EPPP flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Resting membrane potential

The electrical charge across a neuron's membrane at rest, typically about -70 millivolts, maintained by ion gradients and selective permeability.

HPA axis

Hypothalamus releases CRH, prompting pituitary ACTH and adrenal cortisol; this axis mediates the stress response and feedback inhibition.

Hippocampus

Medial temporal structure critical for forming new declarative memories and spatial navigation; damage impairs consolidation of new facts and events.

Dopamine pathways

Mesolimbic and mesocortical circuits support reward and motivation; nigrostriatal supports movement; tuberoinfundibular inhibits prolactin release.

Working memory components

Baddeley's model includes phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer, which temporarily hold and manipulate information.

Encoding specificity

Memory retrieval is best when cues at recall match cues present during encoding, supporting context-dependent and state-dependent memory effects.

Availability heuristic

Judging probability by how easily examples come to mind; vivid or recent events feel more frequent than base rates warrant.

Yerkes-Dodson law

Performance rises with arousal up to an optimal point, then declines; optimal arousal is lower for complex tasks than simple ones.

Fundamental attribution error

Overestimating dispositional causes and underestimating situational causes when explaining others' behavior, especially for negative outcomes.

Groupthink

Cohesive groups prioritize consensus over critical evaluation, leading to poor decisions; symptoms include self-censorship, illusion of unanimity, and mindguards.

Acculturation strategies

Berry's framework combines cultural maintenance and contact: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization describe how groups and individuals adapt.

Contact hypothesis

Intergroup contact reduces prejudice most when groups have equal status, common goals, cooperation, and institutional support.

Secure attachment

Ainsworth pattern where infants use caregiver as safe base, seek comfort under stress, and explore confidently; linked to sensitive caregiving.

Erikson identity stage

Adolescent psychosocial task of forming a coherent self-concept; resolution yields fidelity, while failure yields role confusion.

Baumrind parenting styles

Authoritative combines warmth and boundaries; authoritarian is strict and cold; permissive is warm but undemanding; neglectful is low on both.

Crystallized intelligence

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills that tend to remain stable or grow with age, unlike fluid reasoning, which often declines.

Sensitivity and specificity

Sensitivity is true positives divided by all with the condition; specificity is true negatives divided by all without it.

Standard score IQ

Norm-referenced score with mean 100 and standard deviation 15; about 68% of scores fall between 85 and 115.

Positive predictive value

Proportion of people who test positive who truly have the condition; depends on sensitivity, specificity, and base rate.

Construct validity

Evidence that a test measures the intended psychological construct, supported by relations with related and unrelated measures.

Stages of change

Prochaska and DiClemente's sequence: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and sometimes relapse; interventions match stage.

Core conditions

Rogers's necessary therapeutic conditions: unconditional positive regard, empathic understanding, and congruence, enabling client self-exploration and growth.

Exposure and response prevention

CBT technique for OCD: repeated contact with feared stimuli while blocking rituals, leading to habituation and reduced compulsive behavior.

Primary prevention

Interventions before disorder onset that reduce incidence by targeting risk factors or strengthening protective factors in populations.

Type I error

Rejecting a true null hypothesis; probability equals alpha, commonly .05, and increases with multiple comparisons.

Statistical power

Probability of rejecting a false null hypothesis; equals 1 minus beta and rises with larger samples, effects, and lower alpha.

Internal validity

Degree to which changes in the dependent variable are caused by the independent variable rather than confounds.

Random assignment

Placing participants into conditions by chance, balancing known and unknown confounds and supporting causal inference.

Informed consent

Ethical and legal process of informing clients about procedures, risks, benefits, alternatives, confidentiality limits, and right to withdraw before voluntary agreement.

Tarasoff duty

Duty to protect identifiable third parties from serious foreseeable violence, often by warning, notifying police, or hospitalizing the client.

Multiple relationships

When a psychologist has another role with a client or someone closely associated; avoid if exploitation or impaired objectivity is likely.

Mandated reporting

Legal requirement to report suspected child abuse or neglect to designated authorities, often regardless of confidentiality.