S

Question 1

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

Answer 1

savant syndrome

Question 2

the theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Answer 2

scapegoat theory

Question 3

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)

Answer 3

scatterplot

Question 4

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Answer 4

schema

Question 5

a group of seven disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions.

Answer 5

schizophrenia

Question 6

nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.

Answer 6

secondary sex characteristics

Question 7

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect.

Answer 7

selective attention

Question 8

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.

Answer 8

self-actualization

Question 9

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Answer 9

self concept

Question 10

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

Answer 10

self disclosure

Question 11

one’s feelings of high or low self-worth

Answer 11

self-esteem

Question 12

occurs when one person’s belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm the belief.

Answer 12

self fulfilling prophecy

Question 13

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Answer 13

self-serving bias

Question 14

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

Answer 14

semantic encoding

Question 15

the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning.

Answer 15

semantics

Question 16

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Answer 16

sensation

Question 17

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.

Answer 17

sensorimotor stage

Question 18

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.

Answer 18

sensorineural hearing loss

Question 19

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Answer 19

sensory adaptation

Question 20

-the area of the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body sensations

Answer 20

sensory cortex

Question 21

the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

Answer 21

sensory interaction

Question 22

the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system

Answer 22

sensory memory

Question 23

-neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.

Answer 23

sensory neurons

Question 24

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.

Answer 24

serial position effect

Question 25

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

Answer 25

set point

Question 26

an enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one’s own gender (homosexual orientation) or the other gender (heterosexual orientation).

Answer 26

sexual orientation

Question 27

the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson-excitement plateau orgasm and resolution

Answer 27

sexual response cycle

Question 28

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of a desired goal.

Answer 28

shaping

Question 29

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.

Answer 29

short term memory

Question 30

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.

Answer 30

signal detection theory

Question 31

a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakenings.

Answer 31

sleep apnea

Question 32

periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness- as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation

Answer 32

sleep

Question 33

the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement

Answer 33

social clock

Question 34

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Answer 34

social exchange theory

Question 35

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

Answer 35

social facilitation

Question 36

oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support.

Answer 36

social leadership group

Question 37

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.

Answer 37

social learning theory

Question 38

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Answer 38

social loafing

Question 39

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

Answer 39

social psychology

Question 40

a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Answer 40

social trap

Question 41

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles.

Answer 41

somatic nervous system

Question 42

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Answer 42

spacing effect

Question 43

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.

Answer 43

split-brain

Question 44

the reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response.

Answer 44

spontaneous recovery

Question 45

a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.

Answer 45

standard deviation

Question 46

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested “standardization group.”

Answer 46

standardization

Question 47

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test.

Answer 47

stanford binet

Question 48

a statistical criterion for rejecting the assumption of no differences in a particular study.

Answer 48

statistical significance

Question 49

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

Answer 49

stereotype

Question 50

drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines and cocaine) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

Answer 50

stimulants

Question 51

the retention of encoded information over time

Answer 51

storage

Question 52

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.

Answer 52

stranger anxiety

Question 53

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, catted stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Answer 53

stress

Question 54

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.

Answer 54

subjective well-being

Question 55

in psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism by which people rechannel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities.

Answer 55

sublimation

Question 56

below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 56

subliminal

Question 57

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

Answer 57

superego

Question 58

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Answer 58

superordinate goals

Question 59

a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them.

Answer 59

survey

Question 60

-the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.

Answer 60

sympathetic nervous system

Question 61

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.

Answer 61

synapse

Question 62

the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

Answer 62

syntax

Question 63

a type of counter conditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

Answer 63

systematic desensitization