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Midterm study guide vocabulary.

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Question
Answer
Tendency to think we would have foreseen future events.   Hindsight bias  
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Tendency to overestimate abilities or future success (exceptions: about to be judged, depression)   Overconfidence  
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Experimental factor that is manipulated and being studied   Independent variable  
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Experimental factor that is being measured; changes   dependent variable  
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Selected segment of the population under study   Random sample  
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Process in which participants are selected randomly from the larger group such that the sample will be representative   Random assignment  
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Perceived correlation that doesn't really exist   Illusory correlation  
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Testable prediction, often implied by a theory   Hypothesis  
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Tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs/behaviors   False-consensus effect  
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Condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison   Control treatment  
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Statement of the procedures used to define research variables   Operational definition  
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One person is studied in depth   Case study  
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Observing/recording behavior in natural situations without trying to manipulate/control it   naturalistic observation  
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Statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well each factor predicts the other   Correlation  
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Any effect on behavior caused by a placebo   Placebo effect  
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Questionnaire/interview designed to investigate the opinions, behaviors, or characteristics of a particular group   Survey  
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Both participants and staff are unaware of placebo vs. drug   Double blind  
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Either the participants or staff are unaware of placebo vs. drug   Single blind  
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Computed measure of how much scores vary around mean   Standard deviation  
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Average   Mean  
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Middle   Median  
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Most frequent   Mode  
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Graphs points on a coordinate grid to look for a correlation   Scatterplot  
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Symmetrical distribution across a bell curve   Normal distribution  
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Negatively skewed (hump towards right side) vs. positively skewed (hump towards left side)   Skewed distribution  
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Gap between highest and lowest data points   Range  
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Chemical messengers that traverse synaptic gaps   Neurotransmitters  
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Chemical messengers produced in one tissue that affect another   Hormones  
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Bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body   Dendrites  
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Natural, opiate-like transmitters linked to pain control & pleasure   Endorphins  
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Specialized cell transmitting nerve impulses; a nerve cell   Neurons  
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Connective tissue of the nervous system, consisting of several different types of cells associated with neurons   Glial cells  
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Glands that secrete hormones or other products into the blood   Endocrine glands  
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Extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers through which messages are sent to neurons/muscles/glands   Axons  
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Junction between two nerve cells over which neurotransmitters travel   Synapse  
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Reabsorption of a neurotransmitter by transport of a pre-synaptic neuron after it has performed its function of transmitting a neural impulse   Reuptake  
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Level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse   Threshold  
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Neural impulse; a brief electrical charge traveling down an axon   Action potential  
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Layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; speeds up transmission   Myelin sheath  
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Soma; contains all of the cell body structures of normal cells   Cell Body  
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Stores various transmitters that are released at the synapse   Synaptic vesicle  
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Period of time during which an organ or cell is incapable of repeating an action potential   Refractory period  
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Tissue destruction   Lesion  
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Transmits impulses between other neurons, especially as a reflex   Interneuron  
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Neurons that carry incoming information from senses to the Central Nervous System   Affector neuron (sensory)  
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Neurons that carry outgoing information from the Central Nervous System to muscles   Effector neuron (motor)  
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Positron emitting tomography; brain performs specific task and the image shows areas of brain ACTIVITY   PET scan  
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Magnetic resonance imaging; measures response of atomic nuclei to high-frequency radio waves in a magnetic field; shows brain STRUCTURE   MRI  
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Areas of cerebral cortex that aren't involved in primary motor or sensory functions; higher mental functioning   Association areas  
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Change of a cell's membrane potential to positive until reaching threshold (resulting in an action potential)   Depolarization  
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Return of membrane potential to negative after depolarization   Repolarization  
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Simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus   Reflex  
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If the signal hits threshold, the signal is sent at the same strength regardless of the initial stimulus   All-or-none  
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Involved in muscle action, learning, and memory; those with Alzheimer's have reduced amounts of this neurotransmitter   Acetylcholine  
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Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion; excessive amounts of this neurotransmitter is linked with schizophrenia   Dopamine  
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Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal; antidepressant drugs raise levels of this neurotransmitter   Serotonin  
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This neurotransmitter helps control alertness and arousal   Norepinephrine  
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Serves inhibitory functions and is sometimes implicated in eating and sleep disorders   GABA  
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Substance that mimics or has a similar effect to a neurotransmitter   Agonist  
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Substance that blocks the effect of a neurotransmitter   Antagonist  
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Paralyzes the motor nerves by blocking dopamine/acetylcholine   Curare  
