A

ABBA design: This is an example of counterbalancing. When

counterbalancing experimental conditions the first condition (A) can be
followed by two trials of the second condition (B) then by one of the f

Ablation: This involves the surgical removal or destruction of a part of the

brain to either treat a condition or to investigate the function of part of the
brain.

Abnormal behaviour: A controversial term applied to behaviour which has

been classed as not normal (such as mental disorders). The term is
controversial because there are problems defining what is or is not normal

Abnormal psychology: This is a branch of psychology concerned with

abnormal or atypical behaviour. This term is more often becoming replaced
by the term clinical psychology.

About Us: So what do you want to know? There isn�t much to say really. We both
have regular jobs as psychology teachers and we are doing this site because
we can. We have no mission statement and

Accidents: There are two main types of approaches that are used to
investigate the causes and factors affecting accidents. The person approach,
which looks at the type of person who is more likely to be ac

Accommodation: In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development,

accommodation refers to the process of changing existing schemas because
new information can not be assimilated.

Acknowledgements: Jamie and Mark would like to thank Mike Denton for the
animated logo (which Mark doesn?t like very much - the ungrateful sod). We
look forward to acknowledging more people.

Acoustic Coding: This involves coding information in terms of the ways it

sounds.

Action research: A method whereby part of the purpose of the researcher is

to influence or change the participants behaviour.

Active sleep: This is another term used to refer to REM sleep.

Actor-observer effect: This is the tendency for actors to attribute their own
actions to situational factors whereas as observers attribute the same
behaviour to dispositional factors. The actor-observer effect

Acute pain: One of the distinctions that psychologists make about types of
pain is between acute pain and chronic pain. Acute pain is an intense pain
that lasts until healing has begun – for example
Adaptive: A term used to describe behaviour which promotes an individual’s
survival and reproduction and therefore the survival of their genetic line.

Adaptive Behaviour: This is behaviour which is believed to increase the

individual’s ability to survive and reproduce and therefore the potential
survival of their genetic line.

Adrenaline: A hormone which is produced by the adrenal glands. Adrenaline

increases physiological arousal and causes increase in blood pressure,
release of sugar by the liver and other physiological responses rel

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH): This is a hormone that is released by

the pituitary gland and that stimulates the adrenal glands.

Advanced Extension Awards (AEA): This exam is now available for

psychology. The AEA in psychology is designed to help students develop and
demonstrate a deeper understanding of psychology than is required at
Advanced level.

Aetiology: This refers to the study of the causes of diseases or disorder.

Affectionless psychopaths: Individuals who are believed to experience little

guilt or emotion, and are unable to form lasting normal relationships with
others.

Aggression: Aggression can be defined as behaviour with the intent to

harm another. Therefore Gill (1986) argues that aggression must have the
following three features. &n

Aims: A statement of what the researchers intend to find out.

Alpha bias: This is the tendency to exaggerate the differences between the
sexes. This bias is often found in psychology coursework.

Alpha male: This term is used in ethology (and reality TV programmes such
as big brother) to describe a dominant male in a social group.

Alternative Hypothesis: This is a testable, predictive statement. This

statement is tested by researchers to see if it is true. The alternative
hypothesis either states a predicted difference between

Altruism: Helping others without expecting a reward. For example, helping a

collapsed person on a subway train or writing this glossary.

Ambiguous: A term used to describe something that may have more than
one meaning.

Ambiguous stimulus: A term used to describe a stimulus that may have more
than one interpretation.
Ameslan: This is an abbreviation of American Sign Language which is the
sign language Gardner and Gardner taught the chimpanzee Washoe. Here is
a description of the Washoe study.

Amnesia: This refers to a partial or total loss of long term memory. This may
be caused by brain damage or a psychological trauma.

Amygdala: A region of the brain found in the temporal lobe of the cerebral
cortex. It is part of the limbic system and is associated with memory,
emotion, sleep arousal and the fight or flight response.&n

Anaclitic depression: A form of depression, which is said to be caused by

separation from a caregiver.

Anal Stage: According to Freud’s theory of psychosexual development this is

the second stage where the child’s libido is focused on the anus.
Andocentric bias: This is a bias in favour of males. Andocentric theories are
those theories which are based on research on males and then applied to all
human behaviour and therefore likely to be biased. &n

Andocentric bias: This is a bias in favour of males. Andocentric theories are

those theories which are based on research on males and then applied to all
human behaviour and therefore likely to be biased. &n

Androgen: This is a male hormone

Androgyny: This is a mixture of male and female behaviour in the same

individual

Androgyny: This is a mixture of male and female behaviour in the same

individual

Anecdotal evidence: Evidence which is not based on research.

Anorexia nervosa: This is an eating disorder in which the individual is

believed to have a fear of eating and is seriously underweight.

Anthropology: This is the study of different human cultures.

Anthropomorphism: Attributing human characteristics to animals. There is a

danger when psychologists (e.g. Gardner and Gardner 1969) study animals
as they may falsely see and describe human characteristics in t

Anti-social behaviour: This is any behaviour which is harmful to others.

Applied Psychology: This term refers to areas of psychology where

psychological research is applied to real life settings. Examples of applied
psychology include clinical psychology, educational psychology, health
AQA online resources: Some of our favourite web sites for studying AQA (A)
psychology. Here is the link for AQA(A) specifications and here is the link for
AQA(B) specifications. Psychade is Ade's psychology s

Arousal: This is a physiological state whereby the body is ready for action.
The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system is activated and
can involve increasing in blood pressure, he

Arousal: Cost Reward Model: Piliavin et al. developed this model to explain
why people do and do not help in emergency situations. They argue that the
observation of an emergency situation creates an emotional arousal

Asch: Solomon E. Asch (September 14, 1907 - February 20, 1996) was an
American Gestalt psychologist and pioneer in social psychology. He was born
in Warsaw, then in the Russian Empire, and emigrated to the
Asch Conformity Experiments: The Asch conformity experiments, published
in 1951, were a series of studies that demonstrated the power of conformity
in groups. The cards used in the experiment. Th

Assimilation: In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, assimilation is the

process of fitting new information and experiences into existing schemas.

Attachment: An emotional bond between an infant and its primary care

giver. Bowlby developed the idea of monotropy: the idea that a human
infant would develop only one special attachment to its mother, whic

Attention: Attention refers to the concentration of mental effort.

Attribution: The process of giving reasons for why things happen or why
people behave as they do. See also dispositional attribution and situational
attribution.

Attribution bias: This refers to the systematic mistakes we make when

attributing behaviour. This includes both describing the causes of our
behaviour (e.g. self serving attribution bias), the behaviour of other

Attribution Theory: Attribution theory is concerned with the ways in which

people explain (or attribute) the behavior of others, or themselves (self-
attribution), with something else. It explores how individuals "attribu

Attrition: The loss of participants from a longitudinal study. Reasons for

attrition might include participants no longer wanting to take part in the
study, moving away or losing contact. When

Audience effects: This refers to the positive or negative effects on behaviour

produced by the presence of other people.

Authoritarian Personality: A person who tends to hold rigid beliefs and may
be hostile to outgroups and be submissive to authority is said to have an
authoritarian personality. Adorno investigated the authoritarian

Authoritative Parenting Style: A parenting style in which children are

encouraged to participate in decision making, and to express their own
opinion.

Autism: This syndrome is characterised by a triad of impairments. Difficulties

with social interaction, Difficulties with verbal and non-verbal
communication, A lack of imaginative play.

Autonomic nervous system: This is the part of the nervous system which
controls the body’s involuntary activities such as breathing and heart rate.

Autonomous morality: This is a later stage of moral development described

by Piaget whereby a person’s intentions are used as a basis for judgement.
Average: An everyday term used to describe a statistical measure of central
tendency such as the mean, median and mode.

Aversion Therapy: This is a form of treatment, based on classical

conditioning, in which undesirable behaviour is eliminated by associating the
behaviour with something unpleasant such as Eastenders.

Bandura Albert: Albert Bandura (b. 4 December 1925 in Mundare, Alberta,

Canada) is a psychologist specializing in social cognitive theory and self-
efficacy. Bandura graduated from the University of British

Behaviour: An activity that can be directly observed and measured. Unlike

thoughts and feelings which cannot be directly observed and measured. My
spell checker spells it as 'behavior' as it is

Behaviour Modification: A type of therapy based on the principles of operant

conditioning.

Behaviour Therapy: A type of therapy based on the principles of classical

conditioning. For example, aversion therapy.

Behavioural Therapy: A type of therapy based on the principles of

behaviourism. Examples of behavioural therapy include behaviour therapy
based on the principles of classical conditioning and behaviour modification

Behaviourism: An approach in psychology which attempts to explain all

behaviour in terms of learning. This reductionist approach largely focuses on
overt behaviour and ignores internal mechanisms such as cogn
Behaviourist Approach: See Behaviourism

Bem Sex Role Inventory: This is a psychometric test for measuring

androgyny. http://www.christina.net/bsri.html

Between Groups Design: This is another way of saying independent

measures design.

Between Subjects/Participants Design: This is another way of saying

independent measures design.

Biased Sample: This refers to an error that has been made when selecting a
sample which results in the sample not being representative of the
population. For example some people in the population may have had

Bilateral: This term is used to refer to functions that are equally represented
in both cerebral hemispheres.

Binocular Depth Cues: Depth cues which are provided by information from
both eyes.

Binocular Disparity: A binocular depth cue which is produced by the

differences between the two images on each retina.

Biofeedback: Biofeedback is a technique in which an electromechanical

device monitors the status of a person's physiological processes, such as
heart rate or muscle tension, and immediately reports that informatio

Biological Determinism: This is the argument that behaviour is determined

by biological systems.

Biological Psychology: This is a branch of psychology which studies how

biological factors influence behaviour. Biological factors may include both
physiological and genetic factors.

Biomedical Model of Health: This is a reductionist approach to health which

views illness as a result of physical causes such as injury or infections.
Psychosocial factors are not investigated.

Biopsychosocial Model of Health: This is an approach to health which argues

that health and illness involve an interaction of biological, psychological and
social factors in people’s lives.

Blog: This is short for weblog.Most blogs are a meandering, blatantly

uninteresting online diary that give the author the illusion that people are
interested in their stupid, pathetic life. We have one here

Bobo doll: An inflatable doll used in one of Bandura's famous experiments. A

three and five foot doll were used.
BPS: This is an abbreviation for the British Psychological Society. Their web
site is here.

BPS Research Digest: The Society's fortnightly Research Digest is a free,

engaging round up of the latest psychology research. Great to keep upto
date with what's new in the world of psychological research.You can ge

Brain: Grey thing which weighs about 1.4kg (3lbs) and contains about 100
billion nerve cells (neurones). There will be a good description of all of the
important bits of the brain here soon. Chec

Brain scan: Taking images of the living brain. Brain scans enable researchers
to match regions of the brain to behaviour by asking particpants to
complete activities whilst the scan is in progress.&nb

Breslow and Enstrom (1980): A ten year study of 7000 people (Breslow and
Enstrom 1980) found that on average people live longer and enjoy better
health if they: Sleep 7-8 hours a dayHave breakfast every dayDon’t
smokeRare

Case study: A detailed study of an individual or small group of people.

Categorisation: Grouping people into social categories or sets. According to

Tajfel (1970) categorisation is the minimum condition necessary to create
discrimination.

Categorisation: This is a cognitive process and refers to the tendency to

group sets of objects that have characteristics in common. This can lead to
the tendency to emphasise similarities within and exag

Catharsis: In psychoanalysis this refers to the release of pent up psychic

energy. When applied to aggression catharsis refers to the release of
aggressive energy through the expression of aggres

Ceiling Effect: This occurs when a test is too easy and many of the
participants score near the top. Therefore the test is unable to distinguish
between individuals and does not tell us much about the competenc

Central Tendency: This is a type of descriptive statistic which is used to

describe the typical value of a set of scores. Examples of measures of
central tendency are the mean, the median and the mode.
Cerebral Cortex: This is the surface layer of the forebrain (cerebrum). It does
not fit into the skull very well hence it is folded. These folds are called sulci.

Cerebrum: This is another name for the forebrain which is the largest part of
the human brain.

Chronic pain: One of the distinctions that psychologists make about types of
pain is between acute pain and chronic pain. Acute pain is an intense pain
that lasts until healing has begun – f

Classical Conditioning: A form of learning through association. Ivan Pavlov,

whilst experimenting on dogs noticed that if a bell was rung at the same
time as the dogs were fed, they would salivate merely at the

Clinical Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses

psychological insights and techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of
abnormal behaviour. Clinical psychologists may use a range of techni

Clinician: This is a term meaning clinical psychologist. A clinical

psychologist is a professional who is concerned with the diagnosis and
treatment of abnormal behaviour.

Cognition: This refers to mental processes such as perception, memory,

thinking and reasoning and so on.

Cognitive Dissonance: This is a type of imbalance of beliefs and behaviour. If

we hold beliefs which contradict one another or contradict behaviour this
creates a tension that Festinger calls cognitive dissonance.&nb

Cognitive Interview: For four main techniques that the CIT uses to aid
retrieval are: 1. Recreating the context: It is well established that memory is
context dependent and so asking a witness to think about how they

Cognitive Interview: For four main techniques that the CIT uses to aid
retrieval are: 1. Recreating the context: It is well established that memory is
context dependent and so asking a witness to think about how they

Cognitive Psychology: A branch of psychology which is concerned with the

study of cognitions.Cognitive psychologists focus on our mental processes or
cognitions. These mental processes that cognitive psychologists fo

Commisurotomy: A surgical procedure to sever the corpus callosum.

Comparative Psychology: This refers to the study of animals and is aimed at

identifying similarities and differences between species. Importantly it also
involves studying non-human animal behaviour to gain an understa

Comparative Psychology: This refers to the study of animals and is aimed at

identifying similarities and differences between species. Importantly it also
involves studying non-human animal behaviour to gain an understa
Concrete Operational Stage: According to Piaget this is a stage of cognitive
development (approximately 7 – 11 years) when a child is able to perform
logical operations, provided that the operations involve real or easily

Conditioned Response: In classical conditioning this is a response which

occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented. Classical conditioning
consists of repeatedly pairing a novel stimulus with one which will a

Conditioned Stimulus: In classical conditioning this is a stimulus which elicits

a response as a result of repeated association with an unconditioned
stimulus.

Conditioning: This term is used by behaviourists to describe the process of

learning.Behaviourists believe that learning only occurs under specific
conditions hence the term conditioning. The two main types o
Confederate: In psychology experiments a confederate is an individual who is
not a real participant and is instructed how to behave by the experimenter.

Conformity: This is a type of social influence whereby group pressure results

in a change in behaviour. Conforming to group pressure is sometimes called
the Asch effect named after Solomon Asch’s cl

Confounding variable: A confounding variable is a variable which has an

unintentional effect on the dependent variable. When carrying out
experiments we attempt to control extraneous variables, however their is
alway

Conservation: The ability to recognise that volume, number or mass do not

change when the physical appearance changes.

Consonance: In terms of cognitive dissonance theory this refers to the

opposite of dissonance

Construct Validity: Construct validity is a way of assessing validity by

investigating if the measure really is measuring the theoretical construct it is
suppose to be. For example, many theories of intelligence se

Content Analysis: This involves a quantitative analysis of information people

have produced. This could include information obtained during interviews or
questionnaires, books, films and so on. The research

Control group: Often used in experiments. This is a group which does not
receive the manipulation of the independent variable and can be used for
comparison with the experimental group or groups.

Corpus callosum: The bundle of nerve fibres that connect the two
hemispheres of the cerbral cortex.

Correlation: This refers to a measure of how strongly two or more variables

are related to each other.

Correlation Coefficient: A correlation coefficient refers to a number between

-1 and +1 and states how strong a correlation is. If the number is close to
+1 then there is a positive correlation. If the number is c

Cortex: The outer most layer of nerve tissue in the cerebral cortex

Counterbalancing: This is a strategy often used when carrying out a repeated

measures design to control for potentially confounding variable. When
carrying out a repeated measures design it is possible that order

Criminal Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses

psychological insights and techniques to understand criminal and anti-social
behaviour. Criminal psychologists may be interested in topics such as
Criterion Validity: Criterion validity is a way of assessing validity by
comparing the results with another measure. For example, we could
compare the results of an IQ test with school results. If the o

Cross-Cultural Psychology: This is an approach which attempts to understand

the variability and differences of behaviour among societies and cultural
groups around the world.

Cross-cultural research: Research where more than one culture is studied.

Often cross-cultural research involves making comparisons between two
cultures. A major advantage of cross-cultural studies is

Cross-sectional research: This type of research is often found in

developmental psychology and involves comparing samples of different age
groups at a particular point in time. For example a researcher may measure
the moral re

Crowd Psychology: This is the psychological study of the behaviour of masses

and crowds and the experience of individuals in such crowds.

Cultural Complexity: According to cross-cultural psychology this term refers

to the way that different cultures pay more or less attention to time. This
could be related to the way that the more industri

Cultural universal: A cultural universal is a behaviour which is observed to be

the same across cultures. For example, Deregowski used cross-cultural
research to investigate if pictorial depth perception was a cult

Culture: This term is usually used to refer to the beliefs, practices, ideas,
characteristics and a sense of identity that we share with a group of people.

D
Data: Data is the term used to describe the scores collected and analysed.
‘Data’ is a plural word. The word for a single score is datum. Therefore it is
not correct to say &ld

Datum: This is the term used for a single score. The plural of datum is data.

Debrief: In relation to ethics this refers to the explanation of the study to the
participant when they have finished, ensuring the wellbeing of the
participant.

Decentre: Jean Piaget argued that to decentre is to be able to take into

account more than one aspect of a situation at a time. According to Piaget,
this type of thinking was typical of a child in the pre

Deception: This refers to the misleading of participants when carrying out

research. Deception means the participant has not given informed consent
to participate in the research. See also Ethics

Defence mechanisms: Originally proposed by Freud, these are strategies that

are used to protect the ego from an imaginary threat. A few of the more
common defence mechanisms are repression, reaction formation, proj

Demand characteristics: Any aspect of a study which has an influence on

participants to do or answer what is expected of them.

Denial: According to Freud this is a defence mechanism whereby the

individual does not acknowledge the existence of a threat.

Dependent Variable: This is the variable which the researcher measures.

Depersonalisation: A dissociative disorder where an individual loses their

sense of identity. See the studies by Zimbardo and Rosenhan.

Depth Cue: A depth cue is something which gives us an indication of how far
away an object or image is. Pictorial depth cues include relative size and
linear perspective.

Descriptive Statistics: These types of statistics are methods for numerically

summarising raw data. Examples include measures of central tendency,
measures of dispersion and graphical measures such as scattergrams and

Determinism: This is the argument that we do not have much control over
our actions but are controlled by factors such as our biology or genes, or by
the way we are brought up. A consequence

Deviation: In relation to statistics, a deviation is the difference between an

individual score and the mean of the scores.

Diary Method: This research method involves asking participants to keep a

diary of specific items of information at regular periods of time.
Diffusion of responsibility: Diffusion of responsibility is the idea that people
are less likely to intervene to help someone who seems to need it if there are
others present, because they perceive responsibilit

Diglossia: This is the ability to speak in more than one type of dialect. In
particular it is the ability to use the correct dialect as the situation demands.

Directional Hypothesis: This type of hypothesis is one which predicts the

direction of the difference or in terms of correlational analysis predicts either
a positive or negative correlation. Also called a

Disclosure: This refers to revealing personal information about oneself.

Discourse Analysis: This is a type of research method. It consists of

analysing the conversations between people. These conversations can be
verbal or written. The main focus of discourse analysis is th
Discrimination: The behaviour that results from prejudice.

Discriminatory Stimulus: In operant conditioning this is a stimulus (such as a

light in a Skinner box) which indicates whether a response is appropriate or
not.

Dispositional attribution: This is believing that a person's behaviour is caused

by an individual's personality or disposition rather than the situation they are
in. See also situational attribution.

Dissonance: See cognitive dissonance.

Dizygotic (fraternal) Twins: These are twins that develop from different
zygotes and are no more likely to be similar than any pair of siblings.

doctor centred and patient centred practitioners: Patrick Byrne and Barrie
Long (1975) carried out a study of interactions between patients and
practitioners. They tape recorded and analysed about 2,500 medical
consultations in several countrie

Doctor Centred Style: In health psychology this refers to the behavioural

style of some health practitioners in which their interactions with patients are
highly controlled by the practitioner and focus on the treatment or

Double Blind Design: This is a type of control that can be used in

experiments. This technique consists of neither the participants nor the
researcher who carries out the experiment knowing the main details of the e

Down's syndrome: A syndrome which is caused by having 47 chromosomes

rather than 46 (23 pairs).

Dream Analysis: Dream analysis is a therapy used by psychoanalysts and

involves the analyst, interpreting the content of the client's dreams and
looking for hidden meanings in the form of disguised symbols. &nb

DSM-IV: This is the fourth edition (1994) of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders developed and published by the American
Psychiatric Society. The manual attempts to classify and diagnos

Ecological Validity: This type of validity refers to how well a study can be
related to or reflects everyday, real life. Studies with high ecological validity
can be generalised beyond the setting they were car

Educational Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses

psychological insights and techniques to understand education. Educational
psychologists are employed in many areas of education. For example

EEG: See Electroencephalgram

Ego: According to Freud the ego is the part of the personality structure that
deals with external reality and controls the energies of the id.In more
common use the term ego is used to refer to the sense o

Eidetic Memory: This is commonly referred to as photographic memory. It is a

visual or acoustic memory which is so detailed that it seems to be a factual
memory. Eidetic imagery seems to be relatively common in c

Electroencephalogram: A method of recording activity in a living brain.

Electrodes are attached to a person's scalp to record general levels of
electrical activity. Also called an EEG One second of an EEG reading.&nb

Emic: This is a term used to refer to culturally specific behaviour. Therefore

an emic account of behaviour focuses on how the same behaviour varies
among different cultures. This approach

Empirical: In terms of research this refers to data that are collected through
observing or experimenting.

Endogenous Opioides: These are opiate like substances that the body
produces naturally which reduce the sensation of pain.

Environmental Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses

psychological insights and techniques to understand how the environment
influences behaviour. Environmental psychologists may be interested in topic

EPI: This is an abbreviation of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. The EPI is

a psychometric test of personality developed by Hans Eysenck designed to
assess people on the two character traits
Epilepsy: A neurological disorder which causes occasional storms of electrical
activity in the brain. This can lead to convulsions and loss of consciousness.
Link to the British Epilepsy Association web site.

Epinephrine: See adrenaline

Equity Theory: This is a theory which argues that people chose relationships
in which they will benefit to about the same extent as they contribute. In
an equitable relationship it is said that what

Ethics: These are a set of guidelines which psychologists carrying out

research should follow. The British Psychological Society issued revised
ethical principles in June 1990. In the conduct of th

Ethnocentric bias: This is the tendency to perceive the world from your own
cultural group, such as your ethnic group, national group and so on. A
consequence of this is that there can also be a

Ethnocentric sampling bias: Most of the well known psychological research

reported from before the 1980s was carried out in American universities
using White, middle-class undergraduate students who are hardly

Ethological view of aggression: Ethological (or instinctual) theories of

aggression propose that humans possess an innate predisposition to be
aggressive. Ethology is the study of animals in their natural environm

Etic: According to cross-cultural psychology this is a term used to refer to an

account of behaviour in terms of its universality. Etics refer to culturally
general behaviours which should be easy to

Eugenics: A political idea which argues that the human race should be
improved by preventing 'undesirables' from breeding so they cannot pass on
their supposedly inferior genes. This argument has cu

Evolutionary Psychology: This psychological approach attempts to explain

behaviour in terms of how it enhances survival and reproduction.

Evolutionary Psychology: This psychological approach attempts to explain

behaviour in terms of how it enhances survival and reproduction.

Experiment: A research method used by psychologists which involves the

manipulation of variables in order to discover cause and effect.A
considerable amount of psychological research uses the experimental
method,

Experimental Designs: This is the process of organising an experiment so

that we can investigate the possible effects of the independent variable upon
the dependent variable. There are three basic experimental designs

Experimenter: A person doing an experiment. This might just be my problem

but I do get annoyed when students write 'the experimenters did a case
study'. I think experimenters carry out experiments

Experimenter Bias: This refers to the way that the experimenter’s

expectations can influence the results of the study.

Experimenter Effect: This refers to the unwanted influences in an experiment

which can be produced by the researcher either consciously or
unconsciously

External Locus of Control: This refers to the beliefs that an individual does
not feel that they personally can control their events as they see their lives
as being controlled by outside forces.

External Reliabilty: This type of reliability refers to the extent to which a

measure varies from one use to another. The external reliability of self-
report measures, such as psychometric tests and quest

External validity: External validity refers to whether the findings of a study

really can be generalised beyond the present study. We can break external
validity down into two types. Population validity - wh

Extraneous variable: An extraneous variable is a variable which could effect

the dependent variable but which is controlled so that it does not become a
confounding variable.

Eye witness testimony: Descriptions of events given by observers of an

event. These are generally used in criminal cases whereby individuals have
to give an account of a crime to the police or a court.

Face Validity: Face Validity refers to the extent to which a measure appears
on the surface to measure what it is suppose to measure. Face Validity
(sometimes called surface Validity) is probably the mos

False Belief Task: This is a method (usually used as part of an experiment)

used to investigate if a child has a theory of mind. Simon Baron-Cohen used
an example of a false belief task called the Sally Anne Test.In t

FAQ: Frequently Asked QuestionsQ. My teacher/book disagrees with one of

your definitions.A. Your teacher is correct. Your teacher could of course e-
mail us and tell us why we

Field Experiment: An experiment which is carried out in ‘the field ’. That is,
in a real world situation. In field experiments the participants are not usually
aware that that they a
Fieldwork: This is research which is conducted outside of the laboratory in a
natural setting.

Fight or Flight Response: This is sometimes called the alarm reaction. It is a

state of being ready to fight or flight (run away) as a response to a stimulus
such as a stressor. The physiological reaction is produc

Flashbulb Memories: A type of memory which is accurate and long lasting.

Such memories seem to be formed at the time of a dramatic emotion such
as a significant personal event. For example you may have a flashbulb memo

Floor Effect: This occurs when a test is too difficult and many of the
participants score near the bottom. Therefore the test is unable to
distinguish between individuals and does not tell us much about the c

Free Association: Free association is a therapy used by psychoanalysts and

consists of the individual saying whatever comes to mind no matter how
trivial or irrelevant it may seem. Because the spontaneous express

Freud Sigmund: Sigmund Freud. born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856
– September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who
founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best know

Freudian Slip: A term, obviously named by Freud, to describe errors which are
though to be the result of unconscious thoughts. Freud argued that all
supposedly accidental happening tell us something about unco

Friedman and Rosenman (1974): Friedman and Rosenman (1974) believed

that the causes and sources of stress lie within the individual. They believe
that a person’s personality will determine whether they are susceptible to s

Frustration: This refers to an event that interferes with goal directed

behaviour. For example, if a task is too difficult or someone stops us doing
something then we will become frustrated.

Frustration Aggression Hypothesis: This argument was proposed by Dollard

et al. (1939) to explain that aggression is always caused by some form of
frustration. It is claimed that people are motivated to reach goals, but if
these

GAS: This is an abbreviation for general adaptation syndrome.

Gate Control Theory of Pain: This theory of pain perception argues that
incoming pain signals are moderated by a neural gate in the spinal cord. The
opening and closing of the gate is influenced by messages that descend fro
Gender: Your sense of being either male of female.

Gender Bias: This refers to representing males and females based on

stereotypes rather than real differences or similarities. It is possible to
distinguish between alpha bias and beta bias. Alpha bias refers

Gene: A unit of inheritance which forms part of a chromosome.

General Adaptation Syndrome: Hans Selye (1949) identified this

physiological adaptation to long term stress which results in a lowered
resistance to illness. According to Selye stress is initially an adaptive
response which

Generalisation: The extent to which results from one sample of participants

can be applied to wider groups. The generalisability of the results of a study
is partly dependent on the success of the sampling tech
Genetic Determinism: This is the argument that behaviour is caused by
genetic influences. This view underpins evolutionary psychology.

Glossary: A glossary is a list of terms and definitions of those terms.

Traditionally a glossary appears at the end a book and includes terms within
that book. It would therefore appear that this web site

Goole: This town (in the North(ish) East of England) has become known by
many people as the Venice of the North. Others call it Goole.

Halo Effect: This is the tendency to assume someone or something with an

attractive quality has other positive qualities. For example if you find a
person attractive you may also assume that they have

Hassles: These are the small events or minor stressors (e.g. misplacing
things) which some psychologists believe are a better predictor of stress
than the larger life events (e.g. divorce).

Health Behaviour: This refers to any activity a person carries out which is
aimed at preventing future health problems.

Health Belief Model: This is one of a number of different models of health

behaviour. This model attempts to predict health behaviour and argues that
the likeliness that a person will carry out a health behaviour

Health Locus of Control - Wallston (1978): A person’s Health Locus of Control

can have an impact on how they use and misuse health services.Julian Rotter
suggested that people differ in the way they experience their locus of control
- in oth
Health Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses
psychological insights and techniques to understand health and illness.
Health psychologist may be interested in topics such as stress, pain, patien

Holmes and Rahe (1967): Holmes and Rahe when investigating the causes
and sources of stress focused on stressors and tried to identify the
characteristics of a situation that makes it stressful. This is often called th

Home Advantage - sport: There seems to be several possible reasons why

home advantage occurs. Audience characteristics The main suggestion as
to why the home advantage occurs is due to the effects of a

Humanistic Psychology: This is an approach in psychology which emphasises

the whole person and the ability of each individual to change. Therefore this
approach can be seen as a critique of the more reductionist
Hypnosis: A trance like state which is induced by a hypnotist. It may involve
heightened suggestibility and attention on the hypnotist. Some
psychologists argue that hypnosis is a

Hypotheses: Plural of hypothesis

Hypothesis: A testable, predictive statement. This statement is tested by

researchers to see if it is true. The hypothesis either states a predicted
difference between an independent

ICD-10: This is the most recent version (1992) of the International

Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
ICD-10 classifies mental disorders and provides health stat

Id: According to Freud the id is the primitive part of the personality structure
which contains our instincts and desires.

Identification with the aggressor: A defence mechanism proposed by Freud.

It is a strategy used by the mind to defend itself from anxiety provoking
thoughts. In Freud's study of Little Hans he proposed the defence mec

Imitation: Copying somebody else's behaviour such as aggression in the

Bandura experiment and signs in Gardner and Gardner's case study. See also
Social learning theory.

Immune System: This refers to the organs and structures which protect the
body against harmful substances such as viruses and bacteria.

Independent Measures Design: If two groups in an experiment consist of

different individuals then this is an independent measures design. For
example, if we are trying to discover if girls are less competitive than boys,
th

Individual and situational explanations: These arguments refer to where we

look for the cause of behaviour. Some of the core studies look for the
explanation of behaviour being within the individual. For example

Inferential Statistics: Inferential statistics allow us to make a conclusion

related to our hypothesis. That is, whether we are able to reject our null
hypothesis or that the findings are due to chance.

Ingroup: A group to which a person belongs, or thinks he or she belongs.

Intelligence Quotient IQ: This is a measure of intelligence. An IQ test

produces a score which represents a persons mental age (MA). This is usually
divided by the persons chronological age (CA) because chi
Inter: When used as a prefix this means between.

Inter-rater reliability: This is the extent to which two raters provide consistent
or similar responses. The ratings for each observer are correlated to check
for agreement. It is a method

Internal Locus of Control: This refers to the beliefs that an individual can
exert personal control over events in their life.

Internal Reliability: This type of reliability refers to the extent to which a

measure is consistent within itself. The internal reliability of self-report
measures, such as psychometric tests and questionnaires can

Internal Validity: Internal validity is related to what actually happens in a

study. In terms of an experiment it refers to whether the independent
variable really has had an effect on the dependent variable or wh

Interpersonal: This term is used to refer to communication or behaviour

between people.

Interval Ratio Data: This is a level of measurement with equal units of

intervals throughout the scale. For example, the times in seconds the racers
finished the race. If the measurement scal

Intra: When used as a prefix this means within.

Intra-group: This term is used to refer to behaviour within a group.

James-Lange Theory: This is an early theory of emotion proposed by James

(1884) and Lange (1887). This theory argues that the experience of
emotion arises from the perception of physiological change in the body,

Jigsaw Technique: Work by psychologists such as Tajfel has stimulated work

into reducing prejudice. Aronson et al. (1978) developed the jigsaw
classroom technique whereby all the children have to cooperate with o

Jungian: This term refers the views that are related to the work of Carl Jung.
Jung is referred to as a neo-Freudian and his views are sometimes known as
analytical psychology.

Just-World Hypothesis: This refers to the tendency for people to believe that
the world is just and predictable and therefore people get what they deserve.
The Just-World Hypothesis is a type of attribution error a

Juvenile Delinquent: This refers to a young person who has been convicted of
a criminal offence.

K-strategy: This term relates to adaptive reproductive behaviour and can be

seen as a continuum. At one extreme is r-strategy whereby the individual
guarantees its genetic line by having many offsprin

Kanner et al. (1981): Kanner et al. (1981) argued that the minor stressors
and pleasures of everyday life might have a more significant effect on health
than the big, traumatic events assessed by the Holmes and Rahe scale,

Kibbutz: This is an Israeli community in which property and responsibility are

held in common by all members. As many Kibbutzim have communal child-
rearing systems they became of interest for psychologis

Kin: This term means genetic relatives.

Kin Selection: This is a term used in sociobiology. Kin selection is the idea
that an individual may protect their genes for the future by protecting not
just their offspring but also other relatives (such as

Kinaesthetic Sense: This is the sensation of movement. The kinaesthetic

senses are those which are involved with the detection of movement of your
body. For example, they detect balance, movements and orienta

Laboratory: Any environment where variables can be well controlled. Such

environments are usually artificial but do not have to resemble a science lab
at school.

Laboratory experiment: An experiment which is conducted under highly

controlled conditions.

Lateralisation of brain function: This refers to the uneven distribution of tasks

carried out by the hemispheres. Lateral means side. Any function, e.g.
language, which is found on one side of the brain is called a l

Leading question: A question that suggests what answer is desired or leads

to the desired answer.

Learned Helplessness: This term refers to a passive condition in which an

individual fails to take action which would improve their situation even when
such an action is easily identifiable. This concept was demon
Levels of Measurement: This refers to the way in which data are measured.
The different levels give different types of information about the data
collected and determine how far they can be manipulated mathematically.

Libido: This term was used by Freud to refer to the sexual energy derived
from the id.

Life Events: These are major changes in an individual’s life (e.g. divorce) that
require some degree of psychological adjustment.

Likert Scale: A type of closed question which is often used a way of

measuring attitudes. Respondents are asked to state on a scale (usually it is
1 -5 or 1 -7) how strongly they agree with

Links: Some of our favourite websites This not so wee Scottish site by Gerry
Keegan is a gem This is newish web site � psychlotron - provides tons of resources
for A level which looks likely grow.
Locus of Control: This refers to where a person believes the control over
events in their life come from. Some people may perceive control as coming
from within themselves and this is called an internal loc

Longitudinal approach: A longitudinal approach is where a group of

participants are followed up after a period of time. Longitudinal studies are
usually found in the area of developmental psychology becaus

Majority Influence: This is a form of social influence, whereby people adopt

the behaviour, attitudes and values of the majority members of a reference
group.
Mann-Whitney U test: A really fun inferential statistical test of the the
difference between two independent groups, which you may come across in
your coursework.

Masochism: This refers to the sexual gratification gained from humiliation or

pain.

Matched pairs design: A matched pairs design is a type of experimental

design. It is sometimes possible to match every participant in one group
with a very similar person in the other group. In order to get the

Matched Pairs Design: A matched pairs design is a type of experimental

design. It is sometimes possible to match every participant in one group
with a very similar person in the other group. In order to get the

Maturation: This is a term used to describe development which occurs as a

result of genes, but which emerges as we grow older. Puberty is a good
example of this. Jean Piaget believed

McGill Pain Questionnaire: Because pain is a subjective, internal experience,

the measurement of pain is usually carried out by using patient self-reports.
The McGill Pain Questionnaire, developed by Melzack (1975), was

McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ): This is a type of self report measure used
for assessing people’s pain.

Mean: This refers to a type of measure of central tendency. The mean is

calculated by adding all the values and then dividing by the total number of
values.

Measure of Central Tendency: This is a type of descriptive statistic which is

used to describe the typical value of a set of scores. Examples of measures
of central tendency are the mean, the median and the mode.

Measure of Dispersion: This is a type of descriptive statistic which is used to

describe the ‘spread-outness’ of a set of scores. Examples of measures of
dispersion are the range and the standard deviation

Median: This refers to a type of measure of central tendency. The median is

calculated by placing all of the values in order and finding the mid-point.

Memory: The capacity to retain and store information.

Menstruation: This is a phase of the monthly cycle of a woman who is not

pregnant. During this stage blood and other material which has built up in
the uterus following ovulation is discharged.

Milgram: Stanley Milgram (1933 - 1984) was a social psychologists who

became well known for his obedience experiments. Whilst at Yale he also
conducted the small world experiment. This link goes to a good
Milgram?s Obedience Experiments: Stanley Milgram carried out a number of
experiments into obedience. His first experiment of obedience was
described in an article titled Behavioral Study of Obedience published in the
Journal of

Minimal groups: This term has been used to describe studies like those of
Tajfel's whereby artificial groups are created on the basis of almost
meaningless (hence minimal) categories (e.g. under and over estima

Minority Influence: This is a form of social influence, whereby people reject

the established norm of the majority of group members and move to the
position of the minority.

Mnemonics: These are strategies used to aid memory. Many mnemonics

make use of imagery such as the method of loci and the key word
technique. Others use verbal processing such as remembering the firs

Mode: This refers to a type of measure of central tendency. The mode is

calculated by finding the values which occur most frequently. If all of the
values are equal in frequency there is no mode

Monozygotic: These are twins that develop from the same Zygote and are
therefore genetically identical. If you are a monozygotic twin who has been
reared apart from your twin don’t tell a psychologist

Monozygotic (identical) Twins: These are twins that develop from the same
zygote and are therefore genetically identical. If you are a monozygotic twin
who has been reared apart from your twin don’t tell a psychologist

Moral Development: Morality refers to what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Moral

development therefore refers to the development of moral reasoning in
children and adults concerning judgements of wh

Motivated Forgetting: This is a type of forgetting which seems to be

motivated by unpleasant events. For example, forgetting a dentist
appointment. Freud argued that all forgetting was motivated by an
unconscious willin

Multiple Personality Disorder: Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a

dissociative disorder in which two or more distinct personalities coexist
within the same individual.

Native intellectual ability: Some psychologists argue that intelligence tests

measured native intellectual ability, that is, innate intelligence which is
unaffected by culture and educational opportunities. Many other
Nature-nurture debate: This is a long running debate which is interested in
whether we are like the way we are because of nature (inherited and
genetic) or nurture (experiences and influences after concept

Necker Cube: The Necker Cube is an ambiguous line drawing. It is a wire-

frame drawing of a cube in isometric perspective, which means that parallel
edges of the cube are drawn as parallel lines in the picture. Whe

Negative Correlation: A negative correlation means that high values of one

variable are associated with low values of the other. Or if you like as one
variable increases the other decreases. Note that like a po

Negative Reinforcement: In operant conditioning this refers to the removal of

an unpleasant stimulus to encourage a certain type of behaviour. Note that
negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment as negative
Nerve: A nerve is a bundle of neurons and they spread out to every part of
the body with sense receptors, skin, muscles and internal organs. Twelve
pairs of cranial nerves leave the brain thr

Nervous System: The nervous system comprises between ten and twelve
billion neurons which are the basic building block of the nervous system.
The nervous system also comprises of glial cells. The

Neuron: This is a cell which receives or relays information in the form of

electrochemical impulses within the nervous system. Most neurons (about
80%) are found in the brain and particularly cerebral cor

Neuroscience: This is the study of the nervous system.

Nicotine Regulation Model: This is an explanation for continued cigarette

smoking arguing that the body becomes dependent on nicotine.

nicotine regulation model: The physiological or medical approach to defining

substance use and abuse is to view substance abuse as a medical problem.
This approach concentrates on the excessive use of various substances a

Nominal Data: This is a level of measurement in which the scores are placed
in categories. The data merely indicate the numbers falling into the different
categories. For example: finished r

Non Parametric Tests: These are statistical tests which can be used with
skewed distributions and with data at the ordinal or nominal level of
measurement.

Non-participant observation: A type of observational study whereby the

researcher does not join in with the activity being observed.

Normal Distribution: This is a bell shaped distribution curve where the mean,
median and mode are the same and most of the scores are clustered close to
the measure of central tendency. The ends of the curves are ca

Null Hypothesis: The statement of either no difference between the

independent and dependent variable in the case of an experimental
hypothesis, or no relationship between the independent variables in the case
o

Obedience: Following out the order of others. Usually the orders of those in
authority.

Obedience: This is a type of social influence which involves following out the
order of others. Usually the orders of those in authority. Obedience occurs
when you are told to do something wher

Obligation effect: This is a problem often found with questionnaires. When

participants are asked to answer a large number of questions they often feel
obliged to fill in the questionnaire even if they may n

Observation: All types of research involve some element of observation. It is

not just observational studies that use observation. For example, when we
use self report measures we observe the responses

Observational learning: Observational learning is learning through imitation.

See also Social Learning Theory.

Observational study: Observational studies are those where the researcher

observes a situation and records what happens but does not manipulate an
independent variable. Observational studies therefore ten

OCR online resources: Here is the link for the OCR specifications.Some of our
favourite web sites for studying OCR psychologywww.holah.co.uk is aimed
mainly at AS psychology but has some A2 resources. The forum

Oedipus complex: Freud thought that, during the phallic stage, the young
boy develops an intense sexual love for his mother. Because of this, he sees
his father as a rival, and wants to get rid of him. The fathe

Operant conditioning: A form of learning due to the consequences of

behaviour, through reinforcement and punishment.

Opportunity sampling: Opportunity sampling is the sampling technique most

used by psychology students. It consists of taking the sample from people
who are available at the time the study is carried out and fit

Ordinal Level of Measurement: This is a level of measurement in which the

scores are ranked. For example the order of the finishers of a race – first,
second, third and so on.

Organisational Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses

psychological insights and techniques to understand how people behave in
the work place. Organisational psychologists may be interested in topics su

Parametric Tests: These are statistical tests which assume that the data are
of a particular type. The assumptions are that the data are at least at the
interval level of measurement, that the scores

Parasympathetic Nervous System: This is the division of the autonomic

nervous system which controls the relaxed state and consists of nerves that
control decreased heart rate and breathing. The parasympathetic branch
works in opposi

Participant: This term refers to the individual who is studied. The term
participant has largely replaced the term subject as it is a more accurate
description. The term subject assumes that the indivi

Participant observation: A type of observational study where the observer is

also a participant in the activity being studied.

Pathological prisoner syndrome: This term was used by Zimbardo to explain

the social deterioration of the prisoners. At the beginning of the study, the
prisoners rebelled against their conditions but eventually became pa

Pathology of power: In the Zimbardo study this was the oppressive behaviour
often displayed by the guards when they seemed to enjoy and abuse the
extreme control and power they had over the prisoners.

patient centred and doctor centred practitioners: Patrick Byrne and Barrie
Long (1975) carried out a study of interactions between patients and
practitioners. They tape recorded and analysed about 2,500 medical
consultations in several countrie

Patient Centred Style: In health psychology this refers to the behavioural

style of some health practitioners in which their interactions encourage
patients to share information and participate in medical decisions.

Perception: The way way we analyse and make sense of the information we
receive from our senses. Absolutely amazing.

Personality: An individuals distinctive and relatively stable pattern of

thoughts, behaviours and emotions.

Perspective drawings: Perspective drawings are those which give just one
perspective of an object, with features that cannot be viewed from that
perspective not represented in the picture. Perspective drawings

PET scan: PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography. PET scans can be
used to examine the relationship between the metabolic activity in the brain
and mental processes. A small amount

Phallic stage: Freud argued that during the phallic stage (from three to five
years old) a child would focus its sexual energy on its genitals. This was
when a child's sexual identification was established.&nb

Phallus: A penis. Things that are perceived to resemble a penis are said to
be phallic symbols.

Phantom Limb Pain: Sometimes people who have lost a limb, or were born
without a limb, experience all the sensations of having that limb. This
experience is commonly referred to as having phantom limbs, and they h

Phantom Limbs: This is the name given to the phenomenon whereby

amputees may experience the feeling of a limb as present even though it
has been surgically removed.

Phobia: An irrational fear that interferes with day-to-day life.Below is a list of

phobias. ACAROPHOBIA Fear of skin infestation by mites and
ticksACEROPHOBIA &

Physiological: Relating to the functioning of the nervous system including the

brain.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development: Piaget believed that cognitive

development happened through stages. The levels of development
correspond roughly to infancy, pre-school, childhood and adolescence. The
four stages, are la

Pilot Study: This is a smaller version of a study carried out before the main
research.

Placebo Effect: The term used when an inactive substance or fake treatment
has an effect most likely because the participant believes that it should have
an effect.

Population: The population is the group of people from whom the sample is
drawn. For example if the sample of participants is taken from sixth form
colleges in Hull, the findings of the study can only

Positive Correlation: A positive correlation means that high values of one

variable are associated with high values of the other. Or if you like, the
variables increase together.

Positive Reinforcement: In operant conditioning this refers to anything which

is rewarding to the individual and therefore strengthens the learned
behaviour.

Powerlessness: A sense of having little control over what happens to you. As

demonstrated in the study by Rosenthal.

Practice Effect: In experiments this refers to an improvement in performance

because the participant has completed the test before. Practice effects are
usually controlled for by counterbalancing the order of th

Pre-Menstrual Syndrome: This term refers to a phase in a woman’s menstrual

cycle, just prior to menstruation, when Christina experiences mood swings
and increased aggression

Prejudice: An attitude (usually negative) toward the member of some group

solely on their membership in that group. Literally 'pre-judgement'
Primacy Effect: This term refers to the influence of material which comes
first. In relation to interpersonal perception the primacy effect refers to the
suggestion that first impressions have a stronger inf

Projection: This is one if the defence mechanisms proposed by Freud which

involves attributing one’s own unconscious motives on to another individual
(or situation). For example, a person

Projective tests: Tests which involve asking respondents to interpret a

picture. It is thought that such tests reveal aspects of the unconscious
mind. An example of a projective test is the Rorschach t

Pseudo-patient: In the Rosenhan study this refers to a researcher who is

pretending to be a patient.

Psychiatrist: A person who is medically qualified and then specialises in

treating psychological disorders.

Psychoanalysis: The term psychoanalysis is used to refer to both the type of

therapy developed by Freud and psychoanalytic theory developed by Freud.
Here it will be used to refer to the types of treatmen

Psychoanalytic Approach: The psychoanalytic approach was developed from

the theories of Sigmund Freud who proposed an account of human mental
activity which relied heavily on the notion of an unconscious mind.
Freud&rsq

Psychometric Test: "Mental Testing". Any psychological instrument that has

been designed for measuring mental characteristics. Psychometric tests
include intelligence tests, personality test

Psychometrics: These are instruments or test developed for measuring

mental characteristics. These psychometric tests have been designed to
measure a wide range of mental characteristics, including personality

Punishment: In operant conditioning this refers to an unpleasant event which

suppresses a behaviour or makes a behaviour less likely to occur. Note that
punishment is not the same as negative reinforc

Qualitative data: Data that describes meaning and experiences are known as
qualitative data.

Quantitative data: Data that focuses on numbers and frequencies are known
as quantitative data.

Quasi experiment: An experiment where the independent variable is not

manipulated by the experimenter but occurs naturally. These experiments
are often called natural experiments.

Questionnaire: This is a type of self report measure which simply consists of

a set of questions usually in a highly structured written form.

Questionnaires: These are a type of self report measure which simply consist
of a set of questions usually in a highly structured written form.

R-strategy: This term relates to adaptive reproductive behaviour and can be

seen as a continuum. At one extreme is r-strategy whereby the individual
guarantees its genetic line by having many offsprin

Random: This refers to a process whereby each item has an equal chance of
being selected.

Random sampling: This is a sampling technique which is defined as a sample

in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being
chosen. This involves identifying everyone in the target popu

Range: This refers to a type of measure of dispersion. The range is a very

crude type of measure and simply involves calculating the difference
between the highest and lowest scores.

Realistic Conflict Theory: Developed by Sherif (1966) this theory argues that
intergroup conflict arises as a result of conflict of interests between groups.
For example when two groups want to achieve the same goal bu

Reasoned Action Theory – Fishbein (1975): Reasoned action theory is often

referred to as a health belief model. Reasoned action theory states that
intention is the best predictor of health behaviour. According to this theory
inte

Recency Effect: This term refers to the influence of recent material. In

relation to interpersonal perception this refers to the suggestion that more
recent impressions have a stronger impression than those perceive

Reconstructive memory hypothesis: This is the argument that two kinds of

information go into a person's memory of an event. The first is the
information obtained from perceiving an event, and the second is the other
info

Reductionism: Reductionism is the argument that we can explain behaviour

and experiences by reference to only one factor, such as physiology or
learning. There are many different types of red

Reflex: This refers to an innate and automatic response to a stimulus. For

example if a puff of air is blown close to an open eye it will blink. Reflexes
are often refereed to as invol

Regression: Returning to an earlier, usually childlike, state. Believed by

many psychologists to be a way of coping with anxieties.

Reinforcement: A reinforcement is anything which will increase the

probability that a behaviour or action will be repeated again in a similar
circumstance. That is, if we receive something we

Reliability: This refers to how consistent a measuring device is. A

measurement is said to be reliable or consistent if the measurement can
produce similar results if used again in similar

REM: Rapid eye movements which occur during the stage of sleep when it is
thought we are dreaming. During this stage the body is in a state of
paralysis

Rennets: Rennets are small hamster like rodents which are intensively
factory farmed and slaughtered for the production of cheese. Rennets are
added to milk when making cheese as this aids the coagulation proc

Repeated Measures Design: This is a type of experimental design.A repeated

measures design consists of testing the same individuals on 2 or more
separate occasions. For example, we want to find out if people react more q

Repression: When an individual keeps anxiety proving thoughts out of their

conscious awareness possibly as of way of coping.

Retina: This is the light sensitive part of your eye where light is converted to
a neural response and therefore be passed onto the brain via the optic
nerve.

Review article: A report which either brings together other researchers

evidence (e.g. Deregowski 1972) or evaluates the research carried out by
another psychologist (e.g. Gould 1982).

Robber's Cave Experiment: This was a famous social psychological

experiment carried out by Sherif et al (1961) In this experiment, 22 white,
fifth grade, 11 year old boys with average-to-good school performance and
above

Rorschach test: A type of projective test which consists of asking

respondents what they see in symmetrical inkblot pictures. It is thought that
such tests reveal aspects of the unconscious mind. Mo

Sadism: This refers to the practice whereby a person obtains sexual arousal
by inflicting humiliation or pain on another person.

