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40 terms with meanings and examples. Tick each one you know; cover the meaning column to test yourself.
Paginepagineapp.com| âś“ | Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| classical conditioning psychology | learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes linked with one that naturally triggers a response | After pairing, the sound of a can opener makes the cat come running. | |
| operant conditioning psychology | learning in which behavior is shaped by its consequences | A student studies more after earning praise for good grades. | |
| variable-ratio schedule psychology | reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses; produces high, steady responding | Slot machines pay out on a variable-ratio schedule. | |
| habituation psychology | a decrease in response to a repeated, harmless stimulus | After a week, she no longer noticed the ticking clock. | |
| Weber’s law psychology | the just-noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus | You notice adding 1 kg to 5 kg more than adding 1 kg to 50 kg. | |
| signal detection theory psychology | a model of how decisions are made under uncertainty, separating sensitivity from response bias | A radiologist’s hits and false alarms are studied with signal detection theory. | |
| selective attention psychology | focusing on some stimuli while ignoring others | Hearing your name across a noisy room shows selective attention at work. | |
| working memory psychology | a limited system for holding and manipulating information briefly | Mental math relies on working memory. | |
| encoding specificity psychology | recall is better when retrieval cues match the context of learning | Studying in a quiet room like the exam hall may help recall. | |
| serial position effect psychology | better recall of items at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of a list | She remembered the first and last items on the grocery list. | |
| retroactive interference psychology | new learning disrupts recall of older information | Learning a new phone number made it harder to recall the old one. | |
| REM sleep psychology | sleep stage with rapid eye movements, vivid dreams and active brain waves | Most vivid dreaming occurs in REM sleep. | |
| circadian rhythm psychology | the body’s roughly 24-hour cycle of biological processes | Jet lag disrupts the circadian rhythm. | |
| cognitive dissonance psychology | discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or acting against one’s beliefs | He felt cognitive dissonance after buying the car he had criticized. | |
| self-efficacy psychology | belief in one’s ability to succeed at a task | High self-efficacy helped her keep practising. | |
| locus of control psychology | whether people believe outcomes are controlled by themselves (internal) or outside forces (external) | With an internal locus of control, he credited his grade to studying. | |
| Maslow’s hierarchy of needs psychology | a model in which basic needs (physiological, safety) precede belonging, esteem and self-actualization | Hungry students struggle to focus on self-actualization. | |
| Erikson’s psychosocial stages psychology | eight life stages, each defined by a conflict such as identity versus role confusion | Teenagers face Erikson’s identity versus role confusion stage. | |
| Piaget’s stages psychology | sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages of cognitive development | Object permanence develops in the sensorimotor stage. | |
| Yerkes–Dodson law psychology | performance rises with arousal up to a point, then falls | A little test anxiety can help, but too much hurts performance. | |
| James–Lange theory psychology | emotion results from awareness of physiological arousal | On this view, we feel afraid because we notice our racing heart. | |
| Cannon–Bard theory psychology | physiological arousal and emotion occur at the same time, independently | The racing heart and fear occur together, not one after the other. | |
| Schachter–Singer theory psychology | emotion depends on arousal plus a cognitive label for it | The same arousal may be labelled excitement or fear depending on the situation. | |
| fundamental attribution error psychology | overemphasizing personality and underemphasizing situation when explaining others’ behavior | Assuming a late coworker is lazy, not stuck in traffic, is the fundamental attribution error. | |
| confirmation bias psychology | the tendency to seek and favor information that supports existing beliefs | She read only the reviews that agreed with her choice. | |
| availability heuristic psychology | judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind | After news of a crash, people overestimate the risk of flying. | |
| bystander effect sociology | people are less likely to help when others are present | No one called for help on the busy platform. | |
| social facilitation sociology | performing simple or well-learned tasks better in front of others | The sprinter ran her best time in front of a crowd. | |
| groupthink sociology | a group’s desire for harmony overrides realistic evaluation of options | Groupthink led the committee to ignore warning signs. | |
| deindividuation sociology | loss of self-awareness and restraint in groups | Masked crowds may show deindividuation. | |
| conformity sociology | changing behavior or beliefs to match a group | In classic line-judgment studies, many people conformed to obviously wrong answers. | |
| obedience sociology | following orders from an authority figure | Famous experiments showed high obedience to an authority in a lab coat. | |
| stereotype threat sociology | anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype that can lower performance | Reminding test-takers of a stereotype can trigger stereotype threat. | |
| social capital sociology | resources gained through social networks and relationships | A strong alumni network is a form of social capital. | |
| socioeconomic status sociology | social standing measured by income, education and occupation | Socioeconomic status is linked to health outcomes. | |
| social stratification sociology | the ranking of groups in a hierarchy of wealth, power and prestige | Caste systems are a rigid form of social stratification. | |
| symbolic interactionism sociology | a theory that society is built through everyday interactions and shared meanings | A handshake’s meaning is studied through symbolic interactionism. | |
| conflict theory sociology | a theory that society is shaped by competition for limited resources and power | Conflict theory examines how wealth shapes access to education. | |
| functionalism sociology | a theory that society’s parts work together to maintain stability | Functionalism views schools as preparing people for work. | |
| demographic transition sociology | the shift from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as societies develop | Many industrialized countries have completed the demographic transition. |