| abnormal behavior | Behavior that causes people to experience distress and prevents them from functioning in their daily lives.
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| absolute threshold | The smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for the senses to detect it.
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| achievement test | A test designed to determine a person's level of knowledge in a given subject area.
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| action potential | An electric nerve impulse that travels through a neuron's axon when it is set off by a "trigger," changing the neuron's charge from negative to positive.
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| activation-synthesis theory | Hobson's theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories lodged in various portions of the brain.
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| activity theory of aging | A theory that suggests that the elderly who are most successful while aging are those who maintain the interests and activities they had during middle age.
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| adaptation | An adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli.
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| addictive drugs | Drugs that produce a physiological or psychological dependence in the user so that withdrawal from them leads to a craving for the drug that, in some cases, may be nearly irresistible.
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| adolescence | The developmental stage between childhood and adulthood.
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| aggression | The intentional injury of, or harm to, another person.
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| algorithm | A rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem.
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| all-or-none law | The rule that neurons are either on or off.
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| altruism | Helping behavior that is beneficial to others but clearly requires self-sacrifice.
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| Alzheimer's disease | A progressive brain disorder that leads to a gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities.
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| amnesia | Memory loss that occurs without other mental difficulties.
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| androgens | Male sex hormones secreted by the testes.
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| anorexia nervosa | A severe eating disorder in which people may refuse to eat while denying that their behavior and appearance—which can become skeleton-like—are unusual.
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| anterograde amnesia | Amnesia in which memory is lost for events that follow an injury.
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| antianxiety drugs | Drugs that reduce the level of anxiety a person experiences, essentially by reducing excitability and increasing feelings of well-being.
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| antidepressant drugs | Medications that improve mood and promote a feeling of well-being in severely depressed individuals.
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| antipsychotic drugs | Drugs that temporarily reduce such psychotic symptoms as agitation, hallucinations, and delusions.
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| antisocial personality disorder | A disorder in which individuals show no regard for the moral and ethical rules of society or the rights of others.
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| anxiety disorder | The occurrence of anxiety without an obvious external cause, affecting daily functioning.
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| aptitude test | A test designed to predict a person's ability in a particular area or line of work.
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| archetypes | According to Jung, universal symbolic representations of a particular person, object, or experience (such as good and evil).
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| archival research | Research in which existing data, such as census documents, college records, and newspaper clippings, are examined to test a hypothesis.
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| arousal approaches to motivation | The belief that we try to maintain certain levels of stimulation and activity, increasing or reducing them as necessary.
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| association areas | One of the major regions of the cerebral cortex; the site of the higher mental processes, such as thought, language, memory, and speech.
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| assumed-similarity bias | The tendency to think of people as being similar to oneself, even when meeting them for the first time.
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| attachment | The positive emotional bond that develops between a child and a specific individual.
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| attitudes | Evaluations of a particular person, behavior, belief, or concept.
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| attribution theory | The theory of personality that seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of samples of an individual's behavior, what the specific causes of that person's behavior are.
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| authoritarian parents | Parents who are rigid and punitive and value unquestioning obedience from their children.
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| authoritative parents | Parents who are firm, set clear limits, reason with their children, and explain things to them.
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| autobiographical memories | Our recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own lives.
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| autonomic division | The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls involuntary movement of the heart, glands, lungs, and other organs.
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| autonomy-versus-shame-and-doubt stage | The period during which, according to Erikson, toddlers (ages 11/2 to 3 years) develop independence and autonomy if exploration and freedom are encouraged, or shame and self-doubt if they are restricted and overprotected.
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| aversive conditioning | A form of therapy that reduces the frequency of undesired behavior by pairing an aversive, unpleasant stimulus with undesired behavior.
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| axon | The part of the neuron that carries messages destined for other neurons.
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| babble | Meaningless speechlike sounds made by children from around the age of 3 months through 1 year.
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| basilar membrane | A vibrating structure that runs through the center of the cochlea, dividing it into an upper chamber and a lower chamber and containing sense receptors for sound.
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| behavioral assessment | Direct measures of an individual's behavior used to describe personality characteristics.
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| behavioral genetics | The study of the effects of heredity on behavior.
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| behavioral neuroscientists (or biopsychologists) | Psychologists who specialize in considering the ways in which the biological structures and functions of the body affect behavior.
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| behavioral perspective | The approach that focuses on observable, measurable behavior and ways to change problem behaviors.
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| behavioral treatment approaches | Treatment approaches that build on the basic processes of learning, such as reinforcement and extinction, and assume that normal and abnormal behavior are both learned.
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| behavior modification | A formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.
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| biofeedback | A procedure in which a person learns to control through conscious thought internal physiological processes such as blood pressure, heart and respiration rate, skin temperature, sweating, and the constriction of particular muscles.
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| biological and evolutionary approaches to personality | Theories that suggest that important components of personality are inherited.
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| biomedical therapy | Therapy that relies on drugs and other medical procedures to improve psychological functioning.
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| biomedical perspective | The perspective that suggests that when an individual displays symptoms of abnormal behavior, the root cause will be found in a physical examination of the individual, which may reveal a hormonal imbalance, a chemical deficiency, or a brain injury.
