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Frued

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Psychoanalytic, free associations, dreams and slips of tongue

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Psychoanalysis

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A lengthy insight therapy that was developed by Freud and aims at uncovering conflicts and unconscious impulses through special techniques, including free association, dream analysis, and transference.

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Behaviorism

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A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior

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Gestalt

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A school of psychology that believes individuals perceive objects and patterns as whole units and that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. They believed that behavior, perception, and all elements of the self must be viewed as a whole.

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Watson

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Figured out structure of DNA was a double helix

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Skinner

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Behaviorism; Operant Conditioning; Pos&Neg reinforcement, punishment

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Behavior

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A field of psychology that concentrates on observable, measurable behaviors and not on mental processes

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Social Psychologist

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Psychologists who study how people influence one another's behavior and mental processes, individually and in groups

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Developmental Psychologist

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

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Clinical Psychologist

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A psychologist who diagnoses and treats people with emotional disturbances

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Evolutionary Psychologist

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sees behavior and mental processes in terms of their genetic adaptations for survival and reproduction.

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Case study

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An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.

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Testing

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A method for collecting data.

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Control Group

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A group separated from the rest of the experiment where the independent variable being tested cannot influence the results

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Experimental Group

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A subject or group of subjects in an experiment that is exposed to the factor or condition being tested.

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Ethical Standards

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The criteria that help differentiate right from wrong

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Independent Variables

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A variable that a scientist changes to find out how this change affects other variables in the experiment.

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Informed Consent

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An ethical principle requiring that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate.

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Volunteer Bias

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The concept that people who volunteer to participate in research studies often differ from those who do not volunteer

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States of Consciousness

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different ways of orienting to internal and external events, such as awake states and sleep states

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Sleep

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Altered state of consciousness; melatonin might be a significant neurochemical in this process

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Sleep Apnea

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A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings.

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Narcolepsy

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A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times.

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Pituitary Gland

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Endocrine gland attached to the base of the brain that secretes hormones that affect the function of other glands as well as hormones that act directly on physical processes.

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Adrenal

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A pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones that help arouse the body in times of stress.

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Ovaries

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Glands that produce the egg cells and hormones

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Testies

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the male reproductive organ that makes sperm and testosterone

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Sensory Adaption

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Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

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Absolute Threshold

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Minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

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Signal Detection Theory

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A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background noise

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Reproductive Organs

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testes, ovaries, and respective delivery systems

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Testostrone

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male sex hormone

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Heredity

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the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next

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Genes

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DNA segments that serve as the key functional units in hereditary transmission.

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Retina

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Contains sensory receptors that process visual information and sends it to the brain

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Pupil

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Adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

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Rod

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Located in the periphery of the retina, these are sensory receptors for vision that work best in reduced illumination, and only allow perception of achromatic colors, low sensitivity to detail and are not involved in color vision.

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Cones

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shaped visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright light; responsible for viewing color

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Colorblind

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A sex linked disease, the loss of red-green color vision

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Nurture vs Nature

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Debate over whether biological factors are more important in the development of psychological traits or if this is more effected by experiences that one goes though in life or, more specifically, early childhood.

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Nurture

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Physical and social world that influences biological and psychological development

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Nature

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A general term for the traits, capacities, and limitations that each individual inherits genetically from his or her parents at the moment of conception.

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Stimulants

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Drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines, cocaine, and Ecstasy) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

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Depressants

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Drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions.

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Hallucinogens

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A diverse group of drugs that have powerful effects on mental and emotional functioning, marked most prominently by distortions in sensory and perceptual experience.

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Methamphetamines

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a powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system, with speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels

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Cocaine

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Abnormal fetal development and fetal addiction; placental abruption

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Marijuana

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altering drug that affects the brain and other parts of the central nervous system.

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Thoughts

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Those mental processes of which a person is always conscious.

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Episodic

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A category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations and experiences.

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Implicit

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implied rather than expressly stated

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Semantic

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Meaning

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Encoding

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Forming a memory code

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Storage

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Maintaining encoded information in memory over time.

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Retrieval

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Process of "finding" information previously stored in memory.

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Sensory

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Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.

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Short Term Memory

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Memory that is limited in capacity to about seven items and in duration by the subject's active rehearsal

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Long Term Memory

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Relatively permanent and limitless storage of memory.

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Recall

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A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

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Recognition

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A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

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Relearning

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A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

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Laten Learning

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learning that occurs but is not demonstrated until there is incentive to do so

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Classical conditioning

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A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

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Operant conditioning

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A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

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Continuous Reinforcement

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Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

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Partial Reinforcement

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A type of learning in which behavior is reinforced intermittently

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Reinforcement Schedules

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Continuous Reinforcement

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Conditioning

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A type of learning in which a particular stimulus or response is linked to a reward or punishment.

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Counterconditioning

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A behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors; based on classical conditioning. Includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning.

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Conditioned Stimulus

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In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

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Unconditioned Stimulus

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A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning

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Spontaneous Recovery

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Recurrence of an extinguished conditioned response, usually following a rest period

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Generalization

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transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus

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Deductive Reasoning

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Drawing a conclusion from initial definitions and assumptions by means of logical reasoning.

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Inductive Reasoning

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A type of reasoning that reaches conclusions based on a pattern of specific examples or past events. 6

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Means-end Analysis

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A process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal

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Primacy effect

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Other things being equal, information presented first usually has the most influence

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Regency effect

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the tendency to recall the last items in a series of items

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Chunking

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the configuration of smaller units of information into large coordinated units

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Heuristic

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A rule of thumb based on experience used to make decisions.

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Morpheme

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A basic unit of meaning in a language.

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Gifted

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Having above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something

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Intelligence

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Ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

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Mental Retardation

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A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound.

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Intelligence tests

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Tests devised to quantify a person's level of intelligence.

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Intelligence Quotient

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IQ

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WAIS

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the narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips

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Gardner

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8 multiple intelligences

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Maturation

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Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience

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Stage Development

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there are periods of little or no change (plateaus) followed by relatively abrupt changes

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Maladaptive Behavior

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Behavior used to cope with feeling and situations that are considered inappropraite to society

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