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• Classic-Fiction

Internalization—the process of absorbing information from a specified social environmental context (according to Lev Vygotsky).

Interneuron—nerve cell in the CNS that transmits impulses between sensory and motor neurons.

Intimacy vs. isolation—In Erikson’s theory, the ability to establish close and loving relationships is primary task of late adolescence and early adulthood.

Intrinsic motivation—a desire to perform an activity for its own sake rather than an external reward.

Introvert—Jungian term for the opposite of extravert; a person with a tendency to get energy from individual pursuits; a person with the trait of shyness, the desire to avoid large groups, and who prefers to pay attention to private mental experiences (according to Eysenck).

Iris—colored muscle surrounding the pupil that regulates the size of the pupil’s opening.

James-Lange theory—the conscious experience of emotion results from one’s awareness of autonomic arousal and comes only after the behavioral response to situations.

Jigsaw classroom—Aronson and Gonzales devised learning experience where students of diverse backgrounds are first placed in expert groups where they learn one part of lesson and then share that information in jigsaw groups made up of one student from each of the expert groups. Students are dependent upon each other, self-esteem and achievement of “poorer” students improves, and former stereotypes are diminished.

Just noticeable difference (jnd)—experience of the difference threshold.

Kinesthesis—body sense that provides information about the position and movement of individual parts of the body with receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints.

Klinefelter’s syndrome—males with XXY sex chromosomes.

Language—communication system based on words and grammar; spoken, written, or gestured words and the way they are combined to communicate meaning.

Latency stage—fourth of the Freudian stages of development (6–12); sublimation of sexual pleasure into school work and other activities; if libido fixated here results in feelings of inferiority and poor self-concept.

Latent content—according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream.

Latent learning—learning when no apparent rewards are present; it only becomes apparent when there is an incentive to demonstrate it.

Law of effect—Thorndike’s observation that behaviors followed by rewards are strengthened and behaviors followed by punishment are weakened. Learning principle that behavior is acquired by virtue of its consequences.

Learned helplessness—the feeling of futility and passive resignation that results from inability to avoid repeated aversive events.

Learning—a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience.

Lens—structure in the eye behind the pupil that changes shape, becoming more spherical or flatter, to focus incoming rays into an image on the light-sensitive retina.

Lesions—interruptions in tissue that result from destruction of tissue by injury, tumors, scarring; enables more systematic study of the loss of function when tissue loss results from surgical cutting or removal (also called ablation), or destruction by chemical applications.

Levels of processing theory or semantic network theory—ability to form memories depends upon the depth of the processing and the meaningfulness of the information to the individual.

Libido—life/sexual energy force of the id (according to Freud).

Linguistic relativity hypothesis—Whorfian belief that the language a person speaks guides and determines their thinking; largely discredited.

Lithium carbonate—the drug treatment of choice for bipolar disorder; it reduces levels of certain neurotransmitters and decreases the strength of neural firing.

Locus of control—the degree to which we expect that a reinforcement or outcome of our behavior is contingent on our own behavior or personal characteristics (internal locus of control) as opposed to the degree to which we expect that a reinforcement or outcome of our behavior is a function of luck