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| bipolar disorder | A disorder in which a person alternates between periods of euphoric feelings of mania and periods of depression.
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| bisexuals | Persons who are sexually attracted to people of the same sex and the other sex.
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| borderline personality disorder | A disorder in which individuals have difficulty developing a secure sense of who they are.
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| bottom-up processing | Perception that consists of the progression of recognizing and processing information from individual components of a stimuli and moving to the perception of the whole.
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| bulimia | A disorder in which a person binges on large quantities of food, followed by efforts to purge the food through vomiting or other means.
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| Cannon-Bard theory of emotion | The view that both physiological arousal and emotional experience are produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus.
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| case study | An in-depth, intensive investigation of an individual or small group of people.
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| cataclysmic events | Strong stressors that occur suddenly, affecting many people at once (for example, natural disasters).
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| catharsis | The process of discharging built-up aggressive energy.
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| central core | The "old brain," which controls basic functions such as eating and sleeping and is common to all vertebrates.
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| central nervous system (CNS) | The part of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.
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| central route processing | Message interpretation characterized by thoughtful consideration of the issues and arguments used to persuade.
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| central traits | The major traits considered in forming impressions of others.
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| cerebellum (ser uh BELL um) | The part of the brain that controls bodily balance.
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| cerebral cortex | The "new brain," responsible for the most sophisticated information processing in the brain; contains four lobes.
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| chromosomes | Rod-shaped structures that contain all basic hereditary information.
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| chunk | A meaningful grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a unit in short-term memory.
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| circadian rhythms | Physiological fluctuations that occur on approximately a 24-hour cycle.
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| classical conditioning | A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response.
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| cochlea | (KOKE-le-uh) A coiled tube in the ear filled with fluid that vibrates in response to sound.
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| cognitive approaches to motivation | Theories suggesting that motivation is a product of people's thoughts and expectations—their cognitions.
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| cognitive-behavioral approach | A treatment approach that incorporates basic principles of learning to change the way people think.
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| cognitive development | The process by which a child's understanding of the world changes as a function of age and experience.
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| cognitive dissonance | The conflict that occurs when a person holds two contradictory attitudes or thoughts (referred to as cognitions).
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| cognitive learning theory | An approach to the study of learning that focuses on the thought processes that underlie learning.
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| cognitive perspective | The perspective that suggests that people's thoughts and beliefs are a central component of normal and abnormal behavior.
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| cognitive psychology | The branch of psychology that focuses on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging, and decision making.
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| cognitive treatment approaches | Treatment approaches that teach people to think in more adaptive ways by changing their dysfunctional cognitions about the world and themselves.
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| collective unconscious | According to Jung, a common set of ideas, feelings, images, and symbols that we inherit from our ancestors, the whole human race, and even animal ancestors from the distant past.
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| community psychology | A branch of psychology that focuses on the prevention and minimization of psychological disorders in the community.
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| companionate love | The strong affection we have for those with whom our lives are deeply involved.
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| compliance | Behavior that occurs in response to direct social pressure.
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| compulsion | An irresistible urge to repeatedly carry out some act that seems strange and unreasonable.
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| concepts | Categorizations of objects, events, or people that share common properties.
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| concrete operational stage | According to Piaget, the period from 7 to 12 years of age that is characterized by logical thought and a loss of egocentrism.
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| conditioned response (CR) | A response that, after conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus (for example, salivation at the ringing of a bell).
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| conditioned stimulus (CS) | A once-neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
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| cones | Cone-shaped, light-sensitive receptor cells in the retina that are responsible for sharp focus and color perception, particularly in bright light.
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| confirmation bias | The tendency to favor information that supports one's initial hypotheses and ignore contradictory information that supports alternative hypotheses or solutions.
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| conformity | A change in behavior or attitudes brought about by a desire to follow the beliefs or standards of other people.
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| consciousness | The awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings we experience at a given moment.
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| constructive processes | Processes in which memories are influenced by the meaning we give to events.
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| continuous reinforcement schedule | Reinforcing of a behavior every time it occurs.
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| control group | A group participating in an experiment that receives no treatment.
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| convergent thinking | The ability to produce responses that are based primarily on knowledge and logic.
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| coping | The efforts to control, reduce, or learn to tolerate the threats that lead to stress.
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| correlational research | Research in which the relationship between two sets of variables is examined to determine whether they are associated, or "correlated."
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| creativity | The ability to generate original ideas or solve problems in novel ways.
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| cross-sectional research | A research method that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.
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| crystallized intelligence | The accumulation of information, skills, and strategies that are learned through experience and can be applied in problem-solving situations.
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| cue-dependent forgetting | Forgetting that occurs when there are insufficient retrieval cues to rekindle information that is in memory.
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| culture-fair IQ test | A test that does not discriminate against the members of any minority group.
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| daily hassles | Everyday annoyances, such as being stuck in traffic, that cause minor irritations and may have long-term ill effects if they continue or are compounded by other stressful events.
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| decay | The loss of information in memory through its nonuse.
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| declarative memory | Memory for factual information: names, faces, dates, and the like.
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| deinstitutionalization | The transfer of former mental patients from institutions to the community.
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| dendrite | A cluster of fibers at one end of a neuron that receive messages from other neurons.
