1.

mirror-image perceptions mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and
views the other side as evil and aggressive.
2. cognitive psychology The study of mental processes, such as occur when we perceive, learn, remember, think, communicate, and
solve problems.
3. nature–nurture issue the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the
development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today’s science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and
nurture.
4. delusion A false belief, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders.
5. operant conditioning a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely
to recur if followed by a punisher.
6. parallel processing processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for
many functions.
7. dual processing The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.
8. perceptual adaptation the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual
field.
9. dream A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind.
10. psychotherapy treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone
seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth.
11. reliability the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on
alternative forms of the test, or on retesting.
12. egocentrism In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
13. schizophrenia a disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate
emotional expression.
14. sensation the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our
environment.
15. extrinsic motivation A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment.

16. short-term memory activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the
information is stored or forgotten.
17. tolerance the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses
before experiencing the drug’s effect.
18. functionalism early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral
processes function-how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
19. unconscious according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to
contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.
20. variable-ratio schedule in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable
number of responses.
21. negative reinforcement increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that,
when removed after a response, strengthens the response.
22. empirically derived test a test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between
groups.
23. facial feedback effect the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness.
24. habituation decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus,
their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
25. hue the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so
forth.
26. humanistic psychology historically significant perspective that emphasized human growth potential.
27. identity our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating
various roles.
28. individualism giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather
than group identifications.
29. informed consent giving potential participants enough information about a study to enable them to choose whether they wish to
participate.
30. lobotomy a psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the
nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain.
1. How do our facial expressions influence our feelings?
Research on the facial feedback effect shows that our facial expressions can trigger
emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly. We also mimic others’
expressions, which helps us empathize. A similar behavior feedback effect is the
tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.
2. What are cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies, and why is it important to know which method was used?
The differing intelligence findings of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies—that mental ability declines with age or that it remains stable (or even increases)—illustrate the fact
that cross-sectional studies compare people of different eras and life circumstances. This can provide an excellent snapshot of a particular point in time, but longitudinal studies
are superior for tracing the evolution of traits over a longer period.
3. What do we know about thinking in other species?
Researchers make inferences about other species’ consciousness and intelligence based on behavior. Evidence from studies of various species shows that many other animals use
concepts, numbers, and tools and that they transmit learning from one generation to the next (cultural transmission). And, like humans, some other species show insight,
selfawareness, altruism, cooperation, and grief.
4. How do our facial expressions influence our feelings?
Research on the facial feedback effect shows that our facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly. We also mimic others’
expressions, which helps us empathize. A similar behavior feedback effect is the tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.
5. What is cognition, and what are the functions of concepts?
Cognition refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. We use concepts, mental groupings of similar objects, events,
ideas, or people, to simplify and order the world around us. We form most concepts around prototypes, or best examples of a category.
6. How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?
In operant conditioning, an organism learns associations between its own behavior and resulting events; this form of conditioning involves operant behavior (behavior that
operates on the environment, producing rewarding or punishing consequences). In classical conditioning, the organism forms associations between stimuli—events it does not
control; this form of conditioning involves respondent behavior (automatic responses to some stimulus).
7. How do we define learning, and what are some basic forms of learning?
Learning is the process of acquiring through experience new information or behaviors. In associative learning, we learn that certain events occur together. In classical
conditioning, we learn to associate two or more stimuli. Automatically responding to stimuli we do not control is called respondent behavior. In operant conditioning, we learn to
associate a response and its consequences. These associations produce operant behaviors. Through cognitive learning, we acquire mental information that guides our behavior. For
example, in observational learning, we learn new behaviors by observing events and watching others.
8. What does research on restored vision, sensory restriction, and perceptual adaptation reveal about the effects of experience on perception?
Experience guides our perceptual interpretations. People blind from birth who gained sight after surgery lack the experience to visually recognize shapes and forms. Sensory
restriction research indicates that there is a critical period for some aspects of sensory and perceptual development. Without early stimulation, the brain’s neural organization does
not develop normally. People given glasses that shift the world slightly to the left or right, or even upside down, experience perceptual adaptation. They are initially disoriented,
but they manage to adapt to their new context.
9. What do the social influence studies teach us about ourselves? How much power do we have as individuals?
These experiments have demonstrated that strong social influences can make people conform to falsehoods or capitulate to cruelty. The power of the individual (personal control)
and the power of the situation (social control) interact. A small minority that consistently expresses its views may sway the majority, as may even a single committed individual.
10. How do parents and peers influence adolescents?
During adolescence, parental influence diminishes and peer influence increases. Adolescents adopt their peers’ ways of dressing, acting, and communicating. Parents have more
influence in religion, politics, and education and career choices.

11. In what two ways do people try to alleviate stress?

We use problem-focused coping to change the stressor or the way we interact with it. We
use emotion-focused coping to avoid or ignore stressors and attend to emotional needs
related to stress reactions.
12. What was Freud’s view of personality?
Freud believed that personality results from conflict arising from the interaction among
the mind’s three systems: the id (pleasure-seeking impulses), ego (reality-oriented
executive), and superego (internalized set of ideals, or conscience).
13. How does social support promote good health?
Social support promotes health by calming us, by reducing blood pressure and stress hormones, and by fostering stronger immune functioning. We can significantly reduce
our stress and increase our health by building and maintaining relationships, and by finding meaning even in difficult times.
14. Why do we befriend or fall in love with some people but not others?
Proximity (geographical nearness) increases liking, in part because of the mere exposure
effect—exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of those stimuli. Physical attractiveness increases social opportunities and improves the way we are perceived. Similarity
of attitudes and interests greatly increases liking, especially as relationships develop. We also like those who like us.
15. What developmental stages did Freud propose?
He believed children pass through five psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital). According to this view, unresolved conflicts at any stage can leave a
person’s pleasure-seeking impulses fixated (stalled) at that stage.
16. Why has psychology generated so much research on the self? How important is self-esteem to our well-being?
The self is the center of personality, organizing our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Considering possible selves helps motivate us toward positive development, but focusing
too intensely on ourselves can lead to the spotlight effect. High self-esteem correlates with less pressure to conform, with persistence at difficult tasks, and with happiness.
But the direction of the correlation is unclear. Rather than unrealistically promoting selfworth, it’s better to reward children’s achievements, thus promoting feelings of
competence.
17. How do psychotherapy and the biomedical therapies differ?
Psychotherapy is treatment involving psychological techniques that consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological
difficulties or achieve personal growth. The major psychotherapies derive from psychology’s psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives.
Biomedical therapy treats psychological disorders with medications or procedures that act directly on a patient’s physiology. An eclectic approach combines techniques from
various forms of therapy.
18. What is intuition, and how can the availability and representative heuristics influence our decisions and judgments?
Intuition is the effortless, immediate, automatic feelings or thoughts we often use instead
of systematic reasoning. Heuristics, such as the representativeness heuristic, enable snap
judgments. Using the availability heuristic, we judge the likelihood of things based on
how readily they come to mind.
19. How do culture and values influence the client-therapist relationship?
Therapists differ in the values that influence their goals in therapy and their views of progress. These differences may create problems if therapists and clients differ in their
cultural or religious perspectives.
20. How do attitudes and actions interact?
Peripheral route persuasion uses incidental cues (such as celebrity endorsement) to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes. Central route persuasion
offers evidence and arguments to trigger thoughtful responses. When other influences are minimal, attitudes that are stable, specific, and easily recalled can affect our
actions. Actions can modify attitudes, as in the foot-in-the-door phenomenon and role playing. When our attitudes don’t fit with our actions, cognitive dissonance theory
suggests that we will reduce tension by changing our attitudes to match our actions.