psych final flashcards

Associative learning

Learning that occurs when an organism makes a connection, or an association, between two events.

Behaviorism

A theory of learning that focuses solely on observable behaviors, discounting the importance of mental activity such as thinking, wishing, and hoping.

Classical conditioning

Learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.

Conditioned response

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after conditioned stimulus–unconditioned stimulus pairing

unconditioned response

An unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus

unconditioned/neutral stimulus

A stimulus that produces a response without prior learning.

Habituation

Decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations

Law of effect

Thorndike’s law stating that behaviors followed by positive outcomes are strengthened and that behaviors followed by negative outcomes are weakened

Positive reinforcement

The presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior.

negative reinforcement

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior.

Positive punishment

The presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior

negative punishment

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior.

Observational learning

Learning that involves observing and imitating another’s behavior.

Shaping

Rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior

Anterograde amnesia

A memory disorder that affects the retention of new information and events

Retrograde amnesia

Memory loss for a segment of the past but not for new events.

Elaboration

The formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at any given level of memory encoding

Encoding

The first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage.

Episodic memory

The retention of information about the where, when, and what of life’s happenings—that is, how individuals remember life’s episodes.

Explicit/declarative memory

The conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events and, at least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated.

Flashbulb memory

The memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday events.

Implicit/nondeclarative memory

Memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience.

Long-term memory

A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time

Proactive interference

Situation in which material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material that was learned later.

retroactive interference

Situation in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlier

schema

A preexisting mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way individuals encode, make inferences about, and retrieve information.

Semantic memory

A person’s knowledge about the world, including their areas of expertise; general knowledge, such as of things learned in school, and everyday knowledge.

Sensory memory

Memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.

Short-term memory

Limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless the individual uses strategies to retain it longer

Storage

The retention of information over time and how this information is represented in memory.

Working memory

A combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow individuals to hold information temporarily as they perform cognitive tasks; a kind of mental workbench on which the brain manipulates and assembles information to guide understanding, decision making, and problem solving

Priming

The activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information better and faster.

Accommodation

An individual’s adjustment of schemas to include new information.

Assimilation

An individual’s incorporation of new information into existing knowledge

Insecure attachment

Infants do not use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore; instead, they experience their relationship with the caregiver as unstable and unreliable. The two types of insecure attachment are avoidant and anxious/ambivalent (also called preoccupied).

secure attachment

The ways that infants use their caregiver, usually their mother, as a secure base from which to explore the environment.

Temperament

An individual’s behavioral style and characteristic ways of responding

Authoritarian parenting

A restrictive, punitive style in which the parent exhorts the child to follow the parent’s directions.

Authoritative parenting

A parenting style that encourages the child to be independent but still places limits and controls on behavior.

Permissive parenting

A parenting style characterized by the placement of few limits on the child’s behavior.

Neglectful parenting

A parenting style characterized by a lack of parental involvement in the child’s life

Nature

A person’s biological inheritance, especially the person’s genes

Nurture

An individual’s environmental and social experiences.

resilience

A person’s ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times.

Androgynous

Having attributes that are typically associated with men and women.

Differences of sxual development (DSD)

Congenital conditions in which the development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical; sometimes called intersex conditions.

Gender

Social and cultural beliefs and expectations about what it means to be a boy/man or girl/woman and what kinds of behaviors and roles indicate masculinity or femininity (such as how the person looks, talks, and behaves).

Gender identity

A person’s deeply held personal sense of being a boy/man, girl/woman, both, neither, or fluid.

Sexuality

The ways people experience and express themselves as sexual beings.

Secondary sex characteristics

Traits that differ as a function of sex but are not part of the reproductive system; they include breasts and facial hair.

Gender roles

Roles that reflect the expectations for how people should think, act, and feel, depending on the gender they are perceived to be.

Social role theory

Eagly’s theory of gender development that, while acknowledging the physical differences between the men and women, argues that these differences color social expectations and create social structures that limit opportunities for both genders

Conditions of worth

The standards that the individual must live up to in order to receive positive regard from others.

Defense mechanisms

The Freudian term for tactics the ego uses to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Ego

The Freudian structure of personality that deals with the demands of reality

Humanistic perspectives

Theoretical views of personality that stress a person’s capacity for personal growth and positive human qualities

Id

The Freudian structure of personality consisting of unconscious drives; the individual’s reservoir of sexual energy.

