Habituation: As humans, we get used to things. Something that is new and incredibly exciting can become boring. This tendancy to have decreased repsponsiveness to something is habituation (you might also hear someone say that you get habituated to something). For example, there may be a painting or picture you really like so you put it on the wall in your room. You see this picture every day, 10 times a day. Over time and repeated exposures to this picture you might start feeling like you've "seen it a million times" and it just doesn’t have the same effect on you that it used to. This is habituation. Hallucinations: Although we think most people know what hallucinations are, here is a brief explanation. Hallucinations can be defined as false sensory (visual, auditory, etc.) experiences, such as seeing something a person although nobody is really there, hearing a voice although nobody is speaking, feeling someone touch who despite being alone, etc. Hallucinogens: These are psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs that distort perceptions and produce sensory images (i.e., hallucinations) although there are no sensory stimuli that should produce such images. Hawthorne Effect: The Hawthorne effect can be defined as changes in behavior resulting from attention participants believe they are getting from researchers, and not the variable(s) manipulated by the researchers (in the Hawthorne case, the amount of light in the work environment). The effect came out of a series of studies conducted at the Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric by Elton Mayo and a team of researchers from Harvard University. The purpose of these studies was to examine the relationship between worker productivity and the environment in which the work was performed. The first study, which led to the Hawthorne Effect, examined the relationship between light intensity and worker productivity. The researchers found that productivity improved not from the lighting, but from the attention the workers received from the researchers themselves. Health Psychology: Health Psychology focuses on the more medical aspects of psychology and applies psychological principles to healing physical illness and medical problems. Health Psychology has grown so much in recent years that it is no longer a field made up of just Health Psychologists. Instead, clinicians, Social Psychologists, and others all conduct research on health topics. For example, a Social Psychologist may conduct studies to determine the different causes of group pressure, while a clinical psychologist may study ways to reduce stress-induced illnesses through relaxation techniques. Heritability: How much are you like your father or your mother? While our experiences and our situations have tremendous impacts on who we are, how we act, etc., our genetic makeup is also important in determining these factors. Therefore, our heritability, or the extent to which differences in a trait can be attributed to our genetic makeup is important in trying to understand human behavior. Also, keep in mind that genes and environment do not occur in isolation, but interact with each other. As a result, you are who you are, and you act and think the ways you do because of the combination of your heritability and your environment. Heuristic: There are lots of ways we can make judgments and solve problems; there are complex ways and quick ways. One quick way is to use a heuristic, which is a rule-of-thumb strategy for making more efficient decisions. For example, you may be an experienced driver. Over time you have learned that when you come to a stop sign, you need to come to a complete stop or you will get a ticket. Now, whenever you come to a stop sign, you have to give very little thought at all to what behavior is required; you see the stop sign, you stop. You have a heuristic for stop signs. Hierarchy of Needs: According to Maslow, humans have certain needs that must be fulfilled for healthy living. These needs motivate us to act the way we do, and in particular, in ways that satisfy the needs that are not yet fulfilled. In addition, Maslow suggested that these needs are not all equally important, but exist in a hierarchy (shaped like a pyramid), with the most important, basic needs at the bottom. For example, at the very bottom of the pyramid are things necessary for daily survival, like food and water. At the top of the pyramid is self actualization, which is the most wonderful thing a person can achieve, but is not necessary to sustain daily life. Higher Order Conditioning: This is a classical conditioning term that refers to a situation in which a stimulus that was previously neutral (e.g., a light) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (e.g., a tone that has been conditioning with food to produce salivating) to produce the same conditioned response as the conditioned stimulus. Wow…if you understand how a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (conditioning), you understand higher order conditioning because this is really just extending the conditioning one more level...the conditioning is happening not by pairing the stimulus with something that naturally produces a response, but with something that has been conditioned to produce a response. Hindsight Bias: Are you a Monday-morning quarterback? Have you heard the expression "hindsight is 20-20"? Have you ever said, "I knew it all along" after something happened? These are examples of the hindsight bias which is the tendency to believe, once the outcome is already known of course, that you would have forseen it…that even though it's over and you know the outcome, you knew it all along. Hippocampus: The hippocampus is a part of your brain, specifically a part of the limbic system that is vital for the formation of memories. Without the hippocampus, you would not be able to remember anything that you are reading hear or anywhere else. Histogram: A histogram is very similar to a bar graph in which each bar represents some class or element (for example, a score on an IQ test). The primary difference between a bar graph and a