Myers AP Psychology

Abraham Maslow - answer-; Field: humanism; Contributions: hierarchy of needs-needs at a lower level dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied, self-actualization, transcendence Abraham Maslow - answer-humanistic psychology; hierarchy of needs-needs at a lower level dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied; self-actualization, transcendence absolute threshold - answer-the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time accommodation - answer-adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information accommodation - answer-the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina Achievement motivation - answer-a desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for attaining a high standard Achievement test - answer-a test designed to assess what a person has learned acquisition - answer-The initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. action potential - answer-a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. the action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane active listening - answer-empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy. adaptation-level phenomenon - answer-our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, lights, income) relative to a "neutral" level defined by our prior experience adolescence - answer-the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence adrenal glands - answer-a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. the adrenals secrete the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which help to arouse the body in times of stress. Aerobic exercise - answer-Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety. aggression - answer-any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy. Albert Bandura - answer-1925-present; Field: sociocultural; Contributions: pioneer in observational learning, stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated 'appropriate' play with dolls, children mimicked play Albert Bandura - answer-Albert Bandura's social learning theory stressed the importance of observational learning, imitation and modeling. His most famous experiment was the 1961 "Bobo Doll" study. Albert Ellis - answer-; Field: cognitive-behavioral; Contributions: Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), focuses on altering client's patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotions Alfred Adler - answer-; Field: neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; Contributions: basic mistakes, style of life, inferiority/superiority complexes, childhood influences personality formation; Studies: Birth Order Alfred Adler - answer-; Field: neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; Contributions: basic mistakes, style of life, inferiority/superiority complexes, childhood influences personality formation; Studies: Birth Order Alfred Adler - answer-He is the founder of the school of individual psychology and was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society Alfred Binet - answer-; Field: testing; Contributions: general IQ tests, designed test to identify slow learners in need of remediation-not applicable in the U.S. because too culture-bound (French) Algorithm - answer-a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier -- but also more error-prone -- use of heuristics alpha waves - answer-the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state. altruism - answer-unselfish regard for the welfare of others Amnesia - answer-loss of memory amphetamines - answer-drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes amygdala - answer-two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion Anorexia nervosa - answer-an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person (usually an adolescent female) diets and becomes significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve. antisocial personality disorder - answer-a personality disorder in which the person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist anxiety disorders - answer-psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety aphasia - answer-impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to wernicke's area (impairing understanding) applied research - answer-scientific study that aims to solve practical problems aptitude test - answer-a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn assimilation - answer-interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas association areas - answer-areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking associative learning - answer-learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning). attachment - answer-an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation attitude - answer-a belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events attribution theory - answer-the theory that we tend to give a casual explanation for someone's behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition audition - answer-the sense of hearing Automatic processing - answer-unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings autonomic nervous system - answer-The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms. Availability heuristic - answer-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 aversive conditioning - answer-a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol) axon - answer-the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands B.F. Skinner - answer-; Field: behavioral; Contributions: created techniques to manipulate the consequences of an organism's behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior; Studies: Skinner box Babbling stage - answer-beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language Baby Albert - answer-This experiment was an experiment showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans. This study was also an example of stimulus generalization. It was conducted in 1920 by John B. Watson along with his assistant Rosalie Rayner. The experiment was a white laboratory rat was placed near Albert and allowed to play with it, and Albert showed no fear. In later trials, Watson and Rayner made loud sounds when the baby touched the rat. The baby associated the noise with the rat, and then became scared of it whenever it was in the room. barbiturates - answer-drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgment Basal metabolic rate - answer-the body's resting rate of energy expenditure basic research - answer-pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base basic trust - answer-according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers behavior genetics - answer-the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior behavior therapy - answer-therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors behaviorism - answer-the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2). Belief perseverance - answer-clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited Benjamin Whorf - answer-; Field: language; Contributions: his hypothesis is that language determines the way we think Benjamin Whorf - answer-Concept of "liguistic determinism" or how language impacts thought binocular cues - answer-depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes bio-psycho-social perspective - answer-a contemporary perspective which assumes that biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors combine and interact to produce pscyhological disorders Biofeedback - answer-a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension biological psychology - answer-a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior bipolar disorder - answer-a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania blind spot - answer-the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there. bottom-up processing - answer-analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information brainstem - answer-The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions Broca's area - answer-controls language expression-an aread of the frontal, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech Bulimia nervosa - answer-an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise bystander effect - answer-the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present Cannon-Bard - answer-believes the body changes and understanding of the emotion occurs simultaneously Cannon-Bard Theory - answer-1920s; theory of emotion; processing emotions and bodily response occur simultaneously; ex. I see a bear, I feel afraid and my heart is racing Cannon-Bard theory - answer-the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion Carl Jung - answer-; Field: neo-Freudian, analytic psychology; Contributions: people had conscious and unconscious awareness; archetypes; collective unconscious; libido is all types of energy, not just sexual; Studies: dream studies/interpretation Carl Rogers - answer-; Field: humanistic; Contributions: founded person-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person Carl Wernicke - answer-() Found another "language center" located in the superior, posterior region of the temporal lobe (typically in the left hemisphere), where injury to this area results in the person being able to produce speech with seemingly fluent contours of pitch and rhythm, however the speech often makes no sense and contains gibberish. People suffering from Wernicke's asphasia also show impairments in their ability to understand speech (p. 44) Carol Gilligan - answer-1936-pres; Field: cognition; Contributions: maintained that Köhlberg's work was developed by only observing boys and overlooked potential differences between the habitual moral judgments of boys and girls; girls focus more on relationships than laws and principles Carol Gilligan - answer-moral development studies to follow up Kohlberg. She studied girls and women and found that they did not score as high on his six stage scale because they focused more on relationships rather than laws and principles. Their reasoning was merely different, not better or worse case study - answer-an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles Catharsis - answer-emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges. central nervous system - answer-The brain and spinal cord cerebellum - answer-the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance cerebral cortex - answer-the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center Charles Spearman - answer-; Field: intelligence; Contributions: found that specific mental talents were highly correlated, concluded that all cognitive abilities showed a common core which he labeled 'g' (general ability) Charles Spearman - answer-intelligence; found that specific mental talents were highly correlated, concluded that all cognitive abilities showed a common core which he labeled 'g' (general ability) chromosomes - answer-threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes Chunking - answer-organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically circadian rhythm - answer-the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle. Clark Hull - answer-; Field: motivation; Contributions: maintains that the goal of all motivated behavior is the reduction or alleviation of a drive state, mechanism through which reinforcement operates Clark Hull - answer-motivation theory, drive reduction; maintained that the goal of all motivated behavior is the reduction or alleviation of a drive state, mechanism through which reinforcement operates classical conditioning - answer-a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning. client-centered therapy - answer-a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate client's growth clinical psychology - answer-a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. cochlea - answer-a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses cognition - answer-all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating