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Myers Glossary G1-2
glossary pages 1 and 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| absolute threshold | the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent |
| accommodation | adapting one's current understandings to incorporate new information; also the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
| acetylcholine | a neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction |
| achievement motivation | a desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for attaining a high standard. |
| achievement test | a test designed to assess what a person has learned |
| acoustic encoding | the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words |
| acquisition | the initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. |
| action potential | a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon, generated by the movement of ions in and out of channels in the axon's membrane |
| active listening | empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. |
| acuity | the sharpness of vision |
| adaptation-level phenomenon | our tendency to form judgments relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience |
| addiction | compulsive drug craving and use |
| adolescence | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence |
| adrenal glands | a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys, that secrete the hormones epinephrine and norepineprhine, which arouse the body in stress |
| aerobic exercise | sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness |
| aggression | any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy |
| algorithm | a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; slow |
| alpha waves | the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state |
| altruism | unselfish regard for the welfare of others |
| Alzheimer's disease | a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, etc |
| amnesia | the loss of memory |
| amphetamines | drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded up body functions and associated energy and mood changes |
| amygdala | two lima bean-sized neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion |
| anorexia nervosa | an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight, and continues to starve |
| antisocial personality disorder | a personality disorder in which the person exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members |
| anxiety disorders | psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety |
| aphasia | impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's or Wernicke's area |
| applied research | scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
| aptitude test | a test designed to predict a person's future performance |
| assimilation | interpreting one's new experience in terms of existing schemas |
| association areas | areas of the cerebral cortex taht are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; they are involved in higher mental functions |
| associative learning | learnign that certain events occur together |
| attachment | an emotional tie with another person |
| attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) | a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more three key symptoms: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity |
| attitude | feelings, often based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events |
| attribution theory | suggests how we explain someone's behavior - by crediting either the situation or teh person's disposition |
| audition | the sense of act of hearing |
| autism | a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind |
| automatic processing | unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information such as word meanings |
| autonomic nervous system | the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and teh muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms |
| availability heuristic | estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common |
| aversive conditioning | a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior |
| axon | the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which message pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands |
| babbling stage | at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language |
| barbiturates | drugs that depress teh activity of the central nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement |
| basal metabolic rate | the body's resting rate of energy expenditure |
| basic research | pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base |
| basic trust | according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers |
| behavior genetics | the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior |
| behavior therapy | therapy that applies learning principles ot the elimination of unwanted behaviors |
| behavioral medicine | an itnerdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease |
| behaviorism | the view that psychology 1) should be an objective science that 2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with 1 but not 2 |
| belief bias | the dendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid ones invalid |
| belief perseverance | clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. |
| binocular cues | depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes |
| biofeedback | a system for electornically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension. |
| biological psychology | a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior |
| biological rhythms | periodic physiological fluctuations |
| biomedical therapy | prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on teh patient's nervous system |
| biopsychosocial approach | an integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis |
| bipolar disorder | a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression adn teh overexcited state of mania |
| blind spot | the poitn at which the optic nerve leaves teh eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located tehre |
| bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
| brainstem | the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions |
| Broca's area | controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, directs muscle movements involved in speech |
| bulimia nervosa | an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise |
| bystander effect | the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid of other bystanders are present |
| Cannon-Bard theory | the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers 1) physiological responses and 2) the subjective experience of emotion |
| case study | an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles |
| catharsis | emotional release |
| central nervous system | the brain and spinal cord |
| cerebellum | the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance |
| cerebral cortex | the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center |
| chromosomes | threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes |
| chunking | organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically |
| circadian rhythm | the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle |
| classical conditioning | a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. a neural stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the UCS. Also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning. |
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belgarion013
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