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| dependent variable | The variable that is measured and is expected to change as a result of changes caused by the experimenter's manipulation of the independent variable.
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| depressants | Drugs that slow down the nervous system.
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| depth perception | The ability to view the world in three dimensions and to perceive distance.
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| determinism | The idea that people's behavior is produced primarily by factors outside of their willful control.
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| developmental psychology | The branch of psychology that studies the patterns of growth and change that occur throughout life.
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| Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) | A system, devised by the American Psychiatric Association, used by most professionals to diagnose and classify abnormal behavior.
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| difference threshold (just noticeable difference) | The smallest level of added or reduced stimulation required to sense that a change in stimulation has occurred.
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| diffusion of responsibility | The tendency for people to feel that responsibility for acting is shared, or diffused, among those present.
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| discrimination | Behavior directed toward individuals on the basis of their membership in a particular group.
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| disengagement theory of aging | A theory that suggests that aging produces a gradual withdrawal from the world on physical, psychological, and social levels.
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| dispositional causes (of behavior) | Perceived causes of behavior that are based on internal traits or personality factors.
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| divergent thinking | The ability to generate unusual, yet nonetheless appropriate, responses to problems or questions.
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| double standard | The view that premarital sex is permissible for males but not for females.
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| dreams-for-survival theory | The theory suggesting that dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep.
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| drive | Motivational tension, or arousal, that energizes behavior to fulfill a need.
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| drive-reduction approaches to motivation | Theories suggesting that a lack of a basic biological requirement such as water produces a drive to obtain that requirement (in this case, the thirst drive).
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| drug therapy | Control of psychological disorders through the use of drugs.
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| eardrum | The part of the ear that vibrates when sound waves hit it.
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| egocentric thought | A way of thinking in which a child views the world entirely from his or her own perspective.
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| ego-integrity-versus-despair stage | According to Erikson, a period from late adulthood until death during which we review life's accomplishments and failures.
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| ego | The part of the personality that provides a buffer between the id and the outside world.
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| electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) | A procedure used in the treatment of severe depression in which an electric current of 70 to 150 volts is briefly administered to the head.
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| embryo | A developed zygote that has a heart, a brain, and other organs.
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| emotional intelligence | The set of skills that underlie the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of emotions.
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| emotions | Feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behavior.
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| endocrine system | A chemical communication network that sends messages through the bloodstream to all parts of the body.
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| episodic memory | Memory for events that occur in a particular time, place, or context.
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| estrogens | Class of female sex hormones.
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| evolutionary psychology | The branch of psychology that seeks to identify behavior patterns that are a result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.
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| excitatory message | A chemical message that makes it more likely that a receiving neuron will fire and an action potential will travel down its axon.
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| experimental bias | Factors that distort how the independent variable affects the dependent variable in an experiment.
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| experimental group | Any group participating in an experiment that receives a treatment.
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| experimental manipulation | The change that an experimenter deliberately produces in a situation.
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| experiment | The investigation of the relationship between two (or more) variables by deliberately producing a change in one variable in a situation and observing the effects of that change on other aspects of the situation.
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| explicit memory | Intentional or conscious recollection of information.
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| exposure | A behavioral treatment for anxiety in which people are confronted, either suddenly or gradually, with a stimulus that they fear.
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| extinction | A basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears.
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| extramarital sex | Sexual activity between a married person and someone who is not his or her spouse.
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| facial-affect program | Activation of a set of nerve impulses that make the face display the appropriate expression.
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| facial-feedback hypothesis | The hypothesis that facial expressions not only reflect emotional experience but also help determine how people experience and label emotions.
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| familial retardation | Mental retardation in which no apparent biological defect exists, but there is a history of retardation in the family.
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| family therapy | An approach that focuses on the family and its dynamics.
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| feature detection | The activation of neurons in the cortex by visual stimuli of specific shapes or patterns.
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| fetal alcohol syndrome | A major cause of mental retardation in newborns, occurring when the mother uses alcohol during pregnancy.
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| fetus | A developing individual, from 8 weeks after conception until birth.
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| fixations | Conflicts or concerns that persist beyond the developmental period in which they first occur.
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| fixed-interval schedule | A schedule that provides reinforcement for a response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall rates of response relatively low.
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| fixed-ratio schedule | A schedule by which reinforcement is given only after a specific number of responses are made.
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| flashbulb memories | Memories centered on a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid it is as if they represented a snapshot of the event.
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| fluid intelligence | Intelligence that reflects information-processing capabilities, reasoning, and memory.
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| formal operational stage | According to Piaget, the period from age 12 to adulthood that is characterized by abstract thought.
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| free will | The idea that behavior is caused primarily by choices that are made freely by the individual.
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| frequency theory of hearing | The theory that the entire basilar membrane acts like a microphone, vibrating as a whole in response to a sound.
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| functional fixedness | The tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use.
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| functionalism | An early approach to psychology that concentrated on what the mind does—the functions of mental activity—and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environments.
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| fundamental attribution error | A tendency to over-attribute others' behavior to dispositional causes and the corresponding minimization of the importance of situational causes.
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| gate-control theory of pain | The theory that particular nerve receptors in the spinal cord lead to specific areas of the brain related to pain.
