Introduction to Psychology

Behaviorism

The study of behavior

Cognitive psychology

The study of mental processes

Consciousness

Awareness of ourselves and our environment

Empiricism

The belief that knowledge comes from experience

Eugenics

The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits

Flashbulb memory

A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event

Functionalism

A school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness

Gestalt psychology

An attempt to study the unity of experience

Individual differences

Ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition, and development

Introspection

A method of focusing on internal processes

Neural impulse

An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate

Practitioner-Scholar Model

A model of training professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice

Psychophysics

Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli

Realism

A point of view that emphasizes the importance of the senses in providing knowledge of the external world

Scientist-practitioner model

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both research and clinical skills

Structuralism

A school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of conscious experience

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

The inability to pull a word from memory even though there is the sensation that word is available

Social psychology

Focuses on how we interact with and relate to others

Developmental psychology

The scientific study of development across a lifespan

Personality psychology

Focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique

Clinical psychology

The area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior

Forensic psychology

A branch of psychology that deals questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system

Biological psychology

Refers to the study of how the structure and function of the nervous system generate behavior

Allele

A specific version of a gene

Glial cells

Non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system that do not produce electrical impulses

The nucleus of the neuron is located in the___?

Soma

Between signals, the neuron membrane’s potential is held in a state of readiness, called the___?

Resting potential

Neuronal communication is often referred to as an___?

Electrochemical event

____is the space between the terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite of another neuron.

The synapse

The surface of the brain is known as the___

Cerebral cortex

The prominent sulcus is known as the ___

Longitudinal fissure

The frontal lobe is involved in___

Reasoning, motor control, emotion and language

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for____

Higher-level cognitive functioning

The Broca’s area is essential for ___

Language production

The brain’s parietal lobe is located___

Immediately behind the front lobe

The parietal lobe is involved in___

Processing information from the body’s senses

Somatosensory cortex is essential for___

Processing sensory information from across the body like touch, temperature, and pain

The temporal lobe is associated with___

Hearing, memory, emotion, and some aspects of language

___ is a sensory relay for the brain

The thalamus

The cerebellum receives___

messages from muscles, tendons and joints as well as controlling balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills

REM sleep is often referred to as___

Paradoxical sleep because of the combination of high brain activity and lack of muscle tone

Parasomnia is a group of___

Sleep disorders in which unwanted, disruptive motor activity and/or experiences during sleep play a role

A depressant is___

A drug that tends to suppress central nervous system activity

Stimulants are___

Drugs that tend to increase overall levels of neural activity

Opioids have_

Analgesic properties, meaning they decrease pain

Natural opioids are called___

Opiates

Hallucinogen is___

One class of drugs that results in profound alterations in sensory and perceptual experiences

Reflexes are___

A motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment

Instincts are___

Innates behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the change of seasons

Associative learning occurs___

When an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

The three basic learning processes are___

Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning

Classical conditioning is___

A process by which we learn to associate stimuli to anticipate events

Acquisition is known as___

The initial period of learning

Spontaneous recovery is___

The return of the previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

Stimulus discrimination is___

When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar

Habituation occurs when___

We learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change

In operant conditioning___

Organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence

Positive reinforcement

A desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior.

Negative reinforcement

An undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior

Positive reinforcement

Add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior

Negative reinforcement

Remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior

Recall means___

You can access information without cues.  

Recognition happens___

When you identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again

Relearning involves___

Learning information that you previously learned. 

The main job of the amygdala is___

To regulate emotions, such as fear and aggression. Also involved memory consolidation

The hippocampus is involved in___

Memory, specifically normal recognition memory as well as spatial memory

Arousal theory is the belief that___

Strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories

With anterograde amnesia___

People cannot remember new information but can remember information prior to the injury

Retrograde amnesia is___

A loss of memory for events that occurred prior to the trauma

Encoding failure is when___

Memory loss happens before the actual memory process begins

Transience means___

That memories can fade over time

Blocking means___

You can’t access stored information

Interference means___

Sometimes information is stored in our memory, but for some reason it is inaccessible

Proactive interference is when___

Old information hinders the recall of newly learned information

Retroactive interference happens when___

information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information

Repression is a process where___

Unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our conscious

The unconscious id direct impulses for___

Hunger, thirst and sex

Castration anxiety is when___

A boy is afraid his father will punish him for his feelings

Inferiority complex refers to a___

Person’s feeling that they lack worth and don’t measure up to the standards of others or society

Cognitive processes refer to___

All characteristics previously learned

Behavior refers to___

Anything that we do that may be rewarded or punished

Self-efficacy is___

Our level of confidence in our own abilities, developed through our social experiences

A cardinal trait is___

One that dominates your entire personality

Central traits are___

Those that make up our personalities like loyal and kind

Secondary traits are___

Those that are not quite as obvious or as consistent as central traits

Raymmond Cattell identified___

16 factors or dimensions of personality

Social psychology examines___

How people affect one another, and it looks at the power of the situation

Intrapersonal topics are those___

That pertain to the individual that include emotions and attitudes

Interpersonal topics are those___

That pertain to dyads and groups that include helping behavior, aggression and prejudice

Situationism is the view that___

Our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings

Dispositionism holds that___

Behavior is determined by the internal factors

An internal factor is___

An attribute of a person and includes personality traits and temperament

The actor-observer bias is the phenomenon of

attributing other people’s behavior to internal factors while attributing our own behavior to situational forces

Self-serving bias are those attributions that___

Enable us to see ourselves in favorable light

A social role is a pattern of behavior___

That is expected of a person in a given setting or group

A script is a person’s knowledge about___

The sequence of events expected in a specific setting

Attitude is___

evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object

Cognitive dissonance is described as___

Psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors or cognitions

Persuasion is the process of___

Hanging our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication

The Yale attitude change approach, which describes___

The conditions under which people tend to change their attitudes