1.

Absolute Threshold: The minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a reliable sensory experience; operationally defined as the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time. 2. Action Potential: The nerve impulse in a neuron activated when the neuron travels down the axon and causes neurotransmitters to be released into a synapse. 3. Adolescence: The period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to complete growth and maturity. 4. Affective Disorders: any mental disorder, as depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or cyclothymia, in which a major disturbance of feelings or emotions is predominant. 5. Aggression: Behaviors that cause psychological or physical harm to another individual. 6. Alcohol: Usually referring to ethanol in wine, beer, and liquor. It can cause changes in behavior and be addictive 7. Algorithms: Step-by-step procedures that always provide the right answer for a particular type of problem. 8. Amnesia: A failure of memory caused by physical injury, disease, drug use, or psychological trauma. 9. Anal Stage: The theory of psychosexual development where a child, ages two to four, derives pleasure from the process of elimination and particularly defecation. 10. Anxiety: An intense emotional response caused by the preconscious recognition that a repressed conflict is about to emerge into consciousness. 11. Artificial Intelligence: theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. 12. Attachment: Emotional relationship between a child and the "regular caregiver. 13. Attention: A state of focused awareness on a subset of the available perceptual information. 14. Attitudes: The learned, relatively stable tendency to respond to people, concepts, and events in an evaluative way. 15. Autonomic Nervous System: The subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's involuntary motor responses by connecting the sensory receptors to the central nervous system (CNS) and the CNS to the smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands. 16. Avoidance Learning: process by which an individual learns a behavior or response to avoid a stressful or unpleasant situation. 17. Axon: The extended fiber of a neuron through which nerve impulses travel from the soma to the terminal buttons. 18. Behavior: The actions by which an organism adjusts to its environment.. 19. Behavior Modification: The systematic use of principles of learning to increase the frequency of desired behaviors and/or decrease the frequency of problem behaviors. 20. Behaviorism: A scientific approach that limits the study of psychology to measurable or observable behavior. 21. Binocular Depth Cues: Binocular Depth Cues- visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions and the distance of an object. 22. Biofeedback: A self-regulatory technique by which an individual acquires voluntary control over nonconscious biological processes. 23. Brain: Brain- organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating center of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity. 24. Case Study: Intensive observation of a particular individual or small group of individuals. 25. Central Nervous System: The part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord. 26. Cerebellum: The region of the brain attached to the brain stem that controls motor coordination, posture, and balance as well as the ability to learn control of body movements. 27. Cerebral Cortex: The outer surface of the cerebrum. 28. Cerebral Hemispheres (Split Brain): The two halves of the cerebrum, connected by the corpus callosum. 29. Chromosomes: threadlike structures of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes. 30. Classical Conditioning: A type of learning in which a behavior (conditioned response) comes to be elicited by a stimulus (conditioned stimulus) that has acquired its power through an association with a biologically significant stimulus (unconditioned stimulus). 31. Client-Centered Therapy: A humanistic approach to treatment that emphasizes the healthy psychological growth of the individual; based on the assumption that all people share the basic tendency of human nature toward self-actualization. 32. Cochlea: The primary organ of hearing; a fluid-filled coiled tube located in the inner ear. 33. Cognitive Development: The development of processes of knowing, including imagining, perceiving, reasoning, and problem solving. 34. Cognitive Dissonance: The theory that the tension-producing effects of incongruous cognitions motivate individuals to reduce such tension.

35. Concrete Operations: These occur when children gain the ability to think logically about concrete events like conservation and mathematical operations. 36. Conditioned Response: In classical conditioning, a response elicited by some previously neutral stimulus that occurs as a result of pairing the neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. 37. Conditioned Stimulus: In classical conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response. 38. Conditioning: The ways in which events, stimuli, and behavior become associated with one another. 39. Conflict: Conflict- turning point during which an individual struggles to attain some psychological quality; can be a time of both vulnerability and strength as the individual works toward success or failure. 40. Conformity: The tendency for people to adopt the behaviors, attitudes, and values of other members of a reference group. 41. Consciousness: A state of awareness of internal events and of the external environment. 42. Control Group: In an experiment or study this group does not receive the independent variable. 43. Corpus Callosum: The mass of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the cerebrum. 44. Correlation Coefficient: A statistic that indicates the degree of relationship between two variables. 45. Correlation Methods: Research methodologies that determine to what extent two variables, traits, or attributes are related. 46. Cross Section Research: Research that compares groups of people of various ages on similar tasks. 47. Cross Sequential Research: Cross Sequential Research- an approach that combines the longitudinal and cross-sectional methods by following individuals of different ages for abbreviated periods of time. 48. Defense Mechanisms: Defense Mechanisms- tactic developed by the ego to protect against anxiety; thought to safeguard the mind against feelings and thoughts that are too difficult for the conscious mind to cope with. 49. Delusions: False or irrational beliefs maintained despite clear evidence to the contrary. 50. Dendrites: The branched fibers of neurons that receive incoming signals. 51. Dependent Variable: In an experimental setting, any variable whose values are the results of changes in one or more independent variables. 52. Depression: mood or emotional state that is marked by feelings of low self-worth or guilt and a reduced ability to enjoy life. 53. Depth Perception:ability to perceive spatial relationships, especially distances between objects, in three dimensions. 54. Developmental Stage Theories: construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. 55. Discrimination: (or Classical Conditioning) The ability to distinguish among similar but different stimuli. 56. Distance Cues: A sensory cue is a statistic or signal that can be extracted from the sensory input by a perceiver that indicates the state of some property of the world that the perceiver is interested in perceiving. 57. Dreams: Dreams- successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. 58. Drugs: Drugs- substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. 59. Ego: The aspect of personality involved in self-preservation activities and in directing instinctual drives and urges into appropriate channels. 60. Electroencephalogram: A recording of the electrical activity of the brain.