intro psych midterm1

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Agreeableness

A tendency to be compassionate, cooperative, warm, and caring; low = hostile or self-focused.

Conscientiousness

Tendency to be careful, organized, hardworking, and rule-following.

Continuous distributions

Traits vary along a continuum (many intermediate values), not just present/absent.

Extraversion

Tendency to be sociable, outgoing, active, and assertive.

Facets

Narrower components of broad traits (e.g., sociability is a facet of extraversion).

Factor analysis

Statistical method that groups items based on how strongly they correlate.

Five-Factor Model

(Big Five) Personality model: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

HEXACO model

Personality model like Big Five but adds Honesty–Humility as a sixth factor.

Lexical hypothesis

The idea that important personality differences are encoded in everyday language.

Neuroticism

Tendency to experience negative emotions (anxiety, sadness, anger) and interpersonal sensitivity.

Openness to Experience

Tendency to seek out and appreciate new ideas, feelings, values, and experiences.

Personality

Enduring predispositions (patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior) that characterize a person.

Person-situation debate

Debate about whether personality traits or situations better predict behavior.

Empirical methods

Research approaches based on measurement and observation.

Systematic observation

Careful, structured observation of behavior or phenomena to collect data.

Confounds

Extra variables that can undermine causal conclusions in a study.

Correlation

Measure of association showing how two variables covary.

Experimenter expectations

When a researcher’s beliefs unintentionally influence study outcomes.

Operational definitions

Specific procedures used to measure a concept.

Participant demand

Participants’ behavior changes because they guess the study’s purpose.

Placebo effect

Change in behavior or outcomes due to expecting special treatment.

Quasi-experimental design

Study resembling an experiment but lacking random assignment.

Random assignment

Assigning participants to conditions by chance to control confounds.

Cause-and-effect

Inference that one variable produces change in another variable.

Confidence interval

Range of plausible values for a population parameter (e.g., mean).

Distribution

Pattern of variation in a set of data (e.g., normal distribution).

Generalizability

Extent to which study findings apply to other samples or settings.

Margin of error

Expected random variation in a statistic (commonly tied to 95% confidence).

Parameter

Numerical summary describing a population (e.g., population mean).

Population

The entire group of interest to which researchers want to generalize.

P-value

Probability of observing the data (or more extreme) if the null hypothesis is true.

Random sampling

Selecting individuals so each member of the population has an equal chance to be included.

Statistic

Numerical summary computed from a sample (e.g., sample mean).

Statistical significance

Result unlikely to have occurred by chance alone under the null hypothesis.

Ablation

Surgical removal of brain tissue.

Axial plane

Horizontal slice through the brain (also called transverse).

Basal ganglia

Subcortical structures involved in voluntary movement and motor control.

Brain stem

The brain’s trunk (medulla, pons, midbrain, diencephalon) controlling basic functions.

Callosotomy

Surgical severing of the corpus callosum (used to treat severe epilepsy).

Case study

In-depth study of one or a few patients, often with unique lesions.

Cerebellum

“Small brain” at the back involved in coordination and balance.

Cerebral cortex

Outermost gray matter of the cerebrum responsible for higher functions.

Cerebral hemispheres

The left and right halves of the cerebrum (cortex + underlying structures).

Cerebrum

The cortex and underlying white matter (sometimes includes subcortical structures).

Contralateral

Opposite-side control (one hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body).

Converging evidence

Similar findings from different methods increasing confidence in a result.

Coronal plane

Vertical brain slice dividing front (anterior) and back (posterior).

Diffuse optical imaging (DOI)

Neuroimaging that infers activity by measuring light passing through tissue.

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Measures electrical brain activity via electrodes on the scalp.

Frontal lobe

Anterior brain region involved in planning, motor control, language, and decision-making.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Neuroimaging that infers brain activity via blood-oxygen-level changes.

Gray matter

Regions of the brain made up of neuron cell bodies (outer cortex).

Gyri

Folds (ridges) of the cerebral cortex (plural).

Gyrus

A single fold (ridge) in the cortex.

Horizontal plane

Slice that divides top and bottom of the brain (same as axial/transverse).

Lateralized

Function primarily localized to one hemisphere (e.g., language often left-lateralized).

Lesion

Area of brain damage from injury, disease, or surgery.

Limbic system

Subcortical structures (e.g., amygdala, hippocampus) involved in emotion and memory.

Metabolite

A substance produced or used in metabolism, often measured in neuroscience.

Motor cortex

Frontal region that controls voluntary movement; contralateral body map.

Myelin

Fatty insulation around axons that speeds neural conduction.

Nomenclature

System of names/terms used in a field.

Occipital lobe

Posterior brain region primarily involved in vision.

Parietal lobe

Region between frontal and occipital lobes involved in sensation and attention.

Phrenology

Discredited 19th-century theory linking skull bumps to personality.

Positron emission tomography (PET)

Imaging that detects radioactive tracer uptake to infer brain activity.

Sagittal plane

Vertical slice dividing left and right sides of the brain.

Somatosensory (body sensations) cortex

Parietal region that processes bodily sensations; contralateral mapping.

Spatial resolution

How small a structure a brain imaging method can distinguish.

Split-brain patient

Someone whose corpus callosum has been severed, disrupting interhemispheric transfer.

Subcortical

Brain structures beneath the cortex (e.g., basal ganglia, thalamus).

Sulci

Grooves or valleys separating cortical folds (plural).

Sulcus

A single groove separating folds of the cortex.

Temporal lobe

Region involved in hearing, memory, and integrating vision and audition.

Temporal resolution

How precisely an imaging method can track changes over time.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Application of weak electrical current through the skull to modulate brain activity.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Brief magnetic pulse applied to the head to transiently disrupt local brain activity.

Transverse plane

Another name for the horizontal/axial plane.

Visual hemifield

Half of visual space seen by one eye’s left or right field (processed contralaterally).

White matter

Inner regions composed mainly of myelinated axons connecting brain areas.

Chutes and Ladders

A board game sometimes used in research on numerical learning in children.

Concrete operations stage

Piagetian stage (≈7–12) where children reason logically about concrete situations.

Conservation problems

Tasks testing whether children understand that quantity stays the same despite appearance changes.

Continuous development

Development that proceeds gradually and incrementally.

Depth perception

Ability to perceive how far away objects are in space.

Discontinuous development

Development that occurs in distinct stages with qualitative shifts.

Formal operations stage

Piagetian stage (≈12+) when abstract and systematic reasoning emerges.

Information processing theories

Theories that describe cognitive processes (like memory, attention) and their development.

Nature

Genetic/biological contributions to development and behavior.

Numerical magnitudes

The sizes or magnitudes of numbers (e.g., small vs large numerals).

Nurture

Environmental influences on development and behavior.

Object permanence task

Task assessing whether infants know an object continues to exist when out of sight.

Phonemic awareness

Awareness of the individual sounds (phonemes) within words.

Piaget’s theory

Stage theory proposing sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Preoperational reasoning stage

Piagetian stage (≈2–7) where symbolic thought grows but logical reasoning is limited.

Qualitative changes

Large, fundamental changes in kind (e.g., stage shifts).

Quantitative changes

Gradual, measurable increases (e.g., growth in size or number).

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget stage (birth–2) when infants learn about objects via senses and actions.

Authoritative

Parenting style with warmth, high expectations, and responsive communication.

Conscience

Internal standards and emotions that guide moral behavior.