General Psychology II – Core Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture "General Psychology II," including learning, memory, language, emotion, and motivation. Each card presents a core term and its concise definition to facilitate exam revision.

Psychology

The scientific study of experience and behaviour.

Neuronal determinism

The assumption that experience and behaviour follow lawful patterns because they are rooted in the chemical and physical activity of the nervous system.

Learning

A process that produces relatively long-lasting changes in behaviour or behavioural potential as a result of experience, practice, or observation.

Reflex

An unlearned, automatic response to a specific stimulus.

Instinct

A genetically based pattern of behaviour that appears in all members of a species without prior learning.

Habituation

A non-associative learning process in which repeated presentation of a stimulus leads to a decrease in the strength of the response.

Sensitization

A non-associative learning process in which repeated or intense presentation of a stimulus increases the responsiveness to that stimulus.

Associative learning

Learning that involves forming connections—either between two stimuli (classical conditioning) or between behaviour and its consequences (operant conditioning).

Classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)

Learning in which a previously neutral stimulus (CS) becomes able to elicit a response (CR) after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US).

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically elicits an unlearned response.

Unconditioned response (UR)

The unlearned, reflexive reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after pairing with a US, triggers a conditioned response.

Conditioned response (CR)

The learned response to a conditioned stimulus.

Acquisition

The initial stage of conditioning during which the association between CS and US (or behaviour and consequence) is learned.

Extinction (classical conditioning)

The reduction of a conditioned response when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US.

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.

Stimulus generalisation

Tendency for stimuli similar to the original CS to evoke the conditioned response.

Stimulus discrimination

Learning to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical to the CS.

Contiguity

The temporal closeness between two events (e.g., CS and US).

Contingency

The degree to which the CS reliably predicts the occurrence of the US.

Conditioned inhibition

Learning that a stimulus signals the absence of the US, thereby inhibiting the CR.

Blocking

Failure to learn about a new CS when it is presented together with an established CS because the US is already fully predicted.

Rescorla–Wagner model

A mathematical model proposing that learning depends on the discrepancy between expected and actual outcomes (prediction error).

Biological preparedness

The evolutionary predisposition to form certain associations more readily than others (e.g., taste with nausea).

Operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning)

Learning in which voluntary behaviour is strengthened or weakened by its consequences.

Law of Effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviours followed by satisfying consequences become more likely, whereas behaviours followed by unpleasant consequences become less likely.

Reinforcer

Any consequence that increases the probability of the behaviour it follows.

Primary reinforcer

A reinforcer that satisfies a biological need (e.g., food, warmth).

Secondary reinforcer

A previously neutral stimulus that acquires reinforcing properties through association with a primary reinforcer (e.g., money).

Generalised reinforcer

A secondary reinforcer that is effective for many behaviours because it is exchangeable for multiple primary reinforcers (e.g., money, prestige).

Positive reinforcement

Increasing a behaviour by presenting a pleasant stimulus after the response.

Negative reinforcement

Increasing a behaviour by removing or avoiding an unpleasant stimulus after the response.

Punishment

A consequence that decreases the probability of the behaviour it follows.

Fixed-ratio schedule

Reinforcement delivered after a set number of responses.

Variable-ratio schedule

Reinforcement delivered after a varying number of responses around an average; produces high, steady response rates.

Fixed-interval schedule

Reinforcement given for the first response after a fixed time period has elapsed.

Variable-interval schedule

Reinforcement given for the first response after varying time intervals; produces steady, moderate responding.

Shaping

Gradually guiding behaviour toward a desired goal by reinforcing successive approximations.

Chaining

Teaching a sequence of behaviours by reinforcing each response with the opportunity to perform the next response.

Three-term contingency

In operant conditioning, the relation between discriminative stimulus, behaviour, and consequence (S-R-C).

Avoidance learning

Acquisition of a response that prevents an unpleasant stimulus from occurring.

Learned helplessness

A state in which experience with uncontrollable events leads to passive behaviour and difficulty learning avoidance responses.

Latent learning

Learning that occurs without obvious reinforcement and is not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so.

Insight learning

Sudden realisation of a problem’s solution without trial-and-error; associated with Köhler’s work on apes.

Observational learning (social learning)

Learning by watching and imitating the behaviour of others; highlighted by Bandura’s Bobo-doll studies.

Implicit learning

Acquisition of complex information without conscious awareness of what has been learned.

Explicit learning

Learning that is intentional and accompanied by conscious awareness of what is being learned.

