Glossary terms for Study Area Psychology and Humanism
psychiatry [order by term]
level: Overview (0)
The medical science specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of human psychopathology (abnormal psychology).
psychology [order by term]
level: Overview (0)
The science of human cognition (thoughts, ideas, memory), affect (emotions, feelings), and behavior (actions).
scientific psychology [order by term]
level: Overview (0)
This term is a synonym with: SciPsy
Theories and principles of psychology that only use natural, empirical explanatory constructs.
scientific understanding [order by term]
level: Overview (0)
Explanation + prediction; the ability to scientifically explain the cause(s) and acurately predict future occurrences of some phenomenon.
SciPsy [order by term]
level: Overview (0)
This term is a synonym with: scientific psychology
Theories and principles of psychology that only use natural, empirical explanatory constructs.
biobehavioral information processing model [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
A psychological theoretical model that attributes all human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to natural biological causes, and features a natural information processing model of human cognition (thoughts, ideas, memories, concepts, learning, etc.) in contrast with psychodynamic, behavioral, and other cognitive models of psychological theory.
cause and effect [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: cause-and-effect
The scientific means of answering all “why” questions about human thought, feelings, and behaviors by translating into testable hypotheses of scientific study to derive explanations and predictions which combine to yield understanding.
cause-and-effect [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: cause and effect
The scientific means of answering all “why” questions about human thought, feelings, and behaviors by translating into testable hypotheses of scientific study to derive explanations and predictions which combine to yield understanding.
conditioning [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior (thinking/emotion) due to environmental experience; changing behavior because of its consequences; one of the three natural determinants which programs and reprograms the psychological repertoire.
ECs [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: empirical constructs
Hypothetical constructs that are predicted to have real, tangible, observable, measurable, testable existence, once sufficient scientific research has been done; natural causal agents.
empirical constructs [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: ECs
Hypothetical constructs that are predicted to have real, tangible, observable, measurable, testable existence, once sufficient scientific research has been done; natural causal agents.
genes [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
Inherited DNA and RNA codes that pre-program psychological instincts and potential capabilities and can predispose us to develop particular ways of thinking, feeling, and/or behaving/acting; one of three natural determinants.
hypothetical constructs [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
Agents or factors that are guessed to cause one or more aspects of human cognition (thinking), affect (feelings/emotion), or behavior.
Law of Parsimony [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: Occam's Razor
When two or more explanations (theories) account equally well for the same results, the simpler one (the one requiring the fewest causal agents) is best.
learning [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: conditioning
A relatively permanent change in behavior (thinking/emotion) due to environmental experience; changing behavior because of its consequences; one of the three natural determinants which programs and reprograms the psychological repertoire.
natural determinants [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
The genes, learning, and trauma; three components of the natural universe postulated to cause all psychological phenomena.
NECs [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: non-empirical constructs
Hypothetical constructs or hypothesized causal agents that have no real, tangible, observable, measurable, testable existence or identity.
non-empirical constructs [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: NECs
Hypothetical constructs or hypothesized causal agents that have no real, tangible, observable, measurable, testable existence or identity.
Occam's Razor [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: Law of Parsimony
When two or more explanations (theories) account equally well for the same results, the simpler one (the one requiring the fewest causal agents) is best.
psychological repertoire [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: repertoire
Our term for the unique totality of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, replacing the term "personality."
repertoire [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: psychological repertoire
Our term for the unique totality of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, replacing the term "personality."
S-R Psychology [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: Stimulus-Response Psychology
The branch of psychological theorists who scientifically studied everything that went into the brain (stimuli) and everything that came out of the brain (responses) to learn what went on in between.
scientific method [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
The best (most rigorous) means of explaining and predicting cause and effect; techniques of observation, operational definition, hypothesis formation, hypothesis testing, experimentation, replication, and dissemination of results.
Stimulus-Response Psychology [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
This term is a synonym with: S-R Psychology
The branch of psychological theorists who scientifically studied everything that went into the brain (stimuli) and everything that came out of the brain (responses) to learn what went on in between.
trauma [order by term]
level: Introductory (1)
Central nervous system (~CNS) damage which reprograms or deprograms a psychological repertoire; one of the 3 natural determinants of psychology.
affect [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
The emotions, both pleasant and unpleasant, that are naturally and functionally related to cognition and behaviors and to antecedents and consequences. (Pronounced AF-fect)
antecedents [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Stimulus events that precede a behavior, thought, or feeling and make it likely to occur.
behavior [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Any observable action of an organism, including actions that can be observed only by using sophisticated technology such as brain imaging techniques.
behavior modification [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
This term is a synonym with: BeMod
Intentionally using the natural principles of learning to systematically influence someone's learning, usually by trying to increase desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable ones.
BeMod [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
This term is a synonym with: behavior modification
Intentionally using the natural principles of learning to systematically influence someone's learning, usually by trying to increase desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable ones.
central nervous system [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
This term is a synonym with: CNS
The brain and spinal cord.
