Download Chapter 1 Applied psychology The branch of

Applied Psychology
 The branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems.
Behavior
 Any observable activity or response by an organism.
Behaviorism
 A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should
study only observable behavior.
Clinical psychology
 The branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of
psychological problems and disorders.
Cognition
 Mental processes or thinking.
Empiricism
 The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation.
Evolutionary psychology
 Examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive or survival value for a
species over the course of many generations.
Functionalism
 School of psychology asserting that psychology's major purpose was to
investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.
Humanism
 A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans,
especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.
Introspection
 Careful, systematic observation of one's own conscious experience.
Psychoanalytic theory
 A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and
mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior.
Psychology
 The science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes
that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies this knowledge to solving
various practical problems.
SQ3R
 A study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps:
survey, question, read, recite, and review.
Structuralism
 School of psychology based on the notion that the task of psychology is to
analyze consciousness into its basic elements and to investigate how these
elements are related.
Testwiseness
 Ability to use the characteristics and formats of a test to maximize one's score.
Theory
 A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations.
Unconscious
 According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the
surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on
behavior.
Anecdotal evidence
 Support for a particular point of view through the use of personal and vivid (but
frequently misleading) stories.
Case study
 An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
Confounding of variables
 One or more extraneous variables that make it difficult to sort out the effects of
the independent variable.
Control group
 The group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment.
Correlation
 A link or association between variables.
Correlation coefficient
 The statistic that indicates the degree of relationship between variables.
Data collection techniques
 Procedures for making empirical observations, including questionnaires,
interviews, psychological tests, and physiological recordings.
Dependent variable
 The variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the independent
variable in an experiment.
Double-blind procedure
 A research strategy in which neither the subjects nor experimenters know which
condition the subjects are in or which treatment they are receiving.
Experiment
 A research method in which independent variables are manipulated.
Experimental group
 In an experiment, the group that receives a treatment involving the manipulation
of the independent variable(s).
Experimenter bias
 When a researcher's expectations influence the results of a study.
Extraneous variables
 In an experiment, variables other than the independent variable(s) that seem likely
to influence the measure of dependent variables.
Hypothesis
 A tentative statement about the expected relationship between two or more
variables.
Independent variable
 In an experiment, a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to
observe its impact.
Naturalistic observation
 A research method in which subjects are observed in their natural environment
without direct intervention of the researcher.
Operational definition
 Describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a
variable.
Participants
 Term generally used to refer to the people whose behavior is being systematically
observed in a study.
Placebo effects
 Change resulting from treatments that are empty, fake, or ineffectual.
Population
 A larger group from which a sample is drawn to which the researcher wishes to
generalize.
Random assignment
 In an experiment, distributing subjects so that each has an equal chance of being
assigned to a group or condition.
Replication
 A repetition of a study to determine whether the previous results can be
duplicated.
Research methods
 Differing ways of conducting research, which include experiments, case studies,
surveys, and naturalistic observation.
Sample
 A group of subjects taken from a larger population.
Sampling bias
 A sample that is not representative of the population from which it was drawn.
Social desirability bias
 The tendency to provide socially acceptable (rather than truthful) responses on
surveys and in interviews.
Subjects
 Term used to refer to participants, whether human or animals, whose behavior is
being systematically observed in a study.
Survey
 A questionnaire or interview used to gather information.
Variables
 Any of the factors in an experiment that are controlled or observed by an
experimenter or that in some other way affect the outcome.
Absolute refractory period
 The minimum length of time after an action potential, during which another
action potential cannot begin.
Action potential
 A brief change in a neuron's electrical charge.
Adaptation
 An inherited characteristic that increased in a population, because it helped solve
a problem of survival or reproduction during the time it emerged.
Adoption studies
 Assessing hereditary influence by examining the resemblance between adopted
children and both their adoptive and biological parents.
Afferent nerve fibers
 Axons that carry information outward to the central nervous system from the
periphery of the body.
Agonist
 A chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter.
Antagonist
 A chemical that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS)
 The system of nerves that connect to the heart, blood vessels, smooth muscles,
and glands.
Axon
 A long, thin fiber that transmits signals away from the soma to other neurons, or
to muscles or glands.
Central nervous system (CNS)
 The system that consists of the brain and spinal cord.
Cerebral cortex
 The convoluted outer layer of the cerebrum.
Cerebral hemispheres
 The right and left halves of the cerebrum.
