The least amount of energy that can be detected as a stimulation 50% of the time.
The need to excel, to overcome obstacles.
According to Rogers, the drive of every organism to fulfill its biological potential and become what it is inherently capable of becoming.
An adjustment of the senses to the level of stimulation they are receiving.
The process of mixing lights of different wavelengths to create new hues.
Any effort to cope with stress.
Research carried out on children, adopted at birth by parents not related to them, to determine the relative influence of heredity and environment on human behavior.
Two endocrine glands located just above the kidneys.
Monocular cue to distance and depth based on the fact that more distant objects are likely to appear hazy and blurred.
The need to be with others.
Sense experience that occurs after a visual stimulus has been removed.
Behavior aimed at doing harm to others; also, the motive to behave aggressively.
An anxiety disorder that involves multiple, intense fears of crowds, public places, and other situations that require separation from a source of security such as the home.
Depressant that is the intoxicating ingredient in whiskey, beer, wine, and other fermented or distilled liquors.
A condition resulting from alcohol consumption involving poor judgments arising from misdirected attention and failure to consider negative consequences.
A step-by-step method of problem solving that guarantees a correct solution.
Principle that the action potential in a neuron does not vary in strength; either the neuron fires at full strength, or it does not fire at all.
Mental states that differ noticeably from normal waking consciousness.
Helping behavior that is not linked to personal gain.
A neurological disorder, most commonly found in late adulthood, characterized by progressive losses in memory and cognition and by changes in personality.
Stimulant drugs that initially produce “rushes” of euphoria often followed by sudden “crashes” and, sometimes, severe depression.
The magnitude of a wave; in sound, the primary determinant of loudness.
A limbic system structure involved in governing emotions and establishing emotional memories.
Second stage in Freud’s theory of personality development, in which a child’s erotic feelings center on the anus and on elimination.
A serious eating disorder that is associated with an intense fear of weight gain and a distorted body image.
Drugs used to treat very severe psychological disorders, particularly schizophrenia.
Personality disorder that involves a pattern of violent, criminal, or unethical and exploitative behavior and an inability to feel affection for others.
Disorders in which anxiety is a characteristic feature or the avoidance of anxiety seems to motivate abnormal behavior.
Impairments of the ability to use (expressive aphasia) or understand (receptive aphasia) language that usually results from brain damage.
Sleep disorder characterized by breathing difficulty during the night and feelings of exhaustion during the day.
According to Lewin, the result of simultaneous attraction to two appealing possibilities, neither of which has any negative qualities.
According to Lewin, the result of being simultaneously attracted to and repelled by the same goal.
In Jung’s theory of personality, thought forms common to all human beings, stored in the collective unconscious.
Theory of motivation that proposes that organisms seek an optimal level of arousal.
Method used to select high-level managers that places applicants in a simulated and highly structured group setting where they are given personnel tests and extensive interviews, and they engage in various role-playing activities.
Areas of the cerebral cortex where incoming messages from the separate senses are combined into meaningful impressions and outgoing messages from the motor areas are integrated.
Emotional bond that develops in the first year of life that makes human babies cling to their caregivers for safety and comfort.
The selection of some incoming information for further processing.
A childhood disorder characterized by inattention, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity.
Relatively stable organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavior tendencies directed toward something or someone—the attitude object.
The theory that addresses the question of how people make judgments about the causes of behavior.
The bundle of axons that carries signals from each ear to the brain.
A personality pattern characterized by rigid conventionality, exaggerated respect for authority, and hostility toward those who defy society’s norms.
A wide range of disorders that emerge during early childhood characterized by varying degrees of impairment in communication skills, and social functioning.
The perception that a stationary object is actually moving.
The part of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages between the central nervous system and the internal organs.
Sense of independence; a desire not to be controlled by others.
A heuristic by which a judgment or decision is based on information that is most easily retrieved from memory.
Behavioral therapy techniques aimed at eliminating undesirable behavior patterns by teaching the person to associate them with pain and discomfort.
According to Lewin, the result of facing a choice between two undesirable possibilities, neither of which has any positive qualities.
Personality disorder in which the person’s fears of rejection by others lead to social isolation.
Single long fiber extending from the cell body; it carries outgoing messages.
A baby’s vocalizations, consisting of repetition of consonant–vowel combinations.
Potentially deadly depressants, first used for their sedative and anticonvulsant properties, now used only to treat such conditions as epilepsy and arthritis.
Vibrating membrane in the cochlea of the inner ear; it contains sense receptors for sound.
Performance appraisal that matches employee behavior to specific behaviors associated with high, average, and poor performance.
Form of operant conditioning therapy in which the client and therapist set behavioral goals and agree on reinforcements that the client will receive on reaching those goals.
Study of the relationship between heredity and behavior.
Therapeutic approaches that are based on the belief that all behavior, normal and abnormal, is learned, and that the objective of therapy is to teach people new, more satisfying ways of behaving.
School of psychology that studies only observable and measurable behavior.
Five traits or basic dimensions currently considered to be of central importance in describing personality.
Cues to sound location that involve both ears working together.
Visual cues requiring the use of both eyes.
Binocular distance cue based on the difference between the images cast on the two retinas when both eyes are focused on the same object.
A technique that uses monitoring devices to provide precise information about internal physiological processes, such as heart rate or blood pressure, to teach people to gain voluntary control over these functions.
A method of studying developmental changes by reconstructing a person’s past through interviews and inferring the effects of past events on current behaviors.
View that psychological disorders have a biochemical or physiological basis.
A group of approaches, including medication, electroconvulsive therapy, and neurosurgery, that are sometimes used to treat psychological disorders in conjunction with, or instead of, psychotherapy.
The theory that the interaction of biological, psychological, and cultural factors influences the intensity and duration of pain.
Neurons that have only one axon and one dendrite; in the eye, these neurons connect the receptors on the retina to the ganglion cells.
A mood disorder in which periods of mania and depression may alternate, sometimes with periods of normal mood intervening.
The place on the retina where the axons of all the ganglion cells leave the eye and where there are no receptors.
A process whereby prior conditioning prevents conditioning to a second stimulus even when the two stimuli are presented simultaneously.
A somatoform disorder in which a person becomes so preoccupied with his or her imagined ugliness that normal life is impossible.
Personality disorder characterized by marked instability in self-image, mood, and interpersonal relationships.
A problem-solving strategy in which an individual or a group produces numerous ideas and evaluates them only after all ideas have been collected.
The perception of brightness as the same, even though the amount of light reaching the retina changes.
