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a person's awareness of and resposiveness to mental process and the environment.
consciousness
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mental state that encompasses the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that occur when we are awake and reasonable alert
waking consciousness
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mental states that differ coticeably from normal waking consciousness.
altered states of consciousness
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a regular biological rhythm with a period of approximately 24 hours.
circadian rhythm
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a cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus that raceives input from the retina regarding light and dark cycles and is involved in regulating the biological clock
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
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sleep stage characterized by rapid-eye movements and increased dreaming
rapid-eye movement (REM) or paradoxical sleep
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non-rapid-eye-movement stages of sleep that alternate with REM stages during the sleep cycle.
non-REM (NREM) sleep
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frightening dreams that occur during REM sleep and are remembered.
nightmares
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frightening, often terrifying dreams that occur during NREM sleep from which a person is difficult to awaken and doesn't remember the content
night terrors
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sleep disorder characterized by difficulty in falling asleep or reamining asleep throughout the night
insomnia
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sleep disorder characterized by breathing difficulty during th night and feelings of exhaustion during the day
apnea
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herditary sleep disorder characterized by sudden nodding off during the day and sudden loss of muscle tone following moments of emotional excitement
narcolepsy
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vivid visual and auditory experiences that occur primary during REM periods of sleep
dreams
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chemical substances that change modds and perceptions.
psychoactive drugs
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a pattern of drug use that diminishes the ability to fulfill responsibilities at home, work, or school that results in reapeated use of a drug in dangerous situations or that leads to legal difficulties related to drug use
substance abuse
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a pattern of compulsive drug taking that results in olerance, withdrawal symptoms, or other specific symptoms for at least a year.
substance dependance
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experimental design useful in studies of the effects of drugs, in which neither the subject nor the researcher knows at the time of administration which subjects are receiving an active drug and which are receiving an inactive substance
double-blind procedure
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chemically inactive substance used for comparison with active drugs in experiments on the effects of drugs
placebo
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chemicals that slow down behavior or cognitive processes
depressants
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depresant that is the intoxicationg ingredient in whiskey, beer, wine, and other fermented or distilled liquors
alcohol
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potentially deadly depressants, first used for their sedative and anticonvulsant properties, now used only to treat such conditions as epilepsy and arthritis
barbiturates
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drugs, such as opium and heroin, derived from the opium poppy, that dull the senses and induce feelings of euphoria, well being, and relaxation. synthetic drugs resembling opium derivatives are also classified as opiates.
opiates
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drugs, including amphetamines and cocaine, that stimulate sympathtic nervious system and produce feelings of optimism and boundless energy
stimulants
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stimulant drugs that initially produce "rushes" of euphoria often followed by sudden "crash" and, sometimes, severe depression
amphetamines
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drug derived from the coca plant that, although producing a sense f euphoria by stimulating the sympathetic nervious system, also leads to anxiety, depression, and addictive cravings
cocaine
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any of the number of drugs, such as LSD and mescaline, that distort visual and auditory perception
hallucinogens
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hallucinogenic or "psychedelic" drug that produces hallucinations and delusions similar to those occuring in a phychotic state
Lysergic acid diethylamid (LSD)
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a mild hallucinogen that produces a "high" often characterized by feelings of euphoria, a sense of well-being and swings in mood from gaiety to relaxation; may also cause feeling of anxiety and paranoia
marijuana
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any of the various methods of concentration, reflection, or focusing of thoughts undertaken to suppress the activity of the sympathetic nervous system
meditation
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trancelike state in which a person responds readily to suggestions
hypnosis
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the process by which experience or practice results in a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior
learning
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the type of learning in which a response naturally elicited by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral, stimulus.
classical (or pavlovian) conditioning
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a stimulus that invariably causes and organism to repsond in a specific way.
unconditioned stimulus (US)
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a response that takes place in an organism to respond in a specific way.
Unconditioned response (UR)
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an originally neautral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus and eventually prodeces the desired response in an organism when presented alone
conditioned stimulus (CS)
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after conditioning, the response an organism produces when a conditioned stimulus in presented
conditioned response (CR)
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paring the conditioned stimulus and the uncondiationed stimulus on only a portion of the learning trials
intermittent paring
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a conditioning technique designd to gradually reduce anxiety about a particular object or situation.
desinsitization therapy
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a bilogical readiness to learn certain associations beacause of their survival advantages
preparedness
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conditoined avoidance of certain foods even if there is only one paring of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli
conditioned taste aversion
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the type of learning in whcih behaviors ar emitted (in the presence of specific stimuli) to earn rewards or avoid punishments.
operant (or instrumental) conditioning
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behaviors designed to operate on the environment in a way that will gain something desired or avoid something unpleasent.
