Chapter 1 Applied psychology The branch of psychology ...



Applied Psychology

• The branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems.

Behavior

• Any observable activity or response by an organism.

Behaviorism

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

Clinical psychology

• The branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.

Cognition

• Mental processes or thinking.

Empiricism

• The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation.

Evolutionary psychology

• Examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive or survival value for a species over the course of many generations.

Functionalism

• School of psychology asserting that psychology's major purpose was to investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.

Humanism

• A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.

Introspection

• Careful, systematic observation of one's own conscious experience.

Psychoanalytic theory

• A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior.

Psychology

• The science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies this knowledge to solving various practical problems.

SQ3R

• A study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: survey, question, read, recite, and review.

Structuralism

• School of psychology based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and to investigate how these elements are related.

Testwiseness

• Ability to use the characteristics and formats of a test to maximize one's score.

Theory

• A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations.

Unconscious

• According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.

Anecdotal evidence

• Support for a particular point of view through the use of personal and vivid (but frequently misleading) stories.

Case study

• An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.

Confounding of variables

• One or more extraneous variables that make it difficult to sort out the effects of the independent variable.

Control group

• The group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment.

Correlation

• A link or association between variables.

Correlation coefficient

• The statistic that indicates the degree of relationship between variables.

Data collection techniques

• Procedures for making empirical observations, including questionnaires, interviews, psychological tests, and physiological recordings.

Dependent variable

• The variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the independent variable in an experiment.

Double-blind procedure

• A research strategy in which neither the subjects nor experimenters know which condition the subjects are in or which treatment they are receiving.

Experiment

• A research method in which independent variables are manipulated.

Experimental group

• In an experiment, the group that receives a treatment involving the manipulation of the independent variable(s).

Experimenter bias

• When a researcher's expectations influence the results of a study.

Extraneous variables

• In an experiment, variables other than the independent variable(s) that seem likely to influence the measure of dependent variables.

Hypothesis

• A tentative statement about the expected relationship between two or more variables.

Independent variable

• In an experiment, a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to observe its impact.

Naturalistic observation

• A research method in which subjects are observed in their natural environment without direct intervention of the researcher.

Operational definition

• Describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable.

Participants

• Term generally used to refer to the people whose behavior is being systematically observed in a study.

Placebo effects

• Change resulting from treatments that are empty, fake, or ineffectual.

Population

• A larger group from which a sample is drawn to which the researcher wishes to generalize.

Random assignment

• In an experiment, distributing subjects so that each has an equal chance of being assigned to a group or condition.

Replication

• A repetition of a study to determine whether the previous results can be duplicated.

Research methods

• Differing ways of conducting research, which include experiments, case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation.

Sample

• A group of subjects taken from a larger population.

Sampling bias

• A sample that is not representative of the population from which it was drawn.

Social desirability bias

• The tendency to provide socially acceptable (rather than truthful) responses on surveys and in interviews.

Subjects

• Term used to refer to participants, whether human or animals, whose behavior is being systematically observed in a study.

Survey

• A questionnaire or interview used to gather information.

Variables

• Any of the factors in an experiment that are controlled or observed by an experimenter or that in some other way affect the outcome.

Absolute refractory period

• The minimum length of time after an action potential, during which another action potential cannot begin.

Action potential

• A brief change in a neuron's electrical charge.

Adaptation

• An inherited characteristic that increased in a population, because it helped solve a problem of survival or reproduction during the time it emerged.

Adoption studies

• Assessing hereditary influence by examining the resemblance between adopted children and both their adoptive and biological parents.

Afferent nerve fibers

• Axons that carry information outward to the central nervous system from the periphery of the body.

Agonist

• A chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter.

Antagonist

• A chemical that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter.

Autonomic nervous system (ANS)

• The system of nerves that connect to the heart, blood vessels, smooth muscles, and glands.

Axon

• A long, thin fiber that transmits signals away from the soma to other neurons, or to muscles or glands.

Central nervous system (CNS)

• The system that consists of the brain and spinal cord.

Cerebral cortex

• The convoluted outer layer of the cerebrum.

Cerebral hemispheres

• The right and left halves of the cerebrum.

