Page 651 - Understanding Psychology

introspection a method of self-observation in which par- ticipants report on their thoughts and feelings (p. 16) introvert a reserved, withdrawn person who is more pre-
occupied with his or her inner thoughts and feelings than in what is going on around him or her (p. 401)
J
just noticeable difference (JND) the smallest increase or decrease in the intensity of a stimulus that a person is able to detect (p. 210)
K
kinesthesis the sense that provides information about the position and movement of individual body parts (p. 222)
L
laissez-faire leader a person who is only minimally involved in a group’s decision making (p. 554)
language a system of communication that involves using rules to make and combine symbols in ways that pro- duce meaningful words and sentences (p. 304)
language-acquisition device (LAD) innate brain struc- tures that include inborn mechanisms that guide a per- son’s learning of the unique rules of his or her native language (p. 306)
latency stage the fourth stage of Freud’s psychosexual development at which sexual desires are pushed into the background and the child becomes involved in exploring the world and learning new skills (p. 82)
latent content refers to the hidden meanings represented symbolically in a dream (p. 495)
latent learning learning that is not demonstrated by an immediate, observable change in behavior (p. 260)
lateral hypothalamus (LH) the part of the hypothalamus that produces hunger signals (p. 320)
learned helplessness a condition in which repeated attempts to control or influence a situation fail, resulting in the belief that the situation is uncontrollable and that any effort to cope will fail (p. 261)
learning a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience (p. 241)
lens a flexible, elastic, transparent oval structure in the eye that changes its shape to focus light on the retina; the lens is attached to muscles that adjust the curve of the lens, which in turn adjusts the focus (p. 215)
linguistic relativity the idea that a person’s language influ- ences his or her thoughts (p. 308)
lithium carbonate a chemical used to counteract mood swings of bipolar disorder (p. 508)
lobes the different regions into which the cerebral cortex is divided (p. 162)
longitudinal study research method in which data are col- lected about a group of participants over a number of years to assess how certain characteristics change and remain the same during development (p. 38)
Glossary introspection–monocular depth cues
LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) an extremely potent psy- chedelic drug that produces hallucinations (p. 200)
M
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) an imaging tech- nique that passes nonharmful frequencies through the brain; a computer measures the interaction with brain cells and transforms this interaction into an incredibly detailed image of the brain (or body) (p. 167)
maintenance rehearsal a system for remembering that involves repeating information to oneself without attempting to find meaning in it (p. 276)
major depressive disorder a severe form of depression marked by at least two weeks of continually being in a bad mood, having no interest in anything, and getting no plea- sure from activities (p. 470)
manifest content what a person remembers about a dream (p. 495)
marijuana the dried leaves and flowers of Indian hemp (Cannabis Sativa)‚ that produce an altered state of con- sciousness when smoked or ingested (p. 198)
maturation the internally programmed growth of a child that occurs as a result of automatic, genetically deter- mined signals (p. 64)
mean the arithmetic average of all the individual measure- ments in a distribution (p. 51)
median the score that divides a distribution of rank- ordered observations in half; the middle score (p. 51)
meditation a systematic narrowing of attention on an image, thought, bodily process, or external object with the goal of clearing one’s mind and producing relaxation (pp. 195, 434 )
memory the storage and retrieval of what has been learned or experienced (p. 274)
menarche a female’s first menstrual period (p. 96) menopause the biological event in which a woman’s
production of sex hormones is sharply reduced (p. 131) mental set the tendency to approach a new problem in a
way that has been successful in the past (p. 299) metacognition the awareness of one’s own cognitive
processes (p. 297)
midbrain the smallest division of the brain above the pons
that integrates sensory information and relays it up-
ward (p. 161)
mnemonic devices techniques of memorizing information
by forming vivid associations or images, which facilitate
recall and decrease forgetting (p. 288)
mode the most frequent score in a distribution of observa-
tions (p. 51)
modeling the process of learning behavior through obser-
vation and imitation of others; copying behavior
(pp. 262, 504)
monocular depth cues depth cues produced by signals
from a single eye (p. 227)
Glossary 637