unit 1 intro to psych
the study of how your
behaviors and environment can cause
changes that affect the way your genes
work
Epigenetics
Attached to the
rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate
voluntary movements and balance
Cerebellum “Little Brain”
Forming an
association between two stimuli resulting
in a learned response; we learn to
anticipate events
Classical Conditioning
Experience excessive anxiety under most
circumstances and worry about practically
anything
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The scientific study of
how individuals think, feel, and behave in
a social context
Social Psychology
An observation technique in
which one individual or just a few
individuals are carefully studied indepth
Case Study
Biological rhythms that occur
approximately once every 24 hours
(16 hours awake and 8 hours asleep)
Circadian Rhythm
Learning that has persisted over
time; information that has been stored and
can be retrieved
Memory
Result of some trauma experienced by the
victim. Victims reexperience the traumatic
event in nightmares about the event, or
flashbacks in which they relive the event
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
The act of matching
attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group
norms
Conformity
Careful observations of animals or people
in their natural/native environment; no
attempts at intervention on the part of the
researcher
Naturalistic Observation
Fleeting, uncontrollable, brief
episode of sleep which can last anywhere
from a single fraction of a second up to 10
full seconds
Microsleep
Set of stepbystep procedures
that provides the correct answer to a
particular problem
Algorithms
Mood swings
alternating between periods of major
depression and mania
Bipolar Disorder
Changing one’s behavior at
the direct command of an authority figure
(person with social power)
Obedience
The correct rules of conduct and
moral principles necessary when
carrying out research
Ethics
chemical substance
that alters perceptions, mood, or behavior
Psychoactive Drug
our spoken, written, or signed
words and the ways we combine them to
communicate meaning
Language
Acts to keep information out
of conscious awareness
Repression
The theory that we explain someone’s
behavior by crediting either internal
characteristics or environmental factors
Attribution Theory
The only way to
establish that there is a causeandeffect
relationship between two variables is to
conduct a scientific experiment
Experimental Method
Refers to the extent to
which people feel that they have control
over the events that influence their lives
Locus of Control
The sociocultural dimension of
being biologically male or female
Gender
Involves taking out our
frustrations, feelings, and impulses on
people or objects that are less threatening
Displacement
Tendency to blame
external forces when bad things happen
and to give ourselves credit when good
things happen
SelfServing Bias