PHB 101 Midterm Exam Study Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, research methods, biological bases of behavior, sleep, perception, learning principles, and cognitive psychology from the PHB 101 Midterm Study Guide.

Philosophy

The academic discipline that investigated matters of the mind before psychology emerged as an independent recognized discipline.

Hypothesis

A proposed explanation formulated within the scientific method that can be tested through experimentation.

Skinner box

An operant conditioning chamber used as an experimental apparatus to study the principles of operant conditioning.

Biological psychology

The subfield of psychology that explores how cellular changes and biological structures (such as the hippocampus) relate to behaviors and memory formation.

Case study

A research approach involving deep, observational interviews over an extended period of time with a small number of individual clients.

Naturalistic observation

An observational research method in which researchers watch and record behavior of individuals in their natural environments.

Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychology

A branch of psychology focused on the workplace, including identifying factors that make an employee best suited for a specific job.

PhD in psychology

The doctoral degree typically required for individuals who want to become a psychology professor at a 4-year college or university.

PsyD

A Doctor of Psychology degree that places less emphasis on empirical research and greater emphasis on the application of therapeutic skills.

Archival research

A research method that relies on looking at existing records and past data sets to answer a research question.

Longitudinal research

A research design that follows and gathers data from the same group of research participants over an extended period of time.

Survey

A research tool consisting of a structured list of questions developed by a researcher, often administered in paper or electronic form.

Attrition

The reduction in the number of research participants over time, which often complicates longitudinal research studies.

Positive correlation

A relationship between two variables wherein both variables move in the same direction, such as weight typically increasing as height increases.

Correlation coefficient strength

The magnitude of a relationship between two variables, indicated by absolute value closeness to $1.0$ regardless of sign (for example, $-.90$ indicates a stronger relationship than $+.80$).

Independent variable

The variable in an experiment that is controlled and directly manipulated by the experimenter.

Dependent variable

The variable in an experiment that represents the outcome data collected and statistically analyzed by the experimenter.

Operationalize

To define important research concepts by stating the specific measures and steps used to observe and measure them.

Placebo

An inactive substance or fake treatment administered to a control group to control for the effects of participant expectations.

Voluntary participation

The foundational ethical requirement that individuals must freely decide whether to participate in a research study.

Informed consent

A formal written document detailing study procedures, potential risks, and benefits that individuals must read and sign before participating in an experiment.

Genotype

The complete genetic makeup of an individual organism.

Phenotype

The observable physical characteristics and traits of an individual organism.

Epigenetics

The scientific field of study that focuses on genes and how environmental influences affect their expression.

Human chromosomes

The thread-like structures carrying genetic material, of which human biological cells contain $23$ pairs.

Somatic nervous system

The division of the peripheral nervous system that directs conscious, voluntary motor actions, such as moving your legs to walk.

Parasympathetic nervous system

The division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for calming the body and restoring a state of ease or relaxation.

Central nervous system

The primary division of the nervous system comprised exclusively of the brain and spinal cord.

Sympathetic nervous system activation

The activation of the autonomic fight-or-flight division, leading to physiological responses such as pupil dilation and increased heart rate.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

A medical imaging technique that utilizes strong magnetic fields to create detailed pictures of bodily tissues.

Pituitary gland

The primary endocrine gland that secretes messenger hormones to direct and regulate the functions of all other endocrine glands.

Sleep debt

A physiological consequence and cumulative state that occurs when there is a chronic deficiency in sleep.

Circadian rhythm

A biological cycle or pattern that recurs roughly once every $24\text{ hours}$.

Light-dark exposure

An environmental cue used by humans and animals to help reset and synchronize internal biological clocks.

Slow-wave sleep

A deep period of non-REM sleep characterized by high-amplitude, low-frequency delta waves, specifically identified as NREM stage 3 sleep.

NREM stage 2 sleep

A state of sleep specifically associated with the physiological markers of sleep spindles and K-complexes.

Latent content

According to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic perspective, the hidden, underlying psychological meaning of a dream.

