Abnormal behaviour
Behaviour marked by poor adjustment, distorted thinking, poor stress tolerance and deviation from social norms.
Reference
Glossary
A comprehensive glossary of the key terms and concepts used across the Psychology Mastery course, arranged alphabetically.
410Terms defined
A–ZA–Z range
410 terms across 25 letters
A
40 termsAbsolute threshold
The minimum intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time.
Achievement motivation
The desire to achieve standards of excellence, involving a need for success and mastery.
Activation-synthesis hypothesis
The theory that dreams result from the brain's attempt to make sense of random neural activity during REM sleep.
Active listening
Fully focusing on, understanding and responding to the speaker during communication.
Acute stress
Short-lived stress caused by an immediate challenge or danger (e.g. an exam or accident).
Adjustment
The process by which a person modifies their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behaviour to maintain a satisfactory relationship with themselves and their environment.
Adolescence
The developmental stage from about 12 to 18 years, marked by puberty, abstract thinking and identity formation.
Adrenaline
A hormone released by the adrenal glands during the stress response that increases heart rate, blood pressure and arousal.
Affect
The outward expression or experience of emotion and feeling.
Aggression
Behaviour intended to harm another person, physically or verbally.
Agoraphobia
An irrational fear of open or public places.
Alarm reaction
The first stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the body mobilizes its fight-or-flight resources.
Algorithm
A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a correct solution to a problem.
Altruism
Selfless behaviour aimed at helping others without expecting personal gain.
Ambivert
A person with a balance of introvert and extrovert traits who flexes depending on the situation.
Amygdala
A brain structure central to emotional processing, especially fear and threat detection.
Anchoring bias
The tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information (the anchor) when making decisions.
Anhedonia
Loss of interest or pleasure in previously enjoyable activities, a core symptom of depression.
Animism
A child's belief (preoperational stage) that inanimate objects have feelings and intentions.
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories after the onset of amnesia.
Antidepressant
A medication, such as an SSRI, used to treat depression and certain anxiety disorders.
Antipsychotic
A medication used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
Antisocial personality disorder
A Cluster B personality disorder marked by disregard for others' rights, impulsivity and lack of remorse.
Anxiety
An emotional state of worry, tension and apprehension, often with physical arousal.
Anxiety disorder
A condition of excessive, persistent and unrealistic worry or fear about everyday situations.
Anxiolytic
A medication that reduces anxiety.
Approach–approach conflict
Having to choose between two desirable options.
Approach–avoidance conflict
A single goal or situation that has both positive and negative aspects.
Archetype
In Jung's theory, a universal, inherited pattern or symbol in the collective unconscious.
Arousal theory
The view that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of physiological arousal.
Asch conformity experiment
A classic study showing that people often conform to an obviously incorrect group majority.
Attachment
A strong emotional bond between a child and a caregiver that shapes later relationships.
Attention
The mental process of selectively concentrating on a particular stimulus while ignoring others.
Attitude
A relatively stable and enduring organization of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies toward a person, object, idea or situation.
Attribution
The process of explaining the causes of one's own and others' behaviour.
Autonomic nervous system
The division of the nervous system that controls involuntary functions of internal organs (sympathetic and parasympathetic).
Aversion therapy
A behaviour therapy that pairs an unwanted behaviour with an unpleasant stimulus.
Avoidance–avoidance conflict
Having to choose between two undesirable options.
Avoidant personality disorder
A Cluster C personality disorder marked by social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy and fear of rejection.
B
14 termsBarriers to communication
Factors — physical, psychological, language, cultural, emotional, perceptual or organizational — that interfere with effective exchange of information.
Basic emotions
Universal, innate emotions such as happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise (Ekman).
Behaviour
Any observable action or response of an organism to internal or external stimuli.
Behaviourism
A school of psychology that focuses only on observable behaviour and learning, rejecting introspection.
Big Five (OCEAN)
The five-factor model of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.
Binet-Simon scale
The first practical intelligence test, developed by Binet and Simon; basis for modern testing.
Binocular cues
Depth cues that depend on both eyes, such as retinal disparity and convergence.
