Key Terms Chapter 1

Question 1

association by contiguity

Answer 1

Aristotle’s principle that if two environmental events (stimuli) occur at the same time or one right after the other (contiguously), those events will be linked together in the mind.

Question 2

behavioral genetics

Answer 2

Research specialty that attempts to explain psychological differences among individuals in terms of differences in their genes

Question 3

biopsychology

Answer 3

The branch of psychology that studies the ways hormones and drugs act on the brain to alter behavior and experience, either in humans or in nonhuman animals.

Question 4

cognitive psychology

Answer 4

Research specialty that attempts to explain behavior or mental experiences in terms of the cognitions (items of mental information or knowledge) that underlie the behavior or experience.

Question 5

developmental psychology

Answer 5

The branch of psychology that charts changes in people’s abilities and styles of behaving as they get older and tries to understand the factors that produce or influence those changes.

Question 6

empiricism

Answer 6

The idea that all human knowledge and thought ultimately come from sensory experience; the philosophical approach to understanding the mind that is based on that idea. For contrast, see nativism.

Question 7

learning psychology

Answer 7

Research specialty in psychology that attempts to understand how the behavior of individuals is shaped through basic learning processes.

Question 8

materialism

Answer 8

Hobbes’s theory proposing that nothing exists but matter and energy. For contrast, see dualism .

Question 9

nativism

Answer 9

The idea that certain elementary ideas are innate to the human mind and do not need to be gained through experience; the philosophical approach to understanding the mind that is based on that idea. For contrast, see empiricism.

Question 10

science

Answer 10

An approach to answering questions that is based on the systematic collection and logical analysis of objectively observable data.

Question 11

behavior

Answer 11

The observable actions of an individual person or animal.

Question 12

behavioral neuroscience

Answer 12

Research specialty that attempts to explain behavior in terms of processes occurring within the nervous system. More specifically, research using invasive techniques (for example, single-cell recordings) with nonhuman animals

Question 13

cognitive neuroscience

Answer 13

Research specialty that attempts to explain cognition in terms of processes occurring within the nervous system using noninvasive techniques with humans

Question 14

cultural psychology

Answer 14

Research specialty that attempts to explain mental experiences and behavior in terms of the culture in which the person developed.

Question 15

dualism

Answer 15

The philosophical theory proposing that two distinct systems—the material body and the immaterial soul—are involved in the control of behavior. For contrast, see materialism.

Question 16

evolutionary psychology

Answer 16

Research specialty that attempts to explain how or why specific behavioral characteristics would have come about, by natural selection, in the course of evolution.

Question 17

level of analysis

Answer 17

The type (“level”) of causal process that is referred to in explaining some phenomenon. In psychology, a given type of behavior might be explained at the neural, physiological, genetic, evolutionary, learning, cognitive, social, cultural, or developmental level of analysis.

Question 18

mind

Answer 18

1. The entire set of an individual’s sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, dreams, motives, emotional feelings, and other subjective experiences. (p. 1) 2. In cognitive psychology, the set of hypothesized information-processing steps that analyze stimulus information and organize behavioral responses.

Question 19

psychology

Answer 19

The science of behavior and the mind.

Question 20

social psychology

Answer 20

The branch of psychology that attempts to understand how the behavior and subjective experiences of individuals are influenced by the actual or imagined presence of other people.