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ALL PSYCH TERMS
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Mary Whiton Calkins | (1863-1930) Student of William James; became president of american psychological association (1905); completed her doctoral studies but Harvard refused to award her a Ph.D because, at the time they didn't grant doctoral degrees to women |
| Wilhelm Wundt | (1832-1920) set up the first psychological laboratory in an apartment near the university at Leipzig, Germany. Trained subjects in introspection. Subjects were asked to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli. |
| Introspection | Technique used by Wilhelm Wundt who asked subjects to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli. Through this process, Wundt hoped to examine basic mental processes. |
| William James | (1842-1910) Published "The Principles of Psychology", the science's first textbook. Established the Theory of Functionalism: How mental processes function in our lives. |
| Functionalism | Theory described by William James; Examines how the mental processes described by Wilhelm Wundt function in our lives |
| Max Wertheimer | Gestalt psychologist; Argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures. |
| Sigmund Freud | (1856-1939) Believed he discovered the unconscious mind-a part of our mind over which we don't have conscious control that determines, in part, how we think and behave. Has been criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories. |
| Margaret Floy Washburn | (1871-1939) First woman to earn a Ph.D in psychology (1894) |
| John Watson | (1878-1958) Declared that psychology must limit itself to observable phenomena, not unobservable concepts like the unconscious mind, if it is to be considered a science. |
| Ivan Pavlov | (1849-1936) Performed pioneering conditioning experiments on dogs; these experiments led to the development of the classical conditioning model of learning. |
| B.F. Skinner | (1904-1990) Expanded the basic ideas of behaviorism to include the idea of reinforcement and punishment, helped establish and popularize the operant conditioning model of learning |
| Humanist Perspective | Including theorists Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Carl Rogers (1902-1987), stressed individual choice and free will. This contrasts with the deterministic behaviorists who theorized that all behaviors are caused by past conditioning. |
| Psychoanalytic Perspective | Described by Sigmund Freud; the idea that the unconscious mind is a part of our mind that we don't have conscious control over or access to-controls much of our thoughts and actions |
| Biopsychology Perspective | Human thought and behavior strictly in terms of biological processes. Neuroscientists believe that human cognition and reactions might be caused by effects of our genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters in the brain or by a combination of all three. |
| Evolutionary Perspective | Perspective which values natural selection, which refers to the idea that some psychological traits might be advantageous for survival and that these traits would be passed down from the parents to the next generation |
| Behavioral Perspective | How human thought and behavior occurs in terms of conditioning (learning). ______ look strictly at observable behaviors and what reaction organisms get in response to specific behaviors. |
| Cognitive Perspective | ____ psychologists examine human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process and remember environmental events, why we think and behave the way we do. |
| Social-Cultural Perspective | ____ psychologists look at how our thoughts and behaviors vary from people living in other countries. ____ psychologists emphasize the influence culture has on the way we think and act. |
| Hindsight Bias | Tendency upon hearing about research findings (and many other things) to think that they knew it all along. After an event occurs, it is relatively easy to explain why it happened. |
| Applied Research | Research that psychologists conduct to solve practical problems. such as investigating how people can best resolve personality conflicts at work. Research that has clear, practical applications. |
| Basic Research | Research that explores questions that are of interest to psychologists but are not intended to have immediate, real-world applications. |
| Hypothesis | A statement that expresses a relationship between two variables. |
| Theory | Aims to explain some phenomenon and allows researchers to generate testable hypotheses with the hope of collecting data that supports the theory. |
| Operations Definitions | An explanation of how variables are measured. |
| Validity | When research measures what the researcher set out to measure; it is accurate. A related concept is reliability. |
| Reliability | When research can be replicated and it is consistent. If the researcher conducted the same research in the same way, the researcher would get similar results. |
| Sampling | The individuals on whom research is conducted are called participants or subjects, and the process by which the participants are selected is called _____. |
| Population | The group from which a sample is selected. This includes anyone or anything that could possibly be selected to be in the sample. |
| Random Selection | A method of selecting a sample from a population. Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected. It increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population and that one can generalize the findings to a larger population. |
| Stratified Sampling | A process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria, such as age or race. |
| Experiment | The only research that can show a casual relationship. Allows the researcher to manipulate the independent variable and control the confounding variables. |
| Confounding Variables | Any difference between the experimental and control conditions (such as time of day), except for the independent variable, that might affect the dependent variable. |
| Assignment | The process by which participants are put into either an experimental group or a control group. |
| Experimenter Bias | The unconscious tendency for researchers to treat member of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypothesis. |
| Double-Blind Procedure | Method followed by such that neither the participants nor the researcher are aware of who is in the experimental or control groups while the experiment is going on. This controls experimenter bias and participant bias. |
| Participant Bias | Tendency for subjects to behave in certain ways based on their perception of an experiment. |
| Hawthorne Effect | Being selected to be in a group of people to participate in an experiment will affect the performance of that group, regardless of what is done to those individuals |
| Correlation | A statistical measure of a relationship between two variables. Does not mean causation. |
| Scatter Plot | A graph of correlated data. The closer the points come to failing on a straight line, the stronger the correlation. |
| Survey Method | Often used to gather opinions or attitudes and for correlation research. Involves asking people to fill out a questionnaire. |
| Naturalistic Observation | Research method that involves observing participants in their natural habitats without interacting with them. The goal is to get a realistic and rich picture of the participants' behavior. Cannot establish cause and effect relationship between variables. |
| Case Study | A research method used to get a full and detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants suffering from a particular disorder. |
| Descriptive Statistics | Ways of describing a set of data. Three common measurements are the mean, median and mode. |
| Measures of Variability | A type of descriptive statistical measure that attempts to depict the diversity of the distribution. Examples are range, variance and standard deviation. |
| Normal Curve | A bell-shaped curve that represents a distribution of scores that is normally distributed. |
| Inferential Statistics | Statistics that can determine whether or not findings can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was selected. |
| Statistical Significance | Scientists have decided that 5% is the cutoff for statistically significant results. This means that in an experiment design, there must be less than a 5% chance that the results occurred by chance. |
| APA Ethical Guidelines for Human Research | Any type of academic research must first propose the study to the ethics board or institutional review board (IRB) at the institution. Guidelines include: Coercion, Informed consent, Anonymity/confidentiality, Lack of risk, and Debriefing procedures. |
| APA Ethical Guidelines for Animal Research | This must meet the following requirements: Have a clear scientific purpose, Care for and house animals in a humane way, Acquire animal subjects legally, Design experimental procedures that employ the least amount of suffering feasible. |
| neuroanatomy | the study of the parts and function of neurons |
| neurons | individual nerve cells that make up our entire nervous system |
| dendrites | rootlike parts of the nerve cell that stretch out from the cell body; grow to make synaptic connections with other neurons |
| cell body (soma) | contains the nucleus and other parts of the cell needed to sustain its life |
| axon | wirelike structure ending in the terminal buttons that extends from the cell body |
| myelin sheath | a fatty covering around the axon that speeds neural impulses |
| terminal buttons | also called: end buttons, terminal branches of axon, synaptic knobs |
| neurotransmitters | chemicals contained in terminal buttons that enable neurons to communicate |
| synapse | the space between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrites of the next neurons |
| action potential | the local voltage change across the cell wall as a nerve impulse is transmitted |
| function of acetylcholine | motor movement |
| lack of acetylcholine | results in Alzheimer's disease |
| function of dopamine | motor movement and alertness |
| lack of dopamine | results in Parkinson's disease |
| overabundance of dopamine | schizophrenia |
| function of endorphins | pain control; involved in addictions |
| function of serotonin | mood control |
| lack of serotonin | associated with clinical depression |
| afferent neurons | neurons that take information from the senses to the brain |
| interneurons | in the brain or spinal cord, neurons that take messages and send them elsewhere in the brain or spinal cord |
| efferent neurons | neurons that take information from the brain to the rest of the body |
| Central Nervous System | consists of the brain and spinal cord; nerves encased in bone |
| Peripheral Nervous System | consists of nerves not encased in bone, divided into two categories: somatic and automatic nervous system |
| Somatic Nervous System | controls voluntary muscle movements |
| Autonomic Nervous System | controls the automatic functions of our body, divided into two categories: sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems |
| Sympathetic Nervous System | part of the Autonomic Nervous System that mobilizes our body to respond to stress |
| Parasympathetic Nervous System | part of the Autonomic Nervous System, slowing body down after a stress response |
| Phineas Gage | a railroad worker involved in an accident that damaged the front part of his brain |
| lesioning | the removal or destruction of part of the brain, example: frontal lobotomy |
| frontal lobotomy | type of lesioning that was used to treat mentally ill patients |
| electroencephalogram (EEG) | detects brain waves, used in sleep research |
| Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) | a sophisticated 3D X ray of the brain |
| Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | a sophisticated 3D magnetic field image of the brain |
| Portion Emission Tomography (PET) | measures how much of a certain chemical parts of the brain is using |
| Functional MRI | combination of MRI and PET |
| hindbrain | structures in the top part of the spinal cord, controls basic biological functions that keep us alive |
| medulla | part of hindbrain, controls blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing |
| pons | part of hindbrain, connects the hindbrain with the midbrain and forebrain, involved in the control of facial expressions |
| cerebellum | part of hindbrain, looks like smaller version of brain stuck onto the underside of brain, coordinates fine muscle movements |
| midbrain | coordinates simple movements with sensory information, contains reticular formation |
| reticular formation | a netlike collection of cells throughout the hindbrain that controls general body arousal and the ability to focus our attention, if it does not function, you will fall into a coma |
| forebrain | controls thought and reason, contains thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus |
| thalamus | part of forebrain, located at top of brain stem, receives sensory signals from spinal cord and sends them to the appropriate areas in the rest of the forebrain |
| hypothalamus | part of forebrain, controls several metabolic functions, including body temperature, sexual arousal, hunger, thirst and the endocrine system |
| amygdala and hippocampus | involved in processing and perceiving memory and emotion |
| limbic system | made up of thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus, deal with aspects of emotion and memory |
| fissures | wrinkles in the cerebral cortex |
| contralateral control | each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body |
| brain lateralization/hemispheric specialization | specialization of function in each hemisphere |
| corpus callosum | the nerve bundle that connects the two hemispheres; cut in split-brain patients |
| split-brain patients | patients whose corpus callosums have been cut |
| association area | any area of the cerebral cortex that is not associated with receiving sensory information or controlling muscle movements |
| frontal lobes | part of the cerebral cortex, responsible for abstract thought and emotional control, contains: Broca's area and motor cortex |
| Broca's area | in the frontal lobe, responsible for controlling the muscles involved in producing speech |
| motor cortex | in the frontal lobe, sends signals to muscles, controlling voluntary movements, bottom of cortex controls top of body and vice versa |
| parietal lobes | contains sensory cortex (somato-sensory cortex) |
| sensory cortex (somato-sensory cortex) | receives incoming touch sensations from the rest of the body, bottom of sensory cortex receives sensations from top of body and vice versa |
| occipital lobes | at the very back of the brain,impulses from the right half of each retina is processed in the right occipital lobe and vice versa |
| temporal lobes | unlike occipital lobes, sound from either ear is processed in both temporal lobes,contains Wernicke's area |
| Wernicke's area | located in temporal lobe,interprets both written and spoken speech |
| brain plasticity | the ability of other parts of the brain to take over functions of damaged regions. Declines as hemispheres of the cerebral cortex lateralize. |
| adrenal glands | produce adrenaline, which causes rest of body to go into fight or flight mode |
| Thomas Bouchard | conducted study on identical twins that found a correlation of 0.69 on IQ, criticized because their similar appearances may have led to their being treated similarly |
| Turner's syndrome | only one X chromosome in the 23rd pair, leading to shortness, webbed necks |
| Klinefelter's syndrome | extra X chromosome, minimal sexual development and personality traits like extreme introversion |
| Down's syndrome | extra chromosome on the 21st pair, rounded face, shorter fingers and toes, slanted eyes set far apart, different extents of mental retardation |
| Consciousness | Our level of awareness about ourselves and our environment. This is not an on/off switch. Psychologists refer to different levels and different states of this. |
| Levels of Consciousness | That consciousness consists of different layers is well established. The most frequently mentioned levels: conscious level, nonconscious level, preconscious level, subconscious level and unconscious level. |
| Sleep | A state of consciousness in which we are less aware of ourselves and our environment than we are in our normal awake state. We cycle through different stages of this during the night. |
| Sleep Cycles | This is a typical pattern of sleep. We cycle through different stages of sleep during the night. |
| Sleep onset | The stage between wakefulness and sleep. We might experience mild hallucinations (such as falling or rising) during this stage. |
| Stages 1 and 2 | Stage in which the brain produces theta waves, which are relatively high-frequency, low-amplitude waves. |
| Stages 3 and 4 | Stage where the body's chemical supplies are replenished. The slower the wave, the deeper the sleep and the less aware we are of our environment. People who are deprived of delta sleep will be more susceptible to illness and will feel physically tired. |
| REM Sleep | Sometimes called paradoxical since our brain waves appear as active and intense as they do when we are awake. Dreams usually occur in this stage.This stage sleep deprivation interferes with memory. |
| Sleep Disorders | Identified and diagnosed by sleep researchers. The most common ones are insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, night terrors and somnambulism. |
| Insomnia | The most common sleep disorder. They have persistent problems getting to sleep or staying asleep at night. Usually treated with suggestions for changes in behavior: reduction of caffeine or other stimulants, etc. |
| Narcolepsy | A rare sleep disorder, those with it suffer from periods of intense sleepiness and may fall asleep at unpredictable and inappropriate times. They may suddenly fall into REM sleep regardless of what they are doing |
| Sleep Apnea | It may be almost as common as insomnia. Causes a person to stop breathing for short periods of time during the night. Their body causes the person to wake up slightly and gasp for air. |
