Ap psychology

• Absolute threshold

  The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
• Accommodation

  Adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
• Accommodation (eye)


  The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
• Acetylcholine (ACh)


  A neurotransmitter that, among its functions, triggers muscle contraction
• Achievement motivation


  A desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for attaining a high standard
• Achievement test


  A test designed to assess what a person has learned
• Acoustic encoding


  The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words
• Acquisition


  The initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response
• Action potential


  A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane
• Active listening


  Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy
• Acuity


  The sharpness of vision
• Adaptation-level phenomenon


  Our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a "neutral" level defined by our prior experience
• Adolescence


  The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
• Adrenal glands


  A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which help to arouse the body in times of stress
• Aerobic exercise


  Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety
• Aggression


  Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy
• Algorithm


  A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier-but also more error-prone-use of heuristics
• Alpha waves


  The relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state
• Altruism


  Unselfish regard for the welfare of others
• Alzheimer's disease


  A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning
• Amnesia


  The loss of memory
• Amphetamines


  Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes
• Amygdala


  Two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion
• Anorexia nervosa


  An eating disorder in which a normal-weight person (usually an adolescent female) diets and becomes significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve
• Antisocial personality disorder


  A personality disorder in which the 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
• Anxiety disorders


  Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
• Aphasia


  Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)
• Applied research


  Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
• Aptitude test


  A test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn
• Artificial intelligence (AI)


  The science of designing and programming computer systems to do intelligent things and to simulate human thought processes, such as intuitive reasoning, learning, and understanding language
• Assimilation


  Interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas
• Association areas


  Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking
• Associative learning


  Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)
• Attachment


  An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
• Attitude


  A belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events
• Attribution theory


  The theory that we tend to give a causal explanation for someone's behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition
• Audition


  The sense of hearing
• Autism


  A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind
• Automatic processing


  Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings
• Autonomic nervous system


  The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms