Unit 1
Division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body in STRESSFUL situations
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input
What is selective attention?
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
What is object permanence?
the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
What is fundamental attribution error?
perspective that focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share
What is evolutionary perspective?
A neural impulse, brief electrical charge that travels down an axon
What is action potential?
A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object
What is convergence?
in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
What is self-serving bias?
the approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control
What is psychodynamic perspective?
Neurotransmitters associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system.
Mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that often lead to a solution (but not always).
What are heuristics?
in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view
What is egocentrism?
the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get
What is the just-world phenomenon?
Attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor.
What is problem-focused coping?
Drugs that block the actions of neurotransmitters
What are antagonists?
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"
Adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child's current level of performance
What is scaffolding?
tendency to favor individuals within our group over those from outside our group
What is in-group bias?
an involuntary, physical response to a sudden and immediate threat (or stressor) in readiness for fight (confront), flight (escape) or freeze (avoid detection)
What is fight-flight-freeze response?
Neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres, associated with emotions and drives
What is the Limbic System?
An explanation of memory based on three separate memory stores, and how information is transferred between these stores.
What is the multi-store model?
Vygotsky's concept of the difference between what a child can do alone and what that child can do with the help of a teacher
What is zone of proximal development (ZPD)?
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
What is confirmation bias?
Stressful or traumatic experiences, including abuse, neglect, and a range of household dysfunction, such as witnessing domestic violence or growing up with substance abuse, mental disorders, parental discord, or crime in the home.
What is adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)?