GLOSSARY G-13
reciprocal determinism Bandura’s explanation of how the factors of envi-
ronment, personal characteristics, and behavior can interact to determine
future behavior.
reciprocity of liking tendency of people to like other people who like them
in return.
recognition the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a
stored image or fact.
reflection therapy technique in which the therapist restates what the client
says rather than interpreting those statements.
reflex an involuntary response, one that is not under personal control or
choice.
reflex arc the connection of the afferent neurons to the interneurons to the
efferent neurons, resulting in a reflex action.
refractory period time period in males just after orgasm in which the male
cannot become aroused to another orgasm.
regression psychological defense mechanism in which a person falls back
on childlike patterns of responding in reaction to stressful situations.
reinforcement any event or stimulus that, when following a response,
increases the probability that the response will occur again.
reinforcers any events or objects that, when following a response, increase
the likelihood of that response occurring again.
relative size monocular depth perception cue; perception that occurs when
objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and
are, therefore, assumed to be much farther away.
reliability the tendency of a test to produce the same scores again and
again each time it is given to the same people.
REM behavior disorder a rare disorder in which the mechanism that
blocks the movement of the voluntary muscles fails, allowing the person
to thrash around and even get up and act out nightmares.
REM rebound increased amounts of REM sleep after being deprived of
REM sleep on earlier nights.
replicate in research, repeating a study or experiment to see if the same
results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results.
representativeness heuristic assumption that any object (or person) shar-
ing characteristics with the members of a particular category is also a
member of that category.
representative sample randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger
population of subjects.
repression psychological defense mechanism in which the person refuses
to consciously remember a threatening or unacceptable event, instead
pushing those events into the unconscious mind.
resistance occurring when a patient becomes reluctant to talk about a cer-
tain topic by either changing the subject or becoming silent.
resolution the final phase of the sexual response in which the body is
returned to a normal state.
resting potential the state of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse.
restorative theory theory of sleep proposing that sleep is necessary to the
physical health of the body and serves to replenish chemicals and repair
cellular damage.
reticular formation (RF) an area of neurons running through the middle of
the medulla and the pons and slightly beyond that is responsible for gen-
eral attention, alertness, and arousal.
retrieval getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used.
retrieval cue a stimulus for remembering.
retroactive interference memory problem that occurs when newer informa-
tion prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information.
retrograde amnesia loss of memory from the point of some injury or
trauma backward, or loss of memory for the past.reuptake process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the syn-
aptic vesicles.
reversible figures visual illusions in which the figure and ground can be
reversed.
rods visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for
noncolor sensitivity to low levels of light.
romantic love type of love consisting of intimacy and passion.
Rorschach inkblot test projective test that uses 10 inkblots as the ambigu-
ous stimuli.
sample group of subjects selected from a larger population of subjects, usu-
ally selected randomly.
scaffolding process in which a more skilled learner gives help to a less
skilled learner, reducing the amount of help as the less skilled learner
becomes more capable.
scheme in this case, a mental concept formed through experiences with
objects and events.
schizophrenia severe disorder in which the person suffers from disordered
thinking, bizarre behavior, hallucinations, and inability to distinguish
between fantasy and reality.
school psychology area of psychology in which the psychologists work
directly in the schools, doing assessments, educational placement, and
diagnosing educational problems.
scientific approach system of gathering data so that bias and error in mea-
surement are reduced.
scrotum external sac that holds the testes.
secondary appraisal the second step in assessing a stressor, which involves
estimating the resources available to the person for coping with the threat.
secondary reinforcer any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being
paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars.
secondary sex characteristics sexual organs and traits that develop at
puberty and are indirectly involved in human reproduction.
selective attention the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all
sensory input.
selective thinking distortion of thinking in which a person focuses on only
one aspect of a situation while ignoring all other relevant aspects.
self an individual’s awareness of his or her own personal characteristics
and level of functioning.
self-actualization according to Maslow, the point that is seldom reached
at which people have sufficiently satisfied the lower needs and achieved
their full human potential.
self-actualizing tendency the striving to fulfill one’s innate capacities and
capabilities.
self-concept the image of oneself that develops from interactions with
important significant people in one’s life.
self-determination theory (SDT) theory of human motivation in which the
social context of an action has an effect on the type of motivation existing
for the action.
self-efficacy individual’s expectancy of how effective his or her efforts to
accomplish a goal will be in any particular circumstance.
self-fulfilling prophecy the tendency of one’s expectations to affect one’s
behavior in such a way as to make the expectations more likely to occur.
self-help groups (support groups) a group composed of people who have
similar problems and who meet together without a therapist or counselor
for the purpose of discussion, problem solving, and social and emotional
support.
semantic memory type of declarative memory containing general knowl-
edge, such as knowledge of language and information learned in formal
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