C Flashcards
A central nervous system stimulant found in coffee, tea, cola, cocoa, chocolate, and certain prescribed and over the counter medications
- It’s effects include rapid breathing, increased pulse rate and blood pressure, and diminished fatigue
- Precise effects vary with the amount ingested and the tolerance of the individual
- Moderate doses produce an improved flow of thought and clearness of ideas, together with increased respiratory and vasomotor activity; large doses may make concentration or continued attention difficult and cause insomnia, headaches, and confusion in some individuals
Caffeine
Any of a class of drugs used in the treatment of hypertension and abnormal heart rhythms ( arrhythmias)
- Inhibit the flow of calcium ions into the smooth muscle cells of blood vessels and the cells of heart muscle, which need calcium to contract, thus inducing prolonged relaxation of the muscles
Calcium Channel Blocker
- The containment of variation of certain characters within narrow bounds so that expression of underlying genetic variation is repressed
- It is a developmental mechanism that maintains a constant phenotype over a range of different environments in which the organism might normally occur - The hypothetical process by which repeated use of a neural pathway leads to greater ease of transmission of impulses and hence its establishment as permanent
Canalization
Any one of a group of diseases characterized by the unregulated, abnormal growth of cells to form malignant tumors (neoplasm) which invade neighboring tissues
- Causes are numerous but commonly include viruses, environmental toxins, diet, and inherited genetic variations
- Generally classified as carcinomas if they involve the epithelium (eg; lungs, stomach, skin) and sarcomas if the affected tissues are connective (eg; bone, muscle, or fat)
Cancer
Any of a class of about 60 substances in the cannabis plant that includes those responsible for the psychoactive properties of the plant
- The most important is tetrahydrocannabinal
Cannabinoid
Any of three related plant species (sativa, indica, or ruderalis) whose dried flowering or fruiting tops of leaves are widely used as a recreational drug, known as marijuana
- When smoked, the principal psychoactive agent in these plants, delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is rapidly absorbed into the blood and almost immediately distributed to the brain, causing the rapid onset of subjective effects that last two to three hours
Cannabis
The theory that emotional states result from the influence of lower brain centers (the hypothalamus and thalamus) on higher ones (the cortex), rather then from sensory feedback to the brain produced by peripheral internal organs and voluntary musculature
- According to this theory, the thalamus controls the experience of emotion, and the hypothalamus controls the expression of emotion
[Proposed in the 1920s and early 1930s by Walter B. Cannon (1871 -1945) and Philip Bard (1898 - 1977), U.S. Psychologists]
Canon Bard Theory
A class of statistical analyses that assess the degree of relationship between two or more sets of measurements
- Examples are discriminant analysis and multiple regression analysis, among others
Canonical Analysis
The maximum ability of an individual to receive or retain information and hence his or her potential for intellectual or creative development or accomplishment
Capacity
Any substance that initiates the development of cancer (carcinogenesis) when exposed to living tissue
- Tobacco smoke, which induces lung cancer, is an example
Carcinogen
Any substance that initiates the development of cancer (carcinogenesis) when exposed to living tissue
- Tobacco smoke, which induces lung cancer, is an example
Carcinogen
The specialized muscle tissue of the heart
- It consists of striated fibers that branch and interlock and are in electrical continuity with each other
- This arrangement permits action potentials to spread rapidly from cell to cell, allowing large groups of cells to contract in unison
Cardiac Muscle
Relating to the heart and blood vessels or to blood circulation
- For example, cardiovascular reactivity is the degree of change in blood pressure, heart rate, and related responses to a psychological or physical challenge or stressor
Cardiovascular
Any disease, congenital or acquired, that affects the heart and blood vessels
- These include hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and coronary heart disease
Cardiovascular Disease
A person who attends to the needs of and provides assistance to someone else who is not fully independent, such as an infant or ill adult
Caregiver
The stress and other psychological symptoms experienced by family members and other nonprofessional caregivers in response to looking after individuals with mental or physical disabilities, disorders, or diseases
Caregiver Burden
An individual who has a mutation in a gene that conveys either increased susceptibility to a disease or other condition or the certainty that the condition will develop
Carrier
The effect on the current performance of a research participant of the experimental conditions that preceded the current conditions
Carryover Effect
The position taken by French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist René Descartes (1596 - 1650) that the world comprises two distinct and incompatible classes of substance:
1) Resextensa, or extended substance, which extends through space
2. Res Cogitans, or thinking substance, which has no extension in space
- The body (including the brain) is composed of extended and divisible substance, whereas the mind is not
Cartesian Dualism
A record of information relating to a person’s psychological or medical condition used as an aid to diagnosis and treatment
