Psych Foundations & Research
A student of Wundt's used this method, asking people to look inward and report their thoughts and sensations in the moment.
What is Introspection?
This fatty coating wraps around an axon like insulation on a wire, helping electrical signals travel faster.
What is the Myelin Sheath?
A frustrated camper can't figure out how to open a can without a can opener, even though a nearby rock would work just fine. This mental block is called:
What is Functional Fixedness?
Ring a bell before every meal, and eventually the dog drools at the sound of the bell alone — a phenomenon Pavlov made famous.
What is Classical Conditioning?
Rather than pointing to inner conflict, this viewpoint looks at how rewards, punishments, and conditioning history shape someone's disorder.
What is the Behavioral Perspective?
Instead of controlling variables in a lab, a psychologist watches chimpanzees interact in their own habitat. She is using this research method.
What is Naturalistic Observation?
Chemical messengers cross this tiny gap to reach the next neuron's receptors.
What is the Synapse?
Once you decide you love a particular car brand, you start noticing every five-star review and skipping over the one-star ones. This tendency is:
What is Confirmation Bias?
A child stops whining once a parent finally turns off an annoying alarm — removing something unpleasant to increase a behavior. This is:
What is Negative Reinforcement?
Someone who washes their hands dozens of times a day to quiet unwanted, intrusive worries about germs may be diagnosed with this disorder.
What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
In a study on caffeine and reaction time, the amount of caffeine given to each participant would be labeled this.
What is the Independent Variable?
If you touch a hot stove, this brain lobe is the one processing that burning sensation on your skin.
What is the Parietal Lobe?
Before information can ever be stored or retrieved, it first has to get into the memory system — this initial step is called:
What is Encoding?
A trainer rewards a dolphin first for splashing, then jumping, then finally flipping — gradually reinforcing closer approximations of the full trick. This is:
What is Shaping?
For at least a week, a person barely sleeps, talks a mile a minute, and impulsively starts three new business ventures at once. This describes:
What is a Manic Episode?
Max Wertheimer and colleagues argued that our brains organize sights and sounds into unified wholes rather than isolated pieces — the founding idea behind this school of thought.
What is Gestalt Psychology?
Jet lag happens when long-distance travel throws off this internal, roughly 24-hour clock.
What is the Circadian Rhythm?
Certain smells, songs, or rooms can unlock memories tied to that same setting — a phenomenon known as:
What is Context-Dependent Memory?
A toddler insists the moon is following the car and believes everyone else sees the world exactly as she does. Piaget would say this child is in:
What is the Preoperational Stage?
Carl Rogers pioneered this warm, non-judgmental therapy approach built on unconditional positive regard and active listening.
What is Person-Centered Therapy?
A counselor traces a client's road rage back to anger he buried as a child after his parents' divorce. This explanation reflects which perspective?
What is the Psychodynamic Perspective?
A thought isn't in your mind right now, but a small nudge — like a familiar smell — brings it right back to the surface. This describes this level of awareness.
What is the Preconscious?
A patient with severe brain trauma can recall his childhood perfectly but can't remember meeting his doctor five minutes ago. This inability to form new long-term memories is called:
What is Anterograde Amnesia?
Parents who explain the reasons behind curfew, hold firm boundaries, and still let their teen make some choices are practicing this parenting style. Children who have this type of parent ususally have more successful outcomes.
What is Authoritative Parenting?
Step by step, a client afraid of flying practices relaxation while picturing a plane, then sitting in a parked plane, then finally taking off. This gradual exposure technique is called:
What is Systematic Desensitization?