RBSE SS Psychology flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Intelligence

The global capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use available resources effectively when faced with challenges; measured indirectly through performance on cognitive tasks.

Spearman's g factor

A general intelligence factor underlying performance on all cognitive tasks, proposed to explain why scores across different mental tests correlate positively with one another.

Deviation IQ

An intelligence score expressing how far a person's performance lies from the age-group average, using standard deviations; Wechsler scales set the mean at 100 and SD at 15.

Gardner's multiple intelligences

The view that intelligence comprises relatively independent abilities such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic intelligences.

Test reliability and validity

Reliability is consistency of scores across repeated administrations; validity is the degree to which a test measures the construct it claims to measure.

Self-concept

The totality of an individual's thoughts and feelings about their own identity, abilities and characteristics, including personal and social aspects of who they are.

Freudian id

The primitive, unconscious part of personality operating on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification of instinctual urges without regard to reality or morality.

Defence mechanisms

Unconscious strategies the ego uses to distort or deny reality and reduce anxiety, such as repression, projection, displacement, reaction formation and rationalisation.

Big Five (OCEAN)

A trait model describing personality on five dimensions: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (emotional stability).

Projective tests

Personality tests using ambiguous stimuli, such as the Rorschach inkblots or Thematic Apperception Test pictures, so respondents project inner needs and conflicts.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Selye's three-stage model of stress response: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion, where prolonged stress depletes the body's adaptive resources.

Cognitive appraisal

Lazarus's idea that stress depends on interpretation: primary appraisal judges an event as harm, threat or challenge; secondary appraisal judges whether coping resources suffice.

Problem-focused coping

Coping that directly targets the stressor by planning, seeking information or taking action, in contrast to emotion-focused coping that regulates the distress itself.

Psychological hardiness

Kobasa's stress-resistant personality pattern with three components: commitment, control, and challenge, which leads stressors to be appraised as manageable challenges.

Delusion versus hallucination

A delusion is a false belief held despite contrary evidence; a hallucination is a false sensory perception occurring without any external stimulus; both are positive symptoms.

Diathesis-stress model

The explanation that psychological disorder results when an inborn or acquired vulnerability (diathesis) is activated by environmental stress; neither factor alone is sufficient.

Bipolar disorder

A mood disorder in which episodes of depression alternate with manic episodes marked by elevated mood, inflated self-esteem, reduced sleep and increased activity.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

An anxiety-related disorder involving recurrent intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive acts performed to reduce distress (compulsions), which are recognised as excessive.

Systematic desensitisation

A behaviour therapy in which a client learns relaxation and then confronts feared stimuli along a graded hierarchy, so relaxation replaces the anxiety response.

Client-centred therapy

Rogers's non-directive approach in which unconditional positive regard, empathy and therapist congruence create conditions for the client's self-actualising growth.

Ellis's ABC model

A cognitive framework linking an Activating event, the person's Beliefs about it, and the emotional and behavioural Consequences, with irrational beliefs causing distress.

Token economy

A behaviour-modification programme in which desired behaviours earn tokens (secondary reinforcers) exchangeable for privileges or goods, used mainly in institutional settings.

Cognitive dissonance

Festinger's state of discomfort arising from holding inconsistent cognitions, which motivates the person to change an attitude, belief, or behaviour to restore consistency.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overestimate dispositional causes and underestimate situational causes when explaining other people's behaviour, especially negative behaviour.

Halo effect

A judgement bias in which a salient positive characteristic such as attractiveness leads an observer to assume unrelated positive qualities such as competence or honesty.

Bystander effect

The finding that the likelihood of helping decreases as the number of onlookers increases, due to diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance.

Conformity

A change in behaviour or belief toward the group standard, as in Asch's line-judgement studies, increased by unanimity, group size and public responding.

Groupthink

Janis's pattern of defective group decision-making under high cohesiveness and pressure to agree, suppressing dissent and discouraging consideration of alternatives.

Social loafing

The tendency for individuals to expend less effort on a collective task than when working alone, especially when individual contributions cannot be identified.

Crowding

A subjective feeling of insufficient space and unwanted social contact; it depends on appraisal of density, not on physical density alone.

Resilience

The capacity to maintain or regain effective functioning after adversity, supported by protective factors such as social support, optimism and problem-solving skills.

Active listening

A counselling skill of attending fully to the client and communicating understanding through paraphrasing, reflecting feelings, clarifying and summarising without judging.