- It usually contains test results, interviews, professional evaluations, and sociological, occupational, and educational data
Case History
An in depth investigation of a single individual, family, or social unit
- Multiple types of data (psychological, physiological, biographical, environmental) are assembled in order to understand the subject’s background, relationships, and behavior
Case Study
Fear of injury to or loss of the genitals
- As posited by psychoanalytic theory, the various losses and deprivations experienced by the infant boy may give rise to the fear that he will also lose his pens
Castration Anxiety
In psychoanalytic theory, the whole combination of the child’s unconscious feelings und fantasies associated with being deprived of the phallus, which in boys means the loss of the penis and in girls the belief that it has already been removed
- It derives from the discovery that girls have no penis and is closely tied to the Oedipus complex
Castration Complex
A state of sustained unresponsiveness in which a fixed body posture or physical attitude is maintained over a long period of time
- It is seen in cases of catatonic schizophrenia, epilepsy, and other disorders
Catalepsy
A sudden loss of muscle tone that may be localized, causing (for exemple) loss of grasp or head nodding, or generalized, resulting in the collapse of the entire body
- It is a temporary condition usually precipitated by an extreme emotional stimulus
Cataplexy
A progressive clouding (opacification) of the lens of the eye that eventually results in severe visual impairment if untreated
- Central vision in particular is impaired, with symptoms including dim or fuzzy vision, sensitivity to glare, and difficulty seeing at night
- Frequently associated with the degenerative processes of aging, but it may also be congenital or due to disease or injury
Cataract
A mathematical theory regarding discontinuous changes in one variable as a function of continuous change in some other variable or variables
- It proposes that a small change in one factor may cause an abrupt and large change in the physical properties of water as the temperature reaches 0 degrees Celsius or 100 degrees Celsius (32 or 212 degrees Fahrenheit)
Catastrophe Theory
A state of muscular rigidity or other disturbance of motor behavior
Catatonia
A relatively rare subtype of schizophrenia characterized by abnormal motor activity, specifically long periods of motor immobility (posturing) interspersed with excessive motor activity
- Other common features include extreme negativism (apparently motiveless resistance to all instruction) or mutism and echolalia or echopraxia
Catatonic Schizophrenia
Any of a class of biogenic amines formed by a catechol molecule and an amine group
- Derived from tyrosine, these include dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, which are the predominant neurotransmitters in the sympathetic nervous system
Catecholamine
Numerical values that indicate counts or observations in specific categories, for example, the number of people in a particular town who are male and the number who are female
- Similar to normal data and the two terms are often used interchangeably
Categorical Data
In speech perception, the phenomena in which a continuous acoustic dimension, such as voice onset time, is perceived as having distinct categories with sharp discontinuities at certain points
- Whereas discrimination is much more accurate between categories, individuals tested are often unable to discriminate between acoustically different stimuli that fall within the same categorical boundaries
- Crucial in the identification of phonemes
Categorical Perception
A variable defined by membership in a group, class, or category, rather than by rank or by scores on continuous scares of measurement
Categorical Variable
The process by which objects, events, people or experiences are grouped into classes on the basis of:
A) Characteristics shared by members of the same class
B) Features distinguishing the members of one class from those of another
- Theories of this are numerous and include the prototype model, proposing that people form an average of the members of a category and then use the average as a prototype for making judgements about category membership, and instance theory, hypothesizing that it depends on specific remembered instances of the category
Categorization
In psychoanalytic theory, the discharge of affects connected to traumatic events that had previously been repressed by bringing these events back into consciousness and reexperiencing then
Catharsis
In psychoanalytic theory, the investment of psychic energy in an object of any kind, such as a wish, fantasy, person, goal, idea, social group, or the self
- Such objects are said to be cathected when an individual attaches emotional significance (positive or negative affect) to them
Cathexis
I. Pertaining to a tail
2. Situated at or towards the tail end of an organism
Caudal
One of the basal ganglia, so named because it has a long extension, or tail
Caudate Nucleus
In philosophy, the position that all events have causes, that is, that they are consequences of antecedent events
- Traditionally, it has been seen as an essential assumption of naturalism and all scientific explanation, although some have questioned whether it is a necessary assumption of science
Causality
The empirical relation between two events, states, or variables such that one (the cause) is held or known to bring about the other (the effect)
Causation
Choice shift in which an individual making a decision as part of a group adopts a more cautious approach than the same individual would have adopted had he or she made the decision alone
- Studies suggest that such shifts are rarer than the opposite risky shift
Cautious Shift
The lowest chronological age at which all items on a given standardized test are consistently answered incorrectly
- This concept is less widely used than in the past because it assumes the use of mental ages, which are declining in popularity
Ceiling Age
A situation in which a large proportion of participants perform as well as, possible on a task or other evaluative measure, thus skewing the distribution of scores and making it impossible to discriminate differences among the many individuals at that high level
- For example, a test whose items are too easy for those taking it would show this because most people would obtain or be close to the highest possible score of 100
Ceiling Effect
- The basic unit of organized tissue, consisting of an outer plasma membrane, the nucleus, and various organelles (specialized membrane bound structure) in a watery fluid together comprising the cytoplasm
- The space formed at the intersection of a row and a column in a table
- For example, a tabular display of a study of handedness in men and women would consist of four cans; left handed females, left handed males, right handed females, and right handed males
Cell
A group of neurons that are repeatedly active at the same time and develop as a single functional unit, which may become active when any of its constituent neurons are stimulated
- This enables, for example, a person to form a complete mental image of an object when only a portion is visible or to recall a memory from a partial cue
- influential in biological theories of memory
Cell Assembly
The part of a neuron (nerve cell) that contains the nucleus and most organelles
Cell Body
In psychoanalytic theory, the mental agency, located in the preconscious, that is responsible for repression
- Positioned to determine which of one’s wishes, thoughts, and ideas may enter consciousness and which must be kept unconscious because they violate one’s conscience or society’s standards
- The idea was interested in the early writings of Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), who later developed it into the concept of the superego
Censor
A type of receptive field, common in the visual and somatosensory systems, that exhibits center surround antagonism, a characteristic in which stimulation in the center evokes opposite responses to stimulation in the periphery
- Most of these consist of a circular center area and an annular surrounding area
Center Surround Receptive Field
The channel in the center of the spinal cord, which contains cerebrospinal fluid
Central Canal
Any form of acquired dyslexia characterized by difficulties with the pronunciation and comprehension of written words
- Unlike peripheral dyslexia, the visual analysis system is intact, and the damage is to other, higher level pathways and systems involved in reading (eg, the semantic system)
Central Dyslexia
The statistical principle that a linear combination of values ( including the mean of those values) tends to be normally distributed over repeated samples as the sample sizes increase, whether or not the population from which the observations are drawn is normal in distribution
Central Limit Theorem
The entire complex of neurons, axons, and supporting tissue that constitute the brain and spinal cord
- It is primarily involved in mental activities and in coordinating and integrating incoming sensory messages and outgoing motor messages
Central Nervous System
Any of the sets of neurons in the spinal cord capable of producing oscillatory behavior and thought to be involved in the control of locomotion and other tasks
Central Pattern Generator
The process by which attitudes are formed or changed as a result of carefully scrutinizing and thinking about the central merits of attitude relevant information
Central Rate to Persuasion
A major cleft that passes roughly vertically along the lateral surface of each cerebral hemisphere from a point beginning near the top of the cerebrum
- It marks the border between the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe
Central Sulcus
The middle or center point of a distribution, estimated by a number of different statistics (eg, mean and median)
Central Tendency
In piagetian theory, the tendency of children in the preoperational stage to attend to one aspect of a problem, object, or situation at a time, to the exclusion of others
Centration
From head to tail, as in the long axis of the body
- The term typically refers to the maturation of an embryo or infant where the greatest development takes place at the top of the body (ie, the head) before the lower parts (ie, the arms, trunk, legs, ect)
Cephalocaudal
The gray matter, or unmyelinated nerve cells, covering the surface of the cerebellum
Cerebellar Cortex
A portion of the hindbrain dorsal to the rest of the brainstem, to which it is connected by the Cerebellar peduncles
- The cerebellum modulates muscular contractions to produce smooth, accurately timed ballistic movements and it helps maintain equilibrium by predicting body positions ahead of actual body movements
Cerebellum
A passage containing cerebrospinal fluid that extends through the midbrain to link the third and fourth cerebral ventricles of the brain
Cerebral Aqueduct
The layer of gray matter that covers the outside of the cerebral hemispheres in the brain and is associated with higher cognitive functions; such as language, learning, perception, and planning
-It consists mostly of neocortex, which has six main layers of cells; regions of cerebral cortex that do not have six layers are known as allocortex
- Differences in the cytoarchitecture of the layers led to the recognition of distinct areas, called Brodmann’s areas, many of which are known to serve different functions
Cerebral Cortex
The controlling of disproportionate influence on certain aspects of behavior by one cerebral hemisphere (eg; language is typically left laterialized in right handed people)
Cerebral Dominance
Either half (left or right) of the cerebrum
- They are separated by a deep longitudinal fissure but they are connected by commisural, projection, and association fibers so that each side of the brain normally is linked to functions of tissues on either side of the body
Cerebral Hemisphere
A set of non progressive movement disorders that results from trauma to the brain occurring prenatally or during the birth process
- Symptoms include spasticity, paralysis, unsteady gait, and speech abnormalities
Cerebral Palsy
The fluid within the central canal of the spinal cord, the four ventricles of the brain, and the subarachnoid space beneath the middle of the three meninges of the brain
- It serves as a watery tissue to protect vital tissues of the central nervous system from damage by shock pressure, and it mediates between blood vessels and brain tissue in exchange of materials, including nutrients
Cerebrospinal Fluid
A disorder of the brain arising from cerebrovascular disease, such as cerebral hemorrhage, embolism, or thrombosis, resulting in temporary or permanent alterations in cognition, motor and sensory skills, or levels of consciousness
- This term is often used interchangeably with stroke
Cerebrovascular Accident
A pathological condition of the blood vessels of the brain
- It may manifest itself as symptoms of stroke or a transient ischemic attack
Cerebrovascular Disease
The largest part of the brain, forming most of the forebrain and lying in front of and above the cerebellum
- It consists of two cerebral hemispheres bridged by the corpus callosum
- Each hemisphere is divided into four main lobes:
1) The frontal lobe
2) The occipital lobe
3) The parietal lobe
4) The temporal lobe
- The outer layer, called the cerebral cortex, is intricately folded and composed of gray matter
Cerebrum
A surgical procedure in which incisions are made through a woman’s abdominal and uterine walls to deliver a baby under circumstances in which vaginal delivery is inadvisable
Cesarean Section
A specific causative factor or element or an entire process that results in change, particularly in the sense of improvement
- In psychotherapy research, it may be a component or process in therapy that results on improvement in the behavior or psychological adaptation of a patient or client
Change Agent
An inability to notice changes in the visual array between one scene and another
- For example, when a picture of an airplane is shown, followed by a blank screen, participants have surprising difficulty detecting a missing engine in a second picture of the airplane
Change Blindness
The special quality of personality that enables an individual to gain the confidence of large numbers of people
- It is exemplified in outstanding political, social, and religious leaders
Charisma
A type of specialized junction through which a signal is transmitted from one neuron to another across the narrow gap (synaptic cleft) separating them through the release and diffusion of neurotransmitter
- Though slower than electrical synapses, they are more flexible and comprise the majority of neuronal junctions within the body
- Because of this prevalence, the qualifier generally is omitted and synapse used alone to denote a chemical junction
Chemical Synapse
The notion that each neuron has a chemical identity that directs it to synapse on the proper larger cell during development
Chemoaffinity Hypothesis
A sensory nerve ending, such as any of those in the taste buds or olfactory epithelium, that is capable of reacting to certain chemical stimuli
- In humans, there are hundreds of different taste receptor proteins and a total of about 300,000 taste cells
- Humans also have about 1,000 olfactory receptors and about 1,000 receptors of each type, giving a total of one million olfactory receptors; other mammals (eg; dogs) may have ten times that number
Chemoreceptor
The use of chemical agents to treat diseases, particularly cancer
Chemotherapy
The distribution of the sum of a set of independent squared normal random deviates
- If P independent variables are involved, the distribution is said to have P degrees of freedom
Chi Square Distribution (X2 distribution)
A measure of how well a theoretical probability distribution fits a set of data
- If values X1,X2,… Xp are observed O1,O2,… Op times and are expected by theory to occur e1,e2,.. ep times, then chi square is calculated as: ( o1 - e1)2/e1 + (o2 - e2)2/e2 + …
- Tables of chi square for different degrees of freedom can be used to indicate the probability that the theory is correct
Chi Square Test
Harm to a child caused by a parent or other caregiver
- The harm may be physical (violence), sexual (violation or exploitation), psychological ( causing emotional distress) or neglect (failure to provide needed care)
Child Abuse
Any organized and structured interventions on behalf of children by professionals or institutions, often in relation to such issues as special parenting needs, child abuse, and adoption or foster care
Child Advocacy
The sequential changes S in the behavior, cognition, and physiology of children as they grow and mature from birth to adolescence
Child Development
The specialized register of speech that adults and older children use when talking to young children
- It is simplified and often more grammatically correct than adult directed speech
Child Directed Speech
The period between the end of infancy (about 2 years of age) and the onset of puberty, marking the beginning of adolescence (10.12 years of age)
- This period is sometimes divided into:
A) Early childhood, from 2 years through the preschool ages of 5 or 6 years
B) Middle childhood, from 6 to 8-10 years of age
C) Late childhood or preadolescence, which is identified as the 2 year period before the onset of puberty
Childhood
