Flashcards Open Source App — Five-Unit Psychology Course Review
Review five units of psychology through concept recall, real-world applications, research methods, data analysis, and evidence-based reasoning.
About this deck
Review a five-unit psychology course with 705 independently written cards, ready to install and study offline. The deck covers biological bases of behavior, cognition, development and learning, social psychology and personality, and mental and physical health. It supports four science practices through concept application, research methods and design, data interpretation, and argumentation.
What this deck practices
- Concept → meaning or function: recall a concise definition, mechanism, or distinction.
- Scenario → concept: identify the idea that best explains a behavior, symptom pattern, or result.
- Study description → method: identify a design, variable, sampling decision, ethical safeguard, limitation, or warranted conclusion.
- Data representation → interpretation: read a compact table, distribution, graph pattern, statistic, or calculation and decide what the evidence shows.
- Claim + evidence → reasoning: connect evidence to a defensible psychological explanation.
The sequence follows Units 1–5, stays within the current or next topic, and puts prerequisites and chronological steps first. Manually identified definition/application, foundation/claim, scenario, cue, and near-duplicate variants are assigned semantic families. At least three cards unrelated to either variant separate consecutive members of each family. Explicit prerequisite and chronological sequences stay together only when adjacency makes the progression easier to learn.
What's deliberately left out
The deck doesn't mechanically reverse every definition, diagnose personal anecdotes, offer treatment advice, or include long essay prompts. It stays within the reviewed five-unit course boundary and leaves out detailed genetics, neuron labeling, out-of-scope theories, unlisted disorders, names-and-dates trivia, and exhaustive study permutations.
Content and scope were reviewed on 2026-08-25.
The psychological facts and course outline aren't claimed as original. The CC0 label applies only to the independently written prompts, answers, organization, metadata, and ordering, to the extent those rights exist. No examination questions, scoring materials, curriculum text, source prose, logos, or third-party media were copied.
This independent, unofficial study deck is not affiliated with or endorsed by College Board.
Cards in this deck
Card 1
Question
Nature in the nature–nurture question?
Answer
Inherited biological influences on behavior and mental processes.
Card 2
Question
Central nervous system?
Answer
The brain and spinal cord, which process information and coordinate responses.
Card 3
Question
Main role of the spinal cord?
Answer
It carries messages between brain and body and organizes some reflexes.
Card 4
Question
Scores are
4, 6, 8, 10. What is the mean?Answer
7, found by dividing the total of 28 by 4 scores.
Card 5
Question
Nurture in the nature–nurture question?
Answer
Environmental influences, such as family, culture, education, and experience.
Card 6
Question
Peripheral nervous system?
Answer
The nerves that connect the central nervous system with the rest of the body.
Card 7
Question
Reflex arc?
Answer
A rapid neural pathway that can produce a response through the spinal cord before conscious brain processing.
Card 8
Question
Reflex times are
180, 190, 210, 260, 410milliseconds. What is the median?Answer
210 milliseconds, the middle score after ordering the five values.
Card 9
Question
Heritability?
Answer
The proportion of variation in a trait within a population that is associated with genetic differences. It doesn't describe one person's trait.
Card 10
Question
Autonomic nervous system?
Answer
The peripheral division that regulates involuntary functions of glands and internal organs.
Card 11
Question
Evolutionary perspective on behavior?
Answer
It asks how natural selection may have favored psychological traits that helped survival or reproduction.
Card 12
Question
Why is eugenics scientifically and ethically invalid?
Answer
It misuses heredity claims to rank people and justify coercion, while ignoring environmental influence, human rights, and the complexity of traits.
Card 13
Question
Why isn't behavior explained by genes or environment alone?
Answer
They interact. A biological tendency can be strengthened, weakened, or redirected by experience.
Card 14
Question
Researchers compare a trait across biological relatives who share different amounts of DNA. Which method is this?
Answer
A family study; twin comparisons are one example, but shared environments still limit causal conclusions.
Card 15
Question
Natural selection?
Answer
Traits that support survival or reproduction can become more common across generations.
Card 16
Question
Somatic nervous system?
Answer
The peripheral division that carries sensory information and controls voluntary skeletal-muscle movement.
Card 17
Question
Sensory neurons?
Answer
They carry incoming information from sensory receptors toward the central nervous system.
Card 18
Question
Which design compares adoptees with both biological and adoptive relatives?
Answer
An adoption study, used to separate some hereditary and environmental similarities.
Card 19
Question
Twins show a strong trait correlation. What keeps this result from proving genetic causation?
Answer
Correlation doesn't isolate genes from shared environments or other confounding variables.
Card 20
Question
Sympathetic nervous system?
Answer
The autonomic division that mobilizes energy during challenge or threat.
Card 21
Question
Evidence shows a genetic risk predicts an outcome only under chronic stress. Best claim?
Answer
The outcome reflects a gene–environment interaction, not a purely genetic effect.
Card 22
Question
Motor neurons?
Answer
They carry outgoing commands from the central nervous system to muscles or glands.
Card 23
Question
Sleep duration and stress are correlated. What directionality problem limits a causal conclusion?
Answer
The result cannot show whether less sleep raises stress, stress reduces sleep, or both directions operate.
Card 24
Question
Parasympathetic nervous system?
Answer
The autonomic division that calms the body and supports rest, digestion, and recovery.
Card 25
Question
Resting potential?
Answer
The neuron's stable negative charge when it isn't firing, maintained by unequal ion concentrations across the membrane.
Card 26
Question
Interneurons?
Answer
Neurons within the central nervous system that process information and connect other neurons.
Card 27
Question
Adrenaline's behavioral role?
Answer
It helps mobilize the body during arousal and the fight-or-flight response.
Card 28
Question
Frontal lobes?
Answer
Planning, judgment, impulse control, working memory, voluntary movement, and aspects of speech.
Card 29
Question
Neural threshold?
Answer
The minimum stimulation needed to trigger an action potential.
Card 30
Question
Corpus callosum?
Answer
The large fiber tract that carries information between the cerebral hemispheres.
Card 31
Question
Leptin's role in eating?
Answer
It signals stored energy and helps reduce hunger.
Card 32
Question
Temporal lobes?
Answer
Auditory processing, language comprehension, memory, and object recognition.
Card 33
Question
Depolarization during an action potential?
Answer
Positive ions enter the neuron, making the membrane charge less negative and then briefly positive.
Card 34
Question
Dopamine's major psychological functions?
Answer
Movement, motivation, reward learning, attention, and reinforcement.
Card 35
Question
Ghrelin's role in eating?
Answer
It helps stimulate hunger.
Card 36
Question
Drug agonist?
Answer
A substance that increases a neurotransmitter's effect by activating its receptor or supporting its action.
Card 37
Question
Action potential?
Answer
A brief electrical impulse that travels along a neuron after threshold is reached.
Card 38
Question
Reuptake?
Answer
The sending neuron reabsorbs neurotransmitter from the synapse after release.
Card 39
Question
Serotonin's major psychological functions?
Answer
Mood, sleep, appetite, and arousal regulation.
Card 40
Question
Glutamate's major psychological functions?
Answer
It is the brain's main excitatory neurotransmitter and supports learning and memory.
Card 41
Question
Refractory period?
Answer
A short recovery interval after firing when the neuron resets and can't immediately produce another full action potential.
Card 42
Question
Melatonin's role?
Answer
It helps regulate circadian timing and promotes sleepiness in darkness.
Card 43
Question
Drug antagonist?
Answer
A substance that blocks or reduces a neurotransmitter's effect at its receptor.
Card 44
Question
Stimulants?
Answer
Psychoactive drugs that increase central nervous system activity and alertness.
Card 45
Question
Drug tolerance?
Answer
A reduced response after repeated use, so a larger dose may be needed for the same effect.
Card 46
Question
Damage to myelin slows messages in the central nervous system. Which disorder illustrates this problem?
Answer
Multiple sclerosis.
Card 47
Question
All-or-none principle?
Answer
A neuron fires a full action potential once threshold is reached; stronger input changes firing rate, not impulse size.
Card 48
Question
Norepinephrine's major psychological functions?
Answer
Alertness, arousal, attention, and the stress response.
Card 49
Question
GABA's major psychological function?
Answer
It is the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter and reduces neural activity.
Card 50
Question
Oxytocin's behavioral role?
Answer
It supports social bonding and also contributes to childbirth and lactation.
Card 51
Question
Reuptake inhibitor?
Answer
A drug that keeps more neurotransmitter in the synapse by slowing reabsorption.
Card 52
Question
Depressants?
Answer
Psychoactive drugs that reduce central nervous system activity.
Card 53
Question
Drug withdrawal?
Answer
Physical or psychological symptoms that can appear when regular drug use is reduced or stopped.
Card 54
Question
Antibodies disrupt acetylcholine receptors at muscles, causing weakness. Which disorder illustrates this problem?
Answer
Myasthenia gravis.
Card 55
Question
Glial cells?
Answer
Cells that support, nourish, insulate, protect, and help regulate neurons and their connections.
Card 56
Question
Endorphins?
Answer
Natural neurotransmitters that reduce pain and can produce pleasure.
Card 57
Question
Substance P?
Answer
A neurotransmitter involved in pain signaling.
Card 58
Question
Acetylcholine's major functions?
Answer
Muscle action, learning, memory, and attention.
Card 59
Question
Opioids?
Answer
Drugs that bind to opioid receptors, reducing pain and often producing relaxation or euphoria.
Card 60
Question
Hallucinogens?
Answer
Drugs that alter perception and can produce sensory experiences without matching external input.
Card 61
Question
Addiction?
Answer
Compulsive substance use or behavior that continues despite harmful consequences and is difficult to control.
Card 62
Question
Parietal lobes?
Answer
Body-sense processing, spatial attention, and integrating sensory information.
Card 63
Question
Consciousness?
Answer
Awareness of internal experiences and the surrounding environment.
Card 64
Question
Circadian rhythm?
Answer
A roughly 24-hour biological cycle that helps regulate sleep and wakefulness.
Card 65
Question
Damage causes slow, effortful speech with relatively preserved comprehension. Likely region?
Answer
Broca's area, usually in the left frontal lobe.
Card 66
Question
Occipital lobes?
Answer
Primary cortical processing of visual information.
Card 67
Question
What does split-brain research reveal?
Answer
When the corpus callosum is severed, the hemispheres can process some information independently.
Card 68
Question
How does the suprachiasmatic nucleus regulate circadian rhythm?
Answer
It uses light information from the eyes to coordinate the body's roughly 24-hour clock.
Card 69
Question
NREM-1 sleep?
Answer
The light transition into sleep, sometimes accompanied by hypnagogic sensations.
Card 70
Question
Motor cortex?
Answer
A frontal-lobe strip that directs voluntary movement.
Card 71
Question
Damage causes fluent but nonsensical speech and poor comprehension. Likely region?
Answer
Wernicke's area, usually in the left temporal lobe.
Card 72
Question
Brainstem's core function?
Answer
It supports basic survival functions and connects the brain with the spinal cord.
Card 73
Question
NREM-2 sleep?
Answer
A light sleep stage marked by sleep spindles and K-complexes.
Card 74
Question
Somatosensory cortex?
Answer
A parietal-lobe strip that registers touch and body-position information.
Card 75
Question
Medulla's main functions?
Answer
It regulates vital automatic functions such as breathing and heart rate.
Card 76
Question
Reticular activating system?
Answer
A brainstem network involved in alertness, arousal, and the sleep–wake cycle.
Card 77
Question
NREM-3 sleep?
Answer
Deep slow-wave sleep, associated with physical restoration and difficult awakening.
Card 78
Question
Cerebellum's main functions?
Answer
Balance, coordinated movement, procedural learning, and timing.
Card 79
Question
Thalamus?
Answer
A relay that directs most sensory information to the cerebral cortex and helps regulate alertness.
Card 80
Question
Hypothalamus?
Answer
It helps regulate homeostasis, hunger, thirst, temperature, sexual behavior, and endocrine activity.
Card 81
Question
REM sleep?
Answer
A stage with vivid dreaming, rapid eye movements, active brain patterns, and skeletal-muscle paralysis.
Card 82
Question
Why is the pituitary called a master gland?
Answer
Its hormones influence other endocrine glands, under the hypothalamus's control.
Card 83
Question
Amygdala?
Answer
A limbic structure involved in processing emotion, threat, and emotional learning.
Card 84
Question
Hippocampus?
Answer
A limbic structure essential for forming new explicit memories and spatial memory.
Card 85
Question
How does sleep change across a typical night?
Answer
NREM and REM repeat in cycles; REM periods generally lengthen toward morning.
Card 86
Question
Contralateral brain control?
Answer
Each cerebral hemisphere mainly receives sensory input from and controls movement on the opposite side of the body.
Card 87
Question
What does an EEG measure?
Answer
Electrical activity recorded from the scalp, with strong timing information but limited spatial precision.
Card 88
Question
Reward-center activity?
Answer
Activity in neural reward pathways can reinforce behaviors that predict desirable outcomes.
Card 89
Question
Neuroplasticity?
Answer
The nervous system's ability to change its organization or function through experience, learning, or injury.
Card 90
Question
Which method shows brain activity changing during a task?
Answer
A functional brain-imaging method, such as fMRI or PET, rather than a structural scan alone.
Card 91
Question
A patient loses a function after damage to one brain region. What is the cautious conclusion?
Answer
The region contributes to the function, but the behavior may depend on a wider network.
Card 92
Question
Insomnia?
Answer
Persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or obtaining restorative sleep.
Card 93
Question
How do wavelength and amplitude shape sound?
Answer
Wavelength relates to frequency and perceived pitch; amplitude relates to intensity and perceived loudness.
Card 94
Question
Absolute threshold?
Answer
The minimum stimulation detected 50% of the time.
Card 95
Question
Activation-synthesis view of dreams?
Answer
The brain builds a story while interpreting internally generated neural activity during sleep.
Card 96
Question
Narcolepsy?
Answer
A disorder involving sudden sleep attacks and abnormal entry into REM sleep.
Card 97
Question
Why can jet lag disrupt sleep?
Answer
The internal circadian clock is temporarily out of sync with the new light–dark schedule.
Card 98
Question
Difference threshold?
Answer
The smallest change between stimuli detected 50% of the time.
Card 99
Question
Consolidation view of dreams?
Answer
Dreaming may reflect the brain organizing and integrating recent memories.
Card 100
Question
REM sleep behavior disorder?
Answer
Loss of normal REM muscle paralysis, allowing a person to act out dreams.
Card 101
Question
Why can rotating shift work impair sleep?
Answer
Frequent schedule changes force the circadian system to keep readjusting.
Card 102
Question
Weber's law?
Answer
The noticeable difference between two stimuli is a constant proportion of the original intensity.
Card 103
Question
Two supported functions of sleep?
Answer
Memory consolidation and restoration of resources used during waking activity.
Card 104
Question
Sleep apnea?
Answer
Repeated breathing interruptions during sleep that fragment sleep and reduce oxygen.
Card 105
Question
REM rebound?
Answer
A temporary increase in REM sleep after a period of REM deprivation.
Card 106
Question
Signal detection theory?
Answer
Detection depends on stimulus strength plus expectations, experience, motivation, and alertness.
Card 107
Question
Sensory transduction?
Answer
Sensory receptors convert physical energy into neural signals.
Card 108
Question
Vestibular sense?
Answer
The sense of balance and head movement, supported by structures in the inner ear.
Card 109
Question
Somnambulism?
Answer
Sleepwalking, which most often occurs during deep NREM sleep.
Card 110
Question
Why is there a blind spot in each eye?
Answer
The optic nerve leaves the retina at a point with no rods or cones.
Card 111
Question
What begins visual transduction?
Answer
Retinal receptors convert light into neural signals that travel toward the brain.
Card 112
Question
A sound reaches the left ear slightly earlier and louder than the right. Where will it seem to originate?
Answer
From the left, because the brain compares arrival-time and intensity differences between the ears.
Card 113
Question
Why are taste and smell called chemical senses?
Answer
Their receptors respond to molecules from food or the air.
Card 114
Question
Accommodation in vision?
Answer
The lens changes shape to focus near or distant objects on the retina.
Card 115
Question
Cones?
Answer
Retinal receptors that support color vision and fine detail in brighter light.
Card 116
Question
What begins auditory transduction?
Answer
Hair cells in the inner ear convert sound-driven vibration into neural signals.
Card 117
Question
How does trichromatic processing explain color vision?
Answer
Three cone types respond most strongly to different wavelength ranges, and their combined activity produces color experience.
Card 118
Question
How is smell unusual among the senses?
Answer
Olfactory signals reach cortical and limbic areas without first passing through the thalamic relay used by other senses.
Card 119
Question
Kinesthesia?
Answer
The sense of body-part position and movement, based on signals from muscles, tendons, and joints.
Card 120
Question
Place coding versus frequency coding in hearing?
Answer
Place coding links pitch to where the cochlea responds most; frequency coding links pitch to neural firing rate.
Card 121
Question
Nearsightedness?
Answer
Nearby objects are clear, but distant images focus in front of the retina and look blurred.
Card 122
Question
Pheromones?
Answer
Chemical signals released by one organism that can affect the behavior or physiology of others of the same species.
Card 123
Question
Touch receptors for warmth and cold fire together strongly. What sensation can result?
Answer
A hot or burning sensation, showing that temperature experience combines receptor signals.
Card 124
Question
Volley theory of pitch?
Answer
Groups of auditory neurons alternate firing so their combined rate can represent pitches too fast for one neuron alone.
Card 125
Question
Farsightedness?
Answer
Distant vision is clearer, while nearby images tend to focus behind the retina and look blurred.
Card 126
Question
Six taste qualities named in the course?
Answer
Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus (fat taste).
Card 127
Question
Phantom-limb sensation?
Answer
Feeling pain, touch, or movement in a limb that is no longer present because the nervous system still represents it.
Card 128
Question
Sensory interaction?
Answer
One sense changes how another is experienced, as smell influences flavor.
Card 129
Question
What causes most color-vision deficiency?
Answer
One or more cone types are missing or function differently, reducing discrimination among some colors.
Card 130
Question
Prosopagnosia?
Answer
Difficulty recognizing familiar faces despite otherwise usable vision.
Card 131
Question
Rods?
Answer
Retinal receptors sensitive to dim light and peripheral movement, without color detail.
Card 132
Question
How does opponent processing explain afterimages?
Answer
Color is coded in opposing pairs, so tiring one response can make its opponent briefly dominate.
Card 133
Question
Conductive versus sensorineural hearing loss?
Answer
Conductive loss blocks sound transmission; sensorineural loss damages hair cells or auditory pathways.
Card 134
Question
Nontasters, medium tasters, and supertasters?
Answer
Categories describing lower, typical, and unusually high sensitivity to taste, especially bitterness.
Card 135
Question
What do the semicircular canals detect?
Answer
Rotational head movement, helping the vestibular system maintain balance.
Card 136
Question
Synesthesia?
Answer
Stimulation of one sense consistently and automatically produces an additional sensory experience.
Card 137
Question
Dichromatism versus monochromatism?
Answer
Dichromatism uses two functioning cone systems; monochromatism uses one or none, producing far less color discrimination.
Card 138
Question
Blindsight?
Answer
Responding to visual information without consciously seeing it, usually after damage to primary visual cortex.
Card 139
Question
Sensory adaptation?
Answer
Reduced sensitivity after constant, unchanging stimulation.
Card 140
Question
Gate-control view of pain?
Answer
Spinal and brain processes can amplify or reduce pain signals before conscious experience.
Card 141
Question
Bottom-up processing?
Answer
Building a perception from incoming sensory details.
Card 142
Question
Concept?
Answer
A mental category used to group similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
Card 143
Question
Fixation in problem solving?
Answer
Getting stuck on one way of representing or solving a problem.
Card 144
Question
Algorithm?
Answer
A step-by-step method that guarantees a solution when followed correctly, though it may be slow.
Card 145
Question
Top-down processing?
Answer
Using expectations, context, and prior knowledge to interpret sensory input.
Card 146
Question
Confirmation bias?
Answer
Seeking or interpreting evidence in ways that support an existing belief.
Card 147
Question
Retinal disparity?
Answer
The difference between each eye's image; greater disparity usually signals a nearer object.
Card 148
Question
Heuristic?
Answer
A quick rule of thumb that saves effort but can produce errors.
Card 149
Question
Selective attention?
Answer
Focusing conscious awareness on one part of the available sensory input.
Card 150
Question
Figure–ground organization?
Answer
Separating the object of attention from its background.
Card 151
Question
Convergence as a depth cue?
Answer
The inward turning of the eyes increases as an object gets closer.
Card 152
Question
Representativeness heuristic?
Answer
Judging category membership by resemblance to a prototype while neglecting other information.
Card 153
Question
Missing a visible event while attention is elsewhere?
Answer
Inattentional blindness.
Card 154
Question
Gestalt proximity principle?
Answer
Elements close together tend to be perceived as a group.
Card 155
Question
Two familiar objects cast different-sized retinal images. Which looks farther away?
Answer
The one with the smaller retinal image, using the monocular cue of relative size.
Card 156
Question
Cocktail-party effect?
Answer
The ability to focus on one conversation while still noticing personally important information in the background.
Card 157
Question
Failing to notice an obvious change in a scene?
Answer
Change blindness.
Card 158
Question
Gestalt similarity principle?
Answer
Elements that look alike tend to be grouped together.
Card 159
Question
Parallel lines seem to meet in the distance. Which depth cue?
Answer
Linear perspective.
Card 160
Question
Perceptual constancy?
Answer
Seeing an object's size, shape, or color as stable despite changing sensory images.
Card 161
Question
Perceptual set?
Answer
A readiness to perceive something in a particular way because of expectations or context.
Card 162
Question
Gestalt closure principle?
Answer
The mind fills gaps to perceive a complete object.
Card 163
Question
One object blocks part of another. Which seems closer?
Answer
The blocking object, using interposition.
Card 164
Question
Apparent motion?
Answer
The perception of movement created by rapidly presented stationary images or lights.
Card 165
Question
Availability heuristic?
Answer
Judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind.
Card 166
Question
Divergent thinking?
Answer
Generating many varied, original possibilities.
Card 167
Question
A hazy object appears farther away than a sharp object. Which depth cue?
Answer
Relative clarity.
Card 168
Question
Prototype?
Answer
A mental image of the most typical example of a category.
Card 169
Question
Ignoring how common an event is while focusing on a vivid description?
Answer
Base-rate neglect, often tied to the representativeness heuristic.
Card 170
Question
Convergent thinking?
Answer
Narrowing possibilities to the single best answer.
Card 171
Question
A textured surface looks denser and finer with distance. Which depth cue?
Answer
Texture gradient.
Card 172
Question
Belief perseverance?
Answer
Holding a belief even after the evidence that created it has been discredited.
Card 173
Question
Explicit memory?
Answer
Conscious memory for facts and experiences.
Card 174
Question
Three stores in the multi-store model?
Answer
Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Card 175
Question
Seeing an object only in its usual role?
Answer
Functional fixedness.
Card 176
Question
Mental set?
Answer
Using a familiar solution strategy even when a different approach would work better.
Card 177
Question
Episodic memory?
Answer
Explicit memory for personally experienced events.
Card 178
Question
Working memory?
Answer
A limited-capacity system that briefly holds and actively manipulates information.
Card 179
Question
Insight?
Answer
A sudden realization of a problem's solution.
Card 180
Question
Framing effect?
Answer
Choices change when the same information is worded or presented differently.
Card 181
Question
Implicit memory?
Answer
Learning that affects behavior without deliberate conscious recall.
Card 182
Question
Overconfidence bias?
Answer
Being more certain about one's judgments than accuracy warrants.
Card 183
Question
Anchoring bias?
Answer
Relying too heavily on the first number or idea encountered.
Card 184
Question
Schema in thinking?
Answer
A mental framework that organizes knowledge and guides interpretation.
Card 185
Question
Procedural memory?
Answer
Implicit memory for skills and habits.
Card 186
Question
Gambler's fallacy?
Answer
The mistaken belief that a random outcome becomes due after a streak, even when trials are independent.
Card 187
Question
Sunk-cost fallacy?
Answer
Continuing because of past investment even when future costs outweigh future benefits.
Card 188
Question
Executive functions?
Answer
Mental processes that support planning, inhibition, flexible switching, and goal-directed control.
Card 189
Question
How can priming affect judgment?
Answer
Recent exposure can make related ideas more accessible and subtly shape a later response.
Card 190
Question
Central executive in working memory?
Answer
The attention-control component that coordinates verbal and visual-spatial processing.
Card 191
Question
Serial-position effect?
Answer
People tend to recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle.
Card 192
Question
Semantic memory?
Answer
Explicit memory for facts, meanings, and general knowledge.
Card 193
Question
Levels-of-processing principle?
Answer
Deeper semantic processing usually produces stronger memory than shallow structural or sound-based processing.
Card 194
Question
Automatic processing?
Answer
Encoding information with little conscious effort, such as space, time, or well-practiced meanings.
Card 195
Question
Maintenance rehearsal?
Answer
Repeating information to keep it active, usually without adding much meaning.
Card 196
Question
Prospective memory?
Answer
Remembering to carry out an intended action in the future.
Card 197
Question
Primacy effect?
Answer
Better memory for early list items, often because they receive more rehearsal.
Card 198
Question
Long-term memory?
Answer
A relatively durable, large-capacity store of knowledge, experiences, and skills.
Card 199
Question
Highly superior autobiographical memory?
Answer
An unusual ability to recall extensive personal events and dates with exceptional accuracy.
Card 200
Question
Effortful processing?
Answer
Encoding that requires attention and deliberate work.
Card 201
Question
Elaborative rehearsal?
Answer
Linking new information to meaning, examples, or existing knowledge.
Card 202
Question
Memory consolidation?
Answer
The process that stabilizes a memory after learning.
Card 203
Question
Recency effect?
Answer
Better immediate memory for the last list items because they remain active.
Card 204
Question
Spacing effect?
Answer
Learning lasts longer when study is distributed over time rather than massed into one session.
Card 205
Question
Testing effect?
Answer
Actively retrieving information improves later memory more than rereading alone.
Card 206
Question
Chunking?
Answer
Organizing separate pieces of information into meaningful units.
Card 207
Question
Mnemonic?
Answer
A structured memory aid that links material to an image, phrase, location, or pattern.
Card 208
Question
Why organize material into a hierarchy?
Answer
Grouping broad ideas above narrower details makes relationships easier to encode and retrieve.
Card 209
Question
How can a schema help encoding?
Answer
It supplies an existing framework that organizes and connects new information.
Card 210
Question
Students reread or practice retrieval, then take the same delayed test. What are the independent and dependent variables?
Answer
The study method is independent; delayed-test performance is dependent.
Card 211
Question
Iconic memory?
Answer
A very brief visual sensory memory.
Card 212
Question
Recall?
Answer
Retrieving information with few external cues, as in an essay question.
Card 213
Question
Retrieval cue?
Answer
A stimulus linked to a memory that helps bring it to awareness.
Card 214
Question
Encoding-specificity principle?
Answer
Retrieval improves when cues at recall match cues present during encoding.
Card 215
Question
Context-dependent memory?
Answer
Recall can improve in the same external environment where learning occurred.
Card 216
Question
Does the hippocampus permanently store every explicit memory?
Answer
No. It helps form and consolidate new explicit memories, which later depend on distributed cortical networks.
Card 217
Question
Echoic memory?
Answer
A brief auditory sensory memory that lasts longer than iconic memory.
Card 218
Question
Anterograde amnesia?
Answer
Difficulty forming new long-term explicit memories after the onset of damage or illness.
Card 219
Question
Phonological loop?
Answer
The working-memory component that briefly holds and rehearses verbal or sound information.
Card 220
Question
Cerebellum's memory role?
Answer
It supports procedural learning and some classically conditioned responses.
Card 221
Question
Why is short-term memory described as limited?
Answer
It can hold only a small amount of information without rehearsal or chunking.
Card 222
Question
Retrograde amnesia?
Answer
Loss of memories formed before the onset of damage or illness.
Card 223
Question
Why are events tied to your own life often easier to remember?
Answer
The self-reference effect makes information connected to oneself more memorable.
Card 224
Question
How can the amygdala affect memory?
Answer
Emotional arousal can strengthen consolidation of emotionally significant events.
Card 225
Question
Visuospatial sketchpad?
Answer
The working-memory component that holds and manipulates visual and spatial information.
Card 226
Question
Long-term potentiation?
Answer
A lasting increase in synaptic efficiency after repeated activation, associated with learning and memory.
Card 227
Question
Infantile amnesia?
Answer
The typical inability to recall autobiographical events from the first few years of life.
Card 228
Question
Alzheimer's disease?
Answer
A progressive brain disorder that gradually impairs memory, reasoning, and daily functioning.
Card 229
Question
Scores are
2, 4, 4, 7, 9. What are the mode and range?Answer
The mode is 4, and the range is 7 because
9 - 2 = 7.Card 230
Question
Recognition?
Answer
Identifying previously learned information, as in selecting a familiar answer.
Card 231
Question
Why is memory called reconstructive?
Answer
Recall rebuilds an event from stored details, schemas, expectations, and later information.
Card 232
Question
Storage decay?
Answer
A memory trace weakens over time, especially when it isn't used.
Card 233
Question
State-dependent memory?
Answer
Recall can improve when a person's internal state matches the state during learning.
Card 234
Question
Relearning?
Answer
Measuring memory by how much faster material is learned again.
Card 235
Question
Misinformation effect?
Answer
Misleading information after an event changes memory of the event.
Card 236
Question
A student recalls more in the original classroom. What claim is supported?
Answer
Matching environmental cues can aid retrieval; the setting didn't necessarily improve storage.
Card 237
Question
Mood-congruent memory?
Answer
A current mood makes similarly toned memories easier to retrieve.
Card 238
Question
Priming?
Answer
Exposure to one stimulus unconsciously influences the response to a later stimulus.
Card 239
Question
Tip-of-the-tongue state?
Answer
A temporary retrieval failure accompanied by a feeling that the answer is known.
Card 240
Question
Why does retrieval practice strengthen memory?
Answer
Each successful retrieval reinforces access routes and reveals what still needs study.
Card 241
Question
Class A scores cluster near 80; Class B has the same mean but scores spread from 50 to 100. Which class has the larger standard deviation?
Answer
Class B, because its scores vary farther from the mean.
Card 242
Question
Metacognition?
Answer
Monitoring and regulating one's own thinking and learning.
Card 243
Question
Source amnesia?
Answer
Remembering information but misremembering where it came from.
Card 244
Question
Test standardization?
Answer
Administering a test consistently and establishing norms from a representative sample.
Card 245
Question
Reliability?
Answer
The consistency of a measurement across time, items, or scorers.
Card 246
Question
Stereotype threat?
Answer
Concern about confirming a negative group stereotype can interfere with performance.
Card 247
Question
General intelligence, or g?
Answer
A broad mental ability proposed to contribute to performance across many cognitive tasks.
Card 248
Question
Encoding failure?
Answer
Information never entered memory well enough to be stored, often because attention was weak.
Card 249
Question
Validity?
Answer
The extent to which evidence supports the interpretation and use of a test score.
Card 250
Question
Proactive interference?
Answer
Older learning disrupts recall of newer information.
Card 251
Question
Imagination inflation?
Answer
Repeatedly imagining an event increases confidence that it really happened.
Card 252
Question
A forgetting curve drops sharply soon after learning, then flattens. What does this pattern show?
Answer
Forgetting is fastest soon after learning and slows over time.
Card 253
Question
Retrieval failure?
Answer
Stored information is temporarily inaccessible because effective cues are missing.
Card 254
Question
Retroactive interference?
Answer
Newer learning disrupts recall of older information.
Card 255
Question
A confident witness recalls a detail introduced after the event. Best conclusion?
Answer
Confidence doesn't guarantee accuracy; post-event misinformation may have altered the memory.
Card 256
Question
Repression in psychodynamic theory?
Answer
The proposed unconscious blocking of distressing memories or impulses from awareness.
Card 257
Question
Flashbulb memory?
Answer
A vivid memory for learning about an emotional event; confidence can remain high even when details change.
Card 258
Question
A study defines memory accuracy as the number of 20 words recalled after 24 hours. What design element is this?
Answer
An operational definition of memory accuracy.
Card 259
Question
A score is at the 84th percentile. What does that mean?
Answer
It is equal to or higher than about 84% of scores in the reference group.
Card 260
Question
Stereotype lift?
Answer
A performance boost that can occur when a negative stereotype targets another group, making one's own group seem comparatively advantaged.
Card 261
Question
Achievement test?
Answer
An assessment of knowledge or skills already learned.
Card 262
Question
Construct validity?
Answer
How well evidence shows that a test measures the psychological construct it claims to measure.
Card 263
Question
Test–retest reliability?
Answer
Consistency of scores when the same assessment is administered to the same people at different times.
Card 264
Question
Why can't historical group differences on intelligence tests justify discriminatory policy?
Answer
Scores reflect testing conditions and social opportunity as well as measured ability; group averages don't define individuals or prove biological causation.
Card 265
Question
Multiple-abilities view of intelligence?
Answer
Intelligence includes several partly distinct abilities rather than one general capacity alone.
Card 266
Question
Aptitude test?
Answer
An assessment intended to predict capacity to learn or perform in the future.
Card 267
Question
Traditional IQ formula?
Answer
Mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100. Modern tests use age-based norms instead.
Card 268
Question
Predictive validity?
Answer
How well a test score forecasts a relevant later outcome.
Card 269
Question
What does a normal score distribution look like?
Answer
Most scores cluster near the mean, with fewer scores toward either extreme.
Card 270
Question
Split-half reliability?
Answer
Consistency between two comparable halves of the same assessment.
Card 271
Question
Two groups have different average test scores. What conclusion is not justified?
Answer
That every member differs or that biology caused the gap; within-group variation and social conditions matter.
Card 272
Question
Flynn effect?
Answer
Average intelligence-test scores have risen across generations in many populations, pointing to environmental influence.
Card 273
Question
A student treats mistakes as information and changes study strategies. Which mindset does this show?
Answer
A growth mindset; a fixed mindset treats ability as largely unchangeable.
Card 274
Question
Continuous versus stage development?
Answer
Continuous views emphasize gradual change; stage views describe distinct qualitative shifts.
Card 275
Question
How can prenatal environment affect later development?
Answer
Nutrition, stress, illness, and substance exposure can influence physical and neural development before birth.
Card 276
Question
Teratogen?
Answer
An environmental agent that can disrupt prenatal development, with effects depending on dose, timing, and susceptibility.
Card 277
Question
Maturation?
Answer
Biologically guided growth processes that unfold in a generally predictable sequence.
Card 278
Question
Stability–change question in development?
Answer
It asks which traits persist across life and which change with age or experience.
Card 279
Question
A researcher predicts that students who sleep at least eight hours will recall more words than students who sleep less. Why is this hypothesis falsifiable?
Answer
The groups and recall outcome can be measured, so evidence could show that the predicted difference does not occur.
Card 280
Question
Which method best tests whether a new study routine causes higher quiz scores?
Answer
An experiment that manipulates the routine and randomly assigns participants, because it can support a causal conclusion.
Card 281
Question
Why do motor milestones follow a common order but different timing?
Answer
Maturation shapes the sequence, while biology and experience influence pace.
Card 282
Question
Fine versus gross motor skills?
Answer
Fine skills use small, precise movements; gross skills use larger muscle groups and whole-body movement.
Card 283
Question
Why are infant reflexes useful to researchers?
Answer
Their presence and change can indicate early nervous-system development.
Card 284
Question
What did the visual-cliff procedure test?
Answer
It tested whether infants would cross an apparent drop, providing evidence about depth perception and the influence of locomotor experience.
Card 285
Question
Puberty?
Answer
The period of sexual maturation driven by hormonal and physical changes.
Card 286
Question
Sensitive period?
Answer
A developmental window when experience has an especially strong effect, though learning may remain possible later.
Card 287
Question
What physical pattern commonly marks the start of adolescence?
Answer
A puberty-related growth spurt, with rapid increases in height and weight.
Card 288
Question
Primary versus secondary sex characteristics?
Answer
Primary characteristics are reproductive organs and functions; secondary characteristics are puberty-related traits not directly required for reproduction.
Card 289
Question
Which method best measures the relationship between adolescents' sleep duration and mood without assigning sleep schedules?
Answer
A correlational study, because both variables are measured rather than manipulated.
Card 290
Question
Older adults score lower than younger adults in one same-time comparison. Which design and alternative explanation limit an aging claim?
Answer
The study is cross-sectional, and a cohort effect could explain the difference because the age groups grew up under different conditions.
Card 291
Question
Researchers test the same people yearly from ages 10 to 20. Which design is this, and what participant-loss risk should they track?
Answer
A longitudinal design; attrition can bias the results if those who leave differ from those who remain.
Card 292
Question
Menarche?
Answer
The first menstrual period.
Card 293
Question
Which method allows an intensive investigation of one person with an exceptionally rare developmental condition?
Answer
A case study, which provides depth but may not generalize to a wider population.
Card 294
Question
About what percentage of scores in a normal distribution lie within one standard deviation of the mean?
Answer
About 68%.
Card 295
Question
A prenatal exposure correlates with later difficulty. What limits a causal claim?
Answer
Other parental, health, and environmental variables may account for the association.
Card 296
Question
Spermarche?
Answer
The first ejaculation.
Card 297
Question
Which method combines results from many studies to estimate an overall effect?
Answer
A meta-analysis, which statistically synthesizes findings across studies.
Card 298
Question
Imprinting?
Answer
A rapid form of early learning in which some young animals form an attachment during a sensitive period.
Card 299
Question
Why can adolescent risk-taking increase?
Answer
Reward systems develop earlier than the prefrontal control systems used for planning and inhibition.
Card 300
Question
Menopause?
Answer
The natural end of menstrual cycles, diagnosed after 12 consecutive months without menstruation.
Card 301
Question
Which method records children's playground behavior without directing or changing it?
Answer
Naturalistic observation.
Card 302
Question
How do mobility, flexibility, and reaction time typically change across later adulthood?
Answer
They tend to decline gradually, although health, activity, and individual differences affect the pace.
Card 303
Question
Gender identity?
Answer
A person's internal sense of their gender.
Card 304
Question
Gender role?
Answer
A culture's expectations for behavior associated with gender.
Card 305
Question
Sex versus gender?
Answer
Sex refers to biological traits; gender refers to identities, roles, and social meanings.
Card 306
Question
Common sensory change in later adulthood?
Answer
Vision and hearing sensitivity often decline, though the degree varies widely.
Card 307
Question
Sexual orientation?
Answer
A pattern of romantic or sexual attraction; it is distinct from gender identity.
Card 308
Question
Gender schema?
Answer
A mental framework that organizes information and expectations about gender.
Card 309
Question
Best broad view of gender development?
Answer
Biological, cognitive, social, and cultural influences interact.
Card 310
Question
Does normal aging cause uniform cognitive decline?
Answer
No. Processing speed may slow, while knowledge and expertise can remain stable or grow.
Card 311
Question
Why shouldn't variation in gender identity or sexual orientation be treated as a disorder?
Answer
Variation alone isn't evidence of dysfunction; distress often reflects stigma or discrimination rather than identity.
Card 312
Question
Schema in cognitive development?
Answer
A mental framework used to organize and interpret experience.
Card 313
Question
Sensorimotor stage?
Answer
Infants learn through sensory experience and action and develop object permanence.
Card 314
Question
Preoperational stage?
Answer
Young children use symbols and language but often lack conservation and show egocentric thinking.
Card 315
Question
Assimilation?
Answer
Fitting new information into an existing schema.
Card 316
Question
A learner cannot solve a puzzle alone but succeeds with a teacher's hints. Where is the task?
Answer
In the learner's zone of proximal development.
Card 317
Question
Animism in preoperational thought?
Answer
Attributing life, feelings, or intentions to inanimate objects.
Card 318
Question
Concrete operational stage?
Answer
Children reason logically about concrete events and understand conservation.
Card 319
Question
Accommodation?
Answer
Changing a schema when new information doesn't fit it.
Card 320
Question
Reversibility in cognitive development?
Answer
Understanding that an operation can be mentally undone, a skill associated with concrete operational thought.
Card 321
Question
How can social learning shape gender expression?
Answer
People observe models and receive reinforcement or punishment for gender-related behavior.
Card 322
Question
A child calls a zebra a horse because it fits an existing animal schema. Which process?
Answer
Assimilation.
Card 323
Question
Language?
Answer
A shared, rule-governed system of symbols used to communicate and generate ideas.
Card 324
Question
Cooing stage?
Answer
Early vowel-like sounds that typically appear before babbling.
Card 325
Question
Babbling stage?
Answer
Infants produce repeated speech-like sounds before meaningful words.
Card 326
Question
One-word stage?
Answer
A child uses single words to express whole ideas.
Card 327
Question
Grammar?
Answer
A language's system of rules for combining and interpreting symbols.
Card 328
Question
A child assumes everyone can see the picture visible only from the child's side of a model. Which limitation does this show?
Answer
Egocentrism: difficulty taking another person's visual perspective.
Card 329
Question
Crystallized intelligence across adulthood?
Answer
Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills often remain stable or increase.
Card 330
Question
A child revises an animal schema after learning that zebras aren't horses. Which process?
Answer
Accommodation.
Card 331
Question
A teacher first models each step, then removes hints as the learner improves. What support strategy is this?
Answer
Scaffolding.
Card 332
Question
A child predicts that someone will search where that person last saw a toy, not where the toy really is. Which ability does this show?
Answer
Theory of mind: recognizing that another person can hold a different belief.
Card 333
Question
Fluid intelligence across adulthood?
Answer
Speedy reasoning with novel problems often peaks earlier and may decline gradually.
Card 334
Question
An infant searches for a toy after it is covered by a cloth. Which ability does this show?
Answer
Object permanence: understanding that the toy still exists when it cannot be seen.
Card 335
Question
Water is poured from a short glass into a taller, narrower glass, and a child says there is more water. Which concept is missing?
Answer
Conservation: understanding that quantity remains the same despite a change in appearance.
Card 336
Question
Formal operational stage?
Answer
Adolescents and adults can reason abstractly and test hypothetical possibilities.
Card 337
Question
Dementia?
Answer
A broad syndrome involving cognitive decline that interferes with daily life; it is not an inevitable part of normal aging.
Card 338
Question
Phoneme?
Answer
The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language.
Card 339
Question
Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems view?
Answer
Development reflects interactions between a person and nested social environments over time.
Card 340
Question
Temperament?
Answer
Early, biologically influenced patterns of emotional reactivity and self-regulation.
Card 341
Question
Attachment?
Answer
An enduring emotional bond that supports proximity and security.
Card 342
Question
Erikson's infancy conflict?
Answer
Trust versus mistrust: dependable care supports a basic sense of security.
Card 343
Question
Microsystem?
Answer
Immediate settings and relationships, such as family, school, peers, and work.
Card 344
Question
Erikson's toddler conflict?
Answer
Autonomy versus shame and doubt: supported self-control builds independence.
Card 345
Question
Erikson's early-childhood conflict?
Answer
Initiative versus guilt: directing activities and plans supports purpose.
Card 346
Question
Erikson's school-age conflict?
Answer
Industry versus inferiority: mastering valued skills supports competence.
Card 347
Question
Mesosystem?
Answer
Connections among a person's microsystems, such as communication between family and school.
Card 348
Question
Erikson's adolescent conflict?
Answer
Identity versus role confusion: exploring and integrating roles supports identity.
Card 349
Question
Erikson's young-adult conflict?
Answer
Intimacy versus isolation: forming close, committed relationships.
Card 350
Question
Erikson's middle-adult conflict?
Answer
Generativity versus stagnation: contributing to others and the next generation.
Card 351
Question
Exosystem?
Answer
Settings that affect a person indirectly, such as a caregiver's workplace.
Card 352
Question
Morpheme?
Answer
The smallest unit that carries meaning.
Card 353
Question
Telegraphic speech?
Answer
Early short phrases that contain essential words while omitting smaller grammatical words.
705 cards
Flashcards Open Source App — Five-Unit Psychology Course Review
Study this deck for freeFlashcards opens so you can start studying.
Card 354
Question
How do nonverbal gestures support language development?
Answer
Pointing, gaze, expression, and movement communicate meaning before and alongside spoken words.
Card 355
Question
Macrosystem?
Answer
The wider culture, values, laws, customs, and economic conditions surrounding development.
Card 356
Question
Semantics?
Answer
The meanings of words and sentences.
Card 357
Question
A child says “goed” after learning the usual past-tense pattern. What is this?
Answer
Overgeneralization: applying a language rule where an exception is required.
Card 358
Question
What does a sensitive period for language imply?
Answer
Early exposure supports fluent development, though later learning remains possible.
Card 359
Question
Does language completely determine thought?
Answer
No. Language can shape attention and categorization, but thought also occurs without words.
Card 360
Question
Syntax?
Answer
Rules for arranging words into phrases and sentences.
Card 361
Question
A child explores while a caregiver is present, seeks contact at reunion, and is readily comforted. Which attachment pattern fits?
Answer
Secure attachment.
Card 362
Question
How does the behavioral perspective explain behavior?
Answer
It focuses on observable behavior learned through conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, and environmental cues.
Card 363
Question
Authoritative parenting?
Answer
High warmth with clear, consistent expectations and age-appropriate autonomy.
Card 364
Question
Identity achievement?
Answer
A person makes commitments after meaningful exploration.
Card 365
Question
Avoidant attachment pattern?
Answer
The child shows little contact-seeking and tends to avoid or ignore the caregiver at reunion.
Card 366
Question
Classical conditioning?
Answer
Learning that one stimulus predicts another, so a previously neutral stimulus elicits a response.
Card 367
Question
Unconditioned stimulus?
Answer
A stimulus that naturally produces a response without prior learning.
Card 368
Question
Unconditioned response?
Answer
The unlearned response naturally produced by an unconditioned stimulus.
Card 369
Question
Conditioned stimulus?
Answer
A previously neutral stimulus that elicits a learned response after association.
Card 370
Question
Conditioned response?
Answer
The learned response to a conditioned stimulus.
Card 371
Question
Acquisition in classical conditioning?
Answer
The initial learning period when the neutral stimulus becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus.
Card 372
Question
During acquisition, when should the conditioned stimulus usually appear relative to the unconditioned stimulus?
Answer
The conditioned stimulus should appear shortly before the unconditioned stimulus so it predicts what comes next.
Card 373
Question
Authoritarian parenting?
Answer
Low warmth with strict control and little discussion.
Card 374
Question
Identity diffusion?
Answer
A person has neither actively explored alternatives nor made firm commitments.
Card 375
Question
Extinction in classical conditioning?
Answer
The conditioned response weakens when the conditioned stimulus repeatedly appears without the unconditioned stimulus.
Card 376
Question
Anxious-resistant attachment pattern?
Answer
The child seeks contact but remains distressed or resists comfort at reunion.
Card 377
Question
Permissive parenting?
Answer
High warmth with few demands or limits.
Card 378
Question
Parallel play?
Answer
Young children play beside one another with similar materials but little direct coordination.
Card 379
Question
Imaginary audience?
Answer
An adolescent's belief that other people are constantly noticing and evaluating them.
Card 380
Question
Identity foreclosure?
Answer
A person commits without exploring alternatives, often adopting others' expectations.
Card 381
Question
Disorganized attachment pattern?
Answer
The child shows contradictory, confused, or fearful behavior without a consistent reunion strategy.
Card 382
Question
Neglectful parenting?
Answer
Low warmth and low control or involvement.
Card 383
Question
Chronosystem?
Answer
Life transitions and historical changes that alter development over time.
Card 384
Question
Why is pretend play developmentally useful?
Answer
It lets children practice symbols, roles, perspective-taking, and social rules.
Card 385
Question
Personal fable?
Answer
An adolescent's sense that their experiences are unique and that ordinary risks may not apply to them.
Card 386
Question
Identity moratorium?
Answer
A person is actively exploring alternatives without yet making a stable commitment.
Card 387
Question
Best claim about adverse childhood experiences?
Answer
They can raise later health and relationship risks, but they don't determine an individual's outcome.
Card 388
Question
Separation anxiety in infancy?
Answer
Distress when a familiar caregiver leaves; it is common during part of typical development.
Card 389
Question
What did infant-monkey research suggest about attachment?
Answer
Comforting physical contact can be a stronger attachment cue than food alone.
Card 390
Question
Which research method does the Strange Situation use to assess attachment behavior?
Answer
Structured observation: researchers record behavior during standardized separations and reunions.
Card 391
Question
Emerging adulthood?
Answer
A transitional period, often from the late teens through the twenties, marked by identity exploration and changing roles.
Card 392
Question
Social clock?
Answer
Culturally shaped expectations about when major life events should occur.
Card 393
Question
Erikson's later-adult conflict?
Answer
Integrity versus despair: evaluating life with acceptance rather than regret.
Card 394
Question
Possible selves?
Answer
Mental images of who a person might become, hopes to become, or fears becoming.
Card 395
Question
Stimulus generalization?
Answer
Stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus also trigger the conditioned response.
Card 396
Question
Operant conditioning?
Answer
Learning in which consequences change the future frequency of voluntary behavior.
Card 397
Question
Law of effect?
Answer
Behaviors followed by satisfying consequences become more likely, while behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences become less likely.
Card 398
Question
Spontaneous recovery?
Answer
An extinguished conditioned response briefly returns after a rest period.
Card 399
Question
Stimulus discrimination?
Answer
Learning to respond differently to the conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli.
Card 400
Question
Reinforcement?
Answer
Any consequence that increases a behavior.
Card 401
Question
Higher-order conditioning?
Answer
An established conditioned stimulus helps a new neutral stimulus become conditioned without direct pairing with the original unconditioned stimulus.
Card 402
Question
Counterconditioning?
Answer
Replacing an unwanted conditioned response by pairing the trigger with a new, incompatible response.
Card 403
Question
Habituation?
Answer
A reduced response after repeated exposure to a harmless, unchanged stimulus.
Card 404
Question
Punishment?
Answer
Any consequence that decreases a behavior.
Card 405
Question
Partial reinforcement?
Answer
Reinforcing only some responses; learning is slower, but behavior resists extinction.
Card 406
Question
Why can taste aversion form after one delayed pairing?
Answer
Biological preparedness makes certain food–illness associations especially easy to learn.
Card 407
Question
Most conditioning trials take 2–6 attempts, but one participant needs 24. What shape will the trial-count distribution likely have?
Answer
It will be right-skewed because the unusually high value stretches the upper tail.
Card 408
Question
Participants may encounter distressing images in a learning study. What must an institutional review board evaluate before approval?
Answer
Whether the scientific value justifies the risks and whether safeguards reduce those risks to an acceptable level.
Card 409
Question
Fixed-ratio schedule?
Answer
Reinforcement follows a set number of responses.
Card 410
Question
Observational learning?
Answer
Learning by watching others and the consequences they receive.
Card 411
Question
A teacher adds praise after completed homework, and homework completion increases. Which consequence is this?
Answer
Positive reinforcement.
Card 412
Question
Primary reinforcer?
Answer
A naturally rewarding stimulus tied to biological needs, such as food when hungry.
Card 413
Question
Variable-ratio schedule?
Answer
Reinforcement follows an unpredictable number of responses, producing persistent responding.
Card 414
Question
Modeling?
Answer
Performing a behavior after observing it in another person.
Card 415
Question
Which response pattern is typical of a fixed-ratio schedule?
Answer
A high response rate followed by a brief pause after each reward.
Card 416
Question
Fastening a seat belt stops an unpleasant alarm, making future fastening more likely. Which consequence is this?
Answer
Negative reinforcement.
Card 417
Question
Conditioned reinforcer?
Answer
A learned reward that gains value through association, such as money or praise.
Card 418
Question
A child sees a classmate praised for sharing and then shares more often. Which process may explain the change?
Answer
Vicarious reinforcement.
Card 419
Question
Fixed-interval schedule?
Answer
The first response after a set amount of time is reinforced.
Card 420
Question
Which response pattern is typical of a variable-ratio schedule?
Answer
A high, steady response rate with little or no pause after rewards.
Card 421
Question
A driver receives a fine, and speeding decreases. Which consequence is this?
Answer
Positive punishment.
Card 422
Question
Shaping?
Answer
Reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior.
Card 423
Question
Extinction in operant conditioning?
Answer
A behavior weakens when it no longer produces reinforcement.
Card 424
Question
Variable-interval schedule?
Answer
The first response after an unpredictable amount of time is reinforced.
Card 425
Question
A teenager loses gaming access, and missed curfews decrease. Which consequence is this?
Answer
Negative punishment.
Card 426
Question
Learned helplessness?
Answer
After repeated uncontrollable negative events, a person or animal stops trying to escape even when escape becomes possible.
Card 427
Question
Continuous reinforcement?
Answer
Reinforcing every occurrence of a behavior; learning is fast, but extinction is also fast.
Card 428
Question
A response record rises slowly after each reward, then accelerates as the next fixed time approaches. Which schedule produced this scalloped pattern?
Answer
A fixed-interval schedule.
Card 429
Question
Discriminative stimulus?
Answer
A cue that signals when a particular response is likely to be reinforced.
Card 430
Question
Operant generalization versus discrimination?
Answer
Generalization spreads a learned response to similar cues; discrimination limits it to cues that signal reinforcement.
Card 431
Question
Instinctive drift?
Answer
A learned behavior shifts toward an animal's biologically predisposed behavior.
Card 432
Question
Which response pattern is typical of a variable-interval schedule?
Answer
A steady, moderate response rate because reinforcement can become available at unpredictable times.
Card 433
Question
How can superstitious behavior develop through operant conditioning?
Answer
A coincidental reward can reinforce a behavior that didn't actually cause the outcome.
Card 434
Question
How does similarity to a model affect observational learning?
Answer
Observers are often more likely to attend to and imitate models they see as similar or relevant.
Card 435
Question
Vicarious conditioning?
Answer
Learning an emotional response by observing another person's reaction to a stimulus.
Card 436
Question
A rat makes 12, 13, 11, and 12 responses in four equal time blocks, with rewards delivered at unpredictable times. Which schedule best fits this steady pattern?
Answer
A variable-interval schedule.
Card 437
Question
Children imitate a rewarded model more than a punished model. Supported claim?
Answer
Observed consequences can influence whether learned behavior is performed.
Card 438
Question
Why randomly assign children to watch either an aggressive or a calm model?
Answer
Random assignment helps balance preexisting differences between groups, strengthening a causal inference about the model's effect.
Card 439
Question
Latent learning?
Answer
Learning that occurs without obvious reinforcement and appears later when there is an incentive.
Card 440
Question
Cognitive map?
Answer
A mental representation of the layout of an environment.
Card 441
Question
Insight learning?
Answer
A sudden cognitive solution without visible trial-and-error steps.
Card 442
Question
Biological preparedness?
Answer
An evolved readiness to learn some associations more easily than others.
Card 443
Question
What can mirror-neuron activity show?
Answer
Some neural systems respond during both action and observation, though this alone doesn't explain all imitation or empathy.
Card 444
Question
Attribution?
Answer
An explanation for the cause of a person's behavior or an event.
Card 445
Question
Attitude?
Answer
An evaluation of a person, object, issue, or behavior, involving beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies.
Card 446
Question
Upward social comparison?
Answer
Comparing oneself with someone doing better, which can inspire improvement or reduce satisfaction.
Card 447
Question
Optimistic explanatory style?
Answer
Explaining setbacks as temporary, specific, and changeable rather than permanent and global.
Card 448
Question
Situational attribution?
Answer
Explaining behavior through external circumstances or social context.
Card 449
Question
A person who values health keeps vaping and feels pressure to change either the behavior or the belief. What is this discomfort?
Answer
Cognitive dissonance.
Card 450
Question
Downward social comparison?
Answer
Comparing oneself with someone doing worse, which can protect self-evaluation.
Card 451
Question
Internal locus of control?
Answer
The belief that one's actions strongly influence outcomes.
Card 452
Question
Dispositional attribution?
Answer
Explaining behavior through internal traits, motives, or abilities.
Card 453
Question
Pessimistic explanatory style?
Answer
Explaining setbacks as lasting, widespread, and rooted in personal failure.
Card 454
Question
Relative deprivation?
Answer
Feeling disadvantaged by comparing one's situation with the situation one believes others have.
Card 455
Question
External locus of control?
Answer
The belief that outcomes mainly depend on luck, fate, or powerful outside forces.
Card 456
Question
Fundamental attribution error?
Answer
Overestimating personality and underestimating the situation when explaining someone else's behavior.
Card 457
Question
Halo effect?
Answer
One favorable trait shapes an overly positive overall judgment of a person.
Card 458
Question
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
Answer
An expectation changes behavior in ways that help make the expected outcome occur.
Card 459
Question
Mere-exposure effect?
Answer
Repeated exposure to a neutral stimulus can increase liking.
Card 460
Question
A person blames their own lateness on traffic but another person's lateness on carelessness. Which attribution pattern is this?
Answer
The actor–observer difference.
Card 461
Question
A voter compares evidence and checks the logic of a policy argument. Which persuasion route is being used?
Answer
The central route.
Card 462
Question
Effort justification?
Answer
Valuing an outcome more after investing substantial effort in it, which reduces dissonance.
Card 463
Question
Stereotype?
Answer
A generalized belief about members of a group.
Card 464
Question
A student credits skill for an A but blames an unfair test for an F. Which bias does this show?
Answer
Self-serving bias.
Card 465
Question
A shopper favors an unfamiliar product because a popular celebrity endorses it. Which persuasion route is being used?
Answer
The peripheral route.
Card 466
Question
Someone praises a dull task for a tiny reward, then reports liking it more. Which dissonance principle fits?
Answer
Insufficient justification: the small reward provides too little external explanation, so attitude change reduces dissonance.
Card 467
Question
Prejudice?
Answer
An unjustified attitude or emotional response toward a group and its members.
Card 468
Question
The same 40 workers complete equal-length tasks under both workloads:
Workload Errors Low 2 High 8 Which attribution is better supported?
Answer
A situational attribution is better supported: with the same workers and equal exposure, the high-workload condition has more errors, though the table alone doesn't prove causation.
Card 469
Question
Why does source credibility affect persuasion?
Answer
People are more likely to accept a message from a source seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Card 470
Question
Conformity?
Answer
Adjusting behavior or beliefs to match a group.
Card 471
Question
Several witnesses each wait for someone else to help during an emergency. Which effect is this?
Answer
The bystander effect.
Card 472
Question
Diffusion of responsibility?
Answer
Each person feels less personally responsible when others are available to act.
Card 473
Question
How can taking on a role affect attitude?
Answer
Repeated role-consistent behavior can gradually shift beliefs and self-perception.
Card 474
Question
In-group bias?
Answer
Favoring one's own group over other groups.
Card 475
Question
After agreeing to display a small safety sticker, a resident later agrees to place a large sign. Which technique is this?
Answer
The foot-in-the-door technique.
Card 476
Question
A researcher recruits the first 60 students leaving one school cafeteria. What sampling method is this, and what is the main limit?
Answer
Convenience sampling; the sample may not represent the school's students or a broader population as well as a random sample would.
Card 477
Question
When do attitudes best predict behavior?
Answer
When the attitude is specific, accessible, personally important, and social pressure is limited.
Card 478
Question
Discrimination?
Answer
Unjustified behavior toward people because of group membership.
Card 479
Question
Out-group homogeneity effect?
Answer
Perceiving members of another group as more alike than members of one's own group.
Card 480
Question
After refusing an extreme request, a person agrees to a smaller related request. Which technique is this?
Answer
The door-in-the-face technique.
Card 481
Question
A study finds r = +0.72 between attention to message evidence and attitude change. What does the coefficient show?
Answer
A strong positive association: greater attention tends to accompany greater attitude change, but the correlation does not establish causation.
Card 482
Question
Persuasion ratings cluster near 2 and 9 on a 10-point scale, with few scores near 5. What distribution shape does this suggest?
Answer
A bimodal distribution, with two distinct peaks.
Card 483
Question
Just-world belief?
Answer
The assumption that people generally get what they deserve, which can encourage victim blaming.
Card 484
Question
Implicit attitude?
Answer
An automatic evaluation that can affect responses without deliberate awareness.
Card 485
Question
Ethnocentrism?
Answer
Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture and treating one's own as superior.
Card 486
Question
How do confirmation bias and belief perseverance maintain an attitude?
Answer
People may favor supporting evidence and retain the belief even after its original support is discredited.
Card 487
Question
Normative social influence?
Answer
Conforming to gain approval or avoid rejection.
Card 488
Question
Psychodynamic view of personality?
Answer
Unconscious conflicts and motives influence personality and behavior.
Card 489
Question
Norm of reciprocity?
Answer
The expectation that people should return help or favors.
Card 490
Question
Individualism?
Answer
A cultural orientation that gives greater priority to personal goals, autonomy, and individual identity.
Card 491
Question
Informational social influence?
Answer
Conforming because the group is treated as a source of accurate information.
Card 492
Question
Id?
Answer
The psychodynamic component driven by immediate gratification and the pleasure principle.
Card 493
Question
Altruism?
Answer
Helping intended to benefit another person without requiring a personal reward.
Card 494
Question
Social norm?
Answer
A group's shared expectation about acceptable behavior.
Card 495
Question
What tends to increase conformity?
Answer
Unanimity, group size up to a point, public responses, ambiguity, and group importance.
Card 496
Question
Ego?
Answer
The psychodynamic component that manages reality and balances competing demands.
Card 497
Question
A skilled runner improves before a crowd, but a beginner makes more errors. Which group effect fits?
Answer
Social facilitation: an audience strengthens the dominant response.
Card 498
Question
Collectivism?
Answer
A cultural orientation that gives greater priority to group goals, interdependence, and shared identity.
Card 499
Question
Obedience?
Answer
Changing behavior in response to a direct command from an authority.
Card 500
Question
Superego?
Answer
The psychodynamic component representing internalized moral standards.
Card 501
Question
A person continues acting as if a painful diagnosis cannot be real despite clear evidence. Which defense mechanism fits?
Answer
Denial.
Card 502
Question
Social-responsibility norm?
Answer
The expectation that people should help those who depend on them or need assistance.
Card 503
Question
How does proximity affect attraction?
Answer
Frequent contact creates opportunities for familiarity and relationship development.
Card 504
Question
What tends to increase obedience?
Answer
A legitimate nearby authority, gradual escalation, institutional support, and distance from the affected person.
Card 505
Question
After an argument with a supervisor, an employee snaps at a roommate. Which defense mechanism fits?
Answer
Displacement.
Card 506
Question
Social loafing?
Answer
Exerting less effort when individual contributions to a group task aren't identifiable.
Card 507
Question
Multiculturalism?
Answer
Recognizing and supporting distinct cultural identities within a shared society or institution.
Card 508
Question
How does similarity affect attraction?
Answer
Shared attitudes, values, and interests often increase liking.
Card 509
Question
A person who feels hostile insists that everyone else is hostile toward them. Which defense mechanism fits?
Answer
Projection.
Card 510
Question
Helping falls as group size rises. Best explanation?
Answer
Responsibility diffuses across more bystanders; the result doesn't show that groups eliminate empathy.
Card 511
Question
Deindividuation?
Answer
Reduced self-awareness and restraint in an anonymous or arousing group setting.
Card 512
Question
Group polarization?
Answer
Discussion strengthens the group's initial average tendency.
Card 513
Question
After being rejected, an applicant says the opportunity was worthless anyway. Which defense mechanism fits?
Answer
Rationalization.
Card 514
Question
A cohesive team ignores warnings and pressures doubters to preserve agreement. Which process is this?
Answer
Groupthink.
Card 515
Question
Pluralistic ignorance?
Answer
People privately reject a norm or perceive danger but assume others' calm behavior means it is accepted or safe.
Card 516
Question
Social trap?
Answer
Individuals pursue short-term self-interest that produces a worse long-term outcome for everyone.
Card 517
Question
Reaction formation?
Answer
Expressing the opposite of an unacceptable impulse.
Card 518
Question
Superordinate goal?
Answer
A shared goal that competing groups can reach only through cooperation.
Card 519
Question
False-consensus effect?
Answer
Overestimating how widely other people share one's beliefs or behavior.
Card 520
Question
Industrial-organizational psychology?
Answer
Applying psychological science to work, organizations, hiring, performance, and employee well-being.
Card 521
Question
Repression?
Answer
Unconsciously blocking distressing thoughts or impulses from awareness.
Card 522
Question
Burnout?
Answer
Work-related exhaustion, detachment or cynicism, and reduced sense of effectiveness after chronic stress.
Card 523
Question
Unconditional positive regard?
Answer
Acceptance and respect that aren't dependent on meeting another person's conditions.
Card 524
Question
Trait?
Answer
A relatively stable tendency to think, feel, or behave in a certain way.
Card 525
Question
Regression as a defense mechanism?
Answer
Reverting to an earlier pattern of behavior when facing stress or conflict.
Card 526
Question
Reciprocal determinism?
Answer
Behavior, personal factors, and environment influence one another.
Card 527
Question
Self-efficacy?
Answer
Belief in one's ability to perform a specific task or meet a challenge.
Card 528
Question
Self-concept in humanistic theory?
Answer
A person's organized understanding of who they are.
Card 529
Question
Sublimation as a defense mechanism?
Answer
Redirecting an unacceptable impulse into a socially valued activity.
Card 530
Question
A person seeks novel ideas, art, and unfamiliar experiences. Which Big Five trait is most evident?
Answer
Openness.
Card 531
Question
Personality inventory?
Answer
A standardized self-report questionnaire used to measure traits or patterns.
Card 532
Question
Self-actualizing tendency?
Answer
The humanistic idea that people are motivated to grow and fulfill their capacities.
Card 533
Question
Self-esteem?
Answer
A person's overall evaluation of their worth or value.
Card 534
Question
Instinct in motivation research?
Answer
An innate, typically fixed behavior pattern in nonhuman animals; this framework doesn't classify human motivation as instinctual.
Card 535
Question
A person plans carefully, meets deadlines, and follows through. Which Big Five trait is most evident?
Answer
Conscientiousness.
Card 536
Question
Projective test?
Answer
An ambiguous stimulus used to invite responses thought to reflect inner themes; reliability and validity can be limited.
Card 537
Question
How does factor analysis help trait research?
Answer
It identifies clusters of correlated behaviors or questionnaire items that may reflect broader traits.
Card 538
Question
Drive-reduction theory?
Answer
A physiological need creates arousal that motivates behavior to restore balance.
Card 539
Question
A person is sociable, assertive, and energized by group interaction. Which Big Five trait is most evident?
Answer
Extraversion.
Card 540
Question
Person–situation debate?
Answer
It asks how much behavior reflects stable traits versus changing contexts.
Card 541
Question
A training study reports Cohen's d = 0.65 for improvement in self-efficacy. What does this statistic describe?
Answer
The standardized size of the group difference; 0.65 is commonly interpreted as a moderate effect, not proof that the result will matter equally in every setting.
Card 542
Question
Homeostasis?
Answer
The body's tendency to maintain a stable internal state.
Card 543
Question
Incentive theory?
Answer
External rewards or goals pull behavior toward them.
Card 544
Question
Big Five agreeableness?
Answer
Compassion, trust, and cooperativeness.
Card 545
Question
A student retakes a questionnaire after an unusually low self-efficacy score and scores closer to their usual level. What statistical tendency may explain part of the change?
Answer
Regression toward the mean: an extreme score is often followed by a less extreme score because temporary influences are unlikely to repeat exactly.
Card 546
Question
A student must choose between two appealing internships. Which motivational conflict is this?
Answer
An approach–approach conflict.
Card 547
Question
Arousal theory of motivation?
Answer
People seek a personally suitable level of stimulation.
Card 548
Question
Big Five emotional stability?
Answer
A tendency toward calm and resilience; it is the inverse of neuroticism.
Card 549
Question
What regulates hunger?
Answer
Biological signals such as ghrelin and leptin interact with learning, culture, stress, and food cues.
Card 550
Question
Three broad components of emotion?
Answer
Physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and conscious experience or appraisal.
Card 551
Question
Self-determination theory?
Answer
Motivation grows when autonomy, competence, and relatedness are supported.
Card 552
Question
Emotion regulation?
Answer
Processes used to influence which emotions arise, when they arise, and how they are expressed.
Card 553
Question
Sensation-seeking?
Answer
A tendency to pursue novel, varied, or intense experiences, sometimes despite risk.
Card 554
Question
Cognitive appraisal in emotion?
Answer
Interpreting what an event means for one's goals, safety, or well-being.
Card 555
Question
Intrinsic motivation?
Answer
Doing an activity for its own interest or satisfaction.
Card 556
Question
Display rules?
Answer
Cultural norms that shape when and how emotions are expressed.
Card 557
Question
Arousal and performance relationship?
Answer
Moderate arousal often supports difficult tasks, while higher arousal can help simple or well-learned tasks.
Card 558
Question
A promotion offers higher pay but requires an unwanted move. Which motivational conflict is this?
Answer
An approach–avoidance conflict.
Card 559
Question
Extrinsic motivation?
Answer
Doing an activity for an external reward or to avoid punishment.
Card 560
Question
Achievement motivation?
Answer
The drive to meet standards, master tasks, and pursue success.
Card 561
Question
Four sensation-seeking dimensions?
Answer
Thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility.
Card 562
Question
A person must either pay a fine or complete an unpleasant course. Which motivational conflict is this?
Answer
An avoidance–avoidance conflict.
Card 563
Question
Overjustification effect?
Answer
Expected external rewards can reduce intrinsic interest in an activity already enjoyed.
Card 564
Question
Belongingness motivation?
Answer
The drive to form and maintain stable, positive relationships with other people.
Card 565
Question
Study time changed after students chose their own topic:
Condition Mean minutes Assigned topic 34 Chosen topic 47 What is the observed mean difference?
Answer
13 minutes more in the chosen-topic condition; the table alone does not show whether the difference is statistically significant.
Card 566
Question
Facial-feedback effect?
Answer
Facial expressions can influence the emotion a person experiences.
Card 567
Question
Can bodily arousal occur before conscious interpretation?
Answer
Yes. Some emotional responses begin quickly, while later appraisal shapes the experience.
Card 568
Question
A speaker reframes a racing heart as readiness rather than danger. Which emotion-regulation strategy is this?
Answer
Cognitive reappraisal.
Card 569
Question
Broaden-and-build view?
Answer
Positive emotion can widen attention and action possibilities, helping build lasting resources.
Card 570
Question
Which emotions often appear across cultures?
Answer
Anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, surprise, and fear, though findings on universality are mixed.
Card 571
Question
How can the same arousal become different emotions?
Answer
Context and cognitive interpretation can label similar physiological arousal differently.
Card 572
Question
Expressive suppression?
Answer
Inhibiting the outward display of emotion after it has arisen.
Card 573
Question
How does acute stress affect the body?
Answer
It activates sympathetic and hormonal responses that mobilize energy for immediate demands.
Card 574
Question
Cultures differ in public emotional expression. What shouldn't be concluded?
Answer
That people in one culture don't experience the emotion; display rules can alter expression.
Card 575
Question
In a medication study, neither participants nor outcome raters know who receives the active drug or an inactive pill. What two safeguards are present?
Answer
A placebo control and double-blinding, which reduce expectancy effects and observer bias.
Card 576
Question
A scatterplot rises from lower left to upper right, with points close to a line. What relationship does it show?
Answer
A strong positive correlation: higher values of one variable tend to occur with higher values of the other.
Card 577
Question
Health psychology?
Answer
The study of how biological, psychological, and social factors affect health and illness.
Card 578
Question
Positive psychology?
Answer
The scientific study of strengths, well-being, and conditions that help people and communities thrive.
Card 579
Question
Stress?
Answer
The process of appraising and responding to events viewed as threatening or demanding.
Card 580
Question
A study records stress ratings from 1 to 10 and also collects open-ended descriptions. Which data are quantitative and which are qualitative?
Answer
The numeric ratings are quantitative; the written descriptions are qualitative.
Card 581
Question
Why do sleep, exercise, and nutrition matter to health psychology?
Answer
They are behaviors that interact with stress and biology to influence health outcomes.
Card 582
Question
Resilience?
Answer
Adapting or recovering after adversity; it is a process, not a guarantee of being unaffected.
Card 583
Question
Stressor?
Answer
An event or condition that challenges a person's ability to cope.
Card 584
Question
General adaptation syndrome?
Answer
A three-phase pattern of alarm, resistance, and exhaustion under prolonged stress.
Card 585
Question
A worker makes a schedule and asks for resources to reduce a controllable workload. Which coping approach is this?
Answer
Problem-focused coping.
Card 586
Question
A stress study uses nonhuman animals. What ethical duties apply?
Answer
Researchers need scientific justification, humane care, the least possible pain and distress, and oversight by an institutional animal care and use committee.
Card 587
Question
A student first judges whether an upcoming exam threatens an important goal. Which appraisal is this?
Answer
Primary appraisal.
Card 588
Question
What happens during the alarm phase of general adaptation syndrome?
Answer
A fight, flight, or freeze response mobilizes resources when the stressor is first encountered.
Card 589
Question
How can major trauma and daily hassles both create stress?
Answer
One can overwhelm through intensity, while repeated smaller demands can accumulate over time.
Card 590
Question
A person uses breathing and social support to manage feelings about an unchangeable loss. Which coping approach is this?
Answer
Emotion-focused coping.
Card 591
Question
The student next considers available study time, tutoring, and coping options. Which appraisal is this?
Answer
Secondary appraisal.
Card 592
Question
Why can prolonged exhaustion increase illness risk?
Answer
Stress resources are depleted, and sustained physiological activation can weaken health and immune function.
Card 593
Question
Adverse childhood experiences?
Answer
Potentially traumatic childhood conditions linked with higher later health risks, without determining any one person's outcome.
Card 594
Question
How can social support protect health?
Answer
It provides practical help, belonging, perspective, and a buffer against stress.
Card 595
Question
Eustress versus distress?
Answer
Eustress is experienced as motivating or manageable; distress is experienced as harmful or overwhelming.
Card 596
Question
Tend-and-befriend response?
Answer
Coping with stress by caring for needs and seeking supportive connection, a pattern observed especially among women.
Card 597
Question
Two interviewees say, “After the setback, I adjusted my plan” and “I recovered and kept working toward my goal.” Which well-being concept appears in both qualitative responses?
Answer
Resilience; both accounts describe adapting or recovering after adversity.
Card 598
Question
Biofeedback?
Answer
Using real-time information about bodily activity to learn voluntary regulation of that activity.
Card 599
Question
How does perceived control affect stress?
Answer
A sense of control often reduces stress, while uncontrollability can intensify it.
Card 600
Question
Psychoneuroimmunology?
Answer
The study of interactions among psychological processes, the nervous system, hormones, and immune function.
Card 601
Question
Subjective well-being?
Answer
A person's life satisfaction together with the balance of positive and negative emotion.
Card 602
Question
Psychological disorder?
Answer
A clinically significant disturbance in thought, emotion, or behavior that causes distress or impairment.
Card 603
Question
How can gratitude practice affect well-being?
Answer
Regularly noticing valued experiences can increase positive emotion for some people, though effects vary.
Card 604
Question
A school survey samples 120 students from a population of 1,800 enrolled students. What are the sample and population?
Answer
The 120 respondents are the sample; all 1,800 enrolled students are the target population.
Card 605
Question
Signature strengths?
Answer
Character strengths that are especially central and natural to a person and can be used deliberately.
Card 606
Question
Biopsychosocial model?
Answer
Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors interact in health and disorder.
Card 607
Question
Six broad virtue categories in positive psychology?
Answer
Wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
Card 608
Question
Posttraumatic growth?
Answer
Positive psychological change that can develop through struggling with trauma or major stress; it doesn't erase harm.
Card 609
Question
An optional well-being survey is completed mostly by students who already attend wellness clubs. How does this affect generalizability?
Answer
Self-selection creates sampling bias, so the results may not generalize to students with different interests or experiences.
Card 610
Question
A survey asks people to report how often they exercise. What limitation should the researcher consider?
Answer
Self-report can be distorted by inaccurate memory, question wording, or socially desirable answers.
Card 611
Question
A treatment comparison reports p = .03 with a preset alpha of .05. Is the result statistically significant?
Answer
Yes. Because .03 is below .05, the result is statistically significant, though that does not show the effect is large or important.
Card 612
Question
A striking well-being result appears in one small study. What should happen before confidence grows?
Answer
Independent replication and critical peer review should test whether the finding is reliable and the methods support the claim.
Card 613
Question
Biological explanation of disorder?
Answer
It focuses on genetic, neural, hormonal, or other physiological factors.
Card 614
Question
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?
Answer
A neurodevelopmental disorder involving developmentally inappropriate inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that impairs functioning.
Card 615
Question
Purpose of the DSM?
Answer
It supplies shared diagnostic categories and criteria for communication, research, and treatment planning.
Card 616
Question
What must informed consent explain before people join a psychology study?
Answer
The study's general nature, foreseeable risks and benefits, confidentiality limits, voluntary participation, and the right to withdraw. Research with minors also generally requires guardian permission and the child's assent.
Card 617
Question
Behavioral explanation of disorder?
Answer
It focuses on maladaptive responses learned through conditioning or observation.
Card 618
Question
Autism spectrum disorder?
Answer
A neurodevelopmental disorder involving differences in social communication and restricted or repetitive behavior, with varied support needs.
Card 619
Question
Schizophrenia's broad symptom areas?
Answer
Delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought or speech, disorganized movement, and negative symptoms.
Card 620
Question
Major depressive disorder?
Answer
A sustained depressive episode with mood, cognitive, physical, and motivational changes that impair functioning.
Card 621
Question
Specific phobia?
Answer
Intense, persistent fear of a particular object or situation that leads to avoidance or distress.
Card 622
Question
Obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Answer
Obsessions, compulsions, or both consume time or cause significant distress or impairment.
Card 623
Question
Dissociative amnesia?
Answer
Inability to recall important autobiographical information, usually related to trauma or stress, beyond ordinary forgetting.
Card 624
Question
Bipolar I disorder?
Answer
A bipolar disorder defined by at least one full manic episode, often with depressive episodes.
