Glossary ❮ 339Metabolism—the sum total of all chemical processes
that occur in our bodies, which are necessary to
keep us alive.
Metacognition—thinking about how we think.
Method of loci—a mnemonic device which uses
visualization of familiar objects on a familiar path
to recall information in a list.
Misattribution error—distortion of information at
retrieval resulting from confusion about the source
of information, as when we put words in someone
else’s mouth.
Misinformation effect—the tendency for people
to incorporate misleading information into their
memories of a given event as evidenced in eyewit-
ness testimony.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI-2)—most widely used objective test of
personality, originally designed to distinguish indi-
viduals with different psychological problems from
normal individuals; today used to identify person-
ality characteristics.
Mnemonic devices—memory aids such as the
method of loci and peg word systems that help to
organize, encode, and more easily retrieve informa-
tion from long-term memory.
Mode—most frequently occurring score in a set of
research data (quick and dirty).
Modeling—process of watching and imitating a spe-
cific behavior; important in observational learning.
Monism—sees mind and body as different aspects of
the same thing.
Monocular cues—clues about distance based on the
image of one eye, including interposition or overlap,
relative size, aerial perspective, relative clarity, texture
gradient, relative height, linear perspective, relative
brightness, motion parallax, and accommodation.
Monozygotic twins—identical twins; genetically
identical siblings who share 100 percent of their
genes because they developed from a single fertil-
ized egg.
Mood-congruent memory—tendency to recall expe-
riences that are consistent with your current good
or bad mood.
Mood disorder—affective disorder characterized by
significant shifts or disturbances in mood that
affect normal perception, thought, and behavior;
depression and bipolar disorders.
Moral development—growth in the ability to
tell right from wrong, control impulses, and act
ethically.
Morality principle—in Freud’s psychoanalytic
theory, the way the superego acts as the conscience
and assigns pride and guilt for behavior that does
and does not conform to its ethical guidelines.Morphemes—the smallest unit of language that has
meaning.
Motivation—need or desire that energizes and directs
behavior.
Motive—a need or a want that causes us to act.
Multiple approach-avoidance—a conflict in which
you must choose between two or more alterna-
tives, each of which has both positive and negative
characteristics.
Multiple intelligences—Howard Gardner’s theory
that intelligence is composed of many different
factors including at least eight intelligences: logi-
cal- mathematical, verbal-linguistic, spatial, bodily-
kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal,
naturalistic.
Myelin sheath—a fatty covering of the axon made
by glial cells which speeds up conduction of the
action potential.
Narcissistic personality disorder—exaggerated sense
of self-importance and demands for attention.
Narcolepsy—condition in which an awake person
suddenly and uncontrollably falls asleep, often
directly into REM sleep.
Narcotics—analgesics (pain reducers) that work by
depressing the central nervous system and can also
depress the respiratory system; includes opiates
and synthetic opiates: codeine, heroin, morphine,
opium, Percodan, Darvon, Talwin, Dilaudid,
methadone, and Demerol.
Nativist perspective—human brain has an innate
capacity for acquiring language (language acquisi-
tion device), possibly during a critical period of
time after birth. Children are born with a universal
sense of grammar (Noam Chomsky).
Naturalistic observation—research method that
records behaviors of humans or other animals in
real-life situations without intervention.
Nature-nurture controversy—deals with the extent
to which heredity and the environment each influ-
ences behavior.
Nearsighted—too much curvature of the cornea
and/or lens, focusing image in front of the retina
so nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant
objects.
Negative reinforcement—removal of an aversive con-
sequence that follows a voluntary behavior, thereby
increasing the probability the behavior will be
repeated; two types include avoidance and escape.
Neocortex—the cerebral cortex.
Neonate—newborn baby from birth to one month old.
Nerve (sensorineural) deafness—loss of hearing
that results from damage to the cochlea, hair cells,
or auditory neurons; cochlea implants may restore
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