the lowest level of stimulation that a person can consciously detect 50 percent of the time the stimulation is present.
as a monocular cue, the brain’s use of information about the changing thickness of the lens of the eye in response to looking at objects that are close or far away.
stress resulting from the need to change and adapt a person’s ways to the majority culture.
those drives that are learned through experience or conditioning, such as the need for money or social approval.
fear of heights.
the release of the neural impulse consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge within the axon.
therapy in which the main goal is to change disordered or inappropriate behavior directly.
revised version of the activation-synthesis explanation of dreams in which information that is accessed during waking hours can have an influence on the synthesis of dreams.
premise that states that dreams are created by the higher centers of the cortex to explain the activation by the brain stem of cortical cells during REM sleep periods.
theory of adjustment to aging that assumes older people are happier if they remain active in some way, such as volunteering or developing a hobby.
a disorder resulting from exposure to a major stressor, with symptoms of anxiety, dissociation, recurring nightmares, sleep disturbances, problems in concentration, and moments in which people seem to “relive” the event in dreams and flashbacks for as long as 1 month following the event.
the period of life from about age 13 to the early 20s, during which a young person is no longer physically a child but is not yet an independent, self-supporting adult.
endocrine glands located on top of each kidney that secrete over 30 different hormones to deal with stress, regulate salt intake, and provide a secondary source of sex hormones affecting the sexual changes that occur during adolescence.
the haziness that surrounds objects that are farther away from the viewer, causing the distance to be perceived as greater.
in psychology, a term indicating “emotion” or “mood.”
a neuron that carries information from the senses to the central nervous system.
images that occur when a visual sensation persists for a brief time even after the original stimulus is removed.
behavior intended to hurt or destroy another person.
chemical substances that mimic or enhance the effects of a neurotransmitter on the receptor sites of the next cell, increasing or decreasing the activity of that cell.
fear of being in a place or situation from which escape is difficult or impossible.
the chemical resulting from fermentation or distillation of various kinds of vegetable matter.
very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems.
referring to the fact that a neuron either fires completely or does not fire at all.
the tendency to believe that one’s performance must be perfect or the result will be a total failure.
brain waves that indicate a state of relaxation or light sleep.
state in which there is a shift in the quality or pattern of mental activity as compared to waking consciousness.
prosocial behavior that is done with no expectation of reward and may involve the risk of harm to oneself.
stimulants that are synthesized (made) in laboratories rather than being found in nature.
brain structure located near the hippocampus, responsible for fear responses and memory of fear.
second stage occurring from about 1 to 3 years of age, in which the anus is the erogenous zone and toilet training is the source of conflict.
describes a gender role characteristic of people whose personalities reflect the characteristics of both males and females, regardless of gender.
gradual changes in the sexual hormones and reproductive system of middle-aged males.
a condition in which a person reduces eating to the point that a weight loss of 15 percent below the ideal body weight or more occurs.
chemical substances that block or reduce a cell’s response to the action of other chemicals or neurotransmitters.
loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories.
drugs used to treat and calm anxiety reactions, typically minor tranquilizers.
drugs used to treat depression and anxiety.
drugs used to treat psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and other bizarre behavior.
disorder in which a person has no morals or conscience and often behaves in an impulsive manner without regard for the consequences of that behavior.
disorders in which the main symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety and fearfulness.
modern term for a form of functional analysis and behavior modification that uses a variety of behavioral techniques to mold a desired behavior or response.
the use of psychological concepts in solving real-world problems.
research aimed at answering real-world, practical problems.
conflict occurring when a person must choose between two desirable goals.
conflict occurring when a person must choose or not choose a goal that has both positive and negative aspects.
Jung’s collective, universal human memories.
theory of motivation in which people are said to have an optimal (best or ideal) level of tension that they seek to maintain by increasing or decreasing stimulation.
areas within each lobe of the cortex responsible for the coordination and interpretation of information, as well as higher mental processing.
the emotional bond between an infant and the primary caregiver.
a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea, or situation.
the process of explaining one’s own behavior and the behavior of others.
the theory of how people make attributions.
short tunnel that runs from the pinna to the eardrum.
bundle of axons from the hair cells in the inner ear.
the genuine, open, and honest response of the therapist to the client.
style of parenting in which parent is rigid and overly strict, showing little warmth to the child.
style of parenting in which parents combine warmth and affection with firm limits on a child’s behavior.
tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding.
division of the PNS consisting of nerves that control all of the involuntary muscles, organs, and glands.
estimating the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easy it is to recall relevant information from memory or how easy it is for us to think of related examples.
form of behavioral therapy in which an undesirable behavior is paired with an aversive stimulus to reduce the frequency of the behavior.
conflict occurring when a person must choose between two undesirable goals.
tubelike structure that carries the neural message to other cells.
branches at the end of the axon.
depressant drugs that have a sedative effect.
anxiety created when a child is born into the bigger and more powerful world of older children and adults.
research for the sake of gaining scientific knowledge.
the use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior.
the use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior; the use of learning techniques to modify or change undesirable behavior and increase desirable behavior (may also be referred to as applied behavior analysis).
action therapies based on the principles of classical and operant conditioning and aimed at changing disordered behavior without concern for the original causes of such behavior.
field of study devoted to discovering the genetic bases for personality characteristics.
the science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only.
drugs that lower anxiety and reduce stress.
brain waves which are very small and very fast.
psychosurgical technique in which an electrode wire is inserted into the anterior cingulate gyrus, with guidance from magnetic resonance imaging, to destroy a very small portion of that brain area with electric current.
condition in which a distribution has two modes.
frequency distribution in which there are two high points rather than one.
a condition in which a person overeats, or binges, on enormous amounts of food at one sitting, but unlike bulimia nervosa, the individual does not then purge or use other unhealthy methods to avoid weight gain.
cues for perceiving depth based on both eyes.
the difference in images between the two eyes, which is greater for objects that are close and smaller for distant objects.
use of feedback about biological conditions to bring involuntary responses, such as blood pressure and relaxation, under voluntary control.
model of explaining behavior as caused by biological changes in the chemical, structural, or genetic systems of the body.
branch of neuroscience that focuses on the biological bases of psychological processes, behavior, and learning.
therapies that directly affect the biological functioning of the body and brain.
perspective that attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system.
perspective in which abnormal behavior is seen as the result of the combined and interacting forces of biological, psychological, social, and cultural influences.
severe mood swings between major depressive episodes and manic episodes.
person attracted to both men and women.
