Pshycologygysg

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes, focusing on observable actions and private experiences like thoughts and feelings.

Critical thinking

Actively thinking, questioning, and evaluating evidence to draw conclusions.

Empirical method

Gaining knowledge through observation, data collection, and logical reasoning.

Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt's approach to identifying the basic elements of mental processes.

Functionalism

William James's approach emphasizing the purposes of the mind and behavior in adapting to the environment.

Natural Selection

Darwin's principle where organisms best adapted to their environment survive and reproduce.

Neuroscience

Scientific study of the brain and nervous system's role in behavior, thought, and emotion.

Psychodynamic approach

Focuses on unconscious thoughts, biological drives, and early experiences, pioneered by Sigmund Freud.

Humanistic approach

Emphasizes positive qualities, growth, and freedom of choice in individuals.

Sensation and Perception

Focuses on the physical systems and processes allowing us to experience the world.

Neurons

Nerve cells transmitting information within the nervous system.

Plasticity

The brain's ability to change.

Neural networks

Nerve cell networks integrating sensory input and motor output.

Central Nervous System

Includes the brain and spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System

Network of nerves connecting the brain and spinal cord to the body.

Stress

Individual responses to environmental stressors, involving corticosteroids and acute/chronic stress.

Sensory Receptors

Specialized cells detecting stimulus information and transmitting it to the brain.

Perception

Organizing and interpreting sensory information to make sense of the world.

Gestalt Psychology

School of thought on how people naturally organize perceptions into patterns.

Visual Cortex

Brain region involved in processing visual information.

Auditory Nerve

Nerve structure carrying sound information to the brain.

Difference Threshold

Minimum difference between two stimuli for detection.

Feature Detectors

Neurons responding to specific features of a stimulus.

Parallel Processing

Simultaneous distribution of information across neural pathways.

Subliminal Perception

Detecting information below conscious awareness.

Weber’s Law

The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be perceived as different.

Figure and Ground perceptual principle

Organizing the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (ground).

Retinal Disparity perceptual principle

Left and right fields of vision provide slightly different visual images when focusing on a single object.

Linear Perspective perceptual principle

Objects farther away take up less space on the retina, appearing smaller.

Texture gradient perceptual principle

Texture becomes denser and finer the further away it is from the view.

William James

Described the mind as a “stream of consciousness.”

Stream of consciousness

Mind as a continuous flow of changing sensations, images, thoughts, and feelings.

Metacognition

Process by which we think about thinking.

Consciousness

Awareness of external events and internal sensations under arousal.

Awareness

Part of consciousness including the self and thoughts about experiences.

Arousal

Psychological state of being engaged with the environment.

Reticular activating system

Network determining arousal, a part of consciousness.

Theory of mind

Understanding that individuals and others think, feel, perceive, and have private experiences.

Autism spectrum disorder

Neurodevelopmental disorder with deficits in social communication and interaction.

Higher level consciousness

Involves controlled processing, actively focusing on attaining a goal.

Lower level consciousness

Includes automatic processing and daydreaming.

Altered states of consciousness

Produced by drugs, trauma, fatigue, hypnosis, and sensory deprivation.

Subconscious awareness

Occurs when awake, sleeping, and dreaming.

No awareness

Freud’s belief that some unconscious thoughts are too laden with anxiety for consciousness.

Controlled processes

Most alert states of human consciousness, actively focusing on a goal.

Reasoning

The mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions.

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields a consistent, reproducible measure of performance.

Representativeness heuristic

The tendency to make judgments about group membership based on physical appearances or stereotypes.

Semantics

The meaning of words and sentences in a particular language.

Standardization

Developing uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test, and creating norms for the test.

Subgoals

Intermediate goals or problems that help in reaching a final goal or solution.

Syntax

A language’s rules for combining words to form acceptable phrases and sentences.

Thinking

The process of manipulating information mentally by forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions, and reflecting critically or creatively.

Triarchic theory of intelligence

Sternberg’s theory that intelligence comes in three forms:analytical, creative, and practical.

Validity

The soundness of conclusions drawn from an experiment or the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

False consensus effect

Observers’ overestimation of the degree to which everybody else thinks or acts the way they do.

Fundamental attribution error

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

Group polarization effect

The solidification and further strengthening of an individual’s position as a consequence of a group discussion or interaction.

Groupthink

The impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining group harmony.

Informational social influence

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

Investment model

A model of long-term relationships that examines the ways that commitment, investment, and the availability of attractive alternative partners predict satisfaction and stability in relationships.

Mere exposure effect

The phenomenon that the more individuals encounter someone or something, the more probable it is that they will start liking the person or thing even if they do not realize they have seen it before.

Microaggression

Everyday, subtle, and potentially unintentional acts that communicate bias to members of marginalized groups.

Normative social influence

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

Obedience

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

Coping

Managing taxing circumstances, expending effort to solve life’s problems, and seeking to master or reduce stress.

Problem focused coping

The coping strategy of squarely facing one’s troubles and trying to solve them.

Emotion focused coping

The coping strategy that involves responding to the stress that one is feeling—trying to manage one’s emotional reaction—rather than focusing on the root problem itself.

Positive reappraisal

Reinterpreting a potentially stressful experience as positive, valuable, or even beneficial.

Optimism

People with this trait engage with life from a place of strength can have a strong role in coping.

Hardiness

A personality trait characterized by a sense of commitment rather than alienation and of control rather than powerlessness; a perception of problems as challenges rather than threats.