GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY - UNIT 1 EXAM REVIEW

Acute stressors

Threatening events that have a relatively short duration and a clear endpoint, such as a car accident, a fight with a partner, or a jump scare.

Allostasis

The process to get back to homeostasis.

Allostatic load

The cumulative effects of the stress system being activated.

Behavioral Immune System

Psychological mechanism that promotes behavioral responses to inhibit contact with and transmission of infectious disease, causing disgust toward things like rotting food or dirty bathrooms.

Biopsychology

The study of how the brain and nervous systems impact psychology and human behavior; it is distinct from neuroscience.

Broca's area

An area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that controls language expression and directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Central Nervous System

The brain and spinal cord, housing our sensory input and motor output system.

Charles Darwin

Author of On the Origin of Species who proposed evolution by natural selection ("survival of the fittest") and studied finches.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that transmit signals in the nervous system.

Choice Stochasticity

How consistent or random someone's choices are.

Chronic stress effects

Long-term health issues resulting from persistent stress, including hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and neuron death in the hippocampus.

Chronic stressors

Sources of stress that occur continuously or repeatedly, such as being ill or homeless.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Correlational research

Studying the relationship between two variables using techniques such as surveys, ecological momentary assessments, and naturalistic observation.

Cortisol

A glucocorticoid stress hormone with a diurnal cycle, featuring an early morning spike known as the "cortisol awakening response."

Dependent variable

The measurable effect, outcome, or response in which the research is interested.

Distress

Negative stress.

Dogmatism

Holding a belief with such certainty that one refuses to entertain any alternatives.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter that influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion.

EEG (electroencephalogram)

A device that shows the brain's electrical activity by positioning electrodes over the scalp.

Emotional well-being

The ability to recognize, understand, and regulate emotions without being controlled by them.

Endorphins

Natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters ("morphine within") linked to pain control and pleasure.

Environmental well-being

Well-being that depends on comfort and satisfaction with the environment in which one lives and works.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge, with examples including the scientific method, math, and gut feelings.

Eustress

Positive stress.

Evolution

The process by which the genetic material of a population changes over time in response to the environment, driven by survival and reproduction.

Evolutionary Psychology

A field focusing on how evolution impacts human psychology (thoughts, feelings, and behaviors), examining topics like gender, sexuality, violence, and social hierarchies.

Executive functions

Higher order thinking processes that include planning, organizing, inhibition, and decision-making.

Experimental psychology

Applying scientific methods to further understanding of psychology.

Financial well-being

Managing money in ways that build a sense of understanding, competence, and control.

Floundering

The state of experiencing mental illness along with low mental health.

Flourishing

Optimal mental functioning.

FMRI

A form of magnetic resonance imaging of the brain that registers blood flow to functioning areas of the brain.

Glucocorticoids

Hormones meant to keep us alive by mobilizing energy for use.

Golden ratio of emotions

A $3:1$ ratio of positive to negative emotions, considered the general threshold for flourishing.

Hans Selye

Psychologist (1907-1982) who researched a recurring response to stress called the general adaptation syndrome.

Hippocampus

A brain structure associated with memory.

Homeostasis

A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state, regulating body chemistry around a particular level.

HPA axis

System where CRH generated in the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to produce ACTH, which stimulates the adrenal glands to synthesize cortisol.

Independent variable

The variable that is manipulated in an experiment.

Inhibition

The ability to stop ourselves from thinking or doing things.

Intellectual well-being

Gaining and using knowledge.

Languishing

A state characterized by a lack of engagement and apathy.

Motor output

The ability to respond to sensory input.

Neuroimaging

Using various technologies to produce images of the brain.

Occupational well-being

Personal satisfaction and enrichment derived from one's work.

Positive Psychology

The scientific study of human functioning, aiming to discover and promote strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities thrive.

Pro-inflammatory cytokines

Immune system chemical messengers that make us feel sick, which are more active when we are stressed.

Probability distortion

The cognitive phenomenon where people overestimate the likelihood of small probabilities and underestimate moderate and large probabilities.

Psychology

The scientific study of behaviors, feelings, and thoughts.

Regional specialization

The principle, discovered by Paul Broca, that the brain contains specific regions designated for specific tasks.

Resilience

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

Response inhibition

The suppression of a behavior that is inappropriate or no longer required.

SAM axis

Sympathetic adrenal medullary axis; the fight-or-flight system.

Sensory input

The ability to detect anything from the environment.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter affecting mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal, whose undersupply is linked to depression.

Snake detection hypothesis

The theory that humans evolved an enhanced ability to notice snakes more easily due to ancestral risk of snake bites.

Social well-being

A dimension of well-being consisting of coherence, integration, actualization, contribution, and acceptance by others.

Spiritual well-being

An interconnectedness between God or a higher power and other people.

Stressor

Anything that causes stress.

Frontal Lobe

The region of the human brain involved in thinking and personality.

Temporal Lobe

The region of the human brain responsible for memory.

Parietal Lobe

The region of the human brain responsible for processing most sensory info.

Occipital Lobe

The region of the human brain responsible for processing visual info.

Cerebellum

The part of the human brain responsible for life support functions.

Thought-action repertoire

The range or amount of thoughts and options an individual can generate.

Well-being

Feeling good about one's life; a judgement about the whole person in the whole life.