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Empiricism

answer

The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation.

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Structuralism

answer

An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind.

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Functionalism

answer

A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function—how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

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Experimental Psychology

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The study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method.

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Behaviorism

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The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.

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Humanistic Psychology

answer

Historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth.

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Cognitive Neuroscience

answer

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).

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Psychology

answer

The science of behavior and mental processes.

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Nature-Nurture Issue

answer

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

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Natural Selection

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The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

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Nature-Nurture Issue

answer

Nurture works on what nature endows.

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Psychometrics

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The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.

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Basic Research

answer

Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.

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Developmental Psychology

answer

The scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.

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Educational Psychology

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The study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning.

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Personality Psychology

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The study of an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

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Social Psychology

answer

The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

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Applied Research

answer

Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.

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Industrial-Organizational Psychology

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The application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces.

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Hindsight Bias

answer

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.

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Critical Thinking

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Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

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Theory

answer

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.

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Hypothesis

answer

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.

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Operational Definition

answer

A statement of the procedures used to define research variables.

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Replication

answer

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.

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Case Study

answer

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

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Survey

answer

A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group.

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Population

answer

All the cases in a group being studied.

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Random Sample

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A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

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Naturalistic Observation

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Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

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Correlation

answer

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.

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Correlation Coefficient

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A statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to 1).

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Scatterplot

answer

A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables.

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Illusory Correlation

answer

The perception of a relationship where none exists.

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Experiment

answer

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process.

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Random Assignment

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Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups.

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Double-Blind Procedure

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An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether any one research participant is in the control or experimental group.

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Placebo Effect

answer

Experimental results caused by expectations alone.

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Experimental Group

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In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, or one version of the independent variable.

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Control Group

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In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment and serves to compare the experimental group's results against.

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Independent Variable

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The experimental factor that is manipulated and whose effect is being studied.

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Confounding Variable

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A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in the experiment.

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Dependent Variable

answer

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to the manipulation of the independent variable.

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Mean

answer

The arithmetic average of a distribution. Add the scores together then divide by the number of scores.

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Median

answer

The middle score in a distribution.

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Range

answer

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.

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Standard Deviation

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A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score. √((Sum of (deviations)^2)/(Number of scores))

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Normal Curve (Bell Curve)

answer

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data, where most scores fall near the mean.

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Statistical Significance

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A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance.

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Culture

answer

The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

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Informed Consent

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

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Debriefing

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The postexperimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants.

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Biological Psychology

answer

A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior.

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Neuron

answer

A nerve cell (the basic building block of the nervous system).

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Sensory Neurons

answer

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

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Motor Neurons

answer

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.

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Interneurons

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Neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

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Dendrite

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The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

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Axon

answer

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through wich messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

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Myelin Sheath

answer

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the axon fibers of many neurons, enabling vastly greater transmission speed of impulses.

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Action potential

answer

A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.

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Threshold

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The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

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Synapse

answer

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.

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Synaptic Gap/Cleft

answer

The space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons at the synapse.

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Neurotransmitters

answer

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic clefts between neurons.

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Reuptake

answer

A neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron.

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Endorphins

answer

Natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

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Agonist Molecules

answer

Molecules similar enough to neurotransmitters that they bind to the neurotransmitters' receptors and mimic their effects.

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Antagonist Molecules

answer

Molecules that bind to neurotransmitter receptors but block the neurotransmitters' functioning.

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Nervous System

answer

The body's speedy, electrochemical communication network.

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Central Nervous System

answer

The brain and spinal cord

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Peripheral Nervous System

answer

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.

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Nerves

answer

Bundled axons that form neural "cables" connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

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Somatic Nervous System

answer

The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles.

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Autonomic Nervous System

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The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the lands and the muscles of the internal organs.

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Sympathetic Nervous System

answer

A division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body.

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Parasympathetic Nervous System

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A division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving energy.

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Reflex

answer

A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus.

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Endocrine System

answer

The body's slower chemical communication system that uses hormones to communicate.

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Hromones

answer

Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues.

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Adrenal Glands

answer

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

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Pituitary Gland

answer

The endocrine system's most influential gland, and is under the influence of the hypothalamus.

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Lesion

answer

Tissue destruction.

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Electroencephalogram (EEG)

answer

An amplified recording of thew aves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface.

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Computed Tomography (CT) Scan

answer

A series of X-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body.

