Research Terminology
A research technique often used to gauge people's opinions and preferences by giving participants questionnaires
survey
A period of time in which a brief electrical impulse travels along the axon because the cell is depolarized which occurs when a neuron sends a message
action potential
The set of cultural norms that specify the typical ages for major life events, such as starting school, leaving home, getting married, having children, retiring.
social clock
The strip of cerebral cortex located at the back of the frontal lobes and is responsible for voluntary movements
motor cortex
An unselfish act for the benefit of another that involves personal cost
altruism
The tendency to look only for information that reaffirms or supports one's beliefs, while discarding or giving less consideration to information that may contradict those beliefs.
confirmation bias
A type of drug that is effective at increasing the transmission of a given neurotransmitter by stimulating receptor sites
agonist
A person's accumulated knowledge and skills which has been shown to increase with age
crystallized intelligence
A region of the frontal lobe responsible for speech production, typically located in the left hemisphere
Broca's area
The perception individuals have regarding how much influence they have over what happens to them.
Locus of Control
A type of bias involving the tendency of people to overestimate how many others agree with them
false-consensus effect
A central nervous system disease that damages the myelin sheath around nerve fibers, disrupting neural signal transmission and affecting communication between the brain and body
multiple sclerosis (MS)
The first stage of psychosocial personality development. Infants will either develop a sense that theworld is a safe place or not based on whether or not their basic needs are consistently met.
trust vs. mistrust
Imaging technique used to examine brain activity by measuring brain waves. It's often used in sleep, dream, and seizure research.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
A potential confounding variable in which individuals display the characteristics they believe that the experimenter wants to see or that are aligned with societal norms rather than those which are genuine
social desirability bias
The process of choosing participants for a study without using any predetermined pattern. Needed for the generalizability of the study results.
random selection
A hormone produced and released by fat cells that sends information to the brain to reduce hunger and create feelings of satiety.
leptin
A stage in identity development where the adolescent has neither committed to an identity nor engaged in exploring possible identities, often leading to a lack of direction or purpose
identity diffusion
The area of the brainstem that is responsible for heartbeat, breathing, and blood pressure, as well as other survival reflexes such as sneezing, coughing, vomiting, and swallowing.
medulla
the (often false) belief that an individual with one positive characteristic also has many other positive characteristics.
halo effect
A descriptive statistic that indicates the average distance from the mean for a set of scores.
standard deviation
The neurotransmitter responsible for muscle contraction, learning, and memory. Associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Acetylcholine (ACh)
Term for identifying the difference between what a child can learn alone and what a child can learn with assistance, thus indicating where the child can most benefit from instruction
zone of proximal development (ZPD)
The region of the cerebral cortex that controls processing of sensory information related to the somatic (touch) senses
parietal lobes
A problem in which all parties must work together to accomplish a solution that can be used to reduce prejudice between groups
superordinate goal