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Loss of dopamine causing tremors, muscular rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement   Parkinson's disease  
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Brain disorder characterized by deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and finally, physical functioning   Alzheimer's disease  
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Characterized by disorganized/delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions/actions   Schizophrenia  
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Lowered serotonin leading to a state of low mood   Depression  
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Part of peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of internal organs   Autonomic nervous system  
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Part of peripheral nervous system that controls skeletal muscles   Somatic nervous system  
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Division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy; homeostasis   Parasympathetic nervous system  
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Division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations   Sympathetic nervous system  
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Brain and spinal cord   Central Nervous System  
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Sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the body   Peripheral Nervous System  
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Associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives desires such ass those for food and sex; includes hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus   Limbic system  
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Two neural clusters in the limbic system that influence fear and aggression   Amygdala  
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Neural structure below the thalamus; the reward center, directs many maintenance activities, helps govern endocrine, regulates hunger, thirst, body temperature, sex, and flight-or-flight, triggers the pituitary gland   Hypothalamus  
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"Little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance   Cerebellum  
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Sensory switchboard; directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to cerebellum/medulla   Thalamus  
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Nerve network in brainstem; helps control arousal   Reticular formation  
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Base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing   Medulla  
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Involved in speaking, muscle movements, planning/judgement   Frontal Lobe  
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Includes the sensory cortex and the angular gyrus   Parietal Lobe  
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Includes the auditory areas and Wernicke's area   Temporal Lobe  
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Includes the visual areas   Occipital Lobe  
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Registers and processes body sensations   Sensory cortex  
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Area at rear of the frontal lobes; controls voluntary movements   Motor cortex  
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Area of the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension   Wernicke's area  
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Area of the left frontal lobe that allows for speech   Broca's area  
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Large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them   Corpus callosum  
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Neural center in the limbic system that PROCESSES explicit memories for storage   Hippocampus  
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Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area or Wernicke's area   Aphasia  
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Brain's capacity for modification   Plasticity  
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Tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition   Fundamental attribution error  
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Tendency for people who agree to a small request to comply later with a larger one   Foot-in-the-door phenomenon  
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Having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes as relating to behavioral decisions and causing attitudes to change   Cognitive dissonance  
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Central (person ponders the content and logic of message) vs. peripheral (individual is encouraged not to look at the content of the message, but at the source; knowledge of source, number of arguments, stimuli, scarcity)   Central vs. peripheral routes to persuasion  
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Decision must be made between two attractive choices   Approach-approach conflict  
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Decision must be made between two unattractive choices   Avoidance-avoidance conflict  
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Decision must be made about whether or not to pursue a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects   Approach-avoidance conflict  
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Conformity influenced by social norms   Normative social influence  
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Conformity influenced by other's opinions about reality   Informational social influence  
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Improved performance of tasks in the presence of others   Social facilitation  
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Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when trying to attain a common goal   Social loafing  
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Loss of self-awareness/self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal/anonymity   Deindividuation  
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Enhancement of a group's prevailing attitudes   Group polarization  
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Desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives   groupthink  
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Generalized belief about a group of people   stereotype  
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"Us" - people with whom one shares a common identity   ingroup  
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Prejudice provides an outlet for ager by providing a scapegoat   Scapegoat theory  
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Tendency of people to believe the world is just   Just-world phenomenon  
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Frustration creates anger, then aggression   Frustration-aggression principle  
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Perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, ideas   conflict  
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Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them   Mere exposure effect  
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Theory that altruism does not exist; helpful behavior occurs when the benefits outweigh the costs   Social exchange theory  
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Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction; conflicting parties grant small conciliatory acts that gradually increase until peace is achieved   GRIT  
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Overall goal for the betterment of the group   Superordinate goals  
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Biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes   Genes  
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Threadlike structures of DNA molecules that contain genes   Chromosomes  
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Complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes   DNA  
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Forms the basic structural unit of nucleic acids such as DNA   Nucleotide  
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We learn social behavior by observing and imitating   Social learning theory  
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Characteristics by which people define male and female   gender  
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Acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role   gender-typing  
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Set of expected behaviors for males and for females   Gender role  
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Study of the evolution of behavior and the mind   Evolutionary psychology  
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Person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity   Temperament  
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Understood rule for accepted and expected behavior   Cultural norms  
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Twins who develop from separate eggs; share fetal environment   Fraternal twins  
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Twins who develop from a single fertilized egg   Identical twins  
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Studies which attempt to tease apart genetic and environmental components of a behavior or disorder by comparing the outcomes of twins ("nature" and "nurture")   Adoption studies  
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Those trait variations contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations   Natural Selection  
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Change in an organism's behavior due to experience   Learning  
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Promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do   Overjustification effect  
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Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it   Latent learning  
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Tendency to respond to any stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus   Generalization  
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Reinforcers guide behavior closer to a desired goal   Shaping  
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Involuntary learning, determined by what precedes it   Classical conditioning  
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Behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment   Operant conditioning  
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Learning by observing others   Observational learning  
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Innately reinforcing stimulus (food) vs. symbolically reinforcing stimulus (money)   Primary vs. Secondary reinforcers  
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Initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship   Acquisition  
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Diminished response to the conditioned stimulus when it is no longer coupled with the unconditioned stimulus   Extinction  
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Reappearance of an extinguished response after a rest   Spontaneous recovery  
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Ability to distinguish between conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli   Discrimination  
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An event that decreases the behavior that it follows   Punishment  
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Fixed = specific time/interval; variable = unspecified   Fixed vs. variable reinforcers  
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Ratio = number of responses; interval = time elapsed   Ratio vs. interval reinforcers  
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Stimulus that unconditionally triggers a response   unconditioned stimulus  
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Originally irrelevant stimulus that comes to trigger a response   conditioned stimulus  
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Naturally occurring response to a unconditioned stimulus   unconditioned response  
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Learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus   conditioned response  
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Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs   Continuous reinforcement  
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Mental representation of the layout of one's environment   Cognitive map  
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Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering   Cognition  
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Developing human from about 2 weeks through the 2nd month   Embryo  
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Fertilized egg before developing into an embryo   Zygote  
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Developing human from 9 weeks to birth   Fetus  
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Organ in the uterus of pregnant women, nourishing and maintaining the fetus through the umbilical cord   Placenta  
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Agents that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (ex. chemicals and viruses)   Teratogens  
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Physical/cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking   Fetal alcohol syndrome  
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Baby's tendency to search for a nipple   Rooting reflex  
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Properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects   conservation  
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Emotional tie with another person   attachment  
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Certain animals forming attachments during a critical period   Imprinting  
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Adapting one's current schema's to incorporate new information   Accommodation  
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Interpreting one's new experience in terms of existing schemas   Assimilation  
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Concept/framework that organizes and interprets information   Schema  
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Ability to reason speedily and abstractly; decreases with age   Fluid intelligence  
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Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; increases with age   Crystallized intelligence  
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Awareness that things continue to exist when not perceived   Object permanence  
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Fear of strangers that infants commonly display (8 months)   Stranger anxiety  
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Inability of preoperational children to take another's point of view   Egocentrism  
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Infants know the world mostly in terms of sensory impressions and motor activities (birth-2 years)   Sensorimotor stage  
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Child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic (2-7 years)   Preoperational stage  
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Children gain mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events (7-11 years)   Concrete operational stage  
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People begin to think logically about abstract concepts (>12 years)   Formal operational stage  
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Kohlberg's theory; before age 9, children obey rules to avoid punishment or gain rewards   Preconventional  
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Kohlberg's theory. adolescents care for others and uphold laws and social rules simply because they are laws and rules; maintain social order   Conventional  
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Kohlberg's theory; affirms people's agreed-upon rights; follows what one personally perceives as basic ethical principles   Postconventional  
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Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think   Linguistic relativity  
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Optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development   Critical period  
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Rules for combining words into grammatically sensible phrases   Syntax  
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Set of rules by which we derive meaning from words   Semantics  
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In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit   Phoneme  
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In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning   Morpheme  
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Secure = less extreme reactions to stress, more willing to try new things, be better problem solvers, form better relationships. Insecure = refuse to interact with others, avoid others, exaggerate distress, show anger, anxiety, or fear   Secure vs. Insecure attachment  
