Absolute Threshold
The minimum of stimulus energy needed to activate a sensory system.
Accommodation
Process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass new information.
Acquisition
In classical conditioning, the process of taking advantage of reflexive responses to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus.
Adaption
In perception, a decrease in stimulus perception after a long duration of exposure; in learning, the process by which new information is processed; consists of assimilation and accommodation.
Adaptive Value
The extent to which a trait benefits a species by influencing the evolutionary fitness of the species.
Aggression
A behavior with the intention to cause harm or increase relative social dominance; can be physical or verbal
Alertness
State of consciousness in which one is aware, able to think, and able to respond to the environment; nearly synonymous with arousal.
Aligning Actions
An impression management strategy in which one makes questionable behavior acceptable through excuses.
Alter-Casting
An impression management strategy in which one imposes an identity onto another person.
Altruism
A form of helping behavior in which the intent is to benefit someone else at a cost to oneself.
Amygdala
A portion of the limbic system that is important for memory and emotion, especially fear.
Anomie
A state of normlessness; anomic conditions erode social solidarity by means of excessive individualism, social inequality, and isolation.
Anxiety Disorders
Disorders that involve worry, unease, fear, and apprehension about future uncertainties based on real or imagined events that can impair physical and psychological health.
Appraisal Model
A similar theory to the basic model, accepting that there are biologically predetermined expressions once an emotion is experienced; accepts that there is a cognitive antecedent to emotional expression.
Archetype
In Jungian psychoanalysis, a thought or image that has an emotional element and is a part of the collective unconscious.
Arcuate Fasciculus
A bundle of axons that connects Wernicke's Area (language comprehension) with Broca's Area (motor function of speech). Damage causes conduction aphasia, characterized by the inability to repeat words with intact spontaneous speech production and comprehen
Arousal
A psychological and physiological state of being awake and reactive to stimuli; nearly synonymous with alertness.
Arousal Theory
A theory of motivation that states that there is a particular level of arousal required in order to perform actions optimally; summarized by the Yerkes-Dodson law.
Assimilation
In psychology, the process by which new information is interpreted in terms of existing schemata; in sociology, the process by which the behavior and culture of a group or an individual begins to merge with that of another group.
Associative Learning
The process by which a connection is made between two stimuli or a stimulus and a response; examples include classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Attachment
A very deep emotional bond to another person, particularly a parent or caregiver.
Attitude
A tendency toward expression of positive or negative feelings or evaluations of a person, place, thing, or situation.
Attribute Substitution
A phenomenon observed when individuals must make judgements that are complex but instead substitute a simpler solution or perception.
Attribution Theory
A theory that focuses on the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people's behavior.
Autonomy
The ethical tenet that the physician has the responsibility to respect patients' choices about their own healthcare.
Availability Heuristic
A shortcut in decision-making that relies on the information that is most readily available, rather than the total body of information on a subject.
Avoidance
A form of negative reinforcement in which one eschews the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen.
Back Stage
In the dramaturgical approach, the setting where players are free from their role requirements and not in front of the audience; back stage behaviors may not be deemed appropriate or acceptable and are thus kept invisible from the audience.
Basal Ganglia
A portion of the forebrain that coordinates muscle movement and routes information from the cortex to the brain and spinal cord.
Beneficence
The ethical tenet that the physician has a responsibility to act in the patient's best interest.
Brainstem
The most primitive portion of the brain, which includes the midbrain and hindbrain; controls the autonomic nervous system and communication between the spinal cord, cranial nerves, and brain.
Broca's Area
A brain region located in the inferior frontal gyrus of the frontal lobe (usually in the left hemisphere); largely responsible for the motor function of speech. Damage causes Broca's aphasia, a loss of the motor function of speech, resulting in intact und
Bystander Effect
The observation that, when in a group, individuals are less likely to respond to a person in need.
Cannon-Bard Theory
A theory of emotion that states that a stimulus is first received and is then simultaneously processed physiologically and cognitively, allowing for the conscious emotion to be experienced.
Catatonia
Disorganized muscle behavior characterized by various unusual physical movements or stillness.
Cerebellum
A portion of the hindbrain that maintains posture and balance and coordinates body movements.
Cerebral Cortex
The outermost layer of the cerebrum, responsible for complex perceptual, behavioral, and cognitive processes.
Cerebrum
A portion of the brain that contains the cerebral cortex, limbic system, and basal ganglia.
Circadian Rhythm
The alignment of physiological processes with the 24-hour day, including sleep-wake cycles and some elements of the endocrine system.
Circular Reaction
A repetitive action that achieves a desired response; seen during Piaget's sensorimotor stage.
Classical Conditioning
A form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus such that the neutral stimulus alone produces the same response as the unconditioned stimulus; the neutral stimulus thus becomes a conditioned sti
Cognitive Dissonance
The simultaneous presence of two opposing thoughts or opinions.
Collective Unconscious
In Jungian psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious mind that is shared among all humans and is a result of our common ancestry.
Compliance
A change of behavior of an individual at the request of another.
Confirmation Bias
A cognitive bias in which one focuses on information that supports a given solution, belief, or hypothesis, and ignores evidence against it.
Conflict Theory
A theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of power differentials in producing social order.
Conformity
The changing of beliefs or behaviors in order to fit into a group or society.
Consciousness
Awareness of oneself; can be used to describe varying levels of awareness that occur with wakefulness, sleep, dreaming, and drug-induced states.
Conservation
Concept seen in quantitative analysis performed by a child; develops when a child is able to identify the difference between quantity by number and actual amount, especially when faced with identical quantities separated into varying pieces.
Context Effect
A retrieval cue by which memory is aided when a person is in the location where encoding took place.
Correspondent Inference Theory
A theory that states that people pay closer attention to intentional behavior than accidental behavior when making attributions, especially if the behavior is unexpected.
Critical Period
A time during development during which exposure to language is essential for eventual development of effective use of language; between two years of age and puberty.
Crystallized Intelligence
Cognitive capacity to understand relationships or solve problems using information acquired during schooling and other experiences.
Cultural Relativism
The recognition that social groups and cultures must be studied on their own terms to be understood.
Deductive Reasoning
A form of cognition that starts with general information and narrows down that information to create a conclusion.
Defense Mechanism
A technique used by the ego that denies, falsifies, or distorts reality in order to resolve anxiety caused by undesirable urges of the id and superego.
Delusions
Fixed, false beliefs that are discordant with reality and not shared by one's culture, but are maintained in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.
Demographic Transition
The transition from high birth and mortality rates to lower birth and mortality rates, seen as a country develops from a preindustrial to an industrialized economic system.
Demographics
The statistical arm of sociology, which attempts to characterize and explain populations by quantitative analysis.
Depressive Episode
A period of at least two weeks in which there is a prominent and persistent depressed mood or lack of interest and at least four other depressive symptoms.
Deviance
The violation of norms, rules, or expectations within a society.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
The guide by which most psychological disorders are characterized, described, and diagnosed; currently in its fifth edition (DSM-5, published May 2013).
Diencephalon
A portion of the embryonic forebrain that becomes the thalamus, hypothalamus, posterior pituitary gland, and pineal gland.
Disconfirmation Principle
Idea that states that if evidence obtained during testing does not confirm a hypothesis, then the hypothesis is discarded or revised.
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, the process by which two similar but distinct conditioned stimuli produce different responses; in sociology, when individuals of a particular group are treated differently from others based on their group.
Dishabituation
A sudden increase in response to a stimulus, usually due to a change in the stimulus or the addition of another stimulus; sometimes called resensitization.
Displacement
A defense mechanism by which undesired urges are transferred from one target to another, more acceptable one.
Dissociative Disorders
Disorders that involve a perceived separation from identity or the environment.
Divided Attention
The ability to attend to multiple stimuli simultaneously and to perform multiple tasks at the same time.
Dramaturgical Approach
Impression management theory that represents the world as a stage and individuals as actors performing to an audience.
Drive Reduction Theory
A theory that explains motivation as being based on the goal of eliminating uncomfortable internal states.
Ego
In Freudian psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious mind that mediates the urges of the id and superego; operates under the reality principle.
Egocentrism
Self-centered view of the world in which one is not necessarily able to understand the experience of another person; seen in Piaget's preoperational stage.
Elaboration Likelihood Model
A theory in which attitudes are formed and changed through different routes of informational processing based on the degree of deep thought given to persuasive information.
Elaborative Rehearsal
The association of information in short-term memory to information already stored in long-term memory; aids in long-term storage.
Encoding
The process of receiving information and preparing it for storage; can be automatic or effortful.
Errors of Growth
Misuse of grammar characterized by universal application of a rule, regardless of exceptions; seen in children during language development.
Escape
A form of negative reinforcement in which one reduces the unpleasantness of something that already exists.
Ethnocentrism
The practice of making judgements about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one's own culture.
Explicit Memory
Memory that requires conscious recall, divided into facts (semantic memory) and experiences (episodic memory); also known as declarative memory.
Extinction
In classical conditioning, the decrease in response resulting from repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus.
Fixation
In Freudian psychoanalysis, the result of overindulgence or frustration during a psychosexual stage; causes a neurotic pattern of personality based on that stage.
Fluid Intelligence
Ability to quickly identify relationships and connections, and then use those relationships and connections to make correct deductions.
Foraging
The act of searching for and exploiting food resources.
Forebrain
A portion of the brain that is associated with complex perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral processes such as emotion and memory.
Front Stage
In the dramaturgical approach, the setting where players are in front of an audience and perform roles that are in keeping with the image they hope to project about themselves.
Frontal Lobe
A portion of the cerebral cortex that controls motor processing, executive function, and the integration of cognitive and behavioral processes.
Functional Fixedness
The inability to identify uses for an object beyond its usual purpose.
Functionalism
A theoretical framework that explains how parts of society fit together to create a cohesive whole.
Fundamental Attribution Error
The general bias toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions when analyzing another person's behavior.
Game Theory
A model that explains social interaction and decision-making as a game, including strategies, incentives, and punishments.
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
Theory that distinguishes between two groups; communities (Gemeinschaften), which share beliefs, ancestry, or geography; and society (Gesellschaften), which work together toward a common goal.
Generalization
In classical conditioning, the process by which two distinct but similar stimuli come to produce the same response.
Gestalt Principles
Ways for the brain to infer missing parts of an image when the image is incomplete.
Group Polarization
The tendency toward decisions that are more extreme than the individual thoughts of the group members.
Groupthink
The tendency for groups to make decisions based on ideas and solutions that arise within the group without considering outside ideas and ethics; based on pressure to conform and remain loyal to the group.
Habituation
A decrease in response caused by repeated exposure to a stimulus.
Hallucinations
Perceptions that are not due to external stimuli but have a compelling sense of reality; drugs that cause hallucinations, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or psilocybin-containing mushrooms, are termed hallucinogens.
Halo Effect
A cognitive bias in which judgments of an individual's character can be affected by the overall impression of the individual.
Heuristic
A rule of thumb or shortcut that is used to make decisions.
Hindbrain
A portion of the brain that controls balance, motor coordination, breathing, digestion, and general arousal processes.
Hippocampus
A portion of the limbic system that is important for memory and learning.
Hypnosis
An altered state of consciousness in which a person appears to be awake but is, in fact, in a highly suggestible state in which another person or event may trigger actions by the person.
Hypothalamus
A portion of the forebrain that controls homeostatic and endocrine functions by controlling the release of pituitary hormones.
Id
In Freudian psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious resulting from basic, instinctual urges for sexuality and survival; operates under the pleasure principles and seeks instant gratification.
Identity
A part of an individual's self-concept based on the groups to which that person belongs and his or her relationships to others.
Implicit Memory
Memory that does not require conscious recall; consists of skills and conditioned behaviors.
Implicit Personality Theory
A theory that states that people tend to associate traits and behavior in others, and that people have the tendency to attribute their own beliefs, opinions, and ideas onto others.
Impression Management
Behaviors that are intended to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object, or event.
Incidence
The number of new cases of a disease per population at risk in a given period of time; usually, new cases per 1000 at-risk people per year.
Deindividuation
The idea that people will lose a sense of self-awareness and can act dramatically different based on the influence of a group.
Inclusive Fitness
A measure of reproductive success; depends on the number of offspring an individual has, how well they support their offspring, and how well their offspring can support others.
Inductive Reasoning
A form of cognition that utilizes generalizations to develop a theory.
Ingratiation
An impression management strategy that uses flattery to increase social acceptance.
Instinctive Draft
The tendency of animals to resist learning when a conditioned behavior conflicts with the animal's instinctive behaviors.
Intelligence Quotient
Numerical measurement of intelligence, usually accomplished by some form of standardized testing.
Interference
A retrieval error caused by the learning of information; can be proactive (old information causes difficulty learning new information) or retroactive (new information interferes with older learning).