Sally-Anne test: The procedure used by Baron-Cohen to test for theory of

mind. The procedure is designed to find out if a child can recognise that a
doll has a false belief about the whereabouts of a marble beca

Sampling technique: A method used to choose a sample of a population.

Examples include, random sampling, opportunity sampling, stratified
sampling, snow ball sampling and self selected sampling.

Scattergram: When carrying out a correlational analysis the descriptive

statistic used is a scattergram. The scattergram is a graphical way of
presenting the data. The scattergram can be us

Scattergram: When carrying out a correlational analysis the descriptive

statistic used is a scattergram. The scattergram is a graphical way of
presenting the data. The scattergram can be us

Scattergraph: A scattergram

Schizophrenia: A mental disorder where contact with reality and insight are
impaired. Other symptoms can include hallucinations and delusions.

Schizophrenia in remission: This label was used in the Rosenhan study to

diagnose all but one of the the pseudo-patients after they were discharged.
However this label is rarely used by psychiatrists.

Secondary Reinforcement: In operant conditioning this refers to something

which reinforces a behaviour because it has been previously associated with
a primary reinforcer. A primary reinforcer is something which satisfi
Self Concept: This refers to the set of view and beliefs we have about
ourselves. Self concept is often described as having two components. Self
esteem which refers to the evaluation an individual ma

Self Esteem: This refers to the evaluation an individual makes about one’s
own self concept.

Self Image: This refers to the internal picture which an individual holds of
themselves

Self report method: Any method which involves asking a participant about
their feelings attitudes and so on. Examples of self reports are
questionnaires, interviews and psychometric tests but note that self reports

Self selected sampling: Self selected sampling (or volunteer sampling)

consists of participants becoming part of a study because they volunteer
when asked or in response to an advert. This technique, like opportun

Self-efficacy: This refers to the beliefs of what we are capable of achieving.

People with high self-efficacy beliefs for a specific task make more effort to
achieve results whereas people with low self-effica

Self-fulfilling prophecy: This term is used to describe the way in which

expectations about a person (or a group of people) can come true simply
because of those expectations. For example, a child may perform better or
w

Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome: Immediate responses to stressful or

anxiety-provoking events generate a high level of physiological arousal. This
is sometimes also known as the 'fight or flight' response, since it is directly

Semantic: This refers to meaning of something.

Shaping: In operant conditioning this is where a novel behaviour can be

gradually built up through successive reinforcements for behaviours that are
closer to the desired outcome. Skinner was able

Siblings: This term refers to brothers or sisters.

Situational attribution: This explains behaviour in terms of aspects of the

situation that a person is in rather than the person's internal characteristics
such as personality.Example ... if someone falls over they would expl

Skinner: Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904 – 1990) became a major figure in

psychology for his work on operant conditioning. Excellent resources and a
bibliography can be found on this web site www.bfskinne

Skinner Box: B F Skinner developed this device for investigating operant

conditioning under tightly controlled conditions. The basic Skinner box
consisted of a lever, food delivery chute, and a signal light.
Snap shot study: A snap shot study is a study carried out over a very short
period of time such as hours and days. In comparison a longitudinal study is
carried out over a longer period of time such as wee

Snow ball sampling: Snowball sampling can be used if your population is not
easy to contact. For example if you were interested in studying students
who take illegal drugs you may ask a participant who fits your ta

Social control: The issue of social control refers to the attempt to influence
behaviour and how people perceive their world. Psychological research can
help us understand how processes of social control

Social Desirability Bias: This bias can occur when researchers use self report
methods, such as interviews and questionnaires. It is the tendency of
respondents to provide socially desirable answers so that the respondent
appe

Social Exchange Theory: This is a theory which views relationships in terms

of rewards and costs to the participants. In terms of interpersonal
relationships it is argued that a partner calculates the potenti

Social Facilitation: This term refers to the occurrence when an individual’s

performance increases because they are performing in the presence of
others.

Social Identity: This refers to an individual’s sense of who they are derived
from their group membership.

Social Identity Theory: This social cognitive theory was developed

particularly by Henri Tajfel and is one of the main theories in European social
psychology. Social identity theory proposes that the membership of soci

Social Influence: Social influence is a term which is used generally in

psychology to summarise the work of social psychology which attempts to
explain how behaviour, thoughts and feelings are influenced by others.&nbs

Social Inhibition: This term refers to the occurrence when an individual’s

performance decreases because they are performing in the presence of
others.

Social Interaction: This refers to the process whereby two individuals directly
influence each others behaviour.

Social learning theory: Social learning theory emphasises the role of

observation and imitation of role models during learning. In general, social
development is seen as a continuous learning process, rather than as
happenin

Social Loafing: This term is used to describe the occurrence when an

individual reduces their effort when working in a group compared to when
they are working alone. Latane et al. used the phrase social loaf

Social Needs: According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs this third level is

concerned with group membership, identity, love and positive interaction
with others.

Social Norm: This is behaviour which is believed to be socially or culturally

acceptable

Social Psychology: This is the study of social behaviour. This is a branch of

psychology which studies individuals in their social context. In particular it
is interested in social interaction and huma

Social Role: This refers to the part an individual is expected to play in a social
situation.
Sociobiology: This is a reductionist approach, which explains social behaviour
within an evolutionary context. According to socio-biology behaviour is seen
as being directed toward the perpetuation and replicati

Specificity Theory of Pain: One of the earliest theories of pain was specificity
theory. Specificity theory argued that the body has a separate sensory
system for perceiving pain - just as it does for hearing and vision -

Spinal Cord: This is the major neural pathway that carries impulses between
the brain and the peripheral nervous system.

Split-brain patients: Patients who have undergone disconnection of the

cerebral hemispheres. This is normally done in only extreme circumstances
such as to prevent a seizure from spreading from one hemisphere to the

Split-style drawings: Split drawings are drawings that depict the essential
characteristics of an object even if all those characteristics cannot be seen
from one perspective - if you like, unfolded.

Sport Psychology: This is an applied area of psychology which uses

psychological insights and techniques to understand sport and sporting
behaviour. Sport psychologists may be interested in topics such as imagery,
m

Standard Deviation: This is a measure of dispersion - a type of descriptive

statistic which is used to describe the ‘spread-outness’ of a set of scores.
The standard deviation is calculated from the dis

Standardisation: See standardised instructions See standardised procedure

See standardised tests

Standardised Instructions: These are a set of pre-determined instructions

which are given in the same way to all of the participants. This is a type of
control as it is ensuring that all participants have the same experie

Standardised Procedure: This occurs when the researcher ensures that all
participants have the same experience. For example, they are all tested in
the same way, under the same conditions and so on. This is a typ

Standardised Tests: This is the term used to describe the process of using
psychometric test with large groups of individuals in order to draw up tables
of the scores commonly obtained by people. Therefore any indi

Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Programme: One of the most famous

studies on the effectiveness of community heath promotion strategies was
the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Programme. This research looked at
three similar towns in th

Stanford Prison Experiment: This study was conducted in 1971 by a team of

researchers led by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University.The aim of the
simulation was to investigate the effects of being assigned to the role of
either

Statistics: These are a method of summarising and analysing data. Statistics

are used for the purpose of drawing conclusions about the data. It is
important to know the difference between descri

Stimulus: This refers to any external event which we respond to.

Stimulus: This refers to any external event which we respond to.

Stimulus-Response Learning: This is the type of learning described by

behaviourists as they view learning as simple associations between an
external stimulus and a behavioural response. This approach to learning
denies any

Strange Situation: Mary Ainsworth devised the strange situation as the

laboratory portion of a larger study that included extensive home visitations
over the first year of the child's life. In the strange situation a mo

Stratified sampling: Stratified sampling involves classifying the population

into categories and then choosing a sample which consists of participants
from each category in the same proportions as they are in the populati

Stress Experience: Stress is not inevitable as we all perceive it differently.

The stress experience refers to how we actually perceive the situation and
the experience.

Stress Response: This term refers to physiological changes (e.g. autonomic

arousal) which occur as a result of stress.

Stressor: This term refers to an event that forces the body to respond.
Stressors may include environmental factors such as noise, life events such
as marriage and even more nebulous occurrences such as t

Stroop Effect: This term is used to describe the conflict experienced when
attempting to perform two conflicting cognitive tasks such as naming colours
which are written in a different colour. For example “In

Structured Interview: A type of interview in which there is a set of questions

that are always asked in the same order

Structured observation: A structured observation is where the researchers

design a type of coding scheme to record their behaviour. Structured
observations generally provide quantitative data. See also unstructur

Subliminal Advertising: This involves using messages that are too weak to
reach conscious awareness, perhaps because they appear too fast or are too
faint, to change our feelings or attitude about something.
Subliminal Perception: This refers to the processing of information in such a
way as not to penetrate conscious awareness.

