Psychology

 

 

 

Psychology
See also attitudes; behavior; dreams; insanity; manias; moods; phile, -philia, -phily; phobias.

alienism
the study or treatment of mental diseases, especially in their relation to legal problems. — alienist, n.
ambitendency
the simultaneous presence in one person of positive and negative feelings towards a person, object, etc.; coexistence of mixed feelings.
automorphism
the projection of one’s own characteristics onto another person. — automorphic, adj.
behaviorism
the theory or doctrine that observed behavior provides the only valid data of psychology. — behaviorist, n., adj. — behavioristic, adj.
bisexualism, bisexuality
the state of being sexually responsive or attracted to members of both sexes. See also body, human. — bisexual, adj.
configurationism
Gestalt Psychology. the basic precept that psychological phenomena are the result of gestalts functioning separately or in relation to one another, as contrasted with individual elements, such as reflexes or sensations. — configurationist, n., — configurational, configurative, adj.
corybantism
Medicine. a frenzied, sleepless delirium accompanied by wild and frightening hallucinations. Also corybantiasm.
Couéism
a method of self-help stressing autosuggestion, introduced into America by the French psychotherapist Emile Coué c. 1920 and featuring the slogan “Every day in every way I am getting better and better.”
cryptesthesia, cryptaesthesia
the innate ability to be clairvoyant, as in parapsychological experiments. — cryptesthetic, adj.
dereism
a mode of thinking directed away from reality and toward fantasy without cognizance of ordinary rules of logic. — dereistic, adj.
dyspathy
a condition characterized by a lack of sympathy or passion. — dyspathic, adj.
dysthymia--extreme anxiety and depression accompanied by obsession. — dysthymic, adj.
eidology==the study of mental imagery.
Freudianism==theory and practice of Sigmund Freud, especially in the area of neuroses, their causes and treatment. — Freudian, n., adj.
hypersensitivity
extreme or abnormal sensitivity, as to criticism. — hypersensitive, adj.
hypnogenesis
the process of producing a hypnotic condition or state of hypnosis. — hypnogenetic, adj.
hypnotherapy
the treatment of disease and illness by hypnosis. — hypnotherapist, n.
hypnotism
1. the science dealing with the induction of hypnosis, especially for therapeutic purposes.
2. the act of inducing hypnosis; hypnotizing.
3. hypnosis. — hypnotist, n. — hypnotistic, adj.
hyponoia, hyponea
a state of dulled mental activity or decrease in the function of thought. Also called hypopsychosis.
hypopsychosis
hyponoia.
hysteria
a condition of extreme excitement characterized by emotional disturbance, sensory and motor derangement and sometimes the simulation of organic disorders. — hysterie, n. — hysteric, hysterical, adj.
hysterogeny
1. the process of inducing hysteria.
2. the onset of hysteria. — hysterogenic, adj.
infantilism
the condition of one who is not a child acting abnormally childlike. — infantility, n. — infantilistic, adj.
introspectionism
the belief that psychology must be derived from introspective data. — introspectionist, n. — introspective, adj.
logotherapy
psychotherapy that tries to find for the patient the aim and meaning of his own life as a human being and does not stress the medical aspect of mental health.
metapsychology
1. a speculation dealing systematically with concepts extending beyond the present limits of psychology as an empirical science.
2. a conception in psychoanalytic theory of mental processes involving causal relations, structural placement, and functional value. — metapsychological, adj.
neolalia
the speech of a psychotic containing new combinations of words unknown to a hearer. See also speech.
neurosis
any of a large variety of mental or psychic disorders, exhibiting a range of mental or physical symptoms, as anxiety, phobias, compulsions, and tics. — neurotic, n., adj.
neuroticism
a neurotic condition; psychoneurosis.
orthosis
the process of correcting bodily or mental distortion. — orthotic, adj.
pansexualism
1. the pervasion of all conduct and experience with sexual emotions.
2. the theory that regards all desire and interest as derived from sex instinct. Also pansexuality. — pansexualist, n.
paralogia, paralogy
a reasoning disorder characterized by inappropriate responses to questions and illusiorial or delusional speech. — paralogical, adj.
parapraxis
the process whereby a person fails to complete his intention, as by the mislaying of objects, thought to be the result of a conflict between unconscious and conscious intention.
parapsychology
the branch of psychology that studies psychic phenomena, as telepathy, clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, and the like. — parapsychological, adj.
phrenography
the branch of psychology concerned with description and comparison. — phrenographic, adj.
psychalgia
mental or psychic pain.
psychoanalysis
the method developed by Freud and others for treating neuroses and some other disorders of the mind. — psychoanalyst, n. — psychoanalytic, psychoanalytical, adj.
psychobiology
the study of the relations or interrelations between body and mind, especially as exhibited in the nervous system. — psychobiologist, n. — psychobiologic, psychobiological, adj.
psychodiagnostics
1. the science or art of making a personality evaluation.
2. the diagnosis of a mental disorder. — psychodiagnostician, n. — psychodiagnostic, adj.
psychodynamics
the systematic study of personality in terms of past and present experiences in relation to motivation. — psychodynamic, adj.
psychogony
a theory of the development of the mind. — psychogonic, psychogonical, adj.
psycholepsy
an attack of mental inertia and hopelessness following a period of elation, especially in sufferers from neurosis. — psycholeptic, adj.
psychologism
the theory that emphasizes psychological conceptions in other fields outside of psychology, as philosophy and history.
psychology
the science that studies the mind and mental processes, feelings, and desires. — psychologist, n. — psychologic, psychological, adj.
psychometrics, psychometry
the measurement of mental traits, abilities, and processes. — psychometrist, n. — psychometric, adj.
psychopathology
Medicine. the science of the diseases of the mind. — psychopathologist, psychopathist, n. — psychopathologie, psychopathological, adj.
psychopathy
a mental disorder. — psychopath, n. — psychopathic, adj.
psychopharmacology
the study of drugs that effect emotional and mental States. — psychopharmacologic, psychopharmacological, adj.
psychophobia
an abnormal fear of the mind.
psychophysics
the branch of psychology that studies the relationships between physical stimuli and resulting sensations and mental states. — psychophysicist, n. — psychophysie, psychophysical, adj.
psychostatics
1. the study of the circumstances under which mental processes occur.
2. the theory that conscious states are made up of elements capable of separating and joining without loss of essential identity. — psychostatic, psychostatical, adj.
psychotherapy
the science or method of treating psychological abnormalities and disorders by psychological techniques, especially by psychoanalysis, group therapy, or consultation. — psychotherapist, n. — psychotherapeutic, adj.
puerilism
a mental condition marked by childish or infantile behavior. — puerility, n.
reactology
the scientific study of psychological reactions. — reactologist, n. — reactological, adj.
reflexology
the study of behavior and its interpretation according to a concept that regards behavior as a combination of simple and complex reflexes. — reflexologist, n. — reflexological, adj.
schizothymia
a mild form of schizophrenia, characterized by withdrawal, inversion, etc. — schizothyme, n. — schizothymic, adj.
tachyphrenia
abnormally rapid mental activity.
telepathy
a communication between minds by some nontechnological means other than sensory perception. — telepathist, n. — telepathic, adj.
transsexualism, transsexuality
the psychological phenomenon of a person identifying with the opposite sex, sometimes to the extent of undergoing surgery for change of sex. — transsexual, n., adj.
traumatism
1. any abnormal condition, either pathological or psychological, caused by wound or injury, either physical or psychological.
2. the trauma, wound, or injury itself. — traumatic, adj.
zoanthropy
a form of insanity or mental disorder in which the sufferer imagines that he is an animal. — zoanthropic, adj.
zoopsia
a form of hallucination in which the sufferer imagines he sees animals. Also called zooscopy.



 Psychology Glossary
→
A
Absolute refractory period -  The period during which a neuron lies dormant after an action potential has been completed.
Absolute threshold -  The minimum amount of stimulation needed for a person to detect the stimulus 50 percent of the time.
Accommodation -  The process by which the shape of an eye’s lens adjusts to focus light from objects nearby or far away. Also: the modification of a schema as new information is incorporated.
Acetylcholine -  A neurotransmitter involved in muscle movement, attention, arousal, memory, and emotion.
Achievement motive -  An impulse to master challenges and reach a high standard of excellence.
Achievement tests -  An assessment that measures skills and knowledge that people have already learned.
Acronym -  A word made out of the first letters of several words.
Acrostic -  A sentence or phrase in which each word begins with a letter that acts as a memory cue.
Action potential -  A short-lived change in electric charge inside a neuron.
Activation-synthesis theory -  A theory proposing that neurons in the brain activate randomly during REM sleep.
Active listening -  A feature of client-centered th erapy that involves empathetic listening, by which the therapist echoes, restates, and clarifies what the client says.
Adaptation -  An inherited characteristic that increases in a population because it provides a survival or reproductive advantage.
Adaptive behaviors -  Behaviors that increase reproductive success.
Additive strategy -  The process of listing the attributes of each element of a decision, weighing them according to importance, adding them up, and determining which one is more appealing based on the result.
Adoption studies -  Studies in which researchers examine trait similarities between adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents to figure out whether that trait might be inherited.
Adrenal cortex -  The outer part of the adrenal glands, which secretes corticosteroids.
Adrenal medulla -  The inner part of the adrenal glands, which secretes catecholamines.
Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) -  A hormone released by the pituitary gland that stimulates release of corticosteroids from the adrenal cortex.
Afferent nerves -  Bundles of axons that carry information from muscles and sense organs to the central nervous system.
Afterimage -  A color we perceive after another color is removed.
Age of viability -  The point at which a fetus has some chance of surviving outside the mother if born prematurely.
Agonists -  Chemicals that mimic the action of a particular neurotransmitter.
Agoraphobia -  A disorder involving anxiety about situations from which escape would be difficult or embarrassing or places where there might be no help if a panic attack occurred.
Algorithm -  A step-by-step procedure that is guaranteed to solve a problem.
All-or-none law -  States that neurons fire to generate an action potential only if stimulation reaches a minimum threshold.
Alpha waves -  Type of brain waves present when a person is very relaxed or meditating.
Alternate-forms reliability -  The ability of a test to produce the same results when two different versions of it are given to the same group of people.
Ambiguous language -  Language that can be understood in several ways.
Amplitude -  The height of a wave.
Amygdala -  A part of the limbic system of the brain that is involved in regulating aggression and emotions, particularly fear.
Animism -  The belief that inanimate objects are alive.
Anorexia nervosa -  A disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a body weight in the normal range, intense fear about gaining weight, and highly distorted body image.
Antagonists -  Chemicals that block the action of a particular neurotransmitter.
Anterograde amnesia -  An inability to remember events that occurred after a brain injury or traumatic event.
Antisocial personality disorder -  A disorder characterized by a lack of conscience and lack of respect for other people’s rights, feelings, and needs, beginning by age fifteen.
Appraisal -  The process of evaluating an environmental challenge to determine whether resources are available for dealing with it.
Approach-approach conflict -  A conflict between two desirable alternatives.
Approach-avoidance conflict -  A conflict that arises when a situation has both positive and negative features.
Aptitude tests -  An assessment that predicts people’s future ability to acquire skills or knowledge.
Archetypes -  Images or thoughts that have the same meaning for all human beings.
Assimilation -  The broadening of an existing schema to include new information.
Atherosclerosis -  Hardening of arteries because of cholesterol deposits.
Attachment -  The close bond between babies and their caregivers.
Attachment styles -  Types of attachment, which include secure attachment, anxious-ambivalent attachment, and avoidant attachment.
Attitudes -  Evaluations people make about objects, ideas, events, or other people.
Attributions -  Inferences people make about the causes of events and behavior.
Atypical antipsychotic drugs -  A new class of antipsychotic drugs that are effective for treating negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. They target the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.
Auditory nerve -  A nerve that sends impulses from the ear to the brain.
Automatic thoughts -  Self-defeating judgments people make about themselves.
Autonomic nervous system -  The part of the peripheral nervous system connected to the heart, blood vessels, glands, and smooth muscles.
Availability heuristic -  A rule-of-thumb strategy in which people estimate probability based on how quickly they remember relevant instances of an event.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict -  A conflict that arises when a choice must be made between two undesirable alternatives.
Avoidant personality disorder -  A disorder involving social withdrawal, low self-esteem, and extreme sensitivity to being evaluated negatively.
Aversion therapy -  A therapy in which a stimulus that evokes an unpleasant response is paired with a stimulus that evokes a maladaptive behavior.
Axon -  A fiber that extends from a neuron and sends signals to other neurons.
B
Babbling -  A producton of sounds that resemble many different languages.
Basal metabolic rate -  The rate at which energy is used when a person is at complete rest.
Basilar membrane -  A membrane in the inner ear that runs along the length of the cochlea.
Behavior genetics -  The study of behavior and personality differences among people.
Behavior therapies -  Treatments involving complex conversations between therapists and clients that are aimed at directly influencing maladaptive behaviors through the use of learning principles.
Belief perseverance -  The process of rejecting evidence that refutes one’s beliefs.
Benzodiazepines -  A class of antianxiety drugs. They are also called tranquilizers.
Beta waves -  The type of brain waves present when a person is awake and alert.
Bias -  The distortion of results by a variable that is not part of the hypothesis.
Big Five -  Five basic personality traits from which other traits are derived. They include neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Binocular cues -  Depth perception cues that require both eyes.
Biological rhythms -  Periodic physiological changes.
Biomedical therapies -  Treatments that involve efforts to directly alter biological functioning through medication, electric shocks, or surgery.
Biopsychosocial model of illness -  The idea that physical illness is the result of a complicated interaction among biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Bipolar disorders -  Disorders in which people alternate between periods of depression and mania.
Blood-brain barrier -  A membrane that lets some substances from the blood into the brain but keeps out others.
Borderline personality disorder -  A disorder characterized by impulsive behavior and unstable relationships, emotions, and self-image.
Brain -  The main organ in the nervous system.
Brain waves -  Tracings that show the electrical activity of the brain.
Broca’s area -  A part of the brain, in the left frontal lobe, that is involved in speech production.
Bulimia nervosa -  A disorder involving binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as vomiting, fasting, excessive exercise, or use of laxatives, diuretics, and other medications to control body weight.
Bystander effect -  The tendency of people to be less likely to offer help to someone who needs it if other people are also present.
C
Cannon-Bard theory -  The idea that the experience of emotion happens at the same time that physiological arousal happens.
Case study -  A research method in which an individual subject is studied in depth.
Castration anxiety -  The fear a male child has that his father will cut off his penis for desiring his mother.
Catatonic type -  A subtype of schizophrenia characterized by unnatural movement patterns such as rigid, unmoving posture or continual, purposeless movements, or by unnatural speech patterns such as absence of speech or parroting of other people’s speech.
Catecholamines -  Hormones released by the adrenal medulla in response to stress.
Catharsis -  The release of tension that results when repressed thoughts or memories move into a patient’s conscious mind.
Central nervous system -  The part of the nervous system that includes the brain and the spinal cord.
Centration -  The tendency to focus on one aspect of a problem and ignore other key aspects.
Cerebellum -  A part of the hindbrain that controls balance and coordination of movement.
Cerebrospinal fluid -  The fluid that cushions and nourishes the brain.
Cerebrum -  The largest part of the brain, involved in abstract thought and learning.
Chromosomes -  Thin strands of DNA that contain genes.
Chunking -  The process of combining small bits of information into bigger, familiar pieces.
Cilia -  Hair cells that are embedded in the basilar membrane of the ear.
Cingulotomy -  A surgical procedure that involves destruction of part of the frontal lobes. It is sometimes done to treat severe disorders that do not respond to other treatments.
Circadian rhythms -  Biological cycles that occur about every twenty-four hours.
Classical conditioning -  A type of learning in which a subject comes to respond to a neutral stimulus as he would to another stimulus by learning to associate the two stimuli. It can also be called respondent conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning.
Client-centered therapy -  A humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, that aims to help clients increase self-acceptance and personal growth by providing a supportive emotional environment.
Closure -  The tendency to interpret familiar, incomplete forms as complete by filling in gaps.
Cochlea -  A coiled tunnel in the inner ear that is filled with fluid.
Cognition -  Thinking. It involves mental activities such as understanding, problem solving, decision making, and creativity.
Cognitive appraisal -  The idea that people’s experience of emotion depends on the way they appraise or evaluate the events around them.
Cognitive development -  The development of thinking capacity.
Cognitive dissonance -  An unpleasant state of tension that arises when a person has related cognitions that conflict with one another.
Cognitive schema -  A mental model of some aspect of the world.
Cognitive therapies -  Therapies aimed at identifying and changing maladaptive thinking patterns that can result in negative emotions and dysfunctional behavior.
Collective unconscious -  The part of our minds, according to Carl Jung, that contains universal memories of our common human past.
Color blindness -  A hereditary condition that makes people unable to distinguish between colors.
Commitment -  The intent to continue a romantic relationship even in the face of difficulties.
Community mental health movement -  A movement that advocates treating people with psychological problems in their own communities, providing outpatient treatment, and preventing psychological disorders.
Compassionate love -  Warmth, trust, and tolerance of a person with whom one is romantically involved.
Compensation -  According to Alfred Adler, the process of striving to get rid of normal feelings of inferiority.
Complexity -  The range of wavelengths in light.
Componential intelligence -  The ability assessed by intelligence tests.
Compulsions -  Repetitive behaviors that help to prevent or relieve anxiety.
Computerized tomography (CT) -  A method for studying the brain that involves taking x-rays of the brain from different angles.
Concept -  A mental category that groups similar objects, events, qualities, or actions.
Concordance rate -  The percentage of both people in a pair having a certain trait or disorder.
Conditioned response -  In classical and operant conditioning, a response that resembles an unconditioned response, achieved by pairing a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus -  In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus that comes to evoke a response similar to an unconditioned response through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.
Cones -  Photoreceptor cells in the retina that allow people to see in color.
Confabulation -  A phenomenon in which a person thinks he or she remembers something that did not really happen.
Confirmation bias -  The tendency to look for and accept evidence that supports what one wants to believe and to ignore or reject evidence that refutes those beliefs.
Conflict -  The experience of having two or more incompatible desires or motives.
Conformity -  The process of giving in to real or imagined pressure from a group.
Congruence -  According to Carl Rogers, the accurate match between self-concept and reality.
Conscious -  The part of the mind that contains all the information that a person is paying attention to at a particular time.
Consciousness -  The awareness people have of themselves and the environment around them.
Conservation -  The ability to recognize that measurable physical characteristics of objects can be the same even when objects look different.
Consolidation -  Transfer of information into long-term memory.
Contact comfort -  Comfort derived from physical closeness with a caregiver.
Contact hypothesis -  A hyposthesis stating that prejudice declines when people in an ingroup become more familiar with the customs, norms, food, music, and attitudes of people in an outgroup.
Content validity -  A test’s ability to measure all the important aspects of the characteristic being measured.
Contextual intelligence -  The ability to function effectively in daily situations.
Continuity -  The tendency to perceive interrupted lines and patterns as being continuous by filling in gaps.
Continuous reinforcement -  A reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement happens every time a particular response occurs.
Control group -  A group of subjects in an experiment that receives the same treatment and is treated exactly like the experimental group, except with respect to the independent variable.
Convergence -  The turning inward of eyes when an object is viewed close up.
Convergent thinking -  A style of thinking in which a person narrows down a list of possibilities to arrive at a single right answer.
Conversion disorder -  A disorder characterized by medically unexplained symptoms that affect voluntary motor functioning or sensory functioning.
Coping -  Efforts to manage stress.
Cornea -  The transparent outer membrane of the eye.
Corpus callosum -  A band of fibers that divides the cerebrum into two halves.
Correlation coefficient -  A measurement that indicates the strength of the relationship between two variables. In a positive correlation, one variable increases as the other increases. In a negative correlation, one variable decreases as the other increases.
Correlational research method -  A research method that provides information about the relationship between variables. It is also called a descriptive research method.
Corticosteroids -  Hormones released by the adrenal cortex in response to stress.
Couples therapy -  A type of therapy in which a therapist helps couples identify and resolve conflicts.
Creativity -  The ability to generate novel, useful ideas.
Criterion validity -  A test’s ability to predict another criterion of the characteristic being measured.
Crystallized intelligence -  Intelligence based on the knowledge and skills accumulated over the life span.
Culture-bound disorders -  Psychological disorders that are limited to specific cultural contexts.
D
Dark adaptation -  The process by which receptor cells become more sensitive to light.
Decay theory -  A theory stating that memory traces fade with time.
Decentration -  The ability to focus simultaneously on several aspects of a problem.
Decision-making -  The process of weighing alternatives and choosing among them.
Declarative memory -  The remembering of factual information. Declarative memory is usually considered explicit.
Deductive reasoning -  The process by which a particular conclusion is drawn from a set of general premises or statements.
Defense mechanisms -  Behaviors that protect people from anxiety.
Deindividuation -  The tendency of people in a large, arousing, anonymous group to lose inhibitions, sense of responsibility, and self-consciousness.
Deinstitutionalization -  The trend toward providing treatment through community-based outpatient clinics rather than inpatient hospitals.
Delta waves -  The type of brain waves present when a person is deeply asleep.
Delusions -  False beliefs that are held strongly despite contradictory evidence.
Dementia -  A condition characterized by several significant psychological deficits.
Dendrite -  A fiber that extends from a neuron. It received signals from other neurons and sends them toward the cell body.
Dendritic trees -  Highly branched fibers extending from neurons.
Denial -  A defense mechanism that involves refusing to acknowledge something that is obvious to others.
Dependent variable -  The variable that is observed in an experiment and that may be affected by manipulations of the independent variable.
Descriptive statistics -  Numbers that researchers use to describe their data so it can be organized and summarized.
Development -  The series of age-related changes that occurs over the course of a person’s life span.
Developmental norms -  The median ages at which children develop specific behaviors and abilities.
Diabetes -  A condition caused by a deficiency of insulin.
Diagnosis -  The process of distinguishing among disorders.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)  -  A reference book used by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose psychological disorders.
Dialectical reasoning -  A process of going back and forth between opposing points of view in order to come up with a satisfactory solution to a problem.
Dichromat -  A person who is sensitive to only two of the three wavelengths of light.
Difference threshold -  The smallest difference in stimulation that is detectable 50 percent of the time. This threshold is also called the just noticeable difference, or jnd.
Diffusion of responsibility -  The tendency for an individual to feel less responsible in the presence of others because responsibility is distributed among all the people present.
Discriminative stimulus -  In operant conditioning, a cue that indicates the kind of consequence that’s likely to occur after a response.
Disease model of addiction -  The idea that addiction is a disease that has to be medically treated.
Disorganized type -  A subtype of schizophrenia characterized by disorganized behavior, disorganized speech, and emotional flatness or inappropriateness.
Displacement -  A defense mechanism that involves transferring feelings about a person or event to someone or something else.
Display rules -  Norms that tell people whether, which, how, and when emotions should be displayed.
Dissociative amnesia -  A disorder characterized by an inability to remember extensive, important personal information, usually about something traumatic or painful.
Dissociative disorders -  Disorders characterized by disturbances in consciousness, memory, identity, and perception.
Dissociative fugue -  A disorder in which a person suddenly and unexpectedly leaves home, fails to remember the past, and becomes confused about his or her identity.
Dissociative identity disorder -  A disorder in which a person fails to remember important personal information and has two or more identities or personality states that control behavior. It is also called multiple personality disorder.
Dissonance theory -  A theory that proposes that people change their attitudes when they have attitudes that are inconsistent with one another.
Distributed practice -  The practice of learning material in short sessions over a long period. It is also called the spacing effect.
Divergent thinking -  A style of thinking in which people’s thoughts go off in different directions as they try to generate many different solutions to a problem.
Dopamine -  A neurotransmitter involved in voluntary movement, learning, memory, and emotion.
Double-blind -  A procedure in which neither the subjects nor the experimenter knows which subjects belong to the experimental and control groups.
Drive reduction theories of motivation -  Ideas that suggest people act in order to reduce needs and maintain a constant physiological state.
Drug therapy -  Treatment that involves the use of medications. It is also called pharmacotherapy.
Dysthymic disorder -  A disorder involving depressed mood on a majority of days for at least two years.
E
Eating disorders -  Disorders characterized by problematic eating patterns, extreme concerns about body weight, and inappropriate behaviors aimed at controlling body weight.
Echoic memory -  Auditory sensory memory.
Efferent nerves -  Bundles of axons that carry information from the central nervous system to muscles and sense organs.
Ego -  The component of the personality that manages the conflict among the id, the superego, and the constraints of the real world.
Egocentrism -  The inability to take someone else’s point of view.
Elaboration -  A type of deep processing in which information being learned is associated with other meaningful material.
Elaboration likelihood model -  The idea that changes to attitudes tend to be longer lasting when people think about the content of persuasive messages they receive.
Electric stimulation of the brain -  An invasive method of studying the brain, in which an implanted electrode activates a particular brain structure.
Electrocardiograph (EKG) -  An instrument that records the activity of the heart.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) -  A biomedical treatment that uses electrical shocks to treat severe depression.
Electroencephalograph (EEG) -  A device that records the overall electrical activity of the brain, via electrodes placed on the scalp.
Electromyograph (EMG) -  An instrument that records muscle activity.
Electrooculograph (EOG) -  An instrument that records eye movements.
Elimination by aspects -  The process of eliminating alternatives in a decision based on whether they do or do not possess aspects or attributes the decision maker has deemed necessary or desirable.
Embryo -  A ball of cells that develops during the embryonic stage.
Embryonic stage -  The period that begins two weeks after conception and ends two months after conception.
Emotion -  A complex, subjective experience that is accompanied by biological and behavioral changes.
Emotion work -  The process of acting out of an emotion that is not really felt.
Emotional intelligence -  An ability that helps people perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions.
Empirically validated treatments -  Treatments that are shown by research to be more effective for a particular problem than a placebo or no treatment.
Empty nest -  The time in parents’ lives when their children have grown up and moved away from home.
Encoding -  The process of putting information into memory.
Endocrine system -  A network of tissues that allows the body to communicate via hormones.
Endogenous biological rhythms -  Biological cycles that originate from inside the body rather than depend on cues from the environment.
Endorphins -  A group of neurotransmitters involved in pain relief, pleasure, and modulating the action of other neurotransmitters.
Episodic memory -  The remembering of personal facts.
Ethics -  A system of moral values.
Etiology -  The cause or origin of a disorder.
Evolution -  A change in the frequency of genes in a population.
Excitatory postsynaptic potential -  A positive change in voltage that occurs when a neurotransmitter binds to an excitatory receptor site.
Existential therapies -  Therapies aimed at helping clients find meaning in their lives.
Expected value -  The process of adding the value of a win times the probability of a win to the value of a loss times the probability of a loss in order to make a decision.
Experiential intelligence -  The ability to adapt to new situations and produce new ideas.
Experiment -  A research method that provides information about causal relationships between variables.
Experimental group -  A group of subjects in an experiment for whom the independent variable is manipulated.
Experimenter bias -  A source of error that arises when researchers’ preferences or expectations influence the outcome of research.
Explicit attitudes -  Conscious beliefs that can guide decisions and behavior.
Explicit memory -  Conscious, intentional remembering of information.
Exposure therapies -  Therapies that aim to eliminate anxiety responses by having clients face real or imagined versions of feared stimuli.
Expressive language -  The ability to use language to communicate.
External attribution -  An inference that a person’s behavior is due to situational factors. It is also called situational attribution.
External locus of control -  The tendency to believe that circumstances are not within one’s control but rather are due to luck, fate, or other people.
Extinction -  In classical conditioning, the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus is not followed by an unconditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, it’s the gradual disappearance of a response after it stops being reinforced.
Extraneous variable -  A variable other than the independent variable that could affect the dependent variable. It is not part of the hypothesis.
Extrinsic motivation -  The motivation to act for external rewards.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) -  A type of exposure therapy in which clients move their eyes back and forth while recalling memories that are to be desensitized.
F
Facial-feedback hypothesis -  The idea that the brain uses feedback from facial muscles to recognize emotions that are being experienced.
Factor analysis -  A statistical procedure that clusters variables into dimensions depending on similarities among the variables.
Falsifiability -  The ability of a theory or hypothesis to be rejected.
Family studies -  Studies in which researchers examine trait similarities among members of a family to figure out whether that trait might be inherited.
Family therapy -  A type of therapy in which a therapist sees two or more members of a family at the same time.
Feature detectors -  Specialized neurons that are activated by specific features of the environment.
Fee for service -  An arrangement for health care in which people pay providers for health care services.
Feigned scarcity -  Implying that a product is in scarce supply, even when it is not, in order to increase demand for it.
Fetal alcohol syndrome -  A collection of symptoms that may be present in babies of alcoholic mothers who drank heavily in pregnancy.
Fetal stage -  The last stage of prenatal development, lasting from two months after conception until birth.
Figure -  What stands out when people organize visual information.
Fixation -  An inability to progress normally from one psychosexual stage of development into another.
Fixed-interval schedule -  A reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement happens after a set amount of time.
Fixed-ratio schedule -  A reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement happens after a set number of responses.
Flashbulb memories -  Vivid, detailed memories of important events.
Flooding -  A type of exposure therapy in which the client is exposed to a feared stimulus suddenly rather than gradually.
Flynn effect -  Phenomenon showing that people’s performance on IQ tests has improved over time in industrialized countries.
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon -  The tendency to agree to a difficult request if one has first agreed to an easy request.
Forebrain -  The biggest and most complex part of the brain, which includes structures such as the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the limbic system, and the cerebrum.
Forgetting curve -  A graph that shows how quickly learned information is forgotten over time.
Fovea -  The center of the retina, where vision is sharpest.
Free association -  A psychoanalytic technique that involves having the client verbalize all thoughts that come to mind.
Frequency -  The number of times per second a sound wave cycles from the highest to the lowest point.
Frequency theory -  A theory explaining how people discriminate low-pitched sounds that have a frequency below 1000 Hz.
Frustration -  The experience of being thwarted in the process of achieving a goal.
Frustration-aggression hypothesis -  A hypothesis stating that aggression is always caused by frustration.
Functional fixedness -  The tendency to think only of an object’s most common use in solving a problem.
Fundamental attribution error -  The tendency to attribute other people’s behavior to internal factors such as personality traits, abilities, and feelings. It is also called correspondence bias.
G
GABA -  The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.
Galvanic skin response -  An increase in the skin’s rate of electrical conductivity. It is also known as an electrodermal response.
Gambler’s fallacy -  The false belief that a chance event is more likely if it hasn’t happened recently.
Gate-control theory -  States that pain signals traveling from the body to the brain must go through a gate in the spinal cord.
Gender -  A learned distinction between masculinity and femininity.
Gender stereotypes -  Societal beliefs about the characteristics of males and females.
General adaptation syndrome -  The stress response of an organism, described by Hans Selye. The response has three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
General intelligence factor (g) -  An ability that underlies all intelligent behavior, proposed by Charles Spearman.
Generalized anxiety disorder -  A disorder involving persistent and excessive anxiety or worry that lasts at least six months.
Generative -  The characteristic symbols of a language that can be combined to produce an infinite number of messages.
Genes -  Segments of DNA that function as hereditary units.
Germinal stage -  The two-week period after conception.
Gestalt psychology -  A German school of thought that studies how people organize visual information into patterns and forms.
Glial cells -  Cells that give structural support to neurons and nourish and insulate them.
Glucose -  A simple sugar that acts as an energy source for cells.
Glutamate -  The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain.
Grandiose delusion -  A belief centered around the idea that one is very important or famous.
Ground -  The background in which a figure stands when people organize visual information.
Group -  A social unit composed of two or more people who interact and depend on one another in some way.
Group cohesiveness -  The strength of the liking and commitment group members have toward one another and to the group.
Group polarization -  The tendency for a dominant point of view in a group to be strengthened to a more extreme position after a group discussion.
Groupthink -  The tendency of a close-knit group to emphasize consensus at the expense of critical thinking and rational decision making.
H
Hallucinations -  Sensory or perceptual experiences that happen without any external stimulus.
Hallucinogens -  Drugs that cause sensory and perceptual distortions.
Health psychology -  A branch of psychology that focuses on the relationship between psychosocial factors and the emergence, progression, and treatment of illness.
Heritability -  A mathematical estimate that indicates how much of a trait’s variation in a population can be attributed to genetic factors.
Heuristic -  A general rule of thumb that may lead to, but doesn’t guarantee, a correct solution to a problem.
Hierarchical classification -  The ability to classify according to more than one level.
Hierarchy of needs theory -  The idea, proposed by Abraham Maslow, that people are motivated by needs on four levels. Maslow believed people pay attention to higher needs only when lower needs are satisfied.
Higher-order conditioning -  In classical conditioning, the process by which a neutral stimulus comes to act as a conditioned stimulus by being paired with another stimulus that already evokes a conditioned response.
Hindbrain -  Portion of the brain consisting of the medulla, the pons, and the cerebellum.
Hindsight bias -  The tendency to interpret the past in a way that fits the present.
Hippocampus -  A part of the limbic system involved in memory.
Histogram or bar graph -  A plot that shows how data are distributed.
Histrionic personality -  A personality type characterized by a desire to be the center of attention and the tendency to be self-focused, excitable, highly open to suggestion, very emotional, and dramatic.
Histrionic personality disorder  -  A disorder characterized by attention-seeking behavior and shallow emotions.
Homeostasis -  Maintenance of a state of physiological equilibrium in the body.
Hormones -  Chemicals that are produced in glands and released into the bloodstream, involved in regulating body functions.
Humanism -  A school of thought that encourages seeing people’s lives as those people would see them.
Humanistic therapies -  Therapies aimed at helping people accept themselves and free themselves from unnecessary limitations.
Hypnosis -  A procedure in which suggestions are made to a person.
Hypochondriasis -  A disorder in which a person has constant fears of having a serious disease.
Hypothalamus -  A part of the forebrain that helps to control the pituitary gland, the autonomic nervous system, body temperature, and biological drives.
Hypothesis -  A testable prediction of what is going to happen given a certain set of conditions.
I
Iconic memory -  Visual sensory memory.
Id -  The component of the personality that contains instinctual energy.
Identity achievement -  A state in which a person commits to an identity after considering alternative possibilities.
Identity diffusion -  A state of confusion when a person lacks a clear sense of identity and hasn’t yet begun exploring issues related to identity development.
Identity foreclosure -  A state in which a person has prematurely committed to values or roles prescribed by others.
Identity moratorium -  A state in which commitment to an identity is delayed while a person experiments with various roles and values.
Illusion -  A misinterpretation of a sensory stimulus.
Immune system -  The body’s defense against harmful agents such as bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances.
Implantation -  The process by which the embryo becomes embedded in the wall of the uterus.
Implicit attitudes -  Beliefs that are unconscious but that can still influence decisions and behavior.
Implicit memory -  Unconscious retention of information that affects thoughts and behavior.
Incentive -  An environmental stimulus that pulls people to act in a particular way.
Inclusive fitness -  The reproductive fitness of an individual organism plus any effect that the organism has on increasing reproductive fitness in related organisms.
Incongruence -  According to Carl Rogers and other humanistic therapists, a disparity between the self-concept and reality.
Independent variable -  The variable that is manipulated in an experiment.
Individual psychology -  Alfred Adler’s school of thought, which maintains that the main motivations for human behavior are not sexual or aggressive urges but strivings for superiority.
Inductive reasoning -  The drawing of a general conclusion from certain premises or statements.
Inferential statistics -  Statistics used to determine the likelihood that a result is just due to chance.
Inferiority complex -  An exaggerated sense of inferiority.
Informational social influence -  An individual’s tendency to conform because a group provides one with information.
Informed consent -  A subject’s voluntary agreement to participate in a research study, given after he or she has learned enough about the study to make a knowledgeable decision to participate.
Infradian rhythms -  Biological cycles that take longer than twenty-four hours.
Ingroup -  A group to which one belongs.
Inhibitory postsynaptic potential -  A negative change in voltage that occurs when a neurotransmitter binds to an inhibitory receptor.
Innate abilities -  Abilities that are present from birth.
Insanity -  A legal term that refers to the mental inability to take responsibility for one’s actions.
Insight therapies -  Treatments involving complex conversations between therapists and clients. The treatments aim to help clients understand the nature of their problems and the meaning of their behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
Insomnia -  A chronic problem with falling or staying asleep.
Instinctive drift -  The tendency for conditioning to be hindered by natural instincts.
Insulin -  A hormone secreted by the pancreas.
Integrative approach -  Therapy approaches that combine the ideas and techniques of several different schools of psychology.
Intelligence -  The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. It includes the ability to benefit from past experience, act purposefully, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.
Intelligence quotient (IQ) -  A person’s mental age divided by his or her chronological age and multiplied by 100.
Interference theory -  States that people forget information because of interference from other learned information.
Intermittent reinforcement -  A reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement happens only on some of the occasions a particular response occurs. It is also called partial reinforcement.
Internal attribution -  An inference that an event or a person’s behavior is due to personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings. It is also called dispositional attribution.
Internal locus of control -  The tendency to believe that one has control over one’s circumstances.
Interpersonal attraction -  Positive feelings about another person.
Interpretation -  A psychoanalytic technique that involves suggesting the hidden meanings of free associations, dreams, feelings, memories, and behavior to the client.
Interval schedule -  The schedule in which reinforcement happens after a particular time interval.
Intimacy -  The warm, close, caring aspect of a romantic relationship.
Intrinsic motivation -  The motivation to act for the sake of the activity alone.
Ions -  Positively and negatively charged atoms and molecules.
Iris -  A ring of muscle that surrounds the pupil in the eye.
Irreversibility -  The inability to mentally reverse an operation.
J
James-Lange theory -  The idea that people experience emotion because they perceive their bodies’ physiological responses to external events.
Justification of effort -  The idea that if one works hard to reach a goal, one is likely to value that goal.
Just world hypothesis -  The tendency to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve.
K
Kinesthesis -  The sense of the position and movement of body parts.
L
Laboratory observation -  An observational research method in which information about subjects is collected in a laboratory setting.
Language -  A system of symbols and rules used for meaningful communication.
Latent content -  The hidden meaning of a dream.
Lateralization -  The difference in specialization between the two hemispheres of the brain.
Law of effect -  A law proposed by Edward Thorndike stating that any behavior that has good consequences will tend to be repeated, and any behavior that has bad consequences will tend to be avoided.
Learned helplessness -  A tendency to give up passively in the face of unavoidable stressors.
Learning -  A change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience.
Learning model -  The idea that psychological disorders result from the reinforcement of abnormal behavior.
Learning model of addiction -  The idea that addiction is a way of coping with stress.
Lens -  Part of the eye behind the pupil and iris. It can adjust its shape to focus light from objects that are near or far away.
Leptin -  A hormone secreted by fat cells.
Lesioning studies -  An invasive method of studying the brain in which a specific, small area of the brain is destroyed.
Lie scales -  Statistics used to provide information about the likelihood that a subject is lying in a test.
Light -  A kind of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun, stars, fire, and lightbulbs.
Light adaptation -  The process by which receptor cells become less sensitive to light.
Light intensity -  The amount of light emitted or reflected by an object.
Limbic system -  A part of the forebrain involved in emotional experience and memory.
Linguistic relativity hypothesis -  A theory proposed by Benjamin Lee Whorf that claims that language determines the way people think.
Link method -  The process of associating items with one another in order to remember them.
Lithium -  A drug prescribed for treating bipolar disorders.
Lobotomy -  A surgical procedure that severs nerve tracts in the frontal lobe, formerly used to treat certain psychological disorders but now rarely performed.
Locus of control -  People’s perception of whether or not they have control over circumstances in their lives.
Long-term memory -  A memory system that stores an unlimited amount of information permanently.
Long-term potentiation -  A lasting change at synapses that occurs when long-term memories form.
Lowball technique -  The act of making an attractive proposition and revealing its downsides only after a person has agreed to it.
Lucid dreams -  Dreams in which people are aware that they are dreaming.
M
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) -  A method for studying the brain that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce pictures of the brain.
Major depressive disorder -  A disorder diagnosed after at least one major depressive episode.
Major depressive episode -  A period of at least two weeks marked by sadness or irritability and loss of interest in activities. Other symptoms may include changed sleeping or eating patterns, low energy, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, difficulty concentrating, and recurrent thoughts about suicide.
Managed care -  An arrangement for health care in which an organization, such as a health maintenance organization, acts as an intermediary between a person seeking care and a treatment provider.
Manifest content -  The plot of a dream.
Massed practice -  The process of learning material over a short period; also called cramming.
Matching hypothesis -  The idea that people tend to pick partners who are about equal in level of attractiveness to themselves.
Maturation -  Genetically programmed growth and development.
Mean -  The arithmetic average of a set of scores.
Measures of central tendency -  The mean, median, and mode.
Median -  The middle score in a set when all scores are arranged in order from lowest to highest.
Medical model -  A way of describing and explaining psychological disorders as if they are diseases.
Meditation -  The practice of focusing attention.
Medulla -  A part of the hindbrain that controls essential functions that are not under conscious control, such as breathing.
Melatonin -  A hormone that regulates the sleep cycle.
Memory -  The capacity for storing and retrieving information.
Menarche -  A woman’s first menstrual period.
Menopause -  The gradual, permanent cessation of menstruation.
Mental age -  The chronological age that typically corresponds to a particular level of performance. It is used as a measure of performance on intelligence tests.
Mental hospitals -  Medical institutions that specialize in providing treatment for psychological disorders.
Mental set -  A tendency to use only solutions that have worked in the past.
Mere exposure effect -  The tendency to like novel stimuli more if one encounters them repeatedly.
Metalinguistic awareness -  The capacity to think about how language is used.
Method of loci -  The process of imagining oneself physically in a familiar place in order to remember something.
Midbrain -  The part of the brain between the hindbrain and forebrain that is involved in locating events in space and that contains a dopamine-releasing system of neurons.
Midlife crisis -  A time of doubt and anxiety in middle adulthood.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) -  A test developed to help clinical psychologists diagnose psychological disorders.
Misinformation effect -  The tendency for recollections of events to be distorted by information given after the event occurred.
Mnemonics -  Strategies for improving memory.
Mode -  The most frequently occurring score in a set of scores.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) -  A class of antidepressant drugs that increase the level of norepinephrine and serotonin.
Monocular cues -  Depth perception cues that require only one eye.
Monogenic traits -  Traits determined by a single gene.
Mood disorders -  Disorders characterized by marked disturbances in emotional state, which affect thinking, physical symptoms, social relationships, and behavior.
Moral reasoning -  The reasons and processes that cause people to think the way they do about right and wrong.
Morpheme -  The smallest meaningful unit in a language.
Motivated forgetting -  The idea that people forget things they don’t want to remember; also called psychogenic amnesia.
Motivation -  An internal process that makes a person move toward a goal.
Motive -  An impulse that causes a person to act.
Motor development -  The increasing coordination of muscles that makes physical movements possible.
Muller-Lyer illusion -  Illusion in which two lines of the same length appear to be different lengths because of different diagonal lines attached to the end of each line.
Mutations -  Small changes in genes.
Myelin sheath -  The fatty coating around some axons that increases the speed of neural impulse transmission.
N
Name calling -  A strategy of labeling people in order to influence their or others’ thinking.
Narcissistic personality disorder -  A disorder in which a person has an exaggerated sense of importance, a strong desire to be admired, and a lack of empathy.
Narcolepsy -  A tendency to fall asleep periodically during the day.
Narcotics -  Drugs that can relieve pain; also called opiates.
Narrative method -  The process of making up a story in order to remember something.
Naturalistic observation -  A method of collecting information about subjects in a natural setting without interfering with them in any way.
Negative correlation -  A relationship between two variables in which one variable increases as the other one decreases.
Negatively skewed distribution -  A data distribution with a few very low scores.
Negative punishment -  In operant conditioning, the removal of a stimulus after a response so that the response will be less likely to occur.
Negative reinforcement -  In operant conditioning, the removal of a stimulus after a response so that the response will be more likely to occur.
Negative symptoms -  Indicated by an absence or reduction of normal behavior.
NEO Personality Inventory -  A test that measures the Big Five traits: extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.
Nerves -  Bundles of axons extending from many neurons.
Nervous system -  A complex, highly coordinated network of tissues that communicate via electrochemical signals.
Neurons -  Nervous system cells that communicate via electrochemical signals.
Neurotransmitters -  Chemicals that are released from a neuron and activate another neuron.
Nocturnal emissions -  Signal of the onset of puberty for boys; also called wet dreams.
Norepinephrine -  A neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory, dreaming, awakening, emotion, and responses to stress.
Normal distribution -  A symmetrical bell-shaped curve that represents how characteristics such as IQ are distributed in a large population.
Normative social influence -  An individual’s tendency to conform because of a need to be accepted or not rejected by a group.
Norms -  Data that provide information about how a person’s test score compares with the scores of other test takers.
Nucleotides -  Biochemical units that make up DNA and genes.
O
Obedience -  Compliance with commands given by an authority figure.
Objective personality tests -  Tests that usually consist of self-report inventories. Commonly used objective tests include the MMPI-2, the 16PF, and the NEO Personality Inventory.
Objective test -  Generally a pencil-and-paper-type standardized test used to assess a psychological disorder.
Object permanence -  The ability to recognize that an object exists even when the object is not present and not perceived.
Object relations -  The relationships that people have with others, who are represented mentally as objects with certain attributes.
Observational learning -  A change in behavior or knowledge that happens by watching others. It can also be called vicarious conditioning.
Obsessions -  Persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses, or images that cause anxiety or distress.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder -  A disorder involving obsessions, compulsions, or both.
Occam’s razor -  See principle of parsimony.
Oedipus complex -  In psychoanalytic theory, a male child’s sexual desire for his mother and his hostility toward his father, whom he considers to be a rival for his mother’s love.
Operant conditioning -  A type of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences.
Operational definition -  A way of stating precisely how a variable will be measured.
Opponent process theory -  A theory of color vision that states that the visual system has receptors responding in opposite ways to wavelengths associated with three pairs of colors.
Optic disk -  The point in the retina at which the optic nerve leaves the eye. This point is also called the blind spot.
Optic nerve -  A bundle of ganglion cell axons that originate in the retina.
Optimism -  The tendency to expect positive outcomes.
Ossicles -  Three bones in the middle ear called the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup.
Outgroup -  A group to which one does not belong.
Overlearning -  Continuing to practice material even after it is learned in order to increase retention.
Overcompensation -  According to Alfred Adler, the attempt to cover up a sense of inferiority by focusing on outward signs of superiority such as status, wealth, and power.
Overconfidence effect -  The tendency for people to be too certain that their beliefs, decisions, estimates, and accuracy of recall are correct.
P
Panic attack -  A period in which a person has uncomfortable and frightening physical and psychological symptoms, including heart palpitations, trembling, fear of dying, and a perceived loss of control.
Panic disorder -  A disorder characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks.
Papillae -  Small bumps on the skin that hold taste buds, which in turn hold the taste receptors in the tongue and throat, on the inside of the cheeks, and on the roof of the mouth.
Paranoid type -  A subtype of schizophrenia characterized by marked delusions or hallucinations and relatively normal cognitive and emotional functioning.
Parasympathetic nervous system -  Part of the autonomic nervous system that keeps the body still and conserves energy. It is active during states of relaxation.
Parental investment -  The sum of resources spent in order to produce and raise offspring.
Partial reinforcement effect -  Phenomenon in which responses resist extinction because of partial or intermittent schedules of reinforcement.
Passionate love -  Sexual desire and tenderness for, and intense absorption in, a person with whom one is romantically involved.
Peg word method -  Process of remembering a rhyme that associates numbers with words and words with the items to be remembered.
Penis envy -  In psychoanalytic theory, a sense of discontent and resentment that Freud thought women experience, resulting from their wish for a penis.
Percentile score -  A score that indicates the percentage of people who achieved the same as or less than a particular score.
Perception -  Organization and interpretation of sensory information.
Perceptual constancy -  The ability to recognize that an object is the same even when it produces different images on the retina.
Perceptual set -  The readiness to see in a particular way that’s based on expectations, experiences, emotions, and assumptions.
Perceptual speed -  The amount of time a person takes to accurately perceive and discriminate between stimuli.
Peripheral nervous system -  The part of the nervous system outside the brain and the spinal cord that includes the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system.
Persecutory delusion -  A belief centered on the idea that one is being oppressed, pursued, or harassed.
Personality -  The collection of characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make up a person.
Personality disorders -  Disorders characterized by stable patterns of experience and behavior that differ noticeably from patterns considered normal by a person’s culture.
Personal unconscious -  An individual’s unconscious, unique to him or her.
Person-centered theory -  A theory, proposed by Carl Rogers, stating that the self-concept is the most important feature of personality.
Person perception -  The process of forming impressions about other people.
Phi phenomenon -  An illusion of movement that arises when a series of images is presented very quickly one after another; also called stroboscopic movement.
Phoneme -  The smallest distinguishable unit in a language.
Phonemic encoding -  A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes how words sound.
Photoreceptor -  Cells that are specialized to receive light stimuli.
Physical dependence -  Addiction based on a need to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Pineal gland -  A gland that secretes melatonin.
Pinna -  The visible part of the ear.
Pituitary -  The master gland of the endocrine system, which regulates the function of many other glands.
Placebo effect -  The effect on a subject of receiving a fake drug or treatment. Expectations of improvement contribute to placebo effects.
Placenta -  The tissue that passes oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s blood into the fetus and removes waste materials from the fetus.
Place theory -  Explains how people discriminate high-pitched sounds that have a frequency greater than 5000 Hz.
Pleasure principle -  The drive to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. It is the operating principle of the id.
Polygenic traits -  Traits influenced by several genes.
Polygraph or lie detector -  A device that detects changes in autonomic arousal.
Polygyny -  A mating system in which a single male mates with many females.
Pons -  A part of the hindbrain involved in sleeping, waking, and dreaming.
Population -  The collection of individuals from which a sample is drawn.
Positive correlation -  A relationship between two variables in which as one variable increases, the other does too.
Positively skewed distribution -  A data distribution with a few very high scores.
Positive punishment -  In operant conditioning, the presentation of a stimulus after a response so that the response will be less likely to occur.
Positive reinforcement -  In operant conditioning, the presentation of a stimulus after a response so that the response will be more likely to occur.
Positive symptoms -  Symptoms indicated by the presence of altered behaviors.
Positron emission tomography (PET) -  A method for studying the brain that involves injecting a radioactive substance, which collects in active brain areas.
Postsynaptic neuron -  At a synapse, the neuron that receives a neurotransmitter.
Postsynaptic potential -  The voltage change that occurs at a receptor site of a postsynaptic neuron when a neurotransmitter molecule links up with a receptor molecule.
Posthypnotic amnesia -  The phenomenon that occurs when a person who has been hypnotized and instructed to forget what happened during hypnosis accordingly claims not to remember what happened.
Post–traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -  A disorder in which a person constantly re-experiences a traumatic event, avoids stimuli associated with the trauma, and shows symptoms of increased arousal.
Preconscious -  The part of the mind that contains information that is outside of a person’s attention, which is not currently being attended to, but which is readily accessible if needed.
Prejudice -  A negative belief or feeling about a particular group of individuals.
Prenatal period -  The time between conception and birth.
Pressure -  A sense of being compelled to behave in a particular way because of expectations set by oneself or others.
Presynaptic neuron -  At a synapse, the neuron that releases a neurotransmitter.
Primary auditory cortex -  In the temporal lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in processing auditory information.
Primary motor cortex -  In the frontal lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in controlling muscle movement.
Primary process thinking -  Thinking that is irrational, illogical, and motivated by a desire of immediate gratification of impulses.
Primary punisher -  In operant conditioning, a consequence that is naturally unpleasant.
Primary reinforcer -  In operant conditioning, a consequence that is naturally satisfying.
Primary somatosensory cortex -  In the parietal lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in handling touch-related information.
Primary visual cortex -  In the occipital lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in handling visual information.
Priming -  The retrieval of a particular memory by activating information associated with that memory.
Principle of closure -  The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to interpret familiar incomplete forms as complete by filling in gaps.
Principle of continuity -  The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to perceive interrupted lines and patterns as continuous by filling in gaps.
Principle of parsimony -  The principle of applying the simplest possible explanation to any set of observations; also called Occam’s razor.
Principle of proximity -  The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to perceive objects as a group when they are close together.
Principle of similarity -  The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to group similar objects together.
Principle of simplicity -  The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to perceive forms as simple, symmetrical figures rather than as irregular ones.
Prison study -  A famous study done by Philip Zimbardo that showed the influence of roles.
Proactive interference -  The forgetting of new information because of previously learned information.
Problem solving -  The active effort people make to achieve a goal that cannot be easily attained.
Procedural memory -  Memory of how to do things. Procedural memory is usually considered implicit.
Prognosis -  A prediction about the probable course and outcome of a disorder.
Projection -  A defense mechanism that involves attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else.
Projective hypothesis -  The idea that people interpret ambiguous stimuli in ways that reveal their concerns, needs, conflicts, desires, and feelings.
Projective personality tests -  Tests that require subjects to respond to ambiguous stimuli, such as pictures and phrases, that can be interpreted in many different ways.
Projective test -  A test that requires psychologists to make judgments based on a subject’s responses to ambiguous stimuli. It is used to assess a psychological disorder.
Prototype -  A typical example of a concept.
Proximity -  The tendency to perceive objects that lie close together as groups.
Psychoactive drugs -  Drugs that have effects on sensory experience, perception, mood, thinking, and behavior.
Psychoanalysis -  A technique developed by Sigmund Freud to treat mental disorders. It is also a theory of personality developed by Freud that focuses on unconscious forces, the importance of childhood experiences, and division of the psyche into the id, ego, and superego.
Psychodynamic model -  The idea that psychological disorders result from maladaptive defenses against unconscious conflicts.
Psychodynamic theories -  Theories based on the work of Sigmund Freud. These theories emphasize unconscious motives and desires and the importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality.
Psychological dependence -  Addiction based on cravings for a drug.
Psychological test -  An instrument that is used to collect information about personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests, abilities, values, or behaviors.
Psychometric approach -  A method of understanding intelligence that emphasizes people’s performance on standardized aptitude tests.
Psychophysics -  The study of the relationship between physical properties of stimuli and people’s experience of the stimuli.
Psychotherapy -  The treatment of psychological problems through confidential verbal communications with a mental health professional.
Puberty -  The beginning of adolescence, marked by menarche in girls and the beginning of nocturnal emissions in boys.
Pubescence -  The two years before puberty.
Punishment -  The delivery of a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a response will occur.
Pupil -  An opening that lets light into the back of the eye.
Pure light -  Light of a single wavelength.
R
Random assignment -  A way of placing subjects into either an experimental or a control group such that subjects have an equal chance of being placed in either one group or the other.
Range -  The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a set of scores.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep -  A stage of deep sleep in which brain wave activity is similar to that in the waking state. It is also called paradoxical sleep.
REM rebound effect -  The tendency to spend more time in the REM stage of sleep after a period of REM sleep deprivation.
Rational-emotive therapy -  A type of cognitive-behavioral therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, that aims to identify catastrophic thinking and to change the irrational assumptions that underlie it.
Rationalization -  A defense mechanism that involves using incorrect but self-serving explanations to justify unacceptable behavior, thoughts, or feelings.
Ratio schedule -  A schedule in which reinforcement happens after a certain number of responses.
Reaction formation -  A defense mechanism that involves behaving in a way that is opposite to behavior, feelings, or thoughts that are considered unacceptable.
Reaction range -  The limits that heredity places on characteristics such as IQ.
Reaction time -  The amount of time a subject takes to respond to a stimulus.
Reality principle -  The awareness that gratification of impulses has to be delayed in order to accommodate the demands of the real world. It also acts as the operating principle of the ego.
Recall -  The process of remembering without any external cues.
Receptive language -  The ability to understand language.
Reciprocal determinism -  The process of interaction between a person’s characteristics and the environment. This interaction results in personality.
Reciprocity norm -  An implicit rule in many societies that tells people they should return favors or gifts given to them.
Recognition -  The process of identifying learned information by using external cues.
Reflex -  An innate response to a stimulus.
Regression -  A defense mechanism that involves reverting to a more immature state of psychological development.
Regression toward the mean -  The tendency for extreme states to move toward the average when assessed a second time.
Rehearsal -  The process of practicing material in order to remember it.
Reinforcement -  The delivery of a consequence that increases the likelihood that a response will occur.
Reinforcement schedule -  The pattern in which reinforcement is given over time.
Relearning -  A method for measuring forgetting and retention, which involves assessing the amount of time it takes to memorize information a second time.
Reliability -  The ability of a test to produce the same result when administered at different times to the same group of people.
Replicability -  The ability of research to repeatedly yield the same results when done by different researchers.
Representativeness heuristic -  A rule-of-thumb strategy that estimates the probability of an event based on how typical that event is.
Representative sample -  A sample that corresponds to the population from which it is drawn in terms of age, sex, and other qualities on the variables being studied.
Repression -  A defense mechanism that involves keeping unpleasant thoughts, memories, and feelings shut up in the unconscious.
Reproductive advantage -  The outcome of a characteristic that helps an organism mate successfully and thus pass on its genes to the next generation.
Resistance -  A client’s usually unconscious efforts to block the progress of treatment.
Response tendency -  A learned tendency to behave in a particular way.
Resting potential -  The slight negative charge inside an inactive neuron.
Resting state -  The period during which the inside of a neuron has a slightly higher concentration of negatively charged ions than the outside does. A neuron during this time is inactive.
Retention -  The proportion of learned information that is retained or remembered.
Reticular formation -  A structure that includes parts of the hindbrain and midbrain and that is involved in sleep, wakefulness, pain perception, breathing, and muscle reflexes.
Retina -  A thin layer of neural tissue in the back of the eye.
Retinal disparity -  The difference between the images picked up by the two eyes.
Retrieval -  The process of getting information out of memory.
Retrieval cues -  Stimuli that help to get information out of memory.
Retroactive interference -  Forgetting of old information because of newly learned information.
Retrograde amnesia -  An inability to remember events that occurred before a brain injury or traumatic event.
Reuptake -  The process by which neurotransmitter molecules return to presynaptic neurons.
Reversibility -  The ability to reverse actions mentally.
Reversible figure -  An ambiguous drawing that can be interpreted in more than one way.
Risky shift -  The tendency for a dominant, risky point of view in a group to be strengthened to an even riskier position after a group discussion.
Rods -  Photoreceptor cells in the retina that allow people to see in dim light.
Rorschach test -  A series of ten inkblots that subjects are asked to describe. Psychologists then use complex scoring systems to interpret the subjects’ responses.
S
Sample -  A collection of subjects, drawn from a population, that a researcher studies.
Sampling bias -  A source of error that arises when the sample is not representative of the population that the researcher wants to study.
Scalloped response pattern -  The phenomenon in which responses are slow in the beginning of the interval and faster just before reinforcement happens. It occurs as a result of a fixed-interval schedule.
Schema -  A mental model of an object or event that includes knowledge about it as well as beliefs and expectations.
Schizoid personality disorder -  A disorder characterized by social withdrawal and restricted expression of emotions.
Schizophrenia -  A disorder involving a loss of contact with reality and symptoms that may include some of the following: hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech or behavior, emotional flatness, social withdrawal, decreased richness of speech, and lack of motivation.
Scientific method -  A standardized way of making observations, gathering data, forming theories, testing predictions, and interpreting results.
Secondary process thinking -  Thinking that is logical and rational.
Secondary punisher -  In operant conditioning, a consequence that is unpleasant because it has become associated with a primary punisher. It is also called a conditioned punisher.
Secondary reinforcer -  In operant conditioning, a consequence that is satisfying because it has become associated with a primary reinforcer. It is also called a conditioned reinforcer.
Secondary sex characteristics -  Sex-specific physical traits that are not essential to reproduction, such as breasts, widened hips, facial hair, and deepened voices.
Sedatives -  Drugs that slow down the nervous system.
Selective attention -  The ability to focus on some pieces of sensory information and ignore others.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) -  A class of antidepressant drugs that increase the level of serotonin.
Self-actualization -  The need to realize one’s full potential. According to Maslow, this is human beings’ highest need, which arises after the satisfaction of more basic needs.
Self-concept -  According to Rogers, the most important feature of personality. The self-concept includes all the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs people have about themselves.
Self-effacing bias -  The tendency of people in certain cultures to attribute their successes to situational factors rather than to personal attributes and to attribute their failures to lack of effort.
Self-efficacy -  Confidence in one’s ability to meet challenges effectively.
Self-help groups -  Groups that are similar to therapy groups except that they do not have a therapist.
Self-report data -  Information that people being surveyed give about themselves.
Self-report inventory -  A paper-and-pen test that requires people to answer questions about their typical behavior.
Self-serving bias -  The tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to situational factors.
Semantic encoding -  A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes the meaning of words.
Semantic memory -  Remembering of general facts.
Semantic slanting -  A way of making statements so that they will evoke specific emotional responses.
Semicircular canals -  Three fluid-filled tubes that are the main structures in the vestibular system. They are located in the inner ear.
Sensation -  Occurs when physical energy from objects in the world or in the body stimulates the sense organs.
Sensory adaptation -  The decrease in sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus.
Sensory memory -  A memory system that stores incoming sensory information for an instant.
Separation anxiety -  The emotional distress babies show when separated from their caregivers.
Serotonin -  A neurotransmitter involved in sleep, wakefulness, appetite, aggression, impulsivity, sensory perception, temperature regulation, pain suppression, and mood.
Set point -  A genetically influenced determinant for body weight.
Sex -  A biological distinction between males and females.
Sexual script -  A set of implicit rules that allow a person to judge what sexual behavior is appropriate in a given situation.
Sexual selection -  Process in which females choose their mates based on certain characteristics that will then be passed on to their male offspring.
Shaping -  In operant conditioning, a procedure in which reinforcement is used to guide a response closer and closer to a desired response.
Short-term memory -  A memory system that stores a limited amount of information for a brief period.
Signal detection theory -  A theory used to predict when a weak signal will be detected.
Similarity -  The tendency to group similar objects together.
Simplicity -  The tendency to perceive forms as simple, symmetrical figures rather than as irregular ones.
Single-blind -  A procedure in which subjects don’t know whether they are in an experimental or control group.
Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) -  A test that assesses sixteen basic dimensions of personality.
Skinner box -  A device used to study operant conditioning.
Sleep apnea -  A condition in which a person stops breathing many times during a night’s sleep.
Sleep spindles -  Short bursts of brain waves that occur during stage 2 sleep.
Smooth muscles -  Involuntary muscles that help organs such as the stomach and bladder carry out their functions.
Social clocks -  Social and cultural norms that indicate the typical ages at which people experience particular life events, behaviors, and issues.
Social desirability bias -  The tendency of some people to describe themselves in socially approved ways.
Social exchange theory -  A theory arguing that people help each other because they want to gain as much as possible while losing as little as possible.
Social facilitation -  The tendency for individuals to perform better in the presence of other people.
Social loafing -  The reduced effort people invest in a task when they are working with other people.
Social norms -  Societal rules about appropriate behavior.
Social phobia -  A disorder characterized by intense anxiety when exposed to certain kinds of social or performance situations.
Social responsibility norm -  A societal rule that tells people they should help others who need help even if doing so is costly.
Social roles -  Patterns of behavior that are considered appropriate for a person in a particular context.
Social schemas -  Mental models that represent and categorize social events and people.
Social skills training -  A behavioral therapy that aims to enhance a client’s relationships with other people.
Social trap -  A situation in which one harms oneself and others by acting in one’s self-interest.
Soma -  The central area of a neuron; also called the cell body.
Somatic nervous system -  The part of the peripheral nervous system that is connected to the skeletal muscles and sense organs.
Somatization disorder -  A disorder characterized by a wide variety of physical symptoms, such as pain and gastrointestinal, sexual, and pseudoneurological problems. The disorder begins before age thirty and continues for many years. It is also called hysteria or Briquet’s syndrome.
Somatoform disorders -  Disorders characterized by real physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by a medical condition, the effects of a drug, or another mental disorder.
Sound waves -  Changes in pressure generated by vibrating molecules.
Source amnesia -  Inaccurate recall of the origin of information in memory. It is also called source misattribution or source monitoring error.
Specific phobia -  A disorder in which a person feels intense anxiety when exposed to a particular object or situation.
Spinal cord -  Connects the brain to the rest of the body.
Spinal reflexes -  Automatic behaviors that require no input from the brain.
Split-brain surgery -  A surgical operation in which the corpus callosum is cut, separating the two hemispheres of the brain.
Spontaneous recovery -  In classical conditioning, the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response.
Stable attribution -  An inference that an event or behavior is due to stable, unchanging factors.
Stage -  A period in development when people show typical behavior patterns and capacities.
Standard deviation -  A statistic that indicates the degree to which scores vary around the mean of a distribution.
Standardized tests -  Tests with uniform procedures for administration and scoring.
Standardization -  The use of uniform procedures when administering and scoring tests.
Standardization sample -  A large group of people that is representative of the entire population of potential test takers.
States -  Temporary behaviors or feelings.
Statistical significance -  The likelihood that a result was not due to chance.
Statistics -  The analysis and interpretation of numerical data.
Stereotypes -  Beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group.
Stimulants -  Drugs that stimulate the central nervous system.
Stimulus discrimination -  In classical conditioning, the tendency not to have a conditioned response to a new stimulus that’s similar to the original conditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, it’s the tendency for a response to happen only when a particular stimulus is present.
Stimulus generalization -  In classical conditioning, the tendency to respond to a new stimulus as if it’s the original conditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, it’s the tendency to respond to a new stimulus as if it’s the original discriminative stimulus.
Storage -  The process of maintaining information in memory.
Strange Situation -  An experiment devised for studying attachment behavior.
Stress -  The experience of being threatened by taxing circumstances. It also sometimes refers to circumstances that threaten well-being, to the response people have to threatening circumstances, or to the process of evaluating and coping with threatening circumstances.
Stressors -  Circumstances or events that are psychologically or physically demanding.
Structural encoding -  A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes how words look.
Subject -  An individual person or animal that a researcher studies.
Subject bias -  Bias that results from the subject’s expectations or the subject’s changing of his or her behavior.
Subjective utility -  The process of making a decision by estimating the personal value of a decision’s outcome.
Subjective well-being -  The perception people have about their happiness and satisfaction with life.
Sublimation -  A defense mechanism that involves channeling unacceptable thoughts and feelings into socially acceptable behavior.
Substance abuse -  According to the DSM, a maladaptive pattern of drug use that results in repeated negative consequences such as legal, social, work-related, or school-related problems.
Superego -  The moral component of the personality.
Suprachiasmatic nucleus -  The main biological clock regulating circadian rhythms of sleep in humans.
Survey -  A method of getting information about a specific behavior, experience, or event by means of interviews or questionnaires, using several participants.
Survival advantage -  The outcome of a characteristic that helps an organism to live long enough to reproduce and pass on its genes.
Symbol -  A sound, gesture, or written character that represents an object, action, event, or idea.
Symbolic thought -  The ability to represent objects in terms of mental symbols.
Sympathetic nervous system -  Part of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for action and expends energy.
Synapse -  The junction between the axon of one neuron and the cell body or dendrite of a neighboring neuron.
Synaptic cleft -  The gap between two cells at a synapse.
Synaptic vesicles -  Small sacs inside a neuron’s terminal buttons, in which neurotransmitters are stored.
Syntax -  A system of rules that governs how words can be meaningfully arranged to form phrases and sentences.
Systematic densensitization -  A behavioral treatment that uses counterconditioning to decrease anxiety.
T
Tardive dyskinesia -  A serious side effect of antipsychotic drugs. It is usually a permanent condition, characterized by involuntary movements.
Telegraphic speech -  Speech that contains no articles or prepositions.
Temperament -  Innate personality features or dispositions.
Teratogen -  An agent such as a virus, a drug, or radiation that can cause deformities in an embryo or fetus.
Terminal buttons -  Bumps at the end of axons that release neurotransmitters.
Test-retest reliability -  The ability of a test to produce the same results when given to the same group of people at different times.
Thalamus -  The part of the brain through which almost all sensory information goes on its way to the cerebrum.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) -  A psychological test that requires people to make up stories about a set of ambiguous pictures. It is often used to measure the need for achievement.
Theory -  An explanation that organizes separate pieces of information in a coherent way.
Theory of natural selection -  A theory that explains the process of evolution. It states that inherited characteristics that give an organism a reproductive or survival advantage are passed on more often to future generations than other inherited characteristics.
Therapeutic window -  The amount of a drug that is required for an effect without toxicity.
Theta waves -  The type of brain waves present when a person is lightly asleep.
Timbre -  The particular quality of a sound.
Token economy -  A behavior modification program based on operant conditioning principles.
Tolerance -  The need over time for more and more of a drug to get the same effect.
Traits -  Characteristic behaviors and feelings that are consistent and long lasting.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) -  A noninvasive procedure for treating severe depression that involves stimulation of the brain by means of a magnetic coil.
Transference -  The process by which clients relate to their psychoanalyst or therapist as they would to important figures in their past.
Transformation -  Making a series of changes to achieve a specific goal.
Trial and error -  Trying out different solutions until one works.
Triarchic theory of intelligence -  A theory proposed by Robert Sternberg that distinguishes among three aspects of intelligence.
Trichromatic theory -  A theory of color vision that states that there are three different types of cones in the retina, which are sensitive to light of three different wavelengths. It is also called the Young-Helmholtz theory.
Tricyclics -  A class of antidepressant drugs that increase the level of norepinephrine and serotonin.
Twin studies -  Studies in which researchers examine trait similarities between identical and fraternal twin pairs to figure out whether that trait might be inherited.
Two-factor theory -  The idea that people’s experience of emotion depends on two factors: physiological arousal and the cognitive interpretation of that arousal. When people perceive physiological symptoms of arousal, they look for an environmental explanation of this arousal.
Type A personality -  A personality type characterized by competitiveness, impatience, time pressure, anger, and hostility.
Type B personality -  A personality type characterized by relaxed, patient, easygoing, amiable behavior.
U
Ultradian rhythms -  Biological cycles that occur more than once a day.
Unconditional positive regard -  A therapist quality that is considered crucial in client-centered therapy. It involves nonjudgmental acceptance of the client.
Unconditioned response -  A naturally occurring response that happens without previous conditioning.
Unconditioned stimulus -  A stimulus that evokes an innate response.
Unconscious -  The part of the mind that contains thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories of which people have no awareness but that can influence people’s behavior.
Undifferentiated type -  A subtype of schizophrenia diagnosed if a patient does not meet criteria for paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic subtypes of schizophrenia.
Unstable attribution -  An inference that an event or behavior is due to unstable, temporary factors.
V
Validity -  The ability of a test to measure the characteristic it is supposed to measure.
Values -  Perceptions of what is important in life.
Variable -  An event, characteristic, behavior, or condition that researchers measure and study.
Variable-interval schedule -  A reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement happens after a particular average amount of time.
Variable-ratio schedule -  A reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement happens after a particular average number of responses.
Vestibular system -  The sensory system involved in balance.
Vulnerability-stress model -  The idea that individuals who have a biological vulnerability to a particular disorder will have the disorder only if certain environmental stressors are present.
W
Wavelength -  The distance between the peaks of waves.
Wernicke’s area -  A part of the brain, in the left temporal lobe, that is involved in understanding language.
Withdrawal symptoms -  Symptoms such as sweating, nausea, or shakiness that occurs when drug usage ceases.
Womb envy -  In Karen Horney’s view, the discontent and resentment that men experience because of their inability to bear children.
Working memory -  An active memory system that holds information while it’s processed or examined.
Z
Zygote -  A cell that results from the combination of a sperm cell and an egg during conception.