Chromosomes
 Threadlike strands of DNA molecules that carry genetic information.
Corpus callosum
 The structure that connects the two cerebral hemispheres.
Critical period
 A limited time span in the development of an organism when it is optimal for
certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to
certain experiences.
Dendrites
 Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information.
Efferent nerve fibers
 Axons that carry information outward from the central nervous system to the
periphery of the body.
Endocrine system
 System of glands that secrete chemicals into the bloodstream that help control
bodily functioning.
Endorphins
 A family of chemicals produced by the body that resemble opiates in structure
and effects.
Family studies
 Assessing hereditary influence by examining blood relatives to see how they
resemble each other on a specific trait.
Forebrain
 The largest region of the brain, encompassing a variety of structures, including the
thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, and cerebrum.
Genes
 DNA segments that serve as the key functional units in hereditary transmission.
Hindbrain
 Part of the brain that includes the cerebellum and two structures found in the
lower part of the brainstem the medulla and the pons.
Hormones
 The chemical substances released by the endocrine glands.
Hypothalamus
 A structure found near the base of the forebrain that is involved in the regulation
of basic biological needs.
Limbic system
 A densely connected network of structures involved in the control of emotion,
motivation, and memory.
Midbrain
 The segment of the brainstem that lies between the hindbrain and the forebrain.
Neurons
 Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit
information.
Neurotransmitters
 Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another.
Peripheral nervous system
 System that includes all those nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord.
Pituitary gland
 The "master gland" of the endocrine system; it releases a great variety of
hormones that fan out through the body, stimulating actions in the other endocrine
glands.
Polygenic traits
 Characteristics that are influenced by more than one pair of genes.
Postsynaptic potential (PSP)
 A voltage change at a receptor site on a postsynaptic cell membrane.
Resting potential
 The stable, negative charge of an inactive neuron.
Reuptake
 A process in which neurotransmitters are sponged up from the synaptic cleft by
the presynaptic membrane.
Soma
 The cell body of a neuron; it contains the nucleus and much of the chemical
machinery common to most cells.
Somatic nervous system
 System of nerves that connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and to sensory
receptors.
Split-brain surgery
 A procedure in which the corpus callosum is cut to reduce the severity of epileptic
seizures.
Synapse
 A junction where information is transmitted between neurons.
Synaptic cleft
 A microscopic gap between the terminal buttons of the sending neuron and the
cell membrane of another neuron.
Terminal buttons
 Small knobs at the end of the axon that secrete chemicals called
neurotransmitters.
Thalamus
 A structure in the forebrain through which all sensory information (except smell)
must pass to get to the cerebral cortex.
Twin studies
 Assessing hereditary influence by comparing the resemblance of identical twins
and/or fraternal twins with respect to a trait.
Afterimage
 A visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed.
Basilar membrane
 Membrane running the length of the cochlea that holds the actual auditory
receptors, called hair cells.
Binocular depth cues
 Clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes.
Bottom-up processing
 A progression from individual elements to the whole.
Cochlea
 A fluid-filled, coiled tunnel that makes up the largest part of the inner ear and
contains the receptors for hearing.
Color blindness
 Deficient ability to distinguish among colors.
Complementary colors
 Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when mixed together.
Cones
 Specialized receptors that play a key role in daylight vision and color vision.
Dark adaptation
 The process in which the eyes become more sensitive to light in low illumination.
Depth perception
 Interpretation of visual cues to determine how near or far away objects are.
Farsightedness
 A condition in which distant objects are seen clearly but close objects appear
blurry.
Feature analysis
 Detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more
complex form.
Feature detectors
 Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex
stimuli.
Fovea
 A tiny spot in the center of the retina where visual acuity is greatest.
Gustatory system
 The sense of taste.
Impossible figures
 Objects that can be represented in two-dimensional figures but cannot exist in
three- dimensional space.
Lens
 The transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina.
Monocular depth cues
 Clues about distance that are obtained from the image in one eye.
Nearsightedness
 A condition in which close objects are seen clearly but distant objects appear
blurry.
Olfactory system
 The sensory system for smell.
Perception
 The selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input.
Perceptual constancy
 A tendency to maintain a perception in the face of constantly changing sensory
input.
Perceptual set
 A readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way.
Phi phenomenon
 The illusion of movement created by presenting stationary visual stimuli in rapid
succession.
Pictorial depth cues
 Cues about distance in a picture.
Pupil
 The opening in the center of the iris that helps regulate the amount of light
passing into the rear chamber of the eye.
Retina
 The neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye that absorbs light,
processes images, and sends visual information to the brain.
Retinal disparity
 The differing views of the right and left eyes due to images within 25 feet being
projected to slightly different locations on the right and left retinas.
Reversible figure
 A drawing compatible with two different interpretations that can shift back and
forth.
Rods
 Specialized receptors that play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision.
Sensation
 The stimulation of sense organs.
Sensory adaptation
 A gradual decline in sensitivity after prolonged stimulation.
Top-down processing
 A progression from the whole to the elements.
Visual illusions
 An apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual
stimulus and its physical reality.
Acquisition
 The initial stage of learning something.
Avoidance learning
 Responding in order to avoid aversive stimulation.
Behavior modification
 A systematic approach to changing behavior through the application of
conditioning principles.
Classical conditioning
 The most common name of a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires
the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.
Conditioned reinforcer
 A reinforcer to which an organism has learned to respond via repeated pairing
with an unconditioned reinforcer.
Conditioned response (CR)
 A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous
conditioning.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
 A previously neutral stimulus that has acquired the capacity to evoke a
conditioned response.
Continuous reinforcement
 Reinforcing every instance of a designated response.
Discriminative stimuli
 Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences of a
particular response.
Elicit
 To draw out or bring forth, as in drawing out a response in classical conditioning.
Emit
 To produce voluntary responses.
Escape learning
 Engaging in a response that brings aversive stimulation to an end.
Extinction
 The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.
Fixed-interval (FI) schedule
 Reinforcement is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval
has elapsed.
Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule
 Reinforcement is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.
Higher-order conditioning
 Learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an
unconditioned stimulus.
Instinctive drift
 Innate response tendencies that interfere with conditioning.
Intermittent reinforcement
 The name for all schedules of reinforcement in which a designated response is
reinforced only some of the time.
Learning
 A relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience.
Negative reinforcement
 Removing an aversive stimulus after a response.
Observational learning
 Responding is influenced by observing others.
Operant conditioning
 Learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their
consequences.
Pavlovian conditioning
 Another name for classical conditioning (derived from the name Ivan Pavlov, who
originally discovered the conditioning phenomenon).
Positive reinforcement
 A rewarding stimulus is provided following a response.
Primary reinforcers
 Stimuli that are inherently rewarding because they satisfy biological needs.
Punishment
 An aversive consequence that weakens or suppresses the tendency to make a
particular response.
Reinforcement
 An event following a response that strengthens the tendency to make that
response.
Reinforcement contingencies
 The circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to presentation
of a reinforcer; or, the relationship between a response and positive consequences.
Resistance to extinction
 Continuing to respond after reinforcements have been terminated.
Schedule of reinforcement
 A specific pattern of reinforcement.
Secondary reinforcers
 Stimuli that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary
reinforcers.
Shaping
 Reinforcing successively closer approximations to the desired response.
Skinner box
 A standard operant chamber in which an animal's responses are recorded and
shaped through reinforcement.
Spontaneous recovery
 The reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the
conditioned stimulus.
Stimulus contiguity
 Presenting stimuli close together in time.
Stimulus discrimination
 An organism learns not to respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar
to the original stimulus.
Stimulus generalization
 Responding to new stimuli that are similar to the stimulus used in conditioning.
Trial
 Presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli in classical conditioning.
Unconditioned response (UCR)
 The response to an unconditioned stimulus.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
 A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response.
Variable-interval (VI) schedule
 Reinforcement is given for the first response that occurs after a variable time
interval has elapsed.
Variable-ratio (VR) schedule
 Reinforcement is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.
Availability heuristic
 Estimating the probably of an event based on the ease with which relevant
instances come to mind.
Conjunction fallacy
 An error in thinking that involves estimating that the odds of two uncertain events
happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.
Convergent thinking
 Thinking that narrows multiple alternatives to a single best solution.
Creativity
 Generating ideas that are original, novel, and useful.
Decision making
 Making choices by evaluating alternatives
Divergent thinking
 Expanding alternatives by generating many possible solutions.
Functional fixedness
 The tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use.
Gambler's fallacy
 The erroneous belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't
occurred recently.
Heritability ratio
 The proportion of trait variability in a population attributable to genetic
inheritance.
Heuristic
 A strategy, guiding principle, or rule of thumb used in solving problems or
making decisions.
