Chapter 1: A Reality Check

Question 1

an increase in the connections between neurons believed to help the brain become more resistant to age-related or disease-related damage

Answer 1

brain reserve

Question 2

accounts for the fact that your brain constructs images even when no information is coming to your eyes merely by firing a network

Answer 2

distributed processing

Question 3

examines the bridge between nature and nurture whereby your environment and your choices influence the expression of your genes and even the genetic code you pass to later generations

Answer 3

epigenetics

Question 4

refers to the primary goal of positive psychology which is to help individuals live a full and meaningful life commensurate with optimal human functioning

Answer 4

flourishing

Question 5

paradigms to enable us to organize and understand our world, our perceptions, our experiences

Answer 5

frames of reference

Question 6

a structure in the brain integral to the process of memory and new learning

Answer 6

hippocampus

Question 7

the ability of the brain to grow new neurons, which appears to happen most readily within the hippocampus

Answer 7

neurogenesis

Question 8

a sudden or gradual change in how one perceives a situation; also a change in the overriding theoretical framework that governs a scientific discipline

Answer 8

paradigm shift

Question 9

is the process of attempting to understand the stimulation we receive

Answer 9

perception

Question 10

a process that protects you from being inundated with information processing, your brain makes forecasts about what it is seeing and changes these predictions only when it makes an error

Answer 10

predictive coding

Question 11

how you view any event or situation in your life that is greatly influenced by your expectations, your beliefs, and your pre-conceived notions

Answer 11

paradigm

Question 12

the capacity of the brain to change its internal structure by reorganizing neural pathways, connections and functions based on new experiences

Answer 12

neuroplasticity

Question 13

the study of the healthy aspects of human functioning that make us effective in our lives; the study of optimal human functioning; is based upon the growing awareness that research and application in psychology has been incomplete, focusing primarily on understanding and fixing psychological problems

Answer 13

positive psychology

Question 14

the process of actively changing perspectives to create paradigm shifts

Answer 14

reframing

Question 15

an equivalent term for paradigm, a way of seeing things

Answer 15

schema

Question 16

the focusing of consciousness on a partial aspect of all we are capable of experiencing

Answer 16

selective attention

Question 17

the tendency to perceive that which we expect to be there

Answer 17

selective perception

Question 18

the process of receiving stimuli from our surroundings

Answer 18

sensation

Question 19

the space between neurons where one neuron communicates with another

Answer 19

synapse

Question 20

a state of health and life satisfaction combined with a sense of purpose; happiness + meaning

Answer 20

well-being

Question 21

a specialized cell that conducts impulses through the nervous system

Answer 21

neurons