Hypnosis

A focused state of heightened suggestibility and intense concentration that is most effective in individuals open to the power of suggestion.

Meditation

A mental practice of focused awareness that can be clinically helpful for pain management and stress control.

Perception

The psychological process by which raw sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced.

Electromagnetic spectrum

The broad range of all possible radiation waves, which includes radio waves, infrared light, and x-rays.

Timbre

The distinct acoustic quality or color of a sound wave influenced by its frequency, amplitude, and timing.

Conductive hearing loss

A form of hearing impairment caused by a mechanical failure in transmitting sound waves through the ear, which can often be treated using hearing aids.

Vestibular system

The sensory system composed of organs in the inner ear that contributes to balance, spatial orientation, and body posture.

Principle of proximity

A Gestalt principle of perception asserting that objects positioned close to one another tend to be grouped together mentally.

Principle of closure

A Gestalt organizational tendency to perceive incomplete or disconnected shapes as complete, unified objects.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior or knowledge that occurs as a direct result of experience.

Associative learning

A category of learning involving the mental linking of two events, primarily represented by classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning

A form of learning in which a conditioned stimulus or experience occurs prior to an involuntary behavior and becomes paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

Neutral stimulus

A stimulus that produces no initial specific automatic response in an organism prior to conditioning.

Model

In observational learning, an individual who performs a behavior that serves as a demonstration or example for an observer to copy.

Stimulus generalization

The tendency of a conditioned response to be evoked by stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus (such as Little Albert fearing other white furry objects).

Extinction

The progressive reduction and disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned response

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus, exemplified by the 'psychic secretions' (salivation) observed in Pavlov's dogs.

Negative punishment

An operant conditioning technique where a desirable stimulus is removed following a behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior recurring.

Bandura's Bobo doll study

A landmark observational learning experiment demonstrating that children who observed an aggressive adult model imitated that behavior by kicking and throwing the doll.

Modeling process steps

The exact four-step sequence required for effective observational learning: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.

Cognitive psychology

The branch of psychology dedicated to researching and understanding human thinking, memory, problem-solving, and language.

Script

A cognitive event schema that outlines an expected, routine sequence of actions in a specific situation.

Syntax

The grammatical set of rules and principles that dictates how words are arranged into coherent, meaningful sentences.

Morpheme

The smallest linguistic unit in a language that conveys distinct grammatical or semantic meaning.

Algorithm

A clear, step-by-step problem-solving formula that guarantees a correct outcome when followed properly.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut or general problem-solving framework that allows for efficient, quick decision-making.

Anchoring bias

A cognitive bias in which a person becomes disproportionately fixated on an initial piece of information or single trait when solving a problem.

Representative bias

A cognitive bias in which an individual makes quick judgments or decisions by relying on an unintentional, false stereotype.

Fluid intelligence

The capacity to see complex abstract relationships, process novel situations, and solve complex problems independent of acquired knowledge.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

A theory of intelligence including distinct domains such as spatial, linguistic, and musical, but excluding creative intelligence.

Learning disability

A cognitive impairment classified specifically as a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to process or communicate information.

Analytical intelligence

The form of intelligence used most prominently when evaluating, comparing, judging, or examining data sets to detect trends.

Test standardization and norming

The administrative process of evaluating a test on a representative sample to set scoring baselines, percentiles, and uniform administration rules.

Average IQ score

The designated mean score benchmark for a person demonstrating average intelligence on a standardized IQ test, defined as $100$.

Determinants of intelligence

The combined, interactive influence of multiple factors—principally genetics and environmental upbringing working together—that determines an individual's intellectual ability.

Long-term memory capacity

The storage system of memory whose total holding volume and duration are considered essentially limitless.

Three functions of memory

The three basic structural processing stages of human memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Self-referencing effect

The cognitive phenomenon where memory retention is substantially improved by making the study material personally meaningful to oneself.

Mnemonic devices

Structured memory aids and organizational strategies designed to help encode and efficiently retrieve complex information.