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience. (p. 572) |
| post-traumatic growth | positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises. (p. 573) |
| somatoform disorder | psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause. (See conversion disorder and hypochondriasis.) (p. 576) |
| conversion disorder | a rare somatoform disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found. (p. 577) |
| hypochondriasis | a somatoform disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease. (p. 577) |
| dissociative disorders | disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. (p. 577) |
| 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. (p. 578) |
| mood disorders | psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes. See major depressive disorder, mania, and bipolar disorder. (p. 579) |
| major depressive disorder | a mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities. (p. 580) |
| mania | a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state. (p. 581) |
| bipolar disorder | a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder.) (p. 581) |
| schizophrenia | a group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions. (p. 590) |
| delusions | false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders. (p. 590) |
| personality disorders | psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning. (p. 596) |
| antisocial personality disorder | a personality disorder in which the 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. (p. 597) |
| eclectic approach | an approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client’s problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy. (p. 606) |
| psychoanalysis | Freud’s therapeutic technique that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. (pp. 480, 606) |
| transference | in psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent). (p. 607) |
| resistance | in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material. (p. 607) |
| interpretation | in psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight. (p. 607) |
| psychotherapy | treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth. (p. 606) |
| 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. (p. 608) |
| insight therapies | a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing the client’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses. (p. 609) |
| 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.) (p. 609) |
| active listening | empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers’ client-centered therapy. (p. 609) |
| unconditional positive regard | a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance. (pp. 491, 610) |
| behavior therapy | therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. (p. 611) |
| counterconditioning | a behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning. (p. 611) |
| exposure therapies | behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid. (p. 611) |
| systematic desensitization | a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias. (p. 611) |
| virtual reality exposure therapy | An anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking. (p. 612) |
| aversive conditioning | a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol). (p. 613) |
| 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. (p. 614) |
| cognitive-behavioral therapy | a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior). (p. 616) |
| 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. (p. 617) |
| regression toward the mean | the tendency for extreme or unusual scores to fall back (regress) toward their average. (p. 621) |
| meta-analysis | a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies. (p. 621) |
| evidence-based practice | clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences. (p. 623) |
| biomedical therapy | prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient’s nervous system. (p. 628) |
| psychopharmacology | the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior. (p. 628) |
| antipsychotic drugs | drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder. (p. 629) |
| tardive dyskinesia | involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and limbs; a possible neurotoxic side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs that target certain dopamine receptors. (p. 629) |
| antianxiety drugs | drugs used to control anxiety and agitation. (p. 630) |
| antidepressant drugs | drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety. Different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters. (p. 630) |
| 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. (p. 632) |
| repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) | the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity. (p. 634) |
| psychosurgery | surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior. (p. 635) |
| lobotomy | a now-rare 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. (p. 635) |
| resilience | the personal strength that helps most people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma. (p. 637) |
| social psychology | the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. (pp. 13, 643) |
| attribution theory | the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition. (p. 644) |
| fundamental attribution error | the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition. (p. 644) |
| attitude | feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events. (p. 646) |
| central route persuasion | attitude change path in which interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts. (p. 646) |
| peripheral route persuasion | attitude change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness. (p. 646) |
| foot-in-the-door phenomenon | the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. (p. 647) |
| role | a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave. (pp. 439, 647) |
| cognitive dissonance theory | the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. (p. 648) |
| conformity | adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. (p. 651) |
| normative social influence | influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval. (p. 653) |
| informational social influence | influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality. (p. 653) |
| social facilitation | stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others. (p. 657) |
| social loafing | the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable. (p. 658) |
| deindividuation | the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity. (p. 659) |
| group polarization | the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group. (p. 659) |
| groupthink | the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. (p. 660) |
| culture | the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. (pp. 43, 661) |
| norm | an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper” behavior. (p. 662) |
| personal space | the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. (p. 662) |
| prejudice | an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action. (p. 664) |
