General Psychology: Thinking & Intelligence, Lifespan Development, and Social Psychology

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core principles, empirical findings, and foundational theories of Chapter 7 (Thinking & Intelligence), Chapter 9 (Lifespan Development), and Chapter 12 (Social Psychology).

Concept

An idea that represents a class or group of objects, events, or activities that share common characteristics or attributes, allowing for the identification of new objects or events.

Formal Concept (Artificial Concept)

A concept formed by learning specific rules or defining properties that must be met, often acquired in school (e.g., geometric quadrilateral shapes).

Natural Concept

A concept formed as a result of real-world experiences, defined by a general set of features rather than rigid rules, where not all features must be present in every member (e.g., dogs, birds, fruits).

Prototype

A representative example that closely resembles the common features and defining characteristics of a category, often being the first example that comes to mind.

Prototype Theory

The theory proposing that the human mind constructs a prototypical "best example" of a category against which new items are compared as "good" or "bad" members.

Schema

A mental collection of related concepts that organizes incoming information and allows the brain to process situations and make assumptions more efficiently.

Role Schema

A set of expectations and mental collections regarding how individuals occupying specific social positions or roles are expected to behave (e.g., a student in a classroom).

Event Schema (Cognitive Script)

A mental script specifying the expected sequence of actions and behaviors in a given routine or social setting (e.g., ordering food at a restaurant or boarding an elevator).

Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs)

Stable, trait-like, and enduring beliefs regarding oneself and the world rooted in early childhood experiences that can contribute to the development and maintenance of psychological disorders.

Heuristic

An educated guess, rule of thumb, or cognitive shortcut based on past experience that narrows down potential problem solutions.

Representativeness Heuristic

A cognitive shortcut used when estimating probability by assessing how closely an event, person, or object matches an existing mental prototype.

Base Rate Fallacy

The tendency to ignore or underweight statistical base rates and prior odds in favor of vivid or highly specific descriptive details.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut estimating the likelihood or frequency of an event based on the ease with which relevant examples or instances are brought to mind.

Hindsight Bias

The cognitive bias that leads individuals to view an event as having been predictable after it has occurred, commonly termed the "knew it all along" phenomenon.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and focus on information that confirms existing hypotheses or beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.

Mental Set

The tendency to persist in using problem-solving strategies and habits that have been successful in the past, rather than exploring alternative approaches.

Functional Fixedness

A specific type of mental set characterized by the inability to view an object or tool beyond its traditionally designated function.

Convergent Thinking

A mode of thought directed toward determining a single correct, well-established answer to an established problem using logic and prior knowledge.

Divergent Thinking

A form of creative thought in which an individual starts from a single point and generates multiple unique possibilities or diverse solutions.

Spearman's g Factor

General intelligence factor representing broad intellectual ability to reason, solve problems, and perform across diverse cognitive domains.

Spearman's s Factor

Specific intelligence factor representing an individual's unique ability to excel within a specific domain or task.

Fluid Intelligence

The innate cognitive capacity to reason, think abstractly, and solve novel problems independently of acquired formal education or cultural experience.

Crystallized Intelligence

The accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and intellectual abilities gained through life experience, education, and cultural learning.

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Robert Sternberg's intelligence framework positing three distinct cognitive facets: Analytic intelligence, Creative intelligence, and Practical intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to accurately perceive emotions, understand how they evolve, manage emotional states across situations, and utilize affective information to guide thinking.

Reliability

The extent to which an assessment tool demonstrates internal consistency and produces repeatable, stable scores across repeated administrations.

Validity

The degree to which a test, measurement tool, or experimental design accurately measures what it was constructed to measure.

Standardization

The practice of establishing uniform testing conditions, administration methods, and scoring procedures so results can be evaluated consistently.

Norming

The administration of an assessment to a large representative sample to establish baseline comparison data across demographic or age cohorts.

Intelligence Quotient (Historical Formula)

The metric originally defined by Binet and Simon computed via the formula $\text{IQ} = \left(\frac{\text{Mental Age}}{\text{Chronological Age}}\right) \times 100$.

Intellectual/Developmental Disorder (Diagnostic Criterion)

A condition characterized by a Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) score of $69$ or below coupled with significant impairment in two or more everyday adaptive functioning abilities.

Giftedness (IQ Criterion)

A cognitive status designated by a Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) score above $130$, placing an individual at least two standard deviations above the population mean of $100$.

Phoneme

The smallest distinctive sound unit in a spoken language that distinguishes one word from another (e.g., the distinct phonemes in "bat" or "chat").

Morpheme

The smallest grammatical unit of meaning in a language, including prefixes, root words, and suffixes (e.g., "pre-", "view", "-ed").

Syntax

The grammatical rules governing how words and phrases must be structured and ordered to create grammatically correct, sensible sentences.

Semantics

The set of linguistic rules utilized to determine the meaning of individual words, morphemes, and entire sentences.

Pragmatics

The practical and social aspects of human communication, encompassing conversational turn-taking, contextual appropriateness, and intonation.

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

The linguistic and cognitive proposal (associated with Vygotsky) that the structural characteristics of the specific language one speaks determine or influence the nature of one's thoughts.

Cognitive Universalism

Piaget's theoretical view that cognitive concepts are fundamentally universal across all human beings and actively guide the developmental emergence of language.

Developmental Psychology

The branch of psychology dedicated to evaluating patterns of growth, stability, and change occurring across physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains throughout the human lifespan.

Continuous Development

The perspective that developmental change occurs gradually and cumulatively over time, characterized by quantitative improvements (e.g., physical growth).

Discontinuous Development

The perspective that development unfolds in unique, qualitatively distinct stages at specific chronological ages (e.g., cognitive ability changes).

Teratogen

Any physical, chemical, or biological environmental agent capable of causing congenital malformations, damage, or death to an embryo or fetus.

Rooting Reflex

An involuntary neonatal survival reflex in which an infant automatically turns their head and opens their mouth toward a light tactile touch applied to their cheek.

Moro Reflex

An infant startle response triggered by a sensation of falling or sudden loss of support, marked by spreading the arms outward and pulling them back toward the torso.

Fine Motor Skills

Motor capacities coordinating small muscle groups in the fingers, hands, toes, and eyes to execute precise, coordinated actions.

Gross Motor Skills

Locomotor and stabilization capacities engaging large muscle groups in the arms, legs, and trunk to execute large body movements such as crawling, walking, and jumping.

Synaptic Pruning

A neurodevelopmental process wherein unused or redundant neural synaptic connections are eliminated between early childhood and sexual maturity to boost neural processing efficiency.

Theory of Mind (TOM)

The cognitive capability, developing around $4\text{--}5$ years of age, to comprehend that other people possess thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and perspectives divergent from one's own.

Critical Period

A strict biological time window during which specific environmental experiences must occur for an organism to develop normal functional and behavioral capacities.

Sensitive Period

A developmental window of heightened neuroplasticity during which the brain is particularly responsive to environmental stimulation (such as second-language acquisition).

Assimilation

Jean Piaget's term for the cognitive process of incorporating new objects, events, or experiences directly into an existing conceptual schema without changing the schema.

Accommodation

Jean Piaget's term for the cognitive process of altering, restructuring, or creating an existing schema in response to novel environmental input that does not fit.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's initial cognitive developmental stage spanning ages $0\text{ to }2$ years, wherein children explore the physical world through sensory perception and motor activity.

Object Permanence

The developmental milestone achieved during the sensorimotor stage wherein an infant understands that physical items continue to exist even when hidden from sensory view.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's second developmental stage spanning ages $2\text{ to }7$ years, marked by symbolic representation and language emergence alongside egocentrism and centration.

Egocentrism

The cognitive limitation characteristic of the preoperational child to perceive, interpret, or comprehend the world from any perspective other than their own.

Centration

The preoperational cognitive limitation of focusing entirely on a single perceptual dimension of a problem while completely neglecting other relevant dimensions.

Conservation

The cognitive awareness that changing the physical form or perceptual appearance of an object or substance does not alter its volume, mass, or quantity.

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget's third developmental stage spanning ages $7\text{ to }11$ years, wherein children master logical operations, conservation, and mental reversibility applied to concrete objects.

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget's final cognitive stage beginning at approximately age $12$, characterized by systematic abstract logic, deductive problem-solving, and hypothetical reasoning.

Scaffolding

Lev Vygotsky's pedagogical construct describing instructional support provided by a skilled mentor that is progressively calibrated and removed as the learner gains independence.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's developmental range measuring the gap between what an individual can independently achieve versus what they can accomplish under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher.

Pre-Conventional Morality

The initial moral level in Lawrence Kohlberg's framework where behavioral choices are governed by external physical consequences (avoiding punishment and securing self-serving trades).

Conventional Morality

The secondary moral level in Kohlberg's framework where judgments are anchored in securing interpersonal approval, pleasing peers, and obeying social laws.

Post-Conventional Morality

The tertiary moral level in Kohlberg's framework where morality is derived from autonomous ethical convictions, societal contracts, universal human rights, and abstract justice.

Attachment

An enduring, emotional reciprocal bond established between an infant and caregiver that offers a secure foundation for exploration and comfort.

Secure Attachment

An infant attachment style characterized by distress upon parental departure, enthusiastic greeting and calming upon parental return, and reliance on the parent as a secure base.

Avoidant Attachment

An insecure infant attachment style wherein the child displays minimal outward distress when separated from the caregiver and actively ignores or avoids them upon return.

Ambivalent Attachment

An insecure attachment pattern marked by extreme distress upon separation and mixed, contradictory behaviors (clinging accompanied by angry resistance) upon caregiver reunion.

Contact Comfort

The innate emotional and physiological need for comforting physical touch and tactile reassurance, identified by Harry Harlow's experiments with infant rhesus macaques.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style blending high responsiveness with high demandingness, establishing clear expectations while showing warmth, open communication, and reasonable flexibility.

Authoritarian Parenting

A restrictive parenting style emphasizing strict behavioral compliance, cold emotional interaction, unquestioned parental power, and harsh disciplinary punishment.

Permissive Parenting

A highly affectionate and responsive parenting style that imposes few behavioral constraints, demands, or discipline, adopting the stance of a friend rather than a director.

Uninvolved Parenting

A neglectful and dismissive caregiving style defined by minimal demands, low emotional responsiveness, and fundamental detachment from the child's developmental needs.

Psychosocial Theory

Erik Erikson's eight-stage model positing that psychological development across the entire human lifespan is driven by the resolution of successive core psychosocial challenges.

Social Psychology

The scientific discipline studying how individuals' thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of other people.

Conformity

The modification of a person's behavior, attitudes, or beliefs to align with group standards or expectations, even when the individual privately disagrees.

Asch Effect

The experimental demonstration (Solomon Asch) showing that social pressure from a unanimous majority can compel individuals to conform to obviously incorrect perceptual judgments.

Groupthink

A dysfunctional group decision-making process wherein members' drive for social consensus and cohesion overrides objective, critical appraisal of realistic alternative solutions.

Persuasion

The intentional process of guiding an audience toward adopting an altered attitude, belief, or behavior via communicative messages.

Central Route to Persuasion

A persuasion process occurring when motivated, analytical audiences engage in deep cognitive processing of factual arguments, producing stable, enduring attitude modification.

Peripheral Route to Persuasion

A persuasion process occurring when unmotivated or distracted listeners evaluate messages using superficial external cues (e.g., celebrity endorsement), leading to temporary changes.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

A persuasion method whereby securing an individual's initial agreement to an insignificant, small request significantly raises the probability of their compliance with a larger subsequent request.

Door-in-the-Face Technique

A compliance strategy wherein an extreme, predictably refused request is followed immediately by a smaller, more moderate concession that was the persuader's true target.

Lowball Technique

A manipulative compliance tactic wherein a favorable initial commitment is agreed upon before the persuader changes the terms, adds costs, or reduces benefits before finalizing the deal.

Milgram's Obedience Study

Stanley Milgram's classic experimental paradigm examining how ordinary individuals comply with explicit directives from an authoritative figure to inflict apparent severe electric shocks on another human.

Cognitive Dissonance

The psychological discomfort and emotional tension experienced when an individual holds contradictory attitudes, or when their observable behavior conflicts with their stated beliefs.

Attribution

The cognitive process of inferring explanations, motives, and causes underlying the observed behaviors of other people or oneself.

Situational Attribution

Explaining actions and outcomes by pointing to external environmental context, luck, task difficulty, or temporary physical surroundings.

Dispositional Attribution

Explaining actions and outcomes by pointing to internal personal qualities, personality traits, character flaws, or biological motives.

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

The persistent human bias to overestimate internal dispositional factors while underestimating external situational forces when judging the behavior of others.

Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute one's own behavioral actions to situational constraints while simultaneously attributing other people's identical behaviors to their internal dispositions.

Bystander Effect

The social psychological phenomenon wherein the presence of passive bystanders reduces the probability and speed with which any single individual offers help during an emergency.

Diffusion of Responsibility

A sociopsychological phenomenon in which individuals in a group feel diminished personal obligation to act because responsibility is perceived to be shared among all witnesses.

Deindividuation

A psychological state characterized by diminished self-awareness and reduced personal responsibility that occurs when immersion in a group setting provides subjective anonymity.

Social Identity Model of Deindividuation

A theoretical model proposing that deindividuated states do not destroy personal regulation, but rather shift an individual's behavioral governance from personal identity to the immediate local group norms.

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The theoretical formulation stating that aggressive behavior is inevitably produced as a direct behavioral response whenever purposeful, goal-directed behavior is blocked.