area in the retina where the axons of the three layers of retinal cells exit the eye to form the optic nerve, insensitive to light.
maladaptive personality pattern in which the person is moody, unstable, lacks a clear sense of identity, and often clings to others.
the analysis of the smaller features to build up to a complete perception.
the tendency to perceive the apparent brightness of an object as the same even when the light conditions change.
condition resulting from damage to Broca’s area, causing the affected person to be unable to speak fluently, to mispronounce words, and to speak haltingly.
a condition in which a person develops a cycle of “bingeing,” or overeating enormous amounts of food at one sitting, and then using unhealthy methods to avoid weight gain.
referring to the effect that the presence of other people has on the decision to help or not help, with help becoming less likely as the number of bystanders increases.
a mild stimulant found in coffee, tea, and several other plant-based substances.
theory in which the physiological reaction and the emotion are assumed to occur at the same time.
study of one individual in great detail.
an unpredictable, large-scale event that creates a tremendous need to adapt and adjust as well as overwhelming feelings of threat.
disturbed behavior ranging from statue-like immobility to bursts of energetic, frantic movement, and talking.
part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord.
type of information processing that involves attending to the content of the message itself.
in Piaget’s theory, the tendency of a young child to focus only on one feature of an object while ignoring other relevant features.
part of the lower brain located behind the pons that controls and coordinates involuntary, rapid, fine motor movement.
the two sections of the cortex on the left and right sides of the brain.
the upper part of the brain consisting of the two hemispheres and the structures that connect them.
value judgments of a person’s moral and ethical behavior.
a cycle of bodily rhythm that occurs over a 24-hour period.
learning to elicit an involuntary response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the response.
fear of being in a small, enclosed space.
area of psychology in which the psychologists diagnose and treat people with psychological disorders that may range from mild to severe.
the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete.
a natural drug derived from the leaves of the coca plant.
snail-shaped structure of the inner ear that is filled with fluid.
theory of emotion in which both the physical arousal and the labeling of that arousal based on cues from the environment must occur before the emotion is experienced.
the development of thinking, problem solving, and memory.
sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person’s behavior does not correspond to that person’s attitudes.
study of the physical changes in the brain and nervous system during thinking.
modern theory in which classical conditioning is seen to occur because the conditioned stimulus provides information or an expectancy about the coming of the unconditioned stimulus.
psychologists who study the way people think, remember, and mentally organize information.
therapy in which the focus is on helping clients recognize distortions in their thinking and replace distorted, unrealistic beliefs with more realistic, helpful thoughts.
theory that concepts are universal and influence the development of language.
action therapy in which the goal is to help clients overcome problems by learning to think more rationally and logically.
theory of emotion in which a stimulus must be interpreted (appraised) by a person in order to result in a physical response and an emotional reaction.
the impact on development occurring when a group of people share a common time period or common life experience.
Jung’s name for the memories shared by all members of the human species.
area of psychology in which psychologists serve at various levels including individual, group, and community, focusing on promoting social welfare and preventing social problems.
type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment.
area of psychology in which the psychologists study animals and their behavior for the purpose of comparing and contrasting it to human behavior.
changing one’s behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change.
brain-imaging method using computer-controlled X-rays of the brain.
a visual organization of the key concepts, terms, and definitions that are found in each section and is an excellent way to “see” how various concepts are linked together.
ideas that represent a class or category of objects, events, or activities.
Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development in which the school-age child becomes capable of logical thought processes but is not yet capable of abstract thinking.
positive regard that is given only when the person is doing what the providers of positive regard wish.
emotional response that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli, such as a fear of dogs or the emotional reaction that occurs when seeing an attractive person.
learned response to a conditioned stimulus.
stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus.
development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association.
visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for color vision and sharpness of vision.
the tendency to search for evidence that fits one’s beliefs while ignoring any evidence that does not fit those beliefs.
the psychological distress occurring when a person has to choose between different and incompatible or opposing goals.
changing one’s own behavior to match that of other people.
part of the superego that produces guilt, depending on how acceptable behavior is.
a person’s awareness of everything that is going on around him or her at any given moment, which is used to organize behavior.
in Piaget’s theory, the ability to understand that simply changing the appearance of an object does not change the object’s nature.
the changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed.
referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information.
branch of psychology that studies the habits of consumers in the marketplace.
the tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in time as being related.
a formal, written agreement between the therapist and client (or teacher and student) in which goals for behavioral change, reinforcements, and penalties are clearly stated.
the tendency to perceive things as simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex, broken-up pattern.
the reinforcement of each and every correct response.
subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment.
the rotation of the two eyes in their sockets to focus on a single object, resulting in greater convergence for closer objects and lesser convergence if objects are distant.
type of thinking in which a problem is seen as having only one answer, and all lines of thinking will eventually lead to that single answer, using previous knowledge and logic.
actions that people can take to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize the effects of stressors.
the buildup of a waxy substance called plaque in the arteries of the heart.
thick band of neurons that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres.
a measure of the relationship between two variables.
a number derived from the formula for measuring a correlation and indicating the strength and direction of a correlation.
outermost covering of the brain consisting of densely packed neurons, responsible for higher thought processes and interpretation of sensory input.
area of psychology in which the psychologists help people with problems of adjustment.
the process of solving problems by combining ideas or behavior in new ways.
times during which certain environmental influences can have an impact on the development of the infant.
making reasoned judgments about claims.
research design in which several different age-groups of participants are studied at one particular point in time.
research design in which participants are first studied by means of a cross-sectional design but are also followed and assessed longitudinally.
the need to consider the unique characteristics of the culture in which behavior takes place.
sets of particular symptoms of distress found in particular cultures, which may or may not be recognized as an illness within the culture.
a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually.
psychotherapy that is offered on the Internet. Also called online, Internet, or Web therapy or counseling.
the recovery of the eye’s sensitivity to visual stimuli in darkness after exposure to bright lights.
loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the memory trace is not used.
process of cognition that involves identifying, evaluating, and choosing among several alternatives.
type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known.
long, slow waves that indicate the deepest stage of sleep.
false beliefs held by a person who refuses to accept evidence of their falseness.
branchlike structures that receive messages from other neurons.
variable in an experiment that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment.
drugs that decrease the functioning of the nervous system.
the ability to perceive the world in three dimensions.
a way of organizing numbers and summarizing them so that patterns can be determined.
area of psychology in which the psychologists study the changes in the way people think, relate to others, and feel as they age.
a type of intelligence measure that assumes that IQ is normally distributed around a mean of 100 with a standard deviation of about.
