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Tranquilizers (barbiturates)
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: mimic the effects of alcohol.
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Weber's Law
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: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (rather than a constant amount).
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Peripheral NS
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: the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system.
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Retina
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: the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.
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Free Association
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: in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.
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External Locus of Control
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: the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate
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Superego
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: the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
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Psychoanalysis
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: Freud's theory of personality and therapeutic technique that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transference- and the therapist's interpretations of them - released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.
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Narcolepsy
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: a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times.
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Displacement
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: shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object/person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet (kicking a chair)
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REM Sleep
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: Rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active.
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Reality Principle
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: seeks to gratify the id's impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure
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Thalamus
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: the brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
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Define empiricism? .
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The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation
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Neurotransmitters
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: chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.
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Hallucinogens/Psychodelic
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: psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.
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Frequency Theory
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: in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.
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Brainstem:
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the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions (heartbeat & breathing).
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Cell Body
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: the cell's life support center.
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Personality is...
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more stable among adults than children.
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Operational definition:
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a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures
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Unconscious:
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according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.
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What is another name for the behavior genetics perspective of psychology.
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Hint: __________vs.______________. Review similarities of identical twins vs. fraternal twins. Identical: twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organism. Fraternal: twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment.
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Sublimation
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: people re-channel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities
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Transduction
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: conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret.
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Sympathetic NS:
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the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.
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Difference Threshold
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: the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.
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Menopause
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: the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.
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Absolute Threshold
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: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.
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Dreams seem to help...
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put together our memories, especially when you receive enough REM
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Harlow Monkey Experimen
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t: Monkeys were bred. To equalize the infant monkeys' experiences and to isolate any disease, they separated them from their mothers shortly after birth and raised them in sanitary individual cages, which included a cheesecloth baby blanket. When their blankets were taken to be laundered, the monkeys became distressed. The Harlows recognized that this intense attachment to the blanket contradicted the idea that attachment derives from an association with nourishment.
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Place Theory
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: in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated
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Cross-Sectional Studies
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: a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
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Signal Detection Theory
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: a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.
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Gestalt Psychology
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: an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
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Evolutionary (Biological):
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the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection.
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Limbic System
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: doughnut-shaped neural system (including the hippocampus, amygdale, and hypothalamus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives.
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Reciprocal Determinism
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: the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment
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Alcohol
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: depressant; effects=initial high followed by relaxation and disinhibition; adverse effects=depression, memory loss, organ damage, impaired reactions.
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Parasympathetic NS
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: the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.
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Tolerance
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: the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect.
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Association Areas
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: areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.
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Subliminal Messages
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: below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
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Dependent
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: the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
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Rationalization
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: self-justifying explanation in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions
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Ego
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: the largely conscious, "executive" party of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
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What is parapsychology?
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The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis
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Withdrawal
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: the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug.
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Teratogen
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: agents, such as chemicals and virus, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
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Neuroscience (Biological):
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[cognitive neuroscience] the study of brain activity linked with mental activity (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).
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Hypothalamus
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: a neural structure (hypo) lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward.
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Independent:
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the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.
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Researchers have induce...
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hypnotized people to perform an apparently dangerous act: plunging one hand briefly into fuming "acid", then throwing the "acid" in a researcher's face. Interviewed a day later, these people exhibited no memory of their acts and emphatically denied they would ever follow such orders.
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CNS (Central Nervous System)
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: the brain and spinal cord.
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Case Study
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: an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
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Denial
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: people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities.
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Sensory Adaptation
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: diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
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Reaction formation
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: the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites (being nice to someone you hate/are mad at)
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Circadian Rhythms
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: the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle
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Autonomic NS
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: the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart).
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Dendrite
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: the bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.
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Projection
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: people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
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Skeletal/Somatic NS
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: the division of peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles.
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Behavioral-Genetics (Behavioral):
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the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
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Repression
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: banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, memories from consciousness
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Gender Identity
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: our sense of being male or female
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Stage 1 of sleep is where...
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you feel like you are falling or you see hallucinations.
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Regression
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: retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage (acting like a baby)
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Cerebral Cortex
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: the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.
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Amygdala
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: two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion.
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Myelin Sheath
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: a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.
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Experiment
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: a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable).
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Internal Locus of Control
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: the perception that you control your own fate
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Iris
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: a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.
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Id
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: a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.
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Sleep Cycle
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: the different stages of sleep. Awake/Relaxed Stage 1-4 REM sleep.
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Figure-Ground
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: the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
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Phallic
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(3-6 years): pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings
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Axon
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: the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.
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Blakemore and Cooper study on kittens (sensation and perception unit).
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Learned Helplessness
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: the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
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Pleasure Principle
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: seeks immediate gratification
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