General Psychology Terms
absolute threshold - the smallest amount of physical intensity by which a stimulus can be detected
accommodation in vision - the changing of the shape and the refractory ability of the lens in the eye as it focuses the image of an object
accommodation in Piaget’s developmental theory - the modification of old ways of thinking to incorporate new knowledge and information
acculturation - the process of acquiring the values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of a new culture
acetylcholine - one of the most common neurotransmitters in the human nervous system, it is manufactured and delivered by motor neurons
acquisition - in conditioning, the initial stage of learning in which the association between a stimulus and a response is established
action potential - a brief reversal in the electrical potential between the inside and the outside of a nerve cell triggered by an above-threshold stimulus
active touch - the manipulation of an object, which produces information about the shape, weight, length, and other characteristics of the object
actor-observer effect - the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes while attributing one’s own behavior to situational causes
acupuncture - a treatment in traditional Chinese medicine in which sharp needles are inserted in special places on the skin and twirled rapidly to affect other parts of the body, this technique is used to suppress pain and to treat other bodily problems
adrenal glands , adrenals - the endocrine glands responsible for secreting the hormones adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), which regulate bodily functions and affect mood and emotion, blood pressure, blood sugar level, and redistribution of blood between internal organs and voluntary muscles
adulthood - the period of development that takes place from puberty to death
afterimage - a sensory impression that lasts after removal of the stimulus that caused it
agonists - a group of psychoactive drugs that cause neurotransmitters to be released, prevent deactivation of neurotransmitters, or mimic the effects of neurotransmitters by binding to their receptors, drugs such as nicotine and cocaine are examples
alcohol intoxication - according to legal definition, this condition occurs when one has a blood alcohol level of 0.10 or more
algorithm - a well-defined procedure or series of actions that guarantees a solution to a problem
allergens - substances, such as pollen, household dust, tobacco smoke, fabric softener, and perfume, that trigger allergic responses
all-or-none principle - the principle that a neuron’s action potential is triggered at full strength or not at all, it does not diminish in intensity as it travels down the neuron
altered state of consciousness - a condition r state that is considered outside the realm of normal consciousness, resulting from any number of different conditions, such as sensory deprivation or overstimulation, hypnosis, meditation, or the use of psychoactive drugs
altruism - this phenomenon occurs when one’s actions benefit others but do not benefit the individual performing them
amniocentesis - a medical technique used after the sixteenth week of pregnancy whereby a sample of amniotic fluid is drawn from the amniotic sac surrounding the fetus, an analysis of the fluid enables doctors to determine whether the fetus has certain chromosomal abnormalities
amphetamines - drugs that stimulate the CNS putting the body into a hyperenergized state, amphetamines block the reuptake of dopamine into nerve cells while directly causing the release of dopamine from the cells
amplitude - one of the basic elements of sound, referring to the strength of the wave, graphically represented as the height of the crest of the waveamygdala - the part of the limbic system that plays a role in eating, drinking, and sexual and aggressive behaviors
analgesics - drugs that reduce physical pain
analogical reasoning - reasoning by analogy, by inferring that if who or more things agree with one another in some respect, they will agree in others
anal stage - according to Freud, the second stage of childhood development, which occurs between one to three years of age, in which psychic energy becomes focused on anal activities, such as defecation
analytic intelligence - the knowledge and skills that enable us to think critically and analytically about components of a problem, and to compare and evaluate alternatives
anchoring heuristic - a common decision-making shortcut through which currently available information is used as a reference point for judgment, which is then subject to later adjustment
anger - an emotion characterized by extreme or passionate displeasure and often antagonism
anosmia - impairment in the sense of smell
antagonists - a group of psychoactive drugs that prevent, inhibit, or block neurotransmitters, curare and other paralyzing drugs are examples
anterograde amnesia - a disruption of memory consolidation process that occurs when a blow to the head interferes with the formation of memory of events immediately following the blow
antibodies - protein molecules that circulate in the blood and can identify and kill antigens
antigens - specific bacteria, viruses, or other foreign bodies that trigger immune responses
anxiety - a state of heightened physiological arousal and fear and apprehension that cannot be attributed to a specific source
aphasia - the loss of verbal understanding or comprehension
arousal - overall level of animation, including lever of alertness, activity, and excitement
artificial intelligence - the programming in a computer that instructs it to behave in intelligent ways, as in simulating human knowledge and skills to accomplish a task, as well as the branch of computer science concerned with such programming
assimilation - for new immigrants, the process of acquiring the values, beliefs, and behaviors required in a new culture while discarding those from the old
assimilation of memory - the distortion of a memory trace toward the direction of something already familiar and common
assimilation - according to Piaget, the incorporation of new events or knowledge into existing schemas
association cortex - region of the cortex that is not programmed for sensory or motor activities were higher mental processing involved in thought, learning, and memory occurs, this region is involved in the integration of sensory information or motor commands
associative learning - the learning of associations between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response based on repetition, includes classical and operant conditioning
attachment - the emotional bond between people
attachment behaviors - the signals, e.g., crying, smiling, reaching, and clinging from infants that trigger responsiveness in caregivers, increasing the likelihood of attachment
attitude - a relatively stable and enduring learned evaluation of something, including a particular person, behavior, belief, object, or ideaattraction - positive feelings for others, including loving and liking
attribution - a mental explanation of the causes of a person’s behavior, including one’s own
attribution theory - the theory that seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of samples of an individual’s behavior, what the specific causes of that behavior areattrition effects - the process of participants dropping out of a study for personal or uncontrollable reasons, this can severely bias experimental results
auditory and speech centers - the division of the cerebral cortex that receive auditory information and produce speech, they are located in the temporal lobe
auditory nerve - one of the basic structures of the ear formed by the axons of all the hair cells on the basilar membrane, this structure carries information about sounds to the brain for further processing
authority - influence based on knowledge or expertise, a person or group displaying this characteristicautistic savant - a person with greatly diminished mental skills who displays an extraordinary proficiency in one isolated skill
autoimmune diseases - a class of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, that are characterized by a disruption of the chemical communication system that regulates the immune system, instead of attacking antigens, the immune system attacks healthy tissues of the body and causes inflammation or deterioration
automatic processing - the encoding of information, particularly related to tme, space, and frequency of events in addition to well-learned information that occurs outside of conscious awareness and requires little attention or effort, and is of unknown capacity
autonomic nervous system - the division of the peripheral nervous system that consists of the nerves and ganglia that serve the glands, smooth muscles, and the heart
autoshaping - a system of reinforcements that organisms seem to design for themselves that lead to gradual behavioral change
availability heuristic - the decision-making shortcut whereby one’s judgment is biased from using the information that most readily comes to mind
axon - the thin process of a neuron that is specialized to conduct action potentials away from the soma
axonal conduction - the conveyance of nerve impulses within nurons
base analog - a term from analogical reasoning that is also know as a source analog, this is the first fact that is given in the analogy
basilar membrane - one of the basic structures of the ear, this membrane subdivides the cochlea and the sound waves passing them to the hair cells
beauty principle - the tendency for individuals to like physically attractive persons more than physically unattractive persons, especially in first impressions
behavior - an action, response, or performance that is observer or measured by others
behavioral confirmation - behavioral change that occurs in accordance with a self-fulfilling prophecy
behavioral medicine - an interdisciplinary field which encompasses scientific research, education, and practice focusing on the relation between behaviors to health, illness, and related physiological problems
behavior modification - the operant procedures applied to change behavior in accordance with learning principles
behaviorism - a school of psychology that developed in response to functionalism, which defined psychology as the study of the behaviors that can be observed and measured
behavior therapy - a general approach to psychological treatment which hold that the disorders to which it addresses itself are produced by maladaptive learning and must be remedied by reeducation, proposes techniques for this reeducation based on principles of learning and conditioning, and focuses on the maladaptive behaviors themselves rather than on hypothetical unconscious processes of which they may be expressions
belief - mental acceptance of something as true
bi-cultural - identification with two cultures
binocular cues - cues for depth perception that depend on the use of two eyes, such as convergence and binocular disparity
binocular disparity - when both eyes are focused on the same object, the difference in the retinal position of the object’s image in the left and right eyes provides a cue for depth perception
biological dispositions - biological characteristics or traits
biological universals - the biological elements that are common among all the members of a species, for human being, these include body structure, dependency of newborn children, year-round sexuality, and a complex brain structure
biomedical model - a model of heath that assumes that the mind and the body function separately and that disease lads to a dysfunction of the body
biopsychosocial model - a multi-level model of health that uses a combination of biological psychological, and social factors to explain how we maintain wellness or develop illness
bipolar cells - specialized nerve cells that connect the rods and cones to the ganglion cells in the eye
bipolar disorder - formerly called manic-depressive psychosis, mood disorder characterized by swings between mania and depression
blind spot - the place on the retina where the optic nerve exits the eyeball that lacks rods or cones, the brain fills in information to compensate for the lack of receptors in this area
blood alcohol level - the concentration of alcohol in the blood plasma measured in milligrams per 100 ml of blood
borderline personality disorder - a personality disorder characterized by distrust, impulsive and self-destructive behavior, and difficulty in controlling anger and other emotions
bottom-up processes - processes in form recognition that start with smaller component parts and then gradually build up to the larger units
brain growth spurt - the developmental period during which more than half of a child’s eventual brain weight is added, this period occurs between the last three months of pregnancy and the first year after birth
brain stem - the brain matter between the spinal cord and the cerebrum
brightness - a perceived dimension or quality of visual stimuli, the extent to which an object appears light or dark
brightness constancy - the perception of an object as having the same relative brightness regardless of changing surroundings
brightness contrast - the perceiver’s tendency to exaggerate the physical difference in the light intensities of two adjacent regions, as a result, a gray patch looks brighter on a black background and darker on a white background
Broca’s area - a part of the left side of the frontal lobe connected with the production of speech, it is named for its discovered, the French surgeon Paul Broca
bystander apathy - a bystander’s failure to help someone in need, increases in probability with the number of observers present, a.k.a. the bystander effect
Cannon-Bard theory - the perspective that suggests that when we are exposed to emotion-provoking events or stimuli, we simultaneously experience both physiological arousal and the subjective experience of emotions
cardinal traits - according to Allport, single personality traits that dominate a person’s personality
case study - an observational study in which one person is studied intensively
catatonic schizophrenia - subtype of schizophrenia characterized by a waxy flexibility of body and limbs, loss of motion, and a tendency to remain motionless for hours or days
catharsis - a release of suppressed emotions that is sometimes believed to have therapeutic effect
cause-effect relationship - when one variable directly influences another variable, the experimental method is used to identify these relationships
central nervous system - one of the major divisions of the human nervous system, it consists of the brain, spinal cord, optic nerves, and retina, and is primarily responsible for storing and processing information
central tendency - the tendency of scores in a frequency distribution to cluster around a central value
central traits - according to Allport, the core traits, usually five to ten, that best describe a person’s personality, they are generalized across situations and readily noticeable by others
central traits in impression formation - the major traits used to form impressions of others
cerebellum - a structure that is part of the hindbrain involved in muscular coordination and equilibrium
cerebrum - the largest part of the forebraincerebral cortex - the outermost layer of the cerebral hemisphere, it primarily consists of nerve cell bodies and their branches
childhood - the period of development between birth and puberty
chunks - the units of short-term memory which combine, integrate, or unite separate items
classical conditioning - the learning of a new response to a stimulus by pairing the stimulus with another stimulus that already elicits the response
client - centered therapy - a humanistic psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogersclosure - a factor in visual grouping, the perceptional tendency to fill in gaps in a figure so that is looks closed or complete
cocaine - a drug that stimulate the central nervous system and puts the body into a hyperenergized state
cochlea - a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains the basilar membrane whose deformation by sound-produced pressure stimulates the auditory receptors
cognition - the total process of thinking, which encompasses perception, learning, memory, and consciousness
cognitive approach - a theoretical framework of human and animal learning which olds that both humans and animals acquire and store mental representations of knowledge, cognitions, such as what is where, cognitive maps or what leads to what, expectancies, this contrasts with theories of instrumental learning such a s Skinner’, which assert that learning consists of the strengthening or weakening of particular tendencies
cognitive - behavioral therapy - a process by which people’s faulty cognitions about themselves and the world are changed to more accurate ones, thus changing the maladaptive behaviors based on those cognitions
cognitive consistency - a state in which beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are mutually compatible
cognitive dissonance theory - Leon Festinger’s consistency theory, which states that inconsistency between cognitions produces discomfort (dissonance), leading a person to act to restore consistency in order to remove that discomfort. For example, when we realize that we have behaved in a way that is inconsistent with out attitudes, we may change out attitudes to reduce the dissonance caused by having those inconsistent cognitions
cognitive learning - the learning of new skills and facts through focused attention and observation
cognitive map - a mental representation of our environment
cognitive psychology - the study of mental structures and processes and how pople use them to process, store, and receive information
cognitive schema - a mental representation or framework that is used to organize and process information
cognitive triad - according to Beck, a belief system involved in depression that includes three views: self-worth, the world in general, and the future
cohort effect - age-related differences among people who grew up at the same time attributable to cultural or historical differences while growing up rather than real developmental change
collective unconscious - in Jung’s theory, a mystical construct that contains the basic images and ideas believed to be shared by all human beings
color blindness - a popular term used to describe having a color deficiency
color deficiency - the inability of people with normal acuity to see certain colors, owing to a deficit in one or more of the three types of retinal cones, the most common is the inability to distinguish red and green
community mental health programs - programs that emphasize the prevention of mental illness and the need for broader and more effective mental health services within communities
compliance - a form of social influence that involves behaving in accordance with another person’s request
compliance techniques - persuasive techniques used to induce people to behave in a requested way, many are based on the social-psychological principles of consistency, reciprocity, attraction, social validation, scarcity, and authority
complexity - in audition, the number of different pure sound waves that are components of a single sound
computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scan) - the use of brain X-rays to reveal differences in tissue densities among regions
concept - a class or category that encompasses a number of individual examples, the concept "bird" encompasses "robin," "eagle," and "penguin," for example
concrete operational stage - in Piaget’s theory, the developmental period from about ages six to eleven, at this time, the child has acquired mental operations that allow her or him to abstract some essential attributes or reality, such as number and substance, but these operations are as yet applicable to only concrete events and cannot be considered entirely in the abstract
conditioned reflex - a learned reflex
conditioned response (CR) - a response elicited by some initially neutral stimulus, the conditioned stimulus (CS), as a result of pairing between that CS and an unconditioned stimulus (US), the CR and the unconditioned response are typically not identical, though they are often similar
conditioned stimulus (CS) - in classical conditioning, the stimulus that comes to elicit a new response after repeated pairings with the unconditional stimulus
conditioning trials - the repeated pairings of a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned response
cones - visual receptors that respond to greater light intensities and give rise to chromatic sensations
confounding variable - a variable that is linked to the independent variable that could affect the dependent variable that the experimenter inadvertently fails to control
conformity - a form of social influence which requires that people change their behaviors or attitudes to be in accord with group norms
conscious - in Freudian theory, the ideas, thoughts, and images that a person is aware of at any given moment
consciousness - self-knowledge or awareness of what one is experiencing at any given moment
consensus - the extent to which a person’s reactions in response to an event are shared by others, in Kelley’s theory, this is one piece of information used to determine whether people make dispositional or situational attributions for behavior
conservation - a feature of cognitive development, this is the knowledge that essential physical properties of an object are not dependent on its external appearance and do not change if that appearance is altered
consistency - the extent to which a person consistently reacts to some stimulus in a particular way, in Kelley’s theory, this is one piece of information used to determine whether people make dispositional or situational attributions for behavior
contiguous events - events that occur close together in time, sometimes perceived to lead to learned associations
contingencies - relations between two events in which one is dependent upon another, if the contingency is greater than 0, the probability of event A will be greater when event B is present than when it is absent
continuous reinforcement - a schedule of reinforcement in which every response is followed by a reinforcer
control group - in experimental design, the group that does not experience the experimenter’s manipulation of the independent variable, it is equal to the experimental group in all other ways
controllable versus uncontrollable - a dimension of causal attributions, the focus of which is to determine whether a person can control a particular behavior
controlled processing - thought processes that require conscious mental effort
convergent thinking - putting together a variety of facts to find and produce the one correct answer to a particular question or problem
conversion disorder - a type of somatoform disorder involving motor and/or sensory impairments such as paralysis, seizure, and lack of sensation that have no apparent physiological basis, formerly known as hysteria
cornea - the curved transparent surface of the eyeball that bends the light waves entering the eye, helping to focus them
corpus callosum - a bundle of neural fibers that connect the two cerebral hemispheres
correlation - the tendency of two variables to vary together, if one goes ups as the other goes up, the correlation is positive, if one goes up as the other goes down, the correlation is negative
correlational coefficient - a statistic, r, that expresses both the size and the direction of a correlation, varying from 1.00 (perfect positive correlation) to -1.00 (perfect negative correlation)
correspondence bias - the tendency to assume that people’s words and actions correspond to their intentions, attitudes, and traits, even in the light of evidence to the contrary
cortisol - a hormone that regulates the thymus, dissolves excess white blood cells, and keeps the immune system under control
counterconditioning - a procedure for wakening a classically conditioned CR by connecting the stimulus that presently evokes it to a new response that is incompatible with the CRcovariation - in statistical analysis, the degree to which two sets of scores vary together
creative intelligence - the aptitude for seeing new and practical relationships between what we know and what we do not know, and for extrapolating what we know to novel situations
creativity - the ability to find original solutions to problems
crisis intervention - short-term therapeutic techniques used as a form of secondary prevention in times of crisis, an aspect of the community mental health movement
critical period - a time of particular sensitivity to specific environmental stimuli during development
cross-sectional study - an experimental design that tests groups of participants who are of different ages
crystallized intelligence - according to Cattell, the repertoire of information, cognitive skills, and strategies acquired by the application of fluid intelligence to various fields, it is said to increase with age
cue-dependent forgetting - the inability to remember learned information due to retrieval failure because cues present during learning are not present during recall
cultural differences - differences among groups attributable to variations in some aspect of their culture, the variations among cultures themselves
culturally sensitive therapy - therapy designed to be responsive to variations of values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors across cultures, when dealing with disadvantaged groups, it avoids blaming the victim and recognizes that behaviors defined as abnormal by the dominant society may be coping strategies necessary for survival
cultural relativism - the view that all cultural systems and moral codes are equally valid
culture - a people’s way of life, including material goods, social institutions, and the symbols, concepts, values, beliefs, norms, habits, skills, and other learned capabilities acquired by human beings and transmitted across generations
dark adaptation - an increase in the eye’s sensitivity to light that occurs after the reduction or complete absence of light energy reaching it, attributable to changes in the level or light-sensitive pigments in the eye’s receptor cells
decision-making heuristics - mental decision-making shortcuts that bypass logic, rely on memory for past experiences, and are intuitive rather than analytic in nature
declarative knowledge - knowing "that" (i.e., knowing someone’s name) as contrasted with procedural knowledge, which is knowing "how" (i.e., knowing to ride a bicycle)
deductive reasoning - reasoning by which one tries to determine whether a particular statement follows logically from a number of premises, as in syllogisms
defense mechanisms - according to Freud, unconscious tactics employed by the ego to prevent anxietydeindividuation - the loss of personal identity that occurs under conditions of anonymity
delirium tremens - a syndrome of highly unpleasant withdrawal symptoms (i.e., hallucinations, vomiting, uncontrolled trembling, and muscle spasms) that occurs as a consequence of abstinence from intoxicating substances after a period of long-term heavy use
dendrite - a typically highly branched part of a neuron that receives impulses from receptors or other neurons and conducts them toward the cell body
dependent variable - in the design of an experiment, the variable that is expected to be affected or influenced by the independent variable
depressive disorders - mood disorders marked by a state of deep and pervasive sadness, dejection, and hopelessness, accompanied by feelings or fatigue, apathy, and low self-worth
depth perception - the ability to perceive a three-dimensional world and determine the distance of objects from one anotherdetermining causes - the immediate causes of an event
development - the systematic physiological and psychological changes that occur in an individual over time between conception and death
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) or Mental Disorders - a manual that identifies and defines over 200 separate diagnostic categories of mental problems and abnormal behaviors
diagnostic test - standard psychological exams used to gauge intellectual ability, determine personality traits, or identify a psychological condition or problem
diathesis-stress model - a model based on the belief that many organic and mental disorders arise from an interaction between a diathesis (a predispositions toward and illness) and some form of precipitating environmental events
difference threshold - a measure of a person’s ability to discriminate one stimulus from another on a particular dimensions, which as intensity or frequency
differentiation - a progressive change from the general to the particular and from the simpler to the more complex which characterizes embryological development, according to some theorists, the same patters holds for the development of behavior after birth
diffusion of responsibility - a decrease in a person’s individual sense of responsibility to help in an emergency that occurs when bystanders are present, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely a helping response is to occur
discourse - an oral or written body of language consisting of two or more sentences
discrimination - in learning, the process of distinguishing among similar stimuli and responding to only the appropriate one, in social psychology, the behavioral expression of prejudice
disorganized schizophrenia - a form of schizophrenia characterized by disorganized speech and behavior and inappropriate or blunted affect (i.e., laughing at something sad or expressing no emotions at all), people exhibiting this form of schizophrenia tend to be socially withdrawn
dispositional attributions - attributions that assign the cause of a behavior to something about the person, e.g., the presence or absence of some ability or personality traitdispositions - personal characteristics or attributes
dissociative amnesia - the sudden loss of memory, especially such information that is traumatic or stressful, in response to a specific upsetting event
dissociative disorder - a disorder characterized by a mental dissociation or separation of one part of a person’s conscious awareness from another
dissociative identity disorder - a relatively rare disorder that develops when individuals find certain events in their lives so psychologically painful that they seek to escape by creating new and different identities that typically exhibit different, and often opposite traits from the original identity, also called multiple personality disorder
distal stimuli - the objects in the environment that are the origins of the physical energies (proximal stimuli) that impinge on our sensory receptors, for example, a tree is a distal stimulus, while the light energies reflected from the tree that fall on the retina in the image of the tree are the proximal stimuli
distinctiveness - the extent to which a person’s behavior is unique, that is the extent to which a given behavior does or does not occur across different situations, in Kelley’s theory, this is one piece of information used to determine whether people make dispositional or situational attributions for behavior
divergent thinking - a kind of thought process that refers to the ability to produce a variety of different, yet relevant responses to an open-ended question or problem
dopamine - a neurotransmitter involved in various brain structures, including those that control motor action
double-blind experiment - an experiment in which neither the research participants nor the experimenter know which treatment is being applied until the experiment is over
dream analysis - a psychodynamic technique in which a therapist interprets a client’s dream to uncover hidden, unconscious motivation
drive - a state of tension or arousal that motivates organisms to behave in particular ways, typically to reduce that tension, drives generally, but nor always, arise in response to a state of physical need, for example, the hunger drive results from the need for food
drug abuse - the consumption of a drug or drugs to the extent that the user’s functioning orhealth is significantly impaired, or when the actions of the user become potentially dangerous to others
drug therapy - the use of psychotropic drugs to treat a person’s mental or psychological state
drug tolerance - the compensatory reaction that develops after repeated use of a drug, leading to the need to use increasingly larger doses to obtain the same effect produced previously
drug use - the consumption of a drug or drugs
dysthymia - sometimes called neurotic depression, a mood disorder characterized by a mild but pervasive depression over an extended period of time
eardrum - the taut membrane that transmits vibrations of sound waves across the middle ear to the inner ear
echoic memory - a sensory memory of an auditory stimulus
ego - one of the basic structures of the personality as proposed by Freud, the ego maintains a balance among the demands of the id, superego, and reality
ego analysis - therapeutic approach based on ego psychology
egocentric - viewing events solely from one’s own point of view and failing to take into account the perspectives of others, in Piaget’s theory, egocentrism is characteristic of children in the preoperational state of development
ego integrity - the ability of the ego to accomplish balance between id, superego, and reality
ego psychology - an approach to psychology that, in addition to the neo-Freudian concern with cultural and interpersonal factors, holds that the ego has its own functions apart from dealing with the id and stresses the healthy aspects of the self as it tries to cope with reality
elaboration likelihood model - the theory that there are two different routes to persuasion, central and peripheral, which differ in the amount of cognitive effort (elaboration) ivolved in processing the persuasive informationelaborative rehearsal - rehearsal in which material in working memory is actively reorganized and linked to previously known information
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - a form of biological therapy in which an electric current is passed through the brain, causing a convulsion used to treat severe depression
embryo - the earliest stage in a developing animal that occurs after implantation, in humans this stage occurs up to about eight weeks after implantation
emotion - internal feelings that energize behavior, emotions have three components: physiological responses, subjective or conscious experience, and overt behavior
emotion-focused coping - a method of coping in which the objective is to reduce tension and anxiety resulting from a problem rather than to deal directly with the problem itself
empirical methods - methods that rely on the systematic observation and measurement of overt behavior
empiricism - a school of thought that holds that all knowledge comes through the senses, that is, though observation
encoding specificity principle - the hypothesis that retrieval is facilitated if the context at the time of recall is similar to that present during the original encoding
encounter groups - a form of group therapy that operates on the basis of humanistic theories and emphasizes the sharing of perspectives and support of individual growth, the goal of encounter groups is to sensitize each member to his or hr own feelings as well as to the feelings of others by placing the members in face-to face encounters with each otherendocrine system - the network of glands that sends chemical messages throughout the body by secreting hormones that affect the body’s growth and functioning
endorphins - naturally occurring chemicals produced within the brain that act as neurotransmitters whose effects and chemical composition are similar to such pain-relieving opiates as morphine
episodic memory - the memory of particular events in one’s own life
equilibrium - in perception, the sense that informs us about the position of the body in space, in Piaget’s theory, a state of balance between the processes of assimilation and accommodation
equity theory - the theory that interpersonal attraction depends upon the ration of each person’s costs and benefits in the relationship
escape training - instrumental training in which reinforcement consists of the reduction or cessation of an aversive stimulus
estimation - the use of inferential statistics to estimate the actual values of some population characteristic from a sample of observationsethnicity - a social category that distinguishes people based on their common social and cultural characteristics, such as nationality, religion, and language
ethnocentrism - prejudice in favor of one’s own ethnic group
evolutionary psychology - the theoretical perspective that seeks to explain social behavior in human beings and animals in terms of the principles of evolution
expectancy - the anticipation of a particular event or outcome, such as having the expectancy that a certain behavior will result in a specific outcome
expectancy effects - these effects occur when research participants’ knowledge of experimental conditions influences their behavior, thereby affecting the outcome of the experimentexpected utility - the subjective utility of a goal combined with the subjective probability of attaining itexperimental group - in an experiment, the group that receives the experimental treatment
expert system - a computer problem-solving program that attempts to simulate the reasoning of a human specialistexplanatory style - one’s habitual method of explaining the causes of behavior and other events
explicit memory - memory retrieval that requires a conscious effort to remember so that one is aware of remembering during the time of retrievalexternal attributions - attributions that assign the cause of a behavior to something about the situation, also called situational attributionsextinction - in classical conditioning, the weakening of the tendency of a CS to elicit a 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 responseextrinsic motivation - motivation to perform a behavior for an external, tangible reward, rather than for the pleasure of doing the behavior itself
facial feedback hypothesis - the hypothesis that sensory feedback from the facial muscles will lead to subjective feelings of emotion that correspond to the particular facial pattern
factor - in statistics, a hypothetical ability or attribute that underlies a pattern of highly intercorrelated testsfactor analysis - a method of interpreting test questionnaire results in which clusters of related items, or factors, are analyzed to reveal the underlying phenomena or conceptsfalse consensus bias - the tendency to overestimate the extent to which other think and feel the same way that we dofamily therapy - a general term for a number of therapies that treat the family or a couple, operating on the assumption that the cause of family or marital distress lies not in the pathology of any individual souse of family member but rather in relationship dynamics within the family or marriage systemfear of failure - a fear of ailing a task that can lead people not to attempt the task in the first placefeature detectors - neurons in the retina or brain that respond to specific features of a stimulus, such as movement and orientationfeminist therapy - a form of therapy that views differential power between men and women as the source of many women’s problems, feminist therapy emphasizes egalitarian relationships between men and women, between minority and majority groups, and between therapists and clients, it tries to help clients identify and change dysfunctional situations rather than encourage clients to adapt to themfertilizationfetus - second major stage after implantationfight-or-flight response - a physiological reaction to stress in which an organism is aroused and becomes physiologically prepared to take action, either to attack or to fleefixed interval - one of the four basic partial reinforcement schedules in which reinforcements are delivered to the first response that occurs after a specific amount of time has passed, the amount of time does not vary from trial to trialfixed ratio - one of the four basic partial reinforcement schedules in which reinforcements are delivered following a specific number of responses, the number of responses required does not very from trial to trialflashbulb memories - vivid and detailed memories of unexpected and emotionally important eventsfluid intelligence - the ability to deal with new types of problemsforebrain - in mammals, the bulk of the brain, its foremost region includes the cerebral hemispheres, its rear includes the thalamus and hypothalamusformal operational stage - according to Piaget, a stage of development that is characterized by the ability to form abstract thoughts, and which is typically reached during the period from age twelve to adulthoodfovea - the central region of the retina, which contains cones but few rods, it is the area of greatest visual acuityfree association - a psychoanalytic technique for exploring the unconscious by encouraging a patient to say whatever comes to mind, without censoring or editing any statementfree nerve endings - the branching ends of dendrites or certain sensory neurons which act as receptors for sensations of painfree will - the power to make choices that are not predetermined and to direct one’s own actionsfrequency - in audition, the property of sound waves that refers to the umber of crests in the wave during a second of timefrequency distribution - an arrangement of scores that are tabulated by the frequency in which they occurFreudian theory - the original psychodynamic personality theory developed by Sigmund Freud and his followers that emphasizes the effects of conflicts between unconscious and conscious forces and the impact of early childhood experiences for the development of adult personalityfriendship - a relationship characterized by the sharing of private thoughts and feelingsfrontal lobe - the frontmost portion of the cerebral cortex, which lies just behind the forehead, it is concerned with the regulation of voluntary movementsfunctional distance - in attraction theory, a measure that takes into account the distance between two residences and the arrangement of space, as both influence the probability that people will interact with each otherfunctional fixedness - a mental set that involves the tendency to think of objects in terms of the way they are typically usedfunctional psychology (functionalism) - a school of psychology that emphasizes learned behaviors that enable organisms to adapt to their environments and to function effectivelyfundamental attribution error - the tendency to use internal attributions about others and to underestimate the situational factors in their behaviorganglion cells - one of the intermediate links between the receptor cells of the retina and the cerebrum, the axons of the ganglion cells converge into a bundle that leaves the eyeball as the optic nervegender - the cultural package of characteristics, assigned by sex in most cultures, that defines the social categories of male and femalegender identity - one’s personal awareness of being male or femalegender role - the set of social expectations for behaviors on the part of males and femalesgender schemas - organized sets of beliefs and expectations about males and females that guide information processinggeneral adaptation syndrome (GAS) - a sequence of physiological responses that the body goes through in response to a stressor, it involves three stages: alarm/mobilization, resistance, and exhaustiongeneralized anxiety disorder - the experience of long-term anxiety with no explanation for itgenital stage - in Freudian theory, the final phase of psychosexual development in which psychic energy becomes focused on heterosexual genital matingGestalt psychology - a theoretical approach that emphasizes that mental phenomena are best understood when viewed as organized wholes rather than when reduced and analyzed into various componentsGestalt therapy - a humanistic approach to psychotherapy developed by Fritz Perlz, in which patients act out past conflicts in order to confront, take responsibility for, and learn control of their feelingsg-factor - in intelligence, a general mental ability cutting across all tests, first discovered by Charles Spearmanglycerol - a carbohydrate found in the bloodstream, the levels of glycerol fall and rise in relation to changes in fat storagegradient of stimulus generalization - a mathematical curve that illustrates the degree of generalization among various stimuligroup - two or more individuals who interact and perceive themselves as a unitgroup polarization effect - the observation that groups often adopt positions more extreme than would be predicted by averaging the initial views held by members before discussion occurredgroup therapy - a type of psychotherapy in which therapists work with an interacting collection of people rather than with single individualshabituation - in learning, a decline in response to stimuli that have become familiarhair cells - the auditory receptors in the cochlea, lodged between the basilar membrane and other membranes above, that transduce sound wave into electrochemical energyhalfway houses - houses that rehabilitate people released from mental hospitals when they are not yet fully prepared to take their place in a home and family environment, these houses are usually supervised by paraprofessionals, who consult periodically with mental health professionalshardiness - a personality attribute characterized by a sense of control over experiences and outcomes, a deep involvement in daily activities, and a believe that daily activities are worth doinghealth behaviors - behaviors that enhance and maintain healthhealth belief model - a model that suggests that help-seeking behavior depends on how much one has, first, general health values, second, specific beliefs about personal vulnerability to a particular disorder, and, three, beliefs about how life-threatening the disorder ishealth-compromising behaviors - behaviors that undermine or harm current or future healthhealth-enhancing behaviors - behaviors that improve health (e.g., maintaining a well-balanced diet and a reasonable exercise program, wearing seat belts)health habits - firmly established health behaviors, often performed automatically, without awarenesshealth promotion - the process of helping people to gain more control over and to improve their health by increasing health-enhancing behaviors and decreasing health-compromising behaviorshealth psychology - a subfield of psychology that focuses on health-related behaviors and psychological aspects of health and illness over the life span by studying how mind and body interact to influence healthheuristics - problem-solving shortcuts that are sometimes more efficient and immediately effective than a systematic approachhidden observer technique - according to Hildard, a hypnotized subject’s awareness of experiences, such as pain, that are nonetheless unreported during hypnosishierarchy of needs - according to Maslow, the concept of an ordering of needs, physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization, in which those lower in the order, beginning with physiological needs, must be satisfied before those that are higher mergehindbrain - the most primitive portion of the brain, which include the medulla and the cerebellumhippocampus - a structure in the temporal lobe that constitutes and important part of the limbic system, of the functions involves memoryhomeostasis - the body’s tendency to maintain a constant internal environment even when the external environment changeshormone - chemical messenger secreted into the bloodstream by an endocrine gland, which may activate another gland or regulate body functions and behaviorhue - the property of light stimulation (wavelength) that corresponds to the sensation of colorhumanistic approach - a theory that focuses on what it means to be an individual human being with the ability to choose one’s own actions and to find self-actualization or fulfillment, often through helping othershumanistic psychology - a school of psychology that focuses on the uniqueness of individuals and their tendencies toward creativity, growth, and personal improvement, and emphasizes their ability to make conscious choices and to take personal responsibility for their actionshunger - a drive that compels organisms to seek out the nutrients that the body requireshypermnesia - an enhancement of memory typically attributable to increased or repeated efforts at recallhyperphagia - voracious, chronic overeating that can be brought about by a lesion of the ventromedial rgion of the hypothalamushypersuggestability - a strong inclination to follow the suggestions and instructions of a hypnotisthypnagogic stage - a state of consciousness experienced when passing from wakefulness to sleephypochondriasis - a disorder characterized by persistent and irrational fear of having an illness despite reassurance from doctors that nophysical illness existshypnosis - a temporary, trance-like state of heightened suggestibility to the suggestions of others that can be induced in normal persons. During hypnosis, various hypnotic or posthypnotic suggestions sometimes produce effects that resemble some symptoms of conversion disordershypothalamus - a brain structure located in the forebrain that is involved in many behavioral functions, especially the emotional and motivational aspects of behavior. It can control the endocrine system’s acticities through connections with the pituitary glandhypothesis - a statement of a predicted relationship between two or more variables; specifically, in experimental design, the statement of the predicted relationship between the independent and the dependent variableiconic memory - brief sensory memory of visual imagesid - in Freudean theory, a term for the most primitive structures of human personality, the unconscious, irrational, and instinctual strivings for immediate satisfaction regardless of costidentity - an individual’s sense of personal uniqueness and continuityillusory correlation - an error that occurs because people tend to perceive correlations were they expect them to b even if they are not present; illusory correlations help to form and maintain stereotypesimplicit memory - memory retrieval that requires no conscious effort to remember so that one is not aware of remembering during the time of retrievalimprinting - a species-specific preprogrammed form of learning that occurs at a particular period in life (the critical or sensitive period) if the organism is exposed to the appropriate stimulusincentive - a circumstance or stimulus situation that one will work to obtain or avoidincubation - in problem solving, a time-out period of rest from intensive work on a problemindependent variable - in experimental design, the variable that the psychologist manipulates to determine its effect on anotherinductive reasoning - reasoning from the specific to the general, by which one observes a umber of particular instances and tries to determine a general rule that covers them allinfancy - very early childhood, from birth to two yearsinferences - conclusions about people or situations derived by making assumptions based on observationsinformation-processing approach - theory of problem solving that focuses on the way a persona receives information from the environment, operates on it, integrates it with other information available in memory, and uses it as a basis for deciding how to actin-group - a group to which an individual belongs, feels loyalty, and with which he or she identifiesin-group favoritism - the positive feelings and special treatment that members of a group will accord other group members while having negative feelings toward and unfairly treating those who are not group membersinsight - the sudden achievement of understanding that arises from a change in perspective on a problem, in Gestalt psychology, insight is viewed as the most appropriate description of human problem solvinginstinct - an inherited pattern of behaviorinstrumental conditioning - a type of learning in which the probability of behavior changes depending on its consequences, also called operant conditioningintegration - efforts to get along with others, to regulate behavior according to social codes and standards, and to develop a conscienceintelligence - the abilities needed to perform goal-directed adaptive behaviors in one’s environmentintelligence quotient (IQ) - an index of intelligence allowing for comparison of research participants across all chronological ages, IQ is calculated by dividing metal age by chronological age and multiplying by 100intensity - in vision, a property of light measured by the amount of energy in the light, intensity produces the experience of brightnessinteractionist approach - the view that emphasizes joint influence of aspects of the persona dn the situation in determining behaviorinterference theory - the assertion that items are forgotten because they are somehow interfered with by other items learned before or afterinternal attribution - same as dispositional attributioninternal locus of control - a personality orientation in which individuals believe thy have control over their behavior and its outcomesinternal versus external attributions - a dimension of causal attributions concerned with deciding whether a behavior reflects something about the person or something about the situationinterneurons - neurons that transmit and process information between sensory and motor neuronsinterpersonal attraction - the expression of desire to approach and become involved with other peopleinterposition - a monocular depth cue in which we perceive and object that is partially blocked by another s more distant than the blocking objectinterval schedule - a reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement in delivered for the first response made after a given interval of time has passed, in a fixed-interval schedule, the interval is always the same, in a variable-interval schedule, the interval varies around a specified averageintrinsic motivation - a desire to perform a behavior in the absence of tangible reward because the activity itself is enjoyableintrospection - observing one’s own private, internal sate of being, including one’s thoughts and feelingsJames-Lange theory - the view, advanced by William James and Carl Lange, that the perception of events in he environment triggers bodily changes that produce the actual experience of emotionjust noticeable difference (j.n.d.) - the smallest difference between two stimuli or stimuli intensities that can be detectedlanguage - an organized system of symbols with meanings that are shared and are used to communicatelanguage acquisition - the process by which individuals learn a languagelatent learning - learning that occurs without being manifested in performancelatent stage - according to Freud, the fourth state of psychosexual development during which the child’s psychic energies are not attached to any particular part of the bodylaw of contiguity - a principle of learning that states that events occurring close together in space and time become associatedlaw of effect - the forerunner of the contemporary principle of reinforcement, this law states that responses leading to satisfying consequences will be strengthened and more likely to be repeated, whereas responses leading to unsatisfying consequences will be weakened and less likely to occurlearned helplessness - an organism’s learned belief that it cannot control its environment, which may or may not be accuratelearning - a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experiencelearning curve - a curve in which some index of learning, e.g., the number of drops of saliva in Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment, is plotted against trials or sessionslearning by imitation - learning that takes place by observing and repeating another’s behaviorlens - the structure of the eye that bends light rays to focus an image on the retinaleveling - in memory, the gradual wakening and eventual disappearance of a memory trace over a period of disuse or non-retrievallibido - according to Freud, psychic energy that is primarily drived from the sexual, pleasure-seeking instinct of the idlimbic system - a set of brain structures that includes a relatively primitive portion of the cerebral cortex and parts of the thalamus and hypothalamus, it is believed to be involved in the control of emotional behavior and motivationlinear perspective - a monocular cue for perceiving distance derived from the fact that parallel lines appear to converge more closely the rather away they arelinear regression - the simplest form of statistical regression which involves finding the straight line that best represents the data in a scatter plotlithium - an antidepresant drug that is especiallyuseful in preventing the extreme mood swings that characterize bipolar mood disorderslobotomy - psychosurgery that involves remogng, destroying, or disconnecting the area of the prefrontal lobe of the brain thought to be associated with violent or aggressive behaviorlocus of control - personality dimension that distinguishes between people who believe their behaviors and outcomes are under their personal control from people who do not have such beliefslongitudinal study - a developmental study in which the same people are tested at different ageslong-term memory - those parts of the memory system that store such vast amounts of information for such log periods of time that their limits are yet undeterminedmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - a neurodiagnostic technique that relies on nuclear magnetic resonance, and MRI scan passes a high-frequency alternating magnetic field through the head and produces information that can be used to form a three-dimensional picture of the brain’s featuresmaintenance rehearsal - rehearsal in which material remains in the working memory for a while, in contrast to elaborative rehearsal, maintenance rehearsal confers little long-term benefitsmajor depression - a disorder characterized by two or more weeks of depressed mood and/or loss of interest or pleasure in all or most activities, too much or too little sleep, fatigues, loss of energy, significant weight loss or gain, feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt, diminished ability to concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicidemarijuana - the dried leaves and flowering tops of the female hemp plant, sometimes smoked for their intoxicating effects on the mindmaster status - location in the social structure that is given precedence over other statuses across a variety of situations, foe example, the status of being female sometimes acts as a master status, overriding other status categories, such as occupationmaterial culture - those aspects of culture that are tangible human creationsmaturation - biological changes that reflect a programmed growth process that is relatively unaffected by environmental conditions (e.g., the maturational sequence of creeping, crawling, and walking found in human beings)mean - a measure of central tendency, it is the total of the scores divided by the number of scoresmedian - a measure of central tendency, it is the point that divides the distribution of a set of values into two equal halvesmeditation - a set of techniques used to attain an altered state of consciousness that allows one to exclude external stimulation, to control one’s thoughts, and to focus or concentrate on a single stimulus or idea to a significant degreemedulla oblongata - the rearmost portion of the brain, just adjacent to the spinal cord, it includes centers that help control respiration and maintain muscle tonememory trace - the change assumed to occur in the nervous system as a result of an experience that is the physical basis of its retention in memorymental age (MA) - a score devised by Binet to represent the level of intelligence based on an individual’s test performance relative to others in his or her age group, it is computed by determining the chronological age at which 50 percent of the age group perform at the same level of the child being tested, children with an MA greater than their chronological age (CA) are ahead of their age group mentally, if their MA is lower than their CA, they lag behind itmental representations - internal symbols that stand for something but are not equivalent to is, such as words or imagesmental set - the predisposition to process information about a subject in one particular way, even when that way is inadequate for representing the information in new situationsmidbrain - -the part of the brain that makes connections between the forebrain and the hindbrain and alerts the forebrain to incoming sensory informationmind-body dualism - the assumption that the mind and the body function separatelyminimal groups - an experimental paradigm that aims to create groups based on the most trivial (minimal) of criteria, such as flipping a coinMinnesota Miltiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) - a test used to aid in the diagnosis of mental disorders, it consists of statements that people are asked to judge as "true," "false," or "cannot say" about themselves, the responses are then compared to those typically given by people diagnosed as having particular psychiatric disordersmnemonics - strategies for improving memory typically based on translating information into vivid imagery or providing meaningful framework for remembering itmodal score - the score that occurs most frequently in a distribution of values, also called the modemodeling - a technique used to teach people how to do things by having them watch the behavior of othersmonoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor - an antidepressant drug that increases norepinephrine and serotonin levels in the brain and has been found to relive depression in some peoplemonocular cues - various features of the visual stimulus that indicate depth, even when viewed with one eyes, e.g., linear perspective and motion parallaxmood disorders - psychological disorders characterized by deep, severe, and long-lasting periods of sadness and low energy, or swings between high and low periodsmorality - a set of ideals or principles that help a person to make distinctions between right and wring and to act on the basis of those distinctionsmorality of care - a theory of moral development conceptualized by Carol Gilligan that emphasizes the values of caring and compassion and suggests that females develop different moral orientations that do malesmoral realism - according to Piagetian theory, the initial state in moral development, in which rules are viewed as sacred and unchangeable moral absolutesmoral relativism - according to Piagetian theory, the second stage of moral development in which rules are regarded as changeable agreements created by people to serve particular needsmotion parallax - the smallest units of meaning in a languagemotivation - the factors, including needs, drives, and incentives, that energize behavior toward a goalmotor cortex - the cortical structure in the brain that is directly involved in the control of voluntary muscle movementmotor neurons - neurons that carry information away from the central nervous cells to muscle cellsmulticultural - belonging to, or displaying aspects of more than one culturemultiple personality disorder - dissociative identity disordermultiple regression - a statistical procedure that can be used to correlate more than one variable (predictor variables) with another variable (criterion variable) in order to improved prediction accuracynaturalistic observation - a research method for systematically observing and recording behaviors as they occur in real world settingsnature - genetic factors that influence behaviorneed - a state created when an organism does not have or is deprived of an object or condition it requiresneed for achievement - the need to meet a standard for excellent, to accomplish something difficult, or to excel, people high in this need persist longer and do better on difficult tasks, and are apt to set realistic and challenging goals, the need for achievement reflects a central value in American cultureneed for affiliation - the need to develop relationships with other peopleneed for power - the need to control resources and the behavior of other peopleneed for social approval - the desire to obtain the approval or to avoid the disapproval of othersnegative afterimage - in vision, the visual image that lasts after removal of the stimulus that caused it, this afterimage appears in the opposite color of the original stimulus, e.g., red appears as green and blue appears as yellownegative punishment - the process of lowering the probability of a behavior by removing a pleasant stimulus after the response occursnegative reinforcement - the process of increasing the probability of a response by removing an unpleasant stimulus after the response occursneurotransmitters - chemical messengers released at the terminal button of an axon which travel across the synapse and have an excitatory or inhibitory effect on an adjacent neuronnicotine - a drug generally classified as a stimulant that is the active ingredient in tobacco products, an acetylcholine agonistnon-REM sleep - the four distinguishable stages of sleep characterized by slow-wave EEG and gross body movements (rolling or changing positions)noradrenaline - norepinephrine, a hormone that plays a role in adapting the body to stress, also found in the nervous system as a neurotransmitternormal distribution - a frequency distribution whose graphic representation has a symmetric, bell-shaped form called the normal curve, its characteristics are often referred to when investigators test statistical hypotheses and make inferences about the population from a given samplenorms - in intelligence testing, the scores taken from a large sample of a population against which an individual’s test scores are evaluated, in social psychology, a group’s standards for the behavior of its membersnurture - the environmental factors that influence human developmentobedience - a form of social influence in which people obey a direct order from an authority figureobjective - having to do with external events that are observable by more than one individualobjective personality tests - a method of personality assessment that is based on a standardized set of questions of previously determined reliability and validity that have been given to a large number of people and permit comparisons among individualsobject permanence - the belief that an object exists even when it is out of sight, according to Piaget, this concept does not develop until infants are eight months old or moreobject relations theory - a form of psychoanalytic ego psychology, the theory that ego development and subsequent interpersonal relationships are based on the infant’s attachment to the mother and other figuresobservational learning - cognitive learning that can occur simply by watching another person’s behaviorobsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - a disorder characterized by repeated or continuous intrusive thoughts, feeling of anxiety as a result of these thoughts, and the need to repeat certain acts to reduce that anxietyoccipital lobe - the lobe of the cerebral cortex involved in the perception and analysis of visual informationoperant chamber - Skinner boxoperant conditioning - instrumental conditioningoperant response - in Skinner’s system, the response that is followed by a reinforcement or punishmentoperational definition - the use of a methodological procedure (operation) to define and abstract concept in a concrete way, for example, the operational definition of the abstract concept of anxiety might be operationally defined by a physiological measure, such as heart rate, or by a verbal report measure, such as a rating of anxiety levelopponent-process theory - in vision, a theory of color vision based on the idea that the perception of a particular color depends on a combination of signals from three opposing pairs of receptors or channels (red-green, yellow-blue, and black-white), in motivation, a theory that claims that every emotional experience leads to the opposite emotional experience that persists after the original emotion has endedoptimal level of arousal - the idea that, in keeping with the principle of homeostasis, we have a particular level of cortical stimulation at which our goal-directed behaviors are most effective, we seek stimulation when arousal is low and we avoid stimulation when arousal is high in order to maintain our optimal level of arousaloral stage - in Freudian theory, the first stage of psychosexual development, in which psychic energy is focused on the mouthout-group - two or more individuals who are not included in an in-groupout-group homogeneity bias - the perception that members of groups that we are not part of (out-groups) are more similar to each other than members of our own group (in-group)pain - unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual, potential, or imagined tissue damagepanic attacks - anxiety attacks that involve feelings and physical reactions such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, faintness, and great fear that resemble those f someone in terrible danger when no real danger is presentpanic disorder - an anxiety disorder characterized by sudden anxiety attacks usually lasting for several minutes in which bodily symptoms, e.g., choking, dizziness, trembling, and chest pains, are accompanied by feelings of intense apprehension, terror, and a sense of impending doomparasympathetic nervous system - the part of the autonomic division of the peripheral nervous system involved in controlling involuntary behavior, such as digestion, it works in opposition to the sympathetic nervous system and conserves body energy, calming the body and bringing functions back to normal after an emergency has passedparietal lobe - a lobe of the cerebral cortex between the frontal lobe and the occipital lobe that is concerned with the senses of skin and body positionpartial reinforcement - a condition in which a response is reinforced only some of the timepartial reinforcement effect - the finding that a response is much harder to extinguish if it was acquired during a partial rather than continuous reinforcementperception - the mental process by which we organize and interpret sensory informationperipheral nervous system (PNS) - one of the two major divisions of the nervous system that contains the nerves that provide communication between the central nervous system and other part of the body, including muscles, glands, and sensory receptorspermastore - an extremely stable and durable form of memorypersonal control - our belief in our ability to affect the situations in which we find ourselvespersonality - an individual’s unique combination of enduring personal characteristics and behaviorsphallic stage - in Freudean theory, the third stage of psychosexual development, in which psychic energies are focused on the genitalsphenothiazines - a group of antipsychotic drugs that reduces the agitation and psychotic symptoms of schizophreniaphenotype - the unique combination of overt characteristics of an organism that results from the interaction of the genotype with the environmentpheromones - special chemicals secreted by many animals which trigger particular reactions in members of the same speciesphobias - intense, irrational fears that include the persistent and extreme desire to avoid some object or situationphotoreceptors - cells in the retina that transduce light energy into electrochemical information, cones encode color vision and are responsible for acuity, while rods are sensitive to light and are used primarily for vision in dim lightphysical development - developmental change that occurs in bodily structures and processes over the life cyclephysical drug dependence - dependence on a drug when the drug has created a physiological need by changing the body’s normal chemical balancePiagetian theory - a theory of cognitive development, conceptualized by Jean Piaget, that takes the dynamic view that intellectual development occurs in stagespiuitary gland - an endocrine glad heavily influenced by the hypothalamus, it is considered a master glad because many of its secretions trigger hormone secretions in other glandsplacebo - in medical practice, a term for a chemically inert substance that the patient perceives as having therapeutic effectsplacebo effect - the beneficial effect of a treatment administered to a patient who believes it has therapeutic powers even though it has noneplacenta - the network of blood vessels attached to the uterine wall, which carries oxygen and food to the developing embryo or fetusplasticity - the brain’s capacity for modificationpleasure principle - according to Freud, the concept of immediate gratification of desires hat governs the operation of the idpolygraph - a complex piece of electronic equipment that measures blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and electrical resistance of the skin, it is used in research to determine what people experience as stressful and sometimes as a lie detector, although its validity for that purpose is debatedpons - the structure just above the medulla that connects parts of the brain stem to one another and to the spinal cord, it plays a role in sleep and respirationpositive punishment - an aversive stimulus administered to decrease the likelihood of a responsepositive reinforcement - the process of increasing the probability of a response by following it with a pleasant stimuluspositron emission tomography (PET scans) - an imaging process that records the levels of glucose and glucose metabolism in the brain, the resulting pictures show the level of metabolic activity throughout the various regions of the brain at a given point in timeposttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - an anxiety disorder resulting from intensely traumatic events (e.g., experiencing the threat of death, serious injury, or bodily violation as occurs in rape and torture) in which the individual reexperiences emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of the past trauma, including intense fear, helplessness, horror, physical symptoms, and irritabilitypractical intelligence - the ability to apply what we know to adapt to the demands of everyday tasks, and to act in accordance with the rules of society and the environmentpragmatics - a discipline devoted to the study of the implicit aspect of language use, particularly with regard to how it is used in various contextsPragnanz - a Gestalt principle of perceptual organization that corresponds to a "goodness of figure"preconscious - according to Freud, the ideas, thoughts, and images that a person is not aware of at a given moment but that can be brought into awareness with little or no difficultypreembryo - in prenatal development, the formless mass of cells that multiplies during the week after fertilization while making its way down the Fallopian tube to burrow into the wall of the uterus (implantation) where it develops into the embryoprejudice - negative attitudes toward individuals based on their group membershipPremack principle - the principle developed by David Premack that states that under conditions of free choice, the behavior that is most probably is the behavior that is most preferred and therefore most reinforcingpremoral period - in Piagetian theory, the period from birth to four years of age when children show no understanding or conception of rulesprenatal period - the time in an individual’s development from conception to birthpreoperational stage - in Piaget’s theory, the second stage of cognitive development occurring roughly between two and seven years of age, characterized by a limited understading of logical principles such as conservation and reversibilityprepared learning - a generically based predisposition to learn associations between certain kinds of stimuli and specific responses more readily than othersprescription drugs - drugs that are legally available only with authorization by a physicianprimacy effects - in learning, the principle that information received first tends to be remembered better than later information, which helps explain why first impressions are important
primary appraisal - the first step in the cognitive appraisal of stressors in which the individual asks "am I OK or in trouble" and "what does this mean to me", these questions lead to three conclusions about a potential stressor’s significance: it can be irrelevant, benign or positive, or stressful
primary prevention services - a form of mental health care that seeks to prevent the occurrence of mental disorders by finding and eliminating their potential causes
priming - the activation of a schema (concept), perhaps unconsciously, which can then be used to process incoming information
priming effect - increased access to a particular stimulus or piece of information as a result of priming, which can occur from previous recent exposure to the same or a related stimulus
primitive reflexes - one of two forms of reflexes that full-term new-borns inherit, primitive reflexes, e.g., the grasping reflex, are controlled by subcortical areas of the brain and gradually disappear over the first year of life, they may be a holdover from early evolutionary history when they were once needed for survival
proactive interference - interference with memory for certain information that is attributable to other information learned at an earlier time
problem-focused coping - a method of coping in which stressful conditions are evaluated and something is done to change or avoid themproblem space - the internal representation of a problem in memoryprocedural knowledge - knowing "how" to do something in contrast to declarative knowledgeprojective personality tests - a method of personality assessment in which test-takers response to or interpret ambiguous stimuli, e.g., inkblots, it is based on the psychodynamic approach and assumes that unconscious needs or desires will be revealed in the responsespropositions - a way of relating concepts by making an assertion that links a subject and a predicateprototype - the most typical example of a categoryproximal stimuli - those physical energies that impinge directly on the sensor receptorsproximity principle - in perception, the Gestalt principle of organization that says that objects that are closer to each other will be more likely to b perceived as a group; in interpersonal attraction, the principle that the mere fact of being physically near someone in one of the most powerful predictors of whether two people will become friendspsychoactive drugs - chemical compounds that affect the central nervous system, changing perception, reactivity, mood, and consciousnesspsychoanalysis - psychodynamic therapy based on Freudian theory which employs techniques such as dream interpretation, free association, and analysis of resistance and transference, the goal i to provide insight into the patient’s unconscious impulses, conflicts, and motivespsychodynamic approach - a school of psychology that views behavior as a result f mental events and emphasizes the importance of conflicting unconscious mental processes and early developmental experiences for understanding human behaviorpsychological universals - psychological processes that operate in all individuals, such as learning, perception, and memory (what about object relations, projective identification, and defense mechanisms?)psychology - the scientific study of behavior and mental processespsychometrics - an area of psychology concerned with the construction and use of tests to measure qualitative and quantitative aspects of mental processes and behavior, such as intelligence and personalitypsychopathology - the inability to behave in a socially appropriate way such that the consequences of one’s behavior are maladaptive for oneself or societypsychophysics - an approach that relates the characteristics of physical stimuli to attributes of the sensory experience they producepsychosexual development - the stages of development that, according to Freud, all human beings pass through during early life, each stage, oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital, centers around a specific area of the body where psychic energy (libido) concentrates during that particular periodpsychosomatic illness - a physiological condition with psychological originspsychosomatic medicine - the field devoted to treating illnesses that reflect emotional conflictspsychosurgery - the treatment of pathological behavior by surgical intervention, including probing, slicing, or removing some parts of the brainpsychotherapy - collectively, methods for treating psychological problems based on principles of psychology aimed at changing behaviors, thoughts, perceptions, and emotions, sometimes called the "talking cure"puberty - a period of development that marks the transition between childhood and adolescence when primary and secondary sex characteristics developpunishment - decreasing the probability of a response by following it with an unpleasant stimuluspunishment and aversion therapy - a form of behavior therapy that involves the utilization of unpleasant stimuli to control or alter behaviorrace - a social category based on a small number of readily discernible biological characteristics that is to a great extent random, the definition of racial categories changes over time and differs across culturesrandom assignment - in experimental design, the assignment of research participants to conditions whereby each participant has the same probability of being assigned to any one conditionrandom sampling - selecting a sample in such a manner that each person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the samplerational-emotive therapy - a clinical technique developed by Albert Ellis to help clients understand the irrationality of various beliefs, recognize how these beliefs affect their behavior, and practice new, more adaptive, rational, and beneficial ways of thinking and behavingratio schedule - a reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement is delivered for the first response that occurs after a certain number of responses, in a fixed-ratio schedule, the number of responses required for a reward is always the same, in a variable ratio schedule, the number of responses required varies irregularly around a specified averagereality principle - a concept originated by Freud, this principle governs the ego’s functioning as it mediates among the demands of the external world, the id, and the super-egorecall - a method of measuring memory in which research participants are simply asked to produce an item from memoryrecency effect - in freely recalling a learned list of items, the recall superiority of the items at the end of the list compared to those in the middle, see also primacy effect and serial position effectreceptive field - the retinal area in which visual stimulation affects a particular cell’s firing ratereciprocal determinism - Bandura’s concept in which behavioral variables, environmental variables, and personal/cognitive variables all mutually influence each other, a person’s behavior affects the environment, the environment, in turn, affects behavior, and the person’s awareness of mutual dependency affects bothreciprocity - the social-psychological principle that states that when we receive something, we feel compelled to return something of equal valuereciprocity principle - a basic norm of many social interactions that decrees the one must repay whatever one has been givenrecognition - a measure of memory in which a person is presented a stimulus and asked to identify whether it is the same as one the person has previously encounteredreflectance - the percentage of the light falling on an object that is reflected from the object rather than absorbedreflex - a simple, specific, involuntary response to a stimulus that does not require learning (e.g., the pupil’s constriction in response to bright light)refractory period - (1) the period during and after a neuron’s firing in which the responsiveness of the axon is reduced, (2) the time interval following orgasm during which a person, typically a man, cannot have another orgasm, (3) the time interval following a response during which almost no stimulus will produce another responseregression - (1) in Freud’s theory, a defense mechanism characterized by a return to an earlier stage of psychosexual development, (2) in statistics, a procedure for predicting a persons score on one variable when the person’s score on another variable and the correlation between the two variables is already knownregression line - in statistics, when plotting the data during a regression analysis in graph, this line best represents the scoresrehabilitative services - mental health care that aims to reduce the long-term effects of existing emotional problemsrehabilitative therapy - a form of therapy designed to help victims of crisis by providing job retraining training in social skills, as well as variety of other psychological servicesrehearsal - the conscious repetition of information in an effort to retain it in short-term memoryreinforcement - in classical conditioning, the procedure by which the US is made contingent on the CS, in instrumental conditioning , the procedure by which the instrumental response is made contingent on some desired outcomereinforcer - an event or stimulus that increases the frequency of a response with which it is associatedrelaxation training - a stress management technique that applies learning principles to counter the effects of stress by teaching individuals how to relaxreliability - an essential characteristic of any psychological test or measure, a test is reliable if, when given again, it obtains consistent results when there is no reason to believe the phenomenon being measured has changedREM sleep - a qualitatively unique form of sleep that is characterized by a rapid EEG pattern and short bursts of rapid eye movementrepresentations - cognitions that correspond to or represent certain events, or relations between events, in the external worldrepresentativeness heuristic - a decision-making shortcut used when estimating the probability that an object or event belongs to a certain category in which the judgment is based on the extent to which the object resembles the prototype of that category rather than on base-rate informationrepression - in psychoanalytic theory, a defense mechanism by means of which thoughts, impulses, or memories that give rise to anxiety are pushed out of consciousnessresearch methods - the wide variety of methods used to gather and record data systematically, they can be correlational or experimentalresponse discrimination - learning to give one, and only one, particular response in a given situationresponse generalization - performance of a response similar to the original learned responseresting potential - the difference in electrical charge across the membrane in a cell’s normal statereticular formation - a network of fibers in the lower to middle brain stem that alerts the forebrain to receive and process incoming sensory information and is critically involved in sleep and emotionretina - photosensitive surface at the back of the eye that contains visual receptor cells upon which the visual image is focusedretrieval cue - a stimulus that helps to retrieve a memoryretrieval failure - the act of forgetting all or some of the details of a memoryretroactive interference - the interference with memory of certain information that is attributable to other information learned at a later timeretrograde amnesia - loss of memory of events just prior to the event that caused the memory loss, long-term memory remains intactreversibility - the Piagetian concept, generally achieved during the formal operational period, that certain mathematical operations, such as addition and subtraction, can be reversed or undonerods - long, thin photoreceptor cells in the periphery of the retina that are sensitive to light of low intensity and that function in dim light and nighttime vision but are not involve din perception of colorrole-conflict - conflict that occurs when the different roles we hold require us to do incompatible things, such as when a parental role may require us to care for a sick child at the same time that a work role requires us to be at an important meetingrole taking - assuming a point of view and takin on the belief, attitudes, and behaviors associated with itrooting reflex - the infant’s inborn tendency to turn the head toward any object or person that gently touches a cheek, this response helps the child locate a nipple for feedingRorschach Inkblot Test - a projective technique developed by Hermann Rorschach that requires an individual to look at ambiguous inkblots and say what he or she sees in them, the responses are then studied for their emotional expression, their focus, and their recurring patternssaturation - the dimension of color experience that corresponds to how much or how deep the hue of a light issavings - a method of measuring memory in which research participants are asked to relearn old but seemingly forgotten information, the difference in time between relearning versus originally learning the information is then computedscarcity - the social psychological principle that states that we accord value to those things we perceive to be rare or difficult to obtainschizophrenia - a group of severe mental disorders characterized by one or more of the following: marked disturbance of thought, withdrawal, inappropriate or flat emotions, delusions, and hallucinations, see also catatonic and disorganized schizophreniascripts - schemas that contain information about the characteristic scenarios of behaviors in particular setting, e.g., a restaurant scriptsecondary appraisal - the second step in the cognitive appraisal of stressors, which involves a person answering the question, "what am I able to do about this stressful event?" The answer involves deciding at leas one of three things: (1) who or what is responsible for the stressful event, (2) what is the probability of success or failure in coping with the event, (3) what does the future holdsecondary prevention services - mental health care that is designed to prevent or reduce the impact or severity of a problem once it occurssecondary reinforcers - stimuli that become reinforcers after being paired with primary reinforcerssecondary sex characteristics - the physical features associated with sexual maturation that are not directly involved with reproduction, such as the development of pubic hair, changes in voice, etc.secondary traits - according to Allport, personality traits that are less conspicuous, consistent, and generalized than cardinal or central traits, they typically apply under only certain circumstances, e.g., Martha is grouchy in the morningsedatives - drugs that reduce anxiety by inducing muscle relaxation, sleep, and inhibition of the cognitive centers of the brain, see tranquilizersselective attention - paying attention to only some of the information that is available in a situation, in particular, we are most likely to pay attention to information that we perceive as personally relevantself-actualization - a major concern of humanistic psychologists, it is the fulfillment of one’s potentialself-concept - the mental framework that contains the information we have about our selfself-efficacy - a learned expectation that one is capable of performing behaviors needed to produce a desired resultself-fulfilling prophecy - an expectancy that leads to behavior with consequences that lead to confirmation of the expectancyself-referencing effect - the enhanced memory and increased ease and efficiency of cognitive processing when information is self-relevant compared to other types of informationself-schemas - mental frameworks, i.e., cognitive structures, that are used to store and process information about the selfself-serving bias - the tendency to see oneself in a favorable light, leading us to deny responsibility for failures but take credit for successes, see also attribution theory and fundamental attribution errorself-theory - approach to personality that focuses on the individual as a whole, unified self, it takes a positive view of human beings and is a part of the humanistic approach to psychologysemantic memory - memory of information that is independent of time and placesemantics - in language, the study of meaning, also, the set of rules for deriving meaning in a given languagesemicircular canals - three canals within the inner ear that contain a viscous liquid that moves when the head rotates, providing information about the nature and extent of the movementsensation - the process whereby our sensory receptors receive and transduce information from the external world into electrochemical impulses in our nervous systemsensation seeking - the tendency to seek novel experiences, look for thrills and adventure, and be highly susceptible to boredomsensorimotor stage - according to Piaget, the first two years of life when a child knows and interacts with the world primarily in terms of sensory impressions and motor activities, and has little competence in representing the environment using symbols, language, or imagessensory abilities - the abilities of our sensory receptors to receive and transduce information from the external world into electrochemical information in the nervous system, these include the ability to sense light, mechanical pressure, heat, certain chemical substances, and tissue damagesensory neurons - neurons that respond to incoming stimuli, such as sound or light, and carry this information to the central nervous systemserial position effect - in memorization, when the beginning and the end items of a list are easier to remember than those in the middle, see primacy and recency effectsserotonin - a neurotransmitter involved in many of the mechanisms of sleep and emotional arousalsetpoint - the weight that a body seeks to maintain by influencing a person’s metabolic rate and desire to eatsex drive - a biologically based psychological state that motivates an organism to have sexual activitys-factor - in intelligence, a specific cognitive ability found to underlie performance on some, but not all, types of intelligence tests
shading - a monocular cue for depth derived from information provided by shadows connected to an object as well as those cast in the background environment
shallow processing - the repetition of information to maintain it in short-term memory, this is also known as maintenance rehearsal
shaping - an instrumental learning procedure through which an animal is trained to perform a rather difficult response by reinforcing successively closer and closer approximation to that response, see also successive approximation
sharpening - the exaggeration of certain features of a memory trace so that they take on a greater importance than they had previously, see also assimilation and leveling
short-term memory - memory for learned material over a brief retention interval, this is our hypothetical memory system for transient memory, also called working memory
signal detection theory - a statistical theory of perception that postulates two processes in stimulus detection: a sensory process and a decision processsimilarity - in perception, a principle by which we tend to group like figures, especially by color and orientationsimilarity bias - the tendency to see oneself as more like member of one’s in-group than like members of an out-group
similarity principle - in interpersonal attraction, the principle that the more similar two people are, the more likely they are to be attracted to each other
situational attribution - see external attributions
size constancy - the tendency to perceive the size of objects as constant despite the fact that the retinal images of these objects change in size whenever we change the distance from which we view them
skew - this phenomenon occurs when a frequency distribution is characterized by a concentration of scores either to the left or the right of the center of the scale
Skinner box - a device developed by B. F. Skinner to investigate the events of operant conditioning, also known as an operant chamber
sleeper effect - the notion that message from an unreliable source may have little persuasive effect at first, but may come to increase in persuasion as time goes on because the source is forgotten while the message is retained
sleepwalking - nocturnal wanderings, when it occurs, it is usually during REM sleep
slow-wave sleep - sleep characterized by large amplitude, slow-activity EEGsocialization - the process whereby the child acquires the patterns of behavior characteristic of his or her society
social category - a grouping of individuals who share one or more social characteristics, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical disability, or income
social class - the stratification of society based on a combination of social and economic factors
social facilitation - a phenomenon in which the mere presence of other persons improves individual performance
social identity - that component of individual self-concept or identity derived from one’s membership in one or more social groups
social inhibition - the inhibition of performance by the presence of an audience
social learning approach - a cognitive oriented theoretical approach that emphasizes the importance of learning that occurs by observing the behavior of others, even in the absence of reinforcement
social loafing - individuals spend less effort on a common task when they are working in a group than if they had worked on that task alone
social phobias - fears of embarrassment or humiliation that cause people to avoid situations in which they must expose themselves to public scrutiny
social play - play that involves peer interaction, it is an important contributor to the development of language and social skills
social psychology - the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another
social role - a specific position in a social structure that has expectations for values, attitudes, and behaviors, including rights and responsibilities, associated with it
social schemas - cognitive structures that organize our beliefs and feelings and process information about our social world
social skills training - a form of rehabilitation therapy that involves teaching the behaviors needed for acceptance in one’s social groups, including how to relax and interact comfortably with others
social status - an individual’s recognized position or location within a society or groupsocial stratification - the distribution of power, prestige, and social rewards in a society
social structure - the way that society is organized
social universals - the social elements that are common across human culture, including group living, languages, cooking, and other characteristics, see also biological and psychological universals
social validation - the social-psychological principle that states that we use other people’s behavior, particularly that of those who are similar to us, to guide our own actions, it underlies a number of strategies of social influence
society - a structured group of individuals typically within a geographical or political boundary who share a culture
somatic nervous system - a division of the peripheral nervous system primarily concerned with the control of the skeletal musculature and the transmission of information from the specialized sense organs
somatoform disorder - the generic term for disorders that are expressed in physical symptoms in the absence of any known physical illness
somatosensory cortex - the cortical area located in the parietal lobe just behind the motor area in the frontal lobe, this region is involved in bodily sensation, including touch, pain, and temperature
source traits - those fundamental dimensions of personality which underlie many other characteristics
spontaneous recovery - an increase in the tendency to perform an extinguished response after a time interval in which neither CS nor US are presented
stable attribution - an attribution of a behavior to a cause that is steady over time
stable versus unstable - a dimension of causal attributions that deals with the question, is the cause a one-time event or does it persist
Stanford-Binet test - a widely used standardized intelligence test, it was originally developed to distinguish between malingerers and schoolchildren who were likely to experience learning difficulties and who would benefit from a specialized education
status - social status
stereotype - a social schema about characteristics of members of a group, can be positive or negativestimulus - an object or event in the environment
stimulus control - an instrumental learning process whereby a cue in the environment comes to control the behavior or an organismstimulus discrimination - the act or responding differently to various stimuli that have some similarities
stimulus generalization - the occurrence of a learned response under circumstances similar but not identical to the original learning situation
strange situation - a test that involves exposing infants to a series of mildly stressful situations in order to determine the quality of their attachments to one or more chosen companions
stress - a psychophysiological state or process that occurs when we face events we perceive as threatening to our physical or psychological well-beingstress-inoculation training - a stress management technique by which individuals are introduced to small amounts of stress and taught cognitive-behavioral strategies for dealing with themstressors - environmental events perceived as harmful or threateningstress response - psychological and physiological responses to stressorsStroop-effect - a marked decrease in the speed of naming the colors in which various color names are printed when the colors and the names are different
structuralism - an early school of psychological thought that held that the subject matter of psychology was conscious experience, that the object of study was to analyze experience into its component parts, and that the primary method of analysis was introspection, see also functional psychology
structured interview - an interview method that consists of a series of prearranged questions, it is often used as part of a case study
subcultures - groups with different cultural traditions that co-exist within a larger society
subjective - having to do with inner mental events such as individual consciousness and perception that are only observable by the person experiencing them
subjective culture - aspects of culture that involve intangible human creations, such as ideas, symbols, language, beliefs, values, and norms
subjective expected utility - the perceived worth, subjective utility, of a goal object combined with the subjective probability a particular behavior will lead to itsubjective norms - these guides to one’s behaving are based on what one thinks other people believe one ought to do combined with one’s motivation to comply with these beliefssubjective utility - perceived usefulness or worth of a goal object, this perception reflects a combination of need, drive, and incentive
successive approximation - learning in graduated steps whereby each successive step requires a response that is closer than the previous response to the desired performance, this process is also known as shaping
superego - according to Freudian theory, one of the basic structures of the personality, it is the partially unconscious area of the mind that contains and enforces people’s values, morals, and basic attitudes that they learned from their parents and society
superordinate goal - goals that are shared by competing groups and require their members to cooperate in order to achieve them
superstitious behavior - in operant conditioning, behavior that is strengthened or weakened because by chance it happens to precede reinforcement or punishment
survey method - a research method that involves asking a representative sample of a population about its opinions, characteristics, or behaviors in an attempt to estimate their occurrence in the larger populationsurvival reflexes - innate reflexes, e.g., breathing, sucking, swallowing, that are present at birth and that help infants adapt to the world outside the womb
symbol - something used to stand for something else, that is, something used to represent and idea, concept, or object
symbolic representation - a type of mental representation that does not correspond to the physical characteristics of tat which it represents, this the world "mouse" does not resemble he small rodent it represents
symmetrical - counterbalance of exactly similar parts facing each other or a center
sympathetic nervous system - a division of the autonomic nervous system that mobilizes the body's energies for emergencies, it works in opposition to the parasympathicussymptoms - the outward manifestations of the underlying pathology
synapse - the juncture between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another, it includes the tip of the axon on one side, the receiving cell’s membrane on the other, and the space between thesynaptic cleft - the gap between neurons, across which signals are transmittedsynaptic vesicles - pockets or sacs that store neurotransmitters at the presynaptic cell’s axon terminal buttons
syndrome - a pattern of symptoms that tend to go together
syntax - the system by which words are arranged into meaningful phrases and sentences
systematic desensitization - a behavior therapy used to treat phobias through a gradual process of counterconditioning to a response incompatible with fear, usually muscular relaxation, the stimuli are usually evoked as mental images according to an anxiety hierarchy whereby the less frightening stimuli re conterconditioned before the more frightening onestabula rasa - a blank slate, some philosophers erroneously used this term to describe the mind at birthtardive dyskinesia - a severe side effect of phenothiazines indicated by a disturbance of motor control that involves drooling, lip smacking, and grimacing similar to that seen in Parkinson’s disease
temperament - broad emotional traits, that are believed to have a substantial biological basis, including level of reactivity and level or energy
temporal lobes - the lobes in the cerebral cortex involved in hearing and visual processing
texture gradient - a monocular distance cue based on perceived characteristics in surface texture whereby coarser textures appear closer, and finer textures appear more distant
thalamus - the part of the lower portion of the forebrain that serves as a major relay and integration center for sensory information
that’s-not-all technique - a compliance strategy based on the norm of reciprocity in which a small, usually preplanned, concession is made to "sweeten" a deal
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) - a theory of behavior derived from the theory of reasoned action that says that a combination of our attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control over a particular behavior determine our intention to perform it
theory of reasoned action - a theory of behavior that says that a combination of our attitudes and subjective norms determine our intention to perform a particular behavior
thirst - the psychological expression or drive of our physiological need for fluids
threshold - the value a stimulus must reach to produce a response
thymus - an organ located behind the breastbone above the heart whose role in the immune system includes turning undifferentiated lymphocytes into cells designed to attack and ill specific foreign invaders
thyroid - an endocrine gland that produces the hormone thyroxin and thus regulates metabolism and growth
timbre - a characteristic of sound that reflects the complexity of the frequencies of the sound waves produced by the vibrating object
time out - an operant-conditioning therapy technique that involves following undesirable behavior with a period of time away from positive reinforcement
token economy - a structured environment designed on the basis of operant-conditioning principles in which objects such as poker chips are used as rewards that may be exchanged for desired activities or objects
top-down processes - mental processes, such as expectancies, that operate on incoming stimuli and interpret themtrace-dependent forgetting - loss of learned information due to the loss of memory, see cue-dependent forgetting
traits - relatively permanent characteristics that one tends to show in most situations
trait theory - the view that people differ in regard to underlying attributes (traits) that partially determine behavior and that are presumed to be consistent across time and situation
tranquilizers - drugs that reduce anxiety without inducing sleep, see also sedatives
transduction - in sensation, the process by which our senses convert energy from the external world, e.g., light, heat, into neural impulses
transference - in psychoanalysis, the patient’s tendency to transfer emotional reactions that were originally directed toward one’s own parents or other critical figures in one’s early life and redirects the toward the analyst
tricyclics - drugs that alleviate depressive symptoms, presumably because they increase availability of certain neurotransmitters, especially norepinephrine and serotonin, in the brain
two-factor theory of emotion - a theory of emotion that states that emotional experience reflects the interaction of general (physiological) arousal and cognitive appraisal of the arousal
Type A personality - a personality type characterized by extreme competitiveness, aggressiveness, hostility, anger, and impatience
Type B personality - a personality type characterized by an easygoing, not hurried, less competitive, and friendlier behavior pattern, compared to Type A
unconditioned response (UR) - in classical conditioning, the response that automatically occurs whenever the US is presented, without any training
unconditioned stimulus (US) - in classical conditioning, the stimulus that automatically elicits the response, without training
unconscious - the part of the mind that contains memories, thoughts, and feelings that cannot be easily brought into consciousness
undifferentiated schizophrenia - a "catch all" term indicating that a person has characteristics of schizophrenia but does not neatly fall into one of its categories, this is the most common schizophrenic diagnosis
unstructured interview - an interview technique that allows for wide-range questions and enables the interviewer to probe spontaneous responses during the course of the interview, this technique is used in the case study method
utility - subjective utility
validity - degree to which a measuring device measures what it is supposed to measure
values - goals that are viewed as good in themselves and not because they lead to further desirable consequences
variable - any characteristic of an object, event, or person that can take two or more valuesvariable interval - a schedule of reinforcement in which the reinforcers are delivered after the first response after a certain time interval has elapsed, the length of the time varies from trial to trialvariable ratio - a schedule of reinforcement in which the reinforcers are delivered after a certain number of responses occur, the number of responses required varies from trial to trial
visual acuity - ability to notice fine detail in a patterned stimulus
visual cortex - a division of the cerebral cortex that receives and integrates visual sensations, it is located in the occipital lobe
wavelength - the distance between the crests of two successive waves, light wavelength is a major determinant of perceived color
Weber’s law - the observation that the size of the difference threshold is proportional to the intensity of the initial stimulus
Wechsler intelligence test - an alternative approach to measuring intelligence quotient developed by psychologist David Wechsler, tests use two separate scales, verbal and nonverbal (performance), to measure intelligence
Wernicke’s area - the part of the left side of the temporal lobe involved in speech comprehension, it is named for its discoverer, the German neurologist Carl Wernickewithdrawal effects - physical effects, which can include vomiting, hallucinations, uncontrolled trembling, muscle spasms, and other forms of discomfort that can occur when an individual stops taking certain drugs
Yerkes-Dodson law - the observation that there is an optimal level of motivation for any task, such that increased motivation will improve performance up to a point, beyond which there is deterioration, the easier a task is to perform, the higher the drive level required for optimal performance
z-score - a statistical score that is expressed as a deviation from the mean in standard deviation units, which allows a comparison of scores drawn from different distributions
zygote - the fertilized ovum



ablation: surgical removal of brain tissue, used to aid identification of brain localisation.
abnormal behaviour: behaviour which is regarded by society as deviant or maladaptive; according to DSM, an individual must be suffering or show maladaptive functioning in order for behaviour to be described as abnormal.
,,,,,abnormal psychology,,,,,: the empirical study of abnormal behaviour, which seeks to describe, explain and predict abnormal behaviour.
absent-mindedness: may refer to 1) a low level of attention ("blanking" or “zoning out”); or 2) intense attention to a single object of focus (hyperfocus) that makes a person oblivious to events around him/her; or 3) unwarranted distraction of attention from the object of focus by irrelevant thoughts or environmental events.
,,,,,absolute threshold,,,,,: the minimum amount of energy required for a sensory experience to be produced
,,,,,abstinence syndrome,,,,,: see withdrawal.
,,,,,abstract,,,,,: existing only in the mind; separated from embodiment; "abstract words like `truth' and `justice'".
accessibility: in long-term memory, the principle that remembering and forgetting are dependent on effective retrieval; without the proper cues, information which exists in long-term memory may not be accessible.
accommodation:  in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the process of changing existing schemas when new information cannot be assimilated.
acetylcholine: is a neurotransmitterfound in the brain, where it is crucial for the regulation of memory (loss of acetylcholine has been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease) and in the peripheral nervous system, where it activates the actions of muscles.
achievement motivation: is the inclination to persevere at tasks that may be complex or demanding for the individual.
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS): is a deadly disease caused by the 'human immunodeficiency virus -HIV', that weakens the immune system and subsequently, the body’s resilience to fight infection. 
,,,,,action potential: the nerve impulse that travels down the axon and triggers the release of neurotransmittersinto a synapse.
,,,,,action slips: a form of absent-mindedness where a person performs an action that was not intended; caused by not paying attention to what is going on.
,,,,,activity theory: proposes that individuals prefer to remain active and productive in later life, even resisting disengagement from society - contrasts with social disengagement theory.
actor/observer biases: these refer to the tendency for (a) ‘actors’ to explain their own behaviour in situational terms and (b) observers to explain the behaviour of others in dispositional (person) terms.
actualisation: an important concept in humanistic psychology, meaning the achievement of one's potential.
actualizing tendency: in Rogers's theory, an innate drive which reflects the desire to grow, to develop and to enhance one's capacities.
adaptation: a feature of an organism that has been shaped by natural selection so that it enhances the fitness of its possessor. Alternative meaning: One adapts the way of living to the medicine and will then be forced to change one's living habits if one has to stop taking the medicine. An example of this is if one lives a very stressful life and manages to continue with this due to sedatives.
addiction: now little used term that referred to physical dependence and was associated with its negative effects, such as on social functioning.
Adler (1870-1937)- an Austrian doctor and psychologist, who was initially influenced by Freud, and later developed his own theory of personality and psychotherapy, through “individual psychology”. Adler strongly believed in treating each patient holistically as a “whole person”, and a range of his ideas and techniques have been applied to a variety of psychology, including cognitive behavioural therapy and holistic psychology.
,,,,,adoption studies: employed to demonstrate the influence of genetics (as opposed to environment) by comparing the correlations between adopted children and either their biological parents or adoptive parents on a measurable trait (e.g. intelligence).
,,,,,Adorno (1903-1969): was a philosopher, sociologist and composer.  Within social psychology, is largely remembered for defining the authoritarian personality (characterised by intolerance of ambiguity, prejudiced attitudes and conformity to authority, with an emphasis on the influence of childhood experiences and internalisation) and the subsequent development of the F-scale (a measurement of the authoritarian personality).
,,,,,adrenal glands: endocrine glands, located just above the kidneys, which play an important role in arousal and stress; the outer layer, the cortex, secretes corticosteroids and the medulla (the inner core) secretes epinephrine(adrenaline) and norepinephrine(noradrenaline).
adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH): released by the anterior pituitary during stressful situations. ACTH, in turn, triggers the release of corticosteroids (another type of hormone). Corticosteroids produce many of the effects of the stress response.
advertising: seeks to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour, through a variety of persuasive techniques, for instance use of fear appeals.
,,,,,aetiology:  the study of the causes of a disease or mental disorder.
affect: emotion or mood, e.g. sadness. Within abnormal psychology, patients may display different types of affect disturbance, e.g. blunted, flat or inappropriate affect.
,,,,,affectionless psychopathy: condition proposed by Bowlby, whereby individuals display little remorse or guilt for their crimes.
affective disorder: see mood disorder.
afferent neurons: the communication of the senses experienced by the body are conveyed to the central nervous system by afferent neurons for processing.
affiliation: the desire of people to associate with others.
ageism: a form of stereotyping and discrimination against the elderly.
agency: the belief that human beings are free to make decisions and have control over their own lives.
agency theory: theory developed by Milgram to explain why people obey orders that go against the conscience. When people see themselves as mere agents of another person, they will obey that person's orders, feeling themselves free of individual responsibility.
aggression: an action or a series of actions where the aim is to cause harm to another person or object.
agoraphobia: anxiety disorder in which a person feels anxiety about experiencing panic attacks in public, and therefore avoids public situations.
AIDS: see acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
aims: the general investigative purpose of the study.
alarm reaction: see general adaptation syndrome.
alcoholism: physical dependency on alcohol.
alpha/beta bias: alpha bias refers to theories and research which assume real and enduring differences between men and women. Beta bias theories and research have traditionally ignored or minimised differences between men and women.
alpha rhythm/waves: the average brain wave pattern (between eight to thirteen per second) whilst in a relaxed, wakeful state.
altered states of awareness: any state of awareness which differs from normal waking awareness; examples include meditation, sleep, drug states and psychosis.
alternative hypothesis: a testable statement that states the expected result of the study, specifying the effect of the independent variable upon the dependent variable, based on the researcher's knowledge from observations, related studies and previous investigations.
altruism (animal): an animal is considered to be engaging in altruistic behaviour when by so doing it increases the survival chances of another animal whilst decreasing its own.
altruism (human): as with animal altruism, this involves some cost to the altruist and some benefit to the recipient. Unlike animal altruism, there is often evidence of 'kindly intent' on the part of the altruist.
Alzheimer's disease: A degenerative brain disorder, which is characterised by gradual memory loss, deteriorating cognitive skills, increasing disorientation and a reduction in intellectual ability. Linked to the deterioration of acetylcholine pathways in the brain.
ambiguous figure: any stimulus which can be perceived in more than one way.
,,,,,American Sign Language,,,,,: manual-visual language system, including gestures, used by hearing-impaired individuals in America.
amnesia: a significant loss of memory as a result of brain damage or psychological trauma. Anterograde amnesia refers to the inability to learn and remember new information after brain damage and retrograde amnesiarefers to the loss of memories from before brain damage.
amphetamine delusional disorder: a form of mental disorder resulting from the excessive use of amphetamines; its primary symptom, extreme paranoid delusions, can make it appear symptomatically identical to paranoid schizophrenia.
amygdala: an almond-shaped structure in the limbic system which plays a role in basic emotions, aggression and the development of emotional memories.
anal personality: an adult who has remained ‘fixated’ during the anal stageof psychosexual development and displays an anally retentive personality, which is characterised by obsessive cleanliness, stinginess and aggressiveness, as a result of either excessive or insufficient gratification of id impulses during the anal stage.
anally retentive: commonly abbreviated to "anal", is used conversationally to describe a person with such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others, and can be carried out to the detriment of the anal-retentive person.
anal stage: the second stage in Freud's theory of psychosexual development, from 15 months to 3 years. According to psychoanalytic theory - when the child's main source of pleasure is the anus.
analytical psychology: branch of psychology developed by Jung - emphasizes the interplay between oppositional forces within the psyche and the ways in which these internal conflicts affect personality development.
analysis of variance (ANOVA): see covariation principle.
androcentrism: refers to the tendency of some theories to offer an interpretation of women based on an understanding of the lives of men (see also alpha/beta bias).
androgens: hormones whose functions are related to masculine characteristics; the most important is testosterone.
androgyny: gender role identity where an individual possesses both male and female (personality) characteristics.
anger management: a programme designed to teach individuals how to apply self-control in order to reduce anger against others.
animal language: as an area of research, this refers to either (a) attempts to teach nonhuman animals to speak, or (b) studies of animals' 'natural' language in their own natural environment.
animal research: the use of non-human animals in empirical research, on the basis of greater control, objectivity and similar genetic makeup. However, the use of non-human animals has raised a number of ethical and moral questions.
animism: the belief that inanimate objects are alive and as such have life-like qualities such as feelings and intentions. A child may get angry and smack his bicycle because it 'made him get hurt'. Animism is a characteristic found in children in Piaget's second stage of intellectual development, the pre-operational stage. Piaget believed that animism was a characteristic of the child's egocentricreasoning - if the child has feelings and intentions, then so must all other things.
anonymity: a state for an individual within a crowd where each person loses their sense of individuality.
anorexia nervosa: (literally, a nervous loss of appetite) a disorder characterised by the pursuit of extreme thinness and by an extreme loss of weight.
ANS: see autonomic nervous system.
antagonist: a substance that hinders the activity of a neurotransmitter, through reducing the amount available.
antagonistic: opposition in physiological action; especially : interaction of two or more substances such that the action of any one of them on living cells or tissues is lessened.
antecedent control: a behavioural measure in which the intervention occurs before the behaviour arises. Antecedent procedures include education, attitude change and inducing or preventing behaviours by controlling the triggers which cause them to occur.
anterior pituitary: The front portion of the pituitary, a small gland in the head called the master gland. Hormones secreted by the anterior pituitary influence growth, sexual development, skin pigmentation, thyroid function, and adrenocortical function.
anterograde amnesia: the inability to learn and remember new information after brain damage.
anthropomorphism: assigning human feelings and emotions to non-human animals.
anti-anxiety drug: a drug which functions as a central nervous system depressant, but whose primary behavioural effect is the reduction of anxiety.
anti-conformity: refers to behaviour carried out in order to oppose the norms of the group.
anti-depressants: a drug which is used to treat clinical depression, primarily by enhancing the activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
anti-inflammatory: a medication to reduce inflammation (the body's response to surgery, injury, irritation, or infection).
anti-social behaviour: this is a general term used to refer to any behaviour that harms or offends another person. Common examples are aggressionand discrimination.
anti-social personality disorder: individuals who show a lack of regard for others, are impulsive, and behave in an socially unacceptable manner.
anti­psychotic drug: a drug used to treat psychotic symptoms, such as disordered thoughts, delusions, or hallucinations.
anxiety: a negative emotional state, characterised by high physiological arousal and nervousness or fear.
anxiety disorders: the most common of adult mental disorders, characterised by severe anxiety and feelings of tension. Phobias are probably the most familiar of these disorders.
APA: the American Psychological Association
aphasia: language impairment as a result of brain injury or lesions.
aphonia: an inability to produce normal speech sounds.
applications: actual or possible ways of using psychological knowledge in an applied or practical setting.
appraisal: a judgement about whether a potentially stressful situation is threatening, challenging or harmful.
archetypes: in Jung's theory, patterns or frameworks within the collective unconscious which serve to organise our experiences, providing the basis of many fantasies, myths and symbols.
arousal: refers to the body's level of alertness and activation as reflected in certain physiological responses such as heart rate or muscle tension.
artificial intelligence (AI): in computer science, the attempt to build machines which can function intelligently, and the use of such machines to test our understanding of human intelligence.
Asch effect: see conformity (majority influence)
assimilation: in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the process of fitting new information into existing schemas.
association areas: parts of the cortex that receive input from more than one sensory system.
assumption: something taken for granted as being true.
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968): proposed the multi-store model of memory, comprised of three stages; incoming sensory information, short-term memory (7+/- 2 “chunks” of information) and long-term memory.
Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory: also known as the multi-store model of memory. Proposes the existence of three separate but linked systems – sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.        
attachment: a two-way bond between two individuals (humans or some other animal species), in which each individual gains a sense of security from the other.
attachment theory: a psychodynamic approach to developmental psychology, which places a lot of emphasis on the formation of a secure attachment between infant and primary carer(s).
attention: the process of selectively focusing on particular stimulus elements, typically those deemed most significant.
attention deficit disorder (ADD): neurological condition that is often evident from childhood. ADD may cause restlessness, disorganisation, hyperactivity, distractibility, and mood swings.
attenuator model of attention: Treisman's proposal that, instead of selecting one channel and blocking the others, the filtering mechanism (a) selects one channel and passes it on for semantic analysis, and (b) allows the unattended channels through for processing but in weakened (attenuated) form.
attitude: a personal belief of an evaluative nature, such as good or bad, likeable or not likeable, which influences our reactions towards people or things.
attribution (of causality): the way in which we infer the causes of our own or another person's behaviour according to a set of cognitive rules and biases. As a result of these strategies we decide whether a person's behaviour is caused by their own stable characteristics, or whether it is a result of situational influences.
attribution theory: a theory that seeks to explain the causes of behaviour in terms of either dispositional (personality) factors or situational factors.
attributional biases: in attribution theory, common faults in attributing causes to behaviour such that mistakes are made and the causes of behaviour are misunderstood. An example is self-serving bias in which we attribute our own good and worthy behaviours to personality factors (I gave my mum a bunch of flowers because I am kind) and any bad or unworthy behaviours to situational factors (I shouted at mum because I've got a headache).
audience effect: how performance on a task can be affected by others watching – either improves performance (social facilitation) or reduces performance (social inhibition)
auditory adaptation: the tendency of repeated or continuous sounds to appear less loud over time. As we habituate to the stimulus of the sound its apparent loudness decreases.
auditory cortex: the area of the brain (in the temporal cortex) that connects fibers of the auditory nerve and interprets nerve impulses in a form that is perceived as sound.
auditory fatigue: occurs on exposure to intense sounds which cause a persistent reduction in apparent loudness.
autonomic conditioning (also called 'learned operant control of autonomic responses'): the conditioning of changes in autonomic (involuntary) responses (such as heart rate or blood pressure) by means of operant reinforcement.
authoritarian personality: personality style strongly associated with prejudiced attitudes, where the person is intolerant of ambiguity or uncertainty, submissive to those in authority and dismissive or arrogant towards those perceived to be of lower social status.
autistic disorder (autism): a developmental disorder, whereby children are unresponsive and avoid contact with others, and demonstrate a lack of language and communication skills. Autism is a type of pervasive developmental disorder.
autokinetic effect: an optical illusion experienced when a person in a totally dark room sees a stationary spot of light appearing to move.
automatic processing: a rapid mental operation that does not involve conscious awareness and often improves with practice, e.g. the Stroop effect.
autonomic nervous system: part of the nervous system that maintains the normal functioning of the body's inner environment The ANS has two subdivisions: (a) the sympathetic division whose activity mobilises energy resources and prepares the body for action, and (b) the parasympathetic divisionwhose activity tends to conserve the body's energy resources and restore inner calm.
availability: in memory, the principle that remembering is determined by whether the information exists in long-term memory or not; forgetting implies that the information is destroyed.
availability heuristic: a rule of thumb used to make decisions about frequencies of events based on how easily relevant examples can be remembered  a cognitive short cut
aversion therapy: a behavioural treatment that aims to rid the individual of an undesirable habit (e.g. smoking) by pairing the habit with unpleasant (aversive) consequences.
aversive: an unpleasant stimulus or event.
aversive conditioning: a form of behaviour modification which is designed to induce an aversive response to stimuli which are associated with existing undesirable behaviours.
awareness: in biological psychology, awareness comprises a human's or an animal's perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event. Awareness does not necessarily imply understanding, just an ability to be conscious of, feel or perceive.
axon: the relatively elongated portion of a neuron between the cell body and the terminals which provides the signal pathway for a nerve impulse.

