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75 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Wilhelm Wundt
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Father of Psychology (not America)
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William James
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Father of American Psychology
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Positive Psychology
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the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable indiviuals and communities to thrive
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Naturalistic Observation
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observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
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Neuron
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a nerve cell; trhe basic building block fo the nervous system
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Axon
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the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands
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Neurotransmitters
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chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons, When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the recieving neuron, thereby influencing whether that enruon will generate a neural impulse
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Central Nervous System (CNS)
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the brain and spinal cord
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Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
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the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body
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Parasympathetic System
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the division of the the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy
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Somatic Nervous System
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the division of the peripheral nervous system tha tcontrols the body's skeletal muscles
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Frontal Lobes
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the portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments
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Temporal Lobes
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the portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditroy information primarily from the opposite ear
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Dendrite
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the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body
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Myelin Sheath
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a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hopd from one node to the next
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Endorphins
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"morphine within"- narual, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure
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Occipital Lobes
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the portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which recieve visual information from the opposite visual field
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Autonomic Nervous System
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the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of hte internal organs. Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms
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Sympathetic System
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the division of the autonomic nervous sysstem that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations
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Brain Stem
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the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spianl cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions
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Parietal Lobes
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the portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and twoard the rear; recieves the sensory input for touch and boyd position
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Broca's Area
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controls language expression-an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
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Wernicke's area
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controls language reception-a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal
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Hippocampus
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a neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage
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Hypothalamus
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a neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activies, helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion
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Amygdala
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two lima bean-sized neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion
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Endocrine System
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the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones in to the bloodstream
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Pituitary Gland
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the endocrine system's most influential gland. Regulate growth and controls other endocrine glands
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Medulla
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the base of the brain stem; controls heart beat and breathing
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Cerebellum
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the "little" brain attached to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance
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Limbic System
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a doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for food and sex.
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Thalmamus
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the brain's sensory switchboard, located on to p of the brainstem; it directs meassges to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies ot the cerebellum and medulla
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Corpus Callosum
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the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemipsheres and carrying the messages between them
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Hormones
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chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, tha tare produced in one tissue and affect another
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Plasticity
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the brain's capacity for modification, as evident in brain reorganization following damage (especially in children) and in experiments on the effects of experience on bran development
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Longitudinal Study
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research in which the same people are restudided and retested over a long period
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Assimilation
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interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas
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Conservation
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the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, voluem and number sremain the same despite changes in the forms of the objects
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Lorenz
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Studied imprinting such as with ducks
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Attachment
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an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
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Stranger Anxiety
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the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
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Temperament
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a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
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Cross-Sectional Study
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a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
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Accommodation
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adapting one's current understanding (schemas) to incorporate new information
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Egocentrism
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in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty in taking another's point of view
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Imprinting
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the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
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Harlow
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Did a study with monkeys and the types of attachment they had.
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Sensation
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the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
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Absolute Threshold
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the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
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Lens
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the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
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Rods
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retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripgheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond
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Cones
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Retinal receptor cells tha tare concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.
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Fovea
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the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster
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Weber's Law
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the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differe by a constant minimum percentage
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REM sleep
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rapid eye movement. Has vivid dreams
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Latent Content
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according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream.
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Physical Dependence
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a physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the durg is discontinued
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Perception
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the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
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Difference Threshold
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the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. the just noticeable difference
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Pupil
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the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through wich light enters
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Retina
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the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layer of neurons that begin the processing of visual information
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Optic Nerve
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the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
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Circadian Rhythm
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the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle
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Manifest Content
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according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream
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Psychological Dependence
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a psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions
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Morphemes
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the smallest meaningful unit of sound
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Semantics
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the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language
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Reliability
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the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting
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Phoneme
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smallest distinct unit of sound
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Syntax
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the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
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Validity
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the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
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Predictive Validity
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the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test score and the criterion behavior
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Generalization
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the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit simlar responses
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Operant Conditioning
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a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher
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Fixed Interval
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reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed
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