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Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population by excluding certain genetic groups judged to be inferior, and promoting other genetic groups judged to be superior. The definition of eugenics has been a matter of debate since the term was coined by Francis Galton in 1883. The concept predates the term; Plato suggested applying the principles of selective breeding to humans around 400 BCE.
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to feed back into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled carefully when applied to feedback systems:
Simple causal reasoning about a feedback system is difficult because the first system influences the second and second system influences the first, leading to a circular argument. This makes reasoning based upon cause and effect tricky, and it is necessary to analyze the system as a whole.
In linear algebra, a symmetric real matrix is said to be positive definite if the scalar is strictly positive for every non-zero column vector of real numbers. Here denotes the transpose of .. When interpreting as the output of an operator, , that is acting on an input, , the property of positive definiteness implies that the output always has a positive inner product with the input, as often observed in physical processes.
In economics, an externality is the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit. Externalities often occur when a product or service’s price equilibrium cannot reflect the true costs and benefits of that product or service. This causes the externality competitive equilibrium to not be a Pareto optimality.
In mathematics, a Laurent polynomial in one variable over a field is a linear combination of positive and negative powers of the variable with coefficients in . Laurent polynomials in X form a ring denoted [X, X−1]. They differ from ordinary polynomials in that they may have terms of negative degree. The construction of Laurent polynomials may be iterated, leading to the ring of Laurent polynomials in several variables. Laurent polynomials are of particular importance in the study of complex variables.
Prevalence in epidemiology is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition. It is derived by comparing the number of people found to have the condition with the total number of people studied, and is usually expressed as a fraction, as a percentage, or as the number of cases per 10,000 or 100,000 people. Point prevalence is the proportion of a population that has the condition at a specific point in time. Period prevalence is the proportion of a population that has the condition at some time during a given period, and includes people who already have the condition at the start of the study period as well as those who acquire it during that period. Lifetime prevalence (LTP) is the proportion of a population that at some point in their life have experienced the condition.
Operant conditioning is a learning process through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment. It is also a procedure that is used to bring about such learning.
In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher frequency of behavior, longer duration, greater magnitude, or shorter latency. There are two types of reinforcement, known as positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement; positive is where by a reward is offered on expression of the wanted behaviour and negative is taking away an undesirable element in the persons environment whenever the desired behaviour is achieved.
In economics, economic equilibrium is a situation in which economic forces such as supply and demand are balanced and in the absence of external influences the (equilibrium) values of economic variables will not change. For example, in the standard textbook model of perfect competition, equilibrium occurs at the point at which quantity demanded and quantity supplied are equal. Market equilibrium in this case is a condition where a market price is established through competition such that the amount of goods or services sought by buyers is equal to the amount of goods or services produced by sellers. This price is often called the competitive price or market clearing price and will tend not to change unless demand or supply changes, and the quantity is called the "competitive quantity" or market clearing quantity. However, the concept of equilibrium in economics also applies to imperfectly competitive markets, where it takes the form of a Nash equilibrium.
An incentive is a contingent motivator. Traditional incentives are extrinsic motivators which reward actions to yield a desired outcome. The effectiveness of traditional incentives has changed as the needs of Western society have evolved. While the traditional incentive model is effective when there is a defined procedure and goal for a task, Western society started to require a higher volume of critical thinkers, so the traditional model became less effective. Institutions are now following a trend in implementing strategies that rely on intrinsic motivations rather than the extrinsic motivations that the traditional incentives foster.
Motivational salience is a cognitive process and a form of attention that motivates, or propels, an individual's behavior towards or away from a particular object, perceived event, or outcome. Motivational salience regulates the intensity of behaviors that facilitate the attainment of a particular goal, the amount of time and energy that an individual is willing to expend to attain a particular goal, and the amount of risk that an individual is willing to accept while working to attain a particular goal.
Conditioned taste aversion occurs when an animal associates the taste of a certain food with symptoms caused by a toxic, spoiled, or poisonous substance. Generally, taste aversion is developed after ingestion of food that causes nausea, sickness, or vomiting. The ability to develop a taste aversion is considered an adaptive trait or survival mechanism that trains the body to avoid poisonous substances before they can cause harm. The association reduces the probability of consuming the same substance in the future, thus avoiding further poisoning. It is an example of classical or "Pavlovian" conditioning.
Behavior modification refers to behavior-change procedures that were employed during the 1970s and early 1980s. Based on methodological behaviorism, overt behavior was modified with presumed consequences, including artificial positive and negative reinforcement contingencies to increase desirable behavior, or administering positive and negative punishment and/or extinction to reduce problematic behavior. For the treatment of phobias, habituation and punishment were the basic principles used in flooding, a subcategory of desensitization.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychology:
A tax incentive is an aspect of a country's tax code designed to incentivize or encourage a particular economic activity.
Contingency management (CM) is most-widely used in the field of substance abuse, often implemented as part of clinical behavior analysis. CM refers to the application of the three-term contingency, which uses stimulus control and positive reinforcement to change behavior. Patients' behaviors are rewarded ; generally, adherence to or failure to adhere to program rules and regulations or their treatment plan. CM derives from the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA), and by most evaluations, its procedures produces one of the largest effect sizes out of all mental health and educational interventions.
Behavioral contrast refers to a change in the strength of one response that occurs when the rate of reward of a second response, or of the first response under different conditions, is changed. For example, suppose that a pigeon in an operant chamber pecks a key for food reward. Sometimes the key is red, sometimes green, but food comes with equal frequency in either case. Then suddenly pecking the key when it is green brings food less frequently. Positive contrast is seen when the rate of response to the red key goes up, even though the frequency of reward in red remains unchanged. Likewise, increasing the reward to green tends to reduce the response rate to red. This sort of contrast effect may occur following changes in the amount, frequency, or nature of the reward, and it has been shown to occur with various experimental designs and response measures.
The reward system is a group of neural structures responsible for incentive salience, associative learning, and positively-valenced emotions, particularly ones which involve pleasure as a core component. Reward is the attractive and motivational property of a stimulus that induces appetitive behavior, also known as approach behavior, and consummatory behavior. In its description of a rewarding stimulus, a review on reward neuroscience noted, "any stimulus, object, event, activity, or situation that has the potential to make us approach and consume it is by definition a reward." In operant conditioning, rewarding stimuli function as positive reinforcers; however, the converse statement also holds true: positive reinforcers are rewarding.
Culture change is a term used in public policy making that emphasizes the influence of cultural capital on individual and community behavior. It has been sometimes called repositioning of culture, which means the reconstruction of the cultural concept of a society. It places stress on the social and cultural capital determinants of decision making and the manner in which these interact with other factors like the availability of information or the financial incentives facing individuals to drive behavior.
In psychology, a drive theory or drive doctrine is a theory that attempts to define, analyze, or classify the psychological drives. A drive is an "excitatory state produced by a homeostatic disturbance", an instinctual need that has the power of driving the behaviour of an individual.
References
- ↑ Pinel, J. P. J., Biopsychology, 6th ed. 294, 489. ISBN 0-205-42651-4
- ↑ Hockenbury, D. H., & Hockenbury, S. E. (2002). Psychology. (3rd ed. ed., p. 333). Worth Pub.
