Unit 2 Vocabulary

For "Myers' Psychology for the AP Course, 4e" and will be updated as vocabulary lists are released from teacher.

Selective Attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Inattentional Blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change Blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness

Perceptual Set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Gestalt

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Figure-Ground

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

Grouping

the tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Depth Perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Visual Cliff

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Binocular Cue

a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

Convergence

a cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images

Retinal Disparity

a binocular Cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

Monocular Cue

a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Stroboscopic Movement

an illusion of continuous movement (as in a motion picture) experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images

Phi Phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Autokinetic Effect

the illusory movement of a still spot in light in a dark room

Perceptual Constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Color Constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Perceptual Adaptation

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Metacognition

cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes

Concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Prototype

a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a crow)

Schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Accommodation (in developmental psychology)

in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information

Creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

Convergent Thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Divergent Thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions

Executive Functions

cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior

Algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usual speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy—a mental shortcut—that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm

Insight

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Confirmation Bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Fixation

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; and obstacle to problem solving

Mental Set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit conscious reasoning

Representativeness Heuristic

judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may leaf us to ignore other relevant information

Availability Heuristic

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

Belief Perserverance

the persistence of one’s initial conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements

Nudge

framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions

Gambler’s Fallacy

the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently

Sunk Cost Fallacy

when people stick to a plan because they have already invested time in it even if switching to a new plan could save time. This can be used with other factors like money as well

Planning Fallacy

the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task