Insight
 In problem solving, the sudden discovery of a solution following multiple failed
attempts.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
 Mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100.
Mental age
 The mental ability typical of a chronological age group.
Mental set
 Persisting in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past.
Normal distribution
 A symmetric, bell-shaped curve that represents the pattern of many population
characteristics.
Problem solving
 Active efforts to discover how to solve a problem.
Reaction range
 Genetically determined limits on intelligence.
Reliability
 The measurement consistency of a test.
Representativeness heuristic
 Basing the estimated probability that an event will occur on how similar it is to
the typical prototype of that event.
Trial and error
 Trying various random solutions until one is found that works.
Validity
 The ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure.
Achievement motive
 The need to master difficult challenges, to outperform others, and to meet high
standards of excellence.
Display rules
 Cultural norms that regulate the expression of emotions.
Drive
 An internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities
designed to reduce the tension.
Emotion
 A subjective conscious experience (the cognitive component) accompanied by
bodily arousal (the physiological component) and by characteristic overt
expression (the behavioral component).
Galvanic skin response (GSR)
 An increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat
glands increase their activity.
Homeostasis
 A state of physiological equilibrium or stability.
Incentive
 An external goal that motivates behavior.
Motivation
 Goal-directed behavior that may be affected by needs, wants, interests, desires,
and incentives.
Aggression
 Any behavior that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally.
Approach-approach conflict
 A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two attractive goals.
Approach-avoidance conflict
 A conflict situation in which a choice must be made about whether to pursue a
single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
 A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two unattractive
goals.
Biopsychosocial model
 A model of illness that holds that physical illness is caused by a complex
interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Catastrophic thinking
 Unrealistic and pessimistic appraisal of stress that exaggerates the magnitude of a
problem.
Conflict
 The state resulting from two or more incompatible motivations or behavioral
impulses competing for expression.
Coping
 An active effort to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress.
Defense mechanisms
 Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions
such as anxiety and guilt.
Frustration
 The feeling that people experience in any situation in which their pursuit of some
goal is thwarted.
General adaptation syndrome
 Selye's model of the body's stress response consisting of three stages: alarm,
resistance, and exhaustion.
Health psychology
 The subfield of psychology concerned with how psychosocial forces relate to the
promotion and maintenance of health and the causation, prevention, and treatment
of illness.
Immune response
 The body's defensive reaction to invasion by bacteria, viral agents, or other
foreign substances.
Internet addiction
 Spending an inordinate amount of time on the Internet and being unable to control
online use.
Learned helplessness
 A passive behavior produced by exposure to unavoidable aversive events.
Life changes
 Any noticeable alterations in one's living circumstances that require readjustment.
Optimism
 A general tendency to expect good outcomes.
Pressure
 Expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way.
Social support
 Various types of aid and succor provided by members of one's social network.
Stress
 Any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten our well-being and
thereby tax our coping abilities.
Type A personality
 A behavior pattern marked by competitive, aggressive, impatient, hostile
behavior.
Type B personality
 A behavior pattern marked by relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable behavior.
Antianxiety drugs
 Medications that relieve tension, apprehension, and nervousness.
Antidepressant drugs
 Medications that gradually elevate mood and help bring people out of a
depression.
Antipsychotic drugs
 Medications used to gradually reduce psychotic symptoms, including
hyperactivity, mental confusion, hallucinations, and delusions.
Aversion therapy
 A behavior therapy in which an unpleasant stimulus is paired with a stimulus to
extinguish a maladaptive behavior.
Behavior therapies
 Therapies that involve the application of learning principles to change
maladaptive behaviors.
Biomedical therapies
 Therapies that use physiological interventions intended to reduce symptoms
associated with psychological disorders.
Client-centered therapy
 An insight therapy that emphasizes providing a supportive emotional climate for
clients who play a major role in determining the pace and direction of their
therapy.
Clinical psychologists
 Psychologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological
disorders and everyday behavioral problems.
Cognitive therapy
 An insight therapy that emphasizes recognizing and changing negative thoughts
and maladaptive beliefs.
Counseling psychologists
 Psychologists who specialize in the treatment of everyday adjustment problems.
Deinstitutionalization
 Transferring the treatment of mental illness from inpatient institutions to
community-based facilities that emphasize outpatient care.
Dream analysis
 A psychoanalytic technique that involves interpreting the symbolic meaning of
dreams.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
 A biomedical treatment in which electric shock is used to produce cortical seizure
accompanied by convulsions.
Free association
 A psychoanalytic technique in which clients are urged to spontaneously express
their thoughts and feelings with as little personal censorship as possible.
Group therapy
 The simultaneous treatment of several clients in a group.
Insight therapies
 Therapies that involve verbal interactions intended to enhance clients' selfknowledge and thus produce healthful changes in personality and behavior.
Lithium
 A chemical used to control mood swings in patients with bipolar mood disorder.
Placebo effects
 Change resulting from treatments that are empty, fake, or ineffectual.
Psychiatrists
 Physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological
disorders.
Psychoanalysis
 An insight therapy that emphasizes resolving unconscious conflicts, motives, and
defenses through techniques such as free association and dream analysis.
Resistance
 A client's largely unconscious defensive maneuvers that hinder the progress of
therapy.
Social skills training
 A behavior therapy designed to improve interpersonal skills, especially through
shaping, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal.
Systematic desensitization
 A behavior therapy used to reduce clients' anxiety responses through
counterconditioning.
Tardive dyskinesia
 A neurological disorder marked by chronic tremors and involuntary spastic
movements.
Transference
 In therapy, the phenomenon that occurs when clients start relating to their
therapist in ways that mimic critical relationships in their lives.
Biological rhythms
 Periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning.
Circadian rhythms
 The 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many other species.
Consciousness
 Our awareness of internal and external stimuli.
Dissociation
 Splitting of mental processes into two separate, simultaneous streams of
awareness.
Hallucinogens
 A diverse group of drugs that distort sensory and perceptual experience.
Hypnosis
 A systematic procedure that typically produces a heightened state of
suggestibility.
Insomnia
 Chronic problems in getting adequate sleep.
Latent content
 Freud's term for the disguised or hidden meaning of events in a dream.
Manifest content
 Freud's term for the plot of a dream at the surface level.
MDMA
 A compound drug related to both amphetamines and hallucinogens, especially
mescaline; commonly called "ecstasy."
Narcolepsy
 A disease marked by sudden and irresistible onsets of sleep during normal waking
periods.
Narcotics
 Drugs derived from opium that are capable of relieving pain.
Non-REM sleep
 Sleep stages 1 through 4, which are marked by an absence of rapid eye
movements, relatively little dreaming and varied EEG activity.
Opiates
 Drugs derived from opium that are capable of relieving pain.
Physical dependence
 Taking a drug to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Psychoactive drugs
 Chemical substances that modify mental, emotional, or behavioral functioning.
Psychological dependence
 Taking a drug to satisfy mental and emotional craving for the drug.
REM sleep
 A deep stage of sleep marked by rapid eye movements, high-frequency brain
waves, and dreaming.
Sedatives
 Sleep-inducing drugs that tend to decrease central nervous system activation and
behavioral activity.
Sleep apnea
 A sleep disorder characterized by frequent reflexive gasping for air.
Slow-wave sleep
 Sleep stages 3 and 4 in which low-frequency delta waves become prominent in
EEG recordings.
Somnambulism
 Arising and walking about while remaining asleep; sleepwalking.
Stimulants
 Drugs that tend to increase central nervous system activation and behavioral
activity.
Tolerance
 A progressive decrease in a person's responsiveness to a drug as a result of
continued use.
Anterograde amnesia
 The loss of memory for events that occurs after a head injury.
Attention
 Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.
Chunk
 Several bits of information stored in memory as a single unit.
Decay theory
 Posits that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time.
Declarative memory system
 Memory for factual information.
Elaboration
 Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.
Encoding
 Forming a memory code.
Encoding specificity
 Posits that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the
memory code.
Episodic memory system
 Chronological or temporally dated recollections of personal experiences.
Explicit memory
 The intentional recollection of previous experiences.
Flashbulb memories
 Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.
Forgetting curve
 A graph showing retention and forgetting over time.
Hindsight bias
 The tendency to mold interpretations of the past to fit how events actually turned
out.
Implicit memory
 Retention exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering.
Interference theory
 Posits that people forget information because of competition from other material.
Levels of processing theory
 Posits that deeper levels of processing result in longer lasting memory codes.
Long-term memory (LTM)
 An unlimited capacity memory store that can hold information for long periods.
Method of loci
 A mnemonic device that involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path
where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations.
Mnemonic devices
 Verbal strategies for enhancing memory.
Overlearning
 Continuing to rehearse material after it has apparently been mastered.
