OpenStax Psychology 2e: Key Terms & Concepts

Comprehensive practice flashcards featuring foundational vocabulary, historical perspectives, neurobiological structures, learning principles, developmental stages, and clinical concepts from OpenStax Psychology 2e.

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and behavior.

Empirical method

A method for acquiring knowledge based on observation, including experimentation, rather than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities.

Structuralism

An early perspective developed by Edward Titchener from Wilhelm Wundt's work that focused on understanding conscious experience by breaking it down into its component parts through introspection.

Functionalism

An early psychological perspective pioneered by William James that focused on how mental activities and behaviors help an organism adapt and fit into its environment.

Behaviorism

A school of thought in psychology that focuses strictly on observing and controlling overt behavior while setting aside unobservable conscious mental processes.

Humanism

A psychological perspective championed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers that emphasizes the innate potential for good and personal growth in all humans.

Deductive reasoning

A form of logical thinking in which ideas and hypotheses are tested against empirical observations in the real world to reach specific conclusions.

Inductive reasoning

A form of logical thinking in which empirical observations of the real world are used to formulate broad generalizations and theories.

Falsifiable

A requirement of scientific hypotheses stating that they must be capable of being disproven by empirical evidence and experimental results.

Operational definition

A precise, objective description of the specific variables, actions, and operations used to measure and manipulate them in an experiment.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A committee of administrators, scientists, and community members charged with reviewing proposals for research involving human participants to ensure ethical standards are met.

Action potential

An all-or-none electrical impulse that travels down the axon of a neuron to the terminal buttons to trigger chemical communication.

Myelin sheath

A fatty substance produced by glial cells that encases axons, providing insulation and increasing the speed at which electrical signals travel.

Synaptic cleft

The small space between the terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite or receptor surface of an adjacent neuron where neurotransmitter transmission occurs.

Central nervous system (CNS)

The major division of the nervous system composed of the brain and the spinal cord.

Autonomic nervous system

The division of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary bodily functions, internal organs, and glands.

Sympathetic nervous system

The subdivision of the autonomic nervous system activated in response to stress or threats, coordinating the fight-or-flight response.

Corpus callosum

A thick band of neural fibers consisting of approximately 200 million axons that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres, facilitating communication between them.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

A major neuroendocrine system involving the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands that coordinates the body's physiological reactions to stress by releasing hormones such as cortisol.

Circadian rhythm

A biological rhythm that occurs over a cycle of approximately 24 hours, regulating physiological processes such as the sleep-wake cycle and body temperature fluctuations.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

A stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes under closed eyelids, brain waves similar to wakefulness, dreaming, and paralysis of voluntary muscles.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder in which an individual cannot resist falling asleep at inopportune times, frequently accompanied by cataplexy and hallucinations.

Absolute threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for a sensory system to detect it 50% of the time.

Sensory adaptation

The decrease in perception of a sensory stimulus when that stimulus remains constant and unchanging over an extended period of time.

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice an object or event that is completely visible within the visual field because attention is focused on something else.

Figure-ground relationship

A Gestalt principle stating that the visual field is segmented into the figure (the central object of focus) and the ground (the background).

Principle of closure

A Gestalt organizing principle stating that individuals perceive objects as complete shapes or wholes rather than as disconnected segments.

Classical conditioning

A learning process in which an organism associates an unconditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response.

Operant conditioning

A learning process in which voluntary behaviors are strengthened or weakened based on the consequences (reinforcements or punishments) that follow them.

Shaping

An operant conditioning procedure that involves reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior until the final desired behavior is mastered.

Latent learning

Learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement and remains hidden until there is a motivation or incentive to demonstrate it.

Schema

A cognitive mental construct consisting of a cluster of related concepts that allows the brain to organize and process information efficiently.

Functional fixedness

A form of cognitive bias and mental set where an individual cannot perceive an object as functioning for any purpose other than its intended design.

Triarchic theory of intelligence

Robert Sternberg's intelligence model dividing cognitive ability into three facets: analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.

Flynn effect

The empirical observation that standard intelligence quotient (IQ) scores have shown a significant increase with each successive generation.

Episodic memory

A subtype of explicit, declarative long-term memory that stores personally experienced life events, organized by temporal and spatial context.

Semantic memory

A subtype of explicit, declarative long-term memory that stores knowledge regarding language, words, general facts, and concepts.

Proactive interference

A memory retrieval failure that occurs when previously stored, older information hinders the recall of newly learned information.

Retroactive interference

A memory retrieval failure that occurs when newly acquired information hinders the recall of previously stored, older information.

Misinformation effect paradigm

A memory phenomenon identified by Elizabeth Loftus demonstrating that exposure to misleading post-event information can distort an individual's recollection of the original event.

Object permanence

The developmental milestone identified by Jean Piaget in which an infant realizes that objects continue to exist even when hidden from sight.

Conservation

The cognitive operational ability to understand that altering the physical appearance or shape of an object does not alter its volume, mass, or quantity.

Teratogen

Any biological, physical, or chemical environmental agent capable of causing structural or functional damage to a developing embryo or fetus.

Secure attachment

The healthiest attachment style identified by Mary Ainsworth in which a child uses the caregiver as a secure base to explore, shows distress during separation, and seeks comfort upon reunion.

Drive theory of motivation

A biological motivation model stating that deviations from homeostasis create physiological needs, generating psychological drive states that compel behavior to restore equilibrium.

Yerkes-Dodson law

A principle stating that task performance is optimal at moderate arousal levels, with simple tasks performed best under higher arousal and complex tasks under lower arousal.

James-Lange theory of emotion

A theory of emotion asserting that subjective emotional feelings arise as a consequence of the conscious perception of physiological arousal.

Five Factor Model

A dominant trait theory describing personality along five broad continuous dimensions: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN).

Locus of control

Julian Rotter's cognitive concept describing individuals' beliefs regarding whether outcomes in life are determined by internal efforts or external forces such as luck, chance, and others.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasize internal dispositional traits when explaining the behavior of others while neglecting the influence of situational forces.

Cognitive dissonance

The psychological and physiological discomfort experienced when holding contradictory cognitions, attitudes, or behaviors that conflict with one's self-image.

Hawthorne effect

The observed increase in worker performance and productivity that occurs when employees are aware they are being observed and given attention by supervisors or researchers.

General adaptation syndrome

Hans Selye's three-stage physiological model describing the body's nonspecific reaction to prolonged stress: alarm reaction, stage of resistance, and stage of exhaustion.

Diathesis-stress model

A psychological paradigm proposing that disorders result from an interaction between an underlying vulnerability (diathesis) and stressful environmental circumstances.

Comorbidity

The simultaneous co-occurrence of two or more distinct psychological or physical disorders within the same individual.

Counterconditioning

A behavior therapy technique grounded in classical conditioning in which a client learns a new, positive response to a stimulus that previously elicited fear or an undesirable behavior.