GLOSSARY

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Social psychology. The branch of psychology concerned with the study of the effects of social
factors on individual be havior, as well as behavior in groups
Sociobiology. The systematic study of the biological bases of social behavior, employing
evolution as the basic explanatory tool.
Sociopath. See piychopath
Sodium potassium pump. A set of mechanisms that force sodium out of neurons and potassium
into it.
Somatic nervous system. Part of the peripheral nervous system, these efferent fibers activate
skeletal muscles, afferent fibers come from the major receptor organs (eyes, ears, etc.)
Somatoform disorder. A pattern of behavior characterized by complaints of physical symptoms
in the absence of any real illness. Conversion disorder is a classical example.
Spatial illusions. Systematic errors in the perception of objects in space, usually caused by
central perceptual processes. See also retinal illusions.
Special education. Classrooms and curricula designed to meet the particular needs of
handicapped populations.
Species-specific defense responses. Reactions that are readily produced in a species in a
particular situation.
Speech act. A unit of communication comprised of a speaker who intends to influence a listener
with a verbal message.
Speech shadowing. A research procedure in which subjects are simultaneously presented with
two or more spoken messages; they are required to repeat (or shadow) one of the messages.
Subjects' memories for the shadowed mes- sages are usually very good, while their memories
for the others are poor. See also selection attention.
Split-brain patient. One who has had the corpus callosum. surgically severed, thus isolating the
functions of the two cerebral hemispheres.
Spontaneous recovery. The return of an extinguished re- sponse following a rest period, when
an animal is re- placed in the original circumstances of conditioning.
Spreading activation. In memory, the theory that when a concept is activated in semantic
memory by a word (e.g.. car), the energy or activation travels to related concepts (truck or
ambulance) and partially arouses them.
S-R approach. The theory that the basic components of learning are stimulus (5) and response
(R) bonds.
Standard deviation. A measure of the dispersion or varia- bility of a distribution. It is equivalent
to the square root of the variance.
Standardization sample. In psychometric testing, the group that forms the basis for comparison
of relative perfor- mance. It must accurately represent the entire population.
Stanford-Binet Test A. widely used, standardized intelligence test.
State-dependent retrieval. The finding that information subject learns in a drug-induced state
is better recalled at a later time when the person is under the influence of the same drug than
when he or she is tested in a non drugged state.
Statistical significance. The reliability of measures based on samples as a statement about
population characteristics If a difference between groups of scores is quite unlikely to have
occurred by chance it significant.
Stereochemical theory. A be statistically is said to be theory that explains sense of smell by
postulating that the receptors in the nose are con figured to match the variety of shapes of the
molecules in the air. When the shape of a molecule matches the shape of a receptor (the way a
key matches a lock), the receptor fires a neural impulse.
Stereoscopic image. The apparently three-dimensional image that is formed when one views
with two eyes - two photographs that were taken from two slightly different viewpoints. See
also binocular disparity.
Stereotype. An overgeneralized or commonly held belief or attitude about an identifiable
group.
Stimulants. Chemical agents that produce temporary excita- tion of the body and/or nervous
system. stimulus. Any external event.
Simulus. Any external event
Stimulus generalization. The principle that when a subject has been conditioned to make a
response to a stimulus other similar stimuli will evoke the same response, though to a lesser
degree than the original stimulus would have.
Storage. The second of three stages in the memory process, it is responsible for the retention
of information over a pe- riod of time. See also acquisition, retrieval.
Stranger anxiety. A common fear infants have of unfamiliar people. It may appear at the end
of the first year and dis- appear sometime around the second birthday.
Stratified random sampling. The selection of subjects by chance within levels of different
attributes
Stress. The collection of physical and physiological reactions an organism forms to a perceived
threat to its well-being
Striate cortex. The visual cortex located at the occipital lobe at the rear of the brain. Projection
fibers from the lateral geniculate nucleus carry signals from the optic nerve to the striate cortex.
Structuralism. A school of psychology which held that the primary task of psychologists was
the analysis of the structure of conscious experience through analytic introspection.
Subjective colors. Various patterns of hues that are visible when a black and white disk is
rotated very rapidly.
Subjective contour. The phenomenon of an outline or con tour appearing in a visual display
when no such thing is physically present.