Glossary: B

babble
	Speechlike but meaningless sounds made by children from the ages of around 3 months through 1 year(Ch. 8)
background stressors (“daily hassles”)
	Everyday annoyances, such as being stuck in traffic, that cause minor irritations but have no long-term ill effects, unless they continue or are compounded by other stressful events (Ch. 15)
basilar membrane
	A structure that runs through the center of the cochlea, dividing it into an upper and a lower chamber(Ch. 4)
behavior modification
	A formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones (Ch. 6)
behavioral assessment
	Direct measures of an individual’s behavior used to describe characteristics indicative of personality (Ch. 14)
behavioral genetics
	A formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones (Ch. 6)
behavioral model of abnormality
	The model that looks at the behavior itself as the problem (Ch. 16)
behavioral perspective
	The psychological model that views behavior from the perspective of biological functioning (Ch. 1)
biomedical therapy
	Therapy that relies on drugs and other medical procedures to improve psychological functioning (Ch. 17)
biopsychologists
	Psychologists who specialize in considering the ways in which biological structures and functions of the body affect behavior (Ch. 3)
bipolar disorder
	A disorder in which a person alternates between euphoric feelings of mania and bouts of depression (Ch. 16)
bisexuals
	Persons who are sexually attracted to people of the same and the opposite sex (Ch. 11)
borderline personality disorder
	A disorder in which individuals have difficulty in developing a secure sense of who they are (Ch. 16)
bottom-up processing
	Perception that consists of recognizing and processing information about the individual components of the stimuli (Ch. 4)
brain modules
	Separate units of the brain that carry out specific tasks (Ch. 3)
bulimia
	A disorder in which a person binges on incredibly large quantities of food (Ch. 10)