General Psychology Mastery Workbook Glossary
(Bracketed numbers refer to Mastery Workbook Sections)
[0] Psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
[1] Mean: Arithmetical average calculated by dividing a sum of values by the total number of
values.
[1] Median: Point that divides a set of scores in half.
[1] Correlation Coefficient: Statistical measure of the strength of association between to
variables.
[1] Normal Curve: Hypothetical bell-shaped distribution curve that occurs when a normal
distribution is plotted as a frequency polygon.
[1] Standard Deviation: Statistical measure of variability in a group of scores or other values.
[1] Scatter Plot: Diagram showing the association between scores on two variables.
[1] Range: Difference between the largest and smallest measurements in a distribution.
[1] Mode: For a range of scores, the point at which the largest number of scores occurs.
[2] Control group: In a controlled experiment, the group not subjected to a change in the
independent variable; used for comparison with the experimental group.
[2] Survey research: Research technique in which questionnaires or interviews are administered
to a selected group of people.
[2] Case Study: Intensive description and analysis of a single individual or just a few individuals.
[2] Correlational research: Research technique based on the naturally occurring relationship
between two or more variables.
[2] Experimental method (or research): Research technique in which an investigator deliberately
manipulates selected events or circumstances and then measures the effects of those
manipulations on subsequent behavior.
[2] Naturalistic observation: Research method involving the systematic study of animal or human
behavior in natural settings rather than in the laboratory.
[2] Experimental group: In a controlled experiment, the group subjected to a change in the
independent variable.
[2] Independent variable: In an experiment, the variable that is manipulated to test its effects on
the other, dependent variables.
[2] Random sample: Sample in which each potential participant has an equal chance of being
selected.
[2] Dependent variable: In an experiment, the variable that is measured to see how it is changed
by manipulations in the independent variable
[3] Psychodynamic theories: Personality theories contending that behavior results from
psychological dynamics that interact within the individual, often outside conscious awareness.
[3] Gestalt psychology: School of psychology that studies how people perceive and experience
objects as whole patterns.
[3] Behaviorism: School of psychology that studies only observable and measurable behavior.
[3] Functionalism: Theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism
uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment.
[3] James, William: The American psychologist criticized structuralism, arguing that sensations
cannot be separated from the mental associations that allow us to benefit from past experiences.
James was interested in how our rich storehouse of ideas and memories enable us to survive and
function in the world. His perspective became known as functionalism.
[3] Freud, Sigmund: The theories of Freud added a new dimension to psychology: the idea that
much of our behavior is governed by unconscious conflicts, motives, and desires. Freud’s work
gave rise to psychodynamic theories.
[3] Structuralism: School of psychology that stresses the basic units of experience and the
combinations in which they occur.
[3] Wundt, Wilhelm: Established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 at the University of
Leipzig in Germany. His use of experiment and measurement marked the beginnings of
psychology as a science.
[3] Watson, John B: Watson was a spokesman for the school of thought called behaviorism. He
argued that psychology should concern itself only with observable, measurable behavior. Watson
based much of his work on the conditioning experiments of Ivan Pavlov.
[4] Central nervous system (CNS): Division of the nervous system that consists of the brain and
spinal cord.
[4] Corpus callosum: A thick band of nerve fibers connecting the left and right cerebral cortex.
[4] Peripheral nervous system (PNS): Division of the nervous system that connects the central
nervous system to the rest of the body.
[4] Synapse: Area composed of the terminal button of one neuron, the synaptic space, and the
dendrite or cell body of the next neuron. The synaptic space or synaptic cleft is tiny gap between
the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of the next neuron. Synaptic
vesicles are tiny sacs in a terminal button that release chemicals into the synapse.
[4] Endocrine glands (system) : Glands of the endocrine system that release hormones into the
bloodstream.
[4] Hemispheric Specialization: The brain is divided into right and left hemispheres connected
primarily by the corpus callosum. The left hemisphere controls touch and movement of the right
side of the body; the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. The left hemisphere
usually (but not always) dominates in verbal tasks, whereas the right hemisphere is typically
superior at nonverbal, visual, and spatial tasks.
[4] Neuron: Individual cell that is the smallest unit of the nervous system.
[4] Neurotransmitters: Chemicals released by the synaptic vesicles that travel across the synaptic
space and affect adjacent neurons.
[5] Hypnosis: Trance like state in which a person responds readily to suggestions.
[5] Sensory deprivation: Extreme reduction of sensory stimuli.
[5] Double-blind procedure: Experimental design, useful in studies of the effects of drugs in
which neither the subject nor the researcher knows at the time of administration which subjects
are receiving an active drug and which are receiving an inactive substitute.
[5] Opponent-process theory: Theory of color vision that holds that three sets of color receptors
(yellow-blue, red-green, black-white) respond to determine the color you experience.
[5] Perception: The process of creating meaningful patterns from raw sensory information.
[5] Perceptual constancy: A tendency to perceive objects as stable and un- changing despite
changes in sensory stimulation.
[5] Perceptual Organization: Gestalt psychologists have done much research on how our
perceptions become organized. Their research has discovered important principles of perceptual
organization such as similarity, proximity, continuity, and figure-ground.
[5] Sensation: The experience of sensory stimulation.
[5] Trichromatic theory: The theory of color vision that holds thall all color perception derives
from three different color receptors in the retina (usually red, green, and blue receptors).
[5] Meditation: Any of the various methods of concentration, reflection, or focusing of thoughts
undertaken to suppress the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.
[5] REM (paradoxical) sleep: Sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movement and increased
dreaming.
[6] Pavlov, Ivan: A Russian physiologist who discovered classical conditioning while studying
digestion. He trained a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell by ringing the bell just before food
was given. The dog learned to associate the bell with food and began to salivate at the sound of
the bell alone.
[6] Skinner, B.F.: Skinner’s beliefs were similar to Watson’s, but he added the concept of
reinforcement or rewards. In this way, he made the learner an active agent in the learning
process. Skinner’s views dominated American psychology into the 1960s.
[6] Learned helplessness: Failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an unpleasant or aversive
stimulus that occurs as a result of previous exposure to unavoidable painful stimuli.
[6] Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning: The type of learning in which a response naturally
elicited by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral stimulus.
[6] Generalization (stimulus generalization): The transfer of a learned response to different but
similar stimuli.
[6] Punisher: A stimulus that follows a behavior and decreases the likelihood that the behavior
will be repeated. Punishment is defined as any event whose presence decreases the likelihood
that ongoing behavior will recur.
[6] Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior.
[6] Discrimination (stimulus discrimination): Learning to respond to only one stimulus and to
inhibit the response to all other stimuli.
[6] Reinforcer: A stimulus that follows a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior
will be repeated.
[6] Operant (or instrumental) conditioning: The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted
(in the presence of specific stimuli) to earn rewards or avoid punishments.
[7] Reliability: Ability of a test to produce consistent and stable scores.
[7] Loftus, Elizabeth: Loftus has been psychology’s most influential researcher into eyewitness
memory. Her most important discovery is that eyewitness memory is unreliable because
witnesses cannot disentangle their memory of the original event from information and
suggestions they receive after the event.
[7] Long-term memory (LTM): The portion of memory that is more or less permanent,
corresponding to everything we "know."
[7] Language: A flexible system of communication that uses sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols
to convey information.
[7] Validity: Ability of a test to measure what it has been designed to measure
[7] Intelligence quotient (IQ): A numerical value given to intelligence that is determined from the
scores on an intelligence test; based on a score of 100 for average intelligence.
[7] Chunking: The grouping of information into meaningful units for easier handling by
short-term memory.
[7] Functional fixedness: The tendency to perceive only a limited number of uses for an object,
thus interfering with the process of problem solving.
[7] Short-term memory (STM): Working memory; briefly stores and processes selected
information from the sensory registers.
[7] Mnemonics: Techniques that make material easier to remember.
[8] Extrinsic Motivation: A desire to perform a behavior to obtain an external reward or to avoid
punishment.
[8] Primary drive: Physiologically based unlearned motive, such as hunger.
[8] Cognitive theory of emotion: States that emotional experience depends on one's perception or
judgment of the situation one is in.
[8] Drive-reduction theory: Theory that motivated behavior is aimed at reducmg a state of bodily
tension or arousal and returning the organism to homeostasis.
[8] Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motives: According to Maslow, motives evolve in a sequential,
hierarchical manner as follows: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and
self-actualization.
[8] James-Lange theory of emotion: States that stimuli cause physiological changes in our bodies,
and emotions result from those physiological changes.
[8] Intrinsic motivation: A desire to perform a behavior that originates within the individual.
[8] Cannon-Bard theory of emotion: States that the experience of emotion occurs simultaneously
with biological changes.
[9] Objective tests: Personality tests that are administered and scored in a standard way.
[9] Projective tests: Personality tests, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, consisting of ambiguous
or unstructured material.
[9] Big Five: Five traits or basic dimensions currently thought to be of central importance in
describing personality.
[9] Piaget, Jean: According to Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, children undergo qualitative
changes in thinking as they grow older. He depicted these changes as a series of stages. During
the sensory-motor stage (from birth to age 2) children acquire object permanence or the
understanding that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight. In the preoperational
stage (ages 2 to 7) they become increasingly adept at using mental representations, and language
assumes an important role in describing, remembering, and reasoning about the world. Children
in the concrete-operational stage (ages 7 to 11) are able to pay attention to more than one factor
at a time and can understand someone else’s point of view. Finally, in the formal-operational
stage (ages 11 and older) teenagers acquire the ability to think abstractly and test ideas mentally
using logic.
[9] Kohlberg, Lawrence: Kohlberg developed a stage theory about the development of moral
thinking. He proposed that children at different levels of moral reasoning base their moral
choices on different factors: first a concern about physical consequences, then a concern about
what other people think, and finally a concern about abstract principles.
[9] Erikson, Erik: Erikson proposed a theory of life-span social development in which the infant
must first learn a realistic but yet basic trust of the world. On the foundation of trust the infant
can grow to develop reasonable independence and initiative during childhood followed by a
sound sense of identity in the teenage years. In early and middle adulthood the issues become
intimacy with significant others and generativity with regard to one’s life work. In late life the
issue becomes one of a sense of integrity and a feeling that one’s life has been worthwhile.”
[9] Personality: An individual's unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persists
over time and across situations.
[10] Cognitive therapies: Psychotherapies that emphasize changing clients' perceptions of their
life situation as a way of modifying their behavior.
[10] Psychosomatic disorders: Disorders in which there is real physical illness that is largely
caused by psychological factors such as stress and anxiety.
[10] Behavior therapies: Therapeutic approaches that are based on the belief that all behavior,
normal and abnormal, is learned, and that the objective of therapy is to teach people new, more
satisfying ways of behaving.
[10] Schizophrenic disorders: Severe disorders in which there are disturbances of thoughts,
communications, and emotions, including delusions and hallucinations.
[10] Biological treatments: A group of approaches, including medication, electroconvulsive
therapy, and psychosurgerv, that are sometimes used to treat psychological disorders in
conjunction with, or instead of, psychotherapy.
[10] Personality disorders: Disorders in which inflexible and maladaptive ways of thinking and
behaving learned early in life cause distress to the person or conflicts with others.
[10] Mood Disorders: Disturbances in mood or prolonged emotional state.
[10] Somatoform disorders: Disorders in which there is an apparent physical illness for which
there is no organic basis.
[10] Insight therapies: A variety of individual psychotherapies designed to give people a better
awareness and understanding of their feelings, motivations, and actions in the hope that this will
help them to adjust.
[10] Group therapy: Type of psychotherapy in which clients meet regularly to interact and help
one another achieve insight into their feelings and behavior.
[10] Dissociative disorders: Disorders in which some aspect of the personality seems separated
from the rest.
[10] Anxiety Disorders: Disorders in which anxiety is a characteristic feature or the avoidance of
anxiety seems to motivate abnormal behavior.
[11] Milgram’s Obedience Studies: In these classic studies, Milgram studied how the power and
authority of a situation affect obedience. Milgram’s research uncovered important factors that
influence a person’s willingness to follow orders to do harm to others.
[11] Bystander effect: The tendency for an individual's helpfulness in an emergency to decrease
as the number of passive bystanders increases.
[11] Fundamental attribution error: The tendency of people to overemphasize personal causes for
other people’s behavior and to underemphasize personal causes for their own behavior.
[11] Attribution Theory: The theory that addresses the question of how people make judgments
about the causes of behavior.
[11] Self-fulfilling prophecy: The process in which a person's expectation about another elicits
behavior from the second person that confirms the expectation.
[11] Defensive attribution: The tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts or qualities
and our failures to external factors.
[11] Deindividuation: A loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group.
[11] Self-monitoring: The tendency for an individual to observe the situation for cues about how
to react.
[11] Cognitive dissonance: Perceived inconsistency between two cognitions.
[10] Anxiety Disorders: Disorders in which anxiety is a characteristic feature or the avoidance of
anxiety seems to motivate abnormal behavior.
[11] Attribution Theory: The theory that addresses the question of how people make judgments
about the causes of behavior.
[10] Behavior therapies: Therapeutic approaches that are based on the belief that all behavior,
normal and abnormal, is learned, and that the objective of therapy is to teach people new, more
satisfying ways of behaving.
[3] Behaviorism: School of psychology that studies only observable and measurable behavior.
[9] Big Five: Five traits or basic dimensions currently thought to be of central importance in
describing personality.
[10] Biological treatments: A group of approaches, including medication, electroconvulsive
therapy, and psychosurgerv, that are sometimes used to treat psychological disorders in
conjunction with, or instead of, psychotherapy.
[11] Bystander effect: The tendency for an individual's helpfulness in an emergency to decrease
as the number of passive bystanders increases.
[8] Cannon-Bard theory of emotion: States that the experience of emotion occurs simultaneously
with biological changes.
[2] Case Study: Intensive description and analysis of a single individual or just a few individuals.
[4] Central nervous system (CNS): Division of the nervous system that consists of the brain and
spinal cord.
[7] Chunking: The grouping of information into meaningful units for easier handling by
short-term memory.
[6] Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning: The type of learning in which a response naturally
elicited by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral stimulus.
[10] Cognitive therapies: Psychotherapies that emphasize changing clients' perceptions of their
life situation as a way of modifying their behavior.
[11] Cognitive dissonance: Perceived inconsistency between two cognitions.
[8] Cognitive theory of emotion: States that emotional experience depends on one's perception or
judgment of the situation one is in.
[2] Control group: In a controlled experiment, the group not subjected to a change in the
independent variable; used for comparison with the experimental group.
[4] Corpus callosum: A thick band of nerve fibers connecting the left and right cerebral cortex.
[1] Correlation Coefficient: Statistical measure of the strength of association between to
variables.
[2] Correlational research: Research technique based on the naturally occurring relationship
between two or more variables.
[11] Defensive attribution: The tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts or qualities
and our failures to external factors.
[11] Deindividuation: A loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group.
[2] Dependent variable: In an experiment, the variable that is measured to see how it is changed
by manipulations in the independent variable
[6] Discrimination (stimulus discrimination): Learning to respond to only one stimulus and to
inhibit the response to all other stimuli.
[10] Dissociative disorders: Disorders in which some aspect of the personality seems separated
from the rest.
[5] Double-blind procedure: Experimental design, useful in studies of the effects of drugs in
which neither the subject nor the researcher knows at the time of administration which subjects
are receiving an active drug and which are receiving an inactive substitute.
[8] Drive-reduction theory: Theory that motivated behavior is aimed at reducmg a state of bodily
tension or arousal and returning the organism to homeostasis.
[4] Endocrine glands (system) : Glands of the endocrine system that release hormones into the
bloodstream.
[2] Experimental group: In a controlled experiment, the group subjected to a change in the
independent variable.
[2] Experimental method (or research): Research technique in which an investigator deliberately
manipulates selected events or circumstances and then measures the effects of those
manipulations on subsequent behavior.
[8] Extrinsic Motivation: A desire to perform a behavior to obtain an external reward or to avoid
punishment.
[7] Functional fixedness: The tendency to perceive only a limited number of uses for an object,
thus interfering with the process of problem solving.
[3] Functionalism: Theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism
uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment.
[11] Fundamental attribution error: The tendency of people to overemphasize personal causes for
other people’s behavior and to underemphasize personal causes for their own behavior.
[6] Generalization (stimulus generalization): The transfer of a learned response to different but
similar stimuli.
[3] Gestalt psychology: School of psychology that studies how people perceive and experience
objects as whole patterns.
[10] Group therapy: Type of psychotherapy in which clients meet regularly to interact and help
one another achieve insight into their feelings and behavior.
[4] Hemispheric Specialization: The brain is divided into right and left hemispheres connected
primarily by the corpus callosum. The left hemisphere controls touch and movement of the right
side of the body; the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. The left hemisphere
usually (but not always) dominates in verbal tasks, whereas the right hemisphere is typically
superior at nonverbal, visual, and spatial tasks.
[5] Hypnosis: Trance like state in which a person responds readily to suggestions.
[2] Independent variable: In an experiment, the variable that is manipulated to test its effects on
the other, dependent variables.
[10] Insight therapies: A variety of individual psychotherapies designed to give people a better
awareness and understanding of their feelings, motivations, and actions in the hope that this will
help them to adjust.
[7] Intelligence quotient (IQ): A numerical value given to intelligence that is determined from the
scores on an intelligence test; based on a score of 100 for average intelligence.
[8] Intrinsic motivation: A desire to perform a behavior that originates within the individual.
[8] James-Lange theory of emotion: States that stimuli cause physiological changes in our bodies,
and emotions result from those physiological changes.
[7] Language: A flexible system of communication that uses sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols
to convey information.
[6] Learned helplessness: Failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an unpleasant or aversive
stimulus that occurs as a result of previous exposure to unavoidable painful stimuli.
[7] Long-term memory (LTM): The portion of memory that is more or less permanent,
corresponding to everything we "know."
[8] Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motives: According to Maslow, motives evolve in a sequential,
hierarchical manner as follows: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and
self-actualization.
[1] Mean: Arithmetical average calculated by dividing a sum of values by the total number of
values.
[1] Median: Point that divides a set of scores in half.
[5] Meditation: Any of the various methods of concentration, reflection, or focusing of thoughts
undertaken to suppress the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.
[11] Milgram’s Obedience Studies: In these classic studies, Milgram studied how the power and
authority of a situation affect obedience. Milgram’s research uncovered important factors that
influence a person’s willingness to follow orders to do harm to others.
[7] Mnemonics: Techniques that make material easier to remember.
[1] Mode: For a range of scores, the point at which the largest number of scores occurs.
[10] Mood Disorders: Disturbances in mood or prolonged emotional state.
[2] Naturalistic observation: Research method involving the systematic study of animal or human
behavior in natural settings rather than in the laboratory.
[4] Neuron: Individual cell that is the smallest unit of the nervous system.
[4] Neurotransmitters: Chemicals released by the synaptic vesicles that travel across the synaptic
space and affect adjacent neurons.
[1] Normal Curve: Hypothetical bell-shaped distribution curve that occurs when a normal
distribution is plotted as a frequency polygon.
[9] Objective tests: Personality tests that are administered and scored in a standard way.
[6] Operant (or instrumental) conditioning: The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted
(in the presence of specific stimuli) to earn rewards or avoid punishments.
[5] Opponent-process theory: Theory of color vision that holds that three sets of color receptors
(yellow-blue, red-green, black-white) respond to determine the color you experience.
[5] Perception: The process of creating meaningful patterns from raw sensory information.
[5] Perceptual constancy: A tendency to perceive objects as stable and un- changing despite
changes in sensory stimulation.
[5] Perceptual Organization: Gestalt psychologists have done much research on how our
perceptions become organized. Their research has discovered important principles of perceptual
organization such as similarity, proximity, continuity, and figure-ground.
[4] Peripheral nervous system (PNS): Division of the nervous system that connects the central
nervous system to the rest of the body.
[9] Personality: An individual's unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persists
over time and across situations.
[10] Personality disorders: Disorders in which inflexible and maladaptive ways of thinking and
behaving learned early in life cause distress to the person or conflicts with others.
[8] Primary drive: Physiologically based unlearned motive, such as hunger.
[9] Projective tests: Personality tests, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, consisting of ambiguous
or unstructured material.
[3] Psychodynamic theories: Personality theories contending that behavior results from
psychological dynamics that interact within the individual, often outside conscious awareness.
[0] Psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
[10] Psychosomatic disorders: Disorders in which there is real physical illness that is largely
caused by psychological factors such as stress and anxiety.
[6] Punisher: A stimulus that follows a behavior and decreases the likelihood that the behavior
will be repeated. Punishment is defined as any event whose presence decreases the likelihood
that ongoing behavior will recur.
[2] Random sample: Sample in which each potential participant has an equal chance of being
selected.
[1] Range: Difference between the largest and smallest measurements in a distribution.
[6] Reinforcer: A stimulus that follows a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior
will be repeated.
[7] Reliability: Ability of a test to produce consistent and stable scores.
[5] REM (paradoxical) sleep: Sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movement and increased
dreaming.
[1] Scatter Plot: Diagram showing the association between scores on two variables.
