Studied by 3 people
culture
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, technology, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
emphasizes that biological, psychological (cognitive), and sociocultural factors combine and interact to produce behavior - including psychological disorders
Triangulation
comparison of at least two views or explanations of the same thing
Metacognition
thinking about thinking, assumptions, methods, goals
Schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Framing
the way an issue or a question is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments; 90% chance of living vs 10% chance of dying
Emotion
a response of the whole organism, involving 1) physiological arousal, 2) expressive behaviors, and 3) conscious experience
Reciprocity
the mutual or cooperative interchange of favors
Relative Deprivation
the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself
Subjective Well-Being
self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life, used along with measures of objective well-being (ex. physical/economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life
Adaptation-level Phenomenon
our tendency to form judgments (of sounds/lights/income) relative to a neutral level defined by prior experience
intrinsic motivation
a desire to perform behavior effectively for its own sake
Drive-Reduction Theory
the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
Homeostasis
A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level
The Halo Error
overall evaluation on appearance or friendliness; one trait
Approach-approach conflict
occurs when we face 2 attractive alternatives and selecting one means losing the other
avoidance-avoidance conflict
occurs when we must choose between two undesirable alternatives
approach-avoidance conflict
involves being attracted to and repelled by the same goal
Displacement (defense mech.)
defense mechanism that redirects anger towards a safer outlet
Projection
defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
Psychosexual stages
the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones
Trait
a characteristic of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as obsessed by self-report inventories and peer reports
spotlight effect
overestimating others noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunder (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)
passive-aggressive
a defense mechanism where the individual indirectly and unassertively expresses aggression towards another
Reciprocal Determinism
researched by Albert Bandura; the interacting influences between personality and environmental factors
External Locus of control
researched by Julian Rotter; the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one's personal control determine's one's fate
learned helplessness
researched by Marlin Seligman; the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
The Big 5 Factors (OCEAN)
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (emotional stability)
Regression
a defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
Freud's Iceberg Model
consciousness, preconscious, unconscious/superego, ego, ID
Congruence
consistency between self-perceptions and experience
Self-efficacy
researched by Albert Bandura; beliefs concerning one's ability to perform the behaviors needed to achieve desired outcomes; your personal control
Working memory
a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory
Automatic Processing
unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as time, space, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings
Spacing effect
the tendency for distributed study/practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
serial position effect
our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primary effect) items in a list
imagery
thoughts you can hear, see, smell, taste, or feel; includes memories, dreams, daydreams, plans, visions, fantasies
mental pictures, a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding
iconic memory
a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
long-term potentiation
an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulations; a neural basis for learning and memory
explicit memory
retention of facts/experiences that one can consciously know and 'declare' (aka declarative memory
priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response
proactive interference
the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information
retroactive interference
the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information
misinformation effect
occurs when misleading information has corrupted one's memory of an event
autobiographical memory
recollections of personally experienced events that make up the stories of our lives
overlearning
refers to continued rehearsal past the point of initial learning, and it significantly improves performance on memory tests
concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
prototype
a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to this provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)
algorithm
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics
Heuristic
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradicting evidence
functional fixedness
cognitive bias that limits a person to use an object only in the way it is traditionally used
Anchoring
the tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response towards that point
loss aversion
researched by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky; losing $100 produces a feeling of negativity that is more intense than the feelings of elation produced by a gain of $100
convergent thinking
conventional thinking; thinking directed toward a single correct solution
divergent thinking
thinking that produces many alternatives or ideas; creativity
script
a schema that unfolds in a regular or standardized order
Means-Ends Analysis
identify differences between the present situation and the desired goal, then make changes that will reduce the differences
Linguistic Determinism
Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think
displacement (language)
language allows us to communicate about events and objects that are not physically present
Surface Structure
consists of the symbols that are used and their order
Deep Structure
the underlying meaning of the combined symbols
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
an innate biological mechanism that contains the general grammatical rules common to all languages
Semantic Drift
the tendency for words' meaning to morph gradually over time to the point that the distance between the original meaning and the current one can be quite striking; silly used to mean blessed
semantic broadening
the development over time of a words' meaning into one more general; bird once referred to small birds but now refers to all birds
semantic narrowing
the development over time of a words' meaning into one more specific; hound used to refer to all dogs but now only refers to a subset of them
semantic overlap
the range that words share in common in contrast to how they are specifically different; intelligence, skill, and wisdom share a common core and have their own exact definition
Esperanto
the most successful of the many artificial languages; created by Ludwig Zamenhof
critical-age hypothesis
the ability to acquire language flawlessly decreases sharply after puberty; referred to extensively by the Chomskyan school as evidence that the ability to learn language is innately specified
Pidgin
-a makeshift, reduced version of a language used by people with little need or inclination to master the language itself, usually for purposes of trade
-if used as an everyday language, it can form grammar and become a real language, a creole
-Derek Bickerton observed this process among the children of migrant workers in Hawaii, thus supporting Chomsky's theory that grammar is innate
Creole
the result of the expansion of a reduced version of a language (a pidgin) into a full language
habituation
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner
Maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
Assimilation
interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas
Accomodation
adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
conservation
the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects; Piaget believed this to be a part of concrete operational reasoning
theory of mind
people's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict
attachment
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
critical period
an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development
imprinting
Konrad Lorenz; the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
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
authoritarian parents
assertion of parental power without warmth; rejecting relationship
authoritative parents
demanding, but caring; good child-parent communication
indulgent parents
warm towards child, but lax in setting limits
neglecting parents
indifferent and uninvolved with child
zone of proximal development
the difference between what a child can do independently and what the child can do with assistance from adults or more advanced peers
The Expectancy-Violation Procedure
Renee Bajilargeon; used to research infants; we look at the unusual because we are surprised and curious
temperament
a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
Heritability
The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.
interaction
the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)
testosterone
the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period, and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty
gender role
a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for males or for females
gender identity
our sense of being male, female, or some combination of the two
gender-typing
the acquistion of a traditional masculine or feminine role
Note 
Flashcard (24)