Emotion
the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
James-Lange Theory
a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
neuron
any event or situation that evokes a response
Stimulus
fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic
agoraphobia
a mental image or best example of a category.
Prototype
the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion.
Cannon-Bard Theory
the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles
somatic nervous system
a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events
classical conditioning
a personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.
antisocial personality disorder
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore other relevant information
Representativeness Heuristic
the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.
Drive-Reduction Theory
a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body.
CT scan
in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus
unconditioned response (UR)
a disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania.
bipolar disorder
clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Belief Perseverance
emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that releasing aggressive energy relieves aggressive urges.
catharsis
two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion
amygdala
the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
generalization
a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities.
dissociative identity disorder
in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Phoneme
sudden activation of sympathetic nervous system functions; cope with stressor
Alarm Phase
the portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field
occipital lobes
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
shaping
a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common.
mania
beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements.
Two-word Stage