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Ovaries—gonads in females that produce hormones
necessary for reproduction and development of
secondary sex characteristics.
Overconfidence bias—the tendency to overestimate
the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments which
proves to be a hindrance in problem solving.
Overgeneralization or overregularization—appli-
cation of grammatical rules without making
appropriate exceptions.
Overjustification effect—where promising a reward
for doing something we already like to do results
in us seeing the reward as the motivation for per-
forming the task. When the reward is taken away,
the behavior tends to disappear.
Pancreas—gland near stomach that secretes the hor-
mones insulin and glucagon that regulate blood
sugar necessary for fueling all behavioral
processes. Imbalances result in diabetes and hypo-
glycemia.
Panic disorder—unpredictable attacks of acute anx-
iety accompanied by high levels of physiological
arousal that last from a few seconds to a few hours.
Parallel distributive processing (PDP)—perform-
ing several operations simultaneously as opposed
to serially or one operation after another.
Parallel processing—a natural mode of information
processing that involves several information
streams simultaneously.
Paranoid personality disorder—symptoms include
delusions of persecution that are generally organ-
ized around one theme.
Paranoid schizophrenia—a form of schizophrenia
in which the person suffers from delusions of per-
secution, grandeur, reference, or control.
Parasympathetic nervous system—subdivision of
PNS and ANS whose stimulation calms your
body following sympathetic stimulation by restor-
ing normal body processes.
Parathyroids—endocrine glands in neck that pro-
duce parathyroid hormone which helps maintain
calcium ion level in blood necessary for normal
functioning of neurons.
Parietal lobes—region on the top of the cerebral
cortex the front strip of which is the somatosen-
sory cortex that processes sensory information
including touch, temperature, and pain from
body parts; association areas perceive objects.
Peg word mnemonic—memory device which uses a
scheme (“One is a bun, two is...”) we memorize,
then associate with names or objects in a series.
Percentile score—the percentage of scores at or
below a particular score.
Peripheral nervous system (PNS)—portion of the
nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.
It includes all of the sensory and motor neurons,
and subdivisions called the autonomic and
somatic nervous systems.
Peripheral route of persuasion—(according to the
elaboration likelihood model) changes attitudes
by pairing superficial positive stimuli (supermodels
and celebrities) with an argument; leads to unstable
change in attitudes.
Permissive parenting style—parents set no firm
guidelines for behavior and tend to give in to
demands of the child.
Persona—according to Jung, this is the outward part of
the personality or the mask we wear when dealing
with society and opposite of the unconscious shadow.
Personal constructs—a set of bipolar categories we use
as labels to help us categorize and interpret the world;
Kelly believes that personality is a habitualway we live
our lives trying to make sense out of what happens.
Personal fable—exaggerated belief in one’s unique-
ness and immortality in adolescence.
Personal unconscious—according to Jung, a store-
house of all our past memories and hidden
instincts and urges unique to the individual.
Personality—a unique pattern of consistent feel-
ings, thoughts, and behaviors that originate
within the individual.
Personality disorders—chronic, maladaptive
thought and behavior patterns that are trouble-
some to others, harmful, or illegal.
Phallic stage—Freud’s third stage of psychosexual
development; the primary erogenous zone is the
genital area; during this time children become
attached to the opposite-sex parent.
Phenotype—the expression of the genes.
Phenylketonuria (PKU)—recessive trait that
results in severe, irreversible brain damage unless
the baby is fed a special diet low in phenylalanine.
Phobia—irrational fear of specific objects or situa-
tions, such as animals or enclosed spaces.
Phonemes—smallest possible sound units of spoken
language.
Physiological motivations—such as hunger, thirst
and sex. Each is influenced by biological factors,
environmental factors and learned preferences and
habits. The hypothalamus and endocrine system
are implicated in each of these motives.Glossary ❮ 329