CLEP Introductory Psychology Study Guide 2023/2024

agonist --drug that mimics a particular neurotransmitter or makes more of it available by blocking its reuptake. creates more. chemical that binds to a receptor and activates the receptor to produce a biological response refractory period --neuron pumps out the sodium ions and can then fire again serotonin --neurotransmitter affecting arousal and sleep physiological --relating to the way that living things function, rather than to their shape or structure psychological --of, affecting, or arising in the mind; related to the mental and emotional state of a person: somatic --___ nervous system: carries information from muscles, sense organ, skin to CNS allowing sensations of pressure, pain and temperature. 2. carries messages from the central nervous system to skeletal muscles allowing for voluntary movement peripheral --___ nervous system: includes sensory & motor neurons connecting brain and spine to rest of body psychophysics --area of psychology addressing sensation - levels of intensity, how sensitive we are & how psychological factors influence our ability to sense stimuli interposition --one object partially blocks out another and we perceive it as closer Barbiturate --drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, and can therefore produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to total anesthesia. They are also effective as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants non associative --_ learning - repeated presentation of a single stimulus produces enduring change in behavior (habituation, sensitization) . does not require linking or associating stimuli together. It is considered the simplest type of learning Sensitization --is an increase in behavior due to exposure to a noxious (painful) stimulus Habituation --is a decrease in behavior due to repeated exposure to an innocuous stimulus . type of non-associative learning that occurs when repeated presentations of a stimulus eventually reduce responses to that stimulus. oneirology --study of dreams Freud --"Interpretation of Dreams" (book) heuristics --A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than algorithms. functional fixedness --inability to see new uses for familiar objects telegraphic speech --child speaking 1 word at a time accompanies it with gestures to convey additional meaning norms based referencing --comparison between test taker's score and the average score for others of his age (standardization) motivation --psychological process that energizes and directs behavior hypothalamus --brain - monitors huger signals (ventromedial h - stopping hunger) (lateral h - increasing hunger) set point --weight our body works to maintain externals --become hungry with cues like smelling food or what time of day it is internals --rely on body cues to decide when to eat semantics --The analysis of the meaning of language, especially of individual words. morphemes --words or parts of words that convey meaning. smallest meaningful units of speech; simple words, suffixes, prefixes; examples: red, hot, calm, -ed, pre- syntax --rules for combining morphemes in meaningful ways facial feedback --hypotheses stating facial muscles tell us whether we are happy or not excitation transfer --when levels of arousal are increased through exercise, or other means = more angry when insulted than others vesicles --sacs within the axon terminal neurotransmitter --chemical molecule contained in vesicles within the axon terminal axon terminal --knoblike end of the axon cohort --group of people born during the same period of time