The inability to recall events from the first years of life (from infancy through about 2 years of age)
- Has been attributed to the facts that:
A) Cognitive abilities necessary for encoding events for the long term have not yet been fully developed
B) Parts of the brain responsible for remembering personal events have not yet matured
Childhood Amnesia
A pervasive developmental disorder characterized by a significant loss of previously acquired language skills, social skills or adaptive behavior, bowel or bladder control, play or motor skills
- This regression in functioning follows a period of normal development and occurs between the ages of 2 and 10
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
The first synthesized antipsychotic agent, effective in managing the acute symptoms of schizophrenia, acute mania, and other psychoses
- Associated with a number of unwanted adverse effects, including tardive dyskinesia, it has been largely supplanted by newer antipsychotic agents but is still used as a referent for dose equivalency of other antipsychotics
Chlorpromazine
The total time that elapses between the presentation of a stimulus and the occurrence of a response in a task that requires a participant to make one of several different responses depending on which stimuli is presented
- In other words, the participant must make a conscious decision before responding
Choice Reaction Time
Any shift in an individual’s choices or decisions that occurs as a result of group discussion, as measured by comparing his or her pre discussion and post discussion responses
- In many cases, the result of such shifts is a choice shift effect within the group as a whole
Choice Shift
A peptide hormone that is released from the duodenum and may be involved in the satiation of hunger
- It also serves as a neurotransmitter at some locations in the nervous system
Cholecystokinin
Responding to, releasing, or otherwise involving, acetylcholine
- For example, a cholinergic neuron is one that employs acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter
Cholinergic
An enzyme that splits acetylcholine into choline and acetic acid, thus inactivating the neurotransmitter after its release at a synaptic junction
- Occurs in two forms:
1) Acetylcholiresterase (AchE), found in nerve tissue and red blood cells
2) Butyrylcholinesterase (BuchE), found in blood plasma and other tissues
- Drugs that block the ability of this enzyme to degrade acetylcholine are called cholinesterase inhibitors (CHEIs) or acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) or anticholinesterases
Cholinesterose
Irregular and involuntary jerky movements of the limbs and facial muscles
- Associated with various disorders, including Huntington’s disease
Chorea
In vision, relating to the attribute of color
Chromatic
A strand or filament in the cell nucleus composed of nucleic acid (mainly DNA in humans) and proteins that carries the genetic, or hereditary, traits of an individual
- The normal human complement totals 46, or 23 pairs (44 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes) which contain an estimated 20,000 - 25,000 genes
- Each parent contributes one to each pair, so a child receives half from its mother and half from its father
Chromosome
Denoting conditions or symptoms that persist or progress over a long period of time and are resistant to cure
Chronic
An illness characterized by often disabling fatigue, decrease in physical activity, and flulike symptoms, such as muscle weakness, swelling of the lymph nodes, headache, sore throat, and sometimes depression
- The condition is typically not diagnosed until symptoms have been ongoing for several months and it can last for years
- The cause is unknown although certain viral infections can set off the illness
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The branch of biology concerned with biological rhythms, such as the sleep-wake cycle
Chronobiology
The amount of time elapsed since an individual’s birth, typically expressed in terms of months and years
Chronological Age
The process by which the mind sorts information into small, easily digestible units that can be retained in short term memory
- As a result of this recoding, an item in memory (eg; a keyword or key idea) can stand for multiple other items (eg; a short list of associated points)
Chunking
Smooth muse behind the iris of the eye that changes the shape of the lens to bring objects into focus on the retina
- It regulates the tension of the zonules, delicate elastic fibers that are connected to the lens and cause it to flatten ( which lessens the power of the lens and allows focus of different objects) or become more curved (which increases the power of the lens and allows hows of near objects)
- The action is a large component of accommodation
Ciliary Muscle
A long strip of cerebral cortex on the medial surface of each cerebral hemisphere
- It arches over and generally outlines the location of the corpus callosum, from which it is separated by a groove called the carllosal sulcus
- It is a component of the limbic system
Cingulate Gyrus
In piagetian theory, repetitive behavior observed in children during the sensorimotor stage, characterized as primary, secondary, or tertiary
- The primary phase involves ineffective repetitive behaviors; the secondary phase involves repetition of actions that are followed by reinforcement, typically without understanding causation; and the tertiary phase inverses repetitive object manipulation, typically with slight variations among subsequent behaviors
Circular Reaction
A legal procedure that permits a person who is not charged with criminal conduct to be certified as mentally ill and to be institutionalized involuntarily
Civil Commitment
In parapsychology, the alleged ability to “see” things beyond the normal range of sight, such as distant or hidden objects or events in the past or future