Card 625
Question
Posttraumatic stress disorder?
Answer
Persistent intrusion, avoidance, negative mood or thinking, and heightened arousal after trauma exposure.
Card 626
Question
Anorexia nervosa?
Answer
Persistent energy restriction, significantly low body weight, intense fear of weight gain, and disturbed body experience.
Card 627
Question
Cognitive explanation of disorder?
Answer
It focuses on maladaptive beliefs, interpretations, and thinking patterns.
Card 628
Question
Bipolar II disorder?
Answer
A bipolar disorder involving hypomanic and major depressive episodes without a full manic episode.
Card 629
Question
Purpose of the ICD?
Answer
The World Health Organization's classification system supplies internationally used codes and categories for health conditions, including mental disorders.
Card 630
Question
Bulimia nervosa?
Answer
Repeated binge eating followed by compensatory behavior, with self-evaluation strongly influenced by body shape or weight.
Card 631
Question
What broadly defines a personality disorder pattern?
Answer
An enduring, inflexible pattern that departs from cultural expectations, begins in adolescence or early adulthood, and causes distress or impairment.
Card 632
Question
Ataque de nervios?
Answer
A culture-related syndrome, described especially in some Latin American and Caribbean communities, involving an acute episode of intense emotional distress and loss of control.
Card 633
Question
Psychodynamic explanation of disorder?
Answer
It focuses on unconscious conflicts and early relationships.
Card 634
Question
Three considerations when identifying a psychological disorder?
Answer
Dysfunction, experienced distress, and deviation from social norms, interpreted with cultural context.
Card 635
Question
When may deception be ethically considered in research, and what must follow?
Answer
Only when justified, minimal-risk, and not replaceable by a practical alternative; researchers must debrief participants promptly and explain the deception.
Card 636
Question
Comorbidity?
Answer
The presence of two or more disorders in the same person.
Card 637
Question
Humanistic explanation of distress?
Answer
It focuses on blocked growth, incongruence, and conditions of worth.
Card 638
Question
Confidential versus anonymous research data?
Answer
Confidential data can be linked to identities but are protected; anonymous data are collected without identifying links.
Card 639
Question
Stigma around mental disorder?
Answer
Negative stereotypes and discrimination that can increase distress and discourage help-seeking.
Card 640
Question
Why must diagnosis consider culture?
Answer
Norms affect how distress is expressed and interpreted, so behavior can't be judged outside its context.
Card 641
Question
Sociocultural explanation of disorder?
Answer
It focuses on social roles, inequality, relationships, discrimination, and cultural context.
Card 642
Question
Two clinicians independently use the same criteria. What quality is being checked?
Answer
Interrater reliability.
Card 643
Question
A category improves communication but overlaps another category. Balanced conclusion?
Answer
Classification is useful, but boundaries and comorbidity limit the idea of perfectly separate disorders.
Card 644
Question
Best account of neurodevelopmental-disorder causes?
Answer
Genetic, physiological, and environmental factors may interact; no single cause explains every case.
Card 645
Question
Evolutionary explanation of disorder?
Answer
It asks whether a behavior or mental process reflects an adaptation, mismatch, or cost related to survival and reproduction.
Card 646
Question
Delusion?
Answer
A firmly held false belief that persists despite strong contrary evidence and isn't explained by cultural context.
Card 647
Question
Agoraphobia?
Answer
Intense fear of situations where escape or help may feel difficult, such as crowds, transit, open spaces, or being outside alone.
Card 648
Question
Best account of schizophrenia risk?
Answer
Biological vulnerability, including genetic and neural factors, interacts with prenatal and later environmental stressors.
Card 649
Question
Eclectic approach to disorder?
Answer
Using ideas or treatments from more than one psychological perspective when evidence and client needs support them.
Card 650
Question
Hallucination?
Answer
A sensory perception without a matching external stimulus.
Card 651
Question
Panic disorder?
Answer
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks followed by continuing concern or behavior change related to more attacks.
Card 652
Question
Best account of depressive-disorder causes?
Answer
Biological vulnerability can interact with learning, cognition, relationships, culture, and stressful events.
Card 653
Question
Two people face the same stressor, but the person with greater underlying vulnerability develops symptoms. Which model fits?
Answer
The diathesis–stress model.
Card 654
Question
Cluster A personality disorders?
Answer
The odd or eccentric cluster: paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders.
Card 655
Question
What do psychotherapy meta-analyses generally find?
Answer
Psychotherapy is effective on average, while outcomes vary by problem, method, therapist, and client.
Card 656
Question
Evidence-based treatment?
Answer
Using the best research evidence together with clinical expertise and the client's needs, culture, and preferences.
Card 657
Question
Therapeutic alliance?
Answer
A collaborative, trusting relationship in which client and therapist agree on goals and work.
Card 658
Question
Cultural humility in therapy?
Answer
Ongoing self-reflection, respect, and willingness to learn from the client's cultural experience.
Card 659
Question
Deinstitutionalization?
Answer
Moving many people from long-term psychiatric hospitals toward community-based care, aided partly by medication.
Card 660
Question
A client safely approaches a feared situation in planned steps instead of avoiding it. Which treatment method is this?
Answer
Exposure therapy.
Card 661
Question
Nonmaleficence in therapy?
Answer
Avoiding or minimizing harm.
Card 662
Question
Four medication categories in the course?
Answer
Antidepressants, antianxiety drugs, lithium, and antipsychotic medications.
Card 663
Question
Depressive cognitive triad?
Answer
Negative views of oneself, the world, and the future.
Card 664
Question
Applied behavior analysis?
Answer
Using measured learning principles to change socially significant behavior.
Card 665
Question
Psychosurgery?
Answer
Rare invasive treatment that alters brain tissue; modern use is tightly limited because effects can be irreversible.
Card 666
Question
Free association?
Answer
A psychodynamic technique in which a client says whatever comes to mind to explore unconscious themes.
Card 667
Question
A client examines evidence for an automatic thought and develops a more accurate alternative. Which technique is this?
Answer
Cognitive restructuring.
Card 668
Question
One advantage of group therapy?
Answer
Members can receive support, feedback, and practice with others while learning they aren't alone.
Card 669
Question
Lobotomy?
Answer
An obsolete form of psychosurgery that cut frontal-lobe connections and often caused severe, irreversible harm.
Card 670
Question
Best account of bipolar-disorder causes?
Answer
Biological and genetic influences are important, while stress and social context can affect episodes.
Card 671
Question
Cognitive-behavioral therapy?
Answer
Treatment that changes maladaptive thinking and behavior together.
Card 672
Question
Disorganized speech in schizophrenia?
Answer
Speech becomes difficult to follow because ideas or words are connected in disordered ways.
Card 673
Question
Social anxiety disorder?
Answer
Intense fear of scrutiny or negative evaluation in social situations.
Card 674
Question
Best account of obsessive-compulsive-disorder causes?
Answer
Biological factors and learned relief from compulsions can combine with maladaptive beliefs.
Card 675
Question
Rational-emotive behavior therapy?
Answer
A cognitive-behavioral approach that challenges rigid, irrational beliefs and builds more workable alternatives.
Card 676
Question
Dissociative fugue?
Answer
Dissociative amnesia accompanied by unexpected travel or confusion about identity.
Card 677
Question
Cluster B personality disorders?
Answer
The dramatic, emotional, or erratic cluster: antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders.
Card 678
Question
Best account of anxiety-disorder causes?
Answer
Biological vulnerability, learned fear, avoidance, and maladaptive interpretation can interact.
Card 679
Question
Catatonia?
Answer
Markedly disordered movement, which can include unusual excitement or profound lack of movement.
Card 680
Question
Manic episode?
Answer
A distinct period of unusually elevated or irritable mood and increased energy severe enough to cause major impairment or require hospitalization.
Card 681
Question
Dissociative identity disorder?
Answer
Disruption of identity involving distinct personality states and gaps in autobiographical memory.
Card 682
Question
Best account of feeding and eating disorder causes?
Answer
Biological, cognitive, behavioral, family, social, and cultural factors can interact.
Card 683
Question
Cluster C personality disorders?
Answer
The anxious or fearful cluster: avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.
Card 684
Question
Taijin kyofusho?
Answer
A culture-related syndrome described in Japan involving intense fear that one's appearance, gaze, odor, or behavior will offend or embarrass other people.
Card 685
Question
Negative symptom of schizophrenia?
Answer
A reduction in a typical function, such as emotional expression, speech, motivation, or movement.
Card 686
Question
What experiences are often linked with dissociative disorders?
Answer
Severe trauma or stress, though diagnosis requires careful assessment and isn't inferred from trauma alone.
Card 687
Question
Hypomanic episode?
Answer
A noticeable period of elevated or irritable mood and increased energy that is less severe and impairing than mania.
Card 688
Question
Generalized anxiety disorder?
Answer
Persistent, hard-to-control anxiety and worry across several areas of life.
Card 689
Question
Hoarding disorder?
Answer
Persistent difficulty discarding possessions, producing clutter that impairs the use of living spaces.
Card 690
Question
Best account of personality-disorder causes?
Answer
Biological dispositions and long-term social, cultural, learning, and cognitive influences can interact.
Card 691
Question
Why can't one symptom establish a disorder?
Answer
Diagnosis depends on a broader pattern, duration, distress or impairment, context, and alternative explanations.
Card 692
Question
Persistent depressive disorder?
Answer
A chronic depressed mood with related symptoms lasting at least two years in adults or one year in children and adolescents.
Card 693
Question
Fidelity in therapy ethics?
Answer
Maintaining trust, responsibility, and professional commitments.
Card 694
Question
Systematic desensitization?
Answer
Gradual exposure to a fear hierarchy while practicing relaxation or another incompatible response.
Card 695
Question
Dream interpretation in psychodynamic therapy?
Answer
Exploring possible personal meanings and unconscious themes in dreams, not treating dreams as objective facts.
Card 696
Question
Dialectical behavior therapy?
Answer
A cognitive-behavioral approach that builds mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and relationship skills.
Card 697
Question
Integrity in therapy ethics?
Answer
Being honest and accurate in professional work.
Card 698
Question
Aversion therapy?
Answer
Pairing an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant stimulus to reduce the behavior.
Card 699
Question
Tardive dyskinesia?
Answer
A movement disorder that can occur as a serious side effect of long-term antipsychotic medication.
Card 700
Question
ECT versus TMS?
Answer
ECT induces a controlled seizure under anesthesia; TMS uses magnetic pulses without surgery. Both can treat selected conditions.
Card 701
Question
Respect for rights and dignity?
Answer
Protecting autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, and fair treatment.
Card 702
Question
A clinic awards points for target behaviors, and clients exchange the points for privileges. Which method is this?
Answer
A token economy.
Card 703
Question
A therapist emphasizes empathy, genuineness, active listening, and unconditional positive regard. Which approach is this?
Answer
Person-centered therapy.
Card 704
Question
What can hypnosis treat, and what can't it reliably do?
Answer
It can help some pain and anxiety; it can't reliably recover accurate memories or produce true age regression.
Card 705
Question
Medication and psychotherapy outperform either alone for some conditions. Best conclusion?
Answer
Combined treatment can be useful for some clients, but the best plan depends on the condition and individual evidence.
705 cards
Flashcards Open Source App — Five-Unit Psychology Course Review
Flashcards opens so you can start studying.