| Dreams | A series of story-like images we experience as we sleep. A difficult research area for psychologists because they rely almost entirely on self-report. If people are awakened during or shortly after a REM episode, they often report they were dreaming. |
| Freudian Dream Interpretation | According to psychoanalysis, a method to uncover the repressed information in the unconscious mind. Freud said that dreams were wish fulfilling, meaning that we act out our unconscious desires in our dreams. |
| Activation-Synthesis Dream Theory | Theory that proposes dreams are nothing more than the brain's interpretation of what is happening physiologically during REM sleep. Dreams seen as biological phenomena. Brain imaging proves that our brain is very active during REM sleep. |
| Information-Processing Dream Theory | The brain may be dealing with daily stress and information during REM dreams. Stress during the day will increase the number and intensity of dreams during the night. Most people report their dream content relates somehow to daily concerns |
| Hypnosis | An altered state of consciousness in which a person is highly suggestible. Some people are more hypnotizable than others. |
| Role Theory of Hypnosis | Theorizes that hypnosis is not an alternate state of consciousness at all. Some people are more easily hypnotized than others, which is called suggestibility. People with high hypnotic suggestibility making it more of a more social phenomenon |
| State Theory of Hypnosis | Hypnosis meets some parts of the definition for an altered state of consciousness. Hypnotists seem to be able to suggest that we become more or less aware of our environments. Reducing physical ailments |
| Dissociation Theory of Hypnosis | Theory based on research by Ernest Hilgard. Suggests that hypnosis causes us to divide our consciousness voluntarily. One part or level of our consciousness responds to the suggestions of the hypnotist; another part or level retains awareness of reality. |
| Psychoactive Drugs | Chemicals that change the chemistry of the brain (and the rest of the body) and induce an altered state of consciousness. Some of the behavioral and cognitive changes caused by these drugs are due to physiological processes |
| Agonists | Drugs that mimic neurotransmitters. Fit in the receptor sites on a neuron that normally receives the neurotransmitter. Function as that neurotransmitter normally would. |
| Antagonists | Drugs that block neurotransmitters. Fit into receptor sites on a neuron. Instead of acting like the neurotransmitter, they prevent natural neurotransmitters from using the receptor site. |
| Tolerance | The brain will produce less of a specific neurotransmitter if it is being artificially supplied by a psychoactive drug. This physiological change produces ___, a need for more of the same drug in order to achieve the same effect. |
| Withdrawal | Occurs as a consequence of drug use. Symptoms vary from drug to drug. Dependence on psychoactive drugs can be psychological, physical, or both. Psychologically dependent individuals feel an intense desire for the drug; they are convinced they need it. |
| Stimulants | Speed up body processes, including autonomic nervous system functions such as heart and respiration rate. This dramatic increase is accompanied by a sense of euphoria. Caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, and nicotine are some. All of these produce tolerance, |
| Depressants | Slow down body processes, including our reaction and judgment, by slowing down brain processes. Common ones include alcohol and barbiturates |
| Hallucinogens | Cause changes in perceptions of reality, including sensory hallucinations, loss of identity and vivid fantasies. Common ones are LSD, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and marijuana. May remain in the body for weeks. |
| Opiates | Common ones include morphine, heroin, methadone and codeine, all of which are similar in chemical structure to opium. Act as agonists for endorphins and thus are powerful painkillers and mood elevators. |
| transduction | the process in which signals are transformed into neural impulses |
| cocktail-party phenomenon | when your attention involuntarily switches (someone calls your name) |
| cornea | a protective covering of the eye |
| pupil | dilates and becomes smaller to allow the right amount of light into your eye |
| lens | curved and flexible in order to focus the light |
| retina | a screen on the back of your eye |
| cones | cells activated by color |
| rods | cells that respond to black and white, outnumber cones 20:1 |
| fovea | located at the center of your retina and contains the highest concentration of cones |
| ganglion cells | their axons make up the optic nerve that sends visual impulses to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus |
| lateral geniculate nucleus | a place in the thalamus that receives impulses from the optic nerve |
| blind spot | where the optic nerve leaves the retina, calls such because has no rods or cones |
| optic chasm | the place nerves from both eyes join and cross over within the brain |
| feature detectors | discovered by Hubel and Weisel, nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement |
| trichromatic theory | there are three types of cones in the retina (blue, red and green) that activate in different combinations to produce all the colors of the visible spectrum (does not explain afterimages and color blindness) |
| afterimage | an image (usually a negative image) that persists after stimulation has ceased |
| opponent-process theory | the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green |
| amplitude | the height of a sound wave, measured in decibels |
| frequency | the length of the waves and determines pitch, measured in megahertz |
| order of sound in your ear | ear canal -> eardrum/tympanic membrane -> hammer (malleus bone) -> anvil (incus bone) -> stirrup (stapes bone) -> oval window -> cochlea -> hair at bottom of cochlea -> organ of Corti (neurons activated by the hair) -> auditory nerve |
| place theory | hair cells in the cochlea respond to different frequencies of sound based on where they are located in the cochlea |
| frequency theory | place theory works for high frequency sounds, but not low frequency, hair cells fire at different rates in the cochlea |
| conduction deafness | something goes wrong with the system of conducting sound to the cochlea |
| nerve (sensorineural) deafness | when the hair cells in the cochlea are damaged, usually by loud noise |
| gate-control theory | when a higher priority pain message coincides with a lower priority pain message, only the higher one will be felt |
| papillae | the bumps on your tongue |
| olfactory bulb | one of two enlargements at the terminus of the olfactory nerve at the base of the brain just above the nasal cavities |
| vestibular sense | how our body is oriented in space |
| kinesthetic sense | the position and orientation of specific body parts |
| absolute threshold | the smallest amount of stimulus we can detect |
| subliminal | stimuli below absolute threshold |
| difference threshold (just-noticeable difference) | the smallest amount of change needed in a stimulus before we can detect a change, computed by Weber's law |
| Weber's law | the change needed to make a noticeable difference to something is proportional to the original intensity of the stimulus |
| signal detection theory | a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus ("signal") amid background stimulation ("noise"). |
| response criteria (receiver operating characteristics) | how motivated people are to detect certain stimuli and expectations for what they want to perceive |
| false positive | when we think we perceive a stimulus that is not there |
| a false negative | not perceiving a stimulus that is present |
| top-down processing | information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions, drawing on our experience and expectations |
| schemata | mental representations of how we expect the world to be |
| perceptual set | a predisposition to perceiving something in a certain way |
| backmasking | supposed hidden messages musicians recorded backward in their music |
| bottom-up processing (feature analysis) | we use only the features of the object itself to perceive it |
| figure-ground relationship | A Gestalt principle of perceptual organization that states that we automatically separate the elements of a perception into the feature that clearly stands out and its less distinct background. |
| constancy | the ability to maintain a constant perception of an object despite changes in direct appearance |
| visual cliff experiment | created by E.J. Gibson, used to determine when infants can perceive depth |
| Muller-Lyer illusion | demonstrates that some perceptual rules are learned from culture, both lines are the same length, but one is perceived to be longer |
| Weber's law for sight | constant for vision: 8% |
| Weber's law for hearing | constant for hearing: 5% |
| Stroboscopic Effect | A visual illusion in which the perception of motion is generated by a series of stationary images that are presented in rapid succession, Ex: book flip image |
| Phi Phenomenon | The perception of movement as a result of sequential presentation of visual stimuli, Ex: Lights on/off= moving |
