Z Flashcards
The tendency for interrupted, uncompleted tasks to be better remembered than completed tasks
- Some theorists relate this phenomenon to certain gestalt principles of organization but at the level of higher mental processing (eg; memory), rather than at the level of pure perception [described in 1927 by Bluma Zeigarnik (1900 - 1988), Russian psychologist]
Zeigarnik Effect
A cue, such as day length, used to activate or time a biological rhythm [German “time giver”]
Zeitgeber
The spirit of the times (German “time spirit”)
- The term was used by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831) to refer to a type of supraindividual mind at work in the world and manifest in the cultural worldview that pervades the ideas, attitudes, and feelings of a particular society in a specific historical period
Zeitgeist
A standardized set of stimulus materials, similar to a deck of playing cards, designed for use in experiments on extrasensery perception and other parapsychological phenomena
- The set consists of 25 cards, each of which bears one of five printed symbols (star, wavy lines, cross, circle, or square)
- In a typical test of telepathy, the cards are shuffled and a designated “sender” turns the cards over one at a time to inspect the symbol, while a “receiver” attempts to guess the symbol by reading the thoughts of the sender
- Also called Rhine cards [named in honor of Karl E. Zener (1903 - 1964), U.S. perceptual psychologist who designed the symbols, by his colleague U.S. psychologist Joseph B. Rhine (1895 - 1980), who devised the deck]
Zener Cards
In game theory, a type of game in which the players’ gains and losses add up to zero
- The total amount of resources available to the participants is fixed, and therefore one players’ gain necessarily entails the others’ loss
- The term is used particularly in analyses of bargaining and economic behavior but is sometimes also used in other sociocultural contexts (eg; politics)
Zero Sum Game
A visual illusion in which parallel lines appear to diverge when one of the lines is intersected by short diagonal lines slanting in one direction, and the other by lines slanting in the other direction [Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner (1834 - 1882), German astrophycist]
Zöllner Illusion
In the sociocultural theory of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1934), the difference between a child’s actual level of ability and the level of ability that he or she can achieve when working under the guidance of an instructor
Zone of Proximal Development
- The attribution of animal traits to human beings, deities, or inanimate objects
- The use of animal psychology or physiology to explain human behavior
Zoomorphism
A paraphilia in which animals are repeatedly preferred or exclusively used to achieve sexual excitement and gratification
- The animal, which is usually a household pet or farm animal, is either used as the object of intercourse or is trained to lick or rub the human partner, referred to as a zoophile
Zoophilia
A type of statistical test that compares the means of two different groups to determine whether there is a significant difference between them (ie; one not likely to have occurred by chance)
- Generally, this involves comparing the mean from a sample of a population to the mean for the whole population but may also involve comparing the means of two different populations
- This is based on the normal distribution and is used when the standard deviation is known or the sample is large (greater than 30)
- The equivalent T test is used with unknown standard deviations or smaller samples
Z Test
A fertilized egg, or ovum, with a diploid set of chromosomes, half contributed by the mother and half by the father
- This divides to become an embryo, which continues to divide as it develops and differentiates - in humans eventually forming a fetus
Zygote