process of molecules moving from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.
occurring when a person fails to take responsibility for actions or for inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility.
assessment in which the professional observes the client engaged in ordinary, day-to-day behavior in either a clinical or natural setting.
therapy in which the therapist actively gives interpretations of a client’s statements and may suggest certain behavior or actions.
treating people differently because of prejudice toward the social group to which they belong.
any stimulus, such as a stop sign or a doorknob, that provides the organism with a cue for making a certain response in order to obtain reinforcement.
learned ways of controlling displays of emotion in social settings.
cause of behavior attributed to internal factors such as personality or character.
divided state of conscious awareness.
disorder occurring when a person seems to have two or more distinct personalities within one body.
the effect of unpleasant and undesirable stressors.
spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods.
another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and disappear.
type of thinking in which a person starts from one point and comes up with many different ideas or possibilities based on that point.
often called fraternal twins, occurring when two eggs each get fertilized by two different sperm, resulting in two zygotes in the uterus at the same time.
referring to a gene that actively controls the expression of a trait.
asking for a large commitment and being refused and then asking for a smaller commitment.
study in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in the experimental or control group.
a psychological tension and physical arousal arising when there is a need that motivates the organism to act in order to fulfill the need and reduce the tension.
approach to motivation that assumes behavior arises from physiological needs that cause internal drives to push the organism to satisfy the need and reduce tension and arousal.
as the person continues to use the drug, larger and larger doses of the drug are needed to achieve the same initial effects of the drug.
the brief memory of something a person has just heard.
approach to therapy that results from combining elements of several different approaches or techniques.
area of psychology in which the psychologists are concerned with the study of human learning and development of new learning techniques.
a neuron that carries messages from the central nervous system to the muscles of the body.
part of the personality that develops out of a need to deal with reality, mostly conscious, rational, and logical.
the inability to see the world through anyone else’s eyes.
the ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more.
model of persuasion stating that people will either elaborate on the persuasive message or fail to elaborate on it and that the future actions of those who do elaborate are more predictable than those who do not.
a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way.
form of biomedical therapy to treat severe depression in which electrodes are placed on either one or both sides of a person’s head and an electric current is passed through the electrodes that is strong enough to cause a seizure or convulsion.
a recording of the electrical activity of large groups of cortical neurons just below the skull, most often using scalp electrodes.
machine designed to record the electroencephalogram.
name for the developing organism from two weeks to eight weeks after fertilization.
the period from two to eight weeks after fertilization, during which the major organs and structures of the organism develop.
the “feeling” aspect of consciousness, characterized by a certain physical arousal, a certain behavior that reveals the emotion to the outside world, and an inner awareness of feelings.
the awareness of and ability to manage one’s own emotions as well as the ability to be self-motivated, able to feel what others feel, and socially skilled.
coping strategies that change the impact of a stressor by changing the emotional reaction to the stressor.
the ability of the therapist to understand the feelings of the client.
the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems.
failure to process information into memory.
the tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved.
glands that secrete chemicals called hormones directly into the bloodstream.
area of psychology in which the focus is on how people interact with and are affected by their physical environments.
process by which structure of neurotransmitter is altered so it can no longer act on a receptor.
type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events.
contact between groups in which the groups have equal status with neither group having power over the other.
the effect of positive events, or the optimal amount of stress that people need to promote health and well-being.
also called empirically supported treatment, refers to interventions, strategies, or techniques that have been found to produce therapeutic and desired changes during controlled research studies.
perspective that focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share.
synapse at which a neurotransmitter causes the receiving cell to fire.
a person’s subjective feeling that a particular behavior will lead to a reinforcing consequence.
a deliberate manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships.
subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable.
area of psychology in which the psychologists primarily do research and experiments in the areas of learning, memory, thinking, perception, motivation, and language.
tendency of the experimenter’s expectations for a study to unintentionally influence the results of the study.
memory that is consciously known, such as declarative memory.
behavioral techniques that expose individuals to anxiety- or fear-related stimuli, under carefully controlled conditions, to promote new learning.
the disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer (in operant conditioning).
people who are outgoing and sociable.
type of motivation in which a person performs an action because it leads to an outcome that is separate from or external to the person.
theory of emotion that assumes that facial expressions provide feedback to the brain concerning the emotion being expressed, which in turn causes and intensifies the emotion.
a form of group therapy in which family members meet together with a counselor or therapist to resolve problems that affect the entire family.
the union of the ovum and sperm.
the physical and mental defects caused by consumption of alcohol during pregnancy.
the time from about eight weeks after conception until the birth of the child.
name for the developing organism from eight weeks after fertilization to the birth of the baby.
the tendency to perceive objects, or figures, as existing on a background.
model of personality traits that describes five basic trait dimensions.
disorder in which the person does not fully resolve the conflict in a particular psychosexual stage, resulting in personality traits and behavior associated with that earlier stage.
schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is always the same.
schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is always the same.
type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it.
a lack of emotional responsiveness.
technique for treating phobias and other stress disorders in which the person is rapidly and intensely exposed to the fear-provoking situation or object and prevented from making the usual avoidance or escape response.
asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment.
area of psychology concerned with people in the legal system, including psychological assessment of criminals, jury selection, and expert witnessing.
Piaget’s last stage of cognitive development, in which the adolescent becomes capable of abstract thinking.
psychoanalytic technique in which a patient was encouraged to talk about anything that came to mind without fear of negative evaluations.
anxiety that is unrelated to any realistic, known source.
assessment in which the frequency of a particular behavior is counted.
a table or graph that shows how often different numbers or scores appear in a particular set of scores.
theory of pitch that states that pitch is related to the speed of vibrations in the basilar membrane.
areas of the brain located in the front and top, responsible for higher mental processes and decision making as well as the production of fluent speech.
the psychological experience produced by the blocking of a desired goal or fulfillment of a perceived need.
a person who is in touch with and trusting of the deepest, innermost urges and feelings.
a block to problem solving that comes from thinking about objects in terms of only their typical functions.