| Autokinetic Effect | The tendency to perceive a stationary point of light in a dark room as moving |
| Monocular Cues | Not dependent on two eyes |
| Binocular Cues | Depend on two eyes |
| Binocular Disparity | Both eyes see objects with slightly different angles, and the brain gets both images. Closer= similar image; Farther= more disparity between two images viewed |
| Convergence | Eyes move closer to each other to keep focus as object gets closer to our face |
| Learning | A long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience. |
| Acquisition | Acquiring a new behavior |
| Extinction | When the CS no longer elicits the CR. |
| Spontaneous Recovery | After a conditioned response has been extinguished, the response briefly reappears upon presentation of the conditioned stimulus. |
| Generalization | The tendency to respond to similar conditioned stimuli |
| Discrimination | To tell the difference between various stimuli. |
| Classical Conditioning | A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate a neutral stimulus to a response. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning. Learning based on association of stimuli. |
| Unconditioned Stimulus | A stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response. |
| Unconditioned Response | The unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus |
| Conditioned Stimulus | An originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response. |
| Conditioned Response | The learned response to a previously neutral but now conditioned stimulus. |
| Aversive Conditioning | A type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior. |
| Second-Order or Higher-Order Conditioning | Once a conditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response, it is possible to use that conditioned stimulus as an unconditioned stimulus in order to condition a response to a new stimulus |
| Learned Taste Aversion | Negative reaction to a particular taste that has been associated with nausea or other illness. |
| Operant Conditioning | Learning based on association of consequences with one's behavior |
| Law of Effect | If the consequences of a behavior are pleasant, the stimulus-response connection will strengthen and the likelihood of the behavior will increase. If the consequences of a behavior are unpleasant, the stimulus-response connection will weaken. |
| Instrumental Learning | Describes operant learning because the consequence was instrumental in shaping future behaviors |
| Skinner Box | A contraption used to research animal learning of operant conditioning |
| Reinforcer | Anything that makes a behavior more likely to occur |
| Reinforcement | Defined by the consequences of a reinforcer |
| Positive Reinforcement | The addition of something pleasant |
| Negative Reinforcement | The removal of something unpleasant |
| Punishment | Anything that makes a behavior less likely |
| Positive Punishment | The addition of something unpleasant |
| Omission Training (Negative Punishment) | The removal of something pleasant |
| Shaping | Reinforces the steps used to reach the desired behavior |
| Chaining | Subjects being taught to perform a number of responses successively in order to get a reward. |
| Primary Reinforcers | Reinforcers that are rewarding such as food, water, and rest. Their natural properties are reinforcing. |
| Secondary Reinforcers | Things we have learned to value such as praise or the chance to play a video |
| Generalized Reinforcers | Reinforcers that can be traded for virtually anything |
| Token Economy | When people perform a desired behavior they are given a token. They are allowed to trade these tokens for any one of a variety of reinforcers. |
| Reinforcement Schedules | Determines when reinforcement is delivered by ratio or interval schedules, also determines when reinforcement is delivered by a constant (fixed) or changing (variable) schedules. |
| Fixed Interval (FI) | Requires that a certain amount of time elapse before a reward will result. |
| Fixed Ratio (FR) | Provides reinforcement after a set number of responses. |
| Variable Interval (VI) | Requires a varying amount of time elapse before a reward will result. |
| Variable Ratio (VR) | Provides reinforcement based on a varying number of responses. |
| Continuous Reinforcement | Rewarding a behavior each time |
| Partial-Reinforcement Effect | Not continuously rewarding a behavior |
| Instinctive Drift | The tendency for animals to forgo rewards to pursue their typical patterns of behavior |
| Observational Learning or Modeling | People and animals learn many things by observing others and imitating |
| Latent Learning | Learning that becomes obvious only once a reinforcement is given for demonstrating it. |
| Insight Learning | Occurs when one suddenly realizes how to solve a problem; an "AH-HA" moment. |
| Ivan Pavlov | A Russian researcher in the early 1900s who was the first researcher learned behavior and discovered classical conditioning. |
| John Watson | Conditioned a little boy, Albert, to fear a white rat by pairing the once likable rat to a loud noise. |
| Edward Thorndike | Created the law of effect by researching operant conditioning. |
| B.F. Skinner | Coined the term operant conditioning and is the best-known psychologist to research this form of learning. |
| Albert Bandura | Stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others by observing Bobo Dolls where adults demonstrated "appropriate" play with dolls and children mimicked play. |
| Memory | any indication that learning has persisted over time |
| Three-box/information-processing model | model that proposes that there are three stages that information passes through before it is stored |
| Sensory memory | the split-second holding tank for incoming sensory information |
| Iconic memory | type of sensory memory that is a split-second perfect photograph of a scene |
| Echoic memory | type of sensory memory that is a brief (3-4 sec) perfect memory of sounds |
| Selective attention | the process by which one can pick out different encoding for encoding |
| Short-term/working memory | the information one is currently working with and is aware of in one's consciousness |
| Chunking | the grouping of information to aid short-term memory (no more than 7 groups) |
| Mnemonic devices | memory aids |
| Rehearsal | the repetition of information to aid short-term memory |
| Long-term memory | permanent storage of information |
| Episodic memory | type of long-term memory that involves specific events, stored in a sequential series |
| Semantic memory | type of long-term memory that involves general knowledge, stored as facts, meanings, or categories |
| Procedural memory | type of long-term memory that involves the performance of skills, stored sequentially, but complicated to describe with words |
| Explicit/declarative memories | the conscious memories of facts or events that we actively try to remember |
| Implicit/nondeclarative memories | the unintentional memories we might not realize we have |
| Eidetic/photographic memory | the ability to recall memories with extreme accuracy |
| Levels of processing model | model that proposes that there are two levels of processing, rather than distinct stages |
| Shallowly/maintenance processed | processing that involves meaningless rehearsal that leads to short-term retention |
| Deeply/elaborately processing | processing information in a meaningful way that increases its likelihood of being stored in memory |
| Retrieval | the gathering of information out of memory so that it can be used |
| Recognition | type of retrieval that is the process of matching a current event or fact with one already in memory |
| Recall | type of retrieval that retrieves a memory with an external cue |
| Primacy effect | the prediction that we are more likely to recall items presented at the beginning of a list |
| Recency effect | the prediction that we are more likely to recall items presented at the end of a list |
| Serial position effect/curve | the prediction that we are more likely to recall items presented at the beginning or the end of a list, but forget items in the middle |
| Tip-of-the-tongue-phenomenon | the temporary inability to remember information |
| Semantic network theory | theory that states that our brain forms new memories by connecting their meaning and context with meanings already in memories |
| Flashbulb memories | detailed snapshots of the moment and circumstances surrounding the moment shocking information was heard |
| Mood-congruent memory | phenomenon where there is a greater likelihood of recalling an item when our current mood matches the mood we were in when the event occurred |
| State-dependent memory | phenomenon where there is a greater likelihood of recalling events while in a particular state of consciousness |
| Recovered memory phenomenon | phenomenon where individuals claim to suddenly remember events they have "repressed" into the unconscious mind |
| Constructed/reconstructed memory | a false recollection of events |
| Decay | a cause of forgetting when we do not use a memory or its connections for a long time |
| Relearning effect | prediction that it will take less time to learn something again |