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| general adaptation syndrome (GAS) | A theory developed by Selye that suggests that a person's response to a stressor consists of three stages: alarm and mobilization, resistance, and exhaustion.
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| generalized anxiety disorder | The experience of long-term, persistent anxiety and worry.
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| generativity-versus-stagnation stage | According to Erikson, a period in middle adulthood during which we take stock of our contributions to family and society.
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| genes | The parts of the chromosomes through which genetic information is transmitted.
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| genetic preprogramming theories of aging | Theories that suggest that human cells have a built-in time limit to their reproduction, and that after a certain time they are no longer able to divide.
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| gestalt (geh-SHTALLT) psychology | An approach to psychology that focuses on the organization of perception and thinking in a "whole" sense rather than on the individual elements of perception.
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| Gestalt laws of organization | A series of principles that describe how we organize bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
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| g or g-factor | The single, general factor for mental ability assumed to underlie intelligence in some early theories of intelligence.
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| grammar | The system of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed.
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| group therapy | Therapy in which people meet with a therapist to discuss problems with a group.
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| group | Two or more people who interact with one another; perceive themselves as part of a group, and are interdependent.
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| habituation | The decrease in response to a stimulus that occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus.
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| hair cells | Tiny cells covering the basilar membrane that, when bent by vibrations entering the cochlea, transmit neural messages to the brain.
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| hallucinogen | A drug that is capable of producing hallucinations, or changes in the perceptual process.
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| halo effect | A phenomenon in which an initial understanding that a person has positive traits is used to infer other uniformly positive characteristics.
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| health psychology | The branch of psychology that investigates the psychological factors related to wellness and illness, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems.
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| hemispheres | Symmetrical left and right halves of the brain that control the side of the body opposite to their location.
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| heritability | A measure of the degree to which a characteristic is related to genetic, inherited factors.
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| heterosexuality | Sexual attraction and behavior directed to the other sex.
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| heuristic | A cognitive shortcut that may lead to a solution.
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| homosexuals | Persons who are sexually attracted to members of their own sex.
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| hormone | Substance produced by a gland or tissue and circulated through the blood to regulate the functioning or growth of the body.
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| humanistic approaches to personality | Theories that emphasize people's innate goodness and desire to achieve higher levels of functioning.
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| humanistic perspective | The approach that suggests that all individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behavior.
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| humanistic therapy | Therapy in which the underlying rationale is that people have control of their behavior, can make choices about their lives, and are essentially responsible for solving their own problems.
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| hypnosis | A trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others.
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| hypothalamus | A tiny part of the brain, located below the thalamus, that maintains the body's internal balance and regulates such vital behavior as eating, drinking, and sexual behavior.
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| hypothesis | A prediction, stemming from a theory, stated in a way that allows it to be tested.
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| identical twins | Twins who are genetically identical.
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| identification | The process of wanting to be like another person as much as possible, imitating that person's behavior and adopting similar beliefs and values.
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| identity | The distinguishing character of the individual: who each of us is, what our roles are, and what we are capable of.
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| identity-versus-role-confusion stage | According to Erikson, a time in adolescence of major testing to determine one's unique qualities.
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| id | The raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality whose sole purpose is to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses.
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| implicit memory | Memories of which people are not consciously aware but that can affect subsequent performance and behavior.
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| incentive approaches to motivation | Theories suggesting that motivation stems from the desire to obtain valued external goals, or incentives.
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| independent variable | The variable that is manipulated by an experimenter.
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| industry-versus-inferiority stage | According to Erikson, the last stage of childhood, during which children age 6 to 12 years may develop positive social interactions with others or may feel inadequate and become less sociable.
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| inferiority complex | According to Adler, a problem affecting adults who have not been able to overcome the feelings of inferiority that they developed as children, when they were small and limited in their knowledge about the world.
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| information processing | The way in which people take in, use, and store information.
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| informed consent | A document signed by participants affirming that they have been told the basic outlines of the study and are aware of what their participation will involve.
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| inhibitory message | A chemical message that prevents or decreases the likelihood that a receiving neuron will fire.
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| initiative-versus-guilt stage | According to Erikson, the period during which children ages 3 to 6 years experience conflict between independence of action and the sometimes negative results of that action.
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| instincts | Inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically determined rather than learned.
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| intellectually gifted | The 2% to 4% of the population who have IQ scores greater than 130.
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| intelligence quotient (IQ) | A score that takes into account an individual's mental and chronological ages.
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| intelligence tests | Tests devised to quantify a person's level of intelligence.
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| intelligence | The capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges.
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| interactionist approach (to language development) | The view that language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help teach language.
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| interference | The phenomenon by which information in memory disrupts the recall of other information.
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| interneurons | Neurons that connect sensory and motor neurons, carrying messages between the two.
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| interpersonal attraction (or close relationship) | Positive feelings for others; liking and loving.
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| interpersonal therapy (IPT) | Short-term therapy that focuses on the context of current social relationships.
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| intimacy-versus-isolation stage | According to Erikson, a period during early adulthood that focuses on developing close relationships.
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| introspection | A procedure used to study the structure of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when they are exposed to a stimulus.