MRI-based brain-imaging method that allows for functional examination of brain areas through changes in brain oxygenation.
early perspective in psychology associated with William James, in which the focus of study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play.
the tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behavior while underestimating situational factors.
the ability to reason and solve problems, or general intelligence.
the behavior associated with being male or female.
the individual’s sense of being male or female.
the culture’s expectations for masculine or feminine behavior, including attitudes, actions, and personality traits associated with being male or female in that culture.
theory of gender identity acquisition in which a child develops a mental pattern, or schema, for being male or female and then organizes observed and learned behavior around that schema.
the three stages of the body’s physiological reaction to stress, including alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
disorder in which a person has feelings of dread and impending doom along with physical symptoms of stress, which lasts 6 months or more.
providing guidance to one’s children or the next generation, or contributing to the well-being of the next generation through career or volunteer work.
the science of heredity. Understanding how genes transmit human characteristics and traits involves defining a few basic terms.
first two weeks after fertilization, during which the zygote moves down to the uterus and begins to implant in the lining.
early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation, particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures.
form of directive insight therapy in which the therapist helps clients to accept all parts of their feelings and subjective experiences, using leading questions and planned experiences such as role-playing.
the 2 percent of the population falling on the upper end of the normal curve and typically possessing an IQ of 130 or above.
cells that provide support for the neurons to grow on and around, deliver nutrients to neurons, produce myelin to coat axons, clean up waste products and dead neurons, influence information processing, and, during prenatal development, influence the generation of new neurons.
hormone that is secreted by the pancreas to control the levels of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in the body by increasing the level of glucose in the bloodstream.
sex glands; secrete hormones that regulate sexual development and behavior as well as reproduction.
the system of rules governing the structure and use of a language.
form of therapy or treatment during which a small group of clients with similar concerns meet together with a therapist to address their issues.
kind of thinking that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned.
the sensation of a taste.
in behaviorism, sets of well-learned responses that have become automatic.
tendency of the brain to stop attending to constant, unchanging information.
false sensory perceptions, such as hearing voices that do not really exist.
drugs including hallucinogens and marijuana that produce hallucinations or increased feelings of relaxation and intoxication.
drugs that cause false sensory messages, altering the perception of reality.
tendency of an interviewer to allow positive characteristics of a client to influence the assessments of the client’s behavior and statements.
a person who seems to thrive on stress but lacks the anger and hostility of the Type A personality.
the daily annoyances of everyday life.
area of psychology focusing on how physical activities, psychological traits, and social relationships affect overall health and rate of illnesses; area of psychology in which the psychologists focus on the relationship of human behavior patterns and stress reactions to physical health.
proportion of change in IQ within a population that is caused by hereditary factors.
narcotic drug derived from opium that is extremely addictive.
cycles or waves per second, a measurement of frequency.
person attracted to the opposite sex.
an educated guess based on prior experiences that helps narrow down the possible solutions for a problem. Also known as a “rule of thumb.”
occurs when a strong conditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become a second conditioned stimulus.
the tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event.
curved structure located within each temporal lobe, responsible for the formation of long-term memories and the storage of memory for location of objects.
a bar graph showing a frequency distribution.
the tendency of the body to maintain a steady state.
person attracted to the same sex.
chemicals released into the bloodstream by endocrine glands.
the scientific study of the changes that occur in people as they age from conception until death.
area of industrial/organizational psychology concerned with the study of the way humans and machines interact with each other.
the “third force” in psychology that focuses on those aspects of personality that make people uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and freedom of choice.
state of consciousness in which the person is especially susceptible to suggestion.
small structure in the brain located below the thalamus and directly above the pituitary gland, responsible for motivational behavior such as sleep, hunger, thirst, and sex.
tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations.
visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second.
part of the personality present at birth and completely unconscious.
fifth stage of personality development in which the adolescent must find a consistent sense of self.
type of thought common to adolescents in which young people believe that other people are just as concerned about the adolescent’s thoughts and characteristics as they themselves are.
the system of cells, organs, and chemicals of the body that responds to attacks from diseases, infections, and injuries.
sets of assumptions about how different types of people, personality traits, and actions are related to each other.
the forming of the first knowledge that a person has concerning another person.
theories of motivation in which behavior is explained as a response to the external stimulus and its rewarding properties.
things that attract or lure people into action.
variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter.
area of psychology concerned with the relationships between people and their work environment.
statistical analysis of two or more sets of numerical data to reduce the possibility of error in measurement and to determine if the differences between the data sets are greater than chance variation would predict.
model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages.
social groups with whom a person identifies; “us.”
synapse at which a neurotransmitter causes the receiving cell to stop firing.
the sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem, allowing the solution to the problem to come quickly.
therapies in which the main goal is helping people to gain insight with respect to their behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
the inability to get to sleep, stay asleep, or get a good quality of sleep.
approach to motivation that assumes people are governed by instincts similar to those of animals.
tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns.
the biologically determined and innate patterns of behavior that exist in both people and animals.
a hormone secreted by the pancreas to control the levels of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in the body by reducing the level of glucose in the bloodstream.
sense of wholeness that comes from having lived a full life and the ability to let go of regrets; the final completion of the ego.
condition in which a person’s behavioral and cognitive skills exist at an earlier developmental stage than the skills of others who are the same chronological age; may also be referred to as developmentally delayed. This condition was formerly known as mental retardation.
the ability to learn from one’s experiences, acquire knowledge, and use resources effectively in adapting to new situations or solving problems.
a number representing a measure of intelligence, resulting from the division of one’s mental age by one’s chronological age and then multiplying that quotient by 100.
a neuron found in the center of the spinal cord that receives information from the afferent neurons and sends commands to the muscles through the efferent neurons. Interneurons also make up the bulk of the neurons in the brain.
liking or having the desire for a relationship with another person.
form of therapy for depression which incorporates multiple approaches and focuses on interpersonal problems.
method of personality assessment in which the professional asks questions of the client and allows the client to answer, either in a structured or unstructured fashion.
an emotional and psychological closeness that is based on the ability to trust, share, and care, while still maintaining a sense of self.
type of motivation in which a person performs an action because the act itself is rewarding or satisfying in some internal manner.
dimension of personality in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation.
people who prefer solitude and dislike being the center of attention.
in Piaget’s theory, the inability of the young child to mentally reverse an action.
theory in which a physiological reaction leads to the labeling of an emotion.
educational technique in which each individual is given only part of the information needed to solve a problem, causing the separate individuals to be forced to work together to find the solution.
the smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time.
sense of the location of body parts in relation to the ground and each other.
a system for combining symbols (such as words) so that an unlimited number of meaningful statements can be made for the purpose of communicating with others.
fourth stage occurring during the school years, in which the sexual feelings of the child are repressed while the child develops in other ways.
the symbolic or hidden meaning of dreams.
learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful.
law stating that if an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated.
the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past.
a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice.
referring to the observation that learning can take place without actual performance of the learned behavior.
