Pgs 24-26 Flashcards
Testable Hypothesis
a prediction often implied by a theory (#26)
Thalamus
the brains sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem (#26)
Thyroid Gland
A large gland that secretes hormones regulating growth and development through the rate of metabolism (#26)
tip of tongue
phenomenon of failing to retrieve a word from memory (#26)
token economy
An operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior that can later be exchanged for treats (#26)
Transduction
Conversion of one form of energy into another (#26)
Unconditional positive regard
A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance (#26)
Validity
Content: the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.
Predictive/Criterion: the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict. (#26)
Internal Validity
Refers to how well an experiment is done, especially whether it avoids confounding (#26)
Ventromedial hypothalamus
Responsible for the feeling of satiation or fullness after eating, in organisms (#26)
Vestibular sense
The sense of body movement and positions, including balance (#26)
Vicarious learning
Learning that is derived from indirect sources such as hearing or observation, rather than direct, hands-on instruction (#26)
Visual cliff
Laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals (#26)
Volley principle
suggest that the auditory neurons fire in the sequence increasing to a rapid series of impulses (#26)
Weber’s law
to be perceived as different, stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (#26)
Wearing, Clive
He lacks the ability to form new memories, and also cannot recall aspects of his last memories (#26)
Yerkes/Dodson
Performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point (#26)
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory
Retina contains three different color receptors, when stimulated in combination, can produce perception of color (#26)
Social Desirability Bias
A type of response bias that is the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others (#25)
Social Exchange Theory
Theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs (#25)
Social facilitation
Stronger responses in simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others (#25)
Social inhibition
A conscious or subconscious avoidance of a situation or social interaction (#25)
Social loafing
Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable (#25)
Social trap
We harm our collective well-being by pursuing our personal interests (#25)
Somatoform Disorders-
Somatization
A mental disorder characterized by recurring, multiple, and current, clinically significant complaints about somatic symptoms (#25)
Somatoform Disorders-
Conversion
A mental condition in which a person has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous system (neurologic) symptoms that cannot he explained by medical evaluation (#25)
Somatosensory cortex
Receives all sensory input from the body (#25)
Spontaneous recovery
The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished condition response (#25)
Stanford Prison
The Stanford prison experiment was an attempt to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison officers (#25)
Statistical significance
A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance (#25)
Stereotype
Generalized belief about a group of people (#25)
Stimulus Generalization
The tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned (#25)
Stranger anxiety
Fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age (#25)
Structuralism
The study of the elements of consciousness (#25)
Superego
The voice of our moral compass (conscience) that forces the ego to consider not only the real but the ideal (#25)
Surface sentence structure
An abstract syntactic representation of an utterance in the mind of the speaker, in which the elements of the sentence, having undergone transformation from deep structure, are represented structurally in the same linear order in which they will be pronounced after they pass through phonetic form (#25)
Survey
Technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group (#25)
Synthesis Activation
A neurobiological explanation of why we dream. Dreams are created by changes in neuron activity that activates the brainstem during REM sleep (#25)
Systematic Densensitization
Type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety triggering stimuli (#25)
Self-efficacy
Belief in ones ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task (#24)
Self-fulfilling prophecy
When a person unknowingly causes a prediction to come true, due to the simple fact that he or she expects it to come true (#24)
Self-serving bias
Readiness to perceive oneself favorably (#24)
Semantic memory
A portion of long term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are not drawn from personal experience (#24)
Sensory adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation (#24)
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall best the first and last items in a list (#24)
Set point
The point where an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set (#24)
Sex Characteristics
Primary vs. Secondary
Primary: sex- specific reproductive parts that allow us to tell from males to females (ex- Penis, Vagina)
Secondary: Non-reproductive sexual characteristics (ex- Adam’s apple, breasts)
(#24)
Sexual vs. Gender identity
Sexual: how one thinks of one self in terms of who they are romantically attracted to
Gender: one’s own perception or sense of being male or female
(#24)
Shaping
Operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations if the desired behavior (#24)
Single-blind study
Procedure in which the researchers do not tell the participants if they are being given a test treatment or a control treatment (#24)
Signal detection theory
Theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise) (#24)
Sleep brain waves-
Alpha
Relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state (#24)
Sleep brain waves-
Delta
The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep (#24)
Sleep disorders-
Insomnia
Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep (#24)
Sleep Disorders-
Narcolepsy
Uncontrollable sleep attacks, sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, medication to take it amphetamines (#24)
Sleep Disorders-
Sleep apnea
Temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings (#24)
Sleep Disorders-
Night Terrors
Characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified, occur during NREM-3 sleep (#24)
Social cognitive theory
Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between peoples traits and their social context (#24)