| Interference | a cause of forgetting where other information in your memory competes with what you want to recall |
| Retroactive interference | interference where the learning of new information interferes with the recall of older information |
| Proactive interference | interference where older information learned interferes with the recall of the more recent information |
| Hippocampus | part of the brain that encodes new memories |
| Anterograde amnesia | the inability to encode new memories |
| Retrograde amnesia | the loss of all memories before the trauma |
| Long-term potentiation | the strengthening of the connections between neurons through repeated firings |
| Phonemes | the smallest units of sound used in a language |
| Morpheme | the smallest unit of meaningful sound |
| Syntax | the arrangement of words in a sentence to make sense |
| Language acquisition | the process by which humans acquire the capacity to communicate in a language |
| Babbling | stage where innate babies experiment with phonemes |
| Holophrastic/One-word stage | stage where babies speak single words |
| Telegraphic speech/Two-word stage | stage where babies combine words into simple commands |
| Overgeneralization/overregularization | the misapplication of grammar rules |
| Nativist theory of language acquisition | theory that children are born with a language acquisition device |
| Language acquisition device | the part of the brain that allows rapid language learning |
| Linguistic relativity hypothesis | theory that the language we use might control or limit our thinking |
| Concepts | the cognitive rules that we apply to stimuli from our environment |
| Prototypes | type of thought where our concepts are based on what we think is the most typical example of that particular concept |
| Images | type of thought where our concepts are based on the mental images we create in our mind of the inside world |
| Algorithm | a rule that guarantees the right solution by using a formula |
| Heuristic | rule that is generally, but not always true that we can just to make a judgement in a situation |
| Availability heuristic | heuristics that involves judging a situation based on examples of similar situations that initially come to mind |
| Representativeness heuristic | heuristics that involves judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to prototypes the person holds in his/her mind |
| Overconfidence | the tendency to overestimate how accurate our judgements are |
| Belief bias | the bias where we make illogical conclusions to confirm our pre-existing beliefs |
| Belief perseverance | the tendency to maintain a belief even when the evidence we used to form the belief is contradicted |
| Rigidity/mental set | the tendency to fall into established thought patterns |
| Functional fixedness | type of rigidity that involves the inability to see a new use for an object |
| Confirmation bias | bias where we tend to look for evidence that confirms our beliefs and ignore evidence that contradicts what we think is true |
| Framing | the way a problem is presented |
| Convergent thinking | thinking pointed towards one solution |
| Divergent thinking | thinking that searches for multiple possible solutions to a question |
| Motivations | The feelings or ideas that cause us to act toward a goal. |
| Instincts | Inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically determined rather than learned to aid in survival. |
| Drive Reduction Theory | Idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need. |
| Need | A requirement for survival. |
| Drive | An impulse to act in a way that satisfies a need. |
| Primary Drives | Biological needs. |
| Secondary Drives | Learned drives. |
| Homeostasis | A balanced internal state. |
| Arousal Theory | States that we seek an optimum level of excitement or arousal. |
| Yerkes-Dodson Law | States that there is an optimal level of arousal for the best performance of any task (difficult task + low arousal) (easy task + high arousal) |
| Opponent-Process Theory of Motivation | States that people are usually at a normal or baseline state. If we drift from this state, we will eventually feel an opponent process, meaning a motivation to return to our baseline, neutral state. |
| Incentives | Stimuli that we are drawn to due to learning. |
| Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs | Predicts which needs we will be motivated to satisfy first; the more basic needs must be met before moving on to the next level. |
| Self-Actualization | A need to fulfill our unique potential as a person. |
| Lateral Hypothalamus | Causes an animal to eat; destruction of this area destroys hunger. |
| Ventromedial Hypothalamus | Causes an animal to stop eating; destruction of this area allows the animal to continue eating unless deprived of food. |
| Set-Point Theory | Theory states the hypothalamus wants to maintain a certain optimum body weight. |
| Bulimia | Eating large amounts of food in a short period of time (binging) and then getting rid of the food (purging) by vomiting, excessive exercise, or the use of laxatives. |
| Anorexia | Starving themselves to below 85% of their normal body weight and refusing to eat due to their obsession with weight. |
| Obesity | It is severely overweight, often by over 100 pounds, and the excess weight threatens the health of those diagnosed; the diagnosed typically have unhealthy eating habits rather than the food obsessions. |
| Achievement Motivation | A desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, or ideas: for attaining a high standard. |
| Extrinsic Motivators | Rewards we get for accomplishments from outside ourselves. |
| Intrinsic Motivators | Rewards we get internally. |
| Management Theory | An approach to management that uses rigorous quantitative techniques to help managers make maximum use of organizational resources. |
| Approach-Approach Conflict | When you must choose between two desirable outcomes. |
| Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict | When you must choose between two unattractive outcomes. |
| Approach-Avoidance Conflict | When ONE event or goal has both attractive and unattractive features. |
| James-Lange Theory | Theory that we feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress. |
| Cannon-Bard Theory | Theory that both physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously. |
| (Schachter's) Two-Factor Theory | To experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal. |
| General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) | A model of the body's stress response, consisting of three stages: *alarm, resistance, and exhaustion*. Hans Seyle developed this. |
| Abraham Maslow | Humanistic psychologist who developed a theory of motivation or hierarchy of needs that emphasized psychological growth. |
| Alfred Kinsey | Regarded by some as the Father of the scientific study of human sexuality. Published a series of reports which described common sexual behaviors in the US. |
| William James | Founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment. Helped develop a theory of emotion. |
| Metabolic Rate | How quickly our body uses energy. |
| Sexual Response Cycle | Excitement, Plateau, Orgasm, Resolution |
| Refractory Period | A time period for men that must elapse before another orgasm |
| Developmental Psychologist | a psychologist who studies the emotional, cognitive, biological, personal, and social changes that occur as an individual matures |
| nature versus nurture | A debate surrounding the relative importance of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) in determining behavior |
| cross-sectional research | a research design that compares groups of people who differ in age but are similar in other important characteristics |
| longitudinal research | A research design in which the same individuals are followed over time and their development is repeatedly assessed. |
| teratogens | agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm |
| newborn reflexes | Rooting, sucking, grasping, moro reflex (startle), Babinski |
| attachment | an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation |
| Harry Harlow | 1905-1981; Field: development; Contributions: realized that touch is preferred in development; Studies: Rhesus monkeys, studied attachment of infant monkeys (wire mothers v. cloth mothers) |
| secure attachments | 66%; constantly explored when parent was present; distressed when they left and came to parents when they returned |
| avoidant attachments | Infants may resist being held by the parents and will explore the novel environment. They do not go to the parents for comfort when they return after and absence (21%) |
| anxious/ambivalent attachments | Infants have ambivalent reactions to the parents. They may show extreme stress when the parents leave but resist being comforted by them when they return (12%, also called resistant attachments) |
| authoritarian parents | parents who make arbitrary rules, expect unquestioned obedience from their children, punish misbehavior, and value obedience to authority |
| permissive parents | parents who provide lax and inconsistent feedback and require little of their children |