Superego: According to Freud, the superego is the part of the personality

structure which acts as a conscience. This third part of the personality is
formed in early childhood and is an internalisation of

Survey: A term used to describe a technique of collecting information,

attitudes or opinions from a large number of people. Many surveys involve
the use of questionnaires which are highly structur

Sustained Attention: This term is sometimes referred to as vigilance and is

the process of concentrating consistently on a relatively simple task.

Synaesthesia: This is a condition in which sensory input becomes distorted

and confused. For example a person with synaesthesia may experience
sounds as touch etc.

T-test: This is the name of an inferential and parametric test of difference.

The related t-test assesses the difference between related samples (e.g.
repeated measures design or matched pairs des

Test-retest Reliability: A measure of how reliable a psychometric test or

measure is over time. This involves testing the same participant twice over a
period of time on the same test. Similar scores would suggest that

Thalamus: This structure is found in the sub-cortical area of the forebrain

(therefore one in each hemisphere). These avocado shaped structures
receive sensory information where it is processed and r
Theory of mind: The ability to understand that other people have
independent minds of their own. Developing a theory of mind allows a child
to begin to understand other people, and to predict what other people are li

Theory of reasoned action: Reasoned Action Theory – Fishbein (1975)

Reasoned action theory is often referred to as a health belief model.
Reasoned action theory states that intention is the best predictor of health
behaviou

Therapy: A physical or psychological treatment.

Token Economy System (Token Economies): Token economy systems are

based on the principle of secondary reinforcement. Tokens are given in
exchange for desirable or acceptable behaviours. These can then be
exchanged for primary (o
Trait: This refers to a specific facet of personality such as sociability or
impulsiveness. Trait theories attempt to measure these traits usually
through personality inventories.

Trait Theory: This refers to personality theories which are based on the
different traits possessed by individuals. These theories argue that we
behave in a particular way because of the traits we posse

Transference: Transference is a therapy used by psychoanalysts and involves

the projection and displacement of thoughts and feelings onto the analyst.
The interpretation of transference is regarded by m

Tuckman (1965): Tuckman (1965) suggested that a group goes through four
stages while developing. 1 Forming: at the first stage team members are
getting to know each other and begin to test relationships

Two-factor theory of emotion: Schachter and Singer developed the two-factor

theory of emotion. The two-factor theory suggests that emotion comes from
a combination of a state of arousal and a cognition that makes best sense

Two-process Theory of Memory: The theories of memory that propose that

short term memory and long term memory are two distinct forms of memory
each with its own characteristics. There is disagreement as to whether we
need to

Type 1 Error: This is a statistical term to refer to the mistake of rejecting the
null hypothesis when it should have been retained.

Type 2 Error: This is a statistical term to refer to the mistake of retaining the
null hypothesis when it should have been rejected.

Type A Behaviour Pattern: This refers to a behavioural style which is

characterised by high levels of competitiveness, time urgency and anger or
hostility.

Type B Behaviour Pattern: This refers to a behavioural style which is

characterised by low levels of competitiveness, time urgency and anger or
hostility.

Unconditioned Response: In classical conditioning this is a response which

occurs automatically to a particular stimulus and does not have to be
learned. For example, if a puff of air is blown close to an open eye it w

Unconditioned Stimulus: In classical conditioning this is a stimulus which

produces an automatic response which does not have to be learned.

Unconscious: According to Freud, this is the part of your mind which contains
information that is very hard to get at and difficult to bring into our conscious
awareness.

Undisclosed observation: A type of observational study whereby the

participants are not fully aware that they are being studied.

Unstructured observation: An unstructured observation simply involves the

researchers recording the behaviour they can see. This can be difficult
without the use of recording equipment (such as a video camera), can

Usefulness of psychological research: Whether psychological research is

useful or not depends on our definition of useful. Research can be useful in a
number of different ways. It may be useful for psychologists in furthe

Valid: See Validity

Validity: This refers to whether a study measures or examines what it claims

to measure or examine. Validity is one of those concepts that can really tie
you up in knots. The more you thin

Variability Hypothesis: This is a sexist argument which suggests that the

range of scores for men on psychological measures, such as intelligence
tests, is wider than the range of scores for women. For example, the varia

Variables: Things which can vary or change. Experiments attempt to

manipulate one variable, the independent variable, and measure the
changes to the dependent variable.The experimenter attempts to control for
ex
Verbal Deprivation Hypothesis: This term refers to the argument that children
who do not experience an extended form of language may be at a cognitive
disadvantage to children who do experience extended form of language.

Vicarious Learning: This refers to learning through observing what happens

to others. Bandura found that children who saw others being rewarded for
aggressive acts were more likely to imitate them.

Vicarious Reinforcement: According to Bandura’s social learning theory we

are more likely to imitate a person who is reinforced for their
behaviour. Vicarious reinforcement is therefore a reinforcement

Vigilance: This term is more commonly referred to as sustained attention and

is the process of concentrating consistently on a relatively simple task.

Visual Cortex: This is the region of the occipital lobe in the cerebral cortex
where visual information is processed.

Visual field: If you look straight ahead and stare at an object directly in front
of you, everything to the left of your nose is your left visual field and
everything to your right is your right visual field.

Voluntary Behaviour: This is behaviour that is believed to be a deliberate

action on the part of the individual. This type of behaviour is in contrast to
behaviour which is believed to be involuntary, or reflexive

Volunteer Sample: This is another way of saying self selected sample. This
sampling technique consists of participants becoming part of a study
because they volunteer when asked or in response to an advert.

Vygotsky: Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1934) was a Russian psychologist who

argued that cognitive development occurs as a consequence of social
interaction and importantly that a child?s understanding of the world was

Vygotsky?s Theory of Cognitive Development: Vygotsky believed that

cognitive development was largely influenced by culture. For Vygotsky,
culture included concepts and tools which are embodied in language and
passed on by ‘experts&r

Wilcoxon signed rank test: This is an inferential statistical test which can be
used if you are carrying out a test of difference, the design is repeated
measures and the data is at least at the ordinal level of measurement.&nb

Withdrawal Symptoms: These refer to the symptoms that occur when people
stop taking a substance which the body has become physically dependent.
Within Subjects/Participants Design: This is another name for a repeated
measures design.

Working Memory Model: Baddeley and Hitch (1974) proposed the working
memory model (WM) as an attempt to describe a more accurate model of
short-term memory than Atkinson & Shiffrin's 'multi-store' memory model
(1968).

Workplace Wellness Programmes: An increasingly popular way to promote

health is through workplace wellness programmes. Workplace wellness
programmes are run by companies, with the goal of attaining and
maintaining employee he

www.learnpsychology.net: So what do you want to know? There isn�t much to

say really. We both have regular jobs as psychology teachers and we are doing
this site because we can.We have no mission statement and som

X Chromosome: This is a distinctive chromosome named for its appearance

under the microscope, which carries information directing the development
of sexual characteristics. In women, the X chromosome is paire

X-axis: On a scattergram the x-axis is the one that is horizontal.

Xenophobia: This is a phobia of strangers or other cultures and often

materialises as cultural and/or racial prejudice.
Y

Y Chromosome: This is a distinctively-shaped chromosome whose presence

as one pair indicates that an individual is male. The other one of the pair will
be an X chromosome.

Y-axis: The y-axis is the vertical axis on a scattergram.

YAVIS: This is an acronym used to describe the type of people who are most
likely to benefit from psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has been criticised for
only being able to benefit certain individ

Yerkes-Dodson Law: When plotted on a graph, the relationship between

physiological arousal and performance on a task often takes the form of an
inverted U curve. Up to a point increased arousal increases a person&rsqu

Z
Zajonc's drive theory: Sometimes the presence of an audience can improve
the performance of a sports person – this is referred to as social facilitation.
However, sometimes an audience can have the opposite effect o

Zeitgeber: This means ‘time giver’. It refers to an external cue which helps
in synchronising biological rhythms to the outside world. An example of a
zeitgeber is light.

Zeitgeist: This means the ‘spirit of the times’. The term is used to explain
how theories and studies are developed within a social and cultural climate.
That is, theories often arise and

Zero correlation: A zero correlation means that there is no consistent

relationship between two variables.

Zimbardo: Philip G. Zimbardo is an American psychologist and has been a

Stanford University professor since 1968, having taught previously at Yale,
NYU and Columbia. He is perhaps best known for his Stanf

Zone of Proximal Development: According to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive

development this refers to the distance or space between what a child can
currently do (when working unassisted) and the child’s potential abili

Zygote: A Zygote is a cell - an egg which has been fertilised – and is

therefore able to develop into a young member of the species. In terms of
twins the term monozygotic means from one fer