Unconditioned Stimulus
Stimulus that naturally causes a specific response
Unconditioned Response
Response naturally caused by a stimulus
Neutral Stimulus
Stimulus that has no prior response connection
Conditioned Stimulus
Neutral stimulus paired with unconditioned stimulus that causes a desired response when represented alone
Conditioned Response
A response that is caused by conditioned stimulus alone
Generalization
Respond to all ringing sounds
Stimulus Discrimination
Only respond to a specific stimuli
Extinction
Stop responding to conditioned stimulus
Fluid Intelligence
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly
Crystalized Intelligence
Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills
Kinesthetic Intelligence
The ability to move the body in sports or other physical activities
Analytical Intelligence
The ability to break down problems into component parts for analysis
Assimilation
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing ones
Self-Efficacy
One’s sense of competence and effectiveness
Reciprocal Determinism
The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment
Drive Reduction Theory
The idea that physiological needs create an aroused tension that drives a person to resolve that tension
Basal Metabolic Rate
Body´s resting rate of energy expenditure
Set Point Theory
Belief that brain mechanisms regulate body weight around a general set point
Proactive Interference
Disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
Serial Position Effect
Tendency to recall best the last and first in a list
Histionic
Overly dramatic
Schizotypal
Characterized by odd beliefs that lead to interpersonal difficulties like magical thinking
That's-not-all phenomenon
a compliance approach that involves adding something to the original offer
Fixed Interval
Reinforces a response only after a specific time has elapsed
Fixed Ratio
Reinforces a response only after a specific number of responses
Variable Ratio
Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
Variable Interval
Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
Encoding Devices
Techniques that are used to aid in encoding information into memory
Retrieval Cue
Stimuli that are used to bring a memory into conscious or into behavior
Semantic Cues
Prior knowledge and experience that readers bring to a reading situation
Availability Heuristic
Estimating likelihood of events based on availability in memory
Conversion Disorder
Somatoform disorder where a person experiences sensations without any stimuli
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Changing self thinking into a more positive behavior
Actor Observer
Tendency To attribute own actions to external causes
Flynn Effect
Effect in which intelligence improves from generation to generation
Convergent Thinking
Narrows the available problem solution to determine the single best solution
Shallow Processing
Encoding on a basic level based on the structure of words
Aptitude
Capacity for learning
Reuptake
A neurotransmitter´s reabsorption by sending a neuron
Dual Processing
Principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks
Myelination
Process by which axons become coated by myelin, and speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron
Neuroplasticity
Ability within the brain to change both structure and function of many in response to experience or trauma
Theory of Mind
People´s ideas of their own and others´ mental states, feelings thoughts or perceptions
Conservation
Principle believed to be part of concrete operational properties remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
ex: cutting a piece of paper does not make a new substance
Sensorimotor
Piaget stage in which children explore world through interaction of of senses
Preoperational stage
Piaget´s second stage of cognitive development where egocentrism develops
Concrete Operational
Piaget´s stage of development where children gain ability to logically think about problems
Formal Operational
Piaget´s theory of development where people can logically think about abstract concepts
Post Conventional
Kohlberg Ethics where moral reasoning is based around higher thinking and full internalization
External Attribution
Inference that a person makes about the situation someone else is in based on the situation
Reaction Formation
Psychoanalytic defense mechanism where the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites
Transference
Psychoanalytical defense mechanism where the patients transfer emotions to the analyst
Semantic Memory
General knowledge
Assimilation
Interpret new experiences in terms of existing schemas
Parkinson´s Disease
Disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement
Cross-Sectional Study
Study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Cross-Sequential Study
Cross sectional groups are tested at two or more points in time
Longitude Study
Research in which people are restudied and retested over time
Algorithmic
A methodological rule or procedure that solves a problem
Prototype
Mental image of a category
Signal Detection Theory
Theory predicts how and in what circumstances detect a stimulus, no single threshhold
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Performance increases arousal until a certain point, until arousal decreases
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to underestimate impact of situation and overestimate person’s predisposition