operatnt behaviors
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a stimuli that folows a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
reinforcers
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stimuli that follows a behavior and decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
punishers
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Thorndike's theory that behavior consistently rewarded will be "stamped in" as learned behavior, and behavior that brings about discomfort will be "stamped out"
law of effect (principle of reinforcement)
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a box often used in operant conditioning of animals; it limits the available responses and thus increases the likelihood that the dirired response will occur
Skinner box
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reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior
shaping
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events whose presence increases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur
positive reinforcers
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events whose reduction or termination increases the liklihood that ongoing behavior will recur
negative reinforcers
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any event whose presence decreases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur
punishment
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learning a desirable behavior to prevent the occurrence of something unpleasant, such as punishment
avoidance training
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failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an unpleasant or aversive stimulus that occurs as a result of previous stimulus that occurs as a result of previousexposure to anavoidable painful stimuli
learned helplessness
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a technique hat uses monitoring devices to provide precise information about internal physiological processes, such as heart rate or blood pressure, to teach people to gain voluntary control over these functions
biofeedback
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a biofeedback technique that monitors brain waves with the use of an EEG to teach people to gain voluntary control over their brain wave activity
neurofeedback
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a reliable "if-then" relationship between 2 events, such as a CS and a US
contingency
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a process whereby prior conditoining prevents conditioning to a second stimulus even when the 2 stimuli are present simultaneously
blocking
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in operant conditioning, the rule for determining when and how ften reinforcers will be delivered
schedule of reinforcement
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a reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after a fixed lenth of time since the last reinforcement
fixed-interval schedule
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a reinforcement schedule in which the corect response is reinforced after varying lengthg of time following the last reinforcement.
variable-interval schedule
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a reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is rienforced after a fixed number of correct response
fixed-ratio schedule
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a reinforcement schedule in which a varying number of correct responses must occur before reinforcement is presented.
variable-ratio schedule
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a decrease in the strenth or frequency, or stopping, of a learned response because of failure to continue paring the US and CS(classical conditioning) or withholding of reinforcement (operant conditioning)
extinction
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the reappearance of an extinguished response after the pasage of time, without training.
spontaneous recovery
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the transfer of a learned response to different but smilar stimuli
stimulus generalization
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learning to respond to only one stimulus and to inhabit the response to all other stimuli
stimulus discrimination
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giving a response that is somewhat different from the response originally learned to that stimulus
response generalization
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conditioning based on prvious learning; the conditioned stimulus serves as an unconditioned stimulus for further training
higher order conditioning
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reinforcers whose value is acquired through association with other primary or secondary reinforcers
secondary reinforcers
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learning that depends on mental processes that are not directly observable
cognitive learning
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learning that is not immediately reflected in a behavior change
latent learning
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a learned mental image of a spatial environment that may be called on to solve problems when stimuli in the environment change
cognitive map
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learning that occurs rapidly as a result of understanding all the elements of a problem
insight
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the ability to become increasingly more effective in solving problems as more problems are solved
learning set
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learning by observing other people's behavior
observational (or vicarious) learning
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reinforcement or punishment experienced by models that affects the willingness of others to perform the behaviors they learned by observing those models
vicarious reinforcement (or punishment)
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the ability to remember the things that we have experienced, imagined, and learned
memory
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a computer like model used to describe the way humans encode, store, an retrieve information
information-processing model
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entry points for raw information from the senses
sensory registers
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the selection of some incoming information for further processing
attention
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working memory; briefly stores and processes selected information from the sensory registers
short-term memory (STM)
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the grouping of information into meaningful units for easier handling by short term memory
chunking
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retaining information in memory simply by repeating it over and over
rote rehearsal
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the portion of memory that is more or less permanent, corresponding to everything we "know".
long term memory
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the finding that when asked to recall a list of unrelated items, performance is better for the items at the beginning and end of the list
serial position effect
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the linking of new information in short term memory to familiar material stored in long term memory
elaborative rehearsal
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techniques that make material easier to remember
mnemonics
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a set of beliefs or expectations about something that is based on past experience
schema
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the portion of long term memory that stored general facts and information
secmantic memories
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the portion of long term memory that stores information relating to skills, habits, and other perceptual motor tasks
procedural memories
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learned emotional responses to various stimuli
emotional memories
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memory for information that we can readily express in words and are aware of having; these memories can be intentionally retrieved from memory
explicit memory
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memory for informatino that we cannot readily express in words and may not be aware of having; these memories cannot be intentionally retrieved from memory
implicit memory
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knowing a word, but not being able to immediately recall it
tip-of-the-tongue phenomeon (TOT)
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a long lasting change in the structure or function of a synapse that increases the efficiency of nearal transmission and is thought to be related to how information is stored by neurons
long term potentiation
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a theory that argues that the passage of time causes forgetting
decay theory
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the inability to recall events preceding an accident or injury, but without loss of earlier memory
retrograde amnesia
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the process by which new information interferes with information already in memory
retroactive interference
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the process by which information already in memory interferes with new information
proactive interference
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the difficulty adults have remembering experiences from their first two years of life
childhood amnesia
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the ability to reproduce unusually sharp and detailed images of something one has seen
eidetic imagery
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people with highly developed memory skills
mnemonists
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a vivid memory of a certin event and the incidents surrounding it even after a long time has passed
flashbulb memory
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a flexible system of communication that uses sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols to convey information
language
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the basic sounds that make up any language
phonemes
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the smallest meaningful units of speech, such as simple words, prefixes, and suffixes
morphemes
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the language rules that determine how sounds and words can be combined and used to communicate meaning within a language
grammer
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a mental representation of a sensory experience
image
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mental categories for classifying objects, people, or experiences
concepts
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Whorf's idea that patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks
linguistic relativity hypothesis
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The belief that thought and expreience are determined by language
linguistic determinism
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stereotyped communications about an animal's current state
signs
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the first step in solving a problem; it involves interpreting or defining the problem
problem representation
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thinking that meets the criteria of originality, inventiveness, and flexibility.
divergent thinking
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a step-by-step method of problem solving that guarantees a correct solution
algorithm
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rules of thumb that help in simplifying and solvin problems, althouh they do not guarantee a corect solution
heuristics
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a heuristic, problem-solving strategy in which each step moves you progressively closer to the final goal
hill climbing
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intermediate, more manageable goals used in one heuristic strategy to make it easier to reach the final goal
subgoals
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a heuristic strategy that aims to reduce the discrepancy between the current situation and the desired goal at a number of intermediate points
means-end analysis
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a heuristic strategy in which one works backward from the desired goal to the given conditions
working backward
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the tendency to perceive and to approach problems in certain ways
mental set
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the tendency to perceive only a limited number of uses for an object, thus interfering with the process of problem solving
functional fixedness
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a problem solving strategy in which an individual or a group produces numerous ideas and evaluates them only after all ideas have been collected
brainstorming
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a rational dicision making model in which choices are systematically evaluated on various criteria
compensatory model
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a heuristic by which a new situation is judged on the basis of its resemblance to a stereotypical model
representativeness
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a heuristic by which a judgment or decistion is based on information that is most easily retrieved from memory
availability
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the tendency to look for evidence in support of a belief and to ignore evidence that would disprove a belief
confirmation bias
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the perspective from which we interpret information before making a decision
framing
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the tendency to see outcomes as inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome
hindsight bias
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thinking about alternative realities and things that never happened.
counterfactual thinking
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a gernal term referring to the ability or abilities involved in leraning and adaptive behavior
intelligence
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Sternberg's theory that intelligence involves mental skills, insight and creative adaptability, and environmental responsiveness
triarchic theory of intelligence
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Howard Gardner's theory that there is not one intelligence, but rather many intelligences, each of which is relatively independent of the others
theory of multiple intelligences
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according to Goleman, a form of intelligence that refers to how effectively people perceive and understand their own emotions and the emotions of others, and can regulate and manage their emotional behavior
emotional intelligence
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A numerical value given to intelligence that is determined from the scores on an intelligence test on the basis of a score of 100 for average intelligence
intelligence quotient
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an individual intelligence test developed especially for adults; measures both verbal and performance abilities
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Third Edition (WAIS-III)
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an individual intelligence test developed especially for school aged childeren; measures verbal and performance abilities and also yields an overal IQ score.
Wechsler intelligence scale for children-third edition (WISC-III)
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written intelligence tests administered by one examiner to many people at one time
group test
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intelligence tests that minimize the use of language
performance tests
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intelligence tests designed to eliminate cultural bias by minimizing skills and values that vary from one culture to another
culture-fair tests
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ability of a test to produce consistent and stable scores
reliability
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a method of determining test reliability by dividing the test into two parts and checking the agreement of scores on both parts
split-half reliability
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statistical measures of the degree of association between two variables
correlations coefficients
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ability of a test to measure what it has been designed to measure
validity
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refers to a test's having an adequate sample of questions measuring the skills or knowledge it is supposed to measure
content validity
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validity of a test as measured by a comparison of the tst score and independent measures of what the test is designed to measure
criterion-related validity
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condition of significantly subaverage intelligence combined with deficiencies in adaptive behavior
mental retrardation
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refers to superior IQ combined with demonstrated or potential ability in such areas as academic aptitude, creativity and leadership
giftedness
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theability to produce novel and socially valued ideas or objects
creativity
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