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Parenting style that is demanding but not responsive; strict   Authoritarian  
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Parenting style that is responsive but not demanding; lenient   Permissive  
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Parenting style that is demanding and responsive; balanced and expects maturity   Authoritative  
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People's ideas about their own and others' mental states   Theory of mind  
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Predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation   Signal detection theory  
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One sense may influence another (ex. smell influences taste)   Sensory interaction  
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Below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness   Subliminal  
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Sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment   sensation  
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Organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events   Perception  
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Minimum difference a person can detect between two stimuli   Difference threshold  
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Minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time   Absolute threshold  
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To perceive their difference, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage   Weber's law  
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Conversion of one form of energy into another   Transduction  
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Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation   Sensory adaptation  
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Nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain   Optic nerve  
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In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone   Frequency theory  
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Our perception of sound depends on where each component frequency produces vibrations along the basilar membrane   Place theory  
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Visual system interprets information about color by processing signals from cones and rods in an antagonistic manner   Opponent-process theory  
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The release of substance P in the spinal cord produces the sensation of pain   gate control theory  
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Processing many things at once   Parallel processing  
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Adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters   Pupil  
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Transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to focus images on the retina   Lens  
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Light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information   Retina  
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Central focal point in the retina, around which cones cluster   Fovea  
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Point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye; no receptor cells   Blind spot  
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Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond   Rods  
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Receptor cells concentrated near the center of the retina; function in daylight/well-lit conditions; fine detail and color   Cones  
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Transmit signals from photoreceptors to ganglion cells   Bipolar cells  
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Transmit visual information from the retina to the brain   Ganglion cells  
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Ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening   Iris  
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Smell   Olfactory  
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Taste   Gustatory  
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System for sensing the position and movement of body parts   Kinesthesis  
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Sense of body movement and position   Vestibular sense  
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Sensory neurons located in muscles, joints, and the inner ear; part of kinesthesis   Proprioceptors  
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Canals in the inner ear that control the vestibular sense   Semicircular canals  
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Coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses   Cochlea  
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Tiny cells located on the basilar membrane   Hair cells  
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Three bones in the middle ear, collectively called ossicles; help to amplify sound waves   Hammer, anvil, and stirrup  
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membrane of the middle ear that vibrates in response to sound waves (aka tympanic membrane)   ear drum  
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Part of the outer ear; focuses sound waves to middle ear   Pinna  
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Impression of a vivid sensation retained after the stimulus has ceased   Afterimage  
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Stimulus neurons in the spinal cord which send messages of pain via the thalamus to the cortex   Substance P  
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Membrane at the base of the cochlea that vibrates in certain frequencies   oval window  
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Membrane inside the cochlea covered in hair cells   Basilar membrane  
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Capacity for the process of reacting to certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously   Selective attention  
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Slight difference in lateral separation between two objects as seen by the left eye and the right eye   Retinal disparity  
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Tendency to perceive the size of a familiar object despite differences in distance (and consequent differences in the size of the patter projected on the retina of the eye)   Size constancy  
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Blinking lights in succession create the perception of movement   Phi phenomenon  
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Monocular cue; if one object partially blocks the view of another, we perceive it as closer   Interposition  
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Tendency for vision to dominate the other senses   Visual capture  
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perception of motion from slightly varying images   Stroboscopic movement  
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Binocular cue; extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object   Convergence  
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Organized whole perceived as more than the sum of its parts   Gestalt  
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Monocular cue; gradual change from course, distinct texture to fine, indistinct textures signals increasing distance   Texture gradient  
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Ability to see objects in 3D although the images that strike our retina are 2D; allows us to judge distance   Depth perception  
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Monocular cue; parallel lines seem to converge with distance   Linear perspective  
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Monocular cue; objects higher in our field of vision are perceived as farther away   Relative height  
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Monocular cue; light from distant objects passes through more atmosphere so they are perceived as hazy and farther away   Relative clarity  
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Mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another; determined by our schemas and experiences   Perceptual set  
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Influence of environmental factors on perception of a stimulus   Context effect  
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