me

• adrenaline

  hormone produced by adrenal glands as part of body's acute strss response.

  strongly stimulates heart rate and contracts blood vessels
• aggression

  behaviour that is intended to cause psychological or physical injury
• autonomic nervous system

  transmits information to and from internal bodily organs

  system operates involuntarily

  two main divisions - parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems
• central nervous system

  consists of brain and spinal cord

  complex decisions are made
• chromosomes

  found in nucleus of living cells

  carry information in form of genes

  23rd pair determines biological sex
• classical conditioning

  learning by association

  2 stimuli repeatedly paired together - an UCS and new NS

  NS eventually produces same respnse that was first produced by UCS alone
• cognitive biases

  distortion of thinking, attention and memory

  arises because of how we process information about the world

  can lead to irrational judgements and poor decision making
• cortisol

  hormone produced by adrenal gland

  helps body cope with stressors by controlling how body uses energy

  suppresses immune system
• cues

  stimuli in environment that become rewarding in themselves

  as they are associated with pleasure experienced from engaging in a behaviour
• culture

  refers to the norms and values that exist within any group of people
• depression

  low mood beyond everyday sadness, severe enough to be diagnosed as a disorder
• dopamine

  neurotransmitter that generally has an excitatory effect

  asscociated with sensation of pleasure
• evolution

  changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
• fight/flight/freeze response

  way animals respond when they are stressed

  body becomes physiologically aroused in readiness to fight an aggressor, flee or freeze
• gender

  label of being a gir/woman or boy/man
• genes

  inherited DNA with instructions for building physical and psychological characteristics that influence behaviour
• hormones

  chemical substances that circulate in the bloodstream and affect target organs
• identification

  individual temporarily goes along with the norms and roles of the group because they see membership as part of their identity
• imitation

  an individual reproduces the behaviour they observed being demonstrated by a model

  more likely to occur when the individual identifies with the model
• information processing

  behaviour can be understood in terms of information flowing through the cognitive system in a series of stages
• modelling

  either an observer imitates the behaviour of a model or a model demonstrates a behaviour that may be imitated by an observer
• motivation

  refers to the forces that drive your behaviour

  encourages an animal to act
• negative reinforcement

  operant conditiong, process of learning in which a behaviour is more likely to be repeated

  because cosequence of the behaviour is removal of an unpleasant stimulus or situation which is experienced as rewarding
• neurotransmitters

  chemicals in the nervous system that transmit signals from one neuron to another across synapses
• observation

  actively attending to and watching the behaviour of others
• personality

  patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that differ between individuals

  relatively consistent from one situation to another and over time
• positive reinforcement

  operant conditioning, process of learning in which a behaviour is more likely to be repeated because it is pleasurable - pleasure is rewarding
• reinforcement

  behaviour is followed by consequence that increases the probability of the behaviour being repeated
• role models

  people who have qualities we would like to have and we identify with

  we model or imitate their behaviours and attitudes
• roles

  functions that individuals perform within a group

  task, social, procedural, individualist roles
• schema

  mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing
• self-efficacy

  person's confidence in their ability to achieve success
• self-esteem

  how a person values themselves and the extent to which they accept and like themselves
• serotonin

  neurotransmitter with inhibitory effects through the brain

  key role in aggressive behaviour
• social learning

  way of explaining behaviour that includes direct and indirect reinforcement
• stress response

  psychological and physiological state of arousal that arises when we believe we dont have ability to cope with a perceived threat
• vicarious reinforcement

  when a learner observes a models behaviour being reinforced