Memory

The capacity of the nervous system to encode, store, transform, organise, and retrieve information.

Encoding

Processes that convert information into a form usable for storage.

Storage

Retention of encoded information over time.

Retrieval

Bringing stored information back into conscious awareness.

Sensory memory

Brief storage of sensory information in modality-specific registers (iconic, echoic, etc.).

Iconic memory

Visual sensory memory lasting about 0.5–1 s.

Echoic memory

Auditory sensory memory lasting roughly 2–10 s.

Short-term memory (STM)

A limited-capacity store that holds information for seconds without rehearsal.

Working memory

A dynamic system for temporary storage and manipulation of information required for complex tasks such as reasoning and comprehension.

Phonological loop

Working-memory subsystem that maintains and rehearses verbal information.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Working-memory subsystem that temporarily stores visual and spatial information.

Central executive

Attention-like component of working memory that allocates resources, shifts strategies, and inhibits distractions.

Episodic buffer

Working-memory component that binds information from different sources into integrated episodes and interfaces with long-term memory.

Long-term memory (LTM)

Relatively permanent and unlimited storehouse of the memory system.

Declarative memory

LTM subsystem for conscious recollection of facts (semantic) and events (episodic).

Non-declarative memory

Implicit LTM for skills, habits, priming, and conditioning, not requiring conscious recollection.

Episodic memory

Memory for personally experienced events, linked to specific times and places.

Semantic memory

General world knowledge, concepts, and facts independent of personal experience.

Priming

Improved processing of a stimulus due to prior exposure to that stimulus or a related one.

Procedural memory

Memory for how to perform actions and skills.

Recollection

Retrieval process involving conscious recall of contextual details about a prior event.

Familiarity

A feeling that an item was previously encountered without recalling contextual specifics.

Consolidation

Processes that stabilise and integrate a memory trace after initial acquisition.

Reconsolidation

The process by which reactivated memories become labile and can be modified before being stored again.

Interference

Forgetting caused by competition among memories (proactive or retroactive).

Mental lexicon

The mental store of word forms and their phonological, syntactic, and morphological properties.

Phonology

The sound system and pronunciation rules of a language.

Morphology

The study of word structure and formation.

Syntax

Rules governing how words are combined into phrases and sentences.

Semantics

The study of meaning in language.

Pragmatics

The study of language use in context and conversational rules.

Cohort model

Theory of spoken-word recognition in which initial phonemes activate a set (cohort) of candidate words, narrowed as more input arrives.

TRACE model

Interactive activation model of speech perception featuring bidirectional influences among feature, phoneme, and word levels.

N400

An event-related potential component linked to semantic processing and integration difficulty.

P600

An ERP component associated with syntactic reanalysis and integration.

Valence

The positivity or negativity of an emotional experience.

Arousal (emotion)

Physiological and psychological activation or intensity of emotion.

Circumplex model of affect

Russell’s two-dimensional representation of emotions along valence and arousal axes.

Basic emotion

One of a small set of universal, biologically based emotions with distinctive expressions (e.g., anger, fear, joy).

Amygdala

Limbic structure crucial for decoding emotional significance, especially in fear learning and emotional memory.

Facial feedback hypothesis

The proposal that facial muscle activity can influence emotional experience.

Appraisal

Cognitive evaluation of a situation’s relevance, implications, coping potential, and normative significance, thought to elicit emotion.

Component Process Model (Scherer)

Theory positing that emotions arise from sequential appraisals across relevance, implication, coping potential, and normative significance.

Drive

An internal state of tension that motivates behaviour aimed at reducing the tension (e.g., hunger, thirst).

Incentive

An external stimulus that pulls behaviour toward a goal because of anticipated positive outcomes.

Wanting

Motivational process reflecting the desire to obtain a reward; linked to dopaminergic systems.

Liking

Hedonic pleasure experienced when consuming a reward; partly independent from wanting.

Incentive-sensitisation theory

Robinson & Berridge’s view that repeated exposure to rewards (e.g., drugs) sensitises neural systems of wanting without necessarily increasing liking.

Opponent-process theory

Solomon’s idea that any affective reaction is followed by an opposite process that counteracts and can dominate with repetition.

Nucleus accumbens

Part of the ventral striatum central to reward processing and motivational salience.

Orbitofrontal cortex

Prefrontal region involved in evaluating the value of rewards and guiding decision making.

Yerkes–Dodson law (optimal arousal)

Principle that moderate levels of arousal lead to optimal performance; too little or too much impairs it.