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Source trait—Cattell’s underlying 16 traits that
guide one’s behavior.
Speed test— measures how fast you can answer easy
questions in a specified time period.
Spinal cord—portion of the central nervous system
below the medulla oblongata.
Split-half reliability—is a method where the score
on one half of the test questions is compared with
the other half of the questions to see if they are
consistent.
Spontaneous recovery—the reappearance of a pre-
viously extinguished CR after a rest period.
Sports psychologists—psychologists who help ath-
letes refine their focus on competition goals,
increase motivation, and deal with anxiety or fear
of failure.
Stability vs. change—deals with the issue of whether
or not personality traits present during infancy
persist throughout the lifespan.
Stage 1 sleep—sleep stage lasting a few minutes in
which we gradually lose responsiveness to outside
stimuli and experience drifting thoughts and
images. EEGs of stage 1 sleep show theta waves
which are lower in amplitude and frequency than
alpha waves.
Stage 2 sleep—sleep stage whose EEGs show high
frequency bursts of brain activity called sleep spin-
dles, and K complexes.
Stage 3 sleep—deep sleep stage whose EEGs show
some very high amplitude and very low frequency
delta waves.
Stage 4 sleep—deepest sleep stage whose EEGs
show mostly very high amplitude and very low
frequency delta waves. Heart rate, respiration,
temperature, and blood flow to the brain are
reduced. Growth hormone involved in maintain-
ing physiological functions is secreted.
Standard deviation(SD)—a measure of the average
difference between each score and the mean of the
data set; the square root of the variance.
Standardization—two-part test development proce-
dure that first establishes test norms by giving the
test to a large representative sample of those for
whom the test is designed, then assures that the
test is both administered and scored uniformly for
all test takers.
Standardized tests—set of tasks administered
under standard conditions to assess an individual’s
knowledge, skill, or personality characteristics.
Stanford–Binet intelligence test—Terman’s revision
of Binet’s original individual IQ test.
State-dependent memory—tendency to recall
information better if you are in the same internal
state as when the information was encoded.
Statistical significance (p)—the condition that
exists when the probability that the observed find-
ings are due to chance is less than 1 in 20 (p<.05)
according to some psychologists or less than 1 in
100 (p<.01) according to those with more strin-
gent standards
Statistics— field that involves the analysis of
numerical data about representative samples of
populations.
Stereotype threat—anxiety that influences members
of a group concerned that their performance will
confirm a negative stereotype.
Stereotype—overgeneralized and false belief about
the characteristics of members of a particular
group; schema used to quickly judge others.
Stimulants—psychoactive drugs that activate moti-
vational centers and reduce activity in inhibitory
centers of the central nervous system by increasing
activity of serotonin, dopamine and norepineph-
rine neurotransmitter systems; include caffeine,
nicotine, amphetamines and cocaine.
Stimulus—a change in the environment that elicits
(brings about) a response.
Storage—the retention of encoded information over
time.
Stranger anxiety—the fear of strangers that infants
develop around 8 months of age.
Stress—the process by which we appraise and
respond to environmental threats.
Stressors— stimuli such as heat, cold, pain, that are
perceived as endangering our well-being.
Strive for superiority—according to Adler, this ten-
dency is a result of a need to compensate for our
feelings of inferiority.
Structuralism— early psychological perspective that
emphasized units of consciousness and identifica-
tion of elements of thought using introspection.
Sublimation—Freudian defense mechanism,
expression of sexual or aggressive impulses redi-
rected into more socially acceptable behaviors.
Sucking—the automatic response of drawing in
anything at the mouth.
Sulci—folding-in portions of convolutions of the
cerebral cortex.Glossary ❮ 335