Focusing on inner sensations, images and feelings.
Wundt used this approach as did James with the stream of consciousness.

John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior.

Rebelled against both Behaviorism and Freudian psychology. Pioneers Carl Rogers and Maslow emphasized the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential.

Science of behavior and mental processes.

The controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience to the development of our traits and behaviors.

Considers the influences of biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors.

practical research- industrial organizational psychologists

The tendency to believe after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it. The I knew it all along phenomenon)

Humans tend to think they know more than they do.

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

Testable prediction

Examines one individual in depth in hope of revealing things true of us all

Observing and recording behavior in a naturally occurring situation without trying to manipulate or control the situation

the extent to which two factors vary together. Positive/negative ranges from -1 to 1. Correlation does not imply causation.

Enable to the researcher to focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by 1) manipulating the factors of interest and 2) holding constant other factors

receives a treatment

receives a pseudotreatment

neither the participants nor the research assistants collecting the data will know which group is receiving the treatment

the neurons busy branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

The neurons extension that passes messages through its branching terminal fibers that form junctions with other neurons

short electrical charge that travels down its axon

the meeting point between neurons

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between neurons. will travel across the synapse and bind to the receiving neuron

Enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles

controls our glands and the muscles of our internal organs

arouses and expends energy. will accelerate your heartbeat, etc.

produces opposite effects it conserves the energy as it calms you by decreasing your heart beat and lowering your heart beat.

on top of the kidneys and release epinephrine and norepinephrine.

located in the center of the brain and is controlled by the hypothalamus: master gland.

the oldest part and central core of the brain: is responsible for autonomic survival

the base of the brainstem controls your heartbeat and breathing

helps coordinate movements

brains sensory switchboard: it receives information from all of the senses except for smell and routes it to higher brain regions

filters incoming stimuli and relays important information to other areas of the brain

“little brain” coordinating movement output and balance

neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres associated with emotions and drives

influence aggression and fear

important link in the chain of command governing bodily maintenance: hunger, thirst, body temperature, sexual behavior. linked to emotion and reward

a thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells

impaired use of language

damage to this area disrupts speaking

damage to this area disrupts understanding

the brains ability to modify itself after some types of damage

the wide band of axon fibers connecting the two hemispheres and carries messages between them

your conscious awareness focuses like a flashlight on a very limited aspect of your experience

your ability to attend to only one voice among many

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (gorilla experiment)

failing to notice changes in the environment

the biological clock: regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle

rapid eye movement: where vivid dreams often occur

recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

sufferers experience periodic overwhelming sleepiness

a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated awakenings

according to freud the remembered story line of a dream

according to freud the underlying meaning of a dream

drugs such as alcohol and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions

temporarily excite neural activity and arouse body functions

assumes that children learn gender-linked behaviors by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.

Is development in a gradual continuous process or does it proceed through a sequence of separate stages

do our early personality traits persist through life or do we become different persons as we age?

when something touches their cheek babies turn toward that touch open then mouth and root for a nipple.

concepts or molds into which we pour our experiences

piaget stated that we interpret new things in terms of our current understanding (schemas)

adjust our schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences

1. Sensorimotor- experiencing world through senses
2. Preoperational- representing things with words
3. concrete operational- thinking logically
4. formal operational- abstract reasoning

out of sight/out of mind. The awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived.

the principle that the quantity remains the same despite changes in shape

preschool childrens difficultly perceiving things from another’s point of view

peoples ideas about their own and others mental states

an optimal period when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development

the process by which certain animals form attachments

impose rules and expect obedience

submit to their children’s desires

parents that are both demanding and responsive.

1. preconventional morality- self interest
2. conventional morality- caring for others
3. actions are judged “right” because they flow from peoples rights

1. trust vs. mistrust
2. autonomy vs shame
3. initiative vs guilt
4. industry vs inferiority
5. identity vs role confusion
6. intimacy vs isolation
7. generativity vs stagnation
8. integrity vs despair

our accumulated knowledge as reflected in vocab and tests

our ability to reason speedlily and abstractly

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

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

sensory analysis that starts at the entry level

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular stimulus. the point at which we detect a stimulus half the time

also called the just noticeable difference is the minimum difference a person can detect between any two stimuli half the time

for their difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion

our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

the distance from one wave peak to the next

the color that we experience

the amount of energy in a light wave: influences our perception of its brightness

light enters the eye here (bends the light and protects the eye)

retinal receptors that detect black white and gray and are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision

retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight. they detect fine detail

carries information to your brain (where the thalamus will receive and distribute the information)

where the optic nerve leaves the eye

the retina’s area of central focus

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

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable color vision.

