Glossary ❮ 345Retrieval cue—a stimulus that provides a trigger to
get an item out of stored memory.
Retroactive inference—recently learned information
disrupts our ability to remember older information.
Retrograde amnesia—involves memory loss for a
segment of the past, usually around the time of an
accident, such as a blow to the head.
Reversibility—characteristic of Piaget’s concrete
operational stage, the logical negation of an opera-
tion, for example, if 4 + 2 = 6 then 6 - 2 = 4.
Rods—photoreceptors that detect black, white, and
gray and movement; are necessary for peripheral
and dim-light vision when cones do not respond.
Distributed throughout the retina of the eye,
except in the fovea.
Roles—ascribed social positions in groups and
defined behavior expectations.
Rooting reflex—the newborn’s tendency to move its
head when stroked on the cheek, turn toward the
stimulus as if searching for a nipple, and open its
mouth.
Rorschach inkblot test—a projective test in which
a person is shown a series of symmetrical inkblots
and asked to describe what he or she thinks they
represent.
Saltatory conduction—rapid conduction of impulses
when the axon is myelinated since depolarizations
jump from node (of Ranvier) to node.
Sample—the subgroup of the population that par-
ticipates in the study.
Satiety—absence of hunger.
Savants, also known as people with savant syndrome—
individuals otherwise considered mentally retarded
who have a specific exceptional skill typically in cal-
culating, music, or art.
Scapegoat theory—attributes prejudice to frustra-
tion; when own self-worth is in doubt or jeopardy,
we find others to blame.
Schachter-Singer two-factor theory of emotions—
an emotion is inferred from physiological arousal,
and label of that emotion is based on our cognitive
explanation for the arousal.
Schema—framework of basic ideas and preconcep-
tions about people, objects, and events based
on past experience in long-term memory; con-
cepts or frameworks that organize and interpret
information.
Schizophrenia—a serious schizophrenic spectrum
disorder characterized by thought disturbances,
hallucinations, anxiety, emotional withdrawal, and
delusions.
School psychologists—assess and counsel students,
consult with educators and parents, and perform
behavioral intervention when necessary.
Script—a schema for an event.Seasonal affective disorder—a mood disorder char-
acterized by depression, lethargy, sleep distur-
bances, and craving for carbohydrates; generally
occurs during the winter, when the amount of day-
light is low, and is sometimes treated with exposure
to bright lights.
Second order conditioning—learning procedure
in which a well-learned conditioned stimulus is
paired with a new neutral stimulus resulting in a
similar conditioned response.
Secondary motive—internal mechanism directing
learned behavior as being desired, such as power
and wealth.
Secondary reinforcer—something seen as rewarding
because it is associated with a primary reinforcer.
Secondary sex characteristics—the nonreproductive
sexual characteristics including developed breasts
in females; facial hair, Adam’s apple, and deepened
voice in males; and pubic hair and underarm hair
in both.
Selective attention—focusing of awareness on a spe-
cific stimulus (while excluding others) in sensory
memory.
Self-actualization—the realization of our true intel-
lectual and emotional potential (according to
Maslow).
Self archetype—according to Jung, our sense of
wholeness or unity.
Self-awareness—consciousness of oneself as a person.
Self-concept—our overall view of our abilities,
behavior, and personality or what we know about
ourselves.
Self-efficacy—how competent and able we feel to
accomplish tasks; an expectation of success.
Self-esteem—how worthy we think we are.
Self-fulfilling prophecy—a tendency to let our
preconceived expectations of others influence
how we treat them and thus evoke those very
expectations.
Self-referent encoding—determining how new
information relates to us personally.
Self-report methods—most common personality
assessment technique, involves person answering a
series of questions such as a personality question-
naire or supplying information about himself or
herself.
Self-serving bias—our tendency to take personal
credit for our achievements and blame failures on
situational factors; to perceive ourselves favorably.
Semantic encoding—information processed for
meaning into short-term memory and long-term
memory.
Semantic memories—a type of long-term memory
that includes general knowledge, objective facts,
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