The nearness of a color to white as opposed to black.
An eating disorder characterized by binges of eating followed by self-induced vomiting.
The tendency for an individual’s helpfulness in an emergency to decrease as the number of passive bystanders increases.
States that the experience of emotion occurs simultaneously with biological changes.
Intensive description and analysis of a single individual or just a few individuals.
Division of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord.
Tendency of scores to congregate around some middle value.
Structure in the hindbrain that controls certain reflexes and coordinates the body’s movements.
The outer surface of the two cerebral hemispheres that regulates most complex behavior.
The main portion of the brain, occupying the upper part of the cranial cavity.
The difficulty adults have remembering experiences from their first 2 years of life.
Pairs of threadlike bodies within the cell nucleus that contain the genes.
The grouping of information into meaningful units for easier handling by short-term memory.
A regular biological rhythm with a period of approximately 24 hours.
A sweeping set of laws and regulations aimed at protecting the rights of people despite their gender, age, race, or religious beliefs.
The type of learning in which a response naturally elicited by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral, stimulus.
Nondirectional form of therapy developed by Carl Rogers that calls for unconditional positive regard of the client by the therapist with the goal of helping the client become fully functioning.
Groups of adolescents with similar interests and strong mutual attachment.
Drug derived from the coca plant that, although producing a sense of euphoria by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, also leads to anxiety, depression, and addictive cravings.
Part of the inner ear containing fluid that vibrates, which in turn causes the basilar membrane to vibrate.
The processes whereby we acquire and use knowledge.
Perceived inconsistency between two cognitions.
Illogical and maladaptive responses to early negative life events that lead to feelings of incompetence and unworthiness that are reactivated whenever a new situation arises that resembles the original events.
Learning that depends on mental processes that are not directly observable.
A learned mental image of a spatial environment that may be called on to solve problems when stimuli in the environment change.
School of psychology devoted to the study of mental processes in the broadest sense.
States that emotional experience depends on one’s perception or judgment of a situation.
Psychotherapies that emphasize changing clients’ perceptions of their life situation as a way of modifying their behavior.
Therapy that depends on identifying and changing inappropriately negative and self-critical patterns of thought.
View that psychological disorders result from learning maladaptive ways of thinking and behaving.
Personality theories that view behavior as the product of the interaction of cognitions, learning and past experiences, and the immediate environment.
A group of people born during the same period in historical time.
In Jung’s theory of personality, the level of the unconscious that is inherited and common to all members of a species.
An inclination to perceive familiar objects as retaining their color despite changes in sensory information.
According to Adler, the person’s effort to overcome imagined or real personal weaknesses.
A rational decision-making model in which choices are systematically evaluated on various criteria.
Change of behavior in response to an explicit request from another person or group.
Deciding on a more realistic solution or goal when an ideal solution or goal is not practical.
Mental categories for classifying objects, people, or experiences.
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development between 7 and 11 years of age in which the individual can attend to more than one thing at a time and understand someone else’s point of view, though thinking is limited to concrete matters.
In Rogers’s theory, acceptance and love that are dependent on another’s behaving in certain ways and on fulfilling certain conditions.
After conditioning, the response an organism produces when a conditioned stimulus is presented.
An originally neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus and eventually produces the desired response in an organism when presented alone.
Conditioned avoidance of certain foods even if there is only one pairing of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.
Receptor cells in the retina responsible for color vision.
The tendency to look for evidence in support of a belief and to ignore evidence that would disprove a belief.
Simultaneous existence of incompatible demands, opportunities, needs, or goals.
Voluntarily yielding to social norms, even at the expense of one’s preferences.
Acknowledging a stressful situation directly and attempting to find a solution to the problem or to attain the difficult goal.
A person’s ability to finish projects that are started, to attend to detail without becoming absorbed by it, and to care enough about the quality of work that it is not compromised by inattention or lack of effort.
Our awareness of various cognitive processes, such as sleeping, dreaming, concentrating, and making decisions.
Refers to a test’s having an adequate sample of questions measuring the skills or knowledge it is supposed to measure.
A reliable “if–then” relationship between two events, such as a CS and a US.
In a controlled experiment, the group not subjected to a change in the independent variable; used for comparison with the experimental group.
A visual depth cue that comes from muscles controlling eye movement as the eyes turn inward to view a nearby stimulus.
Thinking that is directed toward one correct solution to a problem.
Disorders in which a dramatic specific disability has no physical cause but instead seems related to psychological problems.
The transparent protective coating over the front part of the eye.
The formal and informal rules, procedures, and expectations that define the values, attitudes, beliefs, and customs of an organization.
A thick band of nerve fibers connecting the left and right cerebral hemispheres.
Statistical measures of the degree of association between two variables.
Research technique based on the naturally occurring relationship between two or more variables.
Thinking about alternative realities and things that never happened.
A form of group therapy intended to help troubled partners improve their problems of communication and interaction.
The ability to produce novel and socially valued ideas or objects.
Validity of a test as measured by a comparison of the test score and independent measures of what the test is designed to measure.
A time when certain internal and external influences have a major effect on development; at other periods, the same influences will have little or no effect.
Research involving the exploration of the extent to which people differ from one culture to another.
A method of studying developmental changes by comparing people of different ages at about the same time.
Teaching employees to adjust their attitudes and actions so they can work effectively as part of a diverse workforce.
Beliefs that most members of a society accept as self-evidently true.
The tangible goods and the values, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that are passed from one generation to another.
Intelligence tests designed to eliminate cultural bias by minimizing skills and values that vary from one culture to another.
Increased sensitivity of rods and cones in darkness.
A theory that argues that the passage of time causes forgetting.
Unit of measurement for the loudness of sounds.
Self-deceptive techniques for reducing stress, including denial, repression, projection, identification, regression, intellectualization, reaction formation, displacement, and sublimation.
The tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts or qualities and our failures to external factors.
A loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group.
Policy of treating people with severe psychological disorders in the larger community or in small residential centers such as halfway houses, rather than in large public hospitals.
False beliefs about reality that have no basis in fact.
Short fibers that branch out from the cell body and pick up incoming messages.
Refusal to acknowledge a painful or threatening reality.
Complex molecule in a double-helix configuration that is the main ingredient of chromosomes and genes and that forms the code for all genetic information.
Personality disorder in which the person is unable to make choices and decisions independently and cannot tolerate being alone.
In an experiment, the variable that is measured to see how it is changed by manipulations in the independent variable.