Clairvoyance
The concept that a subordinate class ( eg; dogs) must always be smaller than the subordinate class in which it is contained (eg; animals)
- According to piagetian theory, understanding this concept represents an important developmental step
Class Inclusion
The range of scores or numerical values that constitute one segment or class in a frequency distribution; for example, weights might be grouped 5 kg each
Class Interval
- Psychoanalytic theory in which major emphasis is placed on the libido, the stages of psychosexual development and the ID instincts or drives
- The prototypical theory of this kind is that of Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) - Psychoanalytic treatment that adheres to Sigmund Freud’s basic procedures, using dream interpretation, free association, and analysis of resistance, and to his basic aim of developing insight into the patient’s unconscious life as a way to restructure personality
Classical Psychoanalysis
A body of psychometric theory of measurement that positions observed scores into two components - true scores and error scores - and estimates error variance by calculating internal consistency reliability, retest reliability, and alternate forms reliability
- The principal framework for test development prior to the 1970s, CTT is applicable to a broad range of measurement situations but has several major limitations, notably that examined characteristics cannot be separated from test characteristics and that the measurement characteristics derived from it are fundamentally concerned with how people perform on a given test as opposed to any single item on that test
Classical Test Theory
A persistent and irrational fear of enclosed places (eg; elevators, closets, tunnels) or being confined (eg; in the airplane or the backseat of a car)
- The focus of fear is typically on panic symptoms triggered in these situations, such as feelings of being unable to breathe, choking, sweating, and fears of losing control or going crazy
Claustrophobia
A thin layer of gray matter in the brain that separates the white matter of the lenticular nucleus from the insula ( from Latin: “Barrier”)
- Forms part of the basal ganglia and it’s function is unknown
Claustrum
The “thinking horse”, reputed to be able to solve mathematical problems, spell words, distinguish colors, and identify coins, that became famous in Berlin around 1900
- It signaled its answers by tapping its foot
- However, German psychologist Oskar Pfungst (1874 - 1932), using experimental methods, demonstrated that the horse was responding to minimal cues in the form of involuntary movements on the part of its owner
Clever Hans
A person receiving treatment or services, especially in the context of counseling or social work
Client
A form of psychotherapy developed by U.S. Psychologist Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987) in which client self discovery and actualization occurs in response to the therapist’s consistent empathic understanding of, acceptance of, and respect for the client’s frame of reference
- The therapist reflects and clarifies the ideas of the client, who is able to see himself or herself more clearly, learn how to interpret his or her thoughts and feelings, reorganize values and approaches to life, and resolve problems or change behavior
- It was originally known as nondirective therapy, although this term is now used more broadly to denote any approach to psychotherapy in which the therapist establishes an encouraging atmosphere but avoids giving advice, offering interpretations, or engaging in other actions to actively direct the therapeutic process
Client Centered Therapy
The biological state of life in which reproductive capacity declines and finally ceases
- In women, this period, which results from changes in the levels of estrogens and progesterone and is known as menopause, occurs between 45 and 55 years of age
- During this time, menstrual flow gradually decreases and finally ceases altogether, and various physical and potentially psychological changes occur typically manifest as hot flashes, night sweats, and emotional lability
- Men undergo a similar period of hormonal change, manifest as reduced energy, sexual drive, and fertility
Climacteric
Of or relating to the diagnosis and treatment of psychological, medical, or other disorders
- Originally involving only direct observation of patients, these methods have now broadened to take into account biological and statistical factors in treating patients and diagnosing disorders
Clinical
A type of directed conversation initially used with children but now applied in a variety of contexts, including human factors research and diagnostic evaluation and treatment planning of patients by mental health professionals
- The investigator may utilize certain standard material but essentially determines which questions to ask based on the responses given by the participant to previous ones
Clinical Interview
The process by which a clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, or other mental health or medical professional arrives at a conclusion, judgement, or diagnosis about a client or patient
Clinical Method
An applied in neuropsychology that comprises neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation, which are critical in cases of neuropsychological injury that results in a range of impairments that disrupt an individual’s ability to function
Clinical Neuropsychology
They serve as consultants to other professionals in the medical, legal, social work, and community relations field
Clinical Psychologist
The branch of psychology that specializes in the research, assessment, diagnosis, evaluation, prevention and treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders
- This type of psychologist is a doctorate level professional who has received training in research methods and techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of various psychological disorders
- These psychologists work primarily in health and mental health clinics, in research, or in group and independent practices
- they also serve as consultants to other professionals in the medical, legal, social work, and community relations field
Clinical Psychology
A status of friendship based subgroup within a larger group or organization
- Particularly common during adolescence, when they are often used to raise social standing, strengthen friendship ties, and reduce feelings of isolation and exclusion
Clique
An organism that is genetically identical to another
- This may be because both organisms originate naturally from a single common parent as a result of asexual reproduction or because one is derived from genetic material taken from another
Clone
Of, or relating to, or characterized by clonus, a type of involuntary movement caused by a rapid succession of alternate muscular contractions and relaxations
- Although some forms of clonus, such as hiccups, are considered normal, most such movements are abnormal; for example, clonus occurs as part of a tonic clonic seizure
Clonic
- The act, achievement, or sense of completing or resolving something
- In psychotherapy, for example, a client achieves this with the recognition that he or she has reached a resolution to a particular psychological issue or relationship problem - One of the gestalt principles of organization
- It states that people tend to perceive incomplete forms (eg; images, sounds) as complete, synthesizing the missing units so as to perceive the image or sound as a whole
Closure
A method of data analysis in which individuals (cases) are grouped together into clusters based on their strong similarity with regard to specific attributes
Cluster Analysis
A statistically high occurrence of suicides within a circumscribed geographic area, social group, or time period
- Such clusters typically occur among adolescents who imitate the suicide of a high status peer or among dispersed individuals who imitate the suicide of a widely admired role model
Cluster Suicides
The tendency for items to be consistently grouped together in the course of recall
- This grouping typically occurs for related items
- It is readily apparent in memory tasks in which items from the same category, such as animals, are recalled together
Clustering
A group consisting of two or more individuals working in one another’s presence on tasks and activities that require little or no interaction or communication (coaction tasks) such as clerical staff working at individual desks in an open design office
- Researchers often create these in laboratory studies to determine the impact of the mere presence of others on performance
Coacting Group
A phenomenon in which the performance of one or more actions in a sequence of actions varies according to the other actions in a sequence
- This is particularly important in speech where the formation of certain phonemes varies according to the speech sounds that immediately precede or follow: so, for example, the aspirated [p] sound in pin differs slightly from the unaspirated [p] in spin
Coarticulation
A drug obtained from leaves of the coca shrub ( Erythroxylum coca) that stimulates the central nervous system, with the effects of reducing fatigue and increasing well being
- These are followed by a period of depression as the initial effects diminish
- The drugs act by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine
Cocaine
The bony fluid filled part of the inner ear that is concerned with hearing
- Shaped like a snail shell, it forms part of the bony labyrinth
- Along it’s length run these canals:
1) the scala vestibule
2) the scala tympani
3) the scale media is formed by the basilar membrane; the organ of corti which rests on the basilar membrane contain the hair cells that act as auditory receptor organs
Cochlea
An electronic device designed to enable individuals with complete deafness to hear and interpret some sounds, particularly those associated with speech
- It consists of a microphone to detect sound, a headpiece to transmit sound, A processor to digitize sound, and a receiver to signal electrodes that are surgically implanted in the cochlea to stimulate the auditory nerve
Cochlear Implant
A mass of cell bodies of second order auditory neurons in the brainstem
- The principal subdivisions are the ventral, dorsal, and anterior cochlear nuclei
Cochlear Nucleus
The ability to attend to one of several speech streams while ignoring others, as when one is at a cocktail party
- Research in this area in the early 1950s suggested that the unattended messages are not processed, but later findings indicated that meaning is identified in at least some cases
- For example, the mention of one’s name is processed even if it occurs in an unattended speech stream
Cocktail Party Effect
A set of standards and principles of professional conduct, such as the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and code of conduct of the American Psychological Association
Code of Ethics
An opiate derived from morphine, with which it shares many properties - it is a potent analgesic (used alone or in combination with other analgesics; eg, aspirin) and it induces euphoria
Codeine
- A number that functions as a measure of some property
- For example, the correlation coefficient is a measure of the degree of linear relatedness - in algebra, a scalar that multiplies a variable in an equation
- For example, in the equation y = bx, the scalar quantity b is said to be a coefficient
Coefficient
( Symbol: r2)
A numerical index that reflects the degree to which variation in the dependent variable is accounted for by one independent variable
