G-4 GLOSSARY
conditioned emotional response (CER) emotional response that has
become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli, such as a fear
of dogs or the emotional reaction that occurs when seeing an attractive
person.
conditioned response (CR) in classical conditioning, a learned response to
a conditioned stimulus.
conditioned stimulus (CS) in classical conditioning, a previously neutral
stimulus that becomes able to produce a conditioned response after pair-
ing with an unconditioned stimulus.
conditioned taste aversion development of a nausea or aversive response
to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction,
occurring after only one association.
cones visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible
for color vision and sharpness of vision.
confirmation bias the tendency to search for evidence that fits one’s beliefs
while ignoring any evidence that does not fit those beliefs.
conformity changing one’s own behavior to match that of other people.
conscience part of the superego that produces guilt, depending on how
acceptable behavior is.
conscientiousness the care a person gives to organization and thoughtful-
ness of others; dependability.
consciousness a person’s awareness of everything that is going on around
him or her at any given time.
conservation in Piaget’s theory, the ability to understand that simply
changing the appearance of an object does not change the object’s nature.
consolidation the changes that take place in the structure and functioning
of neurons when a memory is formed.
constructive processing referring to the retrieval of memories in which
those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information.
consumer psychology branch of psychology that studies the habits of con-
sumers in the marketplace.
contiguity a Gestalt principle of perception; the tendency to perceive two
things that happen close together in time as being related.
contingency contract a formal, written agreement between the therapist
and client (or teacher and student) in which goals for behavioral change,
reinforcements, and penalties are clearly stated.
continuity a Gestalt principle of perception; the tendency to perceive things
as simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a com-
plex, broken-up pattern.
continuous reinforcement the reinforcement of each and every correct
response.
control group subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the inde-
pendent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment.
conventional morality second level of Kohlberg’s stages of moral devel-
opment in which the child’s behavior is governed by conforming to the
society’s norms of behavior.
convergence binocular depth perception cue; the rotation of the two eyes in
their sockets to focus on a single object, resulting in greater convergence
for closer objects and lesser convergence if objects are distant.
convergent thinking type of thinking in which a problem is seen as having
only one answer, and all lines of thinking will eventually lead to that sin-
gle answer, using previous knowledge and logic.
coping strategies actions that people can take to master, tolerate, reduce, or
minimize the effects of stressors.
coronary heart disease (CHD) the buildup of a waxy substance called
plaque in the arteries of the heart.
corpus callosum thick band of neurons that connects the right and left cere-
bral hemispheres.correlation a measure of the relationship between two variables.
correlation coefficient a number that represents the strength and direction
of a relationship existing between two variables; number derived from the
formula for measuring a correlation.
cortex outermost covering of the brain consisting of densely packed neu-
rons, responsible for higher thought processes and interpretation of sen-
sory input.
counseling psychology area of psychology in which the psychologists help
people with problems of adjustment.
creative intelligence the ability to deal with new and different concepts
and to come up with new ways of solving problems.
creativity the process of solving problems by combining ideas or behavior
in new ways.
critical periods times during which certain environmental influences can
have an impact on the development of the infant.
critical thinking making reasoned judgments about claims.
cross-sectional design research design in which several different partici-
pant age groups are studied at one particular point in time.
cross-sequential design research design in which participants are first
studied by means of a cross-sectional design but are also followed and
assessed longitudinally.
cult any group of people with a particular religious or philosophical set of
beliefs and identity.
cultural relativity the need to consider the unique characteristics of the cul-
ture in which behavior takes place.
cultural syndromes sets of particular symptoms of distress found in partic-
ular cultures, which may or may not be recognized as an illness within the
culture.
curve of forgetting a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting
is very fast within the first hour after learning a list and then tapers off
gradually.
cybertherapy psychotherapy that is offered on the Internet. Also called
online, Internet, or Web therapy or counseling.
dark adaptation the recovery of the eye’s sensitivity to visual stimuli in
darkness after exposure to bright lights.
decay loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the mem-
ory trace is not used.
decision making process of cognition that involves identifying, evaluating,
and choosing among several alternatives.
declarative (explicit) memory type of long-term memory containing infor-
mation that is conscious and known.
deindividuation the lessening of personal identity, self-restraint, and the
sense of personal responsibility that can occur within a group.
delta waves long, slow brain waves that indicate the deepest stage of
sleep.
delusions false beliefs held by a person who refuses to accept evidence of
their falseness.
dendrites branchlike structures of a neuron that receive messages from
other neurons.
denial psychological defense mechanism in which the person refuses to
acknowledge or recognize a threatening situation.
dependent variable variable in an experiment that represents the measur-
able response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment.
depressants drugs that decrease the functioning of the nervous system.
depth perception the ability to perceive the world in three dimensions.
descriptive statistics a way of organizing numbers and summarizing them
so that patterns can be determined.Z03_CICC7961_05_SE_GLOS.indd 4 9/3/16 12:59 AM