Kaarten: Introduction psychology | Quizlet

amygdala

A brain structure that serves a vital role in learning to associate things with emotional responses and in processing emotional information.

autonomic nervous system (ANS)

A component of the peripheral nervous system; it transmits sensory signals and motor signals between the central nervous system and the body's glands and internal organs.

basal ganglia

A system of subcortical structures that are important for the planning and production of movement.

brain stem

An extension of the spinal cord; it houses structures that control functions associated with survival, such as heart rate, breathing, swallowing, vomiting, urination, and orgasm.

cerebellum

A large, convoluted protuberance at the back of the brain stem; it is essential for coordinated movement and balance.

cerebral cortex

The outer layer of brain tissue, which forms the convoluted surface of the brain; the site of all thoughts, perceptions, and complex behaviors.

endocrine system

A communication system that uses hormones to influence thoughts, behaviors, and actions.

heritability

A statistical estimate of the extent to which variation in a trait within a population is due to genetics.

hippocampus

A brain structure that is associated with the formation of memories.

hypothalamus

A brain structure that is involved in the regulation of bodily functions, including body temperature, body rhythms, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels; it also influences our basic motivated behaviors.

insula

The part of the cerebral cortex lying inside the lateral fissure; important for taste, pain, perception of bodily states, and empathy

occipital lobes

Regions of the cerebral cortex—at the back of the brain—important for vision.

parasympathetic division

A division of the autonomic nervous system; it returns the body to its resting state.

parietal lobes

Regions of the cerebral cortex—in front of the occipital lobes and behind the frontal lobes—important for the sense of touch and for attention to the environment.

peripheral nervous system (PNS)

All nerve cells in the body that are not part of the central nervous system. The peripheral nervous system includes the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.

pituitary gland

A gland located at the base of the hypothalamus; it sends hormonal signals to other endocrine glands, controlling their release of hormones.

prefrontal cortex

The frontmost portion of the frontal lobes, especially prominent in humans; important for attention, working memory, decision making, appropriate social behavior, and personality.

reuptake

The process whereby a neurotransmitter is taken back into the presynaptic terminal buttons, thereby stopping its activity

somatic nervous system (SNS)

A component of the peripheral nervous system; it transmits sensory signals and motor signals between the central nervous system and the skin, muscles, and joints.

sympathetic division

A division of the autonomic nervous system; it prepares the body for action.

temporal lobes

Regions of the cerebral cortex—below the parietal lobes and in front of the occipital lobes—important for processing auditory information, for memory, and for object and face perception.

thalamus

The gateway to the brain; it receives almost all incoming sensory information before that information reaches the cortex.

activation-synthesis hypothesis

A hypothesis of dreaming proposing that the brain tries to make sense of random brain activity that occurs during sleep by synthesizing the activity with stored memories.

endogenous attention

attention that is directed voluntarily

exogenous attention

attention that is directed involuntarily by a stimulus

priming

A facilitation in the response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that stimulus or a related stimulus.

absolute threshold

the minimum intensity of stimulation that must occur before you experience a sensation

binocular disparity

A depth cue; because of the distance between the two eyes, each eye receives a slightly different retinal image.

bottom-up processing

Perception based on the physical features of the stimulus.

convergence

A cue of binocular depth perception; when a person views a nearby object, the eye muscles turn the eyes inward.

difference threshold

The minimum amount of change required to detect a difference between two stimuli.

motion parallax

A monocular depth cue observed when moving relative to objects, in which the objects that are closer appear to move faster than the objects that are farther away.

top-down processing

The interpretation of sensory information based on knowledge, expectations, and past experiences.

transduction

The process by which sensory stimuli are converted to neural signals the brain can interpret.

acquisition

The gradual formation of an association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.

equipotentiality

The principle that any conditioned stimulus paired with any unconditioned stimulus should result in learning.

extinction

A process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned stimulus

law of effect

Thorndike's general theory of learning: Any behavior that leads to a "satisfying state of affairs" is likely to occur again, and any behavior that leads to an "annoying state of affairs" is less likely to occur again. Or, the likelihood of the occurrence of a behavior is influenced by its consequences.

partial reinforcement

A type of learning in which behavior is reinforced intermittently

partial-reinforcement extinction effect

The greater persistence of behavior under partial reinforcement than under continuous reinforcement.

reinforcer

A stimulus that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated.

Rescorla-Wagner model

A cognitive model of classical conditioning; it holds that learning is determined by the extent to which an unconditioned stimulus is unexpected or surprising.

temporal discounting

The tendency to discount the subjective value of a reward when it is given after a delay

vicarious learning

Learning the consequences of an action by watching others being rewarded or punished for performing the action.

anterograde amnesia

A condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories.

consolidation

The gradual process of memory storage in the brain.

cryptomnesia

A type of misattribution that occurs when people think they have come up with a new idea yet have retrieved a stored idea and failed to attribute the idea to its proper source.

encoding specificity principle

the idea that any stimulus that is encoded along with an experience can later trigger a memory for the experience

episodic memory

Memory for one's past experiences that are identified by a time and place.

explicite memory

Memory that is consciously retrieved.

implicit memory

Memory that is expressed through responses, actions, or reactions.

long-term potentiation (LTP

Strengthening of a synaptic connection, making the postsynaptic neurons more easily activated by presynaptic neurons.

memory bias

The changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes.

proactive interference

Interference that occurs when prior information inhibits the ability to remember new information

procedural memory

A type of implicit memory that involves skills and habits.

prospective memory

Remembering to do something at some future time.

reconsolidation

The re-storage of memory after retrieval.

retrieval-induced forgetting

Impairment of the ability to recall an item in the future after retrieving a related item from long-term memory.

retroactive interference

Interference that occurs when new information inhibits the ability to remember old information.

retrograde amnesia

A condition in which people lose past memories, such as memories for events, facts, people, or even personal information.

semantic memory

Memory for facts independent of personal experience.

sensory memory

A memory system that very briefly stores sensory information in close to its original sensory form.

suggestibility

The development of biased memories from misleading information.

affective forecasting

the tendency for people to overestimate how events will make them feel in the future

analogical representations

mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects; they are analogous to the objects

anchoring

the tendency, in making judgments, to rely on the first piece of information encountered or information that comes most quickly to mind

aphasia

A language disorder that results in deficits in language comprehension and production.

cognition

The mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking.

crystallized intelligence

Intelligence that reflects both the knowledge acquired through experience and the ability to use that knowledge.

exemplar model

a way of thinking about concepts: all members of a category are examples (exemplars); together they form the concept and determine category membership

fluid intelligence

Intelligence that reflects the ability to process information, understand relationships, and think logically, particularly in novel or complex circumstances.

framing

In decision making, an emphasis on the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative.

linguistic relativity theory

the claim that language determines thought

prototype model

A way of thinking about concepts: Within each category, there is a best example—a prototype—for that category.

symbolic representations

abstract mental representations that do not correspond to the physical features of objects or ideas

accomidation

The process by which a new scheme is created or an existing scheme is drastically altered to include new information that otherwise would not fit into the scheme.

assimilation

The process by which new information is placed into an existing scheme.

dynamic systems theory

the view that development is a self-organizing process, in which new forms of behavior emerge through consistent interactions between a biological being and cultural and environmental contexts

inequity aversion

a preference to avoid unfairness when making decisions about the distribution of resources

theory of mind

The ability to understand that other people have mental states that influence their behavior.

balance theory

The idea that people are motivated to achieve harmony in their interpersonal relationships. A triad is balanced when the relationships are all the same direction or if two relationships are negative and one is positive

Cannon-Bard theory

A theory of emotion stating that information about emotional stimuli is sent simultaneously to the cortex and the body and results in emotional experience and bodily reactions, respectively.

cognitive dissonance

The unpleasant feeling of being aware of holding two conflicting beliefs or a belief that conflicts with a behavior.

display rules

Rules learned through socialization that dictate which emotions are suitable in given situations.

extrinsic motivation

Motivation to perform an activity because of the external goals toward which that activity is directed.

ideal affect

Emotional and affective states that people want to feel or that cultures especially value.

incentives

External objects or external goals, rather than internal drives, that motivate behaviors.

intrinsic motivation

Motivation to perform an activity because of the value or pleasure associated with that activity, rather than for an apparent external goal or purpose.

James-Lange theory

A theory of emotion stating that people perceive specific patterns of bodily responses and as a result of that perception feel emotion.

self-actualization

A state that is achieved when one's personal dreams and aspirations have been attained.

self-affirmation

A need for a sense of self that is coherent and stable.

self-efficacy

The belief that efforts toward a goal will result in success.

self-regulation

The process by which people direct their behavior toward the attainment of goals.

two-factor theory

A theory of emotion stating that the label applied to physiological arousal results in the experience of an emotion.

Yerkes-Dodson law

The psychological principle that performance on challenging tasks increases with arousal up to a moderate level. After that, additional arousal impairs performance.

actor/observer discrepancy

The tendency to focus on situations to explain one's own behavior but to focus on dispositions to explain other people's behavior.

altruism

Providing help when it is needed, without any apparent reward for doing so.

conformity

The altering of one's behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or to match other people's expectations.

elaboration likelihood model

The idea that persuasive messages lead to attitude changes in either of two ways: via the central route or via the peripheral route.

explicit attitudes

attitudes that a person can report