| A | B |
|---|
| Autism | Marked by abnormal or impaired development in social interactions and difficulties in communication, including problems in developing spoken language or in initiating conversations; characterized by having few interests, spending long periods repeating the same behaviors, or following the same rituals |
| Test anxiety | A combination of physiological, emotional, and cognitive components that are caused by the stress of taking exams; may interfere with one's ability to think, reason, and plan |
| Psychology | The systematic, scientific study of behaviors and mental processes |
| Biological Approach | How genes, hormones, and nervous system interact with our environments to influence learning, personality, memory, motivation, emotions, coping techniques, and other traits and abilities |
| Cognitive Approach | How we process, store, and use informtion and how this information influences what we attend to, perceive, remember, believe, and feel |
| Cognitive Neuroscience | Taking pictures and identifying the structures and functions of the living brain during performance of a wide variety of mental or cognitive processes, such as thinking, planning, naming, and recognizing objects |
| Behavioral Approach | How organisms learn new behaviors or modify existing ones, depending on whether events in their environment reward or punish these behaviors |
| Psychoanalytic Approach | Based on the belief that childhood experiences greatly influence the development of later personality traits and psychological problems; stresses the influence of unnconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts and behaviors |
| Procrastination | The tendency to always put off completing a task to the point of feeling anxious or uncomfortable about one's delay |
| Humanistic Approach | Emphasizes that each individual has great freedom in directing his or her future, a large capacity for achieving personal growth, a considerable amount of intrinsic worth, and enormous potential for self-fulfillment |
| Cross-Cultural Approach | The influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on psychological and social functioning |
| Structuralism | Study of the most basic elements, primarily sensations and perceptions, that make up our conscious mental experiences |
| Introspection | Method of exploring conscious mental processes by asking subjects to look inward and report their sensations and perceptions |
| Functionalism | Study of the function rather than the structure of consciousness; Interested in how minds adapt to changing environment |
| Gestalt Approach | Emphasized that perception is more than the use of its parts and studied how sensations are assembled into meaningful perceptual experiences |
| Psychologist | Someone who has completed 4 to 5 years of postgraduate education and has obtained a Ph.D., PsyD., or Ed.D. in psychology |
| Clinical Psychologist | Someone who has a Ph.D., PsyD., or Ed.D., has specialized in a clinical subarea, and has spent an additional year in a supervised therapy setting to gain experience in diagnosing and treating a wide range of abnormal behaviors |
| Psychiatrist | Medical doctor (M.D.) who has spent several years in clinical training, which includes diagnosing possible physical and neurological causes of abnormal behaviors and treating these behaviors, often with prescription drugs |
| Social Psychology | Study of social interactions, stereotypes, prejudices, attitudes, conformity, group behaviors, and aggression |
| Personality Psychology | Study of personality development, personality change, assessment, and abnormal behaviors |
| Developmental Psychology | Examines moral, social, emotional, and cognitive development throughout a person's entire life |
| Experimental Psychology | Includes areas of sensation, perception, learning, human performance, motivation, and emotion |
| Biological Psychology/ Psychobiology | Research on the physical and chemical changes that occur during stess, learning, and emotions, as well as how our genetic makeup, brain, and nervous system interact with our environments and influence our behaviors |
| Cognitive Psychology | Involves how we process, store, and retrieve information and how cognitive processes influence our behaviors |
| Psychometrics | Focuses on the measurement of people's abilities, skills, intelligence, personality, and abnormal behaviors |
