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Behaviorism
The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes, most resarch scientists today agree with (1) but not (2).
Humanistic Psychology
Historically significant perspective that emphasized te growth potential of healthy people and the individual’s potential for personal growth.
Psychology
The science of behavior and mental processes.
Evolutionary Psychology
The study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection.
Cognitive Psychology
The scietific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating.
Structuralism
An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind.
Hypothesis
A testable preiction, often implied by a theory.
Operational Definition
A statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. For example, humane intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.
Case Study
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Survey
A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes of behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
Population
All the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.
Correlation
A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.
Experiment
A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process. By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors.
Placebo Effect
Experimental results cause be expectations alone; any effect on behavior cause by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.
Independent Variable
The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.
Dependent Variable
The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
Mean
The arthimetic average of a distribution obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.
Standard Deviation
A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.
Psychoanalysis
Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thought and actions to unconcious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconcious tensions
Unconcious
According to Freud, a resevoir of mostly unnacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.
Id
A resevoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and agressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure seeking principle, demanding immediate gratification.
Ego
The largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operatets on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
Superego
The part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
Fixation
According to Freud, a lingering focus on pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage in which conflicts were unresolved.
Defense Mechanism
In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
Regression
Pscyhoanalitic defense mechanism in which an individual faced w/ anxiety refers to a more infantile pscyhosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated.
Reaction Formation
Pscyhoanalitic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelinds that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.
Projection
Psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses b attributing them to others.
Projective Test
A personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
The most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of the blots.
Self-actualization
epresAccording to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fill one’s potential.
Self Serving Bias
A readiness to perceive oneself favorably.
Short Term Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.
Long Term Memory
The realitively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experience.
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3-4 seconds.
Procedural Memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection.
Hippocampus
A neural center that is located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.
Recall
A measaure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.
Concept
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
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 judgements and solve problems efficiently, ususally speedier but also more error-prone thant algorithms.
Insight
A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
Representative Heuristic
Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they see to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information
Availability Heurisitic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness) we presume such events are common.
Conformation Bias
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort controdicting evidence.
Functional Fixedness
The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.
Language
Our spoken written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
Phenome
In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
Morpheme
In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
Divergent Thinking
Thinking outside the box.
Episodic Memory
A subdivision of declaritive memory that stores memories of personal experiences and events.
Habituation
An organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it.
Classical Conditioning
A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimului and anticipate events.
Unconditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response.
Conditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response.
Extinction
The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when a US doesn’t follow a CS; occurs in operant condition when a response is no longer reinforced,
Spontaneous Recovery
The reappearance after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
Generalization
The rendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit responses.
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stmuli that don’t signal a US.
Learned Helplessness
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished followed by a punisher.
Shaping
An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
Reinforce
In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
Positive Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforce is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
Negative Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforce is any stimuli that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response (negaive reinforcement is not punishment.)
Fixed-Interval Schedule
In operant conditioing, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.
Punishment
An event that decreases the behavior that it follows.
Latent Learning
Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.
Intrinsic Motivation
A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.
Observational Learning
Learning by observing others (also called social learning.)
Modeling
The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior.
Conditioned Response
In classical conditioning, the initial stage, hen one links a neural stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neural stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.
Unconditioned Response
In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occuring response to the unconditioned stimulus (us), such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
Developmental Psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Schema
A concept or frame work that organizes and interprets information.
Assimilation
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
Accomodation
Adapting our current understanding (schemas) to incorporate new information.
Object Permanence
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
Preoperational Stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage (2-6/7) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
Conservation
The principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoing) that properties such as mass, volume, and numbers reaming the same despite change in the forms of objects.