CED Terms for EBQs

Flashcards for EBQ terms sheet review

Limbic System

Parts of the brain connected to emotions and memory.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that transmit signals across a synapse.

Neurons

Basic building block of the nervous system; nerve cell.

Central Nervous System

Brain and spinal cord.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.

Plasticity

The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

Brain Scans

Techniques used to view the brain (EEG and fMRIs).

Four Lobes of the Brain

Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The frontal lobe is associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem-solving.

Sleep States

Stages of consciousness during sleep, including REM and non-REM stages.

Sensation (Transduction)

The process of converting one form of energy into another that your brain can use.

Twin Studies

Studies that examine the relative contributions of genes and environment to behavior.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Encoding

The processing of information into the memory system.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Top-Down Processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Bottom-Up Processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Heuristics

Simple thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

Divergent Thinking

Expands the range of possible problem solutions.

Cognitive Bias

A systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment.

Meta-cognition

Thinking about thinking.

Intelligence/IQ

Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Alzheimer's/Forgetting

A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning.

Nature-Nurture

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

Teratogens

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

Cross-Sectional Study

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Longitudinal Study

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Piaget's Cognitive Development

The theory that children construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive development.

Language Development (Critical Period)

The period when a child is most ready to learn a particular language.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.

Parenting Styles

Different approaches to raising children.

Temperament

A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Social Learning Theory/Models

Learning by observing others.

Locus of Control (Internal vs. External)

The belief that the outcome of our actions depends on what we do.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Attribution

The theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition.

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

Underestimating the impact of the situation and overestimating the impact of someone's personal disposition.

Norms

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Stereotyping

A generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation among the members.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members.

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

In-group/Out-group

Us vs. them.

Social Trap

A situation in which a group of people act to obtain individual short-term gains, which in the long run leads to a loss for the group as a whole.

Arousal

A state of physical and psychological activation.

Self-Efficacy/Self-Esteem

One's sense of competence and effectiveness.

Self-Actualizing Tendency

The motivation to fulfill one's potential.

Emotion/Emotional Stability

A response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.

Theories of Motivation

Theories that explain what drives our behavior.

Kurt Lewin's Conflicts

Approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance, and multiple approach avoidance conflicts.

DSM

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

Positive Psychology

The scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Stress (Eustress vs. Distress)

The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Resilience

The personal strength that helps most people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma.

Stigma

A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.

The 3 Ds

Dysfunction, distress, and deviance.

Depression (MDD)

A prolonged feeling of helplessness, hopelessness, and sadness.

Anxiety

Vague feeling of apprehension or nervousness.

Empathy

The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Personality Disorders

Inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.

Therapy

Treatment methods aimed at making people feel better and function more effectively.

Fight, Flight, Freeze Response

The body's natural reaction to danger.