RBSE SS Psychology key terms

A numerical score expressing mental age as a proportion of chronological age, multiplied by 100 in the classic ratio formula, used to summarise performance on standardised ability tests relative to age peers.

The age level of problems a person can solve on an intelligence test, expressed as the chronological age at which that performance is typical, regardless of the person's actual age.

The global capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges; psychologists disagree on whether it is one general ability or many distinct abilities.

Spearman's general intelligence factor, a single underlying capacity inferred from the observation that people who do well on one mental task tend to do well on others, whatever the specific content.

The capacity to reason quickly and solve novel problems independent of prior learning; it is measured by tests of abstraction and pattern detection and tends to decline earlier in ageing than crystallised ability.

Accumulated knowledge and skills acquired through education and experience, such as vocabulary and general information; it is assessed by tests of learned material and often holds up or grows in later life.

Gardner's proposal that people possess several relatively independent intelligences, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic, rather than a single general ability.

A person's potential for learning or developing a particular skill with training, assessed by tests that predict future performance in a specific domain rather than measuring current achievement.

An assessment of what a person has already learned in a specified area, such as a subject examination, in contrast to tests that forecast future potential or underlying capacity.

The consistency of a test or measurement: the degree to which it yields stable, reproducible scores across occasions, items, or raters, assessed by methods such as test-retest and split-half correlations.

The extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure, covering content, criterion-related and construct aspects; a test can be reliable without being valid.

The distribution of scores obtained by a defined reference group, used to interpret an individual's test result by locating it relative to typical performance for that population.

The organised collection of beliefs and perceptions a person holds about their own characteristics, abilities and roles; it is relatively stable but can change with experience and feedback.

The evaluative component of the self, reflecting how positively or negatively a person judges their own worth, and ranging from high self-acceptance to feelings of inadequacy.

A person's belief in their capability to organise and carry out the actions needed to reach a particular goal, which shapes the effort they invest and their persistence after setbacks.

A person's generalised expectation about whether outcomes depend on their own actions (internal control) or on external forces such as luck, fate or powerful others (external control).

A behavioural pattern marked by competitiveness, impatience, hostility and a chronic sense of time urgency, associated with elevated stress responses and greater risk of coronary heart disease.

A behavioural pattern characterised by a relaxed, patient, easy-going approach to life, low hostility and less time urgency, contrasting with the pressured, competitive style of Type A.

A relatively enduring disposition or characteristic that predisposes a person to behave in consistent ways across situations; trait theories describe personality as a stable pattern of such dispositions.

A widely used trait framework describing personality along five broad dimensions: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, often remembered by the acronym OCEAN.

A personality assessment presenting ambiguous stimuli such as inkblots or incomplete sentences, on the assumption that respondents project their own needs and conflicts into their interpretations.

The pattern of physiological, emotional and behavioural responses that occurs when a person perceives that demands exceed their resources to cope with them.

Selye's model of the body's response to sustained stress, proceeding through three stages: an alarm reaction, a resistance stage of mobilised defences, and exhaustion when resources are depleted.

The cognitive and behavioural efforts a person makes to manage demands appraised as taxing, including problem-focused strategies that tackle the source and emotion-focused strategies that regulate distress.

The capacity to maintain or regain psychological wellbeing in the face of adversity, functioning well despite significant stress or trauma rather than simply avoiding distress.

Behaviour judged to deviate from statistical norms, social expectations or ideals of healthy functioning, causing distress or impairment; no single criterion is sufficient on its own.

A widely used diagnostic manual that lists recognised mental disorders with criteria for symptoms, duration and impairment, providing a common language for clinicians and researchers.

An intense, persistent and irrational fear of a specific object or situation that is out of proportion to the actual danger, leading to avoidance and significant distress or impairment.

A behaviour-therapy technique in which a client learns relