TERMS DEFINED
. I suggest you look up the terms and see how these definitions compare to the experts.
1. Aaron Beck is a famous American psychologist who is a cognitive psychologist. He believes that much
depression can be explained on the part of patients by examining a patient’s faulty, illogical, and self-defeating
(depressive) thoughts. Basically, one becomes depressed by a process of constantly thinking depressing thoughts,
putting oneself down, looking on the darker side of things. Instead of seeing the glass as half full, the depressed
person always sees the glass half empty.
2. The absolute threshold is a term from an area of psychology dealing with sensation. Specifically, it refers to the
slightest sensation that a person can detect. For example, the softest sound you can detect, the lightest touch you
can detect, the dimmest light you can detect. It is that point at which you can react to the slighest sensation.
Obviously, different people have different sensory thresholds (piano tuners and coffee tasters) according to their
training, level of expectation and even the situation.
3. Achievement tests (such as SOLs) are designed to test what you know, aptitude tests are designed to measure
your ability to do something (like an IQ test). Some tests, such as the SATs are a combination of both.
4. Action and resting potentials refer to the firing of nerve cells. Remember that your brain is composed of trillions
of nerve cells (called neurons), and all of thinking, feeling, moving and sensing is ultimately governed by what
these tiny little cells do. When a nerve is firing – which is sort of like a little electro-chemical spark going off- it is
said to be in a state known as an “action potential”. The neurons builds up energy to a certain point then fires it’s
spark (action potential) down the neuron, across a gap between neurons called a “synapse” and the spark causes
the next neuron (or muscle) to either fire or not to fire. Then, the neurons sort of recovers (refractory period) and
resumes a “resting state” known as a “resting potential” where it basically sits around ready to fire again. This
whole firing pattern of resting and action is governed by a constant flow and and exchange of electrically charged
ions (sodium, cloride, potassium). When the neuron is resting it is mostly negatively charged and the outside of the
neurons is mostly positively charged. When it is firing, the inside reverses polarity and becomes positively chaged
pushing it’s negative ions to the outside. This in rushing and out rushing of negative and positive ions is governed
by little sodium/potassium pumps and other chemical/electrical systems that keep the neurons going back and
forth from a resting potential to an action potential. If anything happens to this delicate system, we’ve got big
problems: paralysis, depression, hyperactivity, etc.
5. When used in vision, acuity refers to how sharp your vision is. Good vision is usually referred to as 20/20. This
means you can see at 20 feet what most normal people can see at 20 feet. Acuity is governed by the shape of the
eye and the ability of the lens of your eye to bend and move (accomodation) to bring things into focus.
6. Mary Ainsworth is a famous psychologist who did a lot of important studies on attachment, infants and small
children bonding to their parents. Basically, she found that when you place small children in strange situations (say
in a strange room where their mother is absent) some kids get real upset while other kids seem to adjust easily
and don’t get so bent out of shape. And the child’s reaction is dependent on the quality of the attachment they have
with their mother. Children with secure attachments tend to handle the situation relatively easily, while children with
insecure attachments tend to not handle strange situations easily and they cry and get all upset.
7. Albert Bandura is a famous American psychologist who pioneered a kind of learning known as “Observational
Learning”. Bandura researched the powerful effects of imitation and modeling in learning. He did a famous study
called the Bobo doll study on the effects of kids watching adult aggressive behavior .Bet you can find it and
discover what he did.
8. Albert Ellis is a famous American therapist who pioneered a kind of therapy called “Rational Emotive Therapy.”
Basically, it’s a kind of cognitive therapy that (like Aaron Beck) believes that one’s psychological problems stem
most likely from illogical, self-defeating and irrational thinking. But Ellis’ approach is rather blunt and in your face,
whereas Beck’s approach is not so confrontational.
9. Alfred Adler was a famous neo-Freudian psychologist who, among other things, developed the concept of the
“inferiority complex.” Bet you can find what it is.
10. The “all-or–nothing principle” refers to the neural firing pattern of neurons. It states that once a neurons builds
up it’s electrical charge to fire, all of the neuron will fire or none of it will fire. It can’t half fire.
11. Altruism (a.k.a. prosocial behavior) is behavior that you do just to be kind, without any thought of what you
might get out of it. And we’re more likely to engage in altruistic behavior (come to someone’s aid in an emergency)
if we sense a real danger, if we’re in a good mood, if we’re not in a hurry, if we feel competent that we can help, if
we have a personal stake it it, if the person is like ourselves (race, family, fraternity) and other similar factors. This
area of reseach was impacted by the tragic case in 1968 of a woman known as Kitty Genovese. Look it up.
12. The APA is the governing organization that represents professional psychologists in the United States. Among
other things, it licenses psychologists, approves research, makes sure ethical guidelines are followed in
experiments, provides accreditation for psychology programs at universities, lobbys for mental health issues and
publishes a ton of professional journals.
13. Amnesia is a serious condition in which one loses his/her memory. it can be short-term or long-term.
Anteriograde amnesia is when you can’t lay down new memories, it’s as if when you learn new stuff it just doesn’t
stick (it won’t save). Retrograde amnesia is the opposite, it is an inability to recall pervious memories. Both of these
are usually caused by brain damage or head trauma. Now if you had both anteriograde and retrograde amnesia,
you’d be in a real fix wouldn’t you?
14. Apparent motion is a term that comes from an area of psychology known as perception. Simply, it’s the
perception that something is moving when it really isn’t. It usually occurs when stationary object are flashed at the
eye at a certain speed and you perceive they are moving when they really aren’t. For example, when Christmas
lights flash on and off in a sequential order, they look like they are moving in a certain direction. Or when we flash
250,000 still cartoon drawings past a light it looks like the cartoon figures are moving on the screen when really
they are not. (like Phi Phenomenon…)
15. Arousal refers to your body as it readies itself to respond to something. Imagine if you come across a snake,
your heart beats, you perspire, your pupils dialate, your pulse quickens. These are all states of physiological
arousal usually preparing you for what is known as the “fight or flight” response. Arousal is governed by the
autonomic nervous system – specifically the sympathetic nervous system which gets us hyped and excited and the
parasympathetic nervous system which calms you down, restoring you to normal, after the danger has passed.
16. Solomon Asch did some of the very first studies of conformity. His famous “line segment’ study is in every
psychology book. Bet you can find it. His research showed that we are most likely to conform when: it appears we
are in the minority, when we feel we are of lesser status than those around us, when we haven’t made a public
commitment on a stated issue and when we’re somewhat unsure as what to do.
17. Attachment is the term we use to refer to bonding. Unlike our animal friends, humans don’t bond (imprinting)
immediately to their parents, it takes time, about 9 months for an infant to become attached to mom or dad. And,
the quality of our attachment influences us for a long time and in many different ways (Mary Ainsworth’s studies,
Erik Erikson’s study of basic trust).
18. Attribution theory attempts to explain how and why we interpret other people’s motivations and behaviors in the
way we do. Whether or not you are aware of it, we are always attributing the cause of other people’s behavior to
one of two things: the power of the situation or the person’s personality. We say someone is smart, angry, helpful,
evil either because that’s the way they are (dispositional-personality factors) or because the situation they are in
makes them respond that way.
19. Aversive conditioning is using some kind of unpleasant stimulus or consequence to train someone’s behavior.
Spanking is an obvious example, or having people smoke cigarettes that would make them nauseous and vomit
after smoking them would be another example. Is it good or bad? Depends. What does the research show?
20. Aversive conditions are similar to aversive conditioning. It would be the presence of something unpleasant in
the learning environment. For example, a bright light, a loud noise, a painful shock.
21. The Babinsky response is a quick neurological test we give infants. If you stroke the sole of their foot, they will
reflexively extend their big toe and fan out their other toes. It’s a sign that the nerves in the foot are working.
22. Human behavior is incredibly adaptive. That means that it changes over time to adjust to the demands of the
environment and the situation. If we did come from the jungle, look at how adaptive our behavior is! It‘s not just
survival of the fittest, but survival of he/she who can adapt the best to a changing environment. And, we can thank
our cerebral cortex (higher thinking area of the brain) for giving us the ability to do this.
23. The famous “bell curve” is formally known as the curve of normal distribution. Look it up in any statistics book
or psych book. Basically, it’s a graph of what it would look like if we graphed a million IQ tests, or a million
heights/weights, or a million bank accounts. There would be a big chunk (68%) of the people somewhere around
the center (mean, median, mode) with less and less people as we travel either direction away from the center. So,
it’s a mathematical model or representation of common occurances in life.
24. Benjamin Whorf promoted the idea that our thinking ability is dependent on the language we use. Since people
in various cultures use different words to describe things, their thinking must also be different. But, Whorf was
wrong. We’ve found that everyone no matter what the population or culture, has the same thinking, perceiving and
intellectual ability of the next culture. Now, some cultures might invent different words for things: Eskimo’s have
hundreds of ways to express snow, but that’s because snow is very important to them in that culture. But, that
doesn’t mean other cultures aren’t capable of thinking about snow. Whorf’s theory is known as linguistic relativism
or determinism.
25. Binocular disparity (a.k.a. retinal disparity) refers the fact that because we have two eyes, each set about 4
inches apart, our brain really gets two different visual images of things out there. What the brain does is fuse these
separate “pictures” of things out there into one seamless field. Now binocular disparity is very important for depth
perception. People with only one eye have a tough time with perceiving depth. Think about it, each separate eye
picks up different visual cues and the brain computes it and picks it apart to give you a more complete picture of
things like height & distance. If you only had one eye, you’d not be able to get as much information and your visual
accuracy – especially in depth- would be lacking.
26. Blind Spot. Each eye has one. Where the axons from rods and cones exit the eye, a place called the optic disc,
there is a small spot known as the blindspot. If light should strike this area, you won? see anything because there
are not rods or cones here to decode the frequency of light (which the brain later reads and turns the frequency
signals into an image in your mind). Since it? a spot on the retina where there are not rods and cones, light falls
merely on the long axon fibers of adjacent rods and cones ? but that? not enough to create an image in the brain.
Light must fall on a rod or cone for us to “see” something.
27. Blood Brain Barrier: the arteries and veins in the brain are “double sealed” to keep certain molecules, and
substances from crossing over the arterial membrane. Very few things can leave the arteries and get into the stuff
of the brain which is neurons. Only things like oxygen, glucose, and certain other substances can cross this barrier.
This keeps harmful things like viruses, infections, cancer cells, etc. from getting loose into the area of the brain
where serious damage could take place.
28. What part of the brain do we share with animals? We and animals share the same basic hind brain, at the base
of our skull where the brain meets the spinal cord. These structures (medulla, cerebellum, reticular system, pons,
etc.) are important for basic vital functions such as heartbeat, balance, digesting and breathing. So humans and
animals all have the same lower part to their brains. It? only the higher parts (cerebral cortex) that distinguishes us
from the apes, dogs, lions, tigers and bears (Oh, My!)
29. Brainstorming: A way to generate novel solutions to problems. Everyone in the room just sort of shouts out
ideas about something and the ideas are written on the board, no one is allowed to criticize the ideas until
everyone has said everything they want. By reducing criticism, there is a free flow of ideas from which you can go
back later on and judge which ones are good or which ones are bad. But the initial idea is to get those ideas out
and on the board. If you know you?l be instantly criticized, they someone with a good idea might not speak up in
the first place.
30. Broca? Aphasia: this is a kind of language disorder that is caused by damage to the left frontal lobe. Damage
in this area could lead to an inability to “produce speech.” A person has a hard time forming the words, moving his
mouth, much like a stroke victim that can? actually make the correct sounds for the words he? trying to say.
Aphasia means language problem and Paul Broca was the French physician who discovered the specific area in
the brain that contributes to it.
31. Bystander Intervention: This has to do with the factors or forces that influence whether or not you are likely to
come to someone? aid if you are an innocent bystander. What affects whether or not you stop to help someone in
need? Surprisingly enough, here? a number of factors: whether or not you are in a hurry, whether you feel
competent, whether the person is like you, whether you are with a small group versus a large group, whether or
not you are in a good mood.
32. Cannon/Bard critique of James-Lange Theory of Emotions: The first theory of emotions was developed by two
researchers James & Lange. They argued that emotions result from reading our visceral (physiological) reactions
and thereby concluding certain emotions. For example, we see a bear, we feel our heart beat, feel our sweat pour
out, notice our hair stand on end and we conclude “I? afraid.” This was too simplistic for Cannon/Bard. They
argued that 1) Sometimes we feel the emotion first and only after realize what it did to our body 2) Different
emotions may have similar physiological responses (for example both fear and joy might cause the heart to beat)
so how can one certain physiological response lead to any specific emotion? They argued instead that emotions
and our perception of them are simultaneous. They raised the question of whether or not one bodily response
(heart beating) occurs before, after or simultaneously with one specific perceived emotional reaction (I am afraid).
33. Carl Rogers Person Centered Therapy: A gifted American psychologist, Rogers reformed traditional therapy.
He called his patients “clients” and not “patients”. He sat them up to face him, the therapist, rather than have them
lie down and look away, and he believed that if he truly accepted the client, unconditionally, and surrounded the
client with unconditional positive regard, then in this accepting and caring relationship he could best help the client
grow in the way the client wanted to grow. He didn? see therapists as some aloof, intellectual, who was only there
to figure out what was wrong with the patient. His techniques revolutionized therapy as we used to know it.
34. Carol Gilligan? Critique of Kohlberg: Lawrence Kohlberg did a lot of studies on moral reasoning. His research
had a distinct male bias as not many of his subjects that he surveyed and interview were female. He seems to
suggest that males often reason through moral issues at higher levels than females. Gilligan pointed out the male
bias in Kohlberg? research and argued that females have different ways of reasoning through moral issues, this
does not make them inferior to male reasoning, but only points out the females value different things when trying to
reason through moral issues.
35. Chaining ? this is a term from learning theory that refers to putting several learned behaviors together to make
one complete whole routine. For example, suppose you were to break down all the small routines that might go
into a marching band performance. There are lots of little routines going on that when they are all put together
make for a grand show. Chaining is linking each smaller routine to the larger whole.
36. Character Disorders: another name for these is Personality Disorders. There are 10 of them in DSM-IV. They
have to do with character “flaws” that interfere with a persons relationship to others, their performance on the job
and even their image of themselves. They are not “crazy” in the sense that they have lost touch with reality, but
they have inappropriate or disproportional personality traits that often put them at odds with other people. For
example, the Antisocial Personality has an inability to feel guilt when he does something wrong and feels no
shame or remorse (thus he? always in trouble with the law), the Paranoid Personality always feels he? being
watched or others are out to get him, the Schizoid Personality is the extreme loner, to the point of being a recluse,
etc. These disorders are a whole different category in DSM and separate from the other major categories.
37. Chunking: this is grouping items into smaller chunks so that they can be memorized easier. For example, your
social security number is chunked into a 3-2-4 pattern. This is easier than trying to memorize 9 digits as one whole.
