348 ❯ GlossaryStructuralism—early psychological perspective that
emphasized units of consciousness and identifica-
tion of elements of thought using introspection.
Sublimation—Freudian defense mechanism, expres-
sion of sexual or aggressive impulses redirected into
more socially acceptable behaviors.
Subliminal stimulation—receiving messages below
your absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
Sucking—the automatic response of drawing in any-
thing at the mouth.
Sulci—folding-in portions of convolutions of the
cerebral cortex.
Superego—the third part of Freud’s personality sys-
tems which makes us feel proud when we obey its
strict morality and feel guilt when we give in to the
id’s more pleasure-seeking urges.
Superstitious behavior—idiosyncratic, unimportant
behavior associated with anticipation of a reward as
a result of unintended reinforcement.
Surface trait—Cattell’s cluster of personality traits
which stems from deep source traits; the person we
see on the outside.
Survey—research method that obtains large samples
of abilities, beliefs, or behaviors at a specific time
and place through questionnaire or interview.
Swallowing—automatic contraction of throat mus-
cles that enables food to pass into the esophagus
without our choking.
Sympathetic nervous system—subdivision of PNS
and ANS whose stimulation results in responses
that help the body deal with stressful events.
Symptom substitution—the replacement of one
behavior that has been eliminated with another.
Synapse—region of communication between the
transmitting presynaptic neuron and receiving post-
synaptic neuron or muscle or gland, consisting of
the presynaptic terminal buttons, a tiny space and
receptor sites typically on the postsynaptic dendrites.
Syntax—rules that are used to order words into
grammatically sensible sentences.
Systematic desensitization—behavior treatment for
phobias in which the client is trained to relax to
increasingly fearful stimuli.
Tardive dyskinesia—serious side effects from anti-
psychotic drugs including problems walking,
drooling, and involuntary muscle spasms.
Taste aversion—negative response to particular
foods that may be inborn and/or acquired through
classical conditioning.
Tay-Sachs syndrome—recessive trait that produces
progressive loss of nervous function and death in
a baby.
Telegraphic speech—meaningful two-word sen-
tences, usually a noun and a verb, and usually in
the correct order uttered by two-year-olds.Temperament—an infant’s natural disposition to
show a particular mood at a particular intensity for
a specific period.
Temporal conditioning—in classical conditioning,
the presentation of the UCS at specific time peri-
ods; time serves as the CS.
Temporal lobes—side regions of cerebral cortex
that are primary areas for hearing, understanding
language (Wernicke’s area), understanding music/
tonality, and processing smell.
Teratogen—harmful substance (drug or virus) with
which contact during the prenatal period can cause
birth defect(s).
Terminal buttons (also called axon terminals, end
bulbs, or synaptic knobs)—tips at the end of axons
which secrete neurotransmitters when stimulated
by the action potential.
Testes—gonads in males that produce hormones
necessary for reproduction and development of
secondary sex characteristics.
Thalamus—part of forebrain that relays visual,
auditory, taste, somatosensory (skin sensation)
information to and from appropriate areas of cere-
bral cortex; involved in encoding sensory memory
into STM.
Thanatology—study of death and dying; Kübler-
Ross’s five stages of facing death: denial, anger,
bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)—a projective
test composed of ambiguous pictures about which
a person is asked to write a complete story.
Theories—organized sets of concepts that explain
phenomena.
Thinking—involves mental images, symbols, con-
cepts, and rules of language.
Thyroid gland—endocrine gland in neck that pro-
duces thyroxin, which stimulates and maintains
metabolic activities.
Timbre—the quality of a sound determined by the purity
of a waveform; a note of the same pitch and loudness
sounds different on different musical instruments.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon—retrieval prob-
lem that involves known information that can only
be retrieved incompletely; better cues are required
for retrieval.
Token economy—a program used in institutions in
which a person’s acceptable behavior is reinforced
with tokens that can be exchanged for special privi-
leges or goods.
Tolerance—condition in which diminished effec-
tiveness of drug necessitates larger dosages to pro-
duce desired effect.
Top-down processing—information processing
guided by preexisting knowledge or expectations
to construct perceptions; concept-driven.BM.indd 348 27-05-2018 15:32:48