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| James-Lange theory of emotion | The idea that emotional experience is a reaction to bodily events occurring as a result of an external situation ("I feel sad because I am crying").
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| language-acquisition device | A neural system of the brain hypothesized by Noam Chomsky to permit understanding of language.
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| language | The communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules.
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| latent content of dreams | According to Freud, the "disguised" meanings of dreams, hidden by more obvious subjects.
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| latent learning | Learning in which a new behavior is acquired but is not demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying it.
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| lateralization | The dominance of one hemisphere of the brain in specific functions, such as language.
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| learned helplessness | A state in which people conclude that unpleasant or aversive stimuli cannot be controlled—a view of the world that becomes so ingrained that they cease trying to remedy the aversive circumstances, even if they actually can exert some influence.
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| learning | A relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience.
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| learning-theory approach (to language development) | The theory suggesting that language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and conditioning.
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| levels-of-processing theory | The theory of memory that emphasizes the degree to which new material is mentally analyzed.
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| life review | The process by which people examine and evaluate their lives.
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| limbic system | The part of the brain that controls eating, aggression, and reproduction.
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| lobes | The four major sections of the cerebral cortex: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.
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| longitudinal research | A research method that investigates behavior as participants age.
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| long-term memory | Memory that stores information on a relatively permanent basis, although it may be difficult to retrieve.
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| major depression | A severe form of depression that interferes with concentration, decision making, and sociability.
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| mania | An extended state of intense, wild elation.
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| manifest content of dreams | According to Freud, the apparent story line of dreams.
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| masturbation | Sexual self-stimulation.
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| means-ends analysis | Repeated testing for differences between the desired outcome and what currently exists.
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| meditation | A learned technique for refocusing attention that brings about an altered state of consciousness.
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| memory | The process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information.
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| menopause | The period during which women stop menstruating and are no longer fertile.
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| mental age | The average age of individuals who achieve a particular level of performance on a test.
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| mental images | Representations in the mind that resemble the object or event being represented.
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| mental retardation (intellectual disabilities) | A condition characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills.
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| mental set | The tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist.
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| metabolism | The rate at which food is converted to energy and expended by the body.
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| metacognition | An awareness and understanding of one's own cognitive processes.
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| Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) | A widely used self-report test that identifies people with psychological difficulties and is employed to predict some everyday behaviors.
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| mood disorder | A disturbance in emotional experience that is strong enough to intrude on everyday living.
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| mood stabilizers | Drugs used to treat mood disorders that prevent manic episodes of bipolar disorder.
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| motivation | The factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other organisms.
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| motor area | The part of the cortex that is largely responsible for the body's voluntary movement.
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| motor (efferent) neurons | Neurons that communicate information from the nervous system to muscles and glands.
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| myelin sheath | A protective coat of fat and protein that wraps around axons.
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| narcissistic personality disorder | A personality disturbance characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
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| narcotics | Drugs that increase relaxation and relieve pain and anxiety.
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| nativist approach (to language development) | The theory that a genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development.
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| naturalistic observation | Research in which an investigator simply observes some naturally occurring behavior and does not make a change in the situation.
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| nature–nurture issue | The issue of the degree to which environment and heredity influence behavior.
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| need for achievement | A stable, learned characteristic in which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and attaining a level of excellence.
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| need for affiliation | An interest in establishing and maintaining relationships with other people.
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| need for power | A tendency to seek impact, control, or influence over others, and to be seen as a powerful individual.
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| negative reinforcer | An unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in the probability that a preceding response will be repeated in the future.
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| neo-Freudian psychoanalysts | Psychoanalysts who were trained in traditional Freudian theory but who later rejected some of its major points.
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| neurons | Nerve cells, the basic elements of the nervous system.
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| neuroplasticity | Changes in the brain that occur throughout the life span relating to the addition of new neurons, new interconnections between neurons, and the reorganization of information-processing areas.
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| neuroscience perspective | The approach that views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and other biological functions.
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| neurotransmitters | Chemicals that carry messages across the synapse to the dendrite (and sometimes the cell body) of a receiving neuron.
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| neutral stimulus | A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not naturally bring about the response of interest.
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| norms | Standards of test performance that permit the comparison of one person's score on a test with the scores of other individuals who have taken the same test.
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| obedience | A change in behavior in response to the commands of others.
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| obesity | Body weight that is more than 20% above the average weight for a person of a particular height.
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| object permanence | The awareness that objects—and people—continue to exist even if they are out of sight.
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| observational learning | Learning by observing the behavior of another person, or model.
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| obsession | A persistent, unwanted thought or idea that keeps recurring.
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| obsessive-compulsive disorder | A disorder characterized by obsessions or compulsions.
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| Oedipal conflict | A child's sexual interest in his or her opposite-sex parent, typically resolved through identification with the same-sex parent.
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| operant conditioning | Learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences.
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| operational definition | The translation of a hypothesis into specific, testable procedures that can be measured and observed.
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| opponent-process theory of color vision | The theory that receptor cells for color are linked in pairs, working in opposition to each other.
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| optic nerve | A bundle of ganglion axons that carry visual information to the brain.
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| otoliths | Tiny, motion-sensitive crystals within the semicircular canals that sense body acceleration.
