Psych Confusing Pairs
Bottom-up processing: individual elements to whole
Top-down processing: whole to the parts
Agonist: chemicals that mimic the actions of neurotransmitter.
Antagonist: chemicals that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter. Medicines block receptor sites on post synaptic cells.
Foot-in-the-door: start small then go big- $5 get $100
Door-in-the-face: start big to get small- want skateboard ask for car
Random Assignment: each participant has equal chance of being placed into any group
Random Sample: process of choosing participants from the population & happens before assignment
Applied Research: clear, practical use
Basic Research: pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
Quantitative data: deals with numbers- height, weight, time
Qualitative data: deals with descriptions- color, smell, taste
Self-Serving Bias: tendency to overstate one’s role in a positive venture & underestimate in a failure
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: explains how people’s ideas about others can shape the behavior of those others
Collectivist Cultures: Japan- family, company stressed
Individualistic Cultures: USA- uniqueness of individual stressed
Descriptive Statistics: describe as set of data- central tendency: mean, mode, median
Inferential Statistics: is to determine whether or not findings can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was selected: cause and effect
Syntax: grammar
Semantics: meaning
Anterograde Amnesia: can’t remember new stuff after head injury
Retrograde Amnesia: can’t remember stuff before head injury
Systematic Desensitization: exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually Increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli
Flooding: immediately expose patient to worst fears
Absolute Threshold: level needed to detect a stimulus 50% of time
Just-noticeable-difference(JND): perceive change in stimulus level (ex: music level)
Construct Validity: test measures a particular hypothetical concept- creativity, IQ, extraversion
Content Validity: content of a test is representative of the domain it is supposed to cover, such as the unit
Independent Variable: what is tested
Dependent Variable: what is measured (the outcomes)
Experimental Group: group that is tested
Control Group: compared to the experimental, receives the placebo in a drug experiment
Left Brain: language and logic
Right Brain: creative and spatial
Corpus Callosum: divides the brain
Cerebral Cortex: covers the brain
Sympathetic Nervous System: “fight or flight”
Parasympathetic: “rest and digest”
Neurotransmitters: in the nervous system, faster message chemicals
Hormones: in the endocrine system, slower message chemicals
Lateral Hypothalamus: stimulates hunger
Ventromedial Hypothalamus: suppresses hunger
Broca’s Area: makes words, speech production
Wernicke’s Area: comprehends words
Identical Twins: same fertilized egg
Fraternal Twins: two separate eggs
Afferent neurons: sensory, body to brain
Efferent neurons: motor, brain to body
Assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schema (ex: all 4-legged animals are “doggies”)
Accommodation: adapting current understandings to incorporate new info (ex: “dogs” are different than “cats”)
Concrete Operations: logical thinking (logic == concrete)
Formal Operations: philosophical thinking (formal == philosophical)
Sensation: bottom-up processing
Perception: top-down processing
Rods: black, grey white, night and peripheral vision
Cones: color vision and fine detail
Classical Conditioning: involuntary, link two or more stimuli for learning
Operant Conditioning: voluntary, learned behaviors if followed by reinforcement or punishment
Primacy Effect: first items remembered
Recency Effect: last items remembered
Proactive Interference: loss of the new info
Retroactive Interference: loss of the old info
Implicit Memory: non-declarative; skills
Explicit Memory: declarative, facts
Recall Memory: no cues
Recognition Memory: some hints
Algorithms: step-by-step
Heuristics: rule-of-thumb
Representative Heuristics: stereotypes–more likely a librarian due to her side hobbies
Availability Heuristics: based on what you remember
Rate Heuristics–based on numbers
Phonemes: basic sound units
Morphemes: basic units of meaning
Fluid Intelligence: processing speed
Crystallized Intelligence: acquired knowledge
Validity: test measures what it should
Reliability: same scores on a retest
Achievement Test: what you’ve learned
Aptitude Test: potential
Intrinsic Motivation: for personal satisfaction
Extrinsic Motivation: for rewards
Internal Locus of Control: you control the environment
External Locus of Control: environment controls you
Type A Personality: high stress (higher risk to heart disease)
Type B Personality: low stress
Sensory Adaptation: diminished sensitivity to constant stimulation (ex: not feeling watch on wrist)
Habituation: decreasing responsiveness with repeated exposure (ex: not hearing airplanes in military)
Delta Waves: large, slow brain waves - deep sleep
Alpha Waves: slow brain waves - relaxed, awake state
Manifest Content: symbolic, remembered story of a dream
Latent Content: underlying meaning of a dream
Reinforcement: event that strengthens the behavior that it follows
Punishment: event that decreases the behavior that it follows
Positive Reinforcement: increases behaviors by adding positive reinforcers (ex: money, candy)
Negative Reinforcement: increases behaviors by removing aversive stimuli (removal of beep for seat belt)
Ratio Schedule: number amount (ex: every 5 times)
Interval Schedule: time amount (ex: every 30 minutes)
Emotion-focused Coping: alleviate stress by avoiding stressor, attending to emotional needs
Problem-solving Coping: attempt to alleviate stress directly - by changing stressor
Convergent Thinking: narrowing available problem solutions to determine the best solution
Divergent Thinking: expanding number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking)
Self: center of our personality, organizer of thoughts, feelings, actions
Self-concept: thoughts and feelings about ourselves, “Who am I”
Self-efficacy: one’s sense of competence and effectiveness
Self-esteem: one’s feelings of high or low self-worth
Gender: socially influenced characteristics of boy/girl, man/woman.
Sex: biological definition of male or female
Cross-sectional Study: compares groups of people of different ages at same time
Longitudinal Study: compares same group of people over long period of time
Obsessions: thoughts
Compulsions: actions
Functionalism: studied the purpose of consciousness (why did the mind do this with its environment)
Structuralism: studied the parts of consciousness (which part of the brain makes us think like this?)
Anorexia Nervosa: starvation diet and excessive exercising
Bulimia Nervosa: binge eating followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting or excessive exercise
Peripheral Route Persuasion: influenced by incidental cues (ex: attractiveness of speaker)
Central Route Persuasion: focus on arguments and facts of argument or advertisement
Conformity: adjusting behavior to fit in
Obedience: compliance with an order or request
Social Facilitation: improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others
Social Loafing: exert less effort in a group setting
Group Polarization: enhancement of groups opinions through discussion with group
Groupthink: thinking that occurs when desire for harmony in group overrides realistic alternatives
Prejudice: unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members
Stereotype: generalized belief about a group and its members
Discrimination: unjustifiable negative behavior or action toward a group and its members
Authoritative Parenting: demanding and responsive, active parents - leads to high esteem in children
Authoritarian Parenting: demanding and not responsive - leads to less social skills, lower self-esteem
Interpersonal: relating to relationships or communication between people
Intrapersonal: within yourself
Positive Symptoms: in Schizophrenia, inappropriate behaviors are present (ex: hallucinations, delusions)
Negative Symptoms: in Schizophrenia, appropriate behaviors are absent (ex: catatonia, flat affect)
Primary Reinforcement: an innately reinforcing stimulus (ex: something that satisfies a biological need)
Secondary (Conditioned) Reinforcement: gains reinforcing power through primary reinforcement (ex: $)
Approach-Approach Conflicts: when a person must choose only one of two desirable activities
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts: when a person must choose between one of two undesirable activities
Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: when a single event or activity has both attractive and unattractive features.
Kinesthetic Sense (Kinesthesia): sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
Vestibular Sense: our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance
Normative Social Influence: influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Informational Social Influence: influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions