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eardrum The taut membrane that transmits vibrations caused by sound waves across the middle ear to the inner ear.
ECT See electroconvulsive therapy.
ectotherms Organisms that control their body temperature by using mechanisms that are mostly external (such as choosing a sunny or shady environment). Previously called cold blooded.
EEG See electroencephalography, electroencephalogram.
effectors Organs of action; in humans, muscles and glands.
efferent nerves Nerves that carry messages to the effectors.
ego In Freud's theory, a set of reactions that try to reconcile the id's blind pleasure strivings with the demands of reality. These lead to the emergence of various skills and capacities that eventually become a system that can look at itself — an "I." See also id and superego.
egocentrism In Piaget's theory, a characteristic of preoperational children, an inability to see another person's point of view.
elaborative rehearsal Rehearsal in which material is actively reorganized and elaborated while in working memory. In contrast to maintenance rehearsal, this confers considerable benefit for subsequent memory. See also maintenance rehearsal.
Electra complex See Oedipus complex.
electrical synapses Synapses in which the electrical signal of one axon potential directly influences another axon, without the chemical intermediates involved at most other synapses.
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) A somatic treatment, mostly used for cases of severe depression, in which a brief electric current is passed through the brain to produce a convulsive seizure.
electroencephalogram (EEG) A record of the summed activity of cortical cells picked up by wires placed on the skull.
electroencephalography The procedure through which one records an electroencephalogram.
embryo The earliest stage in a developing animal. In humans, up to about eight weeks after conception.
empathy A direct emotional response to another person's emotions.
empiricism A school of thought that holds that all knowledge comes by way of empirical experience, that is, through the senses.
encoding specificity The hypothesis that retrieval is most likely if the context at the time of recall approximates that during the original encoding.
endocrine glands See endocrine system.
endocrine system The system of ductless glands whose secretions are released directly into the bloodstream and affect organs elsewhere in the body (e.g., adrenal gland, pancreas, pituitary gland).
endorphin A drug produced within the brain itself whose effects and chemical composition are similar to such pain-relieving opiates as morphine.
endotherms Organisms that control their body temperature by using mechanisms that are mostly internal or physiological. Previously called warm blooded.
epinephrine (adrenaline) A neurotransmitter released into the bloodstream by the adrenal medulla as part of sympathetic activation leading to a diverse set of effects (e.g., racing heart).
equipotentiality principle The claim (contradicted by much evidence) that organisms can learn to associate any response with any reward or to associate any pair of stimuli.
escape responses Responses that allow an organism to end an aversive state, for example, to gain warmth while cold, or to terminate an electric shock.
estrogen A female sex hormone that dominates the first half of the female cycle through ovulation.
estrus In mammals, the period in the cycle when the female is sexually receptive (in heat).
exchange relationship A hypothesized type of social relationship in which the relationship depends on reciprocity; if goods (or esteem or loyalty) are given by one of the partners in the relationship, then the other must respond in kind.
excitation threshold The voltage difference between a neuron's interior and exterior that, if exceeded, causes the neuron to fire. This voltage is about –55 millivolts in mammals. If the voltage reaches this threshold (from a "resting" voltage of –70 millivolts), the neuron's membrane destabilizes, leading to an action potential.
excitation transfer The transfer of autonomic arousal from one situation to another, as when strenuous exercise leads to an increased arousal when presented with aggression-arousing or erotic stimuli.
excitement According to some authors, one of the four stages of sexual arousal.
experimental group The group within an experimental design that receives the (potential) effects of the independent variable.
experimental manipulation The thing that is deliberately altered in an experiment in order to learn about its effects. The experimental manipulation defines the independent variable (e.g., presence or absence of an instruction, or a happy or sad story).
explanatory style The characteristic manner in which a person explains good or bad fortunes that befall him. An explanatory style in which bad fortunes are generally attributed to internal, global, and stable causes may create a predisposition that makes a person vulnerable to depression.
explicit attitude An attitude that a person acknowledges having and can be expressed; often contrasted with an implicit attitude. See also implicit attitude.
explicit memory Memory retrieval in which there is awareness of remembering at the time of retrieval. See also implicit memory.
external validity The degree to which a study's participants, stimuli, and procedures adequately reflect the world as it actually is.
extinction In classical conditioning, the weakening of the tendency of the conditioned stimulus (CS) to elicit the conditioned response (CR) by unreinforced presentations of the CS. In instrumental conditioning, a decline in the tendency to perform the instrumental response brought about by unreinforced occurrences of that response.
eyewitness identification A selection, usually from a group of people or photographs, made by someone who observed a crime (or a simulation of a crime, in a research study), picking the person who was the perpetrator of that crime.
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