backward conditioning: a form of classical conditioningwhereby the conditioned stimulus is presented after the unconditioned stimulus.
balance theory: proposed by Heider (1946), whereby individuals are motivated to seek balance in their attitudes towards themselves and other people. “Sentiment” or liking relations may be balanced or unbalanced according to the overall valence of affect between people.
Bandura (1925 - ): was a key proponent of behaviourism. Best remembered for his research into observational learning or modelling in the “Bobo doll experiment”. His work also includes self-efficacy, aggression and personality theory.
bar chart: this is used to display nominal data and average scores in the form of a graph. There are gaps between each bar that is plotted on the graph.
baseline: a datum of comparison to measure against the effects of a manipulated variable (the independent variable).
basic anxiety: in Horney's psychodynamic theory, an intense sense of isolation and helplessness which is the primary source of human motivation.
basic trust (vs mistrust): sense of security towards a parent/caregiver and world around them, that develops in an infant after being given loving and responsive care.
Bateson (1904-1980) : proposed the ‘double bind?theory of faulty communication patterns within families of patients of schizophrenia.
behavioural model of abnormality: the view that abnormal behaviours are maladaptive learned responses to the environment which can be replaced by more adaptive behaviours.
behavioural psychology: an approach to psychology that emphasises the learning of behaviour and objective recording.
behavioural therapy: a form of treatment that aims to change behaviour by means of systematic desensitisation, behaviour modification, or aversion therapy.
behaviourism: one of the major perspectives in psychology that concentrates on overt (observable) behaviour rather than covert (unobservable) mental processing. Behaviours are seen as being acquired through the processes of learning, and the role of the environment is seen to be crucial in development.
behaviour modification: is a general label for attempts to change behaviour by using appropriate and timely reinforcement.
Berkowitz (1926 ): specialises in aggression, in particular instrumental and emotional aggression, the frustration-aggression hypothesis and intergroup hostility.
beta rhythm: also known as beta activity. Whilst an individual is alert and responsive, beta activity is depicted by irregular, low-amptitude waves on an EEG.
bias: a source of error which results in a systematic distortion of results.
biased sampling: a sample of participants is not representative of the population from which it was taken, and thus is likely to over-represent one group (e.g. by gender, working class etc)
binge eating:is related to "bulimia nervosa" but sometimes occurs without the compensatory behaviour to get rid of the excess calories.
binomial sign test:a non-parametric inferential statistical test. Used when you have nominal data, the research is repeated measures (or matched pairs) and you are looking for a difference in the effect each level of the independent variable has on the dependent variable.
biochemical:refers to those chemical processes involving human biological function.
biofeedback: feedback to a person about some bodily process (e.g. heart rate, muscle tension) of which the person is usually unaware.
biological model/biomedical approach to abnormality: emphasises the role of physiological processes (i.e. genetic and biochemical factors) in causing mental disorders, and in the treatment of disorders..
biological psychology:the study of the relationship between the physiological systems in the body and behaviour.
biological rhythms: activity that occur with some regularity in an organism. Infradian rhythms occur less than once a day (e.g. human menstrual cycle), circadian rhythms repeat themselves every 24 hours (e.g. sleep/waking cycle), and ultradian rhythms more than once a day (e.g. stages of sleep during one night).
biological (somatic) therapies:an approach to the treatment of mental disorders that relies on the use of physical or chemical methods.
biopsychosocial model: a model of heath and illness are determined by multiple factors, including social, cultural, psychological and biological, which can thus have multiple effects.
bipolar disorder/depression:  (manic depressive disorder) a mood disorder characterised by extremes of mania and depression.
bobo doll: an inflatable toy used in Albert Bandura's studies of aggression imitation.
body language: sometimes referred to as 'non-verbal communication', in other words, what you can tell about someone's mood or frame of mind by the expression on their face, the way they are standing or sitting, etc.
Bolwby (1907 -1990): a British psychologist, who focused primarily on attachment bonds between a caregiver and a child, and how the strength or deprivation of the bond may affect the child’s cognitive, social and emotional development, epitomised in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis.
bonding: the process whereby the young of a species form a bond with their parent(s). In the bonding process, parents also bond with their offspring and thus safeguard them from abuse or abandonment.
bottom-up approach: in the context of offender profiling, an approach that starts from the available evidence from the crimes committed by a particular offender (the 'bottom') and attempts to look for connections and links between them that will give a clue to the characteristics of the criminal.
bottom-up processing: of information (stimulus) that is determined solely by aspects of the stimulus.
BPS: an abbreviation of the British Psychological Society.
brain: the portion of the central nervous system which lies within the skull, responsible for controlling a range of behaviours.  The brain is the centrepiece of the nervous system.  Neuroscientists have identified different areas of the brain.  These areas perform a range of different functions.  The brain consists of three interconnected layers.  The central core, limbic system and cerebral cortex.
brain disorder: any abnormality in the brain that results in impaired functioning or thinking.
brain stem: the region at the top of the spinal cord, composed of three primary structures; the medulla, the pons and the midbrain.
brain ventricles: cavities in the brain that contain a clear, colourless fluid called cerebrospinal fluid which acts as a buffer against damage caused by blows to the head.
brain wave: (neurophysiology) rapid fluctuations of voltage between parts of the cerebral cortex that are detectable with an electroencephalograph.
brief:a description given to participants to indicate what will be expected of them during a study and to describe its general purpose so that they can give their informed consent to participate. It should also state their right to withdraw at any time.
British Crime Survey: a regular, large, face-to­face survey of adults living in private households in England and Wales. Its main purpose is to monitor trends in crime but it also covers a range of other topics such as attitudes to crime.
Broca's aphasia: characterised as a disturbance of speech production, whilst language comprehension remains largely intact. Occurs as a result of damage to Broca’s area.
Broca's area:the area of the inferior prefrontal cortex of the left hemisphere of the brain, hypothesised by Broca to be the centre of speech production.
buffers: term used in social influence research to refer to any aspect of a situation that protects people from having to confront the consequences of their actions.
bulimia_nervosa: characterised by secret binge eating followed by vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, excessive exercise, etc., in order to lose weight.
bystander behaviour: the behaviour shown by those who witness an emergency. This is often referred to as 'bystander apathy' because of the tendency of bystanders to ignore the emergency when in the company of others.
bystander intervention:the act of assisting strangers in an emergency.

capacity: quantifies the amount of information that can be held in memory, e.g. short-term memory has a limited capacity of 7 +/- 2 items.
capacity models / resource allocation models (of divided attention): those models proposing that we have a pool of processing resources that we can allocate according to the demands of the task and environmental factors.
cardiovascular system: consists of two parts, the heart and the blood vessels. It is a system for distributing oxygen and nutrients to the organs in the body. Heart rate, blood pressure and local blood volume are three measures of cardiovascular activity commonly used in research by psychophysiologists.
case study: a detailed description of a single individual, typically used to provide information on the person's history and to aid in interpreting the person's behaviour.
castration anxiety: the anxiety that boys suffer during the Oedipus complex that their rivalrous father may castrate them.
CAT (computed axial tomography) scans: a non-invasive, multiple X-ray procedure for creating images of the brain.
cataplexy: sudden paralysis of some or all muscles brought on by laughter, anger, or strong emotions; a hallmark of narcolepsy.
catatonic schizophrenia: a form of schizophrenia, characterised by a patient who displays motor abnormalities, for instance, changing between a state of complete immobility to energised excitement.
categorisation: a short cut used when processing information. A category is a set of items perceived to have at least one feature in common. In interpersonal perception, categories such as young-old and male-female are used.
catharsis: a term used in psychodynamic psychology to mean the release of emotion. An example is crying to release sadness.
cause and effect: establishing that the independent variable has had a clear effect upon the dependent variable.
central core: this exists in all vertebrates.  The central core regulates the basic life processes such as breathing, pulse, arousal, movement, balance, sleep and also the early stages of processing sensory information.  The central core includes the thalamus, pons, cerebellum, reticular formation and medulla.
central nervous system (CNS): the brain, together with the nerve pathways of the spinal cord.
central tendency: a single value which is representative of a set of numbers by indicating the most typical value. Three measures of central tendency are the mean, median and mode.
centration: a characteristic of the preoperational stage of cognitive development. Children centre on one aspect of a problem and overlook other perceptual factors.
cerebellum: ('little brain' in Latin) two small hemispheres located beneath the cortical hemispheres, at the back of the head; the cerebellum plays an important role in directing movements and balance.
cerebral cortex: an area of the brain resembling a folded sheet of grey tissue that covers the rest of the brain. The cerebral cortex directs the brains higher cognitive and emotional functions.  It is divided into two almost symmetrical halves called the cerebral hemispheres.  Each hemisphere contains four lobes.  Areas within these lobes regulate all forms of conscious experience such as emotion, perception, thought and planning as well as unconscious cognitive and emotional processes.  The cerebral cortex includes the frontal lobe, occipital lobe, parietal lobe and temporal lobe.
cerebral dominance: the tendency for one hemisphere to be superior for particular functions.
cerebral hemispheres: two half spheres, made up of the cortex and underlying structures, which comprise the major portion of the brain.
chaos theory: a branch of mathematics dealing with non-linear functions which has been applied to the modelling of situations such as the weather and stock markets; non-linear systems are not predictable, because very small changes in initial conditions can result in radical differences at a later point.
charisma: a personal attractiveness or interestingness that enables you to influence others.
checklist: a simple list of all the behaviours being recorded. On every occurrence of a behaviour on the list, a single tally is recorded. At the end of the observation period, the observer has a record of the number of occurrences of each of the behaviours being investigated.
child psychology: ( developmental psychology) the branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children.
child rearing styles: varying style of parenting classified according to the extent parents are demanding of their child and/or responsive to the childs needs, including authoritative and authoritarian parenting.
chi-squared (x2) test of association: a nonparametric inferential statistical test. Used when you have nominal data, the research is independent groups and you are looking for an association between the independent variable and the dependent variable.
chromosomes: thread-like genetic structures composed of double strands of DNA and proteins, containing the genes; in humans, there are twenty-three pairs of chromosomes.
chromosome abnormalities: typically occur when a chromosome is missing or there is an extra chromosome, e.g. Downs syndrome.
chronic schizophrenia: used to diagnose schizophrenics who show no significant improvement after therapy or treatment over a long period of time.
chunk: the basic measure of short-term memory capacity, representing a meaningful unit, such as random letters, numbers or words.
chunking: combining individual letters or numbers into larger meaningful units
circadian rhythm: a roughly 24-hour cycle which is determined by an internal body clock, e.g. the sleep-wake cycle.
classical conditioning: a basic form of learning, whereby a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), that naturally produces an unconditioned response (UCR). After several trials, the neutral stimulus is now a conditioned stimulus (CS) and thus produces a conditioned response (CR).
claustrophobia: an intense fear of confined spaces such as lifts.
client-centred therapy: an humanistic approach to therapy developed by Carl Rogers, in which the person seeking treatment (termed a client), not the therapist, is seen as directing the process of therapy; later called person-centred therapy.
clinical interview: a flexible research method that uses open-ended questions to obtain a lot of information from a participant.
clinical psychologist: a psychologist who has possesses a doctorate in psychology and has been trained to assess and treat psychological problems.
clinical psychology: focuses on the assessment and treatment of abnormal or maladaptive behaviour.
closed questions: questions that have set answers for participants to choose from.
closure: a term used in Gestalt therapy to mean the emotional experience of moving on from a past trauma.
CNS: see central nervous system
cocktail party effect: refers to (,I) a person's ability to concentrate on just one conversation although others are going on all around and (b) the way a person engaged in (attending to) one conversation will nevertheless hear their own name if it is mentioned in a nearby conversation.
codes of practice: ethical guidelines produced by psychological organisations such as the BPS and the APA, containing advice on research and practice.
confidence: is generally described as a state of being certain, either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct, or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective given the circumstances at the time.
cognition: the processes of reasoning, thoughts, attitudes and memories.
cognitive: a process of information storage and retrieval, which can be utilised flexibly in behaviour. In humans, cognitive?relates to mental operations sometimes termed thought processes, eg reasoning, calculation and planning.
cognitive ability: the psychological concept that refers to such processes as perceiving, knowing, recognising, conceptualising, judging, and reasoning.
cognitive appraisal theory: devised by Lazarus, stating that our cognitive appraisal of a situation in crucial in experiencing emotions.
cognitive behavioural programmes: programmes designed to modify behaviour by changing attitudes and thoughts.
cognitive behavioural therapies: techniques that involve helping clients to identify their negative, irrational thoughts and to replace these with more positive, rational ways of thinking.
cognitive development: the growth of cognitive (thinking) abilities. This may be studied by examining changes in the form and structure of children's thinking as they get older, or by looking at individual differences in the power of children's thinking as measured, e.g. by IQ tests.
cognitive dissonance: in Festinger's theory, a state of tension created when there are conflicts between an individual's behaviour and beliefs, or between two beliefs.
cognitive interview: an interview technique designed to be used by police investigators to help elicit accurate information from eyewitnesses.
cognitive labelling theory: Schachter and Singer's theory that it is the combination of physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal that leads to the experience of emotion.
cognitive map: Tolman's term for the mental representation of learned relationships among stimuli.
cognitive model of abnormality: the view that stresses the role of cognitive problems (such as illogical thought processes) in abnormal functioning.
cognitive neo-association theory: Berkowitz's theory that thoughts, memories and behaviour may be triggered by affective states and/or priming.
cognitive neuroscience:a hybrid discipline aimed at identifying the biological bases of cognitive processes by combining techniques for the study of cognitive processes with measures of physiological processes.
cognitive pathology: a phenomenon whereby researchers selectively ignore simplifying assumptions and other limitations which are part of the foundations of their theories and methods.
cognitive processes: aspects of mental 'behaviour' that focus on the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of knowledge, for instance in memory and perception.
cognitive psychology: research field in psychology that focuses on mental processes used to acquire, store, retrieve and use knowledge.
cognitive restructuring: in Ellis's rational-emotive therapy, a process for modifying faulty beliefs and the negative emotions they produce, in order to develop realistic beliefs and self acceptance.
cognitive science: the study of human intelligence and of the symbol-processing nature of cognition.
cognitive therapy: a form of therapy which focuses on the role of faulty beliefs and thought patterns in abnormal behaviour; because it also encourages testing beliefs via behavioural strategies, it is sometimes called' cognitive behavioural therapy'. See also rational-emotive therapy.
cohort: a group of individuals who were born during the same time interval, i.e. a 'generation'.
collective unconscious: in Jung's theory, a biologically based portion of the unconscious which reflects universal themes and ideas, not individual experience.
collectivism: an orientation which emphasises a person's connections and obligations to a social group (family, tribe, etc.); when applied to describe a culture, typically contrasted to individualism.
collectivist society: a society characterised by a high level of mutual interdependence between individuals.
collectivistic cultures: cultures that value group loyalty, prefer group to individual decisions and where the needs of the group outweigh the concerns of the individual.
colour processing/vision: refers to the ability to see chromatic colours (hues) such as yellow, green and blue. Two theories have been proposed trichromatic and opponent process - but no satisfactory complete explanation exists.
Comfortable Interpersonal Distance Scale: a non-invasive method used to measure people's personal space.
community environmental design: differs from urban renewal because these projects allow the current residents in the area to have an input in the redesign of the area.
companionate love: the emotional state that combines feelings of affection and attachment characterised by mutual concern for each other - less intense than romantic love.
compensation: in Adler's theory, a process of engaging in activities intended to produce a feeling of superiority over others, in order to overcome feelings of inferiority.
competitive altruism: (also called 'costly signalling theory') the concept that individuals will make large public sacrifices if they believe there is a long-term personal benefit.
complementarity: a concept developed by physicists to deal with the existence of two models which are both useful, but not directly reconcilable.
compliance: a form of social influence, whereby an individual seeks to influence another to comply with a demand.
compulsion: an irresistible impulse to act, regardless of the rationality of the motivation.
computerised axial tomograms (CAT): see computed tomography.
computerised imaging techniques:for studying brain function which use computers to convert information into a three-dimensional model of the brain which can be viewed on a television monitor.
computed tomography (CT): imaging technique using X-rays.
concept(s): an idea or group of ideas that might be used as the basis for a psychological theory.
concordance:  a technique for studying inheritance by examining characteristics of individuals whose genetic relationship is known.
concrete operational period: In Piaget's stages of cognitive development, a period between ages seven and eleven during which children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
concurrent validity: an indicator of validity, which compares measures of the same phenomenon to determine whether they produce similar results in the same circumstances.
conditional positive regard: acceptance and caring given to a person only for meeting certain standards of behaviour.
conditioned emotional response: an emotional response such as fear which is established through classical conditioning.
conditioned reinforcer: stimuli which act as reinforcers but are not based on biological survival, such as attention, praise or money.
conditioned response:in classical conditioning, a response to a previously neutral stimulus which has become a conditioned stimulus by repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.
conditioned stimulus: a stimulus which by repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response.
conditions for growth: the conditions under which healthy development of personality occurs; defined by Rogers as unconditional positive regard, openness and empathy.
conditions of worth: restrictions imposed on self-expression in order to earn positive regard.
conditioning: see classical and operant conditioning.
conduct disorder is used to describe a pattern of repetitive behavior of children where the rights of others or the current social norms are violated. Symptoms include verbal and physical. aggression, cruel behavior toward people and pets, destructive behavior, lying, truancy, vandalism, and stealing.
cones: photoreceptor cells located in the centre of the retina that allow us to see colour.
confederates: individuals who pose as participants in empirical research, in order to produce responses from real? participants in the study.
confidentiality: the ethical concern that information gathered during psychological research or therapy should not be divulged to others unless otherwise agreed in advance or unless there is a legal requirement to disclose it.
confirmation: in research, the process of determining that observations are consistent with the hypothesis being true.
confirmation bias: a form of cognitive error based on the tendency to seek out information which supports one's beliefs, and ignore contradictory information.
conformity: a type of social influence expressed through exposure to the views of a majority and our submission to those views.
confound: in experimental research, a situation where two variables change simultaneously, making it impossible to determine their relative influence.
confounding variable: uncontrolled variable that produces an unwanted effect on the dependent variable. It obscures the effect of the independent variable.
congruence: in Rogers's theory, a feeling of integration experienced when the self and ideal self match.
conscience: a person's moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects their own behaviour.
conscious: in Freud's theory, that aspect of the mind which contains those thoughts and feelings of which we are immediately aware at a given moment.
consciousness: is regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.
consent: an ethical necessity, whereby participants agree to procedures that will take place and are given the right to withdraw at any time in the study.
conservation: understanding that physical characteristics of number or quantity do not change, even though the appearance may change, and is demonstrated by children in the pre-operational stage of Piagets theory of development.
consequent control: a behavioural measure in which the intervention follows the behaviour to be changed. Consequent procedures can affect behaviours by using pleasant or unpleasant consequences (positive or negative reinforcement or punishment) to make their performance more or less likely or through the use of feedback.
constant errors: uncontrolled variables that act on only one level of the independent variable. Their action may either be in the same direction as a predicted difference, exaggerating the apparent effect of the independent variable or in the opposite direction, obscuring the effect of the independent variable.
constructive theories of perception: top-down (or concept driven) theories that emphasise the need for several sources of information in order to construct our perception of the world. In addition to information available in the sensory stimulus, we need to use higher cognitive processes, according to this theory, to interpret the information appropriately.
construct validity: an indicator of validity, which aims to demonstrate that the phenomenon being measured actually exists, for example, by justifying it in relation to a model or theory.
contact hypothesis: suggestion that prejudice can be reduced if members of different groups are brought into contact with each other.
content analysis: examination of certain types of media (e.g. books, TV; magazines, the Internet) to see what effect they may be having on our perceptions and/or behaviour. It involves the analysis of language, certain words or certain activities that appear in the chosen media.,
context-dependent forgetting: failure to retrieve information from long-term memory due to the absence of appropriate contextual cues.
contiguity: in behaviourism, the principle that a reinforcer must occur immediately after a response in order for learning to occur.
contextual reinstatement: in the context of criminal psychology, a way of improving memory for an event by returning to the place where it happened or asking the witness to imagine themselves back in that place and in the same emotional state.
contingency of reinforcement: in operant conditioning, a description of the relationship between a response and a reinforcer.
continuity: in developmental theory, the view that changes occur through a continuous gradual process, rather than as a series of discrete stages; continuity is an assertion about the processes that underlie development, as well as the changes observed in behaviour.
continuous reinforcement: a reinforcement schedule in which every response is followed by a reinforcer; equivalent to an FR (Fixed Ratio) 1 schedule.
contrast processing: term used in the study of visual perception to describe the ability to differentiate between brightness levels in adjoining areas.
control(psychological): the sense that one can anticipate events that occur in one's environment - a feeling that one can accomplish things and is not at the mercy of forces beyond one's control. Types of control include: informational, decisional, behavioural, cognitive and retrospective.
control group: in an experimental design, group used as a baseline to compare the effect of the independent variable in the experimental group.
controlled (attentional) processing: a mental operation that is conscious, relatively slow and easily interrupted.
controls: the steps taken to limit factors that could distort the collection of valid and reliable data.
convenience sample: a quasi-random sampling procedure in which the potential sample pool actually differs from the population - for example, selecting university students instead of people in general; the impact on representativeness (if any) often depends on what behaviour is being studied.
convergent problem: a problem which has a single solution, and all elements lead towards that solution; also called closed-end or well-defined problems.
coping: a person's efforts to minimise, control or tolerate environmental demands that are judged to exceed their resources to fight or avoid.
coprolalia: an uncontrollable use of obscene language; often accompanied by mental disorders.
corpus callosum: a wide band of nerve fibres which connect the two hemispheres of the brain.
correlation: the degree of relatedness between two sets of scores. If two sets of scores are correlated, it enables researchers to predict (with varying degrees of certainty) the approximate value of one score if they know the value of the other. A positive correlation exists when high values on one variable are associated with high values on another variable. A negative correlation exists when high values on one variable are associated with low values on another variable.
correlational analysis: a type of analysis used to measure the extent of relationship between variables that are thought likely to co-vary.
correlation coefficient: a descriptive statistic measuring the degree of relationship between two variables; for positive correlations, it is a number which varies between 0.0 and + 1.0, and for negative correlations between 0.0 and -1.0; in both cases, the closer the value is to I, the stronger the relationship between the two variables.
cortex:  the outer layer of the brain which controls many of our higher functions like speech and perception.
cortical activity: neural activity in the cortex of the brain.
corticosteroids: drugs that mimic the action of a group of hormones produced by adrenal glands; they are anti-inflammatory and act as bronchodilators.
counter balancing: the systematic variation of the order of presentation of the levels of the independent variable (eg. Half of the participants first undergo Condition A followed by Condition B, whilst the other half do vice versa), in a repeated measures design, to avoid order and fatigue effects.
counter factual thinking: thinking about events that did not actually take place, such as winning when we in fact lost.
counter transference: as part of psychoanalytic therapy, the therapist may transfer feelings or conflicts they may have about their own life, or significant others in it, onto the client. It is imperative that the therapist recognises this possibility and guards against it.
co-variation model of attribution: Kelley's theory that people decide on the cause of a behaviour by weighing up how consistent and distinctive the behaviour is and how much consensus there is about it.
covariation principle: proposes that individuals attribute behaviour to a causal factor if it existed whilst the behaviour took place, but was not there when it did not occur.
Craik and Lockhart (1972): put forward the levels of processing model of memory, as a counterpoint to the multi-store model of memory. Memory is seen as a product of the depth of processing and encoding of information; for instance shallow processing or deep processing (e.g. semantic processing).
creativity: the capacity to produce something which is both unique and useful.
criminal psychology: is the study of the wills, thoughts, intentions and reactions of criminals.
crisis: a psychological conflict which needs to be resolved if the individual is to move on to the next stage of development.
criterion: a standard or test by which individual things or people may be compared and judged.
critical period: a crucial period in a person's or animal's development when certain experiences must happen for normal development to proceed. Today it is more common to use the term sensitive period to describe the optimum period for certain experiences to happen.
critical value: the value that is compared with the observed (calculated) value in an inferential statistical test. Each inferential statistical test has a table or tables of critical values. The comparison with the observed (calculated) allows you to conclude if you have found a significant result.
cross cultural study: a study conducted across two or more cultures in order to make comparisons between them.
cross sectional sample: a sample which is deliberately selected in such a way that the sample matches the population for particular characteristics, such as age and income.                                                                                                                   
cross sectional study: a research design based on selecting representative groups who vary on a particular characteristic; when the characteristic is age, this design provides a means of making developmental comparisons.
cross tolerance:this phenomenon arises in some drug categories, such as the opiates (heroin, morphine etc) and tryptamines (LSD, mescaline and psilocybin) when the prolonged use of one drug in the group results in the development of tolerance to the others opioids.
crowd: may refer to a large, cohesive gathering of individuals or to the act of coming together to form a tightly-spaced group. In addition, crowding is used to refer to the psychological perceptions associated with this increase in density.
crowding: the feeling that is induced if our expectations about the use of space are violated by the presence of others.
crystallised intelligence: knowledge and skills already acquired by a person, e.g. arithmetic.
cue-arousal theory: suggests that the presence of specific cues in the environment triggers aggressive behaviour.
cue-dependent coding: the concept that all information is stored in memory as a set of relationships called the context; remembering is seen as dependent on restoring the cues which formed the original context.
cue-dependent forgetting: failure to recall memory due to a lack of cues that were present at the time of memory encoding.
cultural bias: a tendency in psychological theory and research to ignore the differences between cultures and impose understanding based on the study of one culture alone.
cultural identity: the influence of one's culture on the development of identity. Individualist cultures stress the importance of personal achievement and independence, while collectivist cultures stress the importance of collective achievement and dependence.
cultural relativism: in the context of atypical psychology, the acknowledgement that symptoms may differ across cultures.
culture: a system of values, beliefs and practices that characterise a particular group, for example a national or ethnic group.
culture-bound syndrome: A mental disorder that appears to be confined to the members of a particular cultural group.
custom: a practice from the past that people continue to observe.