the hormone signals the hypothalamus that the body has had enough food, reducing appetite. Also, part of the hypothalamus stops the eating response as blood sugar increases, while another part controls the beginning of eating as insulin levels go up.
an electrical current strong enough to kill off the target neurons is sent through the tip of the wire.
model of memory that assumes information that is more “deeply processed,” or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words, will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time.
a group of several brain structures located primarily under the cortex and involved in learning, emotion, memory, and motivation.
the recovery of the eye’s sensitivity to visual stimuli in light after exposure to darkness.
the tendency for parallel lines to appear to converge on each other.
the theory that thought processes and concepts are controlled by language.
the tendency for people to assume that they either have control or do not have control over events and consequences in their lives.
research design in which one participant or group of participants is studied over a long period of time.
the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently.
getting a commitment from a person and then raising the cost of that commitment.
powerful synthetic hallucinogen.
brain-imaging method using radio waves and magnetic fields of the body to produce detailed images of the brain.
the tendency to interpret situations as far more dangerous, harmful, or important than they actually are.
practice of saying information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory.
severe depression that comes on suddenly and seems to have no external cause, or is too severe for current circumstances.
anything that does not allow a person to function within or adapt to the stresses and everyday demands of life.
having the quality of excessive excitement, energy, and elation or irritability.
mild hallucinogen (also known as pot or weed) derived from the leaves and flowers of a particular type of hemp plant.
designer drug that can have both stimulant and hallucinatory effects.
the arithmetic average of a distribution of numbers.
numbers that best represent the most typical score of a frequency distribution.
measurement of the degree of differences within a distribution or how the scores are spread out.
the middle score in an ordered distribution of scores, or the mean of the two middle numbers; the 50th percentile.
mental series of exercises meant to refocus attention and achieve a trancelike state of consciousness.
the first large swelling at the top of the spinal cord, forming the lowest part of the brain, which is responsible for life-sustaining functions such as breathing, swallowing, and heart rate.
an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage.
physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed.
the cessation of ovulation and menstrual cycles and the end of a woman’s reproductive capability.
mental representations that stand for objects or events and have a picture-like quality.
the tendency for people to persist in using problem-solving patterns that have worked for them in the past.
the tendency to give little or no importance to one’s successes or positive events and traits.
neurons that fire when an animal or person performs an action and also when an animal or person observes that same action being performed by another.
the tendency of misleading information presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself.
a memory trick or strategy to help people remember.
the most frequent score in a distribution of scores.
learning through the observation and imitation of others.
cues for perceiving depth based on one eye only.
identical twins formed when one zygote splits into two separate masses of cells, each of which develops into a separate embryo.
disorders in which mood is severely disturbed
the smallest units of meaning within a language.
narcotic drug derived from opium, used to treat severe pain.
the perception of motion of objects in which close objects appear to move more quickly than objects that are farther away.
the process by which activities are started, directed, and continued so that physical or psychological needs or wants are met.
ear section of the frontal lobe, responsible for sending motor commands to the muscles of the somatic nervous system.
nerves coming from the CNS to the voluntary muscles, consisting of efferent neurons.
illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different.
fatty substances produced by certain glial cells that coat the axons of neurons to insulate, protect, and speed up the neural impulse.
sleep disorder in which a person falls immediately into REM sleep during the day without warning.
a class of opium-related drugs that suppress the sensation of pain by binding to and stimulating the nervous system’s natural receptor sites for endorphins.
immune system cell responsible for suppressing viruses and destroying tumor cells.
the influence of our inherited characteristics on our personality, physical growth, intellectual growth, and social interactions.
a requirement of some material (such as food or water) that is essential for survival of the organism.
a need that involves a strong desire to succeed in attaining goals, not only realistic ones but also challenging ones.
the need for friendly social interactions and relationships with others.
the need to have control or influence over others.
the reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus.
symptoms of schizophrenia that are less than normal behavior or an absence of normal behavior; poor attention, flat affect, and poor speech production.
a distribution of scores in which scores are concentrated in the high end of the distribution.
followers of Freud who developed their own competing psychodynamic theories.
bundles of axons coated in myelin that travel together through the body.
an extensive network of specialized cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body.
form of biofeedback using brain-scanning devices to provide feedback about brain activity in an effort to modify behavior.
the basic cell that makes up the nervous system and that receives and sends messages within that system.
the ability within the brain to constantly change both the structure and function of many cells in response to experience or trauma.
area of psychology in which the psychologists specialize in the research or clinical implications of brain–behavior relationships.
a branch of the life sciences that deals with the structure and function of neurons, nerves, and nervous tissue.
personalities typified by maladaptive ways of dealing with relationships in Horney’s theory.
chemical found in the synaptic vesicles that, when released, has an effect on the next cell.
stimulus that has no effect on the desired response.
the active ingredient in tobacco.
bad dreams occurring during REM sleep.
relatively rare disorder in which the person experiences extreme fear and screams or runs around during deep sleep without waking fully.
type of long-term memory including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses. These memories are not conscious but are implied to exist because they affect conscious behavior.
therapy style in which the therapist remains relatively neutral and does not interpret or take direct actions with regard to the client, instead remaining a calm, nonjudgmental listener while the client talks.
any of the stages of sleep that do not include REM.
a special frequency polygon in which the scores are symmetrically distributed around the mean, and the mean, median, and mode are all located on the same point on the curve, with scores decreasing as the curve extends from the mean.
the influence of the environment on personality, physical growth, intellectual growth, and social interactions.
changing one’s behavior at the command of an authority figure.
the knowledge that an object exists even when it is not in sight.
the process of examining and measuring one’s own thoughts and mental activities.
learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior.
tendency of observers to see what they expect to see.
tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed.
disorder in which intruding, recurring thoughts or obsessions create anxiety that is relieved by performing a repetitive, ritualistic behavior or mental act (compulsion).
section of the brain located at the rear and bottom of each cerebral hemisphere containing the visual centers of the brain.
situation occurring in the phallic stage in which a child develops a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent and jealousy of the same-sex parent.
the sensation of smell.
areas of the brain located just above the sinus cavity and just below the frontal lobes that receive information from the olfactory receptor cells.
any behavior that is voluntary.
the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to responses.
definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured.
theory of color vision that proposes visual neurons (or groups of neurons) are stimulated by light of one color and inhibited by light of another color.
people who expect positive outcomes.
first stage occurring in the first year of life in which the mouth is the erogenous zone and weaning is the primary conflict.
social groups with whom a person does not identify; “them.”
the female gonads.
the tendency to interpret a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat and failure; distortion of thinking in which a person draws sweeping conclusions based on only one incident or event and applies those conclusions to events that are unrelated to the original.
the assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and closer to the viewer.
the female sex cell, or egg.
One part of the pituitary controls things associated with pregnancy, through the hormone oxytocin, such as production of milk for nursing infants and the onset of labor, as well as the levels of salt and water in the body, through the hormone vasopressin.
endocrine gland; controls the levels of sugar in the blood.
sudden onset of intense panic in which multiple physical symptoms of stress occur, often with feelings that one is dying.
disorder in which panic attacks occur frequently enough to cause the person difficulty in adjusting to daily life.
a model of memory in which memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections.
part of the ANS that restores the body to normal functioning after arousal and is responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the organs and glands.
sections of the brain located at the top and back of each cerebral hemisphere containing the centers for touch, taste, and temperature sensations.
the tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction.
technique in which a model demonstrates the desired behavior in a step-by-step, gradual process while the client is encouraged to imitate the model.
a naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed.
synthesized drug now used as an animal tranquilizer that can cause stimulant, depressant, narcotic, or hallucinogenic effects.
according to Maslow, times in a person’s life during which self-actualization is temporarily achieved.
the method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion.
the tendency to perceive things a certain way because previous experiences or expectations influence those perceptions.
all nerves and neurons that are not contained in the brain and spinal cord but that run through the body itself.
type of information processing that involves attending to factors not involved in the message, such as the appearance of the source of the message, the length of the message, and other noncontent factors.
permissive parenting in which parents are so involved that children are allowed to behave without set limits.
permissive parenting in which parents are uninvolved with a child or child’s behavior.
style of parenting in which parent makes few, if any, demands on a child’s behavior.
type of thought common to adolescents in which young people believe themselves to be unique and protected from harm.
Jung’s name for the unconscious mind as described by Freud.
the unique and relatively stable ways in which people think, feel, and behave.
disorders in which a person adopts a persistent, rigid, and maladaptive pattern of behavior that interferes with normal social interactions.
a table or graph that shows how often different numbers or scores appear in a particular set of scores.
area of psychology in which the psychologists study the differences in personality among people.
a nondirective insight therapy based on the work of Carl Rogers in which the client does all the talking and the therapist listens.
the process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through argument, pleading, or explanation.
third stage occurring from about 3 to 6 years of age, in which the child discovers sexual feelings.
an irrational, persistent fear of an object, situation, or social activity.
the basic units of sound in language.
condition occurring when a person’s body becomes unable to function normally without a particular drug.
area of psychology in which the psychologists study the biological bases of behavior.
endocrine gland located near the base of the cerebrum; secretes melatonin.
the visible part of the ear.
psychological experience of sound that corresponds to the frequency of the sound waves; higher frequencies are perceived as higher pitches.
gland located in the brain that secretes human growth hormone and influences all other hormone-secreting glands (also known as the master gland).
theory of pitch that states that different pitches are experienced by the stimulation of hair cells in different locations on the organ of Corti.
the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior.
the copying of someone else’s exact words (or a close imitation of the words) and presenting them as your own.
principle by which the id functions; the immediate satisfaction of needs without regard for the consequences.
line graph showing a frequency distribution.
the larger swelling above the medulla that connects the top of the brain to the bottom and that plays a part in sleep, dreaming, left–right body coordination, and arousal.
the entire group of people or animals in which the researcher is interested.
warmth, affection, love, and respect that come from significant others in one’s life.
the reinforcement of a response by the addition or experience of a pleasurable stimulus.
symptoms of schizophrenia that are excesses of behaviour or occur in addition to normal behavior; hallucinations, delusions, and distorted thinking.
a distribution of scores in which scores are concentrated in the low end of the distribution.
brain-imaging method in which a radioactive sugar is injected into a person and a computer compiles a color-coded image of the activity of the brain.
a disorder resulting from exposure to a major stressor, with symptoms of anxiety, dissociation, nightmares, poor sleep, reliving the event, and concentration problems, lasting for more than 1 month.
aspects of language involving the practical ways of communicating with others, or the social “niceties” of language.
psychosurgery in which the connections of the prefrontal cortex to other areas of the brain are severed.
negative attitude held by a person about the members of a particular social group.
Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development in which the preschool child learns to use language as a means of exploring the world.
the psychological experience produced by urgent demands or expectations for a person’s behavior that come from an outside source.
tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better than the information that follows.
the first step in assessing stress, which involves estimating the severity of a stressor and classifying it as either a threat or a challenge.
those drives that involve needs of the body such as hunger and thirst.
any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch.
memory problem that occurs when older information prevents or interferes with the learning or retrieval of newer information.
process of cognition that occurs when a goal must be reached by thinking and behaving in certain ways.
coping strategies that try to eliminate the source of a stressor or reduce its impact through direct actions.
personality assessments that present ambiguous visual stimuli to the client and ask the client to respond with whatever comes to mind.
socially desirable behavior that benefits others.
an example of a concept that closely matches the defining characteristics of a concept.
the tendency to perceive objects that are close to each other as part of the same grouping.
a social worker with some training in therapy methods who focuses on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty, overcrowding, stress, and drug abuse.
a medical doctor who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
drugs that alter thinking, perception, and memory.
Freud’s term for both the theory of personality and the therapy based on it; an insight therapy based on the theory of Freud, emphasizing the revealing of unconscious conflicts.
modern version of psychoanalysis that is more focused on the development of a sense of self and the discovery of other motivations behind a person’s behavior than sexual motivations.
a newer and more general term for therapies based on psychoanalysis, with an emphasis on transference, shorter treatment times, and a more direct therapeutic approach.
unconscious distortions of a person’s perception of reality that reduce stress and anxiety.
the feeling that a drug is needed to continue a feeling of emotional or psychological well-being.
any pattern of behavior that causes people significant distress, causes them to harm others, or harms their ability to function in daily life.
a professional with an academic degree and specialized training in one or more areas of psychology.