histogram is that the bars in the histogram actually touch each other to show that there are no gaps in between the classes. The bars in a bar graph have space in between them. Let's take an IQ test as an example of a histogram. The scores would appear along the X axis (the bottom/horizontal axis) and the frequency would appear along the Y axis. We might have a range of IQ scores on the X axis from 50 to 200 and a bar at each class (each score) representing how many people received that score on the IQ test. Each bar would touch the other bars next to it to show that there is no gap between the scores. Homeostasis: Humans seek balance in their lives. When things are out of order or imbalanced, it tends to cause problems. This is true particularly with regard to our internal state or well-being. Homeostasis refers to this tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state that is optimal for functioning. For example, you have a specific "balanced" or "normal" body temperature that is approximately 98.6 degrees. When there is a problem with the internal functioning of your body, this temperature may increase, signaling and imbalance. As a result, your body attempts to solve the problem and restore homeostasis; your normal body temperature. Hormones: Okay, you all know a little something about hormones (are any of you teenagers?), but do you really know what they are? Well, hormones are chemical compounds secreted by the endocrine glands that are important in lots of different bodily functions, including the transmission of information throughout the body. Here are some of the glands responsible for the production of different hormones: hypothalamus (releasing hormones), pituitary gland (e.g., growth hormone), adrenal gland (e.g., epinephrin - associated with sympathetic nervous system functioning), gonads (e.g., testosterone, estrogen, etc., necessary for development of sex specific characteristics like body hair, reproductive organs, etc.), kidneys (e.g., renin, involved in regulation of blood pressure), pancreas, thyroid, and pineal gland. Hospice: Hospices are organizations that provide alternative care for people who are dying and their families. Their approach is a much more humanistic approach toward dying, in the sense that they view death as natural, acceptable, and something to discuss and not hide or be ashamed of. Hospices are generally staffed by volunteers who often provide care right in the home of the dying person. Hue: Defining hue can be a bit confusing since we have another name for hue; color. Essentially, hue refers to the aspect of color that is determined by the wavelength of light. So, the way humans see and categorize colors is actually hue (blue, green, etc.). Humanistic Perspective: This is the psychological perspective popularized by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs) that emphasizes the human capacity for choice and growth. The overriding assumption is that humans have free will and are not simply fated to behave in specific ways or are zombies blindly reacting to their environments. So, the Humanists stated that the subject matter or psychology (what psychology should focus on) is the human subjective experience of the world - how humans experience things, why they experience things, etc. Hypnosis: Hypnosis is a temporary state of heightened relaxation and suggestibility during which some (not all) people are able to become so focused that they experience imaginary happenings as if they were real. Hypnosis is not some trans-like, magical state in which people will engage in behaviors that are completely against their "normal, non-hynotized" will. People often believe that a hypnotist can make you do things you would never do, like take your clothes off and run around a crowded room naked. If you would do this when you are not hypnotized, then you would not do it when you are hypnotized. However, if there is some part of you that would....well then, that may be a different story. Hypochondriasis: Hypochondriasis is a type of "somatoform" disorder in which a person misinterprets their normal physical experiences as symptoms of some type of disease. A true hypochondriac is not the person who often believes that they have a tumor when they have a headache. A real hypochondriac is someone who looks for physical problems in their normal experiences on a very regular basis (like, all the time). A headache will be perceived as a tumor; a sneeze is pneumonia; etc. Hypothalamus: A part of the brain that sits below (hypo) the thalamus and is responsible for orchestrating several behaviors that are considered "maintenance" behaviors (such as eating, drinking, body temperature). In addition, the hypothalamus helps govern the endocrine system (glands that produce hormones) using the pituitary gland, and is also involved in feeling emotions and perceiving things are rewarding (for example, being in love is perceived as a good and rewarding feeling/emotion and something worth trying to obtain more of). Hypothesis: A testable prediction about the relationship between at least two events, characteristics, or variables. Hypotheses usually come from theories; when planning an experiment, a researcher finds out about as much previous research on the topic of study as possible. From all of the previous work, the researcher can develop a theory about the topic of study and then make specific predictions about the study he/she is planning. It is important to note that hypotheses should be as specific as possible since you are trying to find truth, and the more vague your hypotheses, the more vague your conclusions. For example, if I am conducting a study on the effects of different drugs on pain relief, it would be bad to hypothesize that "one drug will have an effect on pain." What the heck does that mean? How can you test to find out if that is true? A better hypothesis might be, "Drug A (whatever that is in that study) will reduce the amount of pain significantly more than Drug B according to participants' ratings of pain using the Pain Intensity Scale."
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