dark adaptation: the gradual process through which the eyes adjust from a change in illumination from light to low light intensity.
Darwin (1809-1882): a hugely influential naturalist, who proposed that all species evolve through natural selection so that traits that enhance survival are passed on.
daydream: a visionary fantasy experienced while awake, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes, or ambitions.
debriefing: an ethical procedure that occurs at the end of a study, whereby participants are given as much information as possible about the study, are given the option to discuss  their experience of the study, to ensure that participants leave the experiment in the same emotional state as they entered.
decay: the loss of information in memory over a long period of time.
deception: in research, the intentional misleading and misinforming of participants with regard to the aim of the study.
decibels (dB):a measure of volume (sound intensity) .decision-making: reasoning that involves considering and choosing different options.
declarative knowledge: memory for facts (semantic knowledge) and events (episodic knowledge).
deduction/deductive reasoning: the logical process of drawing a particular conclusion from a set of general principles.
defence mechanism: psychological strategies as part of Freudian psychoanalytic theory, that are used to distort or deny reality, in order to cope with anxiety and/or a situation which an individual feels is difficult to cope with.
deindividuation: a process through which group members cease to view themselves as individuals. Individual identity is replaced with identification with a group.
delinquency: criminal/antisocial activity.
delusion: unfounded and irrational beliefs held despite contrary evidence. Characteristic of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, can be manifested in delusions of grandeur (believing that one is famous or powerful) or delusions of persecution (believing that one is being chased or followed).
demand characteristic: cues in an experiment that reveal information to participants about the aim and expected outcome, thereby influencing their behavior and subsequently confounding the results.
dementia: disorder characterised by considerable deterioration in cognitive function, for instance in loss of memory. Different types of dementia include corticial dementias (e.g. Alzheimers disease) and sub-cortical dementias (e.g. Huntingtons disease).
demographic: a socioeconomic or similar factor that defines a certain group or area.
dendrites: branched fibres at the end of the cell body of a neuron that receive incoming impulses
denial: a defence mechanism , whereby an individual may denies or rejects some aspect of reality.
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA): the molecule which forms basis of heredity. DNA holds all genetic information on the chromosomes.
dependent personality disorder: a form of personality disorder, whereby an individual is heavily reliant upon others and demonstrates feelings of inadequacy and helplessness when alone.
dependent variable (DV): in an experiment, the values of the variable that change as a result of manipulation of the independent variable.
depression (unipolar disorder): a type of mood disorder, characterised by persistent feelings of great sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt and a loss of interest in activities.
deprivation: a condition of having too little of something.
depth/distance (visual) perception: the capability to view the world three-dimensionally, utilising monocular and binocular cues to appraise depth and distance between objects.
descriptive statistics: the description and summation of sets of scores in statistics.
determinism: the assumption that all behaviour has specific causes.
developmental psychology: also known as human development. It is the scientific study of the processes which underlie and control growth and change in behaviour over time.
deviant behavior: behavior that is a recognised violation of social norms.?
diagnosis: the identification and classification of a psychological disorder.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM): a multi-axial manual used for the classification, definition and description of mental health disorders.
diathesis-stress model: an explanation of mental disorders based on a combination of genetic vulnerability (diathesis) and environmental influences.
dichotic listening: utilised in attention research, whereby a different auditory message is simultaneously presented to each ear. Participants are required to repeat one of the messages whilst ignoring the other.
diencephalon: a part of the forebrain, containing the thalamus and the hypothalamus.
diffusion of responsibility: occurs in groups when an individual feels less responsibility because accountability is diffused amongst the group. Evident in emergency situations, whereby the larger the number of bystanders, the less responsibility each bystander feels.
digit span: a test of short-term memory, whereby participants are presented with a series of digits and asked to repeat them. Average digit span is 7 +/- 2.
directional hypothesis: states which of the two condition means will be larger, most often used, one tailed T-test.
discovery learning: a Piagetian belief that children learn through self-discovery, aided by a teacher providing suitable materials, thereby stimulating intrinsic satisfaction.
discrete variable: measurement using of a discrete category (eg. Gender) as opposed to a continuous score (e.g height, weight, intelligence).
discrimination: unequal and unlawful treatment based upon race, colour, creed, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
disengagement theory: mutual process of disengagement in activities expected by the individual and by society.
disorganised speech: one of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, a disturbance whereby speech is disjointed and incoherent.
displacement: forgetting in short-term memory, as a result of to new incoming information replacing the previous contents
dispositional attribution: when behavior is attributed to internal factors that are directly controllable by a person, e.g. an individuals effort or ability, as opposed to external factors (situational attributions), such as the weather or bad luck.
dissociative disorder: Is a condition, often caused by trauma, in which a person disconnects from a full awareness of self, time, or external circumstances as a defence against unpleasant realities or memories.
distal cause: a factor which has an indirect effect on behaviour, such as previous experiences in similar situations.
divided attention: the ability to divide our attentional processing between more than one task.
dizygotic twins (non-identical twins): twins that develop from different zygotes (eggs) and only share about fifty percent of their DNA.
door-in-the-face technique: a technique used to induce compliance, whereby individuals are first asked a large favour, followed by a smaller favour, which is more likely to be followed.
dopamine: a chemical neurotransmitter in the brain, important for learning and the experience of pleasure and reward.
dopamine hypothesis: argues that schizophrenia is based on over-activity of synapses that depend on dopamine.
double-bind theory: a theory of schizophrenia proposed by Bateson, which argues that faulty communication patterns within the family contribute to the onset of schizophrenia.
double-blind design: a form of experimental control, whereby both the subject and experimenter are kept uninformed about the purpose of the experiment, to reduce any forms of bias (in particular, experimenter bias).
Down's syndrome: a chromosomal disorder that is characterised by low IQ levels.
dreaming: a stage of sleep typified by the experience of visual imagery and rapid eye movements (REM).
drive reduction theory (of motivation): Hull's proposal that all behaviour is motivated and that motivation stems from the satisfaction of homeostatic drives (e.g. hunger and thirst). Stimuli (e.g. food and water) that decreases the drives subsequently reinforce the behaviour that led to them.
drug treatments: treatment of psychological disorders that are based on biological explanations of abnormal behavior. Treatment includes anti-anxiety drugs, anti-depressant drugs and anti-bipolar drugs.
dysfunctional: functioning incorrectly or abnormally.
dyslexia: 'developmental dyslexia' is used to explain difficulties with written and spoken language (across differing levels of intellect) that occurs as a result of development, whilst acquired dyslexia?occurs as a result of a stroke or similar injury, whereby language skills are impaired.

echolalia: a condition often found in autisticchildren and catatonic schizophrenics, whereby individuals demonstrate a pathological repetition of other’s words, either immediately or delayed for hours or days.
efficacy: the effectiveness of a treatment used in medicine or psychotherapy.
ego: (Latin for ‘I’) in psychoanalysis, the part of personality that serves to mediate between id and superego, by directing instinctual drives and urges into appropriate channels.
egocentricity: evident at the preoperational stage, whereby a young child is unable to take the perspective of another person. Piaget’s ‘three mountains’ experiment is a test of egocentricity, as children are unable to see how the ‘mountains’ would look to a child at a different location.
elaborative rehearsal: the active processing of items to improve memory, through a variety of methods, from focusing on sensory characteristics (visual appearance, sound) to an emphasis on the semantic content (meaning) of information.
electroconvulsive shock treatment (ECT): the use of passing small amounts of electric current through the brain, inducing a convulsion or epileptic seizure, as an effective treatment for severe depression.
electroencephalograph (EEG): a non-invasive method of recording the electrical activity of the brain, by fixing electrodes to the scalp.
emancipation (psychological): The step by step development of the personality of a self-reliant mature individual. All good education guides towards mature self-reliance and  self-realisation.
emotion: an pattern of intense changes in physiological arousal, behavior, cognitive processes and environmental influences that are described in subjective terms such as happiness, fear or anger.
emotion-focused coping: aims to manage the negative effects of stress on the individual, through changing an emotional response.
emotional development: the development of a full range of emotions from sad to happy to angry, and learning to deal with them appropriately.
emotional state: the state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection).
empathy: the ability to understand another person's perceptions and feelings; cited by Rogers as a condition for growth.
empirical data: information derived from measurements made in "real life" situations (eg, field data).
encoding: changing sensory input into a mental representation in the memory system.
endocrine glands: glands which secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream.
endocrinologist: a specialist of the endocrine glands and hormone systems of the body. ie pituitary gland, adrenal gland, testes.
endogenous:caused by factors within the body or mind or arising from internal structural or functional causes.
endogenous pacemakers: inherited mechanisms important for the regulation of biological rhythms, particularly in the absence of external cues. The principal endogenous pacemaker in mammals is a small group of cells in the hypothalamus, known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which regulates the production of melatonin in the pineal gland.
endorphins: a neuropeptide which plays an important role in pain and mood states.
environmental stressors (aggressive behaviour): elements of the environment that give rise to anti-social behavior, by increasing arousal which subsequently may produce negative emotions and aggressive behavior. For instance, high temperatures, intense levels of noise, and crowding can produce high levels of aggression.
episodic memory: long-term memories for personal experiences and the contexts in which they occur.
equilibration: in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, maintaining balance between the environment and the mental structures (schemas) which we use to represent that environment.
Erikson (1902-1994): psychoanalyst and proponent of developmental psychology. Proposed eight stages of psychosocial development from birth to death, for instance identity vs. role confusion.
ergonomics: the study of the 'fit' between human operators and their workplace, which can be used to design working environments that maximise user efficiency.
estimator variables: in witness testimony, variables that affect the accuracy of witness testimony, that the justice system has little control over, including weather and amount of time witness was at the scene
ethical guidelines: prescriptive guidance (e.g. clear guidelines published by the BPS) on the conduct of psychologists in research and practice, to oversee what is acceptable within the pursuit of a specific goal, including informed consent, right to withdraw and debriefing.
ethical hedonism: the view that individuals engage in moral behaviour, such as altruism, because it provides some personal advantage.
ethics: a major branch of philosophy.  The study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct; Morality; The standards that govern the conduct of a person, especially a member of a profession.
ethnocentrism: the practice of researching or theorising from the perspective of a particular ethnic, national or cultural group.
euphoria: a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being sometimes exaggerated in mood disorders as mania.
evolutionary psychology: the application of evolutionary ideas, including the importance of behavioural and mental adaptiveness over millions of years, to help explain human behaviour.
excitatory: that tends to excite or causes excitation.
existential therapies: see humanistic therapies.
exogenous zeitgebers ('time givers'): external events that help regulate biological rhythms, for instance, light and social stimuli (see also endogenous pacemakers).
extraneous variables: variables that make possible an alternative explanation of results; an uncontrolled variable.
expectancy/incentive approaches: in the study of motivation, these approaches explore incentives that produce goal-directed behaviour.
experiment: a test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried.
experimental methods: systematically manipulate the independent variable to determine the effect upon the dependent variable. Extraneous variables that may influence the outcome of the experiment are rigorously controlled.
experimental group: participants in an experiment who receive the independent variable. The control group serves as a comparison group.
experimental psychology: is a field of psychology that typically involves laboratory research in basic areas of the discipline.
experimenter effects: when an experimenters behavior or characteristics influence participants, through subtle cues or signals, that can affect the performance or response of subjects in the experiment.
explicit memory: requires a conscious attempt to recall memory.
external validity: an extent to which research results can be generalised beyond the specific situation studied.
extinction: when the conditioned responses ceases to be produced, with the absence of a reinforcer or unconditioned stimulus.
extroversion: a dimension of personality, characterised by sociability, the tendency to engage in conversation with others and impulsiveness. Extroversion can be measured on the Introversion-Extroversion scale of the EPI (Eysenck Personality Inventory).
eyewitness testimony: the study of the accuracy of memory following an accident or crime, and an exploration of the types of errors commonly made.
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI): a personality test designed to measure the traits of extroversion and neuroticism.

F scale: a measuring instrument used by Adorno to measure the authoritarian personality, by exploring the extent to which people agree with statements such 'Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn.'
face recognition: involves the comparison of a perceived stimulus pattern with stored representations of familiar faces.
face validity: the extent to which the measure appears (at face value) to test what it claims to.
false memory debate: see recovered memories
false memory syndrome: see recovered memories.
false negative (also called a Type II error): in inferential statistics, concluding that the observed results are due only to chance when in fact a significant effect exists
false positive (also called a Type 1 error): in inferential statistics, concluding that an observed outcome is significant when in fact it reflects only chance.
falsifiability: a criterion to evaluate a theory against, whereby the theory should state circumstances where it can be proven wrong.
family systems theory: the view of the family as a set of interacting and interdependent components.
fatigue effects: when participants become tired or bored if a demanding or repetitive task is repeated, resulting in deteriorating performance.
feature detection theories: used to explain pattern recognition, proposes that images are processed in terms of their component parts, which then match the features of a pattern stored in memory.
feature processing: in visual perception, the ability to detect contours, crucial for object recognition.
feelings: the expression and sensation of emotion; created, expressed and stored in the emotional body.
Festinger (1919-1989): a renowned social psychologist who developed the theories of cognitive dissonance (whereby incongruity between beliefs or behaviours cause psychological discomfort) and social comparison theory.
field experiments: an experiment in a natural setting, rather than the comparatively artificial setting of the laboratory. Consequently, extraneous variables are difficult to control.
fight-or-flight response: a series of internal activities that are set off when an organism is faced with a threat, in preparation of defending or attacking (fight) or fleeing to safety (flight).
filial imprinting: the best known form of imprinting. When a young animal learns the characteristics of its parent. It is most obvious in nidifugous birds, who imprint on their parents and then follow them around.
filognosy: love for the knowledge of self-realisation as inspired by as well the western as eastern concepts of emancipation that together make for   the integrity of the different views, forms of logic and intelligence one finds in modern society on a global scale.
fixation: in psychoanalytic theory, a preference for the mode of gratification associated with a particular stage of psychosexual development as a result of too much or too little gratification at that stage.
fixed interval schedule: a reinforcement applied on a systematic time basis, for instance, every four minutes.
fixed ratio schedule: a reinforcement applied according to a number of predetermined responses, for instance one reinforcement for every three responses.
flashbulb memory: memory related to an emotionally arousing event.
flooding: a behavioural therapy to treat phobias, through exposure to the feared object for an extended period of time, with no opportunity for escape.
fluid intelligence: an abstract form of intelligence that includes the ability to analyse complex relationships, reason and find solutions to problems.
follow-up study: continuing contact with participants after a study, in order to examine any long-term effects that may have arisen as a result of their participation.
foot-in-the-door technique: a method of compliance method, whereby people are more likely to comply if they initially agree to a small request, followed by a larger request later on. (see also door-in-the-face technique.)
forced-choice item: a test where respondents select one of a number of differing responses, in order to reduce likelihood of socially desirable responses.
forebrain: see brain
forgetting: the inability to recall or recognise what has previously been remembered. Forgetting has been explained by a number of accounts ? trace-dependent forgetting (the memory trace is lost), cue-dependent forgetting (the lack of necessary cues to retrieve the memory), repression (painful memories are unconsciously repressed) or interference.
fovea: a small area on the retina, that contains closely packed cones, onto which light from an object is focused upon.
frame of mind (state of mind): a temporary psychological state i.e. Mental or emotional attitude or mood.
fraternal twin: see dizygotic twin
free association: A psychodynamic technique, whereby a patient is encouraged to freely talk about their thoughts, wishes, experiences and mental images as they arise, in the hope of allowing preconscious content to surface in the consciousness.
free will vs determinism: refers to the debate between those who believe that external or internal factors acting upon the individual determine behaviour (determinism), and those that believe individuals respond actively to the outside world (free will).
frequency distribution: a statistical analysis of a set of data reflecting how often each score occur. Frequency distributions can be represented in a number of graphical ways, including histograms.
Freud (1856-1939): the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, emphasised the importance of the unconscious mind, childhood experiences and repressed urges. His theory of psychosexual development outlines five stages; oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital, according to the different objects fixated upon at each specific stage. Freud also focused on the structure and development of personality; comprised of three parts - the id, ego and superego. Conflicts between the id and superego are dealt with by the ego that utilizes ?a target="_parent" href="http://www.itseducation.asia/psychology/d.htm#defence_mechanism">defence mechanisms? for instance, denial. Furthermore, he applied a range of his ideas to dreams to understand unconscious desires, for instance, repressed urges often manifest in dreams through symbolic images. Freuds work, albeit controversial, has had a huge impact on psychology, in particular through psychoanalysis and his therapeutic techniques (e.g. free association).
Freudian slip: a slip-up, either in speech, writing or in memory lapses that reflects the hidden worries or focus of the unconscious mind.
frontal lobe: the area of the cortex in front of the central fissure, and above the lateral fissure; involved in motor control and cognitive processes.
frontal lobotomy: an operation, popular in the 1940s and 1950s, which involved sectioning or removing sections of the frontal lobes, often to treat cases of bipolar mood disorder or chronic pain.
frustration-aggression theory: a theory of aggression developed by Dollard and Miller which proposes that frustration ?whereby people are blocked or prevented from reaching their goals ?results in a great chance of aggression occurring.
fully functioning person: portrayed by Rogers as the ideal of growth; healthy growth is demonstrated by openness, a high level of spontaneity, compassion and self-direction.
functional fixedness: in Gestalt theory, perceiving an object as having only one already established or associated use; an inability to identify a new use.
functional MRI (fMRI): brain imaging technique that scans by measuring magnetic changes in the flow of blood to cells in the brain.
fundamental attribution error: in attribution theory, the inclination to overemphasise the influence of dispositional factors (e.g. personality) and underestimating the role of situational factors (e.g. weather) on a persons behaviour.

galvanic skin response (GSR) a measure of the change in electrical resistance of the skin, commonly used as a measure of autonomic reaction and arousal.
gender: term commonly used to refer to the psychological characteristics (e.g. behaviour and attitudes) of being male and female (in contrast to 'sex' which refers to purely physiological characteristics).
gender identity: an individual's perception about whether they are male or female.
gender roles: a given culture or society’s acceptable set of attitudes and behaviours for each gender.
gene: biological units of heredity, crucial for transmitting traits.
general adaptation syndrome (GAS): a model, proposed by Hans Selye, depicting physiological mechanisms that occur in response to a stressor over an extended period of time. There are three stages: (a) alarm stage which activates an arousal response (e.g. to fight or flee); (b) resistance stage when body is attempts to cope with the stressor; (c) exhaustion stage takes place if the stressor continues over a long period of time, leading to physical symptoms such as stomach ulcers.
general intelligence (g): mental attribute that underlies a range of intellectual tasks. Proposed by Charles Spearman, who found that people that performed well on one type of mental ability test also tended to do well on other types of test.
generalisability: the extent to which findings based on an study using a sample of participants are representative of the target population or of other populations.
genetic: inherited; having to do with information that is passed from parents to children through genes in sperm and egg cells.
genetics: the study of heredity of physical and psychological traits.
genius: a term used to describe a person with exceptional ability and creativity within a particular field, for instance intellect (by defining IQS of 140 + as the guideline for genius).
genital stage: in psychoanlaytic theory, the last stage of psychosexual development, when the main source of pleasure is the genitals.
genotype: the genetic code which is inherited and carried in DNA.
Gestalt: a German word (translated as configuration?or organised whole? that emphasises that the whole (whether of a person or image) is greater than the sum of its parts.
Gestalt psychology: approach that views psychological phenomena, such as perception, learning and thinking, as organised, structured wholes. For instance, the Gestalt approach to problem solving seeks the need for structural understanding in comprehending how different parts of the problem fit together to reach the goal.
Gestalt therapy: a therapy that considers all dimensions of a person's life and experience, to stimulate personal growth and increased self-awareness, in order to develop a sense of the whole person.
goal state: in problem solving, the desired outcome of a problem.
gratification: is the positive emotional response (happiness) to a fulfilment of desire.
group dynamics: the branch of social psychology that studies the psychodynamics of interaction in social groups.
group polarisation: the tendency for groups to shift to make more extreme decisions than decisions made independently by members of the group. If individual members of a group are already cautious in their attitude, they will demonstrate a shift toward an even more cautious attitude during group discussion within a like-minded group. When individuals are less cautious before group discussion, they are likely to show a shift towards more risky decisions.
group therapy: when therapeutic sessions are carried out in groups rather than individually, whereby the therapist acts as a facilitator amongst the group. Group therapy can help individuals feel less isolated and through fostering social interaction, are able to discuss with and help others.
groupthink: the tendency for decision making groups to reach a conclusion that is extreme and which tend to be unwise or unrealistic, as a result of discounting information that is inconsistent with their view and expressing disapproval against any member who disagrees.
guilt: is a higher form of development than shame. Guilt has an internal punitive voice which operates at the level superego (an internalised punitive harsh parental figure). There are two kinds of guilt: Valid guilt and invalid guilt.

habit: a behaviour that develops as a result of experience and occurs almost automatically. For instance, behaviours that satisfy psychological cravings (through for example chain smoking).
,,,,,habituation: the process whereby an organism’s response to repeated stimuli temporarily decreases.
hallucination: false perceptions that occur with the lack of relevant sensory stimuli, such as hearing voices.
,,,,,halo effect: a form of perceptual bias which transpires when our rating of a person on one characteristic as being positive or negative of a person affects the rating of the individual on other characteristics (similarly positive or negative). For instance, if an individual is viewed as intelligent, the rater also perceives them to be friendly.
,,,,,hardiness: personality factors (control, commitment and challenge) identified by Kobasa that help mitigate against negative effects of stress.
,,,,,health behaviours: activities that maintain or improve health.
health promotion: refers to strategies and tactics that help enable people to gain control of, and therefore enhance, their health through changes in lifestyle and preventative practices, significantly reduce the risk of illness.
,,,,,health psychology: area of psychology that aims to understand why people become ill, how they stay healthy and how they respond and cope with illness.
,,,,,hedonic relevance: the likelihood of making a dispositional attribution if we are directly involved and the consequences are serious. Therefore, we are likely to overstate the influence of dispositional factors, and underestimate the importance of situational factors.
hedonism: a belief that all behaviour is, or should be, motivated toward the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
,,,,,Heider (1896-1988): Austrian psychologist who focused on interpersonal relationships, proposing balance theory and attribution theory.
,,,,,helping behaviour: see altruism (human )and bystander behaviour
heredity: the biological transmission of inherited characteristics from parents to offspring.
Heritability estimate: measured by H, the heritability ratio, a statistical estimate of the degree of inheritance of a specific trait or behavior, measured by the degree of similarity between individuals who share differing amounts of genetic similarity.
hertz:a measure of frequency, cycles per second.                                                                                                                     
heterosexuality: an attraction to the opposite sex.
heuristic: cognitive strategies, or rules of thumb? Heuristics provide informal strategies to aid problem solving, which are usually more successful than random search, but less effective than algorithms..
,,,,,hierarchy of needs: Maslow's model of basic human motives, which he saw as organised in a hierarchical structure; needs range from the bottom level of physiological (e.g. food, water, shelter) to the highest level - self-actualisation. Needs at each level of the hierarchy must be met before the next level can be achieved.
,,,,,hippocampus: part of the limbic system, located in the medial temporal lobe. Important for spatial orientation and navigation, and is crucial for memory, in particular the transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory.
histogram: used to represent the distribution of scores for one set of data. The data must be numerical and there should be no gaps between the bars.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus): a virus that attacks white blood cells in the blood, reducing the bodys ability to fight off illness. HIV causes AIDS and can be transmitted through unprotected sex, by drug users who use similar equipment and from an infected mother to her unborn child.
,,,,,holistic: used to describe an approach that focuses on the whole person, rather than their constituent parts.
Holmes and Rahe (1967):  constructed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale to measure the impact of significant life events.
,,,,,homeostasis,,,,,: a state of equilibrium or balance of the internal conditions of the body.
homeostatic drive theory (of eating and drinking): refers to the proposition that eating and drinking are driven by internal homeostasis.
homosexuality: a term used to describe either sexual contact with members of the same sex, or a sexual preference for one's own sex.
hormone: chemical messengers, secreted by the endocrine glands, that affect a range of aspects of metabolism and body functioning, for instance, mood and sexual characteristics.
,,,,,hostile aggression: a form of aggression to cause intentional harm of injury to another person or object.
humanistic psychology: a perspective in psychology, that views every individual as unique and as possessing an inherent capacity for making rational choices, positive growth and ultimately, maximum potential.
,,,,,humanistic therapies: treatment whereby the therapist seeks see the world through the clients perspective, and to allow the client to view their situations with greater insight and acceptance, with an ultimate goal of growth and fulfilment. Examples of humanistic therapies include client-centred therapy.
,,,,,Huntington's disease (HD): is a fatal heredity disease that destroys neurons in areas of the brain involved in the emotions, intellect, and movement.
,,hyperactivity: a higher degree of inappropriate motor activity than is considered typical for a particular age group. See Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
,,,,,hyperfocus: is an intense form of mental concentration or visualisation that focuses consciousness on a narrow subject, or beyond objective reality and onto subjective mental planes, daydreams, concepts, fiction, the imagination, and other objects of the mind.
hypothetical: based on assumption rather than fact or reality.
hypnosis: the induction of an altered state of consciousness, manifested in a sleep-like state or of deep relaxation. Consequently, changes in perception, memory and self-control leave an individual more vulnerable to suggestion. The use of hypnosis in therapy still remains highly controversial, particularly with the occurrence of false memories being recovered?
,,,,,hypothalamus: part of the brain that is crucial in control the autonomic nervous system, maintaining homeostasis and regulating motivated behavior (e.g. appetite) and hormonal functions.
hypothesis: a testable statement, predicting the relationship between two (or more) variables, which can be accepted or rejected as a result of the research outcome.

ICD: see International Classification of Disorders.
id: in psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious, pleasure part of the personality that operates irrationally and pursues primitives drives such as anger and hunger.
,,,,,ideal self: in Rogers's humanistic theory, an evolving construct which represents the goals and aspirations of an individual.
identical twins: see monozygotic twins.
,,,,,idiographic: any approach or method in psychology that focuses on the individual rather than in the development of general laws of behavior (known as the nomothetic approach).
illogical: contrary to logic; lacking sense or sound reasoning.
illusion: perceptual experiences, through the senses, that are not true representations of the physical event.
,,,,,illusory correlation: perceiving a relationship between variables where none exists.
imagination: is the ability to form mental images, or the ability to spontaneously generate images within one's own mind.
imaging techniques: see CAT, MEG, MRI and PET scans.
imitation: the learning of behaviour through the observation of others behaviour; sometimes called 'modelling' or 'observational learning' .
implosion therapy: a behavioural therapeutic technique to reduce a clients phobia, through requiring the client to imagine the fearful stimuli. This operates on the premise of experiencing the feared situation through imagination, but in the safe context of the therapy session, in order to remove the anxiety associated with the stimuli.
impression management theory: refers to our desire to make a favourable impression on other people. We may adjust our behavior to appear positively to others, for instance, doing favours for others.
imprinting: a primitive type of learning that occurs during the early part of an animal's life, whereby an attachment is formed to another animal that is difficult to change (filial imprinting).
immune system: system of cells and chemicals within the body that defends against infection and disease, by seeking out and destroying harmful influences.
incentive: a stimulus that elicits goal directed behaviour.
incongruence: in Rogers's theory, a mismatch between the self and ideal self results in a feeling of conflict or unease.
incubation: in the Gestalt model of problem solving, a process of pausing to actively work on a problem, in order to modify one's mental set.
independent groups designs: used in experiments when separate groups of individuals participate in the different levels of the independent variable, so that each data set is independent of each other. Also known as a between subjects or unrelated design, as comparisons are made between groups rather than within them.
independent variable (IV): the variable that is manipulated in an experiment (e.g. type of words participants receive in a memory experiment) and consequently affects the dependent variable.
individualistic cultures: cultures where self-interest and individual rights are promoted, and is characterised by low levels of mutual interdependence between individuals, rather than the collective needs and interests of others.
induction: a process of reasoning based on forming general principles from specific observations.
inductive reasoning: is the process by which a conclusion is drawn about the probability of psychological phenomena, based on evidence and past experience, from the specific to the general.
inferiority complex: in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person.
inferential statistics: procedures used to analyse empirical data to test if the independent variable has had a significant effect upon the dependent variable, in order to either accept the hypothesis or to reject it, (thereby attributing the results to chance variation).  Tests include Chi-square, Binomial Sign, Wilcoxon Matched Pairs, Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman's Rho.
informational (social) influence: occurs when we seek informational guidance from others in groups, as a result of the desire to be right.
informed consent: an ethical requirement that participants or clients should have sufficient information about an experiment or therapeutic intervention to enable them to make an informed judgement about whether or not to participate.
infradian rhythms: occur less frequently than once every 24 hours, for instance the human menstrual cycle.
in-group: a reference to any group of which we perceive ourselves to be a member, based on global dimensions (e.g. race, religion) or specific localised dimensions (e.g. friendship).
inhibition: 1) In reference to neurons, it is a synaptic message that prevents the recipient cell from firing. 2) In reference to behavior, restraint on instinctive impulses.
inhibitory: a process used to stop an action (stop a muscle from becoming stiff) by modifying sensory input.
innate: anything that is inherited or natural to an organism, existing at birth rather than acquired.
innovation (minority influence): a form of social influence, whereby the minority in a group have an influence over the majority. A number of conditions must be met, including holding a  clear and confident position.
insecure attachment: a form of attachment between infant and caregiver that develops as a result of the caregiver's lack of sensitive responding to the infant's needs. The two types of insecure attachment are insecure/avoidant (children who avoid social interaction with others) and insecure/resistant (seek and reject social interaction).
insomnia: the unusually prolonged inability to fall asleep or difficulty staying asleep.
instinct: inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli; "the spawning instinct in salmon"; "altruistic instincts in social animals".
,,,,,instrumental aggression: aggressive behavior that is goal directed in order to achieve specific aims.
intellect: the faculty of reasoning, knowing and thinking, as distinct from feeling; the understanding or mental powers of a particular person etc.
,,,,,intellectual development: (Piaget) concluded that intellectual development is the result of the interaction of hereditary and environmental factors. As the child develops and constantly interacts with the world around him, knowledge is invented and reinvented. His theory of intellectual development is strongly grounded in the biological sciences. He saw cognitive growth as an extension of biological growth and as being governed by the same laws and principles. Piaget argued that intellectual development controlled every other aspect of development - emotional, social, and moral.
intelligence: an underlying ability which enables an individual to adapt to and function effectively within a given environment.
intelligence quotient (IQ): IQ is calculated by dividing mental age by chronological age (and multiplying by 100 to give a whole number), in order to compare the mental age of a child compared with their chronological age. It is now directly calculated as an IQ test score.
interdependence: when two or more things depend on each other.
interference theory: refers to the process that occurs when incoming information disrupts memory traces
International Classification of Disorders (lCD): a classification system of mental disorders published by the World Health Organisation. Patterns of symptoms as opposed to aetiology or treatment are emphasised, as a result, the ICD is not used for diagnostic purposes.
inter-observer reliability: a measure of the extent to which different individuals generate the same records when they observe the same sequence of behaviour. By correlating the scores of observers we can measure inter-observer reliability: individuals (or groups) with highly correlated scores are demonstrating good interobserver reliability.
interpersonal attraction: the study of factors and processes involved in the attraction between two people. As such it covers a wide range of different forms of attraction, including friendships, sexual attraction and romantic love.
interquartile range: the spread of scores for the middle 50 per cent of scores.
interval data: data with equal intervals, but not an absolute zero.
interview: usually a verbal research method consisting of either open or closed ended questions.
intrinsic motivation: motivation based on taking pleasure in an activity rather working towards an external reward.
introspection: the process by which a person looks inward at their own mental processes in order to gain insight into their personalities.
introversion: a part of the introversion-extroversion personality dimension associated with the personality theory of Eysenck. Introversion is associated with a reluctance to seek the stimulation of social contacts and to be generally more passive and controlled than extroverts.
IQ: see intelligence quotient.
irrational: contrary to or lacking in reason or logic.

James-lange theory of emotion: the idea that the perception of an emotion arousing stimulus leads to a behavioural response that results in differing sensory and motor feedback to the brain, which is interpreted as an emotion.
jealousy: typically refers to the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that occur when a person believes a valued relationship is being threatened by a rival. This rival may or may not know that he or she is perceived as a threat.
Jung (1875-1961): A Swiss psychologist, founder of analytical psychology. Jung placed importance on a hypothetical collective unconsciousand explored the symbolic nature of dreams. His work also included exploring the psyche through three principles; the principle of opposites, equivalence and
just world hypothesis: the assumption that the world is a fair and just place in which people receive what they deserve.

Kelley (1921-2003): was a social psychologist, focusing on interpersonal relationships and contributing to attribution theory - how individuals 'attribute' causes to events, for instance a "situational" or "dispositional" factor.
kin altruism: in evolutionary psychology, the concept that individuals help those who are close relatives, because it fosters the transmission of their genes.
kinaesthetics: a term used to describe the response and feedback from movement sensations in the muscles or joints.
,,,,,kinship (family) studies: research that examines correlations of traits or behaviours between individuals who share differing degrees of genetic similarity.
''''',,,,,Klinefelter's syndrome: see XXV syndrome.
knowledge: the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning.
Kobasa: (1979): examined resistance to stress, in particular “hardiness” to stress, characterised by commitment, control and challenge.
Korsakoff's syndrome: a type of amnesiacommonly found in chronic alcoholics, caused by a lack of Vitamin D (thiamine).

,,,,,laboratory experiments: conducted in a laboratory or a rigorously controlled environment, whereby the independent variable is manipulated, whilst all other extraneous variables are strictly controlled.
,,,,,language acquisition: the processes by which children acquire or develop human language.
Language Acquisition Device (LAD): an innate mechanism that aids language development, through recognising grammatical structure.
language development: the study of the acquisition of language, with emphasis on the development of four sub-systems of language ?phonology, semantics, pragmatics and tense and gender.
,,,,,latency stage : Freud's fourth stage of psychosexual development whereby sexual preoccupations are repressed, children focus on interact with same sex peers.
latent content : term used in Freud's stages of psychosexual development, to signify the underlying or hidden content represented in dreams.
lateral thinking: an approach to problem solving whereby an individual looks at a problem from many different perspectives to seek to find the best solution.
lateralisation of function: refers to the distribution of functions across the two hemispheres of the brain. For instance, language ability is localised in the left hemisphere.
law of effect: a principle of learning put forward by Thorndike, which proposes that whenever a response is followed by a reward, it is strengthened and therefore more likely to be repeated.
Lazarus (1922-2002): a hugely influential psychologist who focused on the study of cognition, in particular appraisal of emotion and stress, and coping mechanisms in response to stress.
leadership: the ability of an individual or member of a group to influence other group members, in achieving group goals. A variety of characteristics have been proposed to contribute to a successful leader, including cognitive ability, charisma, and leadership motivation.
leading questions: are questions subtly communicate to the respondent to answer in a particularly way, which results in a biased answer or recall of an event. Commonly used to illustrate how memory recall can be altered after eyewitness testimony.
learned helplessness: non-responsiveness demonstrated when there is a perception of possessing a lack of control over a situation, after experience of non-contingent, unavoidable negative stimuli.
learning: a change in behavior, knowledge and skills, from interaction with the environment and experience.
least preferred co-worker theory (LPC): examines how a leader prioritises work tasks and relationships, by asking leaders to either favourably or unfavourably evaluate the person who they found difficult to work with. High LPC leader used more favourable terms to describe the LPC, and vice versa for the low LPC. High LPC leaders commonly have close and warm relationships, often prioritising a relationship before a task, whereas low LPC leaders often put the task first and will only consider relationships once work is acceptable.
lesioning: injury or destruction of brain tissue.
level of measurement:  the type of data collected; nominal, order, interval or ratio, which subsequently affects the inferential statistic used.
,,,,,levels of processing theory: Craik and Lockhart's theory that the 'deeper' information is processed, the more likely it is to be retained in memory.
libido: in psychoanalysis, a term used to represent energy that comes from the id, typically energy driven towards achieving sexual pleasure.
life events: refer to events that require a significant adjustment in a person's life, for instance divorce, moving house etc. Quantified on the Holmes and Rahe "Social Readjustment Rating Scale" whereby respondents indicate the events (differing scores allocated according to greater adjustment required) that have been experienced over the previous twelve months.
,,,,,light adaptation: the process by which the eye adjusts to increasing levels of light intensity, whereby the pupil shrinks and cones function to aid the adjustment.
Likert scalea type of response format used in surveys developed by Rensis Likert. Likert items have responses on a continuum and response categories such as "strongly agree," "agree," "disagree," and "strongly disagree."
limbic system: exists in mammals only. It is a series of subcortical structures which connect the cortex with other parts of the brain and which are important in regulating emotional and motivation behavior and memory. Structures within the limbic system include the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus.
,,,,,localisation of function,,,,,: the assumption that specific functions (e.g. movement control, language production) are associated with specific brain areas.
,,,,,locus of control,,,,,:  the extent to which people believe they have control over situations in their life. An internal locus of control refers to the belief that actions and consequences are under an individual control (e.g. through hard work), whereas an external locus of control refers to consequences occurring as a result of external circumstances.
logic: (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
logical empiricism: in philosophy of science, the assumption that it is possible to compare and evaluate theories in terms of how well they account for the evidence.
,,,,,logotherapy,,,,,: a theory of development and therapy developed by Frank, which proposes that finding a meaning for life is crucial for individual growth and happiness.
,,,,,long-term memory (LTM),,,,,: enduring memories that retain and preserve information for later retrieval over long periods. Long-term memory includes episodic memory (memory of the personal episodes), semantic memory (memory of knowledge); declarative memory (knowing 'that' and procedural memory (knowing 'how'.
,,,,,longitudinal study,,,,,: a research method that examine changes in the same group of participants through repeated testing over an extended period of time.

,,,,,magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),,,,,: is a painless diagnostic tool which uses a magnetic field and radio waves to see inside the body without using x-rays or surgery; a computer then interprets the radio waves and creates a picture of the internal body tissues.
,,,,,maladaptive behavior,,,,,: behavior that bring stress.
manic depressive disorder: see bipolar disorder/depression
manifest content: in Freud's theory of dreams, the superficial, symbolic form of a dream which the conscious mind is aware of, both during sleep and on waking, which is assumed to hide the true meaning.
mania: an emotional state typified by intense elation, unrestricted euphoria, hyperactivity, excessive talkativeness, grandiose feelings or thoughts and disrupted thought processes.
Mann-Whitney U test: A non-parametric inferential statistical test. Employed with ordinal data and independent groups.
Maslow (1908-1970) : a humanistic psychologist who proposed humanistic psychology as a third force?in reaction to the perspectives of psychoanalysis and behaviourism, and the belief that humans are essentially good. Maslows 'hierachy of needs'proposes a psychological structure of needs and tendencies, whereby basic needs (e.g. hunger) must be satisfied before higher needs (e.g. self-esteem) can be achieved, towards an ultimate goal of self-actualisation.
matched pairs design : participants in different conditions are matched according to certain characteristics, e.g. age or gender.
maternal deprivation: children deprived of maternal care and love in early childhood are likely to suffer some degree of emotional, social or intellectual retardation in later life. Prolonged separation (resulting in an attachment bond breaking) was proposed by Bowlby to cause the deprivation syndrome.
maturation: processes in development which seem to be relatively independent of environmental influences, such as depth perception and walking; implied in the term is the assumption that the characteristics are governed by heredity.
mean: measure of central tendency, calculated by the total sum of all the scores, divided by the total number of scores.
median: measure of central tendency that utilises the mid-point of the ranked data.
means-ends analysis: a type of problem solving strategy that is used in computer programs, whereby problems are broken down into their constituent parts and then solved in turn until the solution is found.
measure of dispersion: a measurement of the spread or variability in a set of scores.
medical model: a theory of abnormal behaviour which assumes that all such disorders have physiological causes.
medical model of abnormality: views mental disorders as having physiological causes , e.g. genetic and biochemical.
meditation: refers to techniques that focus the mind and promote a state of calmness so that the mind and body can be brought into greater harmony to facilitate health and healing.
medulla: a small region of the brain stem, that regulates basic bodily processes including breathing and the heartbeat.
MEG (magnetoenecephalography): non-invasive technique for visualising (imaging) the brain by recording tiny magnetic fields produced by active neurons.
melancholia: originally first described by the Greeks and Romans, and characterised by a deep and persistent sadness and now corresponds closely to depression.
memory: the capacity to encode, retain, store and retrieve information.
mental: refers to the mind, the collective aspects of intellect and consciousness.
,,,,,mental set: in Gestalt theory , the schema used to organise perception of a new problem.
,,,,,mental age: the level of intellectual functioning which is suitable for children of a particular age. Typically, mental age is equivalent to chronological age, but if a child is of lower/higher intelligence the mental age will be accordingly lower/higher than chronological age.
mental disorders: anxiety disorders, conduct disorder, depressive disorders, oppositional defiant disorder, pervasive development disorder or Tourette's syndrome.
mental health: a state of psychological and emotional well-being that enables an individual to work, love, relate to others effectively, and resolve conflicts.
mental retardation: individuals who have significantly below average intellectual functioning, with IQ scores of 70-75 or below, combined with inability to use adaptive skills.
mere exposure effect: the higher the levels of exposure to a stimulus, the more likely we are to develop a greater attraction to it.
,,,,,meta-analysis: a statistical technique that involves combining and analysing the data of a number of independent studies.
metabolic: pertaining to all chemical functions within the body.
method of loci: a technique to increase memory effectiveness through memorising a series of different locations (such as rooms in a house) and then imagining an item to be remembered at each location. Items are then recalled by mentally "walking through" the house and "seeing" the item.
midbrain: a region of the brain that relays sound input to the auditory cortex.
,,,,,milieu therapy: a humanistic approach to the treatment of psychological disorders that emphasises the importance of an institution in recovery. An environment is created whereby staff and patients are viewed as equal, and an atmosphere is fostered of self-respect.
,,,,,Milgram,,,,, (1933- 1984): an influential social psychologist who is best known for his controversial study on obedience to authority, under conditions whereby obeying conflicts with personal conscience.
mind: collectively refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination; mind is the stream of consciousness. It includes all of the brain's conscious processes.
minority influence: the effect when a persuasive minority exerts pressure to change the attitudes, beliefs or behaviours of the majority. Minorities are most influential when they appear consistent and principled.
,,,,,misattribution,,,,,: a mistaken attribution of an emotional response to a cause that did not produce it.
,,,,,mitosis,,,,,: a type of cell division within the body, whereby cells divide into other cells, each with the full set of chromosomes. Each of these cells receives an exact copy of the chromosomes in the original cell. During development, mitosis occurs again and again, until finally the adult organism is created.
mnemonics: techniques that improve memory, often through using existing familiar information (e.g. imagery) during the encoding of new information to aid later retrieval and access. See method of loci.
mock juries: a group of participants who are required to imagine and act as members of a jury, to investigate factors affecting the decision making process.
mode: the score that occurs most frequently within a data sample.
modelling: the term used by Bandura to describe the process of learning and socialisation, through observing and imitating others.
monism: the view that mind and body are a single unit.
,,,,,monozygotic (identical) twins,,,,,: twins that develop from the same zygote (egg) and therefore share 100 percent of their genes.
mood: mental or emotional state.
,,,,,mood disorders,,,,,: a mood disturbance, characterised by emotional extremes, alternating between extreme depression and mania.
moral development: the process through which children learn to understand the differences between right and wrong and can make independent decisions on moral issues.
morality: in the strictest sense of the word, deals with that which is innately regarded as right or wrong. The term is often used to refer to a system of principles and judgments shared by cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans subjectively determine whether given actions are right or wrong.
moral realism: part of Piagets theory of moral development, whereby children understand that the rules of adults are firm and unquestionable.
moratorium: a term devised by Erikson to describe a period during which adolescents consider various values and goals, in order to understand and establish their own individual identity.
mores: refers to standards of behaviour or customs that are appropriate within a society, and accepted by the majority.
morpheme: the smallest significant unit of speech that conveys meaning.
motivation: an internal state that arouses, drives and directs behaviour, that have been accounted for by physiological explanations (e.g. internal drives such as hunger), behavioural explanations and psychological explanations (e.g. for complex human behaviours, such as the need for achievement).
motive: a specific need or desire, such as hunger or achievement, that energizes and directs behavior.
motor neuron: nerves that transmit messages from the central nervous system (i.e. spinal cord or brain) to individual muscle cells .
MRI: see magnetic resonance imaging.
multiaxial diagnosis: used in the DSM classification system of mental disorders, whereby patients are assessed on a variety of axises (e.g. clinical conditions, psychosocial and environmental factors)
multimodal therapy: a cognitive behavioural therapy developed by Lazarus, which aims to consider all aspects of a disorder. To be effective, seven different dimensions, represented by BASIC IB?(behavior, affects, sensations, images, cognitions, interpersonal relationships, and biological functioning) must be focused on and treated.
,,,,,multiple personality disorder ,,,,,(MPD): a dissociative disorder, whereby two or more distinct and separate personalities are manifested within the same individual, each displaying different interests, memories and behaviour patterns.
multi-store model of memory: devised by Atkinson and Shiffrin, represents memory as a flow of information in a set sequence between a rigid set of structures, including sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.
myelin sheath: a layer of fatty tissue that covers the axons of nerve cells, insulating the axon from other axons and to increase the conduction of nerve impulses along the axon.

narcolepsy: an uncommon sleep disorder, narcolepsy is marked by recurring irrepressible attacks of sleep during normal waking hours, as well as by cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hallucinations.
nativism: that aspects of cognitive processes and behaviour are innate.
natural experiment:   experiment whereby the researcher cannot directly control the independent variable nor participant allocation to conditions.
naturalistic observation: a study whereby the observer does not manipulate any variables within a natural setting where behaviour takes place, by merely observing and recording. Observational technique can be divided into participant observation (where the researcher takes contributes to a groups behaviour, whilst participants are unaware of the observers true purpose or identity) and non-participant observation (whereby the researcher remains inconspicuous).
natural selection: a principle of Darwins theory of evolution that animals that have adapted better to their envir onment allows some members of a species to produce more offspring that others, as a result of possessing advantageous traits that improve survival chances and increase reproductive success.
nature vs nurture: a debate within psychology that explores the extent to which specific aspects of behaviour are inherited or learnt as a result of environmental influences.
negative correlation: a relationship between two measured variables where as one variable increases the other variable decreases.
negative emotions: can be described as any feeling which causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions make you dislike yourself and others, and take away your confidence.
negative reinforcement: in operant conditioning, a method to increase the probability and strength of a response by removing or withholding an aversive stimuli  (negative reinforcer)
negative-state relief: proposal that we assist others in order to alleviate negative feelings, for instance to lessen feelings of guilt or sadness.
negative symptoms: in abnormal psychology, particularly with reference to schizophrenia, deficits in functioning that reveal the absence of expected behaviours, for instance, flat affect and limited speech.
neo-Freudian: a term that is used to characterise a group of Freudian-influenced psychologists who, whilst accepting the concept of unconscious conflict, disagree over the extent of the influence of bodily pleasures or frustrations and have placed greater emphasis on other aspects of behaviour and experience. Famous neo-Freudians include Adler and Jung.
neonate research: investigations carried out using newborn infants.
nerve impulse: the electrical signal produced when a neuron is active, which passes from the dendrites, along the axon, to the specific terminals.
neurological disorder: disturbance in structure or function of the nervous system resulting from developmental abnormality, disease, injury, or toxin.
neuron: ('nerve cell') a cell of the nervous system that functions to receive and communicate information to other cells .
neurophysiology: study of the workings of the nervous system including brain function.
neuroscience:a branch of psychology, also called physiological psychology. Neuroscience is the study of the functioning of the nervous system which includes the structures and functioning of the brain and its relationship to behaviour.
neurosis: a mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction.
neuroticism:is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It can be defined as an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states.
neurotransmitter: chemical messengers released by the terminals of a neuron which cross between the synapses of neurons, to have an excitatory or inhibitory effect on an adjacent neuron.
neutral stimulus: in classical conditioning, a stimulus which initially fails to elicit a response, but as conditioning continues, becomes a conditioned stimulus.
Nietzsche (1844-1900): Nineteenth-century philosopher.
nominal data: data that is organised on the basis of category.
nomothetic: refers to a perspective or method that attempts to establish general patterns of behaviour that can be extended to all members of a population.
non-conformity: refers to situations whereby an individual withstands the tendency to conform to the attitudes, judgements or behaviour of the majority.
non-directional hypotheses (two-tailed hypotheses): states that the independent variable will have an effect upon the dependent variable, but does not specify the direction (e.g. higher/lower scores) of effect upon the dependent variable.
non-invasive procedures: procedures (e.g. MRI, PET scans) for imaging the brain do not require direct contact and interference with brain tissue.
non-participant observation: the observer remains inconspicuous so that the behaviour of the participants is not affected.
non-verbal communication: generally referred to as 'body language' by non-psychologists, refers to any form of communication that is not conveyed through verbal or written language, for instance posture and facial expressions.
Norepinephrine or 'noradrenaline': a neurotransmitter that is important in the regulation of mood; disturbances in its tracts have been implicated in depression and mania.
normal distribution: a type of frequency distribution which is represented by a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve, whereby the mean, mode and median all lie at the highest point of the curve.
normative influence: an explanation of conformity which occurs as a result of a desire to be accepted in a group and liked by others.
null hypothesis: the hypothesis that any difference between the independent and dependent variables merely occur as a result of chance, rather than as any significant effect of the independent variable.

object permanence: an understanding that objects that continue to exist, despite being hidden from sight or awareness. An important cognitive concept that, according to Piaget, does not develop until infants are eight months old or more.
objectivity: conducting an investigation and collecting data without the process being influenced by personal interpretation or bias.
observation: used to describe a situation where an observer records behaviour demonstrated by a participant. An observation does not involve manipulation of an independent variable, but simply allows the observation of relationships between variables as they occur. Observation includes a variety of differing types of observation including naturalistic observation, participant and non-participant observation.
observational learning: a process of socialisation that takes place as a result of an individual observing and imitating the behaviour of another person who serves as a model, as opposed to through direct experience. See modelling.
observational learning: a process of socialisation that takes place as a result of an individual observing and imitating the behaviour of another person who serves as a model, as opposed to through direct experience. See modelling.
observer bias: the tendency for observers to record data that may be biased as a result of personal expectations (e.g. awareness of the hypothesis) or motives, rather than recording what actually happens.
obsessions: irrational thoughts and images that are normally unfounded, but over which a person may appear to have little control over, and which may ultimately affect the normal functioning of a person.
obsessive-compulsive disorder:  an disorder characterised by obsessions (uncontrollable, persistent and irrational thoughts or wishes) and compulsions (repetitive ritualistic acts).
occipital lobe: the rearmost region of the each cerebral hemisphere, located behind the parietal lobe and above the temporal lobes. Crucial for the processing of visual information.
occupational psychology: branch of psychology that focuses on human beings in the workplace, including job satisfaction, leadership, selection and recruitment of staff and the effect of different working conditions upon performance.
Oedipal conflict: in Freud's theory of development, the major conflict associated with the phallic stage which challenges the developing ego; named after the Greek story of Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.
Oedipus complex: a term devised by Freud, to describe the intense sexual love that a young boy develops toward his mother, which is followed by jealousy and rivalry with his father to seek the attention and affection of the mother. The son subsequently demonstrates castration anxiety, fearing that his father might castrate him for his incestuous feelings towards his mother, and so represses his feelings and identifies with his father.
offender profiling: a technique used based on an examination of the crime scene, including how the crime was committed, and a consideration of previous offender profiles, to build and predict a detailed description (including socio-demographic characteristics) of a criminal offender.
one-tailed hypothesis: see directional hypothesis.
ontogeny: the evolution (i.e. the origin and development) of an individual organism, from conception to death.
,,,,,open-ended questions,,,,,: questions that do not contain fixed, pre-determined responses, that allow a respondent to answer relatively freely.
,,,,,operant conditioning,,,,,: a form of learning that is determined by consequences that either reinforce or punish particular behaviours, that can increase or decrease the probability of the behaviour.
operation: the act of something being carried out.
Operation Headstart: an enrichment intervention programme used in the US in the 1960s for preschool children, aimed at changing the effects of social disadvantage.
operational definition: a definition of a variable or condition on the basis of the exact operation or procedure that determines its existence and makes it usable. Variables can be identified by factors that are manipulated or measured.
opportunity sample: sampling technique not based on random selection or probability; the researcher selects those who are convenient to him or her as respondents.
oppositional defiant disorder: a disruptive pattern of behavior of children and adolescents that is characterised by defiant, disobedient, and hostile behaviours directed toward adults in positions of authority.
optic nerve: a group of fibres, comprised of the axons of ganglion cells, that leave the eyeball, carrying information from the eye towards the brain.
,,,,,optimal mismatch theory: based on Piagets theory of intellectual development, aims to accelerate learning by 'mismatching' a child's current level of competence with a set of problems slightly more complex than this level. If there is a correct, optimal?difference between what they can do, and what is being asked of them, children then experience a cognitive conflict and seek to find solutions through their own actions.
,,,,,oral stage: the first stage in Freud's theory of development, from birth to about 15 months, when the primary source of gratification is stimulation of the mouth and lips.
order effects: differences in participants performance that occurs as a result of participants experiencing different conditions in a specific order. Subsequently, learning and practice effects can arise (whereby participants adapt and improve on later measurements) or fatigue effects (resulting in a decline in performance on later measures).
ordinal data: data that can be rank-ordered, but intervals between ranks are not necessarily equal.
,,,,,ordinate: when plotting data on a graph, the ordinate refers to information on the vertical or y axis of the graph. The dependent variable is plotted on this axis.
organ of corti: a receptive organ in the inner ear, whereby sound waves are changed into nerve impulses.
organic disorder: a disorder with a known physiological cause. For instance, schizophrenia has been linked to enlarged brain ventricles and excessive dopamine.
Origin of Species: the book in which Darwin proposed his theory of evolution in 1859.
outcome study: a technique for exploring how successful a therapeutic intervention has been. For instance, an experimental group who has been given a drug may be compared to a control group that received a placebo.
out-group: individuals who are not members of, and are not accepted by the in-group.
overcompensation: a Freudian defence mechanism, whereby an individual attempts to offset weakness in an area of their lives by focusing on another aspect of it.

pain management: the various measures and techniques employed to control and reduce pain.
panic disorder: classified under DSM as an anxiety disorder, sufferers experience attacks?that are unpredictable, and involve intense feelings of apprehension, anxiety and fear, and physiological symptoms of chest pain, dizziness and heavy breathing.
paralinguistics: refers to how something is said rather than what is said, including pauses and tone of voice.
parallel processing: an explanation of information processing, whereby two or more mental processes can be carried out simultaneously.
paranoia: is a disturbed thought process characterised by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion.
,,,,,paranoid schizophrenia: a subcategory of schizophrenia, whereby an individual possesses an organised and systematic set of delusions or hallucinations, including that of persecution or jealousy.
,,,,,parapsychology: refers to a branch of psychology that seeks to explain the paranormal (which cannot be explained in terms of normal sensory experience)
,,,,,parasympathetic nervous system: combined with the sympathetic nervous system, comprises the autonomic nervous system of the body. The parasympathetic system is antagonistic to the sympathetic nervous system, by conserving and restoring bodily energy to restore the organism to a state of calm and relaxation.
parietal lobe: the region of the cortex behind the frontal lobe and above the lateral fissure, containing the somatosensory cortex, important for the sense of touch.
Parkinson's disease: a degenerative neurological disorder, typified by difficulties in movement, for instance a continual rapid tremor in the limbs, a lack of sensory-motor co-ordination and a tendency to be continually tired. The condition is thought to be caused by problems in the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
parsimony: in the philosophy of science, the principle that the simplest possible explanation should always be sought for any event.
partial reinforcement: in operant conditioning, a contingency of reinforcement whereby a response is rewarded or punished only some of the time.
participant: ('subjecf) in research, an individual who is the object of study or who participates in an experiment.
participant observation: a research method involving direct participation of the researcher in the events being studied.
participant variables: confounding effects that result from the characteristics of the participants that may influence the results, such as differences in age, memory, gender, state of hunger or level of arousal.
paternal deprivation:  loss of the father, or growing up without a steady father figure may have deprivation effects, including a range of emotional and social disturbances depending on the nature and length of the absence.
pathological: the quality of being diseased or dysfunctional. Sigmund Freud's psychological theories describe and diagnose the sources of pathological social behavior in individuals.
pattern recognition: the process by which we transform and organise the raw sensory information into a meaningful whole.
Pavlovian conditioning: see classical conditioning.
peak experience: proposed by Maslow, a temporary, profound and intense experience of enhanced awareness, frequently accompanied by feelings of feeling fully alive.
peer: an individual who is in some way equal to the person with whom they are being compared on a specific dimension.
peer group: a social unit of (typically) same-age peers who share common values and standards of behaviour.
perception: the process of selection, meaningful organisation and interpretation of information from the senses.
,,,,,perceptual constancy: the tendency for objects to provide the same perceptual experience despite changes in the retinal image, e.g. size constancy.
,,,,,perceptual defence: a phenomenon whereby words that have a high degree of emotional content or might be considered 'taboo' are perceptually recognised less easily than neutral valence words.
perceptual development: the systematic development and maturation of perceptual abilities and processes over time.
perceptual organisation: processes that combine incoming sensory information into a coherent, meaningful perceptual experience. For instance, the ability to perceive patterns and to judge size and distance in a three-dimensional scene.
peripheral nervous system: nerves outside the spinal cord and brain (not part of the central nervous system).
persecution: to be badly treated, oppressed or harassed usually because of beliefs, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
personal space: the physical region around us that we deem to be our own, in order to regulate interactions with others.
personality: a set of qualities that make a person (or thing) distinct from another.
personality disorder: a group of disorders characterised by pathological trends in personality structure. It may show itself by lack of good judgment or poor relationships with others, accompanied by little anxiety and no personal sense of distress.
personality inventory:  a self-report questionnaire that is designed to measure personality characteristics, through questions on personal thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) measures personality along the dimensions of neuroticism - stability and extroversion - introversio n.
person-centred therapy:  See client-centred therapy
persuasion: intentional efforts to alter attitudes.
pervasive development disorder (PDD): refers to a group of five disorders characterised by delays in the development of multiple basic functions including socialisation and communication. The most commonly known PDD is autism.
PET (positron emission tomography) scans: a technique for imaging brain activity by recording the extent of metabolic activity in different regions of the brain during different cognitive or behavioural activities, through injecting a radioactive substance.
phallic stage: the third stage of development in Freud's theory, from about 3 to 5 years of age, during which the source of gratification is focused on the genitals.
phantom limb: a mysterious phenomenon experienced by amputees who often continue to experience sensations which seem to originate from the missing limb.
phenomena: in the scientific sense, a phenomenon is an observable occurrence, pattern, or relationship between events.
phenomenological: pertaining to the way things appear or are experienced; in the humanistic approach, a reference to the emphasis on an individual's perceptions and feelings as defining the meaning of their behaviour.
phenotype: the observed characteristics of the individual, that manifest as a combination of genetic and environmental influences.
philosophy:  is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, validity, mind, and language.
philosophy of mind: is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain.
philosophy of perception: concerns how mental processes and symbols depend on the world internal and external to the perceiver.
philosophy of science: is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science.
philosophical: of or pertaining to philosophy; a certain critical, creative way of thinking.
phobic disorders (phobias): a type of anxiety disorder, of a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that is often unreasonable and unfounded in proportion to the threat, and which may interfere with an individuals function in daily life.
phoneme: minimal units of speech, that create differences in speech production and reception.
phylogeny: evolution and development of a species. See ontogeny, which refers to the evolution and development of an individual organism.
physical (physiological) dependence: a state where the body has adapted to and has become dependent on drugs, and sudden absence can result in withdrawal.
physiological: relating to the way that living things function rather than to their shape or structure.
physiologists: scientists who study living organisms and how their parts work.
Piaget (1896-1980): a Swiss developmental psychologist whose work has had a huge influence on psychology and education. Piaget defined four sequential stages of cognitive development; the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages, each characterised by different ways of thinking. Through development a child develops ?a target="_blank" href="http://www.itseducation.asia/psychology/s.htm#schema">schemas? (mental representations), which are used to solve new problems (?a target="_blank" href="http://www.itseducation.asia/psychology/a.htm#assimilation">assimilation? and existing schema is also changed to solve new experiences ("accommodation".
Piagetian: of, relating to, or dealing with Jean Piaget or his writings, theories, or methods especially with respect to child development.
Piliavin (1969): completed a famous experiment demonstrating diffusion of responsibility by exploring factors that influence helping behavior of bystanders.
pituitary gland: a small gland located next to the hypothalamus, which regulates many endocrine functions, including the secretion of growth hormones, and secretes hormones that in turn trigger hormone secretions in other glands. For instance, a hormone called ACTH is released during stress, which in turn triggers the release of steroids from the cortex of the adrenal glands.
placebo: a chemically inert substance administered instead of a real drug.
placebo effect: when participants display improvements after being administered a placebo, on the belief that it has beneficial powers even though it has none.
pleasure principle: Freuds proposal that humans are motivated to achieve immediate and maximal pleasure, regardless of the cost.
pons: the pons trigger dreaming and awakening from sleep.
population: (or target population) the entire group to which the results of the study are intended to apply to and from which those individuals selected to participate in the study will be drawn.
positive correlation: a relationship between two measured variables where as one measure increases the other measured variable increases too.
positive regard: see unconditional positive regard.
positive reinforcement: in operant conditioning, a process of increasing the likelihood of a response by immediately following the response with a desirable stimulus (a positive reinforcer).
positive symptoms: behaviours related to a mental disorder which do not occur in healthy persons; for example, hallucinations in schizophrenia.
posthypnotic amnesia: a subject's inability to remember something that happened while they were hypnotised.
post-traumatic stress disorder: a type of anxiety disorder that arises as a consequence of the experience of a traumatic event, such as a life-threatening event. Symptoms typically involve a persistent re-experience of the event, through hallucinations, recollections, flashbacks, increased anxiety and guilt.
postsynaptic: in a synapse, of or pertaining to the neuron that bears receptors for neurotransmitter released into the synaptic cleft by the presynaptic neuron.
preconscious: thoughts, experiences, and memories not in a persons immediate attention but that can be called into awareness at any moment.
predictive validity: an indicator of validity based on whether a test can accurately predict future performance on the measure in question.
prejudice: a learned negative attitude, comprised of negative affective and stereotypes towards a person or group. Behavioural manifestation is labelled 'discrimination'
presynaptic: refers to the axonal end of the neuron where the synapse may be inhibited or stimulated to release neurotransmitters.
primacy effect: information presented first to a participant is more likely to be remembered than material subsequently presented.
primary carer: the individual that holds primary responsibility for the care of an infant, often the biological mother.
primary prevention: strategies that aim to prevent disease in currently healthy individuals, by focusing on the development of good health habits and discouraging poor ones.
primary reinforcer: reinforcers based on innate biological significance, such as food or water.
priming: a phenomenon whereby previous exposure to a word or situation, improves implicit memory and increases the activation of associated thoughts or memories.
,,,,,pro-attitudinal behaviour: a tendency for people to behave in a manner that is consistent, with existing, underlying attitudes.
probability: a numerical measure of the chance that something will happen, expressed as a number between 1 (certainty) and 0 (impossibility). A probability of 0.05 is typically used in psychological investigations to represent the probability of an effect found occurring if the null hypothesis is true, ie. The results are purely due to chance factors.
,,,,,procedural memory: memory for how-to?information, that we have no conscious access to, for instance, how to ride a bike. 
prognosis: when used in clinical psychology,  refers to the expected eventual outcome of a disorder.
,,,,,projection: defence mechanisms whereby which unwanted thoughts are externalised or projected onto someone else.
,,,,,projective test: a type of personality assessment during which an individual is asked to interpret an ambiguous, abstract stimulus and an individuals response will reveal unconscious and hidden feelings, motives and conflicts.
,,,,,pro-social behaviour: behaviour that is believed to help other individuals.
protection of participants: an ethical requirement whereby researchers must minimise any risk or harm to participants.
proximal cause: a factor which is a direct influence on behaviour, such as one's attitude or an aspect of the immediate situation.
psyche: Jungs term for the totality of each persons psychic contents.
psychiatrists: medical doctors who possess an M.D. degree and may prescribe medications for the treatment of psychological disorders.
psychoanalytic theory: is a general term for approaches to psychoanalysis which attempt to provide a conceptual framework more-or-less independent of clinical practice rather than based on empirical analysis of clinical cases.
psychoanalysis: a type of psychodynamic therapy devised by Freud, in line with the assumptions of unconscious conflict and psychosexual development. Therapy aims for the patient to gain a deeper understanding of their own unconscious thoughts and feelings through free association and transference.
psychodynamics: the branch of social psychology that deals with the processes and emotions that determine psychology and motivation.
psychodynamic approach: a perspective that views behaviour in terms of past childhood experiences, and the influence of unconscious processes, drives and conflicts.
psychological:  relating to the way that living things function rather than to their shape or structure i.e. mental or emotional as opposed to physical in nature.
psychological dependence: the reliance upon and beliefs that are held when individuals become addicted to drugs.
psychological disorder: a psychological disorder of thought or emotion; a more neutral term than mental illness.
physiological psychology: is a subdivision of biological psychology that studies the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments.
psychologist: means a person who by years of study, training and experience has achieved professional recognition and standing in the field of clinical psychology.
psychology: the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes.
psychometric testing: the testing of individuals to measure competence in a specific area of functioning, e.g. intelligence, personality.
psychopath: see anti-social personality disorder.
psychopharmacology: the study of the effects that drugs have on behaviour.
psychophysics: the study of the relationship between physical stimuli and the mental events that arise as a result of these stimuli. The methods developed are fundamental to sensation and perception.
psychophysiology: the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes.
psychosis: any major mental disorder that involves loss of contact with reality. This usually includes delusions and/or hallucinations.
psychotic: a person afflicted with psychosis.
psychosocial: the psychological and/or social aspects of health, disease, treatment, and/or rehabilitation.
psychosurgery: surgical procedures conducted on brain tissue to alleviate the symptoms of severe psychological disorder.
psychotherapy: any variety of treatment for abnormal behaviour which is primarily verbal in nature, rather than based on the use of drugs.
psychosexual development: in psychoanalytic theory, a description of how a child progresses through set stages that vary according to the focus of gratification (oral, anal, genital) and by the person towards which this feeling is directed at.
public territory: a type of territory where there is a low amount of occupation and perception of ownership, for instance a beach.
punishment: in operant conditioning, a process whereby a response is followed by a negative reinforcer, which results in a decrease in the probability of the response.