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Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan

answer

A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

answer

A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer=generated images of soft tissue.

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Functional MRI (fMRI)

answer

A technique for revealing bloodflow and brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans.

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Brainstem

answer

The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull. It is responsible for automatic survival functions.

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Medulla

answer

The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing.

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Reticular Formation

answer

A nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal.

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Thalamus

answer

The brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

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Cerebellum

answer

The "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance.

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Limbic System

answer

Doughnut-shaped neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives.

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Limbic System

answer

Amygdala, Hypothalamus, and Hippocampus.

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Amygdala

answer

Two neural clusters in the limbic system that are linked to emotion.

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Hypothalamus

answer

A neural structure lying below the thalamus that directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system, and is linked to emotion and reward.

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Cerebral Cortex

answer

The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

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Glial cells (Glia)

answer

Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons.

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Frontal Lobes

answer

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead. It is involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments.

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Parietal Lobes

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The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear, and it receives sensory input for touch and body position.

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Occipital Lobes

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The portion of the cerebral cortex lying a the back of the head, and it includes areas that receive information from the visual fields.

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Temporal Lobes

answer

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears, and it includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear.

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Motor Cortex

answer

An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.

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Sensory Cortex

answer

Area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.

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Association Areas

answer

Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions but are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.

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Aphasia

answer

Impairment of language.

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Broca's Area

answer

Controls language expression.

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Wernicke's Area

answer

Controls language reception and comprehension.

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Plasticity

answer

The brain's ability to change by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

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Neurogenesis

answer

The formation of new neurons.

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Corpus Callosum

answer

THe large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

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Split Brain

answer

A condition resulting from surgery where the subject's brain hemispheres are isolated from one another by the severing of the corpus callosum.

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Consciousness

answer

Our awareness of ourselves and oure environment.

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Cognitive Neuroscience

answer

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition.

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Dual Processing

answer

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

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Behavior Genetics

answer

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

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Environment

answer

Every non-genetic influence.

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Chromosomes

answer

Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes.

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DNA

answer

A complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes.

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Genes

answer

The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes. They are segments of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein.

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Genome

answer

The complete genetic instructions for making an organism.

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Identical Twins

answer

Twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two.

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Fraternal Twins

answer

Twins who develop from two separate fertilized eggs.

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Heritability

answer

The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes.

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Interaction

answer

The interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor depends on another factor.

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Molecular Genetics

answer

The subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and functions of genes.

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Evolutionary Psychology

answer

The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection.

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Sensation

answer

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

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Perception

answer

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.

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Bottom-Up Processing

answer

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

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Top-Down Processing

answer

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes.

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Selective Attention

answer

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

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Inattentional Blindness

answer

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

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Change Blindness

answer

Failing to notice changes in the environment.

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Psychophysics

answer

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them.

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Absolute Threshold

answer

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.

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Signal Detection Theory

answer

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

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Subliminal

answer

Below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

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Priming

answer

The activation of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.

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Difference Threshold

answer

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as the just noticeable difference.

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Weber's Law

answer

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage.

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Sensory Adaptation

answer

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

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Transduction

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Conversion of one form of energy into another (in sensation, the conversion of stimulus energies into neural impulses).

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Wavelength

answer

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next.

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Hue

answer

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light

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Intensity

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The amount of energy in a light or sound wave as determined by the wave's amplitude (height). This we perceive as brightness or loudness.

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Pupil

answer

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through wich light enters.

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Iris

answer

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.

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Lens

answer

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.

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Accomodation

answer

The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.

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Retina

answer

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.

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Rods

answer

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray, and are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision.

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Cones

answer

Retinal receptors that detect detail and color, function in well-lit places, and are concentrated in the fovea.

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Fovea

answer

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster.

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Blind Spot

answer

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there.

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Optic Nerve

answer

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.

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Bipolar Cells

answer

Cells in the retina that receive information from rods and cones. Cones have their own individual bipolar cells, while rods share one with other rods.

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Ganglion Cells

answer

Cells in the retina that transmit information from bipolar cells to the optic nerve.

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Feature Detectors

answer

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.

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Parallel Processing

answer

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously.

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Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

answer

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color.

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Opponent-Process Theory

answer

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black_ enable color vision.

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Audition

answer

The sense or act of hearing

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Frequency

answer

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point on a given time.

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Pitch

answer

A tome's experienced highness or lowness that depends on frequency.