Chromosomes

• Threadlike strands of DNA molecules that carry genetic information.

Corpus callosum

• The structure that connects the two cerebral hemispheres.

Critical period

• A limited time span in the development of an organism when it is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experiences.

Dendrites

• Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information.

Efferent nerve fibers

• Axons that carry information outward from the central nervous system to the periphery of the body.

Endocrine system

• System of glands that secrete chemicals into the bloodstream that help control bodily functioning.

Endorphins

• A family of chemicals produced by the body that resemble opiates in structure and effects.

Family studies

• Assessing hereditary influence by examining blood relatives to see how they resemble each other on a specific trait.

Forebrain

• The largest region of the brain, encompassing a variety of structures, including the thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, and cerebrum.

Genes

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

Hindbrain

• Part of the brain that includes the cerebellum and two structures found in the lower part of the brainstem the medulla and the pons.

Hormones

• The chemical substances released by the endocrine glands.

Hypothalamus

• A structure found near the base of the forebrain that is involved in the regulation of basic biological needs.

Limbic system

• A densely connected network of structures involved in the control of emotion, motivation, and memory.

Midbrain

• The segment of the brainstem that lies between the hindbrain and the forebrain.

Neurons

• Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information.

Neurotransmitters

• Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another.

Peripheral nervous system

• System that includes all those nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord.

Pituitary gland

• The "master gland" of the endocrine system; it releases a great variety of hormones that fan out through the body, stimulating actions in the other endocrine glands.

Polygenic traits

• Characteristics that are influenced by more than one pair of genes.

Postsynaptic potential (PSP)

• A voltage change at a receptor site on a postsynaptic cell membrane.

Resting potential

• The stable, negative charge of an inactive neuron.

Reuptake

• A process in which neurotransmitters are sponged up from the synaptic cleft by the presynaptic membrane.

Soma

• The cell body of a neuron; it contains the nucleus and much of the chemical machinery common to most cells.

Somatic nervous system

• System of nerves that connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and to sensory receptors.

Split-brain surgery

• A procedure in which the corpus callosum is cut to reduce the severity of epileptic seizures.

Synapse

• A junction where information is transmitted between neurons.

Synaptic cleft

• A microscopic gap between the terminal buttons of the sending neuron and the cell membrane of another neuron.

Terminal buttons

• Small knobs at the end of the axon that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters.

Thalamus

• A structure in the forebrain through which all sensory information (except smell) must pass to get to the cerebral cortex.

Twin studies

• Assessing hereditary influence by comparing the resemblance of identical twins and/or fraternal twins with respect to a trait.

Afterimage

• A visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed.

Basilar membrane

• Membrane running the length of the cochlea that holds the actual auditory receptors, called hair cells.

Binocular depth cues

• Clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes.

Bottom-up processing

• A progression from individual elements to the whole.

Cochlea

• A fluid-filled, coiled tunnel that makes up the largest part of the inner ear and contains the receptors for hearing.

Color blindness

• Deficient ability to distinguish among colors.

Complementary colors

• Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when mixed together.

Cones

• Specialized receptors that play a key role in daylight vision and color vision.

Dark adaptation

• The process in which the eyes become more sensitive to light in low illumination.

Depth perception

• Interpretation of visual cues to determine how near or far away objects are.

Farsightedness

• A condition in which distant objects are seen clearly but close objects appear blurry.

Feature analysis

• Detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form.

Feature detectors

• Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli.

Fovea

• A tiny spot in the center of the retina where visual acuity is greatest.

Gustatory system

• The sense of taste.

Impossible figures

• Objects that can be represented in two-dimensional figures but cannot exist in three- dimensional space.

Lens

• The transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina.

Monocular depth cues

• Clues about distance that are obtained from the image in one eye.

Nearsightedness

• A condition in which close objects are seen clearly but distant objects appear blurry.

Olfactory system

• The sensory system for smell.

Perception

• The selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input.

Perceptual constancy

• A tendency to maintain a perception in the face of constantly changing sensory input.

Perceptual set

• A readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way.

Phi phenomenon

• The illusion of movement created by presenting stationary visual stimuli in rapid succession.

Pictorial depth cues

• Cues about distance in a picture.

Pupil

• The opening in the center of the iris that helps regulate the amount of light passing into the rear chamber of the eye.

Retina

• The neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye that absorbs light, processes images, and sends visual information to the brain.

Retinal disparity

• The differing views of the right and left eyes due to images within 25 feet being projected to slightly different locations on the right and left retinas.

Reversible figure

• A drawing compatible with two different interpretations that can shift back and forth.

Rods

• Specialized receptors that play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision.

Sensation

• The stimulation of sense organs.

Sensory adaptation

• A gradual decline in sensitivity after prolonged stimulation.

Top-down processing

• A progression from the whole to the elements.

Visual illusions

• An apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality.

Acquisition

• The initial stage of learning something.

Avoidance learning

• Responding in order to avoid aversive stimulation.

Behavior modification

• A systematic approach to changing behavior through the application of conditioning principles.

Classical conditioning

• The most common name of a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.

Conditioned reinforcer

• A reinforcer to which an organism has learned to respond via repeated pairing with an unconditioned reinforcer.

Conditioned response (CR)

• A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

• A previously neutral stimulus that has acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.

Continuous reinforcement

• Reinforcing every instance of a designated response.

Discriminative stimuli

• Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences of a particular response.

Elicit

• To draw out or bring forth, as in drawing out a response in classical conditioning.

Emit

• To produce voluntary responses.

Escape learning

• Engaging in a response that brings aversive stimulation to an end.

Extinction

• The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.

Fixed-interval (FI) schedule

• Reinforcement is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.

Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule

• Reinforcement is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.

Higher-order conditioning

• Learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus.

Instinctive drift

• Innate response tendencies that interfere with conditioning.

Intermittent reinforcement

• The name for all schedules of reinforcement in which a designated response is reinforced only some of the time.

Learning

• A relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience.

Negative reinforcement

• Removing an aversive stimulus after a response.

Observational learning

• Responding is influenced by observing others.

Operant conditioning

• Learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences.

Pavlovian conditioning

• Another name for classical conditioning (derived from the name Ivan Pavlov, who originally discovered the conditioning phenomenon).

Positive reinforcement

• A rewarding stimulus is provided following a response.

Primary reinforcers

• Stimuli that are inherently rewarding because they satisfy biological needs.

Punishment

• An aversive consequence that weakens or suppresses the tendency to make a particular response.

Reinforcement

• An event following a response that strengthens the tendency to make that response.

Reinforcement contingencies

• The circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to presentation of a reinforcer; or, the relationship between a response and positive consequences.

Resistance to extinction

• Continuing to respond after reinforcements have been terminated.

Schedule of reinforcement

• A specific pattern of reinforcement.

Secondary reinforcers

• Stimuli that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers.

Shaping

• Reinforcing successively closer approximations to the desired response.

Skinner box

• A standard operant chamber in which an animal's responses are recorded and shaped through reinforcement.

Spontaneous recovery

• The reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus contiguity

• Presenting stimuli close together in time.

Stimulus discrimination

• An organism learns not to respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Stimulus generalization

• Responding to new stimuli that are similar to the stimulus used in conditioning.

Trial

• Presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli in classical conditioning.

Unconditioned response (UCR)

• The response to an unconditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

• A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response.

Variable-interval (VI) schedule

• Reinforcement is given for the first response that occurs after a variable time interval has elapsed.

Variable-ratio (VR) schedule

• Reinforcement is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.

Availability heuristic

• Estimating the probably of an event based on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.

Conjunction fallacy

• An error in thinking that involves estimating that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.

Convergent thinking

• Thinking that narrows multiple alternatives to a single best solution.

Creativity

• Generating ideas that are original, novel, and useful.

Decision making

• Making choices by evaluating alternatives

Divergent thinking

• Expanding alternatives by generating many possible solutions.

Functional fixedness

• The tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use.

Gambler's fallacy

• The erroneous belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently.

Heritability ratio

• The proportion of trait variability in a population attributable to genetic inheritance.

Heuristic

• A strategy, guiding principle, or rule of thumb used in solving problems or making decisions.