A dissociative disorder whose essential feature is that the person suddenly feels changed or different in a strange way.
Chemicals that slow down behavior or cognitive processes.
Mood disorders often characterized by overwhelming feelings of sadness, lack of interest in activities, and perhaps excessive guilt or feelings of worthlessness.
A conditioning technique designed to gradually reduce anxiety about a particular object or situation.
The study of the changes that occur in people from birth through old age.
Biological predisposition.
View that people biologically predisposed to a mental disorder (those with a certain diathesis) will tend to exhibit that disorder when particularly affected by stress.
The smallest change in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time.
An unfair act or series of acts taken toward an entire group of people or individual members of that group.
Shifting repressed motives and emotions from an original object to a substitute object.
Culture-specific rules that govern how, when, and why expressions of emotion are appropriate.
A disorder characterized by loss of memory for past events without organic cause.
Disorders in which some aspect of the personality seems separated from the rest.
A symptom of dissociative amnesia that involves flight from home and the assumption of a new identity with amnesia for past identity and events.
(Also called multiple personality disorder.) Disorder characterized by the separation of the personality into two or more distinct personalities.
Thinking that meets the criteria of originality, inventiveness, and flexibility.
Member of a gene pair that controls the appearance of a certain trait.
Experimental design useful in studies of the effects of drugs, in which neither the subject nor the researcher knows at the time of administration which subjects are receiving an active drug and which are receiving an inactive substance.
Vivid visual and auditory experiences that occur primarily during REM periods of sleep.
State of tension or arousal that motivates behavior.
States that motivated behavior is aimed at reducing a state of bodily tension or arousal and returning the organism to homeostasis.
View that thoughts and feelings (the mind) are distinct from the world of real objects and our bodies.
Psychotherapeutic approach that recognizes the value of a broad treatment package over a rigid commitment to one particular form of therapy.
Freud’s term for the part of the personality that mediates between environmental demands (reality), conscience (superego), and instinctual needs (id); now often used as a synonym for “self.”
The part of the superego that consists of standards of what one would like to be.
Unable to see things from another’s point of view.
The ability to reproduce unusually sharp and detailed images of something one has seen.
The linking of new information in short-term memory to familiar material stored in long-term memory.
Biological therapy in which a mild electrical current is passed through the brain for a short period, often producing convulsions and temporary coma; used to treat severe, prolonged depression.
Monocular cue to distance and depth based on the fact that the higher on the horizontal plane an object is, the farther away it appears.
A developing human between 2 weeks and 3 months after conception.
Feeling, such as fear, joy, or surprise, that underlies behavior.
According to Goleman, a form of intelligence that refers to how effectively people perceive and understand their own emotions and the emotions of others, and can regulate and manage their emotional behavior.
Learned emotional responses to various stimuli.
Glands of the endocrine system that release hormones into the bloodstream.
The portion of long-term memory that stores personally experienced events.
Theory that worker motivation depends on the relationship between personal effort expended and rewards received when compared to that of other workers.
The inability of a man to achieve or maintain an erection.
A common cultural heritage—including religion, language, or ancestry—that is shared by a group of individuals.
An approach to, and subfield of, psychology that is concerned with the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental processes, their adaptive value, and the purposes they continue to serve.
Study of the evolutionary roots of behaviors and mental processes.
Exposing one’s genitals in public to achieve sexual arousal.
In Bandura’s view, what a person anticipates in a situation or as a result of behaving in certain ways.
Theory that worker motivation depends on the expectation that by working hard they will achieve valued rewards.
In a controlled experiment, the group subjected to a change in the independent variable.
Research technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates selected events or circumstances and then measures the effects of those manipulations on subsequent behavior.
Memory for information that we can readily express in words and are aware of having; these memories can be intentionally retrieved from memory.
A decrease in the strength or frequency, or stopping, of a learned response because of failure to continue pairing the US and CS (classical conditioning) or withholding of reinforcement (operant conditioning).
According to Jung, people who usually focus on social life and the external world instead of on their internal experience.
A desire to perform a behavior to obtain an external reward or avoid punishment.
Studies of heritability in humans based on the assumption that if genes influence a certain trait, close relatives should be more similar on that trait than distant relatives.
A form of group therapy that sees the family as at least partly responsible for the individual’s problems and that seeks to change all family members’ behaviors to the benefit of the family unit as well as the troubled individual.
Specialized brain cells that only respond to particular elements in the visual field such as movement or lines of specific orientation.
The inability of a woman to become sexually aroused or to reach orgasm.
Feminist theories offer a wide variety of views on the social roles of women and men, the problems and rewards of those roles, and prescriptions for changing those roles.
A disorder that occurs in children of women who drink alcohol during pregnancy; this disorder is characterized by facial deformities, heart defects, stunted growth, brain damage and cognitive impairments.
A nonhuman object is the preferred or exclusive method of achieving sexual excitement.
A developing human between 3 months after conception and birth.
According to Freud, a partial or complete halt at some point in the individual’s psychosexual development.
A reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after a fixed length of time since the last reinforcement.
A reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after a fixed number of correct responses.
A vivid memory of a certain event and the incidents surrounding it even after a long time has passed.
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development beginning about 11 years of age in which the individual becomes capable of abstract thought.
The area of the retina that is the center of the visual field.
The perspective from which we interpret information before making a decision.
Twins developed from two separate fertilized ova and therefore different in genetic makeup.
A psychoanalytic technique that encourages the person to talk without inhibition about whatever thoughts or fantasies come to mind.
The number of cycles per second in a wave; in sound, the primary determinant of pitch.
A count of the number of scores that fall within each of a series of intervals.
Type of bar graph that shows frequency distributions.
Type of line graph that shows frequency distributions.
Theory that pitch is determined by the frequency with which hair cells in the cochlea fire.
Part of the cerebrum that is responsible for voluntary movement; it is also important for attention, goal-directed behavior, and appropriate emotional experiences.
Achieving sexual arousal by touching or rubbing against a nonconsenting person in public situations.
The feeling that occurs when a person is prevented from reaching a goal.
The theory that, under certain circumstances, people who are frustrated in their goals turn their anger away from the proper, powerful target and toward another, less powerful target that is safer to attack.
According to Rogers, an individual whose self-concept closely resembles his or her inborn capacities or potentials.
The tendency to perceive only a limited number of uses for an object, thus interfering with the process of problem solving.
A method for identifying the procedures and processes that workers must use in the performance of the job.
A noninvasive imaging technique that measures the movement of blood molecules in the brain, pinpointing specific sites and details of neuronal activity.
Theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment.
The tendency of people to overemphasize personal causes for other people’s behavior.
Neurons that connect the bipolar cells in the eyes to the brain.
The theory that a “neurological gate” in the spinal cord controls the transmission of pain messages to the brain.
The realization that gender does not change with age.
Disorders that involve the strong desire to become, or the insistence that one really is, a member of the other biological sex.
A little girl’s knowledge that she is a girl, and a little boy’s knowledge that he is a boy.
General beliefs about characteristics that men and women are presumed to have.
The psychological and social meanings attached to being biologically male or female.
Knowledge of what behavior is appropriate for each gender.
According to Selye, the three stages the body passes through as it adapts to stress: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion.
An anxiety disorder characterized by prolonged vague but intense fears that are not attached to any particular object or circumstance.
Elements that control the transmission of traits; they are found on the chromosomes.
Study of how traits are transmitted from one generation to the next.
In Freud’s theory of personality development, the final stage of normal adult sexual development, which is usually marked by mature sexuality.
Involuntary muscle spasms in the outer part of the vagina that make intercourse impossible.
An organism’s entire unique genetic makeup.
School of psychology that studies how people perceive and experience objects as whole patterns.
A hormone produced in the stomach and small intestines that increases appetite.
Refers to superior IQ combined with demonstrated or potential ability in such areas as academic aptitude, creativity, and leadership.
Cells that insulate and support neurons by holding them together, provide nourishment and remove waste products, prevent harmful substances from passing into the brain, and form the myelin sheath.
A simple sugar used by the body for energy.
Theory that worker motivation requires clearly stated goals and a belief that good job performance will lead to the attainment of these goals.
The reproductive glands—testes in males and ovaries in females.
A shift in the electrical charge in a tiny area of a neuron.
The language rules that determine how sounds and words can be combined and used to communicate meaning within a language.
The theory that leadership is a result of personal qualities and traits that qualify one to lead others.
Written intelligence tests administered by one examiner to many people at one time.
Type of psychotherapy in which clients meet regularly to interact and help one another achieve insight into their feelings and behavior.
A process that occurs when the members of a group like one another, have similar goals and are isolated, leading them to ignore alternatives and not criticize group consensus.
Sensory experiences in the absence of external stimulation.
Any of a number of drugs, such as LSD and mescaline, that distort visual and auditory perception.
A subfield of psychology concerned with the relationship between psychological factors and physical health and illness.
Cycles per second; unit of measurement for the frequency of sound waves.
Rules of thumb that help in simplifying and solving problems, although they do not guarantee a correct solution.
A theory of motivation advanced by Maslow holding that higher order motives involving social and personal growth only emerge after lower level motives related to survival have been satisfied.
Conditioning based on previous learning; the conditioned stimulus serves as an unconditioned stimulus for further training.
A heuristic, problem-solving strategy in which each step moves you progressively closer to the final goal.
Area containing the medulla, pons, and cerebellum.
The tendency to see outcomes as inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome.
A limbic system structure which plays an important role in the formation of new memories.
One-word sentences commonly used by children under 2 years of age.
State of balance and stability in which the organism functions effectively.
Chemical substances released by the endocrine glands; they help regulate bodily activities.
The aspects of color that correspond to names such as red, green, and blue.
The full complement of genes within a human cell.
Any personality theory that asserts the fundamental goodness of people and their striving toward higher levels of functioning.
School of psychology that emphasizes nonverbal experience and altered states of consciousness as a means of realizing one’s full human potential.
Trancelike state in which a person responds readily to suggestions.
Forebrain region that governs motivation and emotional responses.
Specific, testable predictions derived from a theory.
In Freud’s theory of personality, the collection of unconscious urges and desires that continually seek expression.
Twins developed from a single fertilized ovum and therefore identical in genetic makeup at the time of conception.
Taking on the characteristics of someone else to avoid feeling incompetent.
A period of intense self-examination and decision making; part of the process of identity formation.
Erickson’s term for the development of a stable sense of self necessary to make the transition from dependence on others to dependence on oneself.
Disorder in which a person interprets insignificant symptoms as signs of serious illness in the absence of any organic evidence of such illness.
A mental representation of a sensory experience.
Memory for information that we cannot readily express in words and may not be aware of having; these memories cannot be intentionally retrieved from memory.
The tendency in certain species to follow the first moving thing (usually its mother) it sees after it is born or hatched.
Failure to notice or be aware of something that is in plain sight.
External stimulus that prompts goal-directed behavior.
In an experiment, the variable that is manipulated to test its effects on the other, dependent variables.
The study of how individuals and organizations work and how psychological principles can be used to improve organizational effectiveness.
Subfield of industrial/organizational psychology concerned with effectively managing human resources.
In Adler’s theory, the fixation on feelings of personal inferiority that results in emotional and social paralysis.
A computer-like model used to describe the way humans encode, store, and retrieve information.
Legal term applied to defendants who do not know right from wrong or are unable to control their behavior.
Awareness of previously unconscious feelings and memories and how they influence present feelings and behavior.
Learning that occurs rapidly as a result of understanding all the elements of a problem.
A variety of individual psychotherapies designed to give people a better awareness and understanding of their feelings, motivations, and actions in the hope that this will help them to adjust.
Sleep disorder characterized by difficulty in falling asleep or remaining asleep throughout the night.
Inborn, inflexible, goal-directed behaviors that are characteristic of an entire species.
An area of the brain between the parietal and temporal lobes involved in addiction and the conscious expression of emotion and desire.
Paper-and-pencil tests that predict the likelihood that a job applicant will engage in counterproductive behavior in the workplace.
Condition of significantly subaverage intelligence combined with deficiencies in adaptive behavior, originating during the developmental period.
Thinking abstractly about stressful problems as a way of detaching oneself from them.
A general term referring to the ability or abilities involved in learning and adaptive behavior.
A numerical value given to intelligence that is determined from the scores on an intelligence test on the basis of a score of 100 for average intelligence.
Pairing the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus on only a portion of the learning trials.
Neurons that carry messages from one neuron to another.
Monocular distance cue in which one object, by partly blocking a second object, is perceived as being closer.
Scale with equal distances between the points or values, but without a true zero.
A desire to perform a behavior that stems from the enjoyment derived from the behavior itself.
According to Jung, people who usually focus on their own thoughts and feelings.
Electrically charged particles found both inside and outside the neuron.
The colored part of the eye that regulates the size of the pupil.
