PSY 200: Introduction to Psychology — Key Terms (Vocabulary Flashcards)

Key vocabulary terms spanning history/scope, scientific methods, memory, cognition, development, and social development from the PSY 200 notes.

Critical thinking

Examining our own assumptions, appraising sources, discerning biases, and assessing conclusions.

Structuralism

Early school using introspection to study conscious experience; declined as unreliable.

Introspection

Self-examination of inner thoughts and feelings; subjective and often unreliable.

The Animal Mind

Idea that psychology can study mental processes in animals to understand behavior.

1879: first psychology laboratory in Germany

Birth of experimental psychology as a science.

Behaviorism

Approach emphasizing observable behavior and denying the primacy of mind-internal states.

Psychoanalytic psychology (Freud)

Emphasis on unconscious mind and childhood experiences shaping behavior.

Unconscious mind

Mental processes outside conscious awareness influencing actions.

Freudian psychology

Psychoanalytic theory focusing on unconscious forces and childhood.

Humanistic psychology

Emphasizes growth potential, need for love/acceptance, and nurturing environments.

Growth potential

Capacity for personal development and self-actualization.

Positive psychology

Study of human flourishing and strengths that help individuals/communities thrive.

Biopsychosocial approach

Integrates biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Cognitive psychology

Study of mind: thinking, perception, memory, and problem-solving.

Cognitive neuroscience

Intersection of mind and brain science.

Psychology (definition)

Science of behavior and mental processes.

Behavior (definition)

Observable actions of an organism.

Mental processes

Internal experiences such as thoughts, perceptions, and dreams.

Evolutionary psychology

Study of behavior and mind through natural selection.

Natural selection

Traits that help survival and reproduction become more common.

Behavior genetics

Study of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

Nurture vs. nature

Debate over environmental vs genetic influences on development.

Brain plasticity

Brain’s enormous capacity to learn and adapt.

Cognitive revolution

Reemergence of interest in mental processes as legitimate science.

Positive psychology (note)

See above: study of strengths and thriving.

Hindsight bias

'I knew it all along' phenomenon; overreliance on outcomes after the fact.

Overconfidence

Tendency to be more certain than correct.

Random sequences look random

People perceive patterns in randomness that aren’t truly there.

Commonsense thinking flaws

Biases like hindsight, overconfidence, and pattern perception distort judgment.

Post-truth

Emotions/personal beliefs override objective facts.

False news

Misinformation presented as true.

Scientific Method

Curiosity, skepticism, and humility to ask and answer questions.

Theory

Organizes observations and generates predictions to test.

Description (in science)

Initial step of science: describing phenomena.

Case Studies

In-depth analyses of individuals or groups.

Naturalistic observation

Describing behavior in natural settings without manipulation.

Surveys

Asking people questions to collect data.

Wording effects

How question wording influences responses.

Random sampling

Selecting participants to represent a population.

Representative sample

Sample that accurately reflects the population.

Correlation

Association between two variables; does not imply causation.

Experimentation

Manipulating factors to determine their effects and establish causality.

Independent variable

The factor deliberately varied by the experimenter.

Dependent variable

The outcome measured in an experiment.

Confounding variable

An outside influence that could affect results.

Placebo effect

Improvement due to belief in treatment rather than the treatment itself.

Double-blind procedure

Neither participants nor researchers know who receives the real treatment.

Random assignment

Randomly placing participants in groups to control differences.

Experimental group

Group receiving the treatment or manipulation.

Control group

Group not receiving the treatment; baseline for comparison.

Testing effect

Memory enhancement from repeated retrieval, not rereading.

SQ3R

Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review—study strategy.

Metacognition

Thinking about our own thinking.

Cognition

Mental activities: thinking, knowing, remembering, communicating.

Concepts

Mental groupings of objects, events, ideas, or people.

Algorithms

Step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts for quick judgments; faster but error-prone.

Confirmation bias

Tendency to seek confirmatory evidence and ignore contrary data.

Representativeness heuristic

Judging likelihood by how much something resembles a prototype.

Availability heuristic

Judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind.

Framing

How an issue is presented can influence decisions and judgments.

Belief perseverance

Clinging to initial beliefs despite disconfirming evidence.

Nudge

Subtle policy changes that steer behavior without restricting choice.

Consciousness

Subjective awareness of self and environment.

States of Consciousness

Normal waking awareness and altered states (daydreaming, sleep, drugs, hypnosis).

Cognitive neuroscience (term)

Interdisciplinary study of brain activity linked to mental processes.

Hard Problem (of consciousness)

How brain activity creates subjective experience.

Blindsight

Able to respond to visual stimuli without conscious perception.

Cocktail party effect

Focusing on one conversation yet noticing your name in another.

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when attention is elsewhere.

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes after a brief visual interruption.

Dual processing

Two-track mind: conscious, deliberate processing and unconscious, automatic processing.

High road / Low road

Conscious (high road) vs. automatic (low road) processing in dual processing.

Parallel processing

Simultaneous processing of multiple stimuli by the brain.

Serial processing

Processing one thing at a time; slower but focused.

Memory

Learning that persists over time; information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.

Encoding

Getting information into memory.

Storage

Retaining information over time.

Retrieval

Accessing stored information.

Sensory memory

Brief recording of sensory information.

Iconic memory

Brief visual memory (a fraction of a second).

Echoic memory

Brief auditory memory (a few seconds).

Short-term memory

Temporary storage of information in use.

Long-term memory

Relatively permanent store of information.

Working memory

Active memory system with central executive; processes current info.

Central executive

Control system in working memory coordinating attention and processing.

Explicit memory

Conscious memories (semantic and episodic) encoded with effort.

Implicit memory

Unconscious memories (procedural, conditioning) learned automatically.

Semantic memory

Facts and general knowledge.

Episodic memory

Personal experiences and events.

Hippocampus

Brain structure crucial for forming explicit memories; temporary storage.

Frontal lobes

Brain regions involved in memory encoding/retrieval; left for verbal, right for visual.

Prefrontal cortex

Part of frontal lobes involved in working memory and planning.

Cerebellum

Implicit memory and motor learning; conditioned reflexes.

Basal ganglia

Procedural memory and motor skills; habit formation.

Amygdala

Emotion-processing brain region that modulates memory.

Synapses

Connections where neurons communicate via neurotransmitters.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Strengthening of synapses with rapid stimulation; basis for learning.

Reconsolidation

Retrieving a memory makes it malleable and restabilizes with changes.

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading information into memory.