Key Terms

Question 0

Define: Abnormal Behavior

Answer 0

Behavior that causes people to experience distress and prevents them from functioning in their daily lives.

Question 1

Define: psychology

Answer 1

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process.

Question 2

Define: Absolute Threshold

Answer 2

The smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for the stimulus to be detected.

Question 3

Define: Action Potential

Answer 3

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 negitive to positive.

Question 4

Define: activation-synthesis theory

Answer 4

Hobson’s theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories stored in the brain.

Question 5

Define: activity theory of aging

Answer 5

A theory that suggests that the elderly who are most successful whileaging are those who maintain the interests and activities the had during middle age.

Question 6

Define: Adaptation

Answer 6

An adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli.

Question 7

Define: Addicitive drugs

Answer 7

Drugs that produce a biological or psychological dependence in the user so that withdrawal from them leads to a craving for the drug that, in some causes, may be nearly irresistible.

Question 8

Define: Adolescence

Answer 8

The developmental stage between childhood and adulthood.

Question 9

Define: Age of viability

Answer 9

The point at which a fetus can survive iforn prematurely.

Question 10

Define: Aggression

Answer 10

The intention injury of, or harm to, another person

Question 11

Define: Algorithm

Answer 11

A rule that, if applied appropriately, guaarantees a solution to a problem

Question 12

Define: All-or-none law

Answer 12

The rule that neurons are either on or off.

Question 13

Define: Altruism

Answer 13

Helping behavior that is beneficial to others but clearly requires self-sacrifice.

Question 14

Define: Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 14

A progressive brain disorder that leads to a gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities.

Question 15

Define: Annesia

Answer 15

Memory loss that occurs without other mental diffioulties.

Question 16

Define: Anal stage

Answer 16

According to Freud, a stage from age 12 to 18 months to 3 years of age, in which a child’s pleasure is centered on the anus.

Question 17

Define: Androgens

Answer 17

Male sex hormones seoreted by the testes.

Question 18

Define: Anorexia nervosa

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Define: Anterograde amnesia

Answer 19

Amnesia in which memory is lost for events that follow an injury.

Question 20

Define: Antianxiety drugs

Answer 20

Drugs that reduce the level of anxiety a person experiences essentially by reducing excitability and increasing feeling of well-being.

Question 21

Define: antidepressant drugs

Answer 21

Medications that improve a severely deressed patient’s mood and feeling of well-being.

Question 22

Define: Antipsychotic drugs

Answer 22

Drugs that temporarily reduce psychotic symptoms such as agitation, hallucinations, and delusions.

Question 23

Define: Antisocial personality disorder

Answer 23

A disorder in which individuals show no regard for the moral and ethical rules of society or the rights of others.

Question 24

Define: Anxiety disorder

Answer 24

The occurrence of anxiety without an obvious external cause that effects daily functioning.

Question 25

Define: Archetypes

Answer 25

According to Jung, universal symbolic representations of a particular person, object, or experience (such as good and evil.)

Question 26

Define: Archival Research

Answer 26

Research in which existing data, such as census documents, college records, and mewspaper clippings are examined to test a hypothesis.

Question 27

Define: arousal approaches to motivation

Answer 27

The belief that we try to maintain certain level of stimulation and activity increasing or ruducing them as necessary

Question 28

Define: Association areas

Answer 28

One of the magor regions of the cerebral cortex; the site of the higher mental processes, such as thought, language, memory and speech.

Question 29

Define: assumed-similarity bias

Answer 29

The tendenoy to think of people as being similar to oneself even when metting them for the first time.

Question 30

Define: attachment:

Answer 30

The positive emotional bond that develops between a child and a particular individual.

Question 31

Define: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Answer 31

A disorder marked by inattention, impulsiveness, a low tolerance for frustration and a great deal of inappropriate activity.

Question 32

Define: attitudes

Answer 32

Evaluations of a particular person, behavior, belief, or concept.

Question 33

Define: Attribution Theory

Answer 33

The theory of pesonality 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.

Question 34

Define: Authoritarian Parents

Answer 34

Parents who are rigid and punitive and value unquestioning obediences from their childhood.

Question 35

Define: Authoritative Parents

Answer 35

Parents who are firm, set clear limits, reason with their children, and explain things to them.

Question 36

Define: Autism

Answer 36

A severe developmentl disability that impairs children’s ability tocommunicate and relate to others.

Question 37

Define: Autobiographical memories

Answer 37

Our recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own lives.

Question 38

Define: Autonomic division

Answer 38

The part of the peripheral mervous system that controls involuntary movement of the heart, glands, lungs, and other orgens.

Question 39

Define: Autonomy-versus-shame-and-doubt stage

Answer 39

The period during which, according to Erikson, toddlers (ages 1/2 to 3 years) develop independence and autonomy if explortion and freedom are encouraged or shame and self-doubt if they are restricted and overprotected.

Question 40

Define: aversive conditioning

Answer 40

A form of therapy that reduces the frequency of undesired bhavior by pairing an aversive, unpleasant stimulus with undesred behavior.

Question 41

Define: Axon

Answer 41

The part of the neuron that carries message destined for other neurons.

Question 42

Define: Hypnosis

Answer 42

A tancelike state of heigtened susceptibility to the suggestions of others.

Question 43

Define: Hypothesis

Answer 43

A prediction, stemming from a theory, stated in a way that allows it to be tested.

Question 44

Define: Scientific Method

Answer 44

The approach through which psychologists systematically acquire knowledge and understanding about behavior and other phenomena of interest.