Q-sort: a tool that is occasionally used in therapy. A pack of cards containing statements are presented to the client, who then sorts these into a number of categories (for example, 'very like me', 'not at all like me' and so on). If therapy is successful, there will be a shift from a great distribution of negative cards to positive cards, to reflect a positive self-image.
qualitative research (data): information in nonnumerical form, e.g. speech, written words, pictures, which places importance on the meaningful interpretation of data, rather than simply converting data to numbers, for instance, material gathered from a case study.
quantitative research (data): information in numerical form, e.g. number of students in a class, average scores on a quiz.
quasi-experiment: an experimental design whereby the experimenter does not directly influence participant allocation to different conditions, but instead utilises existing groupings.
questionnaire (survey): a research method that is contains different formats of questionnaires, for example the Likert scale, open- and closed- questions.
quota sampling: a technique for obtaining participants by selecting a quota of individuals, in proportion to their frequency in the population.

random allocation: refers to the how experimenters divide participants into each experimental condition, to reduce any bias in the distribution of participant characteristics.
random sample: a technique for obtaining participants, whereby every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
range: a descriptive statistic that shows the difference between the highest and the lowest scores in a data set.
rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: refers to the phase of sleep, characterised by eye movements and dreaming. In adults, REM sleep alternates with other periods of sleep (non-REM sleep) over a 9O-minute cycle. REM sleep is also accompanied by an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and faster and more irregular breathing patterns.
rating scale: refers to the appraisal of a person or behaviour along a specific scale.
ratio data/scale: an interval scale that has a true zero point (eg. temperature).
rational: consistent with or based on or using reason; "rational behavior".
rational-emotive therapy: a form of therapy developed by Ellis which focuses changing irrational beliefs and faulty interpretations, which result in negative emotions and severe anxiety.
rationalisation: a defence mechanism whereby behaviour is explained and justified by offering a reason acceptable to the ego in place of the true reason.
reaction formation: a defence mechanism whereby a person a behaviour is displayed that is the opposite of a forbidden impulse. An example would be a man who deals with his homosexual feelings by displaying external resentment towards homosexuals.
reaction time: time taken to respond to a stimulus, measured by the interval between the stimulus and the response.
realistic conflict theory: an account of prejudice and discrimination that proposes intergroup conflict and antagonism occurs when groups are competing for scarce resources.
reality principle: in Freud's theory, the constraints and set of rules that govern the ego, delaying the ids gratification, by recognition of the demands of the real world.
reasoning: is the mental (cognitive) process of looking for reasons for beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings.
rebound: the symptoms that the medicine was going to cure returns when one stops taking the medicine and sometimes extra much so during the time just after one has gone off the medicine.
recall: in memory, the active retrieval of information.
recency effect: improved memory for list of words at the end of a list than those in the middle of the list.
recentring: in Gestalt theory, developing an alternative ?a target="_blank" href="http://www.itseducation.asia/psychology/m.htm#mental_set">mental set?for a situation, such as when trying to solve a problem.
recidivism: reverting back to crime, for instance after being released from prison.
reciprocal altruism: in evolutionary psychology, the concept that individuals performance altruistic behaviour if the expected benefit of future help from the strangers surpasses the short-term cost of helping.
recognition: in memory, the process of identifying presented information as familiar and having been experienced before.
reconstructive memory: an account of piecing together and reassembling stored information during recall, and stored knowledge, expectations and beliefs are used to fill gaps and produce a coherent memory representation.
recovered memories: adults recover early repressed memories (often sexual abuse), which are often cited as the cause of a problem (e.g. eating disorder)
reflex: an unlearned response that is triggered by specific environmental stimuli, e.g. as a baby's sucking on an object placed in the mouth.
refractory period: refers to the period following an action potential when a particular section of a nerve cell cannot be stimulated.
regression: in Freudian theory, a defence mechanism whereby a individual reverts to a behaviour of an earlier developmental period to prevent anxiety and satisfy current needs.
rehearsal: refers to the cognitive process involving the repetition of an item in order to maintain it in short-term memory.
reinforcer: in conditioning, any stimulus, that after following a response, increases the probability of that response occurring.
relapse: return to drug use by a user who has previously recovered. Alternative definition: The symptoms that the medicine was going to cure returns when one stops taking the medicine and sometimes extra much so during the time just after one has gone off the medicine.
related t-test: a parametric inferential statistical test. Used with interval or ratio data, a repeated measures design (or matched pairs), to investigate any difference in the effect each level of the independent variable has on the dependent variable.
relaxation training: procedures that target to reduce and relax muscle tension, heart rate and cortical activity. This is evident in systematic desensitisation.
reliability: a measure of consistency, to represent the degree to which replications of a test or method produces similar data scores.
repeated measures design: (within-subjects or related design) experimental design in which each individual participates in every level of the independent variable.
repression: defence mechanism whereby memories, feelings or ideas associated with pain or guilt are blocked from conscious awareness.
research: the process of gaining knowledge, either by an examination of appropriate theories or through empirical data.  In psychology, the term is used to refer to an investigative process such as the experiment or the case study.
resistance: in psychoanalysis, inability or unwillingness of a patient to accept the analysts interpretations of their behaviour and to discuss certain ideas or experiences.
responder bias (participant reactivity): Arial"> tendency of a participant to produce biased responses as a result of wanting to appear socially desirable or to be in line with what the experimenter wants.
restoration accounts of sleep: the hypothesis that the purpose of sleep is to restore and repair the body.
reticular formation: a diffuse network of nerve fibres which runs through the brain stem and limbic system, with connections both up to the cortex and down to the spinal cord; that alerts the cerebral cortex to incoming sensory signals and serves to regulate arousal levels, maintain consciousness and awakening from sleep.
retina: the light sensitive part of the eye, that is comprised of three layers of neural tissue, including photoreceptors that convert light into neural responses to be passed to the brain via the optic nerve.
retrieval: the process and recovery of a stored item from memory.
retrieval cues:internal or external stimuli that aid memory retrieval.
retrograde amnesia: the inability to recall events before the cause of the amnesia, e.g. brain injury.
,,,,,retrospective study: a study which assesses the impact of early experience on later development looking back from the time of the specified effect to the early experience.
reward: any event which is pleasurable or satisfying to the organism (for example, food to a hungry animal)
rewards-cost model: theory by Piliavin that proposes that altruistic behaviour is determined by weighing up the rewards and costs of helping and not helping.
,,,,,risky shift: refers to the fact that people tend to make riskier decisions when they are members of a group than they would if they made the same decision independently.
ritalin: a drug whose action resembles that of the amphetamines. It has been controversially used in the treatment of children suffering from attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder.
Rogers (1902-1987): was one of the original founders of the humanistic perspective. His theories encompassed the importance of unconditional and conditional positive regard in development of the 'self concept' and 'conditions of worth' set by others. His work has been applied to a range of domains, particularly in therapy through his development of 'client-centred' (now named 'person-centred' therapy.
rods (and cones): a type of receptor cell found in the retina of the eye. Rods are critical for sight during dim illumination, whereas cones are more active in good light conditions. Individuals who lack rods (or have rods that don't function) suffer from night blindness, and cannot see properly in dim light.
role conflict: a situation where an individual occupies two roles at the same time, where each role is incompatible to the expectations of the other.
role model: a person whose behaviour is observed and imitated.
Rorschach test: a type of projective test that consists of ten bilaterally symmetrical inkblots. Participants responses and interpretations are assumed to reveal of various characteristics such as emotional responsiveness and personality.

SAD: see seasonal affective disorder.
salience: refers to the distinctiveness or importance of something. For example, when we are thirsty, images of drink are more salient.
sample: the group of individuals selected fromthe population to participate in a study so that the researcher can make generalisations about the whole of the original population.
sampling error: an error that occurs as a result of having a non-representative sample.
,,,,,sampling method: a technique by which a sample of participants is taken from a population. Includes random sampling, stratified sampling, opportunity sampling and quota sampling.
,,,,,scaffolding : a term to describe how a childs learning can be advanced by a tutor who provides a framework within which the child can develop.
Schachter and Singer (1962): proposed a two-factor theory of emotion, whereby emotion is experienced as a combination of arousal and attribution (labelling).
schedule of reinforcement: in operant conditioning, sequence of presenting and withholding reinforcement.
schema: mental frameworks which structure knowledge, beliefs and expectations, of objects, people and situations, to guide cognitive processes and behaviour.
schizophrenia: a severe form of mental disorder, characterised by distortions and disturbances of perception, thought, language and emotions.
schizophrenia in remission: a diagnostic label to indicate that at the time of diagnosis, the client is free of schizophrenic symptoms, but has had periods of schizophrenia in the past.
schizophrenogenic family: a term to describe a family with faulty communication patterns and conflict between members, and has been implicated in the development of schizophrenia.
seasonal affective disorder (SAD): a mood disorder associated with changes in season.
secondary reinforcement: serves as a reinforcer through association with a primary reinforcement.
secondary sexual characteristics: characteristics that differ between the sexes, other than reproductive organs, such as body hair, facial hair and voice pitch.
secondary territory: territory with a medium degree of occupation and perception of ownership, e.g. classroom seat.
secure attachment: an attachment bond between the mother (or primary caregiver) and infant, whereby the mother is sensitive and responsive to the childs needs, who will not experience significant distress at separation from the caregiver, but who seek comfort from caregiver when frightened. Secure attachment is related to healthy subsequent cognitive and emotional development as adults, including high self-esteem and the ability to maintain loving, trusting relationships.
sedative: a category of drugs that result in drowsiness and reduced sensori-motor skills by reducing central nervous system functioning.
selective attention:  perceptual process of focusing on specific elements of a stimulus.
self-acceptance: an acceptance of yourself as you are, warts and all.
self-actualisation : in Maslows hierarchy of needs, refers to an individuals desire to grow and reach his or her potential.  The process of becoming a person in psychological emancipation  (Carl Rogers).
self-awareness: is the explicit understanding that one exists. Furthermore, it includes the concept that one exists as an individual, separate from other people, with private thoughts.
self-categorisation theory:  proposes people are most likely to be influenced by those perceived to be similar to themselves (i.e. in-group members).
self-concept: mental representation of our sense of individuality and inter-dependence on others, and includes two aspects ? self-understanding and self-esteem.
self-disclosure: the tendency to reveal gradually more intimate information as we get to know others better.
self-efficacy: an individual's belief in ability and performance on a task or in a situation.
self-esteem: evaluative attitude towards the self of how much an individual likes themselves, influencing personal and social behaviours.
self-image: is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, sex, I.Q. score, etc.), but also items that have been learned by that person about himself or herself, either from personal experiences or by internalising the judgments of others.
self-fulfilling prophecy: a phenomenon whereby expectations of how others will act or behave, affects interactions and elicits the anticipated response.
self-perception theory: suggests that by observing and perceiving how we act in a situation, shapes our attitudes and other self-characterisations.
self-realisation: the emancipation of an individual towards self-reliance in respect of the integrity, or the love of knowledge, the filognosy, of the different views, forms of logic and intelligence one finds in modern society. Self-actualisation is the more specific humanist conception of self-realisation.
self-report: a method of gathering data by asking an individual to report and identify their behaviour or mental state.
self-serving bias: the tendency to bias our judgements of our own behaviour, by emphasising external factors for failure, but attributing success to ability or effort.
Selye (1907-1982): an endocrinologist, who explored physiological responses to stress, illness and disease. This led to the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) consisting three stages of stress; an alarm state, resistance state, and exhaustion state.
semantic memory: general memories that involve general knowledge of the world, including facts.
senses: are the physiological methods of perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology (or cognitive science), and philosophy of perception.
sensitive period: (or critical period): a period in development when an organism is best able to develop a response, for instance development of language.
sensitive responsiveness: the extent to which a primary carer responds to an infants signals.
sensory memory: a modality-specific form of memory, involved in temporary preservation of sensory stimuli,  serving as a buffer between the senses and short-term memory.
sensory nerves: neural pathways in the parasympathetic nervous system which transfer information from the sensory receptors to the central nervous system.
sentience: the quality or state of being sentient; consciousness; Feeling as distinguished from perception or thought.
sentient: self-aware, choice-making consciousness. Humans and cetaceans (dolphins and whales) are the two sentient species on earth.
serial-position curve: a graphical representation of memory retrieval, whereby recall is highest for beginning (primacy effect) and end items (recency effect) on a list than in the middle.
serotonin: neurotransmitter that is important in the regulation of mood and control of aggressive behaviour.  Normally produces an inhibitory effect.
sex differences: commonly observed differences between males and females, that may be primary (associated with reproduction), secondary (biological, but not associated with reproduction) and differences of mental, emotional or behavioural characteristics.
sex-linked trait: any genetically-determined characteristic, that is linked to one sex more than the other, for instance male performance at tests of spatial ability is superior to women.
sexism: prejudice and discrimination against one sex by members of the other sex, for instance in employment.
sexual orientation: preference for sexual partners of the same or opposite sex
sexual selection: individuals have features that make them attractive to members of the opposite sex (intersexual selection), or help them to compete with members of the same sex for access to mates (intrasexual selection).
shadowing: used in studies of attention, involves listening to and repeating a message that is presented in one ear.
shadow juries: see mock jury.
shame: a negative affect elicited by a perceived loss of self-esteem related to a particular behaviour.
shape constancy: refers to the tendency to perceive the shape of an object, despite variations in the size of the retinal image.
shaping: in operant conditioning, reinforcing successive approximations to the desired response.
short-term memory (STM): memory process which preserves recent information over relatively brief intervals, of limited capacity and information is stored for only a short length of time without rehearsal.
sibling rivalry: inevitable rivalry between children for parental affection and other resources.
sign language: a form of gestural communication used by the deaf.
significance level: in inferential statistics, a statement of the probability that an observed outcome is due only to chance.
significance tests: in statistics, inferential statistical procedures which are used to test whether observed results reflect real differences as a result of manipulation of variables, rather than chance variations.
simultaneous conditioning: used in classical conditioning where the unconditioned (UCS) and the conditioned stimuli (CS) are presented simultaneously rather than one (the UCS) preceding the other, (the CS).
single-blind design: an experiment whereby subjects are kept uninformed of the purpose and aim of the study, to avoid bias.
situational attribution: attributing behaviour to be caused by factors outside of a persons control, for instance task difficulty or weather.
situational variables: confounding effects as a result of environmental influences, such as lighting, noise levels and temperature.
size constancy: the tendency to perceive objects as being closer to their actual size rather than the physical size registered on the retina of the eye.
skewed distribution: an asymmetrical frequency distribution, whereby the median is usually more representative than the mean as a measure of central tendency.
skill: the ability that a person has to carry out a task successfully and competently.
Skinner (1904-1990): influential behaviourist, who pioneered the principle of operant conditioning, including schedules of reinforcement, shaping and subsequent behavior modification.
sleep: a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended.
sleep apnea: a temporary suspension of breathing occurring repeatedly during sleep that often affects overweight people or those having an obstruction in the breathing tract, an abnormally small throat opening, or a neurological disorder.
sleep disorders: include insomnia, sleep apnea and narcolepsy.
sleeper effect: the effect of persuasive messages may not have an immediate effect, but may be revealed in a change of behaviour after a period of time.
sociability: a child's inclination to interact with others and to seek their attention or approval.
social behaviour: any behaviour which involves others or is oriented towards others
social cognition: the mental processes involved in the way individuals perceive and react to social situations.
social comparison: tendency of judging our own behaviour against that of others.
social desirability: either behaving in a way to bring social approval from others, or responding in a self-evaluative situation (e.g. interview, questionnaire) to present ourselves in a way that reveals more socially desirable characteristics (whilst potentially hiding undesirable characteristics).
social development: growth of social behaviours, such as the ability to form attachments, develop healthy self-esteem and form successful relationships.
social drift theory (hypothesis): the attempt to explain the relationship between social class and serious mental illness by suggesting that those who are seriously mentally ill 'drift' down the socio-economic scale.
social facilitation and inhibition (SFI): an improvement in performance on a task due to the presence of others (social facilitation), or an impairment in performance due to the presence of others (social inhibition).
social identity theory: proposition that individuals categorise themselves and others into in-groups and out-groups. Negative comparisons are made between the two groups as a result of a need to maintain a positive social identity, subsequently giving rise to competition and discrimination.
social influence: how an individual's behaviour is affected by others, such as conformity pressures and group dynamics.
social inhibition: is what keeps humans from becoming involved in potentially objectionable actions and/or expressions in a social setting.
social learning theory: proposes that learning occurs through imitation and modelling of behaviour of role models.
social loafing: the phenomenon in which people working together on a task tend to contribute less individual effort than they would if working alone.
social norms: expected standards of acceptable and appropriate behaviour and attitudes for members of a group or society.
socially sensitive research:  research that may have direct social consequences for participants or the population represented. For instance, research into racial differences.
social skills training: a programme to teach people to improve social skills, such as making eye contact.
social psychology: an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
socialisation: is used by sociologists, social psychologists and educationalists to refer to the process of learning ones culture and how to live within it. For the individual it provides the resources necessary for acting and participating within their society
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS): a rating scale, devised by Holmes and Rahe, that scores important life events and life changes according to their psychological impact and degree of adjustment required. Higher scores on the SRRS indicate a higher risk of stress-related ill health..
social support: people and/or services that are supportive during difficult periods, including information (e.g. advice) or emotional support (e.g. reassurance that one is cared for).
socio-demographic: pertaining to or characterised by a combination of sociological and demographic characteristics
socioeconomics: or socio-economics is the study of the relationship between economic activity and social life.
sociologist: a social scientist who studies the institutions and development of human society.
sociology: is the scientific or systematic study of society, including patterns of social relations, social stratification, social interaction, and culture.
somatic treatments: treatments of mental disorders that employ physical and chemical methods, e.g Electroconvulsive Shock Treatment(ECT).
somatosensory cortex : a part of the brain responsible for processing stimulation coming from the skin, body wall, muscles, bones, tendons and joints. It plays a part in determining pain intensity.
spatial memory: is the ability of animals to form a internal representation or map of its familiar area or home range.
Spearman (1863-1945): focused on intelligence research; proposing the theoretical underlying general factor (g) of intelligence, and statistics; establishing Spearmans rank correlation coefficient and factor analysis.
species-specific behaviour: behaviours which are characteristic of all members of a particular species. These response patterns (sometimes popularly called 'instincts') apply to behaviours such as mating, finding food, defence and raising offspring.
split half reliability: an evaluation of the internal consistency of a test, by splitting test items randomly into two halves and comparing participants' performance on the two halves. The two scores should correlate highly if the test is internally reliable.
split-brain studies: refers to studies derived from split?a target="_blank" href="http://www.itseducation.asia/psychology/b.htm#brain">brain operations on epileptic patients, involves cutting the corpus callosum, and thereby separating the two hemispheres of the brain.
spontaneous recovery: in classical conditioning, after extinction, an extinguished conditioned response will be spontaneously produced.
spontaneous remission: in psychotherapy, improvement in an individual's condition without professional intervention, often serves as a baseline criterion to compare the effectiveness of therapies.
standard deviation: a measure of dispersion; average difference of a set of scores from the mean measure.
standardised instructions: directions given to participants in a study to ensure that each participant receives the same information to minimise variation.
standardisation : A set of consistent procedures to treat participants in a test, interview, or experiment or for recording data.
statistical infrequency: any behaviour that is statistically infrequent is viewed as abnormal.
statistical significance: a conclusion drawn from the data collected in a research study that the results are a result of the effect of the independent variable upon the dependent variable, and are not due to chance.
stereoscopic vision: the perceptual experience of a three-dimensional image through the combination of two different views of the same scene from the two eyes.
stereotype: an oversimplified, generalised and often inaccurate perception of an individual based upon membership of a particular group. Can often underlie prejudice and discrimination.
steroids: any of a number of natural or synthetic substances that regulate body function.
stimuli: irregular plural of stimulus
stimulant: a drug which increases activation of the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system; decreasing fatigue, increasing physical activity and alertness, diminish hunger, and result in a temporary elevation of mood.
stimulus: in general, any event, situation, object or factor that may affect behaviour; in the behaviourist approach, a stimulus must be a measurable change in the environment.
stimulus discrimination: in conditioning, an organism learns to differentiate between stimuli that differ from the conditioned stimulus on some dimension.
stimulus generalisation: in classical conditioning, once a response to a stimulus has been learnt, the response may also be evoked by other similar stimuli that have never been paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
stimulus-response learning: a term used to describe any type of learning which involves an association between a stimulus and a response.
storage: the retention of encoded information in memory over time.
stratified sample:  the sample reflect the composition of the population, for instance 20 per cent left handed individuals, 80 percent right handed individuals in the population would determine a selection of participants using the same percentages.
stress: a mismatch between the perceived demands of the environment and an organisms perceived ability to cope.
stress reduction: techniques used by an individual to cope with stress and reduce its adverse effects.
stressor: any event or stimulus (internal or external)  which triggers a stress response in an individual.
Stroop effect: is a demonstration of interference in the reaction time of a task. When a word such as blue, green, red, etc. is printed in a color differing from the color expressed by the word's semantic meaning (e.g. the word "red" printed in blue ink), a delay occurs in the processing of the word's color, leading to slower test reaction times and an increase in mistakes.
subconscious: in Freud's theory,  portions of the mind which are below the level of conscious awareness.
subcortical: relating to the portion of the brain immediately below the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for most higher functions (sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, memory, etc.)
subjective: a subjective assessment is one that is based on criteria that exist only or principally in the assessor. Two subjective assessors assessing the same item might differ widely in their assessment.
sublimation: in Freud's theory, a defence mechanism whereby energy is redirected towards a socially desirable creative activity.
substance abuse: a pattern of behaviour where a person relies excessively on a particular substance (e.g. alcohol or opioids such as heroin) which can ultimately interfere with the individuals daily functioning.
superego: in Freudian theory, portion of the psyche governed by moral constraints.
superordinate goal: a higher and more important goal than that normally pursued by individuals within a group.
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN): is a bilateral region of the brain, located in the hypothalamus, that is responsible for controlling endogenous circadian rhythms. The neuronal and hormonal activities it generates regulate many different body functions over a 24-hour period.
symbiosis: a relationship between two animals where each animal benefits.
sympathetic nervous system: see autonomic nervous system.
symptom: a change from normal structure, function, or sensation as would be experienced by the patient and indicative of disease.
synapse: a small physical gap between two neurons, which is connected by the flow of neurotransmitter chemicals
synaptic transmission: refers to the process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from one neuron (the presynaptic neuron) to another (the postsynaptic neuron).
systematic desensitisation: a behavioural therapy to treat phobias and anxieties, whereby a client is gradually exposed to situations that are more and more anxiety provoking until the fear response is replaced by one of relaxation.
system variables: in witness testimony, variables that affect the accuracy of witness testimony and over which the police (and justice system in general) have some influence, including interviewing techniques.
systems theory: a theoretical framework involving multiple interrelated elements, where the properties of the whole are different from the properties of the parts; systems are viewed as governed by processes of negative feedback (which promotes stability) and positive feedback (which promotes instability). Used to explain a range of phenomena, and a range of situations, for instance, Minuchins family systems theory.

taboo: something that is avoided, banned, or not allowed because of a cultural belief.
tabula rasa: (translation: 'blank slate'), refers to the behaviourist belief that all human behaviour is infinitely plastic and malleable, and therefore can be explained in terms of learnt experiences, rather than genetic predispositions.
tardive dyskinesia: a condition that is occasionally experienced as a side-effect of antipsychotic drugs, typified by involuntary movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and other facial movements.
taste aversion: refers to a type of learning formed after one trial, whereby an association is formed between feelings of sickness and (usually) a particular food, resulting in an avoidance of the food.
telegraphic speech: refers to the reduced sentences (resembling telegrams) that distinguish children's speech patterns from around 18 months to two years, demonstrating the basics of early grammar by containing crucial nouns and verbs.
telic state: a motivational state in which arousal is avoided.
temperament: aspects of personality that exist at birth and are believed to be as a result of genetic influences.
template theories: an account of pattern recognition; the proposal that we match incoming information with templates (miniature representations) of patterns stored in long-term memory.
temporal lobe: the region of the cortex below the lateral fissure; contains the auditory cortex.
territoriality: the tendency of animals to defend (e.g. through scent markings) a particular geographical area from other members of their own species, in order to gain access to and increase control over a resource.
testosterone: a male sex hormone produced by the testes, that is responsible for production of sperm and  the development of the secondary sexual characteristics. It has also been associated with aggression.
test-retest reliability: measure of measurements consistency, by correlating (the same) test performance on two different occasions.
thalamus: part of the forebrain, transmits nerve impulses, up sensory pathways to the cerebral cortex. Damage to the thalamus can result in anterograde amnesia.
thanatos: a Freudian term which represents the death instinct, characterised by aggressive behaviour and a rejection of pleasurable stimuli.
thematic apperception test (TAT): a projective test, whereby individuals are presented with ambiguous pictures and asked to generate a story from them, thereby reveal personality characteristics, motivation for power, achievement and affiliation, and in a clinical setting, any underlying emotional problems.
theory: a structured set of concepts to explain a phenomena or group of phenomena.
theory of mind: child's understanding of the emotions and motives of other people.
therapeutic: having a beneficial effect on mental health.
therapy: any process that aids understanding and recovery from psychological difficulties. A wide variety of therapies can be divided into psychotherapies (involving discussion or action) and somatic therapies (medical or biological intervention).
think-aloud protocol: comments made when by experimental participants of the mental processes and approaches used whilst working on a task.
third force: term used to describe the development of the humanistic perspective as an alternative to the psychoanalytic and behaviourist perspectives.
Thorndike puzzle-box: piece of laboratory apparatus used by Skinner, to demonstrate trial-and-error learning.
thought: an idea; an instance of thinking; the state or condition of thinking.
thought disturbances: in abnormal psychology, distortions of thought processes such as incoherent speech.
thought disorder: in abnormal psychology, a general term to describe disturbance of thought or speech that might be symptomatic of a mental disorder, for instance incoherent thought and speech patterns.
Thorndike (1874-1949): renowned for his animal research, exploring trial and error learning (known as instrumental learning) in animals through the development of the Thorndike 'puzzle-box'
three mountains test: a Piagetian task to demonstrate egocentricity, whereby children are shown a model of three mountains, and watches as a doll is positioned at a different point around the mountains. Pre-operational egocentric children are unable to see from the dolls perspective of the mountains.
tip of the tongue phenomenon: a term used to refer to the experience when we feel that we know a particular word, yet are unable to retrieve it.
token economy: using the principles of operant conditioning, a behaviour modification technique used to encourage particular behaviour, through the employment of secondary reinforcers (tokens) after desirable behaviour, which can be collected and exchanged for primary reinforcers (a meaningful object or privilege).
tolerance: over time, the need for greater dosages of a drug in order to achieve the same effect.
Tolman (1886 ?1959): an American psychologist who concentrated on learning (escape, latent, avoidance, approach and choice-point learning) in rats, most commonly in mazes.
top-down approach: in the context of offender profiling, an approach that examines evidence from the crime scene in light of existing classifications and theories of serious crimes (the 'top') and appraises which category a particular crime fits into. Commonly used by American criminal profilers.
top-down processing: perceptual processing in which previous experiences, existing knowledge, expectations, motivations or the context in which perception takes place, affect how a perceived object is interpreted and classified.
Tourette's syndrome: neurological disorder characterised by facial grimaces and tics and movements of the upper body and grunts and shouts and coprolalia.
trace-dependent forgetting: the information no longer stored in memory.
trait: a specific personal characteristic or attribute which occurs consistently and influences behaviour across a range of situations.
transference: a process during psychoanalysis, whereby a client attaches feelings towards the therapist that were previously unconsciously directed towards a significant person in their life, who may have been involved in some form of emotional conflict.
transfer of training: refers to the way in which skills learnt in one situation may to be transferred to a second, related situation.
trauma: term used either for a physical injury (as a result of an external force), or a psychological injury (caused by an emotional event).
Treisman (1935-): A British psychologist specialising in visual attention and object perception, renowned for proposing the feature integration theory of attention.
trial: in experimental psychology, a single unit of experimentation where a stimulus is presented, an organism responds and a consequence follows.
trial-and-error learning: originally proposed by Thorndike, a view of learning that proposes responses that do not achieve the desired effect are gradually reduced, and those that do are gradually strengthened.
turing test: a test to determine how closely computers mimic human cognitive process.
two factor theory of emotion: is a social psychology theory that views emotion as having two components (factors): physiological arousal and cognition. According to the theory, "cognitions are used to interpret the meaning of physiological reactions to outside events."
twin studies: refers to studies where monozygotic and dizygotic twins are studied to assess the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences on a particular characteristic, e.g. intelligence.
type 1 error: rejecting the null hypothesis when it should be accepted.  Also called a false positive.
type 2 error: accepting the null hypothesis when it should be rejected.  Also called a false negative.
type A personality: a set of personality characteristics, including a sense of competitiveness, hostility, a constant sense of time pressure and impatience, which result in an increased risk of coronary heart disease.

ultradian rhythms: one complete cycle that repeats in less than twenty-four hours, for instance different stages of sleep several times during a single night's sleep.
unconditional positive regard: complete acceptance and caring of an individual, without imposing conditions.
unconditioned response: in classical conditioning, a reflexive response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus, such as pupil contraction to bright light, without prior learning.
unconditioned stimulus: in classical conditioning, a stimulus which elicits a reflexive (unconditioned) response.
unconscious: in Freud's theory, portion of the psyche that cannot be directly accessed by the unconscious, repressing urges, impulses and thoughts, which may filter into conscious awareness directly or in symbolic form.
unconscious motive: a term used to describe that much of (motivated) behaviour is a result of influences outside our conscious awareness, and manifests in defence mechanisms or other symbolic ways.
understanding: the cognitive condition of someone who understands.  It is is the possession of knowledge coupled with the capability of reasoning and making judgements relating to the applicability of the knowledge.
unfalsifiable: a theory or hypothesis is unfalsifiable if it cannot be disproved by data and thus cannot be used to make predictions.
unipolar depression: see depression
universal: any characteristic that can be applied to all members of the species, despite a variety of experiences and development.
unstructured interview: an interview whereby the interviewer does not have pre-determined questions, but instead asks questions spontaneously as topics arise.
upper quartile: the data point that is at the 75 per cent point of the data set when the data is ranked in order.
utilitarianism: states that what is ethically acceptable is that which produces the greatest pleasure and happiness (in comparison to pain and suffering) for the greatest number of people.

valence: in psychology, especially in discussing emotions, means the intrinsic attractiveness (positive valence) or aversiveness (negative valence) of an event, object, or situation.
validity: the extent to a test measures what it claims and was intended to measure.
values: involves one's principles or standards or judgments about what is valuable or important in life.
variable: in an experimental setting, any measured factor which shows variation across cases or conditions.
variable interval schedule: in operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement determined by the average time interval which must elapse since the last reinforcer before a response will be reinforced.
variable ratio schedule:in operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement determined by the average number of responses required to receive a reinforcer.
variability:in statistics, the dispersion of scores within a set of data.
ventro-medial hypothalamus: section of the hypothalamus, that when lesioned in a rats brain, the rat will demonstrate abnormal appetitive behaviour.
///vicarious learning///: see observational learning.
vicarious reinforcement: learning behaviour by observing others being rewarded for the behaviour.
visual agnosia: a general term for disorders which occur as a result of disruption of visual recognition.
///visual cliff///: an apparatus used to assess an infant's perception of depth, comprised of a thick pane of glass that covers a shall drop and a deep drop. Surfaces of both are covered with the same chequered pattern; however children of six months and older will not explore the deep?side which demonstrates depth perception.
visual pathways: the routes by which nerve impulses travel from the retina to the visual areas of the brain.
visual perception: the process by which sensory information from the eyes is transformed to produce an experience of depth, distance, colour, etc.
volume:an increase in magnitude of vibration in the air (measured in decibels). Sounds increase in volume as the amplitude of the waves increases.
voluntary response: a response which is controlled by the individual rather than being elicited by specific stimuli as reflexes are.
volunteer bias: participants who volunteer for a research investigation may differ on particular characteristics from non-volunteers, therefore comprising a non-representative sample.

Wada test: a technique to anaesthetise one hemisphere of the brain at a time, by injecting a short-acting anaesthetic (sodium amytal) into the carotid artery serving one hemisphere, then a short time later repeating the procedure for the other hemisphere, in order to see which hemisphere is important for language in participants.
WAIS: see Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale.
,,,,,weapon focus effect,,,,,: the tendency for witnesses to a crime involving a weapon (e.g. gun) to recall details of the weapon, but to be less accurate on other details such as the perpetrator's face.
Weber's Law: is a law of psychophysics which states that the amount by which a stimulus must change in order for that change to be noticeable is proportional to the intensity of that stimulus. Thus, stronger stimuli would need to be increased by greater amounts than would weaker stimuli for noticeable change.
Wernicke's aphasia: caused by damage to Wernicke's area in the brain, resulting in disruptions in processing and comprehension of speech input, whilst speech production remains unimpaired. See also Broca's aphasia.
Wernicke's area: area of the left temporal cortex Wernicke proposed to be the centre of language comprehension, whereby sound patterns of words are stored, in order to convert speech sounds into words.
Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale: an intelligencetestwhich measures elements of adult intelligence, including verbal intelligence and performance intelligence, which are then divided into specific abilities so that an individual performance and any deficiencies can be assessed.
Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children: a version of the WAIS that measures IQ in children aged from six to 16 years.
will: the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention.  Nietzsche defines will similarly to the "any internally motivated action" usage, but more narrowly. In this sense, will is more a "creative spark," a certain independence and stubbornness.
wish fulfilment: in Freud's theory, the symbolic manifestation of drives in fantasy form, as in dreams.
withdrawal: physically painful and unpleasant symptoms (such as vomiting, shaking, headaches and convulsions) suffered by a physically dependent drug user as the effects of a drug wears off.
withdrawal from investigation: an ethical requirement of psychological research that participants have the right to withdraw at any time during the study
within subjects design: see repeated measures design.
wolf children: or feral children,are children who have been found living in the wild, and often display animal-like behaviours, indicating they have been brought up by wild animals.
World Health Organisation (WHO) – an office of the UN which overseas international efforts to improve general health conditions and to address international threats such as pandemics. http://www.who.int/en/
word recognition threshold: is the minimum exposure of a word necessary to recognise and identify it. The threshold is set as the point at which the word can be correctly recognised 50 per cent of the time when presented.
working memory: a flexible memory system used for reasoning and language comprehension, that is comprised of the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and central executive.
workplace stressors: aspects of the working environment (e.g. impending deadlines) that are experienced to be stressful, including physical stressors (such as noise, length of working day and inherent danger) and psychosocial stressors (such as relationships with co­workers, organisation of work, and role responsibility).

X chromosome: together with the Y chromosome, carries the genetic information that determines the sex of an organism. Males have an X and a Y chromosome, females two X chromosomes.
xenophobia: a fear of strangers or strange places.
XXV syndrome: also known as Klinefelter's syndrome, affects males who are born with an extra X chromosome. Males with this condition typically have underdeveloped male genitalia and pronounced feminine characteristics, such as the development of breasts.
XYY syndrome: a chromosomal abnormality where there are three sex chromosomes. People who possess this abnormality are males who are of above average height with typically low levels of fertility. There used to be considerable interest in the possible links between this condition and aggressive behaviour, although this has never been proven.

Y chromosome: see X chromosome.
Yerkes-Dodson law: a correlation between task performance and an optimal level of arousal, whereby performance will first improve as a person's arousal level increases but then reach a point at which further arousal (possibly in the form of stress) will result in a decrease in performance.

zeitgebers: are external cues that help maintain circadian rhythms by synchronising the activity of the bodys organs and glands.
Zeitgeist: refers to the ideas, trends and values that are dominant in a culture at a particular point in history.
zone of proximal development: the distance between a child's current abilities (when working unaided) and their potential abilities or what are able to achieve under expert guidance.
zygote: a fertilised cell that is produced after a sperm fertilises an egg.