Psychology Vocabulary Flashcards
Psychological Concepts and Terminology
Id
Definition: The unconscious desires or instinctual aspects of our personality.
Imagination Inflation
Definition: When visualizing an event increases our confidence that it actually happened.
Implicit Attitudes
Definition: Automatic unconscious beliefs we hold about various people, objects, or ideas.
Incentive Theory
Definition: A behavior model that posits behavior is motivated by our desire for rewards and avoidance of punishment.
Industrial-Organizational Psychologists
Description: A field that applies psychological principles to workplace settings.
Infantile Amnesia
Definition: The phenomenon where adults are unable to remember memories from their first three years of life.
Inferential Statistics
Description: The study conducted by psychologists to analyze data and determine its statistical significance.
Inhibitory Effect
Definition: The process of actively reducing the amount of neurons firing in the brain.
Insight
Definition: The sudden realization of a solution to a problem.
Insight Learning
Definition: A type of learning characterized by an 'aha!' moment where the solution to a problem becomes clear suddenly.
Instinctive Drift
Definition: The tendency for an animal to revert back to instinctual behavior instead of learned conditioned responses.
Interneurons
Definition: Neurons that connect other neurons within the central nervous system.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Definition: A committee that regulates and approves psychological experiments involving human subjects.
James-Lange Theory
Description: A theory that posits emotions are a direct reaction to physiological responses to events, suggesting that physiological changes precede emotional experiences.
Kinesthetic Sense
Definition: The human ability to sense and perceive how our body is positioned in space.
Kohlberg’s Stages of Morality
Description: A theory proposing that human morality develops in stages as a person ages.
Stages of Kohlberg's Theory
Preconventional: Behavior driven by reward and punishment.
Conventional: Behavior motivated by social perception and approval.
Postconventional: Behavior guided by personal principles and individual reasoning.
Latent Learning
Definition: Learning that occurs without immediate realization or reinforcement of the knowledge gained.
Law of Effect
Definition: A principle stating that behaviors followed by rewards are likely to be repeated, whereas those followed by punishment are less likely to recur.
Lens
Description: A transparent structure in the eye that focuses light from the pupil onto the retina at the back of the eye.
Leptin
Definition: Known as 'the satiety hormone', it signals the hypothalamus to decrease hunger.
Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Definition: The area representing the difference between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance (also known as scaffolding).
Lewin’s Motivational Conflicts Theory
Description: The theory describing psychological tensions created by opposing motivational forces, categorized into:
Approach-Approach Conflict: Choosing between two desirable outcomes.
Approach-Avoidance Conflict: Desiring a goal with both positive and negative aspects.
Limbic System
Description: A group of structures in the brain responsible for emotion, memory, motivation, and basic survival drives, which includes:
Amygdala: Involved in emotion regulation.
Hippocampus: Key to memory formation.
Hypothalamus: Regulates bodily functions.
Thalamus: Acts as a relay station for sensory information.
Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
Definition: The theory that a person's native language fundamentally shapes their perception of reality.
Long-Term Potentiation
Definition: A process involving the strengthening of synapses based on activity that leads to enhanced learning and memory.
Memory Consolidation
Definition: The process of transforming short-term memories into long-term memories.
Menarche and Spermarche
Description: Key milestones in puberty,
Menarche: A girl’s first menstrual period.
Spermarche: A boy’s first ejaculation.
Mental Set
Definition: The predisposition to approach problems using methods that have previously worked.
Midbrain
Description: The central part of the brain involved in processing visual and auditory information, as well as regulating alertness and sleep (includes reticular formation).
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
Description: The most widely utilized personality assessment that consists of true-false questions to evaluate personality traits.
Misinformation Effect
Definition: The phenomenon whereby misleading information presented after an event interferes with the ability to accurately recall that event.
Monocular Cues
Definition: Visual cues that require only one eye to be perceived, used for depth perception.
Mood-Congruent Memory
Definition: The tendency to recall memories that are consistent with one’s current emotional state.
Moro Reflex
Definition: A reflex in infants characterized by the flinging of limbs in response to perceived loss of support.
Morphemes and Phonemes
Phonemes: The smallest units of sound in a language.
Morphemes: The smallest units of sound that convey meaning (e.g., the word "cats" has two morphemes: "cat" and "s" for plural).
Motivation
Definition: An inner drive or desire that energizes behavior toward a goal.
Motor Cortex
Description: A region located at the back of the frontal cortex responsible for the control of voluntary movements.
Motor Development
Definition: The progression and enhancement of motor skills and movement abilities in children.
Motor Neurons
Definition: Neurons responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to the muscles, facilitating movement.
Multiple Sclerosis
Description: An autoimmune disorder that leads to the degradation of the myelin sheath surrounding neurons, impacting neural communication.
Myasthenia Gravis
Description: An autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue due to communication issues between nerves and muscles.
Nearsightedness vs. Farsightedness
Nearsightedness: A condition where objects close to the eye are seen clearly while distant objects appear blurry.
Farsightedness: A condition where distant objects are seen clearly while nearby objects are blurred.
Negative Punishment
Definition: The removal of a positive stimulus to decrease a behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
Definition: A process in which a behavior is strengthened by the removal of an undesirable consequence.
Neural Transmission
Definition: The process by which neurons communicate with one another, transmitting signals across synapses.
Norepinephrine
Description: A neurotransmitter involved in arousal and the body's fight-or-flight response.
NREM Sleep
Definition: A phase of sleep characterized by the absence of vivid dreams, during which the body restores energy.
Occipital Lobes
Description: Parts of the brain located at the back of the cerebral cortex responsible for visual processing and perception.
Olfactory Sense and Pheromones
Definition: The human ability to detect smells, with pheromones being scent molecules that can trigger a social response among individuals.
One Trial Conditioning
Definition: A learning process where a desired response is achieved after only one trial or instance of conditioning.
Operant Conditioning
Definition: A learning process where behaviors are modified based on their consequences, either reinforced or weakened by rewards or punishments.
Opponent-Process Theory and Afterimages
Description: A theory that explains color vision by positing three pairs of opposing colors, such as:
Red vs. Green
Blue vs. Yellow
Black vs. White
Afterimages occur after prolonged exposure to a stimulus, resulting in a visual perception of the complementary color.
Optic Nerve
Definition: The bundle of nerve fibers located at the back of the eye that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain.
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
Definition: The cognitive bias that leads individuals to see those not in their perceived group as more similar to each other than they actually are.
Oxytocin
Description: Often referred to as the "love hormone", it plays a significant role in social bonding and attachment between individuals.
Parasympathetic Division
Definition: The part of the nervous system responsible for promoting relaxation and restorative processes in the body.
Parietal Lobes
Description: Regions located at the top of the cerebral cortex that are primarily involved in processing temperature, touch, and spatial awareness.
Parietal Reinforcement Effect
Definition: A phenomenon where behaviors learned under a partial reinforcement schedule are less likely to be extinguished compared to continuous reinforcement.
Perceptual Constancy
Definition: The ability to perceive objects as stable and unchanging despite slight variations in sensory input.
Perceptual Set
Definition: The mental predisposition to perceive objects or situations in a particular way based on expectations or previous experiences.
Peripheral Nervous System
Definition: The portion of the nervous system that connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body, including all the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.
Permissive Parent
Definition: Parents characterized by high warmth and low control over their children’s behavior.
Personality Inventories
Definition: Self-reported survey instruments designed to assess an individual’s personality traits and characteristics.
Piaget’s Cognitive Stage Theory
Description: A developmental theory describing how children progress through distinct stages of cognitive growth, which include:
Sensorimotor Stage: Learning through sensory experiences and manipulation of objects.
Preoperational Stage: Developing language and symbolic thinking without the ability to perform operations logically.
Concrete Operational Stage: Understanding logical operations as they pertain to concrete objects.
Formal Operational Stage: Developing abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking.
Pituitary Gland
Definition: Often referred to as the "master gland", it is located at the base of the brain and regulated by the hypothalamus, controlling various endocrine functions.
Place Theory
Definition: A theory explaining how we perceive different pitches of sound, based on the location where sound waves trigger activity in the cochlea.
Pluralistic Ignorance
Description: A social phenomenon in which group members privately reject a norm but mistakenly assume that the rest of the group accepts it.
Positive Psychology
Definition: A branch of psychology focused on the study of what contributes to people's happiness and well-being.
Positive Punishment
Definition: The addition of a consequence following a behavior in order to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.
Post-Traumatic Growth
Definition: The phenomenon where individuals experience improved functioning and psychological growth after successfully navigating through trauma.
Preconsciousness vs. Unconsciousness
Definition: The preconscious mind holds information that can be easily recalled, while the unconscious mind stores information that is more challenging to access.
Prefrontal Cortex
Definition: An area at the front of the frontal lobe responsible for higher-level executive functioning, including decision-making and impulse control.
Primary Reinforcers
Definition: Stimuli that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy a biological need, requiring no prior learning to encourage the behavior.
Primary vs. Secondary Sex Characteristics
Primary Sex Characteristics: The reproductive organs directly involved in sexual reproduction.
Secondary Sex Characteristics: Physical traits that develop during puberty and are not directly involved in reproduction, such as breasts in females and facial hair in males.
Proactive Interference
Definition: A situation in which previously learned information inhibits the recall of newly learned material.
Problem-Focused Coping
Definition: A strategy for handling stress based on addressing the root cause of the issue causing stress, rather than just managing the symptoms.
Projection
Definition: A defense mechanism in which individuals attribute their own insecurities or unacceptable feelings to others.
Prosopagnosia
Definition: A neurological disorder characterized by an inability to recognize faces, indicating a disruption in the brain's facial recognition capabilities.
Prospective Memory
Definition: The ability to remember to perform actions at a future time or to remember information needed for a planned future behavior.