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| overgeneralization | The phenomenon by which children apply language rules even when the application results in an error.
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| ovulation | The point at which an egg is released from the ovaries.
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| panic disorder | Anxiety disorder that takes the form of panic attacks lasting from a few seconds to as long as several hours.
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| parasympathetic division | The part of the autonomic division of the nervous system that acts to calm the body after an emergency has ended.
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| partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule | Reinforcing of a behavior sometimes but not all of the time.
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| passionate (or romantic) love | A state of intense absorption in someone that includes intense physiological arousal, psychological interest, and caring for the needs of another.
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| perception | The sorting out, interpretation, analysis, and integration of stimuli by the sense organs and brain.
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| perceptual constancy | Phenomenon in which physical objects are perceived to have constant shape, color, and size, despite changes in their appearance or in the physical environment.
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| peripheral nervous system | The part of the nervous system that includes the autonomic and somatic subdivisions; made up of neurons with long axons and dendrites, it branches out from the spinal cord and brain and reaches the extremities of the body.
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| peripheral route processing | Message interpretation characterized by consideration of the source and related general information rather than of the message itself.
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| permissive parents | Parents who give their children relaxed or inconsistent direction and, although they are warm, require little of them.
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| personality disorder | A disorder characterized by a set of inflexible, maladaptive behavior patterns that keep a person from functioning appropriately in society.
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| personality | The pattern of enduring characteristics that produce consistency and individuality in a given person.
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| personal stressors | Major life events, such as the death of a family member, that have immediate negative consequences that generally fade with time.
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| person-centered therapy | Therapy in which the goal is to reach one's potential for self-actualization.
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| phobias | Intense, irrational fears of specific objects or situations.
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| phonemes | The smallest units of speech.
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| phonology | The study of the smallest units of speech, called phonemes.
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| pituitary gland | The major component of the endocrine system, or "master gland," which secretes hormones that control growth and other parts of the endocrine system.
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| placebo | A false treatment, such as a pill, "drug," or other substance, without any significant chemical properties or active ingredient.
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| place theory of hearing | The theory that different areas of the basilar membrane respond to different frequencies.
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| positive reinforcer | A stimulus added to the environment that brings about an increase in a preceding response.
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| practical intelligence | According to Sternberg, intelligence related to overall success in living.
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| prejudice | A negative (or positive) evaluation of a particular group and its members.
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| preoperational stage | According to Piaget, the period from 2 to 7 years of age that is characterized by language development.
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| priming | A phenomenon in which exposure to a word or concept (called a prime) later makes it easier to recall related information, even when there is no conscious memory of the word or concept.
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| principle of conservation | The knowledge that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement and physical appearance of objects.
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| proactive interference | Interference in which information learned earlier disrupts the recall of newer material.
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| procedural memory | Memory for skills and habits, such as riding a bike or hitting a baseball, sometimes referred to as nondeclarative memory.
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| progesterone | A female sex hormone secreted by the ovaries.
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| projective personality test | A test in which a person is shown an ambiguous stimulus and asked to describe it or tell a story about it.
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| prosocial behavior | Helping behavior.
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| prototypes | Typical, highly representative examples of a concept.
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| psychoactive drugs | Drugs that influence a person's emotions, perceptions, and behavior.
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| psychoanalysis | Freudian psychotherapy in which the goal is to release hidden unconscious thoughts and feelings in order to reduce their power in controlling behavior.
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| psychoanalytic perspective | The perspective that suggests that abnormal behavior stems from childhood conflicts over opposing wishes regarding sex and aggression.
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| psychoanalytic theory | Freud's theory that unconscious forces act as determinants of personality.
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| psychodynamic approaches to personality | Approaches that assume that personality is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which people have little awareness and over which they have no control.
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| psychodynamic perspective | The approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control.
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| psychodynamic therapy | Therapy that seeks to bring unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into the conscious, where clients may deal with the problems more effectively.
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| psychological tests | Standard measures devised to assess behavior objectively; used by psychologists to help people make decisions about their lives and understand more about themselves.
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| psychology | The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
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| psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) | The study of the relationship among psychological factors, the immune system, and the brain.
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| psychophysics | The study of the relationship between the physical aspects of stimuli and our psychological experience of them.
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| psychophysiological disorders | Medical problems influenced by an interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties.
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| psychosexual stages | Developmental periods that children pass through during which they encounter conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges.
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| psychosocial development | Development of individuals' interactions and understanding of one another and of their knowledge and understanding of themselves as members of society.
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| psychosurgery | Brain surgery once used to reduce the symptoms of mental disorder but rarely used today.
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| psychotherapy | Treatment in which a trained professional—a therapist—uses psychological techniques to help a person overcome psychological difficulties and disorders, resolve problems in living, or bring about personal growth.
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| puberty | The period at which maturation of the sexual organs occurs, beginning about age 11 or 12 for girls and 13 or 14 for boys.
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| punishment | A stimulus that decreases the probability that a previous behavior will occur again.
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| random assignment to condition | A procedure in which participants are assigned to different experimental groups or "conditions" on the basis of chance and chance alone.
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| rapid eye movement (REM) sleep | Sleep occupying 20% of an adult's sleeping time, characterized by increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate; erections; eye movements; and the experience of dreaming.
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| recall | Memory task in which specific information must be retrieved.
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| recognition | Memory task in which individuals are presented with a stimulus and asked whether they have been exposed to it in the past or to identify it from a list of alternatives.
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| reflex | An automatic, involuntary response to an incoming stimulus.
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| rehearsal | The repetition of information that has entered short-term memory.
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| reinforcement | The process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated.
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| reinforcer | Any stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur again.
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| reliability | The property by which tests measure consistently what they are trying to measure.
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| replication | The repetition of research, sometimes using other procedures, settings, and groups of participants, to increase confidence in prior findings.
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| repression | The primary defense mechanism in which unacceptable or unpleasant id impulses are pushed back into the unconscious.
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| resting state | The state in which there is a negative electrical charge of about -70 millivolts within a neuron.
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| reticular formation | The part of the brain extending from the medulla through the pons and made up of groups of nerve cells that can immediately activate other parts of the brain to produce general bodily arousal.
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| retina | The part of the eye that converts the electromagnetic energy of light to electrical impulses for transmission to the brain.
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| retroactive interference | Interference in which there is difficulty in the recall of information learned earlier because of later exposure to different material.
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| retrograde amnesia | Amnesia in which memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event.
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| reuptake | The reabsorption of neurotransmitters by a terminal button.
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| rods | Thin, cylindrical receptor cells in the retina that are highly sensitive to light.
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| Rorschach test | A test that involves showing a series of symmetrical visual stimuli to people who then are asked what the figures represent to them.
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| Schachter-Singer theory of emotion | The idea that emotions are determined jointly by a nonspecific kind of physiological arousal and its interpretation, based on environmental cues.
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| schedules of reinforcement | Different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following desired behavior.
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| schemas | Organized bodies of information stored in memory that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and recalled.
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| schemas | Sets of cognitions about people and social experiences.
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| schizophrenia | A class of disorders in which severe distortion of reality occurs.
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| scientific method | The approach through which psychologists systematically acquire knowledge and understanding about behavior and other phenomena of interest.
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| self-actualization | A state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential, each in a unique way.
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| self-efficacy | Belief in one's personal capabilities. Self-efficacy underlies people's faith in their ability to carry out a particular behavior or produce a desired outcome.
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| self-esteem | The component of personality that encompasses our positive and negative self-evaluations.
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| self-report measures | A method of gathering data about people by asking them questions about a sample of their behavior.
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| self-serving bias | The tendency to attribute personal success to personal factors (skill, ability, or effort) and to attribute failure to factors outside oneself.
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| semantic memory | Memory for general knowledge and facts about the world, as well as memory for the rules of logic that are used to deduce other facts.
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| semantic networks | Mental representations of clusters of interconnected information.
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| semantics | The rules governing the meaning of words and sentences.
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| semicircular canals | Three tubelike structures of the inner ear containing fluid that sloshes through them when the head moves, signaling rotational or angular movement to the brain.
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| sensation | The activation of the sense organs by a source of physical energy.
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| sensorimotor stage | According to Piaget, the stage from birth to 2 years, during which a child has little competence in representing the environment by using images, language, or other symbols.
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| sensory (afferent) neurons | Neurons that transmit information from the perimeter of the body to the central nervous system.
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| sensory area | The brain tissue that corresponds to the different senses, with the degree of sensitivity related to the amount of tissue.
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| sensory memory | The initial, momentary storage of information, lasting only an instant.
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| sequential research | A research method that combines cross-sectional and longitudinal research by considering a number of different age groups and examining them at several points in time.
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| shaping | The process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
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| short-term memory | Memory that holds information for 15 to 25 seconds.
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| significant outcome | Meaningful results that make it possible for researchers to feel confident that they have confirmed their hypotheses.
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| situational causes (of behavior) | Perceived causes of behavior that are based on environmental factors.
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| skin senses | The senses of touch, pressure, temperature, and pain.
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| social cognition | The cognitive processes by which people understand and make sense of others and themselves.
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| social cognitive approaches to personality | Theories that emphasize the influence of a person's cognitions—thoughts, feelings, expectations, and values—as well as observation of others' behavior, in determining personality.
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| social influence | The process by which the actions of an individual or group affect the behavior of others.
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| social psychology | The scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others.
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| social support | A mutual network of caring, interested others.
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| social supporter | A group member whose dissenting views make nonconformity to the group easier.
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| somatic division | The part of the peripheral nervous system that specializes in the control of voluntary movements and the communication of information to and from the sense organs.
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| sound | The movement of air molecules brought about by a source of vibration.
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| spinal cord | A bundle of neurons that leaves the brain and runs down the length of the back and is the main means for transmitting messages between the brain and the body.
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| spontaneous recovery | The reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further conditioning.
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| spontaneous remission | Recovery without treatment.
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| stage 1 sleep | The state of transition between wakefulness and sleep, characterized by relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain waves.
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| stage 2 sleep | A sleep deeper than that of stage 1, characterized by a slower, more regular wave pattern, along with momentary interruptions of "sleep spindles."
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| stage 3 sleep | A sleep characterized by slow brain waves, with greater peaks and valleys in the wave pattern than in stage 2 sleep.
