Comprehensive Psychology Review: Language, Intelligence, Motivation & Emotion, and Social Psychology

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental concepts, empirical theories, and key definitions across Language Development, Cognitive Intelligence, Motivation and Emotion, and Social Psychology.

Language

A written or oral system of communication that uses arbitrary symbols and governed rules to generate meaning.

Phoneme

The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language that can be combined to form words, such as the sound of /p/ or /b/; English contains approximately $40$ phonemes.

McGurk Effect

A perceptual phenomenon demonstrating that phoneme perception is multimodal, integrating both auditory and visual speech cues.

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in a language; it may exist as an independent word (free morpheme) or as a meaningful prefix or suffix (bound morpheme).

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

A primary measure of language sophistication calculated as the average number of free and bound morphemes produced per utterance.

Syntax

The system of grammatical rules governing the structure, arrangement, and order of words in phrases and sentences.

Semantics

The set of linguistic rules by which meaning is derived from morphemes, words, and sentences in a language.

Pragmatics

The social rules governing the effective and appropriate use of language in various contexts, including reciprocity, disclosure, and speech registers.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

An innate mental structure proposed by Noam Chomsky that guides and facilitates the acquisition of grammatical rules.

Fast Mapping

The cognitive process wherein young children rapidly acquire a novel word after minimal exposure by contrasting it with a familiar term.

Whole Object Constraint

The word-learning assumption that a novel label refers to an entire object rather than to one of its parts, textures, or properties.

Underextension

An early vocabulary error occurring when a child applies a word too restrictively to a single specific exemplar (e.g., using 'cat' only for the family cat).

Overextension

An early vocabulary error wherein a single word is applied too broadly to multiple distinct objects (e.g., using 'doggie' to refer to cats, cows, and squirrels).

Overregularization

A grammatical speech error wherein children apply standard rules of syntax to irregular word forms (e.g., producing 'foots', 'mouses', or 'swimmed').

Telegraphic Speech

Two-word utterances appearing between $18$ and $24$ months that preserve essential semantic words while omitting grammatical markers (e.g., 'More cookie!').

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A measure of cognitive ability originally defined by William Stern (1914) as $\text{IQ} = \left(\frac{\text{ma}}{\text{ca}}\right) \times 100$, where $\text{ma}$ is mental age and $\text{ca}$ is chronological age; contemporary standardized tests set the average population score to $100$.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

The most widely utilized intelligence test, comprising multiple subtests divided into verbal and performance (nonverbal) domains.

General Intelligence ($g$)

A single overarching cognitive factor proposed by Charles Spearman (1904) that underlies and accounts for shared variance across all specific mental abilities ($s$).

Savant Syndrome

A condition in which an individual with severe intellectual impairment demonstrates an extraordinary, highly developed specific skill (such as drawing or mathematical computation).

Fluid Intelligence

The biologically based capacity to think logically, reason abstractly, and solve novel problems independent of acquired schooling or cultural knowledge.

Crystallized Intelligence

The store of accumulated factual knowledge, verbal comprehension, and cognitive skills acquired through education and experience across the lifespan.

Heritability

The proportion of total observed variation in a trait within a specific population that can be attributed to genetic differences.

Flynn Effect

The observed worldwide generational increase in standardized intelligence test scores, rising at a rate of approximately $3$ points per decade.

Eugenics

A historical movement advocated by Francis Galton that sought to improve the genetic intellectual quality of the human population through selective breeding and reproductive restrictions.

Lewontin Seed Analogy

A conceptual model demonstrating that although differences in plant growth within a single uniform plot are genetic, differences between two separate plots (fertile vs. deficient soil) are purely environmental, showing that within-group heritability does not imply between-group genetic divergence.

Stereotype Threat

A disruptive state of performance-depressing anxiety that arises when an individual risks confirming a negative societal stereotype about their group.

Pygmalion Effect

A self-fulfilling prophecy documented by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) in which an educator's higher academic expectations regarding designated students induce improved intellectual performance.

Motivation

An internal physiological or psychological state that energizes, activates, and directs an organism's behavior toward a goal.

Drive

An internal psychological state of uncomfortable tension provoked by a biological deficit (such as hunger or thirst) that compels behavior to satisfy the need.

Homeostasis

The physiological tendency of biological organisms to maintain an optimal, balanced, and stable internal physiological state.

Arousal Theory of Motivation

The perspective asserting that organisms are motivated to achieve and sustain an optimal level of physiological stimulation, working to heighten it when understimulated and reduce it when overwhelmed.

Intrinsic Motivation

The motivation to perform an activity solely for internal satisfaction, personal enjoyment, or inherent curiosity, without external pressures or tangible incentives.

Extrinsic Motivation

The motivation to perform a task to obtain tangible external rewards, social approval, or to avert negative sanctions.

Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow's pyramid framework stating that physiological and safety requirements must be satisfied before higher-level psychological motives can be pursued.

Self-Actualization

The pinnacle of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, defined as the state of reaching self-fulfillment and realizing one's fullest and most unique potential.

Set Point

The specific body weight homeostatically defended and maintained by the body through metabolic adaptations and appetite regulation.

James-Lange Theory

A theory of emotion asserting that an emotion-arousing stimulus triggers physiological activation first, and the subsequent awareness of these bodily responses constitutes the felt emotion.

Cannon-Bard Theory

A theory of emotion stating that an emotional stimulus simultaneously and independently triggers physiological arousal and the subjective conscious feeling of emotion.

Two-Factor Theory (Schachter-Singer)

The theory proposing that emotional experience depends on two components: non-specific physiological arousal and a cognitive appraisal/label assigned to that arousal based on situational context.

Circumplex Model of Emotion

James Russell's model classifying affective experiences along two orthogonal dimensions: physiological arousal (high vs. low) and hedonic valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant).

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency of observers to attribute others' behaviors to internal dispositional factors while underestimating the impact of situational forces.

Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute one's own actions to external situational constraints while attributing identical behaviors in others to enduring dispositional traits.

Cognitive Dissonance

A state of psychological tension and discomfort arising when an individual holds contradictory attitudes or acts in ways that violate their strongly held beliefs, driving attitude modification to restore harmony.

Ben Franklin Effect

A dissonance-driven phenomenon wherein an individual who performs a favor for another person subsequently develops warmer attitudes toward that person to justify the assistance.

Groupthink

A flawed group decision-making dynamic characterized by excessive concurrence-seeking, avoidance of dissenting viewpoints, and suppression of critical alternatives in pursuit of harmony.

Group Polarization

The tendency of group deliberation to enhance and shift the collective stance toward an extreme version of the position initially favored by group members.

Deindividuation

The loss of individual self-awareness and personal accountability that occurs within anonymous, emotionally aroused crowds or groups.

Bystander Effect

The social phenomenon wherein an individual's likelihood of intervening during an emergency is diminished as the number of passive onlookers increases.

Pluralistic Ignorance

A collective misinterpretation in ambiguous emergencies where bystanders observe others taking no action and incorrectly deduce that no true crisis exists.

Out-Group Homogeneity Effect

The cognitive perceptual tendency to view members of an out-group as all alike, while perceiving members of one's in-group as diverse and individualized.

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

A computer-administered chronometric test that evaluates automatic, unconscious biases and associations by measuring differences in reaction time across congruent and incongruent stimulus pairings.