Glossary ❮ 327Attitude—learned predisposition to respond favor-
ably or unfavorably to certain people, objects, or
events.
Attribution theory—a study of our causal explana-
tions of behavior. We attribute behavior to the
individual’s disposition or to the situation.
Audition—the sense of hearing.
Auditory nerve—axons of neurons in the cochlea
converge, transmitting sound messages through
the medulla, pons, and thalamus to the auditory
cortex of the temporal lobes.
Authoritarian parenting style—absolute and restric-
tive rules by parent accompanied by punishment
for disobedience.
Authoritative parenting style—flexible rules for
which reasons are generally given. Parents are warm
and nurture independence within guidelines.
Autism spectrum disorder—an early-onset neuro-
developmental disorder characterized by mark-
edly abnormal or impaired development in social
interaction, communication, and the restricted
repertoire of activity and interests.
Automatic processing—unconscious encoding of
information about space, time, and frequency that
occurs without interfering with our thinking about
other things.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS)—subdivision
of PNS that includes motor nerves that stimulate
smooth (involuntary) or heart muscle. Its sympa-
thetic nervous system prepares the body for “fight
or flight”; the parasympathetic nervous system
causes bodily changes for maintenance or rest.
Availability heuristic—a tendency to estimate the
probability of certain events in terms of how read-
ily they come to mind.
Aversive conditioning—learning involving an
unpleasant or harmful unconditioned stimulus or
reinforcer; also a form of behavior therapy (aver-
sion therapy) in which the client is trained to
associate physical or psychological discomfort with
behaviors, thoughts, or situations the client wants
to stop or avoid.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict—a conflict in which
the individual must choose between two unattract-
ive stimuli or circumstances.
Avoidance behavior—behavior that results in the
removal of an ongoing event, or prevents a future
event from occurring.
Avoidant attachment—infant neither seeks support
or comfort from nor shows distress toward caregiv-
ers in the strange situation.
Axon—a long, single conducting fiber (usually cov-
ered in myelin) extending from the cell body of aneuron that transmits an action potential and that
branches and ends in tips called terminal buttons
(a.k.a. axon terminals, or synaptic knobs) that
secrete neurotransmitters.
Babbling—a stage of speech development that is
characterized by spontaneous utterance of speech
sounds; begins around 4 months old.
Backwards conditioning—in classical conditioning,
presenting the unconditioned stimulus before the
conditioned stimulus.
Basal ganglia—clusters of neurons deep in the brain
(including the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus
pallidus, and substantia nigra) that regulate ini-
tiation of movements, balance, eye movements,
and posture and function in processing of implicit
memories.
Basic-level category—a concept that makes impor-
tant distinctions between different categories—
between a superordinate and subordinate category.
Behavior modification—therapy in which the client
selects a goal and as he or she gets closer to that
goal receives small rewards until finally reaching
the intended goal; also a field that applies the
behavioral approach scientifically to solve prob-
lems (applied behavior analysis).
Behavior therapy—treatment approach that uses
applications of learning principles to eliminate
unwanted behaviors.
Behavioral approach—psychological perspective
concerned with behavioral reactions to stimuli;
learning as a result of experience.
Behaviorism—the view that psychology should be
an objective science based on observable and mea-
surable behaviors.
Belief bias—the tendency for our preexisting beliefs
to distort logical reasoning, making illogical conclu-
sions seem valid or logical conclusions seem invalid.
Belief perseverance—the tendency for people to
cling to a particular belief even after information
that led to the formation of that belief has been
discredited.
Big 5 or OCEAN—trait theory of personality
that says our personalities are composed of
different amounts of common traits—openness,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and
neuroticism.
Binocular cues—clues about distance that require
two eyes and that include retinal disparity and
convergence.
Biofeedback—a system for electronically recording,
amplifying, and giving back information regarding
a subtle physiological state.BM.indd 327 27-05-2018 15:32:46