Key Concepts
This is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
What is psychology?
This organ controls many of the body's actions and mental processes.
What is the brain?
Remembering information for a short period of time uses this type of memory.
What is short-term memory?
This is a feeling or response such as happiness, sadness, anger, or fear.
What is an emotion?
A person feels nervous before giving a presentation. This is an example of this psychological experience.
What is anxiety?
This refers to the actions that can be observed in a person.
What is behavior?
These cells send and receive information throughout the nervous system.
What are neurons?
Learning by connecting two things that repeatedly occur together is called this.
What is classical conditioning?
This refers to the reasons or forces that cause a person to act toward a goal.
What is motivation?
Someone practices a skill repeatedly and becomes better at it. This is an example of this process.
What is learning?
This is the process of receiving, interpreting, and organizing information from our senses.
What is perception?
This part of the brain is strongly associated with thinking, planning, and decision-making.
What is the frontal lobe?
Learning that occurs when a behavior becomes more or less likely because of its consequences is called this.
What is operant conditioning?
Wanting to do an activity because you personally enjoy it is an example of this type of motivation.
What is intrinsic motivation?
A person sees a friend smiling and concludes that the friend is happy. This involves interpreting information through this process.
What is perception?
This mental process allows us to store and later retrieve information.
What is memory?
This system helps the body respond quickly to danger or stressful situations.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
When a person remembers information better because it is connected to something meaningful, this shows the importance of this process.
What is encoding?
Fear can prepare the body to react to a possible threat. This shows that emotions can have this purpose.
What is adaptation?
A student receives praise after completing homework and becomes more likely to complete it again. This is an example of this learning principle.
What is positive reinforcement?
This refers to the process of acquiring knowledge or skills through experience and practice.
What is learning?
When the brain changes its connections or organization in response to experience, this ability is demonstrated.
What is neuroplasticity?
A student studies in the same environment where they will take a test and remembers more information. This example demonstrates this memory effect.
What is context-dependent memory?
A student studies because they genuinely enjoy learning, rather than because they will receive a reward. This best represents this type of motivation.
What is intrinsic motivation?
A person changes their behavior after observing someone else perform an action successfully. This demonstrates this type of learning.
What is observational learning?