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Attitude—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.
Authoritarian parenting style—parent sets up
absolute and restrictive rules accompanied by
punishment for disobedience.
Authoritative parenting style—focuses on flexible
rules for which reasons are generally given. Parents are
warm and nurture independence within guidelines.
Autism—a severe childhood disorder characterized
by language impairment, lack of social responsive-
ness, and possibly self-injurious behavior.
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 innervate
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 asso-
ciate physical or psychological discomfort with
behaviors, thoughts, or situations the client wants
to stop or avoid.
Avoidance behavior—behavior that results in the
removal of an ongoing event, or prevents a future
event from occurring.
Avoidance–avoidance conflict—a conflict in which
the individual must choose between two unattrac-
tive stimuli or circumstances.
Avoidant attachment—infant neither seeks support
or comfort from nor shows distress towards care-
givers in the Strange Situation.
Axon—a long, single conducting fiber (usually cov-
ered in myelin) extending from the cell body of a
neuron 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 condition-
ing, presenting the unconditioned stimulus before
the conditioned stimulus.
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/she gets closer to
that goal receives small rewards until finally reach-
ing 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
measurable behaviors.
Belief bias—the tendency for our preexisting beliefs
to distort logical reasoning, making illogical con-
clusions 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.
Biofeedback—a system for electronically recording,
amplifying, and giving back information regard-
ing a subtle physiological state.
Biological preparedness—the species-specific pre-
disposition to learn in certain ways but not in
others.
Bipolar disorder—a mood disorder characterized
by extreme mood swings from unusual excitement
to serious depression.
Bisexuality—a tendency to direct sexual desire
toward people of both sexes.
Blastula—the hollow ball stage of cell division
during first two weeks after conception.Glossary ❮ 315