Acetylcholine (LMM)

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction

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arousal theory

A theory of motivation suggesting that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of alertness and physical and mental activation.

availability heuristic

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

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Big Five Personality Traits

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

Extraversion

A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive

circadian rhythm

the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle

cognitive dissonance

unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs

context dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

Correlation

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other. Can range from -1 to +1. Negative correlations the variables rise and fall inversely, positive correlations variables rise and fall together. Negative does not mean weak and positive does not mean strong

Deindividuation (sports crowd)

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

difference threshold

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time

distributed practice

spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods

divergent thinking (New solutions to problems)

a type of creative thinking in which one generates new solutions to problems

Dopamine (MALR)

A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system.

drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

encoding failure

the inability to recall specific information because of insufficient encoding of the information for storage in long-term memory

episodic memory

A category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations and experiences.

ethics in research (CCDP)

informed consent protection from harm/discomfort maintain confidentiality debriefing

experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

correlational research

research that seeks to identify whether an association or relationship between two factors exists. Does not manipulate variables.

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare" (also called declarative memory)

external locus of control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate.

extrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

GAS exhaustion phase

body runs out of adaption energy stores for adjusting to stressor, and disease resistance drops below normal; if we can stay in the stress it can have a negative effect

gender roles

sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one's status as male or female

gestalt principle of proximity

we group nearby figures together

implicit memory

Memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously

incentive theory

A theory of motivation stating that behavior is directed toward attaining desirable stimuli and avoiding unwanted stimuli.

intrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

normative social influence (gain social approval)

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

operational definition

a statement of the procedures used to define research variables. Must be recordable/countable/measurable.

overjustification effect

The effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do. The person may now see the reward, rather than intrinsic interest, as the motivation for performing the task.

positive reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

postconventional moral reasoning

Kohlberg's third level of moral reasoning, emphasizing moral principles

prefrontal cortex (TPL)

processing center in the frontal lobe responsible for thinking, planning, and language

proactive interference

Being unable to retrieve new information because old information gets in the way

procedural memory

a type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits (tying shoes, eating with a fork)

prospective memory

remembering to do things in the future

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

random selection

A way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth

retroactive interference

Unable to retrieve old information because of newly encoded information

selective attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

self-efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness in a specific task.

self-fulfiling prophecy

a prediction or expectation about our future behavior that is likely to come true because we believe it and thus act in ways that make it come true

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter helps mood and appetite. Increase in it helps depression as it is a mood booster.

social facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others, decreased performance on difficult or non well-learned tasks

state-dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.

statistical significance

a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance. Measured by p-value. To say something is statistically significant it must have a p value of less than .05 (p=<.05)

sympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations

Yerkes-Dodson Law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

cognitive restructuring

a therapeutic approach that teaches clients to question the automatic beliefs, assumptions, and predictions that often lead to negative emotions and to replace negative thinking with more realistic and positive beliefs

kinesthetic sense

sense of the location of body parts in relation to the ground and each other

basilar membrane

A structure that runs the length of the cochlea in the inner ear and holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells.

somatosensory cortex

area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

motor neurons (efferent)

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

secondary reinforcer

any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

alarm stage of GAS

organism recognizes stress, begins to respond. Fight or flight and sympathetic nervous system engages

authoritarian parenting

style of parenting in which parent is rigid and overly strict, showing little warmth to the child

identity vs. role confusion

Erikson's stage during which teenagers and young adults search for and become their true selves

unconditional positive regard

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

elaborative rehearsal

the linking of new information to material that is already known

central route persuasion

going through rational mind, persuading using logic and evidence.

source amnesia

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

Broca's area

speech production (mouth movement)

gestalt principle of closure

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object

double blind research

a research study in which both the researcher and the participants are unaware of the predicted outcome

myelin sheath

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

Endorphins

natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

Introversion (introvert)

dimension of personality in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation

cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment

cocktail party effect

ability to attend to only one voice among many

Cerebellum

the "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance

observational learning

learning by observing others

Human Factors

interaction with people and machines

reticular formation

alertness and arousal

predictive validity

Refers to the function of a test in predicting a particular behavior or trait.

semantic memory

general knowledge

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

functional fixedness

the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use (not thinking outside the box)

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Conformity

compliance with standards, rules, or laws.

figure-ground (objects standing out from their surroundings)

the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

occipital lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information

Use of Phonemes

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit /k/ for cat

Modeling

learning by imitating others; copying behavior

age and language acquisition

older students are less successful in acquiring a language.

foveal vision

sharp central vision

feature detectors

cells in the cortex that specialize in extracting certain features of a stimulus

compliance

the tendency to agree to do things requested by others

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

motor cortex

controls voluntary movements

conditioned response

a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

inattentional blindness

a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention

mnemonic devices

strategies for enhancing memory

external cues

time of day, social cues, sight and smell of food