States that stimuli cause physiological changes in our bodies, and emotions result from those physiological changes.
Identifying the various tasks required by a job and the human qualifications that are required to perform that job.
Training workers to perform a variety of jobs.
Attribution error based on the assumption that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people.
Senses of muscle movement, posture, and strain on muscles and joints.
A method for identifying the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other human characteristics that are required for the job.
A flexible system of communication that uses sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols to convey information.
A hypothetical neural mechanism for acquiring language that is presumed to be “wired into” all humans.
In Freud’s theory of personality, a period in which the child appears to have no interest in the other sex; occurs after the phallic stage.
Learning that is not immediately reflected in a behavior change.
Thorndike’s theory that behavior consistently rewarded will be “stamped in” as learned behavior, and behavior that brings about discomfort will be “stamped out.”
Failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an unpleasant or aversive stimulus that occurs as a result of previous exposure to unavoidable painful stimuli.
The ability to become increasingly more effective in solving problems as more problems are solved.
The process by which experience or practice results in a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior.
The transparent part of the eye behind the pupil that focuses light onto the retina.
A hormone released by fat cells that reduces appetite.
According to Freud, the energy generated by the sexual instinct.
Decreased sensitivity of rods and cones in bright light.
Ring of structures that plays a role in learning and emotional behavior.
Monocular cue to distance and depth based on the fact that two parallel lines seem to come together at the horizon.
The belief that thought and experience are determined by language.
Whorf’s idea that patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks.
According to Rotter, an expectancy about whether reinforcement is under internal or external control.
The portion of memory that is more or less permanent, corresponding to everything we “know.”
A long-lasting change in the structure or function of a synapse that increases the efficiency of neural transmission and is thought to be related to how information is stored by neurons.
A method of studying developmental changes by evaluating the same people at different points in their lives.
Hallucinogenic or “psychedelic” drug that produces hallucinations and delusions similar to those occurring in a psychotic state.
A depressive disorder characterized by an episode of intense sadness, depressed mood, or marked loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities.
Characterized by euphoric states, extreme physical activity, excessive talkativeness, distractedness, and sometimes grandiosity.
A mild hallucinogen that produces a “high” often characterized by feelings of euphoria, a sense of well-being, and swings in mood from gaiety to relaxation; may also cause feelings of anxiety and paranoia.
Arithmetical average calculated by dividing a sum of values by the total number of cases.
A heuristic strategy that aims to reduce the discrepancy between the current situation and the desired goal at a number of intermediate points.
Point that divides a set of scores in half.
Any of the various methods of concentration, reflection, or focusing of thoughts undertaken to suppress the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.
Structure in the hindbrain that controls essential life support functions including breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure.
The ability to remember the things that we have experienced, imagined, and learned.
First menstrual period.
The time in a woman’s life when menstruation ceases.
Mental images or symbols (such as words) used to think about or remember an object, a person, or an event.
The tendency to perceive and to approach problems in certain ways.
A statistical procedure for combining the results of several studies so the strength, consistency, and direction of the effect can be estimated.
Region between the hindbrain and the forebrain; it is important for hearing and sight, and it is one of several places in the brain where pain is registered.
A time when adults discover they no longer feel fulfilled in their jobs or personal lives and attempt to make a decisive shift in career or lifestyle.
According to Levinson, a process whereby adults assess the past and formulate new goals for the future.
The most widely used objective personality test, originally intended for psychiatric diagnosis.
Specialized neurons that respond when we observe others perform a behavior or express an emotion.
Techniques that make material easier to remember.
People with highly developed memory skills.
Point at which the largest number of scores occurs.
A behavior therapy in which the person learns desired behaviors by watching others perform those behaviors.
Cues to sound location that require just one ear.
Visual cues requiring the use of one eye.
Disturbances in mood or prolonged emotional state.
The smallest meaningful units of speech, such as simple words, prefixes, and suffixes.
Monocular distance cue in which objects closer than the point of visual focus seem to move in the direction opposite to the viewer’s moving head, and objects beyond the focus point appear to move in the same direction as the viewer’s head.
Specific need or desire, such as hunger, thirst, or achievement, that prompts goal-directed behavior.
Neurons that carry messages from the spinal cord or brain to the muscles and glands.
A disorder generally seen in young men involving an obsessive concern with muscle size.
White fatty covering found on some axons.
Personality disorder in which the person has an exaggerated sense of self-importance and needs constant admiration.
Hereditary sleep disorder characterized by sudden nodding off during the day and sudden loss of muscle tone following moments of emotional excitement.
The mechanism proposed by Darwin in his theory of evolution, which states that organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive, transmitting their genetic characteristics to succeeding generations, whereas organisms with less adaptive characteristics tend to vanish from the earth.
Research method involving the systematic study of animal or human behavior in natural settings rather than in the laboratory.
Events whose reduction or termination increases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur.
An objective personality test designed to assess the Big Five personality traits.
Newborn babies.
Group of axons bundled together.
The firing of a nerve cell.
A group of neurons that are functionally connected.
The ability of the brain to change in response to experience.
A biofeedback technique that monitors brain waves with the use of an EEG to teach people to gain voluntary control over their brain wave activity.
The growth of new neurons.
Individual cells that are the smallest unit of the nervous system.
The study of the brain and the nervous system.
Brain surgery performed to change a person’s behavior and emotional state; a biological therapy rarely used today.
Chemicals released by the synaptic vesicles that travel across the synaptic space and affect adjacent neurons.
Frightening, often terrifying dreams that occur during NREM sleep from which a person is difficult to awaken and doesn’t remember the content.
Frightening dreams that occur during REM sleep and are remembered.
A set of categories for classifying objects.
Non-rapid-eye-movement stages of sleep that alternate with REM stages during the sleep cycle.
The unique aspects of the environment that are experienced differently by siblings, even though they are reared in the same family.
A shared idea or expectation about how to behave.
Hypothetical bell-shaped distribution curve that occurs when a normal distribution is plotted as a frequency polygon.
Change of behavior in response to a command from another person, typically an authority figure.
Method of performance appraisal based on quantitative measurement of the amount of work done.
The concept that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight.
Personality tests that are administered and scored in a standard way.
Learning by observing other people’s behavior.
Expectations or biases of the observer that might distort or influence his or her interpretation of what was actually observed.
An anxiety-related disorder in which a person feels driven to think disturbing thoughts or to perform senseless rituals.
Part of the cerebrum that receives and interprets visual information.
According to Freud, a child’s sexual attachment to the parent of the opposite sex and jealousy toward the parent of the same sex; generally occurs in the phallic stage.
The processing center for smell located between the nose and the brain.
Teaching employees a new job by actually performing the job.
The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted (in the presence of specific stimuli) to earn rewards or avoid punishments.
Behaviors designed to operate on the environment in a way that will gain something desired or avoid something unpleasant.
Drugs, such as opium and heroin, derived from the opium poppy, that dull the senses and induce feelings of euphoria, well-being, and relaxation. Synthetic drugs resembling opium derivatives are also classified as opiates.
Theory of color vision that holds that three sets of color receptors (yellow–blue, red–green, black–white) respond to determine the color you experience.
The point near the base of the brain where some fibers in the optic nerve from each eye cross to the other side of the brain.
The bundle of axons of ganglion cells that carries neural messages from each eye to the brain.
First stage in Freud’s theory of personality development, in which the infant’s erotic feelings center on the mouth, lips, and tongue.
Scale indicating order or relative position of items according to some criterion.
Degree to which employees perceive fairness in the workplace.
Subfield of industrial/organizational psychology that focuses on the organization as a whole, rather than on the individuals who work within it.
Structure on the surface of the basilar membrane that contains the receptor cells for hearing.
Inability to reach orgasm in a person able to experience sexual desire and maintain arousal.
Membrane across the opening between the middle ear and inner ear that conducts vibrations to the cochlea.
Tones that result from sound waves that are multiples of the basic tone; primary determinant of timbre.
Organ lying between the stomach and small intestine; it secretes insulin and glucagon to regulate blood-sugar levels.
An anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent panic attacks in which the person suddenly experiences intense fear or terror without any reasonable cause.
Personality disorder in which the person is inappropriately suspicious and mistrustful of others.
Use of unconventional objects or situations to achieve sexual arousal.
Use of unconventional objects or situations for sexual arousal that cause either stress, harm, impairment or bring about personal risk.
Branch of the autonomic nervous system; it calms and relaxes the body.
Four tiny glands embedded in the thyroid.
Part of the cerebrum that receives sensory information from throughout the body.
Desire to have sexual relations with children as the preferred or exclusive method of achieving sexual excitement.
A network of same-aged friends and acquaintances who give one another emotional and social support.
The brain’s interpretation of sensory information so as to give it meaning.
A tendency to perceive objects as stable and unchanging despite changes in sensory stimulation.
Formal methods used to assess the quantity and quality of work contributed by each individual within an organization.
In Bandura’s theory, standards that people develop to rate the adequacy of their own behavior in a variety of situations.
Intelligence tests that minimize the use of language.
Division of the nervous system that connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body.
A depressive disorder where the symptoms are generally less severe than for major depressive disorder, but are present most days and persist for at least 2 years.
According to Jung, our public self, the mask we wear to represent ourselves to others.
In Jung’s theory of personality, one of the two levels of the unconscious; it contains the individual’s repressed thoughts, forgotten experiences, and undeveloped ideas.
An individual’s unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persists over time and across situations.
Disorders in which inflexible and maladaptive ways of thinking and behaving learned early in life cause distress to the person or conflicts with others.
Dimensions or characteristics on which people differ in distinctive ways.
The process of selecting from a pool of job applicants those who will be hired to perform a job.
Third stage in Freud’s theory of personality development, in which erotic feelings center on the genitals.
The characteristics of an organism; determined by both genetics and experience.
Chemicals that communicate information to other organisms through smell.
Apparent movement caused by flashing lights in sequence, as on theater marquees.
The basic sounds that make up any language.
A gland located roughly in the center of the brain that appears to regulate activity levels over the course of a day.
Auditory experience corresponding primarily to frequency of sound vibrations, resulting in a higher or lower tone.
Gland located on the underside of the brain; it produces the largest number of the body’s hormones.
Theory that pitch is determined by the location of greatest vibration on the basilar membrane.
Chemically inactive substance used for comparison with active drugs in experiments on the effects of drugs.
Pain relief that occurs when a person believes a pill or procedure will reduce pain. The actual cause of the relief seems to come from endorphins.
According to Freud, the way in which the id seeks immediate gratification of an instinct.
Shift in attitudes by members of a group toward more extreme positions than the ones held before group discussion.
The condition of a neuron when the inside is negatively charged relative to the outside; for example, when the neuron is at rest.
Process by which several genes interact to produce a certain trait; responsible for our most important traits.
Structure in the midbrain that regulates sleep and wake cycles.
An emerging field of psychology that focuses on positive experiences, including subjective well-being, self-determination, the relationship between positive emotions and physical health, and the factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish.
Events whose presence increases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur.
Positive personal growth that may follow an extremely stressful event.
Psychological disorder characterized by episodes of anxiety, sleeplessness, and nightmares resulting from some disturbing past event.
The forward-most region of the frontal lobe involved in impulse control, judgment, and conscious awareness.
An unfair, intolerant, or unfavorable attitude toward a group of people.
Inability of man to inhibit orgasm as long as desired.
Development from conception to birth.
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development between 2 and 7 years of age in which the individual becomes able to use mental representations and language to describe, remember, and reason about the world, though only in an egocentric fashion.
A biological readiness to learn certain associations because of their survival advantages.
A feeling that one must speed up, intensify, or change the direction of one’s behavior or live up to a higher standard of performance.
The fact that early information about someone weighs more heavily than later information in influencing one’s impression of that person.
Unlearned drive, such as hunger, that are based on a physiological state.
The section of the frontal lobe responsible for voluntary movement.
Techniques and programs to improve the social environment so that new cases of mental disorders do not develop.
Reinforcers that are rewarding in themselves, such as food, water, or sex.
Area of the parietal lobe where messages from the sense receptors are registered.
The concept that the quantity of a substance is not altered by reversible changes in its appearance.
The process by which information already in memory interferes with new information.
The first step in solving a problem; it involves interpreting or defining the problem.
The portion of long-term memory that stores information relating to skills, habits, and other perceptual-motor tasks.
Attributing one’s repressed motives, feelings, or wishes to others.
Personality tests, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, consisting of ambiguous or unstructured material.
According to Rosch, a mental model containing the most typical features of a concept.
How close two people live to each other.
Chemical substances that change moods and perceptions.
The theory of personality Freud developed, as well as the form of therapy he invented.
View that psychological disorders result from unconscious internal conflicts.
The area of psychology that focuses on the biological foundations of behavior and mental processes.
Personality theories contending that behavior results from psychological factors that interact within the individual, often outside conscious awareness.
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
A new field that studies the interaction between stress on the one hand and immune, endocrine, and nervous system activity on the other.
A real physical illness that is largely caused by psychological factors such as stress and anxiety.
Drugs that increase ability to focus attention in people with ADHD.
The use of psychological techniques to treat personality and behavior disorders.
Behavior characterized by a loss of touch with reality.
The onset of sexual maturation, with accompanying physical development.
Stimuli that follow a behavior and decrease the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
Any event whose presence decreases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur.
A small opening in the iris through which light enters the eye.
A subpopulation of a species, defined according to an identifiable characteristic (that is, geographic location, skin color, hair texture, genes, facial features, and so forth).
Prejudice and discrimination directed at a particular racial group.
Sample in which each potential participant has an equal chance of being selected.
Difference between the largest and smallest measurements in a distribution.
Sleep stage characterized by rapid-eye movements and increased dreaming.
Scale with equal distances between the points or values and with a true zero.
A directive cognitive therapy based on the idea that clients’ psychological distress is caused by irrational and self-defeating beliefs and that the therapist’s job is to challenge such dysfunctional beliefs.
Expression of exaggerated ideas and emotions that are the opposite of one’s repressed beliefs or feelings.
According to Freud, the way in which the ego seeks to satisfy instinctual demands safely and effectively in the real world.
A specialized cell that responds to a particular type of energy.
Locations on a receptor neuron into which a specific neurotransmitter fits like a key into a lock.
Member of a gene pair that can control the appearance of a certain trait only if it is paired with another recessive gene.
Reverting to childlike behavior and defenses.
Theory that work behavior that is followed by positive outcomes will be maintained and repeated.
Stimuli that follow a behavior and increase the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
Ability of a test to produce consistent and stable scores.
Sample carefully chosen so that the characteristics of the participants correspond closely to the characteristics of the larger population.
A heuristic by which a new situation is judged on the basis of its resemblance to a stereotypical model.
Excluding uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and desires from consciousness.
Giving a response that is somewhat different from the response originally learned to that stimulus.
Electrical charge across a neuron membrane resulting from more positive ions concentrated on the outside and more negative ions on the inside.
Network of neurons in the hindbrain, the midbrain, and part of the forebrain, whose primary function is to alert and arouse the higher parts of the brain.
The lining of the eye containing receptor cells that are sensitive to light.
The process by which new information interferes with information already in memory.
The inability to recall events preceding an accident or injury, but without loss of earlier memory.
Greater willingness of a group than an individual to take substantial risks.
Receptor cells in the retina responsible for night vision and perception of brightness.
A projective test composed of ambiguous inkblots; the way people interpret the blots is thought to reveal aspects of their personality.
Retaining information in memory simply by repeating it over and over.
A subgroup of a population.
The vividness or richness of a hue.
Diagram showing the association between scores on two variables.
In operant conditioning, the rule for determining when and how often reinforcers will be delivered.
A set of beliefs or expectations about something that is based on past experience.
Personality disorder in which a person is withdrawn and lacks feelings for others.
Severe disorders in which there are disturbances of thoughts, communications, and emotions, including delusions and hallucinations.
An approach to knowledge that relies on collecting data, generating a theory to explain the data, producing testable hypotheses based on the theory, and testing those hypotheses empirically.
Learned drives, such as ambition, that are not based on a physiological state.
Programs to identify groups that are at high risk for mental disorders and to detect maladaptive behavior in these groups and treat it promptly.
Reinforcers whose value is acquired through association with other primary or secondary reinforcers.
Studies that estimate the heritability of a trait by breeding animals with other animals that have the same trait.
According to Rogers, the drive of human beings to fulfill their self-concepts, or the images they have of themselves.
According to Bandura, the expectancy that one’s efforts will be successful.
The process in which a person’s expectation about another elicits behavior from the second person that confirms the expectation.
The tendency for an individual to observe the situation for cues about how to react.
The portion of long-term memory that stores general facts and information.
The experience of sensory stimulation.
Neurons that carry messages from sense organs to the spinal cord or brain.
Entry points for raw information from the senses.
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development between birth and 2 years of age in which the individual develops object permanence and acquires the ability to form mental representations.
The finding that when asked to recall a list of unrelated items, performance is better for the items at the beginning and end of the list.
A theory that our bodies are genetically predisposed to maintaining a certain weight by changing our metabolic rate and activity level in response to caloric intake.
Socially prescribed ways of behaving that differ for boys and girls.
Disorders in which the person lacks sexual interest or has an active distaste for sex.
Loss or impairment of the ordinary physical responses of sexual function for at least six months.
Soliciting sexual favors in exchange for favorable treatment, or creating a hostile work environment.
Inability to enjoy sex without accompanying emotional or physical pain.
Refers to the direction of one’s sexual interest toward members of the same sex, the other sex, or both sexes.
Refers to the direction of one’s sexual interest toward members of the same sex, the other sex, or both sexes.
The typical sequence of events, including excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution, characterizing sexual response in males and females.
Obtaining sexual gratification from humiliating or physically harming a sex partner.
Monocular cue to distance and depth based on the fact that shadows often appear on the parts of objects that are more distant.
A tendency to see an object as the same shape no matter what angle it is viewed from.
Reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior.
Working memory; briefly stores and processes selected information from the sensory registers.
Insight therapy that is time limited and focused on trying to help clients correct the immediate problems in their lives.
Probability that results obtained were due to chance.
Stereotyped communications about an animal’s current state.
Objective personality test created by Cattell that provides scores on the 16 traits he identified.
The perception of an object as the same size regardless of the distance from which it is viewed.
A box often used in operant conditioning of animals; it limits the available responses and thus increases the likelihood that the desired response will occur.
Anxiety disorders characterized by excessive, inappropriate fears connected with social situations or performances in front of other people.
Knowledge and understanding concerning the social world and the people in it (including oneself).
The process by which others individually or collectively affect one’s perceptions, attitudes, and actions.
Psychologists whose view of learning emphasizes the ability to learn by observing a model or receiving instructions, without firsthand experience by the learner.
The application of brain imaging and other neuroscience methods to social psychology.
The scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people.
Process by which children learn the behaviors and attitudes appropriate to their family and culture.
The part of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages from the senses to the central nervous system and between the central nervous system and the skeletal muscles.
Disorders in which there is an apparent physical illness for which there is no organic basis.
Disorder characterized by recurrent vague somatic complaints without a physical cause.
A psychological experience created by the brain in response to changes in air pressure that are received by the auditory system.
Changes in pressure caused when molecules of air or fluid collide with one another and then move apart again.
Anxiety disorder characterized by an intense, paralyzing fear of something.
Complex cable of neurons that runs down the spine, connecting the brain to most of the rest of the body.
A method of determining test reliability by dividing the test into two parts and checking the agreement of scores on both parts.
The reappearance of an extinguished response after the passage of time, without training.
Statistical measure of variability in a group of scores or other values.
A branch of mathematics that psychologists use to organize and analyze data.
Combination of two retinal images to give a three-dimensional perceptual experience.
A set of characteristics presumed to be shared by all members of a social category.
Drugs, including amphetamines and cocaine, that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and produce feelings of optimism and boundless energy.
Control of conditioned responses by cues or stimuli in the environment.
Learning to respond to only one stimulus and to inhibit the response to all other stimuli.
The transfer of a learned response to different but similar stimuli.
Unlearned motives, such as curiosity or contact, that prompts us to explore or change the world around us.
Studies of the heritability of behavioral traits using animals that have been inbred to produce strains that are genetically similar to one another.
Fear of unfamiliar people which usually emerges around 7 months, reaching its peak at 12 months and declining during the second year.
A state of psychological tension or strain.
A type of cognitive therapy that trains clients to cope with stressful situations by learning a more useful pattern of self-talk.
Any environmental demand that creates a state of tension or threat and requires change or adaptation.
Apparent movement that results from flashing a series of still pictures in rapid succession, as in a motion picture.
School of psychology that stresses the basic units of experience and the combinations in which they occur.
Intermediate, more manageable goals used in one heuristic strategy to make it easier to reach the final goal.
Performance appraisal that relies on judgments about the quality of an employee’s work.
Redirecting repressed motives and feelings into more socially acceptable channels.
A pattern of drug use that diminishes the ability to fulfill responsibilities at home, work, or school that results in repeated use of a drug in dangerous situations or that leads to legal difficulties related to drug use.
A pattern of compulsive drug taking that results in tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, or other specific symptoms for at least a year.
The process of mixing pigments, each of which absorbs some wavelengths of light and reflects others.
According to Freud, the social and parental standards the individual has internalized; the conscience and the ego ideal.
A cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus that receives input from the retina regarding light and dark cycles and is involved in regulating the biological clock.
Research technique in which questionnaires or interviews are administered to a selected group of people.
Branch of the autonomic nervous system; it prepares the body for quick action in an emergency.
Area composed of the axon terminal of one neuron, the synaptic space, and the dendrite or cell body of the next neuron.
Tiny gap between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of the next neuron.
Tiny sacs in a terminal button that release chemicals into the synapse.
A behavioral technique for reducing a person’s fear and anxiety by gradually associating a new response (relaxation) with stimuli that have been causing the fear and anxiety.
View that biological, psychological, and social risk factors combine to produce psychological disorders. Also known as the biopsychosocial model of psychological disorders.
Structures on the tongue that contain the receptor cells for taste.
Characteristic patterns of emotional reactions and emotional self-regulation.
Part of the cerebral hemisphere that helps regulate hearing, balance and equilibrium, and certain emotions and motivations.
Toxic substances such as alcohol or nicotine that cross the placenta and may result in birth defects.
Structure at the end of an axon terminal branch.
Programs to help people adjust to community life after release from a mental hospital.
The primary male sex hormone.
Monocular cue to distance and depth based on the fact that objects seen at greater distances appear to be smoother and less textured.
Forebrain region that relays and translates incoming messages from the sense receptors, except those for smell.
A projective test composed of ambiguous pictures about which a person is asked to write a complete story.
Howard Gardner’s theory that there is not one intelligence, but rather many intelligences, each of which is relatively independent of the others.
Systematic explanation of a phenomenon; it organizes known facts, allows us to predict new facts, and permits us to exercise a degree of control over the phenomenon.
The level an impulse must exceed to cause a neuron to fire.
Endocrine gland located below the voice box; it produces the hormone thyroxin.
The quality or texture of sound; caused by overtones.
Knowing a word, but not being able to immediately recall it.
An operant conditioning therapy in which people earn tokens (reinforcers) for desired behaviors and exchange them for desired items or privileges.
The conversion of physical energy into coded neural signals.
The client’s carrying over to the analyst feelings held toward childhood authority figures.
Wearing the clothes of the opposite sex to achieve sexual gratification.
Sternberg’s theory that intelligence involves mental skills (analytical intelligence), insight and creative adaptability (creative intelligence), and environmental responsiveness (practical intelligence).
The theory of color vision that holds that all color perception derives from three different color receptors in the retina (usually red, green, and blue receptors).
Studies of identical and fraternal twins to determine the relative influence of heredity and environment on human behavior.
In Rogers’s theory, the full acceptance and love of another person regardless of his or her behavior.
A response that takes place in an organism whenever an unconditioned stimulus occurs.
A stimulus that invariably causes an organism to respond in a specific way.
In Freud’s theory, all the ideas, thoughts, and feelings of which we are not and normally cannot become aware.
Ability of a test to measure what it has been designed to measure.
A reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after varying lengths of time following the last reinforcement.
A reinforcement schedule in which a varying number of correct responses must occur before reinforcement is presented.
The senses of equilibrium and body position in space.
Teaching employees new techniques and behaviors in a simulated workplace.
Reinforcement or punishment experienced by models that affects the willingness of others to perform the behaviors they learned by observing those models.
The ability to distinguish fine details visually.
Refinement of frequency theory; it suggests that receptors in the ear fire in sequence, with one group responding, then a second, then a third, and so on, so that the complete pattern of firing corresponds to the frequency of the sound wave.
Desire to watch others having sexual relations or to spy on nude people.
Mental state that encompasses the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that occur when we are awake and reasonably alert.
The different energies represented in the electromagnetic spectrum.
The principle that the jnd for any given sense is a constant fraction or proportion of the stimulation being judged.
An individual intelligence test developed especially for adults.
An individual intelligence test developed especially for school-age children.
Avoiding a situation when other forms of coping are not practical.
A heuristic strategy in which one works backward from the desired goal to the given conditions.
Another term for STM that emphasizes the active processing component of this memory system.
States that there is an optimal level of arousal for the best performance of any task; the more complex the task, the lower the level of arousal that can be tolerated before performance deteriorates.