Biology of the Mind
Directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward.
What is the hypothalamus
the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
What is a lens
a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punished
What is Operant Conditioning
Belief that unconscious forces determine personality, developed by Freud
What is psychoanalysis
the tendency to favor our own group
What is an ingroup
the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
what is plasticity
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
What is unconditioned response
Stressed social learning and the role of role models in behavior
the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get
scan a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task
What is a PET (positron emission tomography)
the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information
What is the Retina
behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
What is Respondent Behaviour
Eating disorder where a normal weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight
What is anorexia nervousa
the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
What is the mere exposure effect
the endocrine system's most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands
What is the pituitary glands
the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)
What is the Weber's Law
Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely
What is Law of Effect
Views individual personality in terms of tendencies to process, interpret, and understand the environment
What is the cognitive model of personability
the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent
What is cognitive dissonance theory
chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.
What are neurotransmitters
a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.
What is Signal Detection
learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.
What is latent learning
Proposed Psychosocial Stages of Development, each with a crisis that needs resolving
Who is Erik Erikson
the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
What is fundamental attribution error