Projective test

A personality assessment test that presents individuals with an ambiguous stimulus and asks them to describe it or tell a story about it—to project their own meaning onto the stimulus.

Psychodynamic perspectives

Theoretical views emphasizing that personality is primarily unconscious (beyond awareness).

Self-efficacy

The belief that one can accomplish a given goal or task and produce positive change.

Social cognitive perspectives

Theoretical views of personality emphasizing the influence of conscious awareness, beliefs, expectations, and goals.

Superego

The Freudian structure of personality that serves as the harsh internal judge of our behavior; what we often call conscience.

Unconditional positive regard

Rogers’s construct referring to the individual’s need to be accepted, valued, and treated positively regardless of the person’s behavior.

Burnout

A distressed psychological state in which a person experiences emotional exhaustion and little motivation for work

industrial and organizational psychology (I-O)

The field of psychology that applies the science of human behavior to work and the workplace.

Organizational culture

An organization’s shared values, beliefs, norms, and customs.

Organizational identity

Employees’ feelings of oneness with the organization and its goals

Role conflict

The kind of stress that arises when a person tries to meet the demands of more than one important life role, such as worker and mother.

Scientific management

The managerial philosophy that emphasizes the worker as a well-oiled machine and the determination of the most efficient methods for performing any work-related task.

Structured interview

A kind of interview in which candidates are asked specific questions that methodically seek to obtain truly useful information for the interviewer.

Actor-observer bias

a cognitive bias where people attribute their own actions to external, situational causes, while attributing others' behaviors to internal, dispositional factors

Attitudes

An individual’s opinions and beliefs about people, objects, and ideas—how the person feels about the world.

Cognitive dissonance

An individual’s psychological discomfort (dissonance) caused by having two inconsistent thoughts.

Conformity

A change in a person’s behavior to coincide more closely with a group standard.

obedience

Behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority.

Elaboration likelihood model

Theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route.

Fundamental attribution error

Observers’ overestimation of the importance of internal traits and underestimation of the importance of external situations when they seek explanations of an actor’s behavior.

informational social influence

The influence other people have on us because we want to be right.

normative social influence

The influence others have on us because we want them to like us.

Prejudice

An unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual’s membership in a group

Discrimination

An unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Social expectations that cause an individual to act in such a way that expectations are realized.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to take credit for one’s successes and to deny responsibility for one’s failures.

Stereotypes

A generalization about a group’s characteristics that does not consider any variations from one individual to another

Stereotype threat

An individual’s fast-acting, self-fulfilling fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about their group

Social identity theory

Tajfel’s theory that social identity, based on group membership, is a crucial part of self-image and a valuable source of positive feelings about oneself.

Deindividuation

The reduction in personal identity and erosion of the sense of personal responsibility when one is part of a group.

Fundamental attribution error

Observers’ overestimation of the importance of internal traits and underestimation of the importance of external situations when they seek explanations of an actor’s behavior.

DSM-5-TR

The text revision of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; the major classification of psychological disorders in the United States.

Anxiety disorders

Disabling (uncontrollable and disruptive) psychological disorders that feature motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations and thoughts.

 Depressive disorders

Psychological disorders in which the individual experiences depression—an unrelenting lack of pleasure in life.

Dissociative disorders

Psychological disorders that involve a sudden loss of memory or change in identity due to the dissociation (separation) of the individual’s conscious awareness from previous memories and thoughts.

Medical model

The view that psychological disorders are medical diseases with a biological origin.

Movement disorders

The unusual mannerisms, body movements, and facial expressions that are characteristic positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

Personality disorders

Chronic, maladaptive cognitive-behavioral patterns that are thoroughly integrated into an individual’s personality.

Neurodevelopmental disorders

A class of psychological disorders that typically appear in childhood and are traced to genetic differences, atypical brain development, or prenatal exposure to substances that adversely affect development.

Thought disorders

conditions affecting the ability to organize, process, and express thoughts, often characterized by disorganized speech, delusions, and hallucinations

Vulnerability-stress hypothesis or diathesis-stress model

Theory suggesting that preexisting conditions—such as genetic characteristics, personality dispositions, or experiences—may put a person at risk of developing a psychological disorder.