Hypothalamus		the similarities and differences among biological (blood) relatives are studied to help discover the role heredity plays in physical or psychological traits
GABA		the collection of nerves that controls the more automatic needs of the body (such as heart rate, digestion, blood pressure); part of the peripheral nervous system
Casestudy		the middle portion of the brain, containing such structures as the tectum, superior colliculus, and inferior colliculu; midbrain structures serve as neural relay stations and may help coordinate reactions to sensory events
Empiricism		all-or-none electrical signal that travels down a neuron’s axon
Inferentialstatistics		segments of chromosomes that contain instructions for influencing and creating particular hereditary characteristics
Eclecticapproach		a device used to monitor the gross electrical activity of the brain
Appliedpsychologists		the fibers that extend outward from a neuron and receive information from other neurons
Hindbrain		chemicals released into the blood by various endocrine glands to help control a variety of internal regulatory functions
Behaviorism		the idea that some knowledge is innate, or present at birth
Median		the collection of nerve fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres and allows information to pass from one side to the other
Humanisticpsychology		a movement in psychology that focuses on people’s unique capacities for choice, responsibility, and growth
Endocrinesystem		an uncontrolled variable that changes along with the independent variable
Limbicsystem		the actual genetic information inherited from one’s parents
Familystudies		a school of psychology proposing that the only proper subject matter of psychology is observable behavior rather than immediate conscious experience
Externalvalidity		a neurotransmitter that often leads to inhibitory effects; decreased levels have been linked to Parkinson’s disease, and increased levels have been linked to schizophrenia
Cerebellum		long tail-like part of a neuron that serves as the cell’s transmitter
Corpuscollosum		a network of glands that uses the bloodstream, rather than neurons, to send chemical messages that regulate growth and other internal functions
Debriefing		cells that carry information away from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands that directly produce behavior
Clinicalpsychologists		a neurotransmitter that plays multiple roles in the central and peripheral nervous system, including the excitation of muscle contractions
Autonomicsystem		cells that fill in space between neurons, remove waste, or help neurons to communicate more efficiently
Mean		the extent to which an experiment has effectively controlled for confounding variables; internally valid experiments allow for the determination of causality
Cerebralcortex		the principle that before consenting to participate in research, people should be fully informed about any significant factors that could affect their willingness to participate
Acetylcholine		at the conclusion of an experimental session, informing the participants about the general purpose of the experiment, including any deception that was involved
MRI		the principle that personal information obtained from a participant in research or therapy should not be revealed without the individual’s permission
Functionalism		psychologists who extend the principles of scientific psychology to practical problems in the world
Culture		a forebrain structure thought to play a role in the regulation of various motivational activities, including eating, drinking, and sexual behavior
Genotype		methods designed to observe and describe behavior
Informedconsent		the outer portion of the brain, including the cerebral cortex and the structures of the limbic system
EEG		a spontaneous change in the genetic material that occurs during the game replication process
Hormones		morphinelike chemicals that act as the brain’s natural painkillers
Descriptiveresearch		cells that transfer information fromone neruon to another; interneurons make no direct contact with the outside world
Mode		a statistic that indicates whether two variables vary together in a systematic way; correlation coefficients vary from 1.00 to -1.00
Experimentalresearch		most frequently occurring score in a set of scores
Actionpotential		mathematical techniques that help researchers describe their data
Interneurons		the middle point in an ordered set of scores; half of the scores fall at or below the median score, and half fall at or above the median score
Nativism		a movement proposing that we’re born with mental processes and “software” that guide our thinking and behavior. These innate mechanisms were acquired through natural selection in our ancestral past and help us to solve specific adaptive problems
Evolutionarypsychology		a hindbrain structure at the base of the brain that is involved in the coordination of complex motor skills
CTscan		a trait that has been selected for by nature because it increases the reproductive “fitness” of the organism
Midbrain		the idea that it’s useful to select information from several sources rather than to rely entirely on a single perspective or school of thought
Dependentvariable		a descriptive research technique in which the effort is focused on a single case, usually an individual
Glialcells		a system of structures thought to be involved in motivational and emotional behaviors (the amygdala) and memory (the hippocampus)
Cognitiverevolution		a device that uses magnetic fields and radio-wave pulses to construct detailed, three-dimensional images of the brain; “functional” MRIs can be used to map changes in blood oxygen use as a function of task activity
Gestaltpsychology		outer layer of the brain, considered to be the seat of higher mental processes
Descriptivestatistics		an early school of psychology; functionalists believed that the proper way to understand mind and behavior is to first analyze their function and purpose
Axon		a primitive part of the brain that sits at the juncture point where the brain and spinal cord merge. Structures in the hindbrain, including the medulla, pons, and reticular formation, act as the basic life-support system for the body
Doubleblindstudy		one of for anatomical regions of each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, located on the top front of the brain; it contains the motor cortex and may be involved in higher-level thought processes
Internalvalidity		the use of highly focused beams of X-rays to construct detailed anatomical maps of the living brain
Motorneurons		a neurotransmitter that may play a role in the regulation of anxiety; it generally produces inhibitory effects
Frontallobe		the behavior that is measured of observed in an experiment
Mutation		psychologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems
Dopamine		the idea that knowledge comes directly from experience
Independentvariable		the shared values, customs, and beliefs of a group or community
Forebrain		the extent to which results generalize to other situations or are representative of real life
Correlation		a technique in which the investigator actively manipulates the environment to observe its effect on behavior
Confidentiality		mathematical techniques that help researchers decide whether data are representative of a population or whether differences among observations can be attributed to chance
Confoundingvariable		neither participants nor research observes are aware of who has been assigned to the experimental and control groups; it’s used to control for both subject and experimenter expectancies
Adaptation		the arithmetic average of a set of scores
Endorphins		the shift away from strict behaviorism, begun in the 1950s, characterized by renewed interest in fundamental problems of consciousness and internal mental processes
Dendrites		the aspect of the environment that is manipulated in an experiment. It must consist of at least two conditions
Genes		a movement proposing that certain organizing principles of perception are innate and cannot be altered by experience