S Flashcards
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.
savant syndrome
the theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame
scapegoat theory
a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation (little scatter indicates high correlation)
scatterplot
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
schema
a group of seven disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions.
schizophrenia
nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
secondary sex characteristics
the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect.
selective attention
according to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential.
self-actualization
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
self concept
revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
self disclosure
one’s feelings of high or low self-worth
self-esteem
occurs when one person’s belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm the belief.
self fulfilling prophecy
a readiness to perceive oneself favorably
self-serving bias
the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
semantic encoding
the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning.
semantics
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
sensation
in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
sensorimotor stage
hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.
sensorineural hearing loss
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
sensory adaptation
-the area of the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body sensations
sensory cortex
the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste
sensory interaction
the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system
sensory memory
-neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.
sensory neurons
our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
serial position effect
the point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weigh
set point
an enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one’s own gender (homosexual orientation) or the other gender (heterosexual orientation).
sexual orientation
the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson-excitement plateau orgasm and resolution
sexual response cycle
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of a desired goal.
shaping
activated memory that holds a few items briefly–such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.
short term memory
predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (“signal”) amid background stimulation (“noise”). Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue.
signal detection theory
a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakenings.
sleep apnea
periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness- as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation
sleep
the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
social clock
the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
social exchange theory
improved performance of tasks in the presence of others; occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered
social facilitation
oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support.
social leadership group
the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
social learning theory
the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.
social loafing
the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
social psychology
a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.
social trap
the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles.
somatic nervous system
the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
spacing effect
a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) between them.
split-brain
the reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response.
spontaneous recovery
a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.
standard deviation
defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested “standardization group.”
standardization
the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test.
stanford binet
a statistical criterion for rejecting the assumption of no differences in a particular study.
statistical significance
a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people
stereotype
drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines and cocaine) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.
stimulants
the retention of encoded information over time
storage
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
stranger anxiety
the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, catted stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
stress
self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people’s quality of life.
subjective well-being
in psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism by which people rechannel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities.
sublimation
below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
subliminal
the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
superego
shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation
superordinate goals
a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them.
survey
-the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.
sympathetic nervous system
the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or cleft.
synapse
the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
syntax
a type of counter conditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.
systematic desensitization