| stereotype | a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people. (p. 664) |
| discrimination | (1) in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. (2) unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members. (pp. 222, 664) |
| ingroup | “Us”—people with whom we share a common identity. (p. 668) |
| outgroup | “Them”—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup. (p. 668) |
| ingroup bias | the tendency to favor our own group. (p. 668) |
| scapegoat theory | the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame. (p. 669) |
| other-race effect | the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias. (p. 669) |
| just-world phenomenon | the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get. (p. 670) |
| aggression | physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. (pp. 436, 670) |
| frustration-aggression principle | the principle that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression. (p. 672) |
| mere exposure effect | the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them. (p. 678) |
| passionate love | an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship. (p. 683) |
| companionate love | the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined. (p. 684) |
| equity | a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it. (p. 684) |
| self-disclosure | revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others. (p. 684) |
| altruism | unselfish regard for the welfare of others. (p. 685) |
| bystander effect | the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present. (p. 686) |
| social exchange theory | the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs. (p. 687) |
| reciprocity norm | an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them. (p. 687) |
| social-responsibility norm | an expectation that people will help those dependent upon them. (p. 687) |
| conflict | a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas. (p. 688) |
| social trap | a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior. (p. 688) |
| mirror-image perceptions | mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive. (p. 689) |
| self-fulfilling prophecy | a belief that leads to its own fulfillment. (p. 689) |
| superordinate goals | shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation. (p. 690) |
| GRIT | Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction—a strategy designed to decrease international tensions. (p. 692) |
| developmental psychology | a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. (pp. 13, 411) |
| zygote | the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. (p. 412) |
| embryo | the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. (p. 412) |
| fetus | the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth. (p. 412) |
| teratogens | agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. (p. 413) |
| fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) | physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. (p. 413) |
| habituation 2 | decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. (p. 414) |
| maturation | biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. (p. 416) |
| cognition | all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. (pp. 298, 417) |
| schema | a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. (p. 418) |
| assimilation | interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas. (p. 418) |
| accommodation 2 | adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (p. 418) |
| 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. (p. 419) |
| object permanence | the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. (p. 419) |
| preoperational stage | in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from 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. (p. 421) |
| 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. (p. 421) |
| egocentrism | in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view. (p. 421) |
| 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. (p. 422) |
| 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. (p. 423) |
| 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. (p. 423) |
| stranger anxiety | the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. (p. 426) |
| autism | a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others’ states of mind. (p. 424) |
| attachment | an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. (p. 426) |
| critical period | an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development. (p. 427) |
| imprinting | the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. (p. 427) |
| temperament | a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. (p. 428) |
| basic trust | according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers. (p. 429) |
| self-concept | all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?” (pp. 432, 492) |
| gender | in psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female. (p. 435) |
| aggression | physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. (pp. 436, 670) |
| X chromosome | the sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes; males have one. An X chromosome from each parent produces a female child. (p. 438) |
| Y chromosome | the sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child. (p. 438) |
| 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. (pp. 350, 438) |
| role | a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave. (pp. 439, 647) |
| gender role | a set of expected behaviors for males or for females. (p. 439) |
| gender identity | our sense of being male or female. (p. 440) |
| gender typing | the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role. (p. 440) |
| social learning theory | the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. (p. 440) |
| adolescence | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. (p. 445) |
| puberty | the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. (p. 445) |
| primary sex characteristics | the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. (p. 446) |
| secondary sex characteristics | nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. (p. 446) |
| menarche | [meh-NAR-key] the first menstrual period. (p. 447) |
| 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. (p. 451) |
| social identity | the “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships. (p. 451) |
| intimacy | in Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood. (p. 452) |
| 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. (p. 454) |
| menopause | the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. (p. 456) |
| cross-sectional study | a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. (p. 463) |
| longitudinal study | research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. (p. 463) |
| crystallized intelligence | our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. (p. 464) |
| fluid intelligence | our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood. (p. 464) |
| social clock | the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. (p. 465) |
Created by:
M394N
Popular Psychology sets