CNS [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
This term is a synonym with: central nervous system
The brain and spinal cord.
cognition [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Any symbolic representation in the brain, such as a thought, memory, idea, intention, or sensory image.
comparative psychology [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Researching human psychological phenomena by studying non-human animals and then generalizing the results back to our own species.
consequences [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Stimulus events that folow a behavior, thought, or feeling and determine its future occurrence in similar situations
deprivation [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Not enough stimulus.
genetic pre-programming [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Our genes' abilities to give us our general capacities to think, feel, and act.
instincts [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Inherited, specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors which occur automatically in response to particular internal or external stimuli.
predispositions [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Capacities for developing particular types of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, but which require specific environmental conditions called triggers to actually manifest themselves.
programming [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
The acquisition of any and all thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
stress [order by term]
level: Basic (2)
Too much of some stimulus.
cognitive restructuring [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
A dramatic change in perception or understanding, sometimes concerning the nature of the universe, life, or other fundamental questions.
discriminative stimulus [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
An antecedent that reliably predicts what reinforcement or nonreinforcement will follow a particular behavior.
dualism [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The idea that reality is divided into two categories: that which is natural and material, and that which is supernatural and mystical.
elaborative rehearsal [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The memory process of associating a new image with already learned information in order to produce an easily stored, easily retrieved memory image.
electrical stimulation of the brain [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: ESB
Method of artificially stimulating sensory transmission fibers or sensory reception neurons with tiny electrical charges to produce a sensory experience.
energy transduction [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The translation of stimulus energy into neural impulse energy.
engram [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
One of the trillions of memory images in the human brain.
engrams [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Memory images in the human brain, which number in the trillions.
ESB [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: electrical stimulation of the brain
Method of artificially stimulating sensory transmission fibers or sensory reception neurons with tiny electrical charges to produce a sensory experience.
extinction [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Reducing an undesirable behavior by having absolutely no consequence, positive or negative, associated the behavior.
information processing [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: IP
The way humans take in, interpret, understand, think about, and make and implement decisions about stimuli from our environments.
inhibition [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Reducing an undesirable behavior by presenting a nonreinforcing consequence (such as time out or response cost) to the subject.
IP [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: information processing
The way humans take in, interpret, understand, think about, and make and implement decisions about stimuli from our environments.
long term memory [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: LTM
The third component of human memory that permanently stores a memory in unchanged form and efficiently retrieves that memory when needed.
LTM [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: long term memory
The third component of human memory that permanently stores a memory in unchanged form and efficiently retrieves that memory when needed.
maintenance rehearsal [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The memory process of restimulating ourselves with a stimulus material over and over again to produce a singular, impoverished long term memory image which is fairly easy to store.
memory [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The brain's storehouse for previous learning experiences.
memory hook [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
An external stimulus cue or internal idea that produces other memory associations (i.e., retrieves other memory engrams).
metacognition [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The uniquely human activity of using our brains to study how our brains work and improve their functioning.
mnemonics [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Memory aids.
monism [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The idea that everything in the universe is part of the natural realm and therefore subject to natural laws; i.e., that there is no supernatural realm.
Murphy's Law of Neuropsychology [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
For every function, there can be an equal and opposite dysfunction, ranging from 0% to 99.999%.
neural circuit [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
A group of two or three to tens of thousands of neurons acting together to produce some psychological phenomenon.
neural circuits [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Genetically pre-programmed groups of neurons fired by transmission neurons when memory information enters the brain.
neural network [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
In human memory processing, a complex of associated groups of circuits organized and linked by common meanings.
neuron [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Nerve cell.
non-discriminative stimuli [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Antecedents that fail to predict what behaviors will be reinforced or nonreinforced.
PaB Theorem [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The Psychology-as-Biology Theorem, which essentially characterizes psychology as the scientific study of brain biochemistry.
perception [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: sensation
The result of sensory reception area neurons firing circuits of neurons in sensory association areas and memory circuits so that they become biochemically associated with a sensory code, providing an image or sensory experience in the brain.
punishment [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
An unpleasant or aversive stimulus presented to a subject as a consequence of behavior done in response to some antecedent.
recall [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
In human memory, simple one-to-one correspondence.
recognition [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
In human memory, the ability to tell something familiar from something novel.
redintegration [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The most complex form of human memory, involving several different senses and heavily laden with emotion.
relearning [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The least qualitative degree of human memory, so impoverished in content that it cannot be used consciously and must be demonstrated under lab conditions.
response cost [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Form of inhibition which decreases an undesirable behavior by removing a positive consequence (from the subject as a result of the behavior; a fine or penalty.
selective attention [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The process by which the human brain screens out stimuli that cannot be processed by short term memory, so that only a manageable amount of information passes to it from sensory memory.
sensation [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: perception
The result of sensory reception area neurons firing circuits of neurons in sensory association areas and memory circuits so that they become biochemically associated with a sensory code, providing an image or sensory experience in the brain.
sensory experience [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The Central Nervous System function that creates perception, so that humans can attach meaning to sensory stimuli.
sensory memory [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: SM
The first component of human memory that stores a veridical (true, unprocessed) copy of a sensory stimulus for approximately .25 to .50 of a second and passes it on to short term memory.
sensory receptors [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
Specialized neurons that allow sense organs to transduce an energy source external to the Central Nervous System into neural impulses.
sensory transmission [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
The process in which the sensory receptor neuron transduces the stimulus energy into neurochemical energy and fires, sending the resulting neural code up the sensory fibers to the appropriate reception area in the brain.
short term memory [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: STM
The second component of human memory that receives information from the sensory memory, stores it and works on it for 15 to 30 seconds, and passes it on to long term memory.
SM [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: sensory memory
The first component of human memory that stores a veridical (true, unprocessed) copy of a sensory stimulus for approximately .25 to .50 of a second and passes it on to short term memory.
STM [order by term]
level: Comprehensive (3)
This term is a synonym with: short term memory
The second component of human memory that receives information from the sensory memory, stores it and works on it for 15 to 30 seconds, and passes it on to long term memory.