PSYC 111 Exam 1 Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards generated from the PSYC 111 Exam 1 study guide covering key terms across general psychology, brain and behavior, and developmental psychology.

Phrenology

An early, now-discredited approach associated with Franz Joseph Gall that claimed bumps and contours on the skull revealed different mental abilities and personality traits.

Wilhelm Wundt

Psychologist who established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 and is commonly associated with psychology becoming an independent scientific discipline.

Structuralism

An early school of psychology associated with Edward Titchener that attempted to identify the basic elements of conscious experience using introspection.

Functionalism

An early school of psychology associated with William James that focused on what mental processes and behaviors do and how they help organisms adapt to their environments.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Biopsychosocial approach

An approach stating that behavior and mental processes can be understood through interacting biological, psychological, and social/cultural influences.

Hindsight bias

The tendency for people to see an outcome as more predictable than it actually was after the outcome is known.

Gambler’s fallacy

The mistaken belief that random independent events must 'balance out' in the short run.

Afferent neurons

Sensory neurons that carry sensory information toward the central nervous system (CNS).

Efferent neurons

Motor neurons that carry commands away from the central nervous system (CNS) to muscles and glands.

Phineas Gage

A individual who survived an injury where an iron rod passed through his skull and damaged frontal brain regions, providing early evidence that specific brain regions contribute to behavior and personality.

Corpus callosum

A large bundle of nerve fibers that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and allows communication between them.

Frontal lobe

Lobe of the cerebral cortex involved in planning, decision making, working memory, speech production, and voluntary motor control.

Broca’s area

A brain region associated with producing speech, where damage can produce difficulty producing fluent speech.

Wernicke’s area

A brain region associated with understanding spoken language, where damage can impair meaningful language comprehension.

Myelin sheath

Insulating material around many axons that increases the speed and efficiency of neural signaling.

Agonist

A substance that mimics or enhances a neurotransmitter’s effects.

Antagonist

A substance that blocks or reduces a neurotransmitter’s effects.

Sympathetic nervous system

A division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body for action and is associated with fight-or-flight responses.

Parasympathetic nervous system

A division of the autonomic nervous system that supports calming and recovery and is associated with rest-and-digest functions.

Teratogens

Environmental substances or conditions that can damage an embryo or fetus.

Infantile amnesia

The inability to remember most autobiographical experiences from the first few years of life.

Schema

A mental framework or concept used to organize and interpret information.

Assimilation

Fitting new information into an existing schema.

Accommodation

Changing an existing schema or creating a new one when new information does not fit.

Object permanence

The understanding that an object continues to exist even when it cannot be seen.

Conservation

The understanding that quantity can remain the same despite changes in appearance.

Scaffolding

Temporary support from a more knowledgeable person that decreases as the learner becomes more capable.

Authoritative parenting

A parenting style that combines warmth and responsiveness with clear expectations and reasonable limits.

Preconventional morality

A stage of moral reasoning based largely on avoiding punishment and obtaining rewards.