Proactive interference principle
 Holds that previously learned information interferes with the retention of new
information.
Procedural memory system
 Memory for actions, skills, and operations.
Recall measure
 A memory test that requires subjects to reproduce information without any cues.
Recognition measure
 A memory test that requires subjects to select previously learned information
from an array of options (e.g., multiple-choice tests).
Rehearsal
 Repetitively verbalizing or thinking about new information.
Relearning measure
 A memory test that requires subjects to memorize information a second time to
determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before.
Repression
 Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.
Retrieval
 Recovering information from memory stores.
Retroactive interference
 New information impairs the retention of previously learned information.
Retrograde amnesia
 The loss of memory for events that occurred prior to a brain injury.
Schema
 An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of
events.
Semantic memory system
 Memory for general knowledge that is not tied to when the information was
learned.
Semantic networks
 Concepts joined by links that show how the concepts are related.
Sensory memory
 The preservation of information in its original sensory form, usually only a
fraction of a second.
Serial-position effect
 Having better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list than for items in
the middle.
Short-term memory (STM)
 A limited capacity memory store that can maintain unrehearsed information for
20 to 30 seconds.
Source monitoring
 Making inferences about where a particular memory originated.
Source monitoring error
 A memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source.
Storage
 Maintaining coded information in memory.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
 A temporary inability to remember something accompanied by the feeling that it's
just out of reach.
Age of viability
 The age at which the baby can first survive in the event of a premature birth.
Animism
 The belief that all things are living.
Attachment

A close, emotional bond of affection between an infant and its caregiver.
Centration
 The Piagetian term for the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem and
neglect other important features.
Cephalocaudal trend
 The head-to-foot direction of motor development.
Cognitive development
 Development of thinking, reasoning, remembering, and problem solving.
Conservation
 Piaget's term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of
changes in their shape or appearance.
Dementia
 An abnormal condition marked by multiple cognitive defects that include memory
impairment.
Development
 The sequence of age-related changes that occurs as a person progresses from
conception to death.
Developmental norms
 The average ages at which people display certain behaviors and abilities.
Egocentrism
 Thinking characterized by a limited ability to share another person's viewpoint.
Embryonic stage
 The second stage of prenatal development, lasting from two weeks after
conception until the end of the second month.
Fast mapping
 The process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only
one exposure to the word.
Fetal alcohol syndrome
 A collection of congenital problems associated with a mother's excessive use of
alcohol during pregnancy.
Fetal stage
 The third stage of prenatal development, lasting from two months after conception
through birth.
Gender
 Culturally constructed distinctions between femininity and masculinity.
Gender differences
 Behavioral differences between females and males.
Gender roles
 Expectations concerning the appropriate behavior for each sex.
Gender stereotypes
 Widely held beliefs about females' and males' abilities, personality traits, and
social behavior.
Germinal stage
 The first phase of prenatal development, encompassing the first two weeks after
conception.
Irreversibility
 The inability to cognitively visualize reversing an action.
Maturation
 Development that reflects the gradual unfolding of one's genetic blueprint.
Midlife crisis
 A difficult, turbulent period of doubt and reappraisal of one's life.
Motor development
 Developmental changes in muscular coordination required for physical
movement.
Object permanence
 A mental capacity that involves recognizing that objects continue to exist even
when they are no longer visible.
Overextension
 Using a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to.
Overregularization
 In children, incorrect generalization of grammatical rules to irregular cases where
they do not apply.
Placenta
 A structure that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into the fetus from the
mother's bloodstream and bodily wastes to pass out to the mother.
Prenatal period
 The period of pregnancy, extending from conception to birth.
Primary sex characteristics
 The physical structures necessary for reproduction.
Proximodistal trend
 The center-outward direction of motor development.
Puberty
 The period of early adolescence marked by rapid physical growth and the
development of sexual (reproductive) maturity.
Secondary sex characteristics
 Physical features associated with gender that are not directly needed for
reproduction.
Separation anxiety
 Emotional distress displayed by an infant when separated from a person with
whom it has formed an attachment.
Sex

The biologically based categories of male and female.
Stage
 A developmental period during which certain behaviors and capacities occur.
Telegraphic speech
 Speech that consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less
critical words are omitted.
Underextensions
 Children's speech errors in which a word is used that represents a narrower set of
objects or actions than the word actually means.
Zygote
 A one-celled organism created by the process of fertilization, the union of sperm
and egg.
Archetypes
 Emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning.
Behaviorism
 A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should
study only observable behavior.
Collective unconscious
 A storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from our ancestral past.
Compensation
 Efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one's abilities.
Conscious
 Whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time.
Defense mechanisms
 Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions
such as anxiety and guilt.
Displacement
 Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a
substitute target.
Ego
 The decision-making component of personality that operates according to the
reality principle.
Fixation
 According to Freud, failure to move forward from one psychosexual stage to
another as expected.
Hierarchy of needs
 Maslow's systematic arrangement of needs, according to priority, in which basic,
physiological needs must be met before social or growth needs are aroused.
Hindsight bias
 The tendency to mold interpretations of the past to fit how events actually turned
out.
Humanism
 A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans,
especially their freedom and potential for personal growth.
Id

The primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the
pleasure principle.
Identification
 Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person
or group.
Incongruence
 The degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience.
Model
 A person whose behavior is observed by another.
Need for self-actualization
 The need to fulfill one's potential.
Observational learning
 Responding is influenced by observing others.
Oedipal complex
 According to Freud, children's manifestation of erotically tinged desires for their
opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex
parent.
Personality
 An individual's unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits.
Personality trait
 A durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations.
Pleasure principle
 According to Freud, the principle upon which the id operates, demanding
immediate gratification of its urges.
Preconscious
 According to Freud, the level of awareness that contains material just beneath the
surface of conscious awareness that can be easily retrieved.
Projection
 Attributing your own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another.
Projective tests
 Psychological tests that ask subjects to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in
ways that may reveal the subjects' needs, feelings, and personality traits.
Psychodynamic theories
 All the diverse theories descended from the work of Sigmund Freud that focus on
unconscious mental forces.
Psychosexual stages
 According to Freud, developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that
leave their mark on adult personality.
Rationalization
 Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.
Reaction formation
 Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one's true feelings.
Reality principle
 According to Freud, the principle on which the ego operates, which seeks to delay
gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found.
Regression
 Reverting to immature patterns of behavior.
Repression
 The defense mechanism that pushes distressing thoughts and feelings into the
unconscious or keeps them from emerging into consciousness.
Self-actualizing persons
 People with exceptionally healthy personalities, marked by continued personal
growth.
Self-concept
 A collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical
behavior.
Self-efficacy
 A collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical
behavior.
Self-report inventories
 Personality tests that ask people a series of questions about their characteristic
behavior.
Striving for superiority
 A universal drive to adapt, to improve oneself, and to master life's challenges.
Superego
 The moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what
represents right and wrong.
Unconscious
 According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the
surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on
behavior.
Agoraphobia
 A fear of going out in public places.
Anorexia nervosa
 An eating disorder characterized by fear of gaining weight, disturbed body image,
refusal to maintain normal weight, and dangerous measures to lose weight.
Anxiety disorders
 A class of psychological disorders marked by feelings of excessive apprehension
and anxiety.
Availability heuristic
 Estimating the probably of an event based on the ease with which relevant
instances come to mind.
Bipolar disorder
 Mood disorder marked by the experience of both depressive and manic periods.
Bulimia nervosa
 An eating disorder that involves binge eating followed by unhealthy
compensatory efforts such as vomiting, fasting, abuse of laxatives and diuretics,
and excessive exercise.
Catatonic schizophrenia
 Type of schizophrenia marked by striking motor disturbances, ranging from
muscular rigidity to random motor activity.
Comorbidity
 The coexistence of two or more disorders in the same individual.
Concordance rate
 Statistic indicating the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who
exhibit the same disorder.
Conjunction fallacy
 An error in thinking that involves estimating that the odds of two uncertain events
happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.
Conversion disorder
 A somatoform disorder characterized by a significant loss of physical function
(with no apparent organic basis), usually in a single organ system.
Culture-bound disorders
 Abnormal syndromes found only in a few cultural groups.
Delusions
 False beliefs that are maintained even though they clearly are out of touch with
reality.
Diagnosis
 Distinguishing one illness from another.
Disorganized schizophrenia
 Type of schizophrenia marked by a particularly severe deterioration of adaptive
behavior.
Dissociative amnesia
 A sudden loss of memory for important personal information that is too extensive
to be due to normal forgetting.
Dissociative disorders
 A class of disorders in which people lose contact with portions of their
consciousness or memory, resulting in disruptions in their sense of identity.
Dissociative fugue
 A disorder in which people lose their memory for their entire lives along with
their sense of personal identity.
Dissociative identity disorder
 A type of dissociative disorder characterized by the coexistence in one person of
two or more largely complete, and usually very different, personalities. Also
called multiple-personality disorder.
Eating disorders
 Severe disturbances in eating behavior characterized by preoccupation with
weight concerns and unhealthy efforts to control weight; includes anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Etiology
 The apparent causation and developmental history of an illness.
Generalized anxiety disorder
 A psychological disorder marked by a chronic, high level of anxiety that is not
tied to any specific threat.
Hallucinations
 Sensory perceptions that occur in the absence of a real, external stimulus or gross
distortions of perceptual input.
Hypochondriasis
 A somatoform disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with health
concerns and incessant worrying about developing physical illnesses.
Major depressive disorder
 Mood disorder marked by persistent feelings of sadness and despair and a loss of
interest in previous sources of pleasure.
Medical model
 The view that it is useful to think of abnormal behavior as a disease.
Mood disorders
 A class of disorders marked by depressed or elevated mood disturbances that may
spill over to disrupt physical, perceptual, social, and thought processes.
Multiple-personality disorder
 Older term for dissociative disorder, still widely used, that describes the
coexistence in one person of two or more
Negative symptoms
 Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral deficits, such as flattened
emotions, social withdrawal, apathy, impaired attention, and poverty of speech.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
 A type of anxiety disorder marked by persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of
unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in senseless rituals
(compulsions).
Panic disorder
 A type of anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of overwhelming
anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly.
Paranoid schizophrenia
 Type of schizophrenia dominated by delusions of persecution, along with
delusions of grandeur.
Phobic disorder
 A type of anxiety disorder marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object
or situation that presents no realistic danger.
Positive symptoms
 Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral excesses or peculiarities, such as
hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behavior, and wild flights of ideas.
Posttraumatic stress disorder
 An enduring anxiety disorder that results from experiencing a major traumatic
event.
Prognosis
 A forecast about the probable course of an illness.
Psychosomatic diseases
 Physical ailments with a genuine organic basis that are caused in part by
psychological factors, especially emotional distress.
Representativeness heuristic
 Basing the estimated probability that an event will occur on how similar it is to
the typical prototype of that event.
Schizophrenic disorders
 A class of psychological disorders marked by disturbances in thought that spill
over to affect perceptual, social, and emotional processes.
Somatization disorder
 A type of somatoform disorder marked by a history of diverse physical
complaints that appear to be psychological in origin.
Somatoform disorders
 A class of psychological disorders involving physical ailments that have no
authentic organic basis and are due to psychological factors.
Undifferentiated schizophrenia
 Type of schizophrenia marked by idiosyncratic mixtures of schizophrenic
symptoms.
Attitudes
 Positive or negative evaluations; may include cognitive, behavioral, and
emotional components.
Attributions
 Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others' behavior, and their
own behavior.
Bystander effect
 A paradoxical social phenomenon in which people are less likely to provide
needed help when they are in groups than when they are alone.
Cognitive dissonance
 A psychological state that exists when related cognitions are inconsistent.
Collectivism
 Putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one's identity in terms of
the group one belongs to.
Conformity
 The tendency for people to yield to real or imagined social pressure.
Discrimination
 Behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group.
External attribution
 Attributing the causes of behavior to situational demands and environmental
constraints.
Fundamental attribution error
 The tendency of an observer to favor internal attributions in explaining the
behavior of others.
Group
 Two or more individuals who interact.
Group polarization
 A phenomenon that occurs when group discussion strengthens a group's dominant
point of view and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that
direction.
Groupthink
 A process in which members of a cohesive group emphasize concurrence at the
expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision.
Individualism
 Putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one's identity in terms of
personal attributes rather than group memberships.
In-group
 The group one belongs to and identifies with.
Internal attributions
 Attributing the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and
feelings.
Obedience
 Complying with direct commands, usually from someone in a position of
authority.
Out-group
 People who are not a part of the in-group.
Person perception
 The process of forming impressions of others.
Prejudice
 A negative attitude held toward members of a group.
Self-serving bias
 The tendency to attribute our positive outcomes to personal factors and our
negative outcomes to situational factors.
Social loafing
 A reduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups.
Social psychology
 The branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals' thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors are influenced by others.
Social schemas
 Clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people that we use to
organize the world around us.
Stereotypes
 Beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a
particular group.