Conservation concepts—changes in the form of an
object do not alter physical properties of mass,
volume and number, acquired during Piaget’s
concrete operational stage.
Consolidation—the process by which information
in short-term memory is transferred to long-term
memory, presumably because of physical changes
that occur in neurons in the brain.
Construct validity—thetrue measure of validity.
Construct validity is the extent to which the test
measures a given characteristic, trait, or construct.
Contact comfort—Harlow study with monkeys and
surrogate moms—need for close contact with
caregiver independent of feeding; questions Hull’s
drive-reduction theory.
Contact theory—if members of two opposing
groups are brought together in an emergency sit-
uation, group cooperation will reduce prejudice
thinking.
Context-dependent memory—physical setting in
which a person learns information is encoded
along with the information and becomes part of
the memory trace.
Contextual intelligence—what Sternberg calls
“street smarts”; intelligence that reflects behaviors
that help us to adapt and fit into the environment
by developing useful skills and behaviors.
Contiguity—Pavlovian theory that classical condi-
tioning is based on the association in time of the
CS prior to UCS.
Contingency— Rescorla theory that the predictabil-
ity of UCS following CS determines classical con-
ditioning.
Continuity–discontinuity controversy—deals
with the issue of whether development is a grad-
ual, continuous process or a sequence of separate
stages.
Continuous reinforcement— the schedule of rein-
forcement where each behavior emitted by the
organism is rewarded.
Contralaterality—control of one side of your body
by the other side of your brain.
Control group—in a controlled experiment, the
comparison group; the subgroup of the sample
that is similar to the experimental group in every
way except for the presence of the independent
variable.
Controlled experiment—research method in which
the experimenter manipulates the independent
variable (IV) to see the effect on the dependent
variable (DV) in order to establish a cause and
effect relationship between the IV and DV.
Conventional Level—Kohlberg’s second level of
moral development, in which people realize that
society has instituted rules to maintain order and
to serve the best interests of its citizens.
Convergent thinking—conventional thinking;
thinking directed toward a single correct solution.
Conversion disorder—a somatoform disorder
involving the actual loss of bodily function, such
as blindness, paralysis, and numbness, due to
excessive anxiety with no physiological cause.
Convolutions—folding-in and out of the cerebral
cortex that increases surface area of the brain.
Coping—active efforts to reduce or tolerate per-
ceived levels of stress.
Corpus callosum—broad band of nervous tissue
that connects the left and right cerebral hemi-
spheres transmitting information from one side of
the brain to the other.
Correlation coefficient(r)—a statistical measure of
the degree of relatedness or association between
two sets of data that ranges from -1 to +1.
Counseling psychologists—psychologists who help
people adapt to change or make changes in their
lifestyle.
Counterconditioning—replacing one emotion
with its exact opposite such as relaxation as
opposed to fear in phobias.
Creative self—Alder’s term for the conscious control
of problem-solving strategies in daily life.
Creativity—the ability to generate ideas and solu-
tions that are original, novel, and useful.
Critical period—a time interval during which spe-
cific stimuli have a major effect on development
that the stimuli do not produce at other times.
Critical period hypothesis—an optimal time after
birth during which an organism must be exposed
to certain influences if it is to develop properly.
(Language is on example.)
Cross-sectional research—a method of assessing
developmental changes by evaluating different age
groups of people at the same time.
Crystallized intelligence—learned knowledge and
skills such as vocabulary which tend to increase
with age.
Culture—behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions
transmitted from one generation to the next
within a group of people who share a common
language and environment.318 ❯ Glossary