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Middle Ear

answer

The chamber between the eardrum and the cochlea containing three tiny bones that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window.

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Ossicles

answer

The bones in the middle ear. In order from eardrum to oval window they are: the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup).

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Inner Ear

answer

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

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Pinna

answer

The outwardly visible part of the outer ear that funnels sound waves into the ear canal.

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Place Theory

answer

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.

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Frequency Theory

answer

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve.

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Conductive Hearing Loss

answer

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

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Sensorineural Hearing Loss

answer

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves. This is also called nerve deafness.

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Cochlear Implant

answer

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea.

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Kinesthesis

answer

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

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Vestibular Sense

answer

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.

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Gate-Control Theory

answer

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on the the brain.

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Sensory Interaction

answer

The principle that one sense may influence another.

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Gestalt

answer

An organized whole.

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Figure-Ground

answer

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.

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Grouping

answer

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups. Proximity, Continuity, Connectedness, Similarity, and Closure.

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Depth Perception

answer

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional.

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visual Cliff

answer

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

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Binocular Cues

answer

Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

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Retinal Disparity

answer

A binocular cue for perceiving depth where images from the retinas are compared to compute distance.

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Monocular Cues

answer

Depth cues available to either eye alone.

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Phi Phenomenon

answer

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

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Perceptual Constancy

answer

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.

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Color Constancy

answer

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wave-lengths reflected by the object.

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Perceptual Adaptation

answer

In vision, the ability to adjucts to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

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Perceptual Set

answer

A menta predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

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Circadian Rhythm

answer

The biological clock that completes a cycle every 24 hours and is regulated by light changes.

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Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep

answer

A recurring sleep stage during which ivid dreams commonly occur.

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Paradoxical Sleep

answer

REM sleep; the body is internally aroused and externally calm/paralyzed.

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Alpha Waves

answer

The relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed awake state.

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Sleep

answer

Periodic, natural loss of consciousness as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation.

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Hallucination

answer

False sensory experiences.

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Delta Waves

answer

The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep

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Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep

answer

Encompasses all sleep stages except for REM sleep.

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Insomnia

answer

Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep.

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Narcolepsy

answer

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks.

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Sleep Apnea

answer

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

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Night Terrors

answer

A sleep disorder that occurs in Stage 4 characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified.

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Dream

answer

A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind.

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Manifest Content

answer

According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream.

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Latent Content

answer

According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream.

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REM Rebound

answer

The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation.

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Hypnosis

answer

A social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.

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Posthypnotic Suggestion

answer

A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized.

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Dissociation

answer

A split in consciousness which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others.

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Psychoactive Drug

answer

A chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods.

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Tolerance

answer

The diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drup.

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Withdrawal

answer

The discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug.

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Physical Dependence

answer

A physiological need for a drug.

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Psychological Dependence

answer

A psychological need to use a drug.

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Addiction

answer

Compulsive drug craving and use.

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Depressants

answer

Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions.

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Barbiturates

answer

Drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system.

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Opiates

answer

Opium and its derivatives; they depress neural activity.

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Stimulants

answer

Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up bodily functions.

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Amphetamines

answer

Drugs that stimulate neural activity.

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Methamphetamine

answer

A powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system.

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Ecstasy (MDMA)

answer

A synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen that produces euphoria and social intimacy.

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Hallucinogens

answer

Psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images without sensory input.

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LSD

answer

A powerful hallucinogenic drug known more commonly as acid.

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Near-Death Experience

answer

An altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death.

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THC

answer

The major active ingredient in marijuana.

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Habituation

answer

An organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it.

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Associative Learning

answer

Learning that certain events occur together.

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Classical Conditioning

answer

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

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Unconditioned Response

answer

The unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus.

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Unconditioned Stimulus

answer

A stimulus that unconditionally triggers a response.

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Conditioned Response

answer

The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

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Conditioned Stimulus

answer

An originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an US, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

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Pavlov

answer

A researcher who discovered classical conditioning through his famous experiment with dogs.

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Acquisition

answer

The learning of an association.

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Higher-Order Conditioning

answer

When the CS is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second CS.

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Extinction

answer

The diminishing of a CR when an US does not follow a CS.

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Spontaneous Recovery

answer

The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.

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Generalization

answer

The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.

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Discrimination

answer

The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that do not signal an US.

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Learned Helplessness

answer

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

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Respondent Behavior

answer

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

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Operant Conditioning

answer

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

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Operant Behavior

answer

Behavior that operates on the environment.

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Law of Effect

answer

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely.

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Operant Chamber

answer

A chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer.

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Shaping

answer

An operant conditioning principle in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

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Discriminative Stimulus

answer

A stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement.

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Reinforcer

answer

Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

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Positive Reinforcement

answer

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli.

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Negative Reinforcement

answer

Increasing behaviors by removing negative stimuli.

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Primary Reinforcer

answer

An innately reinforcing stimulus.

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Conditioned/Secondary Reinforcer

answer

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer.

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Continuous Reinforcement

answer

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

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Partian Reinforcement

answer

Reinforcing a response only part of the time.

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Fixed-Ratio Schedule

answer

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

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Variable-Ratio Schedule

answer

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

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Fixed-Interval Schedule

answer

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after a specified amount of time, as long as the behavior has occurred.

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Variable-Interval Schedule

answer

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable amount of time, as long as the behavior has occurred.

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Punishment

answer

An event that decreases the behavior that it follows.

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Cognitive Map

answer

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment.

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Latent Learning

answer

Learning that occurs ut is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.

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Insight

answer

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem.

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Intrinsic Motivation

answer

A desire to perform a behavior for its own sake

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Extrinsic Motivation

answer

A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment.

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Observational Learning

answer

Also called social learning, it is learning by observing others.

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Modeling

answer

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior.

question

Mirror Neurons

answer

Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so.

question

Albert Bandura

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He conducted an experiment on observational learning where the experimental group of children observed an adult abusing a doll. He found that the children who saw this violence mimicked the behavior they had seen.

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B. F. Skinner

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He did research on operational conditioning.

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Prosocial Behavior

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Positive, constructive, helpful behavior.

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Antisocial Behavior

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Negative, unhelpful behavior.

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Encoding

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The processing of information into the memory system.

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Storage

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The retention of encoded information over time.

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Retrieval

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The process of getting information out of memory storage.

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Sensory Memory

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The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

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Short-Term Memory

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Activated memory that holds a few items briefly.

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Long-Term Memory

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The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

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Working Memory

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Focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

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Automatic Processing

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Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information.

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Effortful Processing

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Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

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Rehearsal

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The conscious repetition of information.

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Spacing Effect

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The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention.

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Serial Position Effect

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Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.

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Visual Encoding

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The encoding of picture images

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Acoustic Encoding

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The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

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Semantic Encoding

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The encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words.

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Imagery

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Mental pictures.

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Mnemonics

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Memory aids that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

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Chunking

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Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.

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Iconic Memory

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Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.

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Echoic Memory

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Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

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Long-Term Potentiation

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The increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation.

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Flashbulb Memory

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A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

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Amnesia

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Loss of memory.

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Implicit Memory

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Retention independent of conscious recollection.

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Explicit Memory

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Memory of facts and experiences taht one can consciously know and "declare."

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Hippocampus

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A neural center in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage

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Recall

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Measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.

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Recognition

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Measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned.

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Relearning

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Measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.

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Déjà vu

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The eerie sense that one has experienced a new situation before.

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Mood-Congruent Theory

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The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.

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Proactive Interference

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The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

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Retroactive Interference

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The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

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Repression

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The basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety=arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

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Misinformation Effect

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Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

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Source Amnesia

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Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined.

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Algorithm

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A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

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Heuristic

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A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

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Creativity

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The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

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Confirmation Bias

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Tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

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Fixation

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Inability to see a problem from a new perspective.

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Mental Set

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Tendency to approach a problem in one particular way.

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Functional Fixedness

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The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.

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Representative Heuristic

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Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent particular prototypes.

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Availability Heuristic

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Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.

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Overconfidence

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The tendency to be more confident than correct.

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Belief Perseverance

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Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

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Intuition

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An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

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Framing

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The way an issue is posed.

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Language

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Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

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Phoneme

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In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

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Morpheme

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In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning.

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Grammar

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In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

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Semantics

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The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language.

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Syntax

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Rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

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Babbling Stage

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Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

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One-Word Stage

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Stage in speech development from about age 1 to 2 during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

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Two-Word Stage

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Beginning around age 2, the stage in speech development during which a chid speaks mostly two-word statements.

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Telegraphic Speech

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Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs.

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Linguistic Determinism

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Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

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