PSEB SS Psychology key terms

A method in which a person observes and reports their own inner experiences, thoughts and feelings. Early psychologists such as Wundt and Titchener used it to study conscious mental processes.

The school founded by Wilhelm Wundt and developed by E. B. Titchener. It tried to break conscious experience into basic elements such as sensations, images and feelings, studied mainly through introspection.

A school associated with William James that asked what mental processes do and how they help a person adapt to the environment, rather than analysing consciousness into separate elements.

A school led by Wertheimer, Köhler and Koffka, holding that perception and thinking are organised wholes. The saying that the whole is more than the sum of its parts sums up its opposition to elementism.

The school founded by John B. Watson which limits psychology to observable behaviour and rejects the study of consciousness. It stresses learning through stimulus-response associations and environmental control of behaviour.

Sigmund Freud's theory and therapy, which explain behaviour through unconscious conflicts, instincts and early childhood experiences, and use free association, dream analysis and transference in treatment.

A school led by Maslow and Rogers that emphasises free will, self-actualisation and the person's subjective experience, viewing people as basically good and capable of growth.

A systematic way of recording behaviour as it happens, in natural or controlled settings. It uses checklists, time sampling and trained observers, and must guard against observer bias.

A research method in which the researcher manipulates an independent variable and measures its effect on a dependent variable while controlling other factors, allowing cause-and-effect conclusions.

An in-depth study of one person, group or situation using interviews, records and observation. It gives rich detail useful in clinical work, but findings are hard to generalise to others.

A statistical measure of the degree to which two variables vary together, ranging from minus one to plus one. It shows association, not causation, and may be positive or negative.

The basic cell of the nervous system that receives, integrates and transmits information. It has dendrites, a cell body, an axon and terminal buttons, and communicates with other cells across synapses.

A chemical released from the terminal buttons of a neuron into the synapse, carrying the message to the next neuron's receptors; examples are dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine.

The tiny gap between two neurons where the axon terminal of one meets the dendrite or cell body of another. Messages cross it chemically through neurotransmitters.

The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls involuntary functions such as heartbeat, digestion and sweating. It has sympathetic arousing and parasympathetic calming divisions.

Learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired repeatedly with a stimulus that already produces that response, as in Pavlov's dogs salivating to a bell.

Learning in which behaviour changes because of its consequences: responses followed by reinforcement become more frequent, while those followed by punishment become less frequent, as Skinner showed.

Any consequence that increases the likelihood of the response it follows. Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant stimulus; negative reinforcement removes an unpleasant one. Both strengthen behaviour.

Learning by watching others, called models, and imitating their behaviour, described by Bandura. It involves attention, retention, reproduction and motivation, and helps explain aggression and prosocial behaviour.

The first stage of memory, in which information is changed into a form the memory system can store, such as a visual image, a sound pattern or a meaning.

A limited-capacity system that holds and manipulates information for a short time during tasks such as reasoning, reading and mental arithmetic; it is often described as a central executive with short-term stores.

The process of locating stored information and bringing it back into awareness, as in recall and recognition. Cues and good organisation of material make retrieval easier.

Forgetting caused by new learning disrupting the recall of material learned earlier, for example a new phone number making the old one hard to remember.

A mental category that groups objects, events or ideas sharing common features, such as fruit or vehicle. Concepts make thinking economical but can also produce stereotyping.

A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a correct solution if followed properly, such as long division or a recipe. It is reliable but often slow and mentally demanding.

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb that usually speeds problem solving but does not guarantee a correct answer; examples are the availability and representativeness heuristics.

The desire to do an activity for its own sake, because it is interesting or enjoyable, rather than for external rewards. It is associated with greater persistence and creativity.

The theory that emotions arise from the perception of bodily changes: we feel afraid because we run, and sad because we cry. Bodily arousal is seen as the cause of the emotional experience.

A score expressing mental ability relative to age peers, traditionally mental age divided by chronological age multiplied by one hundred; modern tests use deviation scores with a mean of one hundred.

The widely accepted model of personality with five broad dimensions: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, usually measured by self-report questionnaires.

Unconscious strategies the ego uses to reduce anxiety arising from unacceptable impulses or conflicts, such as repression, projection, rationalisation and displacement. They distort reality to some extent.

A personality test using ambiguous stimuli such as inkblots or pictures, on which the person is thought to project inner needs and conflicts; scoring depends heavily on the examiner's interpretation.

A state of tension produced when demands are judged to exceed a person's resources. It involves physiological arousal, emotional strain and coping efforts, and may be acute or chronic.

The mental evaluation of a situation as threatening, harmless or challenging, and of one's own ability to cope. Lazarus argued that this appraisal decides whether stress is experienced.

Changing one's beliefs or behaviour to match the norms of a group, often because of real or imagined group pressure, as shown in Asch's line-judgement experiments.

Following the direct order of an authority figure, studied in Milgram's experiment in which participants administered apparently painful shocks because a scientist instructed them to continue.

An unfavourable attitude towards a group and its members based on inadequate or stereotyped information. It has cognitive, affective and behavioural components and can lead to discrimination.

A person's evaluation of life as satisfying and pleasant, including frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect and general life satisfaction; a key indicator of positive mental health.

The invisible zone around a person that others are expected to keep, varying with culture, relationship and situation. Its invasion causes discomfort and is studied by environmental psychologists.

A subjective feeling of having too little space because many people are present. Beyond physical density, it can produce stress, irritability and withdrawal, depending on control over the setting.