| authoritative parents | parents who set high but realistic and reasonable standards, enforce limits, and encourage open communication and independence |
| Sigmund Freud | Austrian neurologist who originated psychoanalysis (1856-1939); Said that human behavior is irrational; behavior is the outcome of conflict between the id and ego |
| Erik Erikson | neo-Freudian, humanistic; 8 psychosocial stages of development: theory shows how people evolve through the life span. Each stage is marked by a psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?" |
| psychosocial stage theory | stage theory developed by Erikson; believed our personality was profoundly influenced by our experiences with others; each stage centers on a specific conflict |
| trust versus mistrust | first stage of personality development in which the infant's basic sense of trust or mistrust develops as a result of consistent or inconsistent care |
| autonomy versus shame and doubt | Erikson's second crisis of psychosocial development. Toddlers either succeed or fail in gaining a sense of self-rule over their own actions and bodies. |
| initiative versus guilt | Erikson's third psychosocial crisis, in which children undertake new skills and activities and feel guilty when they do not succeed at them |
| industry versus inferiority | The fourth of Erikson's eight psychosexual development crises, during which children attempt to master many skills, developing a sense of themselves as either industrious or inferior, competent or incompetent. |
| identity crisis | distress and disorientation (especially in adolescence) resulting from conflicting pressures and uncertainty about and one's self and one's role in society |
| intimacy versus isolation | Erikson's sixth stage of development. Adults see someone with whom to share their lives in an enduring and self-sacrificing commitment. Without such commitment, they risk profound aloneness and isolation. |
| generativity versus stagnation | Erikson's seventh stage of psychosocial development, in which the middle-aged adult develops a concern with establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity or lifelessness) |
| integrity versus despair | According to Erikson, the major developmental task of older age is finding meaning in the life that one has led. Success gives rise to a sense of integrity, whereas failure leads to despair. |
| Alfred Binet | 1857-1911; Field: testing; Contributions: general IQ tests, designed test to identify slow learners in need of remediation-not applicable in the U.S. because too culture-bound (French) |
| Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory | Children gradually learn more about how the world works by little everyday "experiments" in which they test their understanding |
| schemata | Mental models of the world that we use to guide and interpret our experiences |
| assimilation | interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas |
| accommodation | in the theories of Jean Piaget: the modification of internal representations in order to accommodate a changing knowledge of reality |
| 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 |
| object permanence | the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived |
| preoperational stage | in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 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 |
| egocentric | self-centered |
| concrete operations | 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. |
| concepts of conservation | children realize that properties of objects remain the same even when their shapes change. demonstrates how different aspects of objects are conserved even when their arrangment changes |
| formal operations | in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. |
| metacognition | "Thinking about thinking" or the ability to evaluate a cognitive task to determine how best to accomplish it, and then to monitor and adjust one's performance on that task |
| preconventional stage | a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor |
| conventional stage | a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules |
| postconventional stage | a stage of moral development at which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values |
| Psychotherapy | the treatment of mental or emotional problems by psychological means |
| Psychoanalysis | Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions |
| 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. |
| Dream Analysis | A psychoanalytic technique in which the therapist interprets the symbolic meaning of the client's dreams. |
| Manifest Content | according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream |
| Latent Content | according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream |
| Resistance | A term used by psychoanalysts to describe a patient disagreeing with his/her therapist's interpretations. |
| Transference | in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships |
| Somatic Treatments | Biological interventions that include medication, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery. |
| Psychodynamic Theorists | believe that behavior is merely a surface characteristic and that to truly understand someone's personality we have to explore the symbolic meanings of behavior and the deep inner workings of the mind; followers of Freud |
| Humanistic Therapies | treatment techniques based on the assumption that people have a tendency for positive growth and self-actualization |
| Carl Rogers | United States psychologist who developed client-centered therapy (1902-1987) |
| 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.) |
| Unconditional Positive Regard | according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person |
| Active Listening | Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy. |
| Gestalt Therapy | Treatment focusing on awareness and understanding of one's feelings and restoring wholeness. |
| Existential Therapies | see client's difficulties as caused by the clients having lost or failed to develop a sense of their life purpose, therapists seek to give client purpose |
| Counterconditioning | a behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors; based on classical conditioning |
| Systematic Desensitization | a type of counterconditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli |
| Anxiety Hierarchy | constructed by patient in which feared situations are arranged from least to most anxiety provoking; used to set sequence for therapy |
| Flooding | A behavioral technique used to treat phobias in which the client is presented with the feared stimulus until the associated anxiety disappears. Clients address their most frightening scenario first. |
| Aversive Conditioning | a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol). |
| 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. |
| Cognitive Therapies | A group of psychotherapies based on the assumption that psychological problems are due to maladaptive patterns of thinking; treatment techniques focus on recognizing and altering these unhealthy thinking patterns |
| Attributional Style | the tendency to attribute one's behavior to internal or external factors, stable or unstable factors and so on |
| Cognitive Therapy for Depression | Reverse clients beliefs about themselves, their situations, and their future. Developed by Aaron Beck. Trains people to look at themselves in new, more positive ways. |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) | a therapy that incorporates techniques from behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy to correct faulty thinking and change maladaptive behaviors |
| Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (RET/REBT) | Created by Albert Ellis. Therapists use questioning to expose and confront the dysfunctional thoughts of their clients. |
| Group Therapy | treating a group of people who have similar problems and who meet regularly with a trained counselor |
| Somatic Therapies | Therapies that produce bodily changes. Used by psychologists with a biological orientation. |
| Psychopharmacology | the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior |
| Antipsychotic Drugs | biological treatment option used to treat the severe psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia; effective for treating hallucinations; blocks dopamine receptors; Examples: thorazine, therazine, etc |
| Antidepressant Drugs | drugs which gradually elevate mood and help bring people out of a depression; include tricyclics, MAO inhibitors, and SSRIs |
| Antianxiety Drugs | drugs which relieve tension, apprehension, and nervousness, e.g., Valium and Xanax and other drugs in the benzodiazepine family, also known as tranquilizers |
| 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 |
| Psychosurgery | brain surgery on human patients intended to relieve severe and otherwise intractable mental or behavioral problems |
| Psychiatrists | Medical doctors who have completed special training in the treatment of psychological disorders. Can prescribe medicine. |
| Clinical Psychologists | A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. |
