Supertasters / Medium tasters / Nontasters: Varying taste sensitivity.
Warm/cold receptors: Sense temperature.
Pain: Warning signal from body damage.
Gate control theory: Spinal cord “gates” control pain signals.
Phantom limb: Sensation in missing limb.
Vestibular sense: Sense of balance and head position.
Semicircular canals: Detect head movement.
Kinesthesis: Sense of body movement and position.
Perception: The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.
Bottom-up processing: Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.
Top-down processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions based on experience and expectations.
Perceptual set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
Context, expectations, culture: These influence perception; we often perceive what we expect or are accustomed to culturally.
Gestalt psychology: A psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of parts.
Closure: The tendency to fill in gaps to perceive a complete, whole object.
Figure and ground: The organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).
Proximity: Grouping nearby figures together.
Grouping, Attention, and Visual Perception
Similarity: Grouping similar figures together.
Attention: The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.
Selective attention: The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while ignoring others.
Cocktail party effect: The ability to focus on one voice among many, especially when your name is heard.
Inattentional blindness: Failing to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere.
Change blindness: Failing to notice changes in the environment.
Visual perceptual process: How visual stimuli are received, interpreted, and understood.
Depth perception/visual cliff: The ability to see objects in three dimensions; tested in infants with the visual cliff.
Binocular depth cues: Depth cues that require both eyes.
Retinal disparity: A binocular cue; the brain compares the images from each eye.
Convergence: A binocular cue; the inward angle of the eyes when focusing on a near object.
Monocular depth cues: Depth cues available to each eye separately.
Retrieval cues: Stimuli that help recall memories.
Context-dependent memory: Improved recall in the same environment where learning occurred.
Mood-congruent memory: Recall experiences consistent with current mood.
State-dependent memory: Recall best when in the same physical/mental state.
Forgetting, Intelligence, and Development
Forgetting curve: A decline in memory retention over time.
Encoding failure: Failure to process information into memory.
Proactive interference: Old information interferes with new learning.
Retroactive interference: New learning interferes with old information.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Feeling of knowing but unable to retrieve a word.
Repression: Freudian concept of pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts from consciousness.
Misinformation effect: Incorporating misleading information into memory.
Source amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source.
Constructive memory: Memories are influenced by meaning, expectations, and experiences.
Imagination inflation: Imagining events can lead to believing they actually occurred.
Intelligence: The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.
g (general intelligence): A general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities.
Multiple intelligences: Gardner’s theory that people have different kinds of intelligences (e.g., musical, spatial).
Intelligence quotient (IQ): A score derived from standardized intelligence tests (originally mental age ÷ chronological age × 100).
Mental age: The level of performance typically associated with a certain chronological age.
Chronological age: Actual age in years.
Standardization: Defining scores by comparison to a pretested group.
Validity: The extent to which a test measures what it claims to.
Construct validity: Whether a test truly Stability and change: Debate on whether personality traits and behaviors remain consistent or change over the lifespan.
Nature vs. Nurture in Development
Nature and nurture: Interaction between genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) in development.
Continuous development: Gradual and cumulative growth (e.g., learning to walk).
Discontinuous development: Development occurs in distinct stages (e.g., Piaget’s stages).
Cross-sectional research: Studies different age groups at one time.
Longitudinal research: Studies the same individuals over a long period.
Teratogens: Harmful substances that can cause birth defects (e.g., alcohol, drugs).
Milestones: Key skills or behaviors typical at certain ages.
Prenatal development: The process of development from conception to birth.
Fine motor coordination: Small movements (e.g., using fingers to grasp).
Gross motor coordination: Large movements (e.g., walking, jumping).
Maturation: Biological growth processes that enable orderly development.
Reflexes: Involuntary responses to stimuli (e.g., rooting, sucking).
Rooting reflex: Newborn turns head when cheek is touched, seeking food.
Infancy and Childhood Development
Visual cliff: Apparatus used to study depth perception in infants.
Critical periods: Specific time frames where certain experiences are necessary for development.
Sensitive periods: Optimal times for certain development, but not rigid.
Imprinting: Forming strong attachments early in life (seen in animals).
Growth spurt: Rapid physical growth, especially during puberty.
Puberty: Period of sexual maturation.
Primary sex characteristics: Reproductive organs.
Secondary sex characteristics: Non-reproductive traits (e.g., voice, body hair).
Menarche: A girl’s first menstrual period.
Spermarche: A boy’s first ejaculation.
Menopause: End of menstruation and fertility in women.
Sex: Biological status (male/female).
Gender: Social and psychological aspects of being male or female.
Socialization: Process of learning norms, values, and roles.
Jean Piaget: Swiss psychologist who proposed stage theory of cognitive development.
Schemas: Mental frameworks for organizing information.
Assimilation: Fitting new information into existing schemas.
Accommodation: Adjusting schemas for new information.
Sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years; experience world through senses/actions.
Object permanence: Knowing things exist even when out of sight.
Preoperational stage: 2–7 years; symbolic thinking, egocentrism, lack of conservation.
Pretend play: Using imagination during play; Develops in preoperational stage.
Parallel play: Playing near others without interaction.
Conservation: Understanding that quantity remains the same despite shape changes.
Reversibility: Ability to mentally reverse actions.
Animism: Belief that inanimate objects have feelings.
Reinforcement discrimination: Specific behavior reinforced in specific conditions.
Reinforcement generalization: Behavior continues across situations.
Continuous reinforcement: Reinforce every time.
Partial reinforcement: Sometimes reinforced.
Fixed interval: After a set time (e.g., paycheck).
Variable interval: After changing time intervals.
Fixed ratio: After set number of responses.
Variable ratio: After varying number of responses (e.g., slot machines).
Shaping: Reinforcing small steps toward behavior.
Successive approximations: Steps in shaping.
Instinctive drift: Return to instinctive behaviors despite reinforcement.
Social and Cognitive Learning
Social learning theory: Learning by observing others.
Vicarious conditioning: Learning through others’ experiences.
Modeling: Imitating behaviors.
Insight learning: Sudden realization of a solution.
Latent learning: Learning that occurs but isn’t shown until needed.
Cognitive maps: Mental representations of environments.
Attributions: Explanations for why people behave the way they do.
Dispositional Attributions: Explaining behavior based on internal traits or personality.
Situational Attributions: Explaining behavior based on external circumstances.
Explanatory Style: A person’s habitual way of explaining events (positive or negative).
Optimistic Explanatory Style: Attributing negative events to external, unstable, and specific factors.
Pessimistic Explanatory Style: Attributing negative events to internal, stable, and global factors.
Actor/Observer Bias: Tendency to attribute others’ behavior to dispositional causes but our own to situational ones.
Fundamental Attribution Error: Overemphasizing dispositional factors in others' behavior and underestimating situational ones.
Self-Serving Bias: Attributing success to ourselves and failures to external factors.
Internal Locus of Control: Belief that one controls their own fate.
External Locus of Control: Belief that external forces determine outcomes.
Social Perception
Person Perception: Process of forming impressions of others.
Mere Exposure Effect: Repeated exposure to something increases our liking for it.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations cause individuals to act in ways that make the expectations come true.
Social Comparison: Evaluating oneself in relation to others.
Upward Social Comparison: Comparing yourself to someone better.
Downward Social Comparison: Comparing yourself to someone worse off.
Relative Deprivation: Belief that one is worse off compared to others.
Stereotype: A generalized belief about a group.
Cognitive Load: The mental effort used in processing information.
Prejudice: Negative attitude toward a group.
Discrimination: Negative behavior toward a group based on prejudice.
Implicit Attitudes: Unconscious beliefs or feelings toward a group.
Just-World Phenomenon: Belief that people get what they deserve.
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias: Perception that members of out-groups are more similar to each other than in-group members.
In-Group Bias: Favoring one's own group.
Ethnocentrism: Belief that one's own culture is superior.
Attitudes and Social Influence
Attitude Formation: How opinions are shaped by experience, learning, or social influence.
Belief Perseverance: Clinging to beliefs despite contradictory evidence.
Confirmation Bias: Tendency to seek information that supports existing beliefs.
Cognitive Dissonance: Discomfort caused by inconsistent thoughts or behaviors.
Social Norms: Expected rules of behavior in society.
Social Influence Theory: We conform to be correct, accepted, and liked.
Normative Social Influence: Conforming to gain approval or avoid disapproval.
Informational Social Influence: Conforming because we believe others are correct.
Persuasion: Efforts to change others' attitudes or behaviors.
Elaboration Likelihood Model: Explains how people respond to persuasive messages.
Central Route: Based on logic and facts.
Peripheral Route: Based on emotions or superficial cues.
Halo Effect: Tendency to assume positive traits based on one good quality.
Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Agreeing to a small request increases likelihood of agreeing to a larger one.
Door-in-the-Face Technique: Starting with a large request makes a smaller one more likely to be accepted.
Conformity and Group Dynamics
Conformity: Adjusting behavior or thinking to match a group.
Obedience: Following direct orders from an authority figure.
Collectivism: Prioritizing group goals over individual ones.
Multiculturalism: Embracing diverse cultural perspectives.
Individualism: Prioritizing personal goals over group goals.
Group Polarization: Tendency for group discussion to amplify the initial leanings.
Groupthink: Poor decision-making due to group pressure for harmony.
Diffusion of Responsibility: Less personal responsibility when others are present.
Social Loafing: Reduced effort in group work.
Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness in groups.
Social Facilitation: Improved performance in the presence of others.
Altruism: Selfless concern for others' welfare.
Prosocial Behavior: Positive, helpful, and cooperative behavior.
Social Debt: Feeling of obligation after receiving help.
Social Reciprocity Norm: Expectation to return help.
Social Responsibility Norm: Helping others who depend on us.
Bystander Effect: Less likely to help when others are present.
Situational Variables: Environmental factors that affect behavior.
Attentional Variables: How attention is directed influences behavior.
False Consensus Effect: Overestimating how much others share our beliefs.
Superordinate Goals: Shared goals that require cooperation.
Social Traps: Situations where individuals pursue self-interest to the group's long-term detriment.
Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologists: Apply psychology to the workplace.
Burnout: Physical and emotional exhaustion from stress.
Psychodynamic Theory and Humanistic Psychology
Psychodynamic Theory Preconscious Mind: Thoughts just outside awareness. Unconscious Mind: Deep mental processes inaccessible to awareness.
Id (Pleasure Principle): Seeks immediate gratification.
Ego (Reality Principle): Mediates between id and reality.
Superego (Morality Principle): Internalized ideals and standards.
Defense Mechanisms (Unconscious coping strategies): Denial: Refusing to accept reality. Displacement: Shifting emotions to a safer target. Projection: Attributing one’s own feelings to others. Rationalization: Creating excuses for behavior. Reaction Formation: Acting opposite to one’s true feelings. Regression: Returning to an earlier stage of development. Repression: Pushing distressing memories out of awareness. Sublimation: Channeling impulses into socially acceptable activities