Biological motives
Motives arising from physiological needs, such as hunger, thirst, sleep and temperature regulation.
Bipolar disorder
A mood disorder involving episodes of mania and depression.
Borderline personality disorder
A Cluster B personality disorder marked by instability in mood, relationships and self-image.
Bottom-up processing
Perception driven by incoming sensory data, building up to interpretation.
Brainstem
The midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata; controls vital functions, arousal and reflexes.
Burnout
A state of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress.
Bystander effect
The finding that people are less likely to help a victim when other people are present.
C
44 termsCannon-Bard theory
The theory that emotional experience and physiological changes occur simultaneously, with the thalamus signalling both body and mind.
Cardinal traits
Traits that dominate a person's entire life (e.g. Gandhi's non-violence).
Case study
An in-depth investigation of a single individual's history, behaviour and environment.
Catastrophizing
A maladaptive pattern of thinking the worst, which can amplify pain and distress.
Central nervous system (CNS)
The brain and spinal cord.
Central traits
Important, commonly seen traits such as honesty and friendliness.
Cerebellum
Brain region below and behind the cerebrum that coordinates movement, balance and posture.
Cerebrum
The largest part of the brain; responsible for higher mental functions and voluntary behaviour, with four lobes per hemisphere.
Channel
In communication, the medium through which a message travels (voice, writing, gestures).
Chronic pain
Pain that persists for more than three months and may continue after tissue healing.
Chronic stress
Long-term stress caused by ongoing problems and demands.
Chunking
Grouping information into larger units to improve short-term memory capacity.
Circadian rhythm
The roughly 24-hour biological clock that regulates sleep, wakefulness and other bodily functions.
Classical conditioning
Learning through association between two stimuli (Pavlov), where a neutral stimulus comes to produce a conditioned response.
Client-centred therapy
Rogers' humanistic therapy based on empathy, genuineness and unconditional positive regard.
Clinical method
A detailed, systematic study of a single individual, used mainly in abnormal psychology.
Cognition
Mental processes involved in knowing, including perception, memory, reasoning and problem-solving.
Cognitive approach
The perspective that studies mental processes such as perception, memory, thinking and problem-solving.
Cognitive dissonance
The uncomfortable tension that arises when beliefs and behaviour conflict, motivating change (Festinger).
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)
A therapy that changes negative thoughts and beliefs to improve emotions and behaviour.
Collective unconscious
Jung's concept of inherited, shared images and instincts common to all humans.
Communication
The exchange of information, ideas, feelings and thoughts through verbal and non-verbal means to achieve mutual understanding.
Compensation
A defence mechanism in which a person overcomes real or perceived weaknesses by excelling in other areas.
Competition
Individuals or groups striving for the same goal, where one's success may reduce the chances of others.
Complex emotions
Learned emotions formed from combinations of basic emotions, such as love, guilt, pride and jealousy.
Compliance
Changing behaviour in response to a direct request from another person.
Compulsion
A repetitive behaviour or mental act performed to reduce anxiety in OCD.
Concept
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people.
Conditioned response (CR)
The learned response to a previously neutral (now conditioned) stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
A previously neutral stimulus that, after pairing, elicits a conditioned response.
Confirmation bias
The tendency to seek information that supports existing beliefs and ignore contradictory evidence.
Conflict
A psychological situation in which a person experiences two or more incompatible motives, goals, desires or choices.
Conformity
The tendency to change behaviour, beliefs or attitudes to match group or social norms.
Confounding variable
An extraneous factor that varies with the independent variable and may distort results.
Conservation
Understanding (gained in the concrete operational stage) that quantity stays the same despite changes in appearance.
Context
In communication, the situation, environment, relationship and culture surrounding an exchange.
Control group
In an experiment, the group not exposed to the treatment, used for comparison.
Cooperation
Working together with others to achieve common goals.
Coping
Using physical, psychological or behavioural methods to manage stress and its effects.
Correlation coefficient
A statistic (from -1 to +1) indicating the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.
Correlational study
Research measuring the relationship between two variables without manipulation.
