Exploring Psychology (13th Edition) - Chapter Terms

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the major terms, theories, and concepts across all chapters specified for Exams 1 through 4 from Exploring Psychology, 13th edition.

empirical approach

An evidence-based method of study that draws on observation and experimentation.

Biopsychosocial approach

An integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural viewpoints and levels of analysis.

double-blind procedure

An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether participants have received the treatment or a placebo.

drive-reduction theory

The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.

Yerkes-Dodson law

The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases.

intrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake rather than for an external reward.

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Hans Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

learned helplessness

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

internal locus of control

The perception that one controls one's own fate and outcomes.

inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere.

circadian rhythm

Our biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on roughly a 24-hour cycle.

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

A pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls the circadian rhythm by regulating melatonin production by the pineal gland.

object permanence

The developmental awareness that things continue to exist even when not directly perceived.

conservation

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms or appearances of objects.

egocentrism

In Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another person's point of view.

gender identity

Our personal sense of being male, female, or some combination of the two.

social learning theory

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating others and by being rewarded or punished.

transgender

An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth-designated sex.

transduction

The conversion of one form of energy into another; in sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses the brain can interpret.

Weber’s law

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage rather than a constant amount.

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory

The theory that the retina contains three different types of color receptors—sensitive to red, green, or blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color.

classical conditioning

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

operant conditioning

A type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely if followed by a punisher.

latent learning

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.

working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

spacing effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than massed study or cramming.

serial position effect

Our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list.

fundamental attribution error

The tendency for observers, when analyzing others' behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

cognitive dissonance theory

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts, or our thoughts and actions, are inconsistent.

bystander effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal personal factors (cognition), and environmental events.

Big Five factors

The core dimensions of personality: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion.

Dunning-Krueger Effect

A cognitive bias in which people with low ability or expertise at a task overestimate their competence.

DSM-5

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

generalized anxiety disorder

An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.

schizophrenia

A psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression.