Pgs 15-17 Flashcards
Metacognition
Awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes (#17)
Method of loci
A mnemonic device used to aid memory storage and retrieval (#17)
Minnesota multiphase personality inventory
The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes (#17)
Mirror neurons
A mirror neuron, or cubelli neuron, is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron “mirrors” the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting (#17)
Misinformation effect
Happens when a person’s recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information (#17)
Modeling
A method used in certain techniques of psychotherapy whereby the client learns by imitation alone, without any specific verbal direction by the therapist (#17)
Major depression
A mood disorder in which people have periods of hopelessness and sadness that last for more than 2 weeks and don’t appear to have a specific cause (although this varies). This is more than “having the blues” but is a period of intense psychological pain that includes hopelessness, feeling worthless, loss of pleasure in things that previously were pleasurable, etc (#17)
Bipolar
A mental illness that brings severe high and low moods and changes in sleep, energy, thinking, and behavior (#17)
Dysthymia
A mood disorder consisting of the same cognitive and physical problems as depression, with less severe but longer-lasting symptoms
Relative height
A concept used in visual and artistic perspective where distant objects are seen or portrayed as being smaller and higher in relation to items that are closer (#17)
Relative motion
The motion or speed of any object on respect to a particular point. For example, a ball thrown upward while in a moving object such as a bus, would be traveling the same speed with respect to the bus and would fall again in relation to that speed (#17)
Relative size
A perceptual cue which allows you to determine how close objects are to an object of known size (#17)
Linear perspective
An artistic or visual term that refers to the eyes sense of depth and distance perception (#17)
Interposition
A visual signal that an object is closer than the ones behind it because the closer the object covers part of the farther object (#17)
Light and shadow
Used by the visual system as cues to determine depth perception and distance. The distribution of light and shadows is a monocular cue which can be seen by only one eye. Light and shadows can also highlight three dimensional elements from a two dimensional image (#17)
Parallax
Provides perceptual cues about difference in distance and motion, and is associated with depth perception (#17)
Texture gradient
Relates to the ways in which we perceive depth. Specifically texture gradient is a monocular cue (meaning it can be seen by either eye alone) in which there is a gradual change in appearance of objects from coarse to fine- some objects appear closer because they are coarse and more distinct, but gradually become less and less distinct (and more fine) which measles the objects appear to get further and further away (#17)
Morphemes
The smallest units of speech that convey meaning. All words are composed of at least one morpheme (#17)
Motion after effect
When you look at an object moving in one direction for a period of time, then look at a stationary object, the stationary object appears to be moving in the opposite direction (#17)
Narcissism
The ingrained belief found in some that they exist at the center of the universe and that everyone and everything around them exists to serve them. People who display this have little or no empathy for or understanding other people’s needs and feelings (#17)
Nature vs nurture
What makes us who we are and drives how we behave, our genes (nature) or our experiences (nurture) (#17)
Mean
The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores (#16)
Median
The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it & half are below it (#16)
Mode
The most frequently occurring scores in a distribution (#16)
Range
The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution (#16)
Standard deviation
A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score (#16)
Short-term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, before information is stored and forgotten (#16)
Long-term memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, experiences (#16)
Mental age
A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet: the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance (#16)
Mental set
Tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past (#16)
Mere exposure effect
Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our liking for them (#16)
Linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think (#16)
Linkage analysis
Finding families in which a disorder appears across several generations, geneticists examine DNA from affected & unaffected family members looking for differences (#16)
Lithium
An effective mood stabilizer (#16)
Localization of Sound
Listener’s ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance (#16)
Locke-tabula rasa
Theory that at birth the mind is a “blank slate” (#16)
Long term potentiation
An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a basis for learning and memory (#16)
Longitudinal study
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period (#16)
Loss info from short term
Takes about 12 seconds (#16)
Manifest content
According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden content) (#16)
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience (#16)
Kohlberg’s stages
3 levels of moral reasoning (thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong) consisting of preconventional, conventional, and post conventional (#15)
Kohlberg’s stages-
Preconventional
(Before age 9) focuses on self interest; obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards (#15)
Kohlberg’s stages-
Conventional
(early adolescence) uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order (#15)
Kohlberg’s stages-
Postconventional
(adolescence and beyond) actions reflect belief in basic rights and self defined ethical principles (#15)
‘Kulber Ross’ dying stages
Denial- refusing to believe the inevitable helps ease anxiety and fearful thoughts
Anger- feelings of rage or resentment may overcome the person and the anger may be directed at others as well
Bargaining- dying person may try to barter with doctors, family, or even God
Depression- dying person realizes death is impending and has nothing left to bargain
Acceptance- period of calm and peace
(#15)
L-dopa
Precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine (catecholamines) (#15)
Lateral hypothalamus
Area of the hypothalamus that makes one feel hungry (#15)
Language acquisition device
(Chomsky) every child has a LAD which encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain
*applies to all languages
(#15)
Language acquisition stages & ages
Receptive language (4 months)- ability to understand what is said to and about them Babbling stage (4 months)- spontaneously utters various sounds unrelated to household language
Latent content dreams
The underlying (hidden) meaning of dreams, according to Freud (#15)
Law of effect
Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely (#15)
Learned helplessness
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid aversive events (#15)
Learning curve
Graphical representation of the rate at which you make progress learning new information
Slow beginning, steep progress, plateau
(#15)
Limbic system
Neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres: associated with emotions and drives (#15)
Hippocampus
Neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage (#15)
Amygdala
Two lima-bean sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion (particularly fear and aggression) (#15)
Hypothalamus
Neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland and is linked to emotion and reward (#15)
Pituitary gland
The endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates and controls other endocrine glands (#15)