Intuition
Perceptions about a situation that may or may not be supported by available evidence but are nonetheless perceived as information that may be used to make a decision.
James-Lange Theory
A theory of emotion that states that a stimulus results in physiological arousal, which then leads to a secondary response in which emotion is consciously experienced.
Just-Noticeable Difference (jnd)
The minimum difference in magnitude between two stimuli before one can perceive this difference; also called a difference threshold.
Just-World Hypothesis
The cognitive bias that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.
Justice
In medical ethics, the tenet that the physician has a responsibility to treat similar patients with similar care, and to distribute healthcare resources fairly.
Learning (Behaviorist) Theory
A theory that attitudes are developed through forms of learning (direct contact, direct interaction, direct instruction, and conditioning).
Limbic System
A portion of the cerebrum that is associated with emotion and memory; includes the amygdala and hippocampus.
Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
A hypothesis suggesting that one's perception of reality is largely determined by the content, form, and structure of language; also known as the Whorfian hypothesis.
Locus of Control
The characterization of the source of influences on the events in one's life; can be internal or external.
Long-Term Potentiation
The strengthening of neural connections due to rehearsal or relearning; thought to be the neurophysiological basis of long-term memory.
Maintenance Rehearsal
Repetition of a piece of information to either keep it within working memory or store it.
Managing Appearances
An impression management strategy in which one uses props, appearance, emotional expression, or associations with others to create a positive image.
Manic Episode
A period of at least one week with a prominent and persistent elevated or expansive mood and at least two other manic symptoms.
Master Status
A status with which a person is most identified.
Material Culture
The physical items one associates with a given cultural group.
Medulla Oblongata
A portion of the brainstem that regulates vital functions, including breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Melatonin
A serotonin derivative secreted by the pineal gland that is associated with sleepiness.
Mental Set
A tendency to repeat solutions that have yielded positive results at some time in the past.
Meritocracy
A society in which advancement up the social ladder is based on intellectual talent and achievement.
Midbrain
A portion of the brainstem that manages sensorimotor reflexes to visual and auditory stimuli and gives rise to some cranial nerves.
Misinformation Effect
A phenomenon in which memories are altered by misleading information provided at the point of encoding or recall.
Narcolepsy
A sleep disorder characterized by a lack of voluntary control over the onset of sleep; also involves cataplexy and hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations.
Network
A term used to describe the observable pattern of social relationships among individual units of analysis.
Neuroplasticity
Change in neural connections caused by learning or a response to injury.
Neuropsychology
The study of functions and behaviors associated with specific regions of the brain.
Nonmaleficence
The ethical tenet that the physician has a responsibility to avoid interventions in which the potential for harm outweighs the potential for benefit.
Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep
Stages 1 through 4 of sleep; contains ever-slowing brain waves as one gets deeper into sleep.
Norms
Societal rules that define the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
Obedience
The changing of behavior of an individual based on a command from someone seen as an authority figure.
Object Permanence
Knowledge that an object does not cease to exist even when the object cannot be seen; a milestone in cognitive development.
Observational Learning
A form of learning in which behavior is modified as a result of watching others.
Occipital Lobe
A portion of the cerebral cortex that controls visual processing.
Operant Conditioning
A form of associative learning in which the frequency of a behavior is modified using reinforcement or punishment.
Opponent-Process Theory
A theory that states that the body will adapt to counteract repeated exposure to stimuli, such as seeing afterimages or ramping up the sympathetic nervous system in response to a depressant.
Parallel Processing
The ability to simultaneously analyze and combine information regarding multiple aspects of a stimulus, such as color, shape, and motion.
Parietal Lobe
A portion of the cerebral cortex that controls somatosensory and spatial processing.
Personality Disorders
Disorders that involve patterns of behavior that are inflexible and maladaptive, causing distress or impaired function in at least two of the following: cognition, emotion, interpersonal functioning, or impulse control.
Pineal Gland
A brain structure located near the thalamus that secretes melatonin.
Pons
A portion of the brainstem that relays information between the cortex and medulla, regulates sleep, and carries some motor and sensory information from the head and neck.
Poverty
A socioeconomic condition of low resource availability; in the United States, the poverty line is determined by the government's calculation of the minimum income requirements for families to acquire the minimum necessities of life.
Prejudice
An irrationally based positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing, formed prior to actual experience.
