Trust Me, I’m a Psychologist!
This is the variable that researchers measure to determine the effect of an experiment.
What is a dependent variable?
This part of a neuron receives incoming signals from other neurons.
What are dendrites?
This sleep disorder involves repeated difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
What is insomnia?
These two types of photoreceptors allow us to see in dim light and perceive color, respectively.
What are rods and cones?
According to Maslow, food, water, and sleep belong to this level of the hierarchy of needs.
What are physiological needs? (part of basic needs)
This group does not receive the experimental treatment and serves as a comparison.
What is a control group?
This fatty covering helps electrical signals travel more quickly along an axon.
What is the myelin sheath?
This stage of NREM sleep is characterized by deep, slow-wave sleep and is the most difficult stage to wake someone from.
What is N3 sleep?
This memory process involves bringing previously stored information back into conscious awareness.
What is retrieval?
A child believes that everyone sees the world exactly as they do. Piaget used this term to describe difficulty taking another person's perspective.
What is egocentrism?
A researcher predicts that students who sleep 8 hours will score higher on exams than those who sleep 4 hours. This specific, testable prediction is called a ____.
What is a hypothesis?
Your heart races when you see a snake, but slows down once you realize it is fake. Name the TWO divisions of the nervous system responsible for these responses.
What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?
According to this theory of dreaming, dreams result from the brain attempting to make sense of random neural activity during REM sleep.
What is the activation-synthesis theory?
After staring at a green image for 30 seconds, you look at a white wall and see red. This theory explains why you experience the opposite color.
What is opponent-process theory?
A student struggles with a math problem independently but succeeds when their teacher provides guidance. Vygotsky used this term to describe the gap between what a learner can do alone and with assistance.
What is the zone of proximal development (ZPD)?
A researcher randomly selects 100 students from a university, then randomly places them into two study conditions. These two procedures serve different purposes. Name both procedures.
What are random sampling and random assignment?
After a stroke, a patient gradually regains the ability to speak as other brain regions adapt and form new connections. This demonstrates the brain's ability to reorganize itself.
What is neuroplasticity?
A student struggles to fall asleep after traveling across several time zones. This brain structure normally helps synchronize the body's sleep-wake cycle with environmental light.
What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?
Bob Vance from Vance Refrigeration remembers how to ride a bicycle but cannot consciously recall learning to ride it. This SPECIFIC type of long-term memory explains his ability.
What is procedural memory (part of implicit memory)?
Two students receive the same poor exam grade. Jim believes he lacks the ability to improve, while Pam sees the grade as an opportunity to change her study strategies. Identify the TWO mindsets illustrated, respectively.
What are fixed mindset and growth mindset?
A researcher randomly assigns students to study with music or in silence. However, the music group studies in the morning, while the silence group studies at night. Despite random assignment, this problem makes it difficult to determine whether music caused differences in test scores.
What is a confounding variable? (Time of day is confounded with the study condition)
A patient can understand spoken language and knows what they want to say, but struggles to produce fluent speech. Identify the most likely damaged brain region.
What is Broca's area?
A student experiences brief bursts of rapid brain activity during sleep. Later that night, their brain produces slow, high-amplitude delta waves. Identify the TWO sleep stages in the order they occurred.
What are N2 and N3 sleep?
The smell of freshly baked cookies immediately reminds Robert California of his childhood. This brain structure plays a major role in the emotional response associated with the memory.
What is the amygdala?
During the Strange Situation, a toddler becomes extremely distressed when their caregiver leaves. When the caregiver returns, the child seeks comfort but simultaneously pushes them away and resists being soothed. This contradictory behavior is characteristic of which attachment style?
What is ambivalent attachment?