Coefficient of Determination
( Symbol: R2)
A numerical index that reflects the degree to which variation in the dependent variable is accounted for by two or more independent variables
Coefficient of Multiple Determination
The concurrent evolution of two or more species that mutually affect each other’s evolution
Coevolution
All forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving
- Along with affect and conotation, it is one of the three traditionally identified components of the mind
Cognition
The theory that cognitive evaluation is involved in the generation of each and every emotion
- This concept is more appropriately expressed in the cognitive - motivational - relational theory, as the latter recognizes that cognition is only one of three simultaneously operating processes that contribute to the generation of any emotion
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
A form of psychotherapy that integrates theories of cognition and learning with treatment techniques derived from behavior therapy
- Assumes that cognitive, emotional, and behavioral variables are functionally interrelated
- Treatment is aimed at identifying and modifying the client’s maladaptive thought processes and problematic behaviors through cognitive restructuring and behavioral technique to achieve change
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Any coping strategy in which mental activity is used to counter the problem or situation
- Examples include thinking out the cause of the problem, working out how others might handle it, diverting one’s attention to something less stressful or anxiety provoking (eg; remembering happy times, solving mathematical problems), and meditation or prayer
Cognitive Coping Strategy
The growth and maturation of thinking processes of all kinds, including perceiving, remembering, concept formation, problem solving, imaging, and reasoning
Cognitive Development
Any theory that attempts to explain the mechanisms underlying the growth and maturation of thinking processes
- Explanations may be in terms of stages of development in which the changes in thinking are relatively abrupt and discontinuous or the changes may be viewed as occurring gradually and continuously over time
Cognitive Developmental Theory
Any disorder that involves impairment of the executive functions, affecting performance in many areas, including reasoning, planning, judgement, decision making, emotional engagement, perseveration, awareness, attention, language, learning, memory and timing
Cognitive Disorder
An unpleasant psychological state resulting from inconsistency between two or more elements in a cognitive system
- it is presumed to involve a heightened state of arousal and to have characteristics similar to physiological drives (eg; hunger)
Cognitive Dissonance
A theory proposing that people have a fundamental motivation to maintain consistency among elements in their cognitive systems
- When inconsistency occurs, people experience an unpleasant psychological state that motivates them to reduce the dissonance in a variety of ways
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
A specialty area of ergonomics that seeks to understand the cognitive processes and the representations involved in human performance
- Studied the combined effects of information processing characteristics, task constraints, and task environment on human performance and applies the results of such studies to the design and evaluation of work systems
Cognitive Ergonomics
Any theory postulating that learning requires central constructs and new ways of perceiving events
- usually contrasted with behavioral learning theories, which suggest that behaviors or responses are acquired through experience
Cognitive Learning Theory
A mental understanding of an environment, formed through trial and error as well as observation
- Human beings and other animals have these well developed and they contain spatial information enabling them to orient themselves and find their way in the real world
Cognitive Map
A theoretical view of thought and mental operations, which provides observations for observed phenomena and makes predictions about an unknown future
- People are continually creating and accessing internal representations (models) of what they are experiencing in the world for the purposes of perception, comprehension, and behavior selection
Cognitive Model
The study of the structure and the function of the brain as it relates to perception, reasoning, remembering, and all other forms of knowing and awareness
- Focuses on examining the effects of the brain damage on thought processes - typically through the use of in depth single case designs - so as to construct models of normal cognitive functioning
Cognitive Neuropsychology
A branch of neuroscience and biological psychology that focuses on the neural mechanisms of cognition
- Although overlapping with the study of the mind in cognitive psychology, this branch, with its grounding in such areas as experimental psychology, neurobiology, physics, and mathematics, specifically examines how mental processes occur in the brain
Cognitive Neuroscience
The situation in which the demands placed on a person by mental work are greater than the person’s mental abilities can cope with
Cognitive Overload
Any of the mental functions assumed to be involved in the acquisition, storage, interpretation, manipulation, transformation, and use of knowledge
- These processes encompass such areas as attention, perception, learning, and problem solving and are commonly understood through several basic theories, including the serial processing approach, the parallel processing approach, and a combination theory, which assumes that these are both serial and parallel, depending on the demands of the task
Cognitive Processes