Cortisol
A stress hormone released via the HPA axis during prolonged stress.
Critical period
A limited developmental window during which certain learning or attachment must occur.
Cutaneous sensation
Sensation of touch, pressure, temperature and pain through skin receptors.
D
24 termsDebriefing
Explaining the purpose and procedures of a study to participants after it ends.
Decay
The fading of memories over time due to disuse.
Decoding
In communication, interpreting the message and giving it meaning.
Defence mechanisms
Unconscious psychological strategies used by the ego to reduce anxiety and protect the individual from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.
Deindividuation
Loss of self-awareness and personal responsibility in a group, which can increase impulsive behaviour.
Delusion
A firmly held false belief that resists logic or contrary evidence.
Denial
Refusal to accept a distressing reality or fact.
Dependent personality disorder
A Cluster C personality disorder marked by excessive need to be taken care of and fear of separation.
Dependent variable (DV)
The variable that is measured in an experiment to see the effect of the independent variable.
Depressant (drug)
A psychoactive drug that slows the nervous system, such as alcohol or sedatives.
Depression
A mood disorder characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest and decreased energy.
Depth perception
The ability to judge distances and see the world in three dimensions.
Development
Continuous, orderly and progressive changes in physical, mental, emotional and social behaviour from birth to death.
Developmental psychology
The study of the pattern of change in human behaviour from birth to death.
Difference threshold (JND)
The minimum change in stimulus intensity that can be noticed 50% of the time.
Discrimination (stimulus)
In conditioning, responding only to the specific conditioned stimulus and not to similar stimuli.
Displacement
Redirecting feelings from the original target to a safer, less threatening target.
Display rules
Cultural rules governing how and when emotions may be expressed.
Distress
Negative or excessive stress that causes discomfort and reduces functioning.
Double approach–avoidance conflict
Two or more choices, each with both advantages and disadvantages.
Dream analysis
A psychoanalytic technique that interprets dreams to uncover unconscious conflict.
Drive
An internal state of tension that motivates behaviour to satisfy a need.
Drive-reduction theory
The theory that motivation arises from the need to reduce internal drives and restore homeostasis.
DSM
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the standard classification of mental disorders.
E
20 termsEchoic memory
The brief auditory sensory memory lasting about 2-3 seconds.
Eclectic approach
Using a combination of therapeutic techniques from different approaches.
Ego
In Freud's theory, the reality-oriented component of personality that balances the demands of the id and superego.
Egocentrism
In young children, the inability to see a situation from another person's point of view.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
A biomedical treatment using controlled electric currents, used for severe, treatment-resistant depression.
Emotion
A complex psychological state involving feelings, physiological changes and behavioural responses.
Emotion-focused coping
Coping aimed at managing the emotional distress caused by a problem rather than the problem itself.
Emotional intelligence (EQ)
The ability to understand and manage one's own and others' emotions (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills).
Encoding
In communication, converting ideas into symbols, words or gestures; in memory, converting information into a storable form.
Endocrine glands
Glands that secrete hormones influencing behaviour, mood, emotion and cognition.
Episodic memory
Long-term memory for personal events and experiences.
Eustress
Positive stress that motivates and improves performance.
Evolutionary psychology
The perspective that behaviour is shaped by natural selection and adaptation.
Experimental group
In an experiment, the group exposed to the treatment or manipulation.
Experimental method
Study of cause-effect relationships with control over variables.
Exposure therapy
Repeated, safe confrontation with a feared stimulus to reduce the fear response.
Extinction
In conditioning, the weakening of a learned response when reinforcement is no longer given.
Extrinsic motivation
Motivation arising from external rewards or punishments.
Extrovert
An outgoing, sociable person energized by being with people.
Eysenck's PEN model
A trait model of personality with three dimensions: Extraversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism.
F
11 termsFacial feedback hypothesis
The idea that facial expressions can influence the emotions we feel.
Feedback
In communication, the receiver's response that is returned to the sender.
Fight-or-flight response
The body's sympathetic nervous system reaction that prepares it for action under threat.
Figure and ground
The Gestalt principle that objects (figure) are perceived as distinct from their background (ground).