Insight

• In problem solving, the sudden discovery of a solution following multiple failed attempts.

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

• Mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100.

Mental age

• The mental ability typical of a chronological age group.

Mental set

• Persisting in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past.

Normal distribution

• A symmetric, bell-shaped curve that represents the pattern of many population characteristics.

Problem solving

• Active efforts to discover how to solve a problem.

Reaction range

• Genetically determined limits on intelligence.

Reliability

• The measurement consistency of a test.

Representativeness heuristic

• Basing the estimated probability that an event will occur on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event.

Trial and error

• Trying various random solutions until one is found that works.

Validity

• The ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure.

Achievement motive

• The need to master difficult challenges, to outperform others, and to meet high standards of excellence.

Display rules

• Cultural norms that regulate the expression of emotions.

Drive

• An internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities designed to reduce the tension.

Emotion

• A subjective conscious experience (the cognitive component) accompanied by bodily arousal (the physiological component) and by characteristic overt expression (the behavioral component).

Galvanic skin response (GSR)

• An increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat glands increase their activity.

Homeostasis

• A state of physiological equilibrium or stability.

Incentive

• An external goal that motivates behavior.

Motivation

• Goal-directed behavior that may be affected by needs, wants, interests, desires, and incentives.

Aggression

• Any behavior that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally.

Approach-approach conflict

• A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two attractive goals.

Approach-avoidance conflict

• A conflict situation in which a choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects.

Avoidance-avoidance conflict

• A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two unattractive goals.

Biopsychosocial model

• A model of illness that holds that physical illness is caused by a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Catastrophic thinking

• Unrealistic and pessimistic appraisal of stress that exaggerates the magnitude of a problem.

Conflict

• The state resulting from two or more incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses competing for expression.

Coping

• An active effort to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress.

Defense mechanisms

• Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt.

Frustration

• The feeling that people experience in any situation in which their pursuit of some goal is thwarted.

General adaptation syndrome

• Selye's model of the body's stress response consisting of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Health psychology

• The subfield of psychology concerned with how psychosocial forces relate to the promotion and maintenance of health and the causation, prevention, and treatment of illness.

Immune response

• The body's defensive reaction to invasion by bacteria, viral agents, or other foreign substances.

Internet addiction

• Spending an inordinate amount of time on the Internet and being unable to control online use.

Learned helplessness

• A passive behavior produced by exposure to unavoidable aversive events.

Life changes

• Any noticeable alterations in one's living circumstances that require readjustment.

Optimism

• A general tendency to expect good outcomes.

Pressure

• Expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way.

Social support

• Various types of aid and succor provided by members of one's social network.

Stress

• Any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten our well-being and thereby tax our coping abilities.

Type A personality

• A behavior pattern marked by competitive, aggressive, impatient, hostile behavior.

Type B personality

• A behavior pattern marked by relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable behavior.

Antianxiety drugs

• Medications that relieve tension, apprehension, and nervousness.

Antidepressant drugs

• Medications that gradually elevate mood and help bring people out of a depression.

Antipsychotic drugs

• Medications used to gradually reduce psychotic symptoms, including hyperactivity, mental confusion, hallucinations, and delusions.

Aversion therapy

• A behavior therapy in which an unpleasant stimulus is paired with a stimulus to extinguish a maladaptive behavior.

Behavior therapies

• Therapies that involve the application of learning principles to change maladaptive behaviors.

Biomedical therapies

• Therapies that use physiological interventions intended to reduce symptoms associated with psychological disorders.

Client-centered therapy

• An insight therapy that emphasizes providing a supportive emotional climate for clients who play a major role in determining the pace and direction of their therapy.

Clinical psychologists

• Psychologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and everyday behavioral problems.

Cognitive therapy

• An insight therapy that emphasizes recognizing and changing negative thoughts and maladaptive beliefs.

Counseling psychologists

• Psychologists who specialize in the treatment of everyday adjustment problems.

Deinstitutionalization

• Transferring the treatment of mental illness from inpatient institutions to community-based facilities that emphasize outpatient care.

Dream analysis

• A psychoanalytic technique that involves interpreting the symbolic meaning of dreams.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

• A biomedical treatment in which electric shock is used to produce cortical seizure accompanied by convulsions.

Free association

• A psychoanalytic technique in which clients are urged to spontaneously express their thoughts and feelings with as little personal censorship as possible.

Group therapy

• The simultaneous treatment of several clients in a group.

Insight therapies

• Therapies that involve verbal interactions intended to enhance clients' self-knowledge and thus produce healthful changes in personality and behavior.

Lithium

• A chemical used to control mood swings in patients with bipolar mood disorder.

Placebo effects

• Change resulting from treatments that are empty, fake, or ineffectual.

Psychiatrists

• Physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.

Psychoanalysis

• An insight therapy that emphasizes resolving unconscious conflicts, motives, and defenses through techniques such as free association and dream analysis.

Resistance

• A client's largely unconscious defensive maneuvers that hinder the progress of therapy.

Social skills training

• A behavior therapy designed to improve interpersonal skills, especially through shaping, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal.

Systematic desensitization

• A behavior therapy used to reduce clients' anxiety responses through counterconditioning.

Tardive dyskinesia

• A neurological disorder marked by chronic tremors and involuntary spastic movements.

Transference

• In therapy, the phenomenon that occurs when clients start relating to their therapist in ways that mimic critical relationships in their lives.

Biological rhythms

• Periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning.

Circadian rhythms

• The 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many other species.

Consciousness

• Our awareness of internal and external stimuli.

Dissociation

• Splitting of mental processes into two separate, simultaneous streams of awareness.

Hallucinogens

• A diverse group of drugs that distort sensory and perceptual experience.

Hypnosis

• A systematic procedure that typically produces a heightened state of suggestibility.

Insomnia

• Chronic problems in getting adequate sleep.

Latent content

• Freud's term for the disguised or hidden meaning of events in a dream.

Manifest content

• Freud's term for the plot of a dream at the surface level.

MDMA

• A compound drug related to both amphetamines and hallucinogens, especially mescaline; commonly called "ecstasy."

Narcolepsy

• A disease marked by sudden and irresistible onsets of sleep during normal waking periods.

Narcotics

• Drugs derived from opium that are capable of relieving pain.

Non-REM sleep

• Sleep stages 1 through 4, which are marked by an absence of rapid eye movements, relatively little dreaming and varied EEG activity.

Opiates

• Drugs derived from opium that are capable of relieving pain.

Physical dependence

• Taking a drug to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Psychoactive drugs

• Chemical substances that modify mental, emotional, or behavioral functioning.

Psychological dependence

• Taking a drug to satisfy mental and emotional craving for the drug.

REM sleep

• A deep stage of sleep marked by rapid eye movements, high-frequency brain waves, and dreaming.

Sedatives

• Sleep-inducing drugs that tend to decrease central nervous system activation and behavioral activity.

Sleep apnea

• A sleep disorder characterized by frequent reflexive gasping for air.

Slow-wave sleep

• Sleep stages 3 and 4 in which low-frequency delta waves become prominent in EEG recordings.

Somnambulism

• Arising and walking about while remaining asleep; sleepwalking.

Stimulants

• Drugs that tend to increase central nervous system activation and behavioral activity.

Tolerance

• A progressive decrease in a person's responsiveness to a drug as a result of continued use.

Anterograde amnesia

• The loss of memory for events that occurs after a head injury.

Attention

• Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.

Chunk

• Several bits of information stored in memory as a single unit.

Decay theory

• Posits that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time.

Declarative memory system

• Memory for factual information.

Elaboration

• Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.

Encoding

• Forming a memory code.

Encoding specificity

• Posits that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code.

Episodic memory system

• Chronological or temporally dated recollections of personal experiences.

Explicit memory

• The intentional recollection of previous experiences.

Flashbulb memories

• Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.

Forgetting curve

• A graph showing retention and forgetting over time.

Hindsight bias

• The tendency to mold interpretations of the past to fit how events actually turned out.

Implicit memory

• Retention exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering.

Interference theory

• Posits that people forget information because of competition from other material.

Levels of processing theory

• Posits that deeper levels of processing result in longer lasting memory codes.

Long-term memory (LTM)

• An unlimited capacity memory store that can hold information for long periods.

