A | B |
physiological | having to do with an organism's physical processes |
cognitive | having to do with an organism's thinking and understanding |
psychology | the scientific study of behavior that is tested through scientific research |
hypothesis | an assumption about behavior that is tested through scientific research |
theory | a set of assumptions used to explain phenomena and offered for scientific study |
basic science | the pursuit of knowledge about natural phenomena for its own sake |
applied science | discovering ways to use scientific findings to accomplish practical goals |
scientific method | a general approach to gathering information and answering questions so that errors and biases are minimized |
psychologist | a scientist who studies the mind and behavior of humans and animals |
psychiatry | a branch of medicine that deals with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders |
difference threshold | the smallest change in a physical stimulus that can be detected |
Weber's Law | the principle that the larger or stronger a stimulus, the larger the change required for an observer to notice a difference |
sensation | occurs anytime a stimulus activates one of your receptors |
absolute threshold | the weakest amount of a stimulus required to produce a sensation |
perception | the organization of information received through our senses |
optic nerve | the nerve that carries impulses from the retina to the brain |
retina | the innermost coating of the back of the eye, containing the light sensitive receptor cells |
pupil | the opening in the iris that regulates the amount of light entering the eye |
auditory nerve | the nerve that carries impulses from the inner ear to the brain, resulting in the senation of sound |
lens | a flexible transparent structure in the eye that changes its shape to focus light on the retina |
complementarity | an attraction between opposite types of people |
self-serving bias | claiming personal responsibility for positive events and blaming circumstances beyond our control for negative events |
stereotype | an exaggerated set of assumptions about an identifiable group of people |
physical proximity | the distance from one another tha people live or work |
social cognition | study of how people perceive, store, and retrieve information about social interactions |