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Myer's Terms Flashcards

1
Q

What is empiricism?

A

The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation.

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2
Q

What is structuralism?

A

An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind.

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3
Q

What is functionalism?

A

A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function—how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

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4
Q

What is experimental psychology?

A

The study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method.

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5
Q

What is behaviorism?

A

The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.

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6
Q

What is humanistic psychology?

A

A historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and individual’s potential for fostering personal growth.

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7
Q

What is cognitive neuroscience?

A

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition, including perception, thinking, memory, and language.

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8
Q

What is psychology?

A

The science of behavior and mental processes.

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9
Q

What is the nature-nurture issue?

A

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

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10
Q

What is natural selection?

A

The principle that, among the range of inherited variation, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

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11
Q

What are levels of analysis?

A

The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.

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12
Q

What is the biopsychological approach?

A

An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.

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13
Q

What is biological psychology?

A

A branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes.

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14
Q

What is evolutionary psychology?

A

The study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection.

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15
Q

What is psychodynamic psychology?

A

A branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders.

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16
Q

What is behavioral psychology?

A

The scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning.

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17
Q

What is cognitive psychology?

A

The scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

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18
Q

What is social-cultural psychology?

A

The study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking.

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19
Q

What is psychometric?

A

The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.

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20
Q

What is basic research?

A

Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.

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21
Q

What is developmental psychology?

A

The scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.

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22
Q

What is educational psychology?

A

The study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning.

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23
Q

What is personality psychology?

A

The study of individual’s characteristics pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

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24
Q

What is social psychology?

A

The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

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25
What is applied research?
Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.
26
What is industrial organization (I/O) psychology?
The application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces.
27
What is human factors psychology?
The study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments.
28
What is counseling psychology?
A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living and in achieving greater well-being.
29
What is clinical psychology?
A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.
30
What is psychiatry?
A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy.
31
What is SQ3R?
A study method incorporating five steps: survey, question, read, rehearse, review.
32
What is hindsight bias?
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.
33
What is critical thinking?
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions; it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
34
What is a theory?
An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.
35
What is a hypothesis?
A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.
36
What is an operational definition?
A statement of the procedures used to define research variables.
37
What is replication?
Repeating the essence of a research study to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.
38
What is a case study?
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
39
What is a survey?
A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group.
40
What is a population in research?
All the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.
41
What is a random sample?
A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.
42
What is naturalistic observation?
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
43
What is correlation?
A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.
44
What is a correlation coefficient?
A statistical index of the relationship between two things.
45
What is a scatterplot?
A graphed cluster of dots representing the values of two variables.
46
What is illusory correlation?
The perception of a relationship where none exists.
47
What is an experiment?
A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process.
48
What is random assignment?
Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance.
49
What is a double-blind procedure?
An experiment procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the participants have received the treatment or a placebo.
50
What is the placebo effect?
Experimental results caused by expectations alone.
51
What is an experimental group?
In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment.
52
What is a control group?
In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment.
53
What is an independent variable?
The experimental factor that is manipulated.
54
What is a confounding variable?
A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment.
55
What is a dependent variable?
The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
56
What is mode?
The most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.
57
What is mean?
The arithmetic average of a distribution.
58
What is median?
The middle score in a distribution.
59
What is range?
The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.
60
What is standard deviation?
A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.
61
What is a normal curve?
A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data.
62
What is statistical significance?
A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance.
63
What is culture?
The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people.
64
What is informed consent?
An ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate.
65
What is debriefing?
The postexperimental explanation for a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants.
66
What is a neuron?
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
67
What are sensory neurons?
Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
68
What are motor neurons?
Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
69
What are interneurons?
Neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally.
70
What is a dendrite?
The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.
71
What is an axon?
The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.
72
What is myelin sheath?
A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons.
73
What is action potential?
A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.
74
What is threshold?
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
75
What is a synapse?
The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.
76
What are neurotransmitters?
Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons.
77
What is reuptake?
A neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron.
78
What are endorphins?
"Morphine within" - natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.
79
What is the nervous system?
The body's speedy electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
80
What is the central nervous system (CNS)?
The brain and spinal cord.
81
What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?
The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.
82
What are nerves?
Bundled axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.
83
What is the somatic nervous system?
The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles.
84
What is the autonomic nervous system?
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs.
85
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.
86
What is the parasympathetic nervous system?
The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.
87
What is a reflex?
A simple automatic response to a sensory stimulus.
88
What is the endocrine system?
The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.
89
What are hormones?
Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands.
90
What are adrenal glands?
A pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones that help arouse the body in times of stress.
91
What is the pituitary gland?
The endocrine system's most influential gland, regulating growth and controlling other endocrine glands.
92
What is a lesion?
Tissue destruction; a brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue.
93
What is an electroencephalogram?
An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface.
94
What is a CT (computed tomography) scan?
A series of X-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body.
95
What is a PET (positron emission tomography) scan?
A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.
96
What is MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)?
A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissue.
97
What is fMRI (functional MRI)?
A technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans.
98
What is the brainstem?
The oldest part and central core of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions.
99
What is the medulla?
The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing.

AP Psych (4 decks)

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