Framing effect
The way an issue is presented (framed) influences decisions and judgments.
Free association
A psychoanalytic technique in which a patient says whatever comes to mind to reveal the unconscious.
Frontal lobe
Brain lobe involved in planning, decision-making, behaviour and personality.
Frustration
An emotional state produced when a person's goal, need, desire or expectation is blocked or prevented.
Functional fixedness
The inability to see an object's possible new uses beyond its familiar function.
Functionalism
A school of psychology that studied the purpose and function of mental processes in adaptation.
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency to attribute others' behaviour to their personality while ignoring situational factors.
G
11 termsGardner's multiple intelligences
The theory that intelligence is a set of distinct abilities — linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic.
General adaptation syndrome (GAS)
Selye's three-stage stress response: alarm, resistance and exhaustion.
General intelligence (g)
Spearman's overall mental ability factor common to all abilities.
Generalization (stimulus)
In conditioning, responding to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Chronic, excessive worry about many everyday situations, with muscle tension and restlessness.
Gestalt principles
Rules (similarity, proximity, closure, continuity, figure-ground) describing how we perceive whole, organized patterns.
Gestalt psychology
A school of psychology emphasizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Group polarization
The tendency of group discussion to strengthen members' initial attitudes.
Groupthink
A group's tendency toward consensus at the expense of critical thinking and dissent.
Growth
Quantitative increase in size, height, weight and structure; physical and measurable.
Gustatory sensation
The sense of taste, mediated by taste buds.
H
12 termsHallucination
A perception in the absence of any external stimulus (a false sensory experience).
Hallucinogen
A psychoactive drug that distorts perception, such as LSD or psilocybin.
Haptics
The study and use of touch in communication.
Hardiness
A resilient personality style characterized by commitment, control and viewing change as a challenge.
Heredity
Genetic factors and temperament inherited from parents that influence behaviour and development.
Hindsight bias
The tendency, after an event, to believe one would have predicted it ('I knew it all along').
Homeostasis
The body's tendency to maintain a stable internal balance.
HPA axis
The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activated during prolonged stress, increasing cortisol release.
Humanistic psychology
A perspective emphasizing free will, self-actualization and personal growth (Rogers, Maslow).
Hypnosis
A state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility.
Hypothalamus
Brain structure linking the nervous and endocrine systems; regulates hunger, thirst and behaviour.
Hypothesis
A testable prediction about the relationship between variables.
I
22 termsIconic memory
The brief visual sensory memory lasting about half a second.
Id
In Freud's theory, the primitive, instinctual component of personality operating on the pleasure principle.
Identification
A defence mechanism in which a person takes on the characteristics of someone they admire to boost self-esteem.
Illusion
A misinterpretation of a real external stimulus.
Inattentional blindness
Failing to notice an unexpected stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere.
Incentive
An external goal that pulls and directs behaviour.
Independent variable (IV)
The variable that is manipulated in an experiment.
Informed consent
A participant's voluntary agreement to take part, based on full knowledge of the study.
Ingroup
A social group a person identifies with and feels they belong to.
Ingroup bias
The tendency to favour one's own group over others.
Insight learning
Sudden understanding of a problem through rearrangement of existing knowledge (Köhler).
Insomnia
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting restful sleep.
Intellectualization
A defence mechanism of dealing with emotional conflict through detached, abstract thinking.
Intelligence
The ability to learn, understand, reason, solve problems and adapt to new situations.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
A numerical score comparing a person's intelligence to others of the same age: (Mental Age ÷ Chronological Age) × 100.
Interference
A cause of forgetting in which information competes with other information (proactive or retroactive).
Interview
A direct conversation to collect information, which may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured.
Intrinsic motivation
Motivation arising from within; doing an activity for its own sake.
Introjection
A defence mechanism of unconsciously absorbing another person's values or qualities.
Introspection
Examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings, used by structuralism.
Introvert
A reserved, quiet person energized by being alone.
Involuntary attention
Attention attracted automatically by a stimulus without conscious effort.
J
2 termsJames-Lange theory
The theory that emotions result from physiological changes — we feel afraid because our body trembles.
Just noticeable difference (JND)
The smallest difference between two stimuli that can be detected (a synonym for difference threshold).
K
4 termsKinesics
The study of body movement, gesture and posture in communication.
Kinesiophobia
Fear of movement, which can lead to avoidance of activity and increased disability.
Kinesthetic sensation
The sense of body position and movement, via muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs and joint receptors.
Kohlberg's moral development
A stage theory of moral reasoning progressing from preconventional to conventional to postconventional levels.
L
8 termsLanguage acquisition device (LAD)
Chomsky's concept of an innate capacity that enables children to learn language.
Latent learning
Learning that occurs without reinforcement and is only demonstrated when a reward appears (Tolman).
Law of effect
Thorndike's principle that responses followed by satisfying consequences are strengthened.
Leadership
The process of influencing and guiding a group toward common goals.
Learning
A relatively permanent change in behaviour (or potential behaviour) due to experience.
Learning curve
A graphical representation of the rate and progress of learning over practice time.
Locus of control
The extent to which people believe outcomes are controlled by their own actions (internal) or outside forces (external).
Long-term memory
The relatively permanent and unlimited storehouse of memory.
M
20 termsMaladaptive coping
Unhelpful coping strategies such as catastrophizing, avoidance, withdrawal or dependence on others.
Maladjustment
Poor adjustment marked by rigid, unrealistic behaviour, poor emotional control and disturbed daily functioning.
Mania
A state of abnormally elevated, expansive or irritable mood, seen in bipolar disorder.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
A five-level motivational model: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization.
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behaviour, relatively independent of experience.
Measures of central tendency
Descriptive statistics that summarize a dataset's centre: mean, median and mode.
Melatonin
A hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
Memory
The process of encoding, storing and retrieving information.
Mental health
A state of emotional, psychological and social well-being.
Mental illness
A range of psychological conditions affecting thinking, mood, behaviour and daily functioning.
Mental set
The tendency to persist with a previously successful problem-solving approach.
Milgram experiment
A classic study of obedience showing people will follow authority figures even to harm others.
MMPI
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a widely used objective personality test.
Mnemonics
Memory aids that use vivid imagery or organization to improve recall.
Monocular cues
Depth cues that require only one eye, such as relative size and linear perspective.
Mood
A longer-lasting emotional state, less intense and more diffuse than an emotion.
Mood disorder
A disorder whose main feature is a disturbance in mood, such as depression or bipolar disorder.
Mood stabilizer
A medication used to treat bipolar disorder.
Morpheme
The smallest unit of meaning in language.
Motivation
The inner drive that initiates, directs and maintains behaviour toward a goal.
N
13 termsNarcolepsy
A sleep disorder involving sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks.
Naturalistic observation
Watching and recording behaviour in its naturally occurring setting.
Nature and nurture
The debate over how much behaviour is shaped by heredity (nature) versus environment (nurture).
Negative punishment
Removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behaviour.
Negative reinforcement
Removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase a behaviour.
Nervous system
The body's control network — central (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) — that coordinates functions and behaviour.
Neuroticism
In Eysenck's model and the Big Five, the dimension of emotional stability versus instability.
Night terrors
Frightening episodes during NREM sleep, mostly in children, with little memory afterward.
Noise
In communication, anything that interferes with the accurate transmission of a message.
Non-verbal communication
Transmission of messages without words (body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone, eye contact).
Normal behaviour
Behaviour that is well adjusted, realistic, flexible and effective in daily activities.
Norms (social)
Shared rules and expectations for appropriate behaviour within a group or society.
NREM sleep
Non-rapid-eye-movement sleep, including stages 1-3 (slow-wave sleep).
O
14 termsObedience
Following the direct commands of an authority figure.
Object permanence
The understanding (gained around 8–12 months) that objects continue to exist when out of sight.
Observation
Systematic watching and recording of behaviour, either natural or controlled.
Observational learning
Learning by watching and imitating others (Bandura), without direct reinforcement.
Obsession
A recurrent, unwanted, intrusive thought, image or urge in OCD.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
A disorder of recurrent obsessions and repetitive compulsions performed to reduce anxiety.
Occipital lobe
Brain lobe responsible for vision.
Olfactory sensation
The sense of smell.
Openness (Big Five)
The personality trait reflecting curiosity, imagination and openness to experience.
Operant conditioning
Learning through consequences — reinforcement strengthens behaviour and punishment weakens it (Skinner).
Operational definition
A precise, measurable definition of a variable.
Opioid
A psychoactive drug that relieves pain and produces euphoria, with high addiction risk.
Outgroup
A social group a person does not belong to and may view as different.
Overconfidence
The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's judgments and abilities.
P
41 termsPain
An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
Pain behaviour
The way a person expresses and responds to pain, verbally and non-verbally.
Pain perception
The brain's interpretation of nociceptive signals, influenced by sensory, emotional, cognitive and social factors.
Panic disorder
An anxiety disorder involving recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and fear of future attacks.
Paralanguage
Non-verbal vocal features such as tone, pitch, volume and pace.
Paranoid personality disorder
A Cluster A personality disorder marked by pervasive distrust and suspicion of others.
Parasympathetic nervous system
The 'rest and digest' division of the autonomic nervous system.
Parietal lobe
Brain lobe processing sensory information and spatial perception.
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning.
Perceptual constancy
Perceiving objects as constant in size, shape, colour and brightness despite changing viewing conditions.
Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
Cranial nerves, spinal nerves, ganglia and receptors connecting the CNS to the body.
Persona
In Jung's theory, the social mask or public self we present to others.
Personality
The unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that makes a person who they are.
Personality disorders
Long-term, inflexible patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviour that impair personal, social or occupational functioning (Clusters A, B, C).
Persuasion
The process of changing attitudes through communication.
Phobia
An irrational, excessive fear of a specific object, situation or activity leading to avoidance.
Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound in language.
Pineal gland
Endocrine gland regulating the sleep–wake cycle and biological rhythms.
Pituitary gland
The 'master gland' that controls other endocrine glands.
Placebo effect
A real improvement caused by the belief that a treatment was received, not by the treatment itself.
Positive punishment
Adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease a behaviour.
Positive reinforcement
Adding a pleasant stimulus to increase a behaviour.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A disorder following a traumatic event, with re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal and emotional numbing.
Pragmatics
The practical, social use of language in context.
Prejudice
A negative attitude or feeling toward a person or group based on insufficient information.
Proactive interference
When old information interferes with the recall of new information.
Problem-focused coping
Coping aimed directly at changing or solving the stressful problem.
Procedural memory
Long-term memory for skills and how to perform tasks.
Projection
Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others.
Projective test
A personality test (e.g. Rorschach, TAT) using ambiguous stimuli to reveal unconscious processes.
Prosocial behaviour
Voluntary behaviour intended to benefit others.
Prototype
The most typical example of a concept.
Proxemics
The study of personal space and distance in communication.
Psychoactive drug
A chemical substance that alters perception, mood or consciousness.
Psychoanalysis
Freud's theory and therapy focusing on unconscious processes and early experience.
Psychodynamic theory
A perspective emphasizing unconscious drives, conflicts and early experiences (Freud).
Psychodynamic therapy
Therapy that helps clients gain insight into unconscious conflicts through free association, dream analysis and transference.
Psychopathology
The scientific study of mental disorders.
Psychosexual stages
Freud's developmental stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital.
Psychosis
Loss of contact with reality, with hallucinations and delusions.
Psychotherapy
The treatment of psychological disorders through psychological methods and interaction.
Q
1 termQuestionnaire
A written set of open-ended or closed-ended questions used to collect information from many people.
R
22 termsRandom assignment
Placing participants into groups by chance to control for extraneous variables.
Random sampling
Selecting a sample so that every member of the population has an equal chance of inclusion.
Rapport
A relationship of mutual trust, understanding and harmony.
Rationalization
Giving logical, acceptable explanations for unacceptable behaviour or failure.
Reaction formation
Behaving in a way opposite to one's real feelings.
Recall
Retrieving information from memory without cues (e.g. essay, short answer).
Receiver
In communication, the person who receives and interprets the message.
Recognition
Identifying previously learned information from among options (e.g. multiple choice).
Reflex
A rapid, automatic, involuntary response to a stimulus.
Regression
Reverting to an earlier stage of development when faced with stress or frustration.
Rehearsal
Consciously repeating information to keep it in or transfer it to long-term memory.
Reinforcement
The presentation of a reward or satisfying consequence that increases the likelihood of a behaviour.
REM sleep
Rapid-eye-movement sleep, marked by vivid dreaming and muscle paralysis.
Representativeness heuristic
Judging likelihood by how similar something is to a prototype.
Repression
Unconsciously blocking unpleasant thoughts, feelings or memories from awareness.
Resilience
The ability to recover and adapt in the face of stress, adversity or trauma.
Resistance (GAS)
The second stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the body tries to adapt to ongoing stress.
Retrieval
The process of accessing stored information.
Retroactive interference
When new information interferes with the recall of old information.
Retrograde amnesia
Loss of memory for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia.
Rods and cones
Photoreceptors in the retina; rods handle dim light, cones handle colour and detail.
Rorschach inkblot test
A projective test in which people interpret ambiguous inkblots to reveal personality.
S
58 termsSample
The subset of a population selected to participate in a study.
Scaffolding
Support provided by a more skilled person that helps a learner progress within their zone of proximal development (Vygotsky).
Schachter-Singer theory
The two-factor theory: emotion equals physiological arousal plus cognitive interpretation/labelling.
Schedules of reinforcement
Rules determining when reinforcement is delivered (e.g. fixed or variable, interval or ratio).
Schema
A mental framework that organizes and interprets information.
Schizoid personality disorder
A Cluster A personality disorder marked by detachment from relationships and restricted emotion.
Schizophrenia
A chronic psychotic disorder with disturbances in thinking, perception, emotion and behaviour.
Scientific method
The systematic process of observation, hypothesis, testing, analysis and conclusion.
Secondary traits
Less important, situation-specific traits (e.g. a food preference).
Selective attention
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while filtering out others.
Self-actualization
Realizing one's full potential and self-growth, the top of Maslow's hierarchy.
Self-concept
A person's beliefs and ideas about who they are.
Self-efficacy
Belief in one's own ability to succeed at a task (Bandura).
Self-esteem
A person's overall evaluation of their own worth.
Self-serving bias
The tendency to credit successes to oneself and blame failures on external factors.
Semantic memory
Long-term memory for facts, concepts and general knowledge.
Semantics
The meaning of words, phrases and sentences.
Sender
In communication, the person who initiates and encodes a message.
Sensation
The process by which sensory organs receive stimuli and transmit information to the brain.
Sensory adaptation
Reduced sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus over time.
Sensory memory
The brief, immediate record of sensory information before it is processed.
Sensory receptors
Specialized cells that detect stimuli and convert them into neural signals.
Shaping
Reinforcing successive approximations toward a desired behaviour.
Short-term memory
Activated memory that holds information briefly (about 20–30 seconds).
Signal detection theory
A framework for how we detect faint stimuli amid background noise, based on decision criteria.
Sleep apnea
A sleep disorder of repeated pauses in breathing during sleep.
Sleepwalking
Performing activities while asleep, occurring during NREM sleep (somnambulism).
Social facilitation
Improved performance on simple tasks in the presence of others.
Social identity theory
The theory that part of our self-concept comes from our group memberships.
Social influence
How one person's behaviour, attitudes or beliefs are changed by others.
Social loafing
Reduced individual effort when working in a group.
Social motives
Motives arising from the need to interact and belong (belonging, recognition, affiliation, approval).
Social norms
Shared rules and expectations for behaviour in a group or society.
Social psychology
The scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by others.
Socialization
The lifelong process of learning the norms, values and behaviours of one's culture.
Somatic symptom disorder
A disorder of persistent, distressing physical symptoms with abnormal thoughts and worry.
Span of attention
The amount of time a person can maintain attention on a single stimulus or task.
Spearman's two-factor theory
Intelligence consists of a general factor (g) plus specific factors (s) for particular tasks.
Spontaneous recovery
The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.
Standard deviation
A measure of the spread of scores around the mean.
Statistical significance
The likelihood that a result is not due to chance, supporting generalization to the population.
Status
A person's position or rank within a group.
Stereotype
A fixed and overgeneralized belief about a particular group of people.
Sternberg's triarchic theory
Intelligence has three components: analytical, creative and practical.
Stimulant
A psychoactive drug that increases nervous-system activity, such as caffeine or nicotine.
Stimulus
Any event or situation that evokes a response.
Storage
In memory, retaining encoded information over time.
Stress
A physical and psychological response to a situation or demand perceived as challenging or threatening.
Stressor
Any event, situation or demand that triggers the stress response.
Structuralism
A school of psychology that analysed consciousness into basic elements using introspection.
Sublimation
Channelling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable, productive activities.
Superego
In Freud's theory, the moral conscience representing ethical values and ideals.
Suppression
The conscious, deliberate effort to push unwanted thoughts out of awareness.
Survey
A method of collecting self-report data from many people using questionnaires or interviews.
Sustained attention
Maintaining focused attention on a task over a period of time.
Sympathetic nervous system
The 'fight or flight' division of the autonomic nervous system.
Syntax
The rules for arranging words into grammatical sentences.
Systematic desensitization
A behaviour therapy that gradually pairs relaxation with feared stimuli.
T
16 termsTemperament
A person's innate, biologically based emotional and behavioural style.
Temporal lobe
Brain lobe involved in memory, hearing and language.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
A projective test in which people tell stories about ambiguous pictures to reveal motives and personality.
Theory of mind
The understanding that others have their own thoughts, beliefs and perspectives.
Therapeutic alliance
The collaborative, trusting relationship between therapist and client.
Therapeutic communication
Purposeful, planned, patient-centred communication that builds trust and promotes participation in therapy.
Thurstone's primary abilities
Seven primary mental abilities: verbal comprehension, word fluency, number, spatial, memory, perceptual speed and reasoning.
Token economy
An operant technique that rewards desired behaviours with tokens exchangeable for privileges.
Top-down processing
Perception guided by prior knowledge and expectations.
Trait theory
The view that personality is a combination of relatively stable, measurable traits (Allport, Cattell, Eysenck).
Transduction
The conversion of an external stimulus into a neural signal by sensory receptors.
Transfer of learning
The effect of previously learned knowledge or skills on learning new ones (positive or negative).
Transference
In psychodynamic therapy, the client's projection of feelings onto the therapist.
Trial-and-error learning
Learning through repeated trials and errors, with correct responses strengthened (Thorndike).
Type A/Type B personality
Type A is competitive, time-urgent and hostile; Type B is more relaxed and easygoing.
Type theory
Classification of personality into distinct types based on characteristic patterns (Jung).
U
4 termsUnconditional positive regard
Rogers' concept of total, non-judgmental acceptance of a client.
Unconditioned response (UCR)
The natural, automatic response to an unconditioned stimulus.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response.
Undoing
A defence mechanism of reversing unacceptable acts or thoughts through opposite behaviour.
V
5 termsValence
The positive or negative quality of an emotion or stimulus.
Verbal communication
The use of spoken or written words to convey a message.
Vestibular sensation
The sense of balance, posture and spatial orientation from the inner ear.
Visual sensation
The sense of sight, mediated by rods and cones in the retina.
Voluntary attention
Conscious, effortful attention directed toward a stimulus with purpose.
W
2 termsWechsler scales
Widely used intelligence tests (WAIS, WISC, WPPSI) providing Verbal, Performance and Full-Scale IQ.
Working memory
A system that actively manipulates and holds information in mind for brief periods.
Y
1 termYerkes-Dodson law
The principle that performance improves with arousal up to an optimal point, then declines.
Z
1 termZone of proximal development
The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance (Vygotsky).
This material is educational and does not replace individual clinical care. If you are in crisis, contact local emergency services or a crisis line.