| Counseling Psychologists | Treat people who have adjustment problems rather than serious mental disorders. Work often at universities |
| Psychoanalysts | practitioners of psychoanalysis who are schooled in the Freudian tradition |
| Attitude | a set of beliefs and feelings. They are evaluative, meaning that our feelings toward such things are necessarily positive or negative. |
| Mere exposure effect | This effect states that the more one is exposed to something, the more one will come to like it. Therefore in the world of advertising, more is better. |
| Central versus peripheral route to persuasion | Central route to persuasion: involves deeply processing the content of the message. Peripheral route to persuasion: involves aspects of the message including the characteristics of the person imparting the message |
| Cognitive Dissonance Theory | Based on the idea that people are motivated to have consistent attitudes and behaviors. When they do not, they experience unpleasant mental tension or dissonance. |
| Foot-in-the-door | Suggests that if you can get people to agree to a small request, they will be more likely to agree to a follow up request that is larger |
| Door-in-the-face | This strategy argues that after people refuse a large request, they will look more favorably upon a follow-up request that seems, in comparison, much more reasonable. |
| Norms of reciprocity | People tend to think that when someone does something nice for them, they ought to do something nice in return. |
| Attribution theory | Another area of study within the field of social cognition. This theory tries to explain how people determine the cause of what they observe. |
| Self-fulfilling prophecy | The idea that the expectations we have about others can influence the way those others behave. A belief that leads to its own fulfillment |
| Fundamental attribution error | The tendency to overestimate the importance of dispositional factors and underestimate the role of situational factors. In explaining other people's behavior, the tendency to over exaggerate personality traits and underestimate situational factors |
| Collectivist versus individualistic cultures | In an individualistic culture, like America, the importance and uniqueness of the individual is stressed. In collective cultures, like Japan, a person's link to various groups such as family or company is stressed. |
| False-consensus effect | The tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with them; a perceptual error where we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own. |
| Self-serving bias | The tendency to take more credit for good outcomes than for bad ones; a readiness to perceive oneself favorably |
| Just-world bias | The belief in a just world in which misfortunes befall people who deserve them. It can be seen in the tendency to blame victims; a tendency to believe that life is fair |
| Stereotype | We all have ideas about what members of a group are like and these expectations may influence the way we interact with members of these groups. Stereotypes can be either negative or positive and can be applied virtually to any group of people. |
| Prejudice | An underserved usually negative attitude toward a group of people. Stereotypes can lead to this. |
| Ethonocentrism | The belief that one's culture is superior to others is a specific kind of prejudice; it's the belief that one culture is superior to others |
| Discrimination | Behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group; a negative action toward a social group or its members on account of group membership |
| In-group bias | A preference for members of one's own group. This is thought to stem from people's belief that they themselves are good people. |
| Superordinate goals | A goal that all groups are made to work toward that benefits all and necessitates the participation of all. Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation |
| Frustration-aggression hypothesis | This hypothesis holds that the feeling of frustration makes aggression more likely; the principle that frustration creates anger which can generate aggression |
| Diffusion of responsibility | The larger the group of people, the less responsible any one individual feels to help. People tend to assume that someone else will take action so they need not do so |
| Attraction research | Social psychologists study what factors increase the chance that people will like one another (similarity, proximity, and reciprocal liking) |
| Social facilitation | The phenomenon that the presence of others improves task performance; stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others |
| Social impairment | lowering of performance on a given task in the presence of others - usually a task that is not well rehearsed |
| Conformity | The tendency of people to go along with the views or actions of others. Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. |
| Obedience | The willingness to do what another wants them to do. Acting in accord with a direct order or command |
| Group norms | Rules about how group members should act. For example, a group of lawyers have rules governing appropriate work dress. |
| Social loafing | Decrease in effort and productivity that occurs when an individual works in a group instead of alone; tendency for people to work less on a task the greater the number of people are working on that task. |
| Group polarization | The tendency of a group to make more extreme decisions than the group members would make individual; the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group |
| Groupthink | A term coined by Irving James, describes the tendency for some groups to make bad decisions; an excessive tendency to seek concurrence among group members |
| Deindividuation | Sometimes people get swept up by groups and do things they never would have done if on their own. This loss of self-restraint occurs when group members feel annoyed and aroused. |
| Phillip Zimbardo | Social Psychologist; Did the "Stanford Prison Study": the importance of role-playing |
| Personality | the unique attitudes behaviors and emotions that characterize a person |
| psychoanalytic psychosexual stage theory of personality | Freud believed that one's personality was essentially set in early childhood. he proposed a psychosexual stage theory of personality- oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital |
| oedipus crisis | A crisis Freud thought boys went through during the phallic stage; Boys sexual desire for their mothers and the view of their fathers as rival for their mothers' love, occurs in this stage |
| psychoanalytic personality theory | Freud theorized the personality consists of three parts Id, ego, and superego; the id is propelled by the pleasure principle;the ego follows the reality principle; the super ego is all moral standing |
| id | the id is propelled by the pleasure principle it wants immediate gratification |
| ego | the reality principle it negotiates between the desires of the id and the limitations of the environment; acting as a mediator between the id and the superego |
| super ego | our sense of conscience how we think about what is right and wrong |
| Defense mechanisms | an element of Freud's psychoanalytic personality theory. This includes: Repression, Denial, displacement, projection, reaction formation, regression, rationalization, regression, intellectualization, and sublimation |
| trait theorists | believed that we can describe people's personalities by specifying their main characteristics or traits |
| Big five personality traits | trait theorists believe that personality can be described using these five personality characteristics; Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, openness, emotional stability, and extraversion |
| factor analysis | a statistical technique used to analyze results of personality tests; allows researchers to use correlations between traits in order to see which traits cluster together as factors |
| biological theories of personality | view genes, chemicals, and body types as the central determinants of who a person is; a growing body of evidence supports the idea that human personality is shaped in part by genetics |
| heritability | for a specific characteristic the percentage of variation between people that can be attributed to genetic factors; i.e( if a trait is highly heritable,(height) much of the variation between a group of people on that trait is determined by genes. |
| Behaviorist theories of personality | argue behavior is personality and that the way most people think of the term personality is meaningless; according to this view personality is determined by the environment; the reinforcement contingencies to which one is exposed creates one's personality |
| social cognitive personality theories | combine behaviorists' emphasis on the importance of the environment with cognitive psychologists' focus on patterns of thought i.e( albert banduras reciprocal determinism) |
| reciprocal determinism | albert bandura suggested that personality is created by an interaction between the person(traits), the environment and the person's behavior; each of the 3 factors influence each other in a constant reciprocal loop |
