Key Concepts
What is psychology?
it is the scientific study of mind and behavior.
What is positive reinforcement?
You train your dog to sit by giving him a treat every time he obeys the command.
Humans only use 10% of their brains
What is a myth? (Virtually all areas of the brain are active and used for different functions).
What is sleep?
The state of minimal awareness and physical inactivity that allows our body and mind to rest and restore.
What is operant conditioning? It should be classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov discovered operant conditioning by measuring the salivation of dogs.
What is the brainstem or medulla?
The part of the brain responsible for regulating basic survival functions like breathing and heart rate.
What is anterograde amnesia?
After a car accident, Alex cannot form new memories, though he remembers his childhood perfectly.
What is a fact?
Brain plasticity allows the brain to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.
What is frustration or cognitive dissonance?
In the sentence:Maria felt a deep sense of _______ when her expectations did not match the actual results of her project.
What is decrease behavior?
Negative reinforcement is the exact same thing as punishment because both decrease behavior
What is classical conditioning?
A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response.
What is rationalization or cognitive dissonance reduction?
Sarah buys a very expensive dress she doesn't need and justifies it by saying it was on sale and saves me money.
What is a myth?
Subliminal messages in advertisements can easily force people to buy products against their will.
What are neurotransmitters?
The brain's chemical messengers that transmit signals across a chemical synapse from one neuron to another.
What is sympathetic?
The sympathetic nervous system calms the body down and saves energy after a stressful event
What is a schema?
The mental framework or structure that helps us organize and interpret information in our environment.
What is the bystander effect or diffusion of responsibility?
During an emergency on a busy street, nobody calls 911 because everyone assumes someone else already did.
What is a myth?
Expressing anger by punching a pillow catharsis successfully reduces feelings of aggression in the long run.
What is perception?
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning is known as _______.
What is unlimited capacity?
Short-term memory has an unlimited capacity and can hold information permanently without rehearsal.
What is social facilitation?
The psychological phenomenon where an individual's performance improves in the presence of others on simple or well-learned tasks.
What is context-dependent memory?
A student studies for an exam in the exact same quiet room where the test will take place to recall information better.
What is a myth? Memory is reconstructive and prone to distortions and false memories
Eyewitness memories are highly accurate and rarely change over time.
What is resilience?
The psychological capacity to adapt positively and recover quickly from stress, adversity, or trauma.
What is Conformity?
Conformity happens when a person obeys an explicit command from an authority figure like a police officer.