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| stage 4 sleep | The deepest stage of sleep, during which we are least responsive to outside stimulation.
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| status | The social rank held within a group.
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| stereotype | A set of generalized beliefs and expectations about a particular group and its members.
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| stimulants | Drugs that have an arousal effect on the central nervous system, causing a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscular tension.
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| stimulus discrimination | The process that occurs if two stimuli are sufficiently distinct from each other that one evokes a conditioned response but the other does not; the ability to differentiate between stimuli.
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| stimulus | Energy that produces a response in a sense organ.
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| stimulus generalization | Occurs when a conditioned response follows a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus; the more similar the two stimuli are, the more likely generalization is to occur.
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| stress | A person's response to events that are threatening or challenging.
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| structuralism | Wundt's approach, which focuses on uncovering the fundamental mental components of consciousness, thinking, and other kinds of mental states and activities.
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| subjective well-being | People's own evaluation of their lives in terms of both their thoughts and their emotions.
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| superego | According to Freud, the final personality structure to develop; it represents the rights and wrongs of society as handed down by a person's parents, teachers, and other important figures.
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| survey research | Research in which people chosen to represent a larger population are asked a series of questions about their behavior, thoughts, or attitudes.
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| sympathetic division | The part of the autonomic division of the nervous system that acts to prepare the body for action in stressful situations, engaging all the organism's resources to respond to a threat.
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| synapse | The space between two neurons where the axon of a sending neuron communicates with the dendrites of a receiving neuron by using chemical messages.
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| syntax | Ways in which words and phrases can be combined to form sentences.
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| systematic desensitization | A behavioral technique in which gradual exposure to an anxiety-producing stimulus is paired with relaxation to extinguish the response of anxiety.
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| telegraphic speech | Sentences in which words not critical to the message are left out.
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| temperament | The basic, innate disposition that emerges early in life.
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| teratogens | Environmental agents such as a drug, chemical, virus, or other factor that produce a birth defect.
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| terminal buttons | Small bulges at the end of axons that send messages to other neurons.
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| test standardization | A technique used to validate questions in personality tests by studying the responses of people with known diagnoses.
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| thalamus | The part of the brain located in the middle of the central core that acts primarily to relay information about the senses.
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|
| Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) | A test consisting of a series of pictures about which a person is asked to write a story.
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| theories | Broad explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest.
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| theory of multiple intelligences | Gardner's intelligence theory that proposes that there are eight distinct spheres of intelligence.
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| thinking | The manipulation of mental representations of information.
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| tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon | The inability to recall information that one realizes one knows—a result of the difficulty of retrieving information from long-term memory.
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| top-down processing | Perception that is guided by higher-level knowledge, experience, expectations, and motivations.
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| traits | Consistent personality characteristics and behaviors displayed in different situations.
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|
| trait theory | A model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality.
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|
| transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) | A depression treatment in which a precise magnetic pulse is directed to a specific area of the brain.
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| transference | The transfer of feelings to a psychoanalyst of love or anger that had been originally directed to a client's parents or other authority figure.
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| transsexuals | Persons who believe they were born with the body of the other gender.
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| treatment | The manipulation implemented by the experimenter.
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| trichromatic theory of color vision | The theory that there are three kinds of cones in the retina, each of which responds primarily to a specific range of wavelengths.
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| trust-versus-mistrust stage | According to Erikson, the first stage of psychosocial development, occurring from birth to age 11/2 years, during which time infants develop feelings of trust or lack of trust.
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| Type A behavior pattern | A cluster of behaviors involving hostility, competitiveness, time urgency, and feeling driven.
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| Type B behavior pattern | A cluster of behaviors characterized by a patient, cooperative, noncompetitive manner.
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| unconditional positive regard | An attitude of acceptance and respect on the part of an observer, no matter what a person says or does.
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| unconditioned response (UCR) | A response that is natural and needs no training (for example, salivation at the smell of food).
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| unconditioned stimulus (UCS) | A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response without having been learned.
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| unconscious | A part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and instincts of which the individual is not aware.
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| unconscious wish fulfillment theory | Sigmund Freud's theory that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled.
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| uninvolved parents | Parents who show little interest in their children and are emotionally detached.
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| universal grammar | Noam Chomsky's theory that all the world's languages share a common underlying structure.
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| validity | The property by which tests actually measure what they are supposed to measure.
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| variable-interval schedule | A schedule by which the time between reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed.
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| variable-ratio schedule | A schedule by which reinforcement occurs after a varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number.
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| variables | Behaviors, events, or other characteristics that can change, or vary, in some way.
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| visual illusions | Physical stimuli that consistently produce errors in perception.
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| wear-and-tear theories of aging | Theories that suggest that the mechanical functions of the body simply stop working efficiently.
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| Weber's law | A basic law of psychophysics stating that a just noticeable difference is in constant proportion to the intensity of an initial stimulus.
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| weight set point | The particular level of weight that the body strives to maintain.
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| working memory | A set of active, temporary memory stores that actively manipulate and rehearse information.
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| zone of proximal development (ZPD) | According to Vygotsky, the level at which a child can almost, but not fully, comprehend or perform a task on his or her own.
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| zygote | The new cell formed by the union of an egg and sperm.
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