[10] Schizophrenic disorders: Severe disorders in which there are disturbances of thoughts,
communications, and emotions, including delusions and hallucinations.
[11] Self-fulfilling prophecy: The process in which a person's expectation about another elicits
behavior from the second person that confirms the expectation.
[11] Self-monitoring: The tendency for an individual to observe the situation for cues about how
to react.
[5] Sensation: The experience of sensory stimulation.
[5] Sensory deprivation: Extreme reduction of sensory stimuli.
[6] Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior.
[7] Short-term memory (STM): Working memory; briefly stores and processes selected
information from the sensory registers.
[10] Somatoform disorders: Disorders in which there is an apparent physical illness for which
there is no organic basis.
[1] Standard Deviation: Statistical measure of variability in a group of scores or other values.
[3] Structuralism: School of psychology that stresses the basic units of experience and the
combinations in which they occur.
[2] Survey research: Research technique in which questionnaires or interviews are administered
to a selected group of people.
[4] Synapse: Area composed of the terminal button of one neuron, the synaptic space, and the
dendrite or cell body of the next neuron. The synaptic space or synaptic cleft is tiny gap between
the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of the next neuron. Synaptic
vesicles are tiny sacs in a terminal button that release chemicals into the synapse.
[5] Trichromatic theory: The theory of color vision that holds thall all color perception derives
from three different color receptors in the retina (usually red, green, and blue receptors).
[7] Validity: Ability of a test to measure what it has been designed to measure
[3] Wundt, Wilhelm: Established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 at the University of
Leipzig in Germany. His use of experiment and measurement marked the beginnings of
psychology as a science.
[3] James, William: The American psychologist criticized structuralism, arguing that sensations
cannot be separated from the mental associations that allow us to benefit from past experiences.
James was interested in how our rich storehouse of ideas and memories enable us to survive and
function in the world. His perspective became known as functionalism.
[3] Freud, Sigmund: The theories of Freud added a new dimension to psychology: the idea that
much of our behavior is governed by unconscious conflicts, motives, and desires. Freud’s work
gave rise to psychodynamic theories.
[3] Watson, John B: Watson was a spokesman for the school of thought called behaviorism. He
argued that psychology should concern itself only with observable, measurable behavior. Watson
based much of his work on the conditioning experiments of Ivan Pavlov.
[6] Pavlov, Ivan: A Russian physiologist who discovered classical conditioning while studying
digestion. He trained a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell by ringing the bell just before food
was given. The dog learned to associate the bell with food and began to salivate at the sound of
the bell alone.
[6] Skinner, B.F.: Skinner’s beliefs were similar to Watson’s, but he added the concept of
reinforcement or rewards. In this way, he made the learner an active agent in the learning
process. Skinner’s views dominated American psychology into the 1960s.
[7] Loftus, Elizabeth: Loftus has been psychology’s most influential researcher into eyewitness
memory. Her most important discovery is that eyewitness memory is unreliable because
witnesses cannot disentangle their memory of the original event from information and
suggestions they receive after the event.
[9] Piaget, Jean: According to Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, children undergo qualitative
changes in thinking as they grow older. He depicted these changes as a series of stages. During
the sensory-motor stage (from birth to age 2) children acquire object permanence or the
understanding that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight. In the preoperational
stage (ages 2 to 7) they become increasingly adept at using mental representations, and language
assumes an important role in describing, remembering, and reasoning about the world. Children
in the concrete-operational stage (ages 7 to 11) are able to pay attention to more than one factor
at a time and can understand someone else’s point of view. Finally, in the formal-operational
stage (ages 11 and older) teenagers acquire the ability to think abstractly and test ideas mentally
using logic.
[9] Kohlberg, Lawrence: Kohlberg developed a stage theory about the development of moral
thinking. He proposed that children at different levels of moral reasoning base their moral
choices on different factors: first a concern about physical consequences, then a concern about
what other people think, and finally a concern about abstract principles.
[9] Erikson, Erik: Erikson proposed a theory of life-span social development in which the infant
must first learn a realistic but yet basic trust of the world. On the foundation of trust the infant
can grow to develop reasonable independence and initiative during childhood followed by a
sound sense of identity in the teenage years. In early and middle adulthood the issues become
intimacy with significant others and generativity with regard to one’s life work. In late life the
issue becomes one of a sense of integrity and a feeling that one’s life has been worthwhile.”