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
the study of the effects of psychological factors such as stress, emotions, thoughts, and behavior on the immune system.
the study of abnormal behavior.
the use of drugs to control or relieve the symptoms of psychological disorders.
five stages of personality development proposed by Freud and tied to the sexual development of the child.
surgery performed on brain tissue to relieve or control severe psychological disorders.
term applied to a person who is no longer able to perceive what is real and what is fantasy.
therapy for mental disorders in which a person with a problem talks with a psychological professional.
the physical changes that occur in the body as sexual development reaches its peak.
any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less likely to happen again.
the punishment of a response by the addition or experience of an unpleasant stimulus.
the punishment of a response by the removal of a pleasurable stimulus.
process of assigning subjects to the experimental or control group randomly, so that each subject has an equal chance of being in either group.
the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.
stage of sleep in which the eyes move rapidly under the eyelids and the person is typically experiencing a dream.
assessment in which a numerical value is assigned to specific behavior that is listed in the scale.
cognitive–behavioral therapy in which clients are directly challenged in their irrational beliefs and helped to restructure their thinking into more rational belief statements.
theory stating that prejudice and discrimination will be increased between groups that are in conflict over a limited resource.
principle by which the ego functions; the satisfaction of the demands of the id only when negative consequences will not result.
type of memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory with very few external cues.
tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better than the information at the beginning of it.
three-dimensional proteins on the surface of the dendrites or certain cells of the muscles and glands, which are shaped to fit only certain neurotransmitters.
referring to a gene that influences the expression of a trait only when paired with an identical gene.
Bandura’s explanation of how the factors of environment, personal characteristics, and behavior can interact to determine future behavior.
tendency of people to like other people who like them in return.
the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact.
therapy technique in which the therapist restates what the client says rather than interpreting those statements.
an unlearned, involuntary response that is not under personal control or choice.
the connection of the afferent neurons to the interneurons to the efferent neurons, resulting in a reflex action.
any event or stimulus that, when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again.
any events or objects that, when following a response, increase the likelihood of that response occurring again.
perception that occurs when objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and are, therefore, assumed to be much farther away.
the tendency of a test to produce the same scores again and again each time it is given to the same people.
a rare disorder in which the mechanism that blocks the movement of the voluntary muscles fails, allowing the person to thrash around and even get up and act out nightmares.
increased amounts of REM sleep after being deprived of REM sleep on earlier nights.
in research, repeating a study or experiment to see if the same results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results.
repetition of a study or experiment to see if the same results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results.
assumption that any object (or person) sharing characteristics with the members of a particular category is also a member of that category.
randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population of subjects.
occurring when a patient becomes reluctant to talk about a certain topic, by either changing the subject or becoming silent.
the state of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse.
an area of neurons running through the middle of the medulla and the pons and slightly beyond that is responsible for general attention, alertness, and arousal.
getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used.
a stimulus for remembering.
memory retrieval problem that occurs when newer information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information.
loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards, or loss of memory for the past.
process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic vesicles.
visual illusions in which the figure and ground can be reversed.
visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for noncolor sensitivity to low levels of light.
type of love consisting of intimacy and passion.
projective test that uses 10 inkblots as the ambiguous stimuli.
the ability to excel in certain areas, or specific intelligence.
process in which a more skilled learner gives help to a less skilled learner, reducing the amount of help as the less skilled learner becomes more capable.
in this case, a mental concept formed through experiences with objects and events.
severe disorder in which the person suffers from disordered thinking, bizarre behavior, hallucinations, and inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
area of psychology in which the psychologists work directly in the schools, doing assessments, educational placement, and diagnosing educational problems.
system of gathering data so that bias and error in measurement are reduced.
the second step in assessing a threat, which involves estimating the resources available to the person for coping with the stressor.
any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars.
the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input.
an individual’s awareness of his or her own personal characteristics and level of functioning.
the image of oneself that develops from interactions with important significant people in one’s life.
according to Maslow, the point that is seldom reached at which people have sufficiently satisfied the lower needs and achieved their full human potential.
the striving to fulfill one’s innate capacities and capabilities.
theory of human motivation in which the social context of an action has an effect on the type of motivation existing for the action.
individual’s expectancy of how effective his or her efforts to accomplish a goal will be in any particular circumstance.
the tendency of one’s expectations to affect one’s behavior in such a way as to make the expectations more likely to occur.
a group composed of people who have similar problems and who meet together without a therapist or counselor for the purpose of discussion, problem solving, and social and emotional support.
type of declarative memory containing general knowledge, such as knowledge of language and information learned in formal education.
model of memory organization that assumes information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other than concepts that are not highly related.
the rules for determining the meaning of words and sentences.
the process that occurs when special receptors in the sense organs are activated, allowing various forms of outside stimuli to become neural signals in the brain.
someone who needs more arousal than the average person.
Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development in which the infant uses its senses and motor abilities to interact with objects in the environment.
tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging.
an explanation of motion sickness in which the information from the eyes conflicts with the information from the vestibular senses, resulting in dizziness, nausea, and other physical discomfort.
the very first stage of memory; the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems.
nerves coming from the sensory organs to the CNS consisting of afferent neurons.
tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information.
a problem in sexual functioning.
a person’s sexual attraction and affection for members of either the opposite or the same sex.
the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina.
the reinforcement of simple steps in behavior that lead to a desired, more complex behavior.
the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used.
a difference between groups of numerical data that is considered large enough to be due to factors other than chance variation.
the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group.
study in which the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group.
neuroimaging method that is similar to PET but uses a different radioactive tracer and can be used to examine brain blood flow.
cause of behavior attributed to external factors, such as delays, the action of others, or some other aspect of the situation.
the social or environmental setting of a person’s behavior.
the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size, regardless of its distance.
frequency distribution in which most of the scores fall to one side or the other of the distribution.
the sensations of touch, pressure, temperature, and pain.
disorder in which the person stops breathing for 10 seconds or more.
any significant loss of sleep, resulting in problems in concentration and irritability.
the inability of the voluntary muscles to move during REM sleep.
occurring during deep sleep, an episode of moving around or walking around in one’s sleep.
fear of interacting with others or being in social situations that might lead to a negative evaluation.
the assignment of a person one has just met to a category based on characteristics the new person has in common with other people with whom one has had experience in the past.
the mental processes that people use to make sense of the social world around them.
referring to the use of cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world.
theorists who emphasize the importance of both the influences of other people’s behavior and the influences of a person’s own expectancies of learning.
learning theory that includes cognitive processes such as anticipating, judging, memory, and imitation of models.
theory that assumes that people who are hypnotized are not in an altered state but are merely playing the role expected of them in the situation.
the comparison of oneself to others in ways that raise one’s self-esteem.
the part of the self-concept including one’s view of self as a member of a particular social category.
theory in which the formation of a person’s identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison.
the scientific study of how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence and are influenced by social groups.
the study of the relationship between biological systems and social processes and behavior.
the scientific study of how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others.
the pattern of behavior that is expected of a person who is in a particular social position.
the network of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others who can offer support, comfort, or aid to a person in need.
perspective that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture.
the cell body of the neuron responsible for maintaining the life of the cell.
division of the PNS consisting of nerves that carry information from the senses to the CNS and from the CNS to the voluntary muscles of the body.
area of neurons running down the front of the parietal lobes responsible for processing information from the skin and internal body receptors for touch, temperature, body position, and possibly taste.
the body senses consisting of the skin senses, the kinesthetic sense, and the vestibular senses.
the more basic traits that underlie the surface traits, forming the core of personality.
condition produced most often by damage to the parietal lobe association areas of the right hemisphere resulting in an inability to recognize objects or body parts in the left visual field.
fear of objects or specific situations or events.
a long bundle of neurons that carries messages between the body and the brain and is responsible for very fast, lifesaving reflexes.
the reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred.
area of psychology in which the psychologists help athletes and others to prepare themselves mentally for participation in sports activities.
the square root of the average squared deviations from the mean of scores in a distribution; a measure of variability.
referring to differences in data sets that are larger than chance variation would predict.
branch of mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of numerical data.
special cells found in tissues of the body that are capable of manufacturing other cell types when those cells need to be replaced due to damage or wear and tear.
a set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular social category.
a set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular social category.
the effect that people’s awareness of the stereotypes associated with their social group has on their behavior.
drugs that increase the functioning of the nervous system.
drugs that produce a mixture of psychomotor stimulant and hallucinogenic effects.
the tendency to stop making a generalized response to a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus because the similar stimulus is never paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
the tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response.
a motive that appears to be unlearned but causes an increase in stimulation, such as curiosity.
holding onto information for some period of time.
the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging.
explanation of disorder that assumes a biological sensitivity, or vulnerability, to a certain disorder will result in the development of that disorder under the right conditions of environmental or emotional stress.
early perspective in psychology associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener, in which the focus of study is the structure or basic elements of the mind.
referring to concepts and impressions that are only valid within a particular person’s perception and may be influenced by biases, prejudice, and personal experiences.
emotional distress or emotional pain.
small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular goal behavior.
part of the personality that acts as a moral center.
aspects of personality that can easily be seen by other people in the outward actions of a person.
part of the ANS that is responsible for reacting to stressful events and bodily arousal.
microscopic fluid-filled space between the synaptic knob of one cell and the dendrites or surface of the next cell.
disorder in which the signals from the various sensory organs are processed in the wrong cortical areas, resulting in the sense information being interpreted as more than one sensation.
the system of rules for combining words and phrases to form grammatically correct sentences.
behavior technique used to treat phobias, in which a client is asked to make a list of ordered fears and taught to relax while concentrating on those fears.
the behavioral characteristics that are fairly well established at birth, such as easy, difficult, and slow to warm up.
areas of the brain located along the side, starting just behind the temples, containing the neurons responsible for the sense of hearing and meaningful speech.
any factor that can cause a birth defect.
the male gonads.
the tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases.
part of the limbic system located in the center of the brain, this structure relays sensory information from the lower part of the brain to the proper areas of the cortex and processes some sensory information before sending it to its proper area.
projective test that uses 20 pictures of people in ambiguous situations as the visual stimuli.
the relationship between therapist and client that develops as a warm, caring, accepting relationship characterized by empathy, mutual respect, and understanding.
treatment methods aimed at making people feel better and function more effectively.
brain waves indicating the early stages of sleep.
mental activity that goes on in the brain when a person is organizing and attempting to understand information and communicating information to others.
mental activity that goes on in the brain when a person is organizing and attempting to understand information and communicating information to others.
endocrine gland found in the neck; regulates metabolism.
an extinction process in which a person is removed from the situation that provides reinforcement for undesirable behavior, usually by being placed in a quiet corner or room away from possible attention and reinforcement opportunities.
type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded with tokens.
the use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole.
a consistent, enduring way of thinking, feeling, or behaving.
the assumption that the particular circumstances of any given situation will influence the way in which a trait is expressed.
theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics that make up human personality in an effort to predict future behavior.
the process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural activity.
in psychoanalysis, the tendency for a patient or client to project positive or negative feelings for important people from the past onto the therapist.
problem-solving method in which one possible solution after another is tried until a successful one is found.
theory of color vision that proposes three types of cones: red, blue, and green.
type of inferential statistical analysis typically used when two means are compared to see if they are significantly different.
disease involving failure of the pancreas to secrete enough insulin, necessitating medication, usually diagnosed before the age of 40 and can be associated with obesity.
person who is ambitious, time conscious, extremely hardworking, and tends to have high levels of hostility and anger as well as being easily annoyed.
person who is relaxed and laid-back, less driven and less competitive than Type A, and slow to anger.
pleasant but repressed person, who tends to internalize his or her anger and anxiety and who finds expressing emotions difficult.
positive regard that is given without conditions or strings attached; referring to the warmth, respect, and accepting atmosphere created by the therapist for the client in personcentered therapy.
an involuntary response to a naturally occurring or unconditioned stimulus.
a naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response.
level of the mind in which thoughts, feelings, memories, and other information are kept that are not easily or voluntarily brought into consciousness.
the degree to which a test actually measures what it’s supposed to measure.
schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event.
schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is different for each trial or event.
the sensations of movement, balance, and body position.
classical conditioning of an involuntary response or emotion by watching the reaction of another person.
the change in the thickness of the lens as the eye focuses on objects that are far away or close.
theory of pitch that states that frequencies from about 400 Hz to 4000 Hz cause the hair cells (auditory neurons) to fire in a volley pattern, or take turns in firing.
state in which thoughts, feelings, and sensations are clear and organized, and the person feels alert.
condition resulting from damage to Wernicke’s area, causing the affected person to be unable to understand or produce meaningful language.
physical symptoms that can include nausea, pain, tremors, crankiness, and high blood pressure, resulting from a lack of an addictive drug in the body systems.
an active system that processes the information in short-term memory.
law stating performance is related to arousal; moderate levels of arousal lead to better performance than do levels of arousal that are too low or too high. This effect varies with the difficulty of the task: Easy tasks require a high-moderate level, whereas more difficult tasks require a low-moderate level.
a statistical measure that indicates how far away from the mean a particular score is in terms of the number of standard deviations that exist between the mean and that score.
Vygotsky’s concept of the difference between what a child can do alone versus what that child can do with the help of a teacher.
cell resulting from the uniting of the ovum and sperm.