Method of loci

• A mnemonic device that involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations.

Mnemonic devices

• Verbal strategies for enhancing memory.

Overlearning

• Continuing to rehearse material after it has apparently been mastered.

Proactive interference principle

• Holds that previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information.

Procedural memory system

• Memory for actions, skills, and operations.

Recall measure

• A memory test that requires subjects to reproduce information without any cues.

Recognition measure

• A memory test that requires subjects to select previously learned information from an array of options (e.g., multiple-choice tests).

Rehearsal

• Repetitively verbalizing or thinking about new information.

Relearning measure

• A memory test that requires subjects to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before.

Repression

• Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.

Retrieval

• Recovering information from memory stores.

Retroactive interference

• New information impairs the retention of previously learned information.

Retrograde amnesia

• The loss of memory for events that occurred prior to a brain injury.

Schema

• An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of events.

Semantic memory system

• Memory for general knowledge that is not tied to when the information was learned.

Semantic networks

• Concepts joined by links that show how the concepts are related.

Sensory memory

• The preservation of information in its original sensory form, usually only a fraction of a second.

Serial-position effect

• Having better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list than for items in the middle.

Short-term memory (STM)

• A limited capacity memory store that can maintain unrehearsed information for 20 to 30 seconds.

Source monitoring

• Making inferences about where a particular memory originated.

Source monitoring error

• A memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source.

Storage

• Maintaining coded information in memory.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

• A temporary inability to remember something accompanied by the feeling that it's just out of reach.

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Age of viability

• The age at which the baby can first survive in the event of a premature birth.

Animism

• The belief that all things are living.

Attachment

• A close, emotional bond of affection between an infant and its caregiver.

Centration

• The Piagetian term for the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem and neglect other important features.

Cephalocaudal trend

• The head-to-foot direction of motor development.

Cognitive development

• Development of thinking, reasoning, remembering, and problem solving.

Conservation

• Piaget's term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance.

Dementia

• An abnormal condition marked by multiple cognitive defects that include memory impairment.

Development

• The sequence of age-related changes that occurs as a person progresses from conception to death.

Developmental norms

• The average ages at which people display certain behaviors and abilities.

Egocentrism

• Thinking characterized by a limited ability to share another person's viewpoint.

Embryonic stage

• The second stage of prenatal development, lasting from two weeks after conception until the end of the second month.

Fast mapping

• The process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure to the word.

Fetal alcohol syndrome

• A collection of congenital problems associated with a mother's excessive use of alcohol during pregnancy.

Fetal stage

• The third stage of prenatal development, lasting from two months after conception through birth.

Gender

• Culturally constructed distinctions between femininity and masculinity.

Gender differences

• Behavioral differences between females and males.

Gender roles

• Expectations concerning the appropriate behavior for each sex.

Gender stereotypes

• Widely held beliefs about females' and males' abilities, personality traits, and social behavior.

Germinal stage

• The first phase of prenatal development, encompassing the first two weeks after conception.

Irreversibility

• The inability to cognitively visualize reversing an action.

Maturation

• Development that reflects the gradual unfolding of one's genetic blueprint.

Midlife crisis

• A difficult, turbulent period of doubt and reappraisal of one's life.

Motor development

• Developmental changes in muscular coordination required for physical movement.

Object permanence

• A mental capacity that involves recognizing that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.

Overextension

• Using a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to.

Overregularization

• In children, incorrect generalization of grammatical rules to irregular cases where they do not apply.

Placenta

• A structure that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into the fetus from the mother's bloodstream and bodily wastes to pass out to the mother.

Prenatal period

• The period of pregnancy, extending from conception to birth.

Primary sex characteristics

• The physical structures necessary for reproduction.

Proximodistal trend

• The center-outward direction of motor development.

Puberty

• The period of early adolescence marked by rapid physical growth and the development of sexual (reproductive) maturity.

Secondary sex characteristics

• Physical features associated with gender that are not directly needed for reproduction.

Separation anxiety

• Emotional distress displayed by an infant when separated from a person with whom it has formed an attachment.

Sex

• The biologically based categories of male and female.

Stage

• A developmental period during which certain behaviors and capacities occur.

Telegraphic speech

• Speech that consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less critical words are omitted.

Underextensions

• Children's speech errors in which a word is used that represents a narrower set of objects or actions than the word actually means.

Zygote

• A one-celled organism created by the process of fertilization, the union of sperm and egg.

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Archetypes

• Emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning.

Behaviorism

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

Collective unconscious

• A storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from our ancestral past.

Compensation

• Efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one's abilities.

Conscious

• Whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time.

Defense mechanisms

• Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt.

Displacement

• Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target.

Ego

• The decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle.

Fixation

• According to Freud, failure to move forward from one psychosexual stage to another as expected.

Hierarchy of needs

• Maslow's systematic arrangement of needs, according to priority, in which basic, physiological needs must be met before social or growth needs are aroused.

Hindsight bias

• The tendency to mold interpretations of the past to fit how events actually turned out.

Humanism

• A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and potential for personal growth.

Id

• The primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle.

Identification

• Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group.

Incongruence

• The degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience.

Model

• A person whose behavior is observed by another.

Need for self-actualization

• The need to fulfill one's potential.

Observational learning

• Responding is influenced by observing others.

Oedipal complex

• According to Freud, children's manifestation of erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex parent.

Personality

• An individual's unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits.

Personality trait

• A durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations.

Pleasure principle

• According to Freud, the principle upon which the id operates, demanding immediate gratification of its urges.

Preconscious

• According to Freud, the level of awareness that contains material just beneath the surface of conscious awareness that can be easily retrieved.

Projection

• Attributing your own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another.

Projective tests

• Psychological tests that ask subjects to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal the subjects' needs, feelings, and personality traits.

Psychodynamic theories

• All the diverse theories descended from the work of Sigmund Freud that focus on unconscious mental forces.

Psychosexual stages

• According to Freud, developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality.

Rationalization

• Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.

Reaction formation

• Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one's true feelings.

Reality principle

• According to Freud, the principle on which the ego operates, which seeks to delay gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found.

Regression

• Reverting to immature patterns of behavior.

Repression

• The defense mechanism that pushes distressing thoughts and feelings into the unconscious or keeps them from emerging into consciousness.

Self-actualizing persons

• People with exceptionally healthy personalities, marked by continued personal growth.

Self-concept

• A collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior.

Self-efficacy

• A collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior.

Self-report inventories

• Personality tests that ask people a series of questions about their characteristic behavior.

Striving for superiority

• A universal drive to adapt, to improve oneself, and to master life's challenges.

Superego

• The moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong.

Unconscious

• According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.

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Agoraphobia

• A fear of going out in public places.

Anorexia nervosa

• An eating disorder characterized by fear of gaining weight, disturbed body image, refusal to maintain normal weight, and dangerous measures to lose weight.

Anxiety disorders

• A class of psychological disorders marked by feelings of excessive apprehension and anxiety.

Availability heuristic

• Estimating the probably of an event based on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.

Bipolar disorder

• Mood disorder marked by the experience of both depressive and manic periods.

Bulimia nervosa

• An eating disorder that involves binge eating followed by unhealthy compensatory efforts such as vomiting, fasting, abuse of laxatives and diuretics, and excessive exercise.

Catatonic schizophrenia

• Type of schizophrenia marked by striking motor disturbances, ranging from muscular rigidity to random motor activity.

Comorbidity

• The coexistence of two or more disorders in the same individual.

Concordance rate

• Statistic indicating the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same disorder.

Conjunction fallacy

• An error in thinking that involves estimating that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.

Conversion disorder

• A somatoform disorder characterized by a significant loss of physical function (with no apparent organic basis), usually in a single organ system.

Culture-bound disorders

• Abnormal syndromes found only in a few cultural groups.

Delusions

• False beliefs that are maintained even though they clearly are out of touch with reality.

Diagnosis

• Distinguishing one illness from another.

Disorganized schizophrenia

• Type of schizophrenia marked by a particularly severe deterioration of adaptive behavior.

Dissociative amnesia

• A sudden loss of memory for important personal information that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting.

Dissociative disorders

• A class of disorders in which people lose contact with portions of their consciousness or memory, resulting in disruptions in their sense of identity.

