Chapter one Module 1 Flashcards
Marshmallow experiments
The psychologist Walter Mischel, a Stanford University professor, conducted the marshmallow experiments, a series of studies of delayed gratification in children.
Scientific method
The scientific method uses careful research procedures designed to provide reliable and verifiable evidence.
Natural Science
Natural science is concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena.
Neuroscience
The scientific study of the nervous system is called neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience
The study of cognitive neuroscience examines the brain mechanisms that support the individual’s mental functions and subsequent behaviors
Evolutionary science
The study of evolutionary science explains how large populations of organisms—plants, animals, and human beings—evolve over time.
Behavioral economics
The study of the effects of individual factors on personal economic decisions is behavioral economics.
Humanist tradition
Also called humanism, the humanist tradition in science emphasizes the subjective side of the individual—the sense of freedom, beauty, creativity, and moral responsibility.
hippocampus
center for learning and memory
Clinical–pathological method
Using the clinical–pathological method, clinical observations of a patient’s abnormal symptoms are compared with reliable data of brain pathology, most likely obtained during an autopsy.
The frontal lobes
contribute to individual self-control, including the ability to control anger and other emotions that contribute to violence
Amygdala
The amygdala is the almond-shaped part of the brain crucial for processing emotions.
Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that enable neurotransmission between two cells. They are associated with a variety of behavioral and psychological functions, including propensity to depression, anxiety, and even social delinquency.
Evolutionary psychology
The study of evolutionary psychology combines the knowledge of evolutionary science and psychology and explores the ways in which complex evolutionary factors affect human behavior, experience, and personality features.
Self-Reflection
Studies show that people tend to attribute positive personality characteristics, such as kindness or high intelligence, to physically attractive individuals. Mothers tend to unintentionally treat attractive children more favorably than unattractive ones. As evolutionary psychologists maintain, a friendly face is seen as attractive and beautiful because friendliness is an important evolutionary feature
class consciousness
Members of social classes possess a set of core beliefs and perceptions about their life and the world around them based on their position in society.
Transcendental
Transcendental refers to the spiritual, nonphysical side of human experience.
Categorization
The process of categorization entails a variety of mental shortcuts, or heuristics, that tend to reduce complex and time-consuming tasks of describing and analyzing to seemingly more simple, manageable, practical, and efficient labeling strategies.
Nomothetic
A nomothetic strategy, or approach, uses the same method to compare many people or subjects to a certain average, standard, or norm. This approach focuses on comparisons and generalizations
Idiographic
The idiographic approach is person-centered and focuses on many characteristics integrated in a unique person. It refers to specific features within an individual and uses various assessments and measurements.
Observation
Observation is the acquisition of information about identifiable variables from a primary source.
Observer ratings
Observer ratings Observer ratings are structured observations of behaviors or features that require assessment of these actions and features.
Self-Reports
Written opinions, posted comments, e-mails, and private diaries may become sources of information about people even though they do not necessarily expect or plan that others will study these materials.
Projective methods
require the respondent to ask questions or perform particular tasks—the results of which are expected to reveal certain meanings that are typically concealed from a direct observation
These tasks may include interpreting pictures, drawing sketches, completing stories or sentences, and so forth
Dichotomous variables
are phenomena that may be divided into two mutually exclusive or contradictory categories.
Continuous variables
Continuous variables consist of a theoretically infinite number of points lying between two polar opposites