Prevalence
The number of cases of a disease per population in a given period of time; usually, cases per 1000 people per year.
Primacy Effect
The phenomenon of first impressions of a person being more important than subsequent impressions.
Priming
A retrieval cue by which recall is aided by a word or phrase that is semantically related to the desired memory.
Projection
A defense mechanism by which individuals attribute their undesired feelings to others.
Projection Area
A portion of the cerebral cortex that analyzes sensory input.
Proprioception
The ability to tell where one's body is in space.
Punishment
In operant conditioning, the use of an aversive stimulus designed to decrease the frequency of an undesired behavior.
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep
Sleep stage in which the eyes move rapidly back and forth and physiological arousal levels are more similar to wakefulness than sleep; dreaming occurs during this stage.
Rationalization
A defense mechanism by which individuals explain undesirable behaviors in a way that is self-justifying and socially acceptable.
Reaction Formation
A defense mechanism by which individuals suppress urges by unconsciously converting them into their exact opposites.
Recency Effect
The phenomenon in which the most recent information we have about an individual is most important in forming our impressions.
Reciprocal Determinism
In the social cognitive perspective, the notion that thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and environment interact to determine behavior in a given situation.
Recognition-Primed Decision Model
A decision-making model in which experience and recognition of similar situations one has already experienced play a large role in decision-making and actions; also one of the explanations for the experience of intuition.
Regression
A defense mechanism by which an individual deals with stress by reverting to an earlier developmental state.
Reinforcement
In operant conditioning, the use of a stimulus designed to increase the frequency of a desired behavior.
Representativeness Heuristic
A shortcut in decision-making that relies on categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image of the category.
Repression
A defense mechanism by which the ego forces undesired thoughts and urges into the unconscious mind.
Response Bias
The tendency of subjects to systematically respond to a stimulus in a particular way due to nonsensory factors.
Retrieval
The process of demonstrating that information has been retained in memory; includes recall, recognition, and relearning.
Ritual
A formalized ceremony that usually involves specific material objects, symbolism, and additional mandates on acceptable behavior.
Role
A set of beliefs, values, attitudes, and norms that define expectations of behaviors associated with a given status.
Schachter-Singer Theory
A theory of emotion that states that both physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal must occur before an emotion is consciously experienced.
Schema
An organized patter of thought and behavior; one of the central concepts of Piaget's stages of cognitive development.
Schizophrenia
A psychotic disorder characterized by gross distortions of reality and disturbances in the content and form of thought, perception, and behavior.
Selective Attention
The ability to focus on a single stimulus even while other stimuli are occurring simultaneously.
Self-Disclosure
An aspect of interpersonal attraction or impression management in which one shares his or her fears, thoughts, and goals with another person in the hopes of being met with empathy and nonjudgment.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The phenomenon of a stereotype creating an expectation of a particular group, which creates conditions that lead to confirmation of this stereotype.
Self-Handicapping
An impression management strategy where one creates obstacles to avoid self-blame when he or she does not meet expectations.
Self-Serving Bias
The idea that individuals will view their own success as being based on internal factors while viewing failures as being based on external factors.
Semantic Network
Organization of information in the brain by linking concepts with similar characteristics and meaning.
Sensation
Transduction of physical stimuli into neurological signals.
Sensitive Period
A time during which environmental input has a maximal impact on the development of a particular ability.
Sensory Memory
Visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) stimuli briefly stored in memory; fades very quickly unless attention is paid to the information.
Serial Position Effect
The tendency to better remember items presented at the beginning or end of a list; related to the primary and recency effects.
Shaping
In operant conditioning, the process of conditioning a complex behavior by rewarding successive approximations of the behavior.
Signal Detection Theory
A theory of perception in which internal (psychological) and external (environmental) context both play a role in our perception of stimuli.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep disorder in which a person may cease to breathe while sleeping; may be due to obstruction or a central (neurological) cause.
Slow-Wave Sleep
Consists or NREM sleep stages 3 or 4; also called delta-wave sleep.
Social Action
Actions and behaviors that individuals are conscious of and performing because others are around.
Social Capital
The investment people make in their society in return for economic or collective rewards.
Social Construction Model of Emotion
A theory of emotional expression that assumes there are no biologically wired emotions; rather, they are based on experiences and situational context alone.
Social Constructionism
A theoretical approach that unconvers the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the formation of their perceived social reality.