Dissociative fugue

• A disorder in which people lose their memory for their entire lives along with their sense of personal identity.

Dissociative identity disorder

• A type of dissociative disorder characterized by the coexistence in one person of two or more largely complete, and usually very different, personalities. Also called multiple-personality disorder.

Eating disorders

• Severe disturbances in eating behavior characterized by preoccupation with weight concerns and unhealthy efforts to control weight; includes anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Etiology

• The apparent causation and developmental history of an illness.

Generalized anxiety disorder

• A psychological disorder marked by a chronic, high level of anxiety that is not tied to any specific threat.

Hallucinations

• Sensory perceptions that occur in the absence of a real, external stimulus or gross distortions of perceptual input.

Hypochondriasis

• A somatoform disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with health concerns and incessant worrying about developing physical illnesses.

Major depressive disorder

• Mood disorder marked by persistent feelings of sadness and despair and a loss of interest in previous sources of pleasure.

Medical model

• The view that it is useful to think of abnormal behavior as a disease.

Mood disorders

• A class of disorders marked by depressed or elevated mood disturbances that may spill over to disrupt physical, perceptual, social, and thought processes.

Multiple-personality disorder

• Older term for dissociative disorder, still widely used, that describes the coexistence in one person of two or more

Negative symptoms

• Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral deficits, such as flattened emotions, social withdrawal, apathy, impaired attention, and poverty of speech.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

• A type of anxiety disorder marked by persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in senseless rituals (compulsions).

Panic disorder

• A type of anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly.

Paranoid schizophrenia

• Type of schizophrenia dominated by delusions of persecution, along with delusions of grandeur.

Phobic disorder

• A type of anxiety disorder marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger.

Positive symptoms

• Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral excesses or peculiarities, such as hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behavior, and wild flights of ideas.

Posttraumatic stress disorder

• An enduring anxiety disorder that results from experiencing a major traumatic event.

Prognosis

• A forecast about the probable course of an illness.

Psychosomatic diseases

• Physical ailments with a genuine organic basis that are caused in part by psychological factors, especially emotional distress.

Representativeness heuristic

• Basing the estimated probability that an event will occur on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event.

Schizophrenic disorders

• A class of psychological disorders marked by disturbances in thought that spill over to affect perceptual, social, and emotional processes.

Somatization disorder

• A type of somatoform disorder marked by a history of diverse physical complaints that appear to be psychological in origin.

Somatoform disorders

• A class of psychological disorders involving physical ailments that have no authentic organic basis and are due to psychological factors.

Undifferentiated schizophrenia

• Type of schizophrenia marked by idiosyncratic mixtures of schizophrenic symptoms.

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Attitudes

• Positive or negative evaluations; may include cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components.

Attributions

• Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others' behavior, and their own behavior.

Bystander effect

• A paradoxical social phenomenon in which people are less likely to provide needed help when they are in groups than when they are alone.

Cognitive dissonance

• A psychological state that exists when related cognitions are inconsistent.

Collectivism

• Putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one's identity in terms of the group one belongs to.

Conformity

• The tendency for people to yield to real or imagined social pressure.

Discrimination

• Behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group.

External attribution

• Attributing the causes of behavior to situational demands and environmental constraints.

Fundamental attribution error

• The tendency of an observer to favor internal attributions in explaining the behavior of others.

Group

• Two or more individuals who interact.

Group polarization

• A phenomenon that occurs when group discussion strengthens a group's dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction.

Groupthink

• A process in which members of a cohesive group emphasize concurrence at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision.

Individualism

• Putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships.

In-group

• The group one belongs to and identifies with.

Internal attributions

• Attributing the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings.

Obedience

• Complying with direct commands, usually from someone in a position of authority.

Out-group

• People who are not a part of the in-group.

Person perception

• The process of forming impressions of others.

Prejudice

• A negative attitude held toward members of a group.

Self-serving bias

• The tendency to attribute our positive outcomes to personal factors and our negative outcomes to situational factors.

Social loafing

• A reduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups.

Social psychology

• The branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others.

Social schemas

• Clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people that we use to organize the world around us.

Stereotypes

• Beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group.

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