your sense of position and movement of your body parts

sensory receptors that detect harmful temperatures, pressures, or chemicals.

an organized whole. Psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings

the tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and animals

linking two events that occur closely together

we learn to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate events. ivan pavlow

we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence and thus to repeat acts followed by good results

we learn from others experiences

initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship

the diminished responding that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer signals an impending US (food)

tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS

being able to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other irrelevant stimuli

actions that are automatic responses to a stimuli

B.F. Skinner- rewarded behavior is likely to recur

reinforcers gradually guide an animals actions toward a desired behavior

any even that strengthens a preceding response

strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasurable stimulus after a response

strengthens a response by reducing or removing something undesirable or unpleasant

getting food when hungry. are unlearned

get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not

reinforce behavior after a set number of responses

provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of responses

any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior

frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or observing another doing so (use PET scan)

the processing of information into the memory system

the retention of encoded information over time

the process of getting information out of memory storage

activated memory that holds a few item briefly

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information

conscious repetition (Ebbinghaus)

we retain information better when our rehearsal is distributed over time

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery

we can more easily recall information when we can organize it into familiar manageable chunks

short-term memory is limited to storing about seven bits of information (George miller)

an increase in a synapses firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

unable to form new memories

retention independent of conscious recollection

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”

a neural center that is located in the limbic system: helps process explicit memories for storage

the activation of particular associations in memory

occurs when something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience later

occurs when new information makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier

incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event

we retain the memory of the event but not of the context in which we acquired it

step by step procedures that guarantee a solution

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments efficiently: usually speedier

we seek verifying ideas more eagerly than we seek evidence that might refute them

judging the likelihood of things in terms o how well they seem to represent, or match particular prototypes

operates when we base our judgments on the mental availability of information

around 4 months of age babies enter this stage in which they spontaneously utter a variety of sounds

around 1 children enter this stage and the stage in which most children speak in single words

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks two-word statements

early speech stage in which a child speaks in mostly nouns and verbs

(g) according to spearman underlines specific mental abilities

the ability to perceive emotions, understand emotions, and use emotions

the widely used American revision of binets original intelligence test

defined as the mental age/chronological age

maslows pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that first must be satisfied

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

the theory that emotion-arousing stimulus stimultaneously triggers 1) physiological responses and 2) the subjective experience of emotion

emotional release

attempts to alievate stress directly

attempting to alieviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs

a persons characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

freud told his patient to relax and say whatever came to mind no matter how trivial

freuds theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

unconscious psychic energy that constantly strives to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and agress. Pleasure priniciple: seeks immediate gratification

reality principle: seeks to gratify the ids impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure

moral compass that forces the ego to consider the ideal- how we ought to behave

oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

tactics that function to reduce anxiety

agreed with Frued that childhood is important but social, not sexual tensions are crucial for personality formation

a common reservoir of images derived from our species universal experiences (carl jung).

ask test-takers to describe an ambiguous stimulus or tell a story about it

Growth-promoting climate required three conditions: 1) genuiness 2) acceptance – unconditional positive self regard and 3) empathy

people’s characteristic behavior patternsn and conscious motives

the perception that chance or outside forces determine your fact

the perception that they can control their own destiny

the hopelessness an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

overestimating others and noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance and blunders

our readiness to perceive ourselves favorable

marked by distressing persistent anxiety or dysfunctional anxiety-reducing behaivor

the distressing symptoms take a somatic form without apparent physical causes

anxiety presumably is converted into a physical symptom (blindness)

disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated from previous memories

a mood disorder in which a person experiences in the absence of drugs or a medical condition two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness

a mood disorder in which the person alternates between mania and depression

using a blend of therapies

try to help people understand their current symptoms by focusing on themes across important relationships

psychoanalytic and humanistic therapies attempt to help troubled people by reducing their inner conflicts and increasing self-understanding

carl rogers: the therapist listens to the persons conscious self-perceptions without judging, interpreting, or directing the client toward certain insights

behavior therapy: that treats anxieties by exposing people to the things they fear and avoid

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increased anxiety-triggering stimuli

opposite of systematic desensitization- its goal is to substitute a negative response for a positive response to a harmful stimulus

aims not only to alter the way people things but also alter the way they act

physically changing the brains functioning by altering its chemistry with drugs, or affecting its circuitry with various kinds of direct stimulation

we usually attribute others behavior either to their internal dispositions or their external situations

overestimating the influence of personality and underestimating the influence of situations

a tendency for people to first agree to a small action to comply later with a larger one

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent

adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard (aschs line experiments)

milgrams experiments

stronger performance in others presence

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts than when individually accountable

the enhancement of a groups prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

the unselfish regard for the welfare of others