| self efficacy | people with high self-efficacy are optimistic about their own ability to get things done whereas people with low self efficacy feel a sense of powerlessness; it has a powerful effect on personality |
| personal- construct theory | George Kelly argued that people , in their attempts to understand their world, develop their own individual systems of personal constructs. (constructs consist of pairs such as fair-unfair, smart- dumb and exciting-dull) |
| internal locus of control | This group believes they are responsible for what happens to them, for instance, they tend to believe that hard work will lead to success |
| humanistic theories of personalities | view people as innately good and able to determine their own destinies through the exercise of free will maslow and rogers |
| unconditional positive regard | Carl Rogers' personality theory is based on the belief that people are innately good and require certain things from interactions with others. Rogers believes that people must feel accepted in order to make strides toward self actualization people need __ |
| projective personality tests | often used by psychoanalysts; involve asking people to interpret ambiguous stimuli; psycho analysts that peoples interpretations reflect their unconscious thoughts. People are thought to project their unconscious thoughts onto ambiguous stimuli. |
| self report inventories | Questionnaires that ask people to provide info about themselves; many different kinds of psychologists use self reports inventories as one means by which to gather data about some one; MMPI is one of the most widely used self report instruments |
| validity | A personality test is ___ when it measures what the test claims to measure |
| Standardized Tests | A test with items that have been piloted on a population similar to those who are meant to take the test and whose achievement norms have been established. |
| Reliability | the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting |
| Test-Retest Reliability | Test in which participants receive the same score when tested at different times |
| Validity | the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to |
| Aptitude Test | a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn |
| Achievement Tests | a test designed to assess what a person has learned |
| Intelligence | The ability to gather and use information in productive ways |
| Spearman's Intelligence Theory | Used factor analysis, argued that intelligence could be expressed by a single factor that he named g for general |
| Gardner's Intelligence Theory | proposes that there are eight distinct spheres of intelligence - Each individual has every kind of intelligence but to a different degree. |
| Sternberg's Intelligence Theory | argues that there are three types of intelligence, Analytic, Creative, and Practical. |
| Stanford-Binet IQ Test | revision of Binet's test for California schoolchildren. IQ is computed by dividing a person's mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100 |
| Wechsler Intelligence Scale | The WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; it contains verbal and performance (non verbal) subtests. Standardized so the mean is 100 and the distribution is normal |
| Normal Distribution | bell-shaped curve that results when the values of a trait in a population are plotted against their frequency |
| Heritability | the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes |
| Flynn Effect | the worldwide phenomenon that shows intelligence test performance has been increasing over the years |
| Psychological Disorder | Maladaptive, Disturbing to Others, Unusual, Irrational |
| DSM IV | Reference book that describes symptoms of all current psychological disorders |
| Anxiety Disorders | A class of disorders marked by excessive apprehension and worry that in turn impairs normal functioning. Includes phobias, and PTSD. |
| Specific Phobia | an anxiety disorder involving fear and avoidance of heights, animals, and other specific stimuli and situations |
| Agoraphobia | (n.) - an abnormal fear of open or public places |
| Social Phobia | A disorder that involves an irrational fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed |
| Generalized Anxiety Disorder | an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal |
| Panic Disorder | an anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations |
| Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) | an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions) |
| 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 |
| Somatoform Disorders | disorders characterized by physical symptoms for which no known physical cause exists |
| Hypochondriasis | preoccupation with thoughts of disease and concern that one is suffering from a serious condition that persists despite medical reassurance to the contrary |
| Conversion Disorder | a mental disorder characterized by the conversion of mental conflict into somatic forms (into paralysis or anesthesia having no apparent cause) |
| Dissociative Disorders | disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings |
| Psychogenic Amnesia | loss of all or part of memory; does not have a physical cause |
| Fugue | dissociative disorder in which a person forgets who who they are and leaves home to create a new life |
| Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) | a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Also called multiple personality disorder. |
| Mood/Affective Disorders | Condition where a person experiences extreme or inappropriate emotions |
| Major Depression | a mood disturbance characterized by feelings of sadness, despair, discouragement, hopelessness, lack of joy, altered sleep patterns, and difficulty with decision making and daily function |
| Seasonal Affective Disorder | affective disorder marked by episodes of depression that most often occur during the fall and winter and remit in the spring |
| Bipolar Disorder | a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania |
| Learned Helplessness | the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events. |
| Schizophrenic Disorders | a class of severe disorders marked by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and deterioration of adaptive behavior |
| Delusions of Persecution | irrationally believing that others are trying to harm you. |
| Delusions of Grandeur | a delusion (common in paranoia) that you are much greater and more powerful and influential than you really are |
| Disorganized Schizophrenia | type of schizophrenia characterized by severely disturbed thought processes, frequent incoherence, disorganized behavior, and inappropriate affect. |
| Paranoid Schizophrenia | A type of schizophrenia that is dominated by delusions of persecution along with delusions of grandeur |
| Catatonic Schizophrenia | subtype of schizophrenia characterized by two of the following symptoms: extreme immobility, excessive activity, peculiar posturing, mutism, or parroting what other people say |
| Waxy Flexibility | feature of catatonic schizophrenia in which people rigidly maintain the body position or posture in which they are placed by others |
| Undifferentiated Schizophrenia | a schizophrenic disorder that is characterized by a mixture of symptoms and does not meet the diagnostic criteria of any one type. |
| Dopamine Hypothesis | States that high levels of dopamine seem to be associated with schizophrenia |
| Tardive Dyskinesia | An incurable disorder of motor control, especially involving muscles of the face and head, resulting from long-term use of antipsychotic drugs |
| Diathesis-Stress Model | suggests that a person may be predisposed for a mental disorder that remains unexpressed until triggered by stress |
| Personality Disorders | psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning |
| 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 |
| Dependent Personality Disorder | Extreme dependence on others, particularly the need to be taken care of, leading to clinging and submissive behavior |
| Paranoid Personality Disorder | type of personality disorder characterized by extreme suspiciousness or mistrust of others |
| Narcissistic Personality Disorder | characterized by a grandiose sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of success or power, and a need for constant attention or admiration |
| Histrionic Personality Disorder | a personality disorder characterized by excessive emotionality and preoccupation with being the center of attention; emotional shallowness; overly dramatic behavior |
| Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder | personality disorder defined by a pervasive pattern of orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control. workaholics, intolerant of emotional behavior of other people. |
| Rosenhan Study | study in which colleagues were admitted into separate mental hospitals after telling each they were hearing voices. Once in, they acted normally and still were not labeled as impostors. |
| External locus of control | This group generally believe that luck and other forces outside of their control determine their own destinies |
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SadUrn