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.
Surface trait—Cattell’s cluster of personality traits
which stem 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 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 recep-
tor 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
antipsychotic drugs including problems walking,
drooling, and involuntary muscle spasms.
Taste aversion—negative response to particular
foods may be a combination of both nature and
nurture; 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 area for hearing, understanding lan-
guage (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 stim-
ulated 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; Kubler-
Ross’ five stages of facing death: denial, anger, bar-
gaining, 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.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon—retrieval prob-
lem that involves information we are sure we
know but can only retrieve incompletely.
Token economy—a program used in institutions in
which a person’s acceptable behavior is reinforced
with tokens that can be exchanged for special
privileges or goods.
Tolerance—condition in which diminished effec-
tiveness of drug necessitates larger dosages to pro-
duce desired effect.
Trace conditioning—in classical conditioning, the
CS is presented first, removed, then the UCS is
presented.
Trait—a relatively permanent and stable characteris-
tic about ourselves which can be used to predict
our behavior.
Transference—in psychoanalaysis, the venting of
emotions both positive and negative by patients;
treating their analyst as the symbolic representa-
tive of someone important in their past.
Triadic reciprocality model of personality—
Bandura’s scheme that our personal traits, the336 ❯ Glossary