Ap pysch unit 2 part 2

73. semantic memory: explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our

two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory).

74. episodic memory: explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our

two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory).

75. hippocampus: a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process

explicit (conscious) memories — of facts and events — for storage.

76. memory consolidation: the neural storage of a long-term memory.

77. flashbulb memory: a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or

event.

78. priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in

memory.

79. encoding specificity principle: the idea that cues and contexts specific to a

particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.

80. mood-congruent memory: tendency to recall experiences that are

consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

81. serial position effect: our tendency to recall best the last items in a list

initially (a recency effect), and the first items in a list after a delay (a primacy

effect).

82. interleaving: a retrieval practice strategy that involves mixing the study of

different topics.

83. anterograde amnesia: an inability to form new memories.

84. retrograde amnesia: an inability to remember information from one’s past.

85. proactive interference: the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning

on the recall of new information.

86. retroactive interference: the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer

learning on the recall of old information.

87. repression: in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that

banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and

memories.

88. reconsolidation: a process in which previously stored memories, when

retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.

89. misinformation effect: occurs when a memory has been corrupted by

misleading information.

90. source amnesia: faulty memory for how, when, or where information was

learned or imagined (as when misattributing information to a wrong source).

Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false

memories.

91. déjà vu: that eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from

the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier

experience.

92. intelligence: the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and

use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

93. general intelligence (g): according to Spearman and others, underlies all

mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

94. factor analysis: a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items

(called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance

that underlie a person’s total score.

95. fluid intelligence (Gf): our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends

to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood.

96. crystallized intelligence (Gc): our accumulated knowledge and verbal

skills; tends to increase with age.

97. Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory: the theory that our intelligence is based

on g as well as specific abilities, bridged by Gf and Gc.

98. savant syndrome: a condition in which a person otherwise limited in

mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or

drawing.

99. grit: in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

100. emotional intelligence: the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and

use emotions.

101. intelligence test: a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes

and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

102. achievement test: a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

103. aptitude test: a test designed to predict a person’s future performance;

aptitude is the capacity to learn.

104. mental age: a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the

level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological

age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a

mental age of 8.

105. Stanford-Binet: the widely used American revision (by Terman at

Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test.

106. intelligence quotient (IQ): defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma)

to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On

contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is

assigned a score of 100.

107. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): the WAIS and its companion

versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain

verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

108. psychometrics: the scientific study of the measurement of human

abilities, attitudes, and traits.

109. standardization: defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful

scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.

110. normal curve: the bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many

physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and

fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

111. Flynn effect: the rise in intelligence test performance over time and

across cultures.

112. reliability: the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed

by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the

test, or on retesting.

113. validity: the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed

to. (See also predictive validity.)

114. content validity: the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is

of interest.

115. construct validity: how much a test measures a concept or trait.

116. predictive validity: the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is

designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test

scores and the criterion behavior. (Also called criterion-related validity.)

117. cross-sectional study: research that compares people of different ages at

the same point in time.

118. longitudinal study: research that follows and retests the same people

over time.

119. cohort: a group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as being

from a given time period.

120. growth mindset: a focus on learning and growing rather than viewing

abilities as fixed.

121. fixed mindset: the view that intelligence, abilities, and talents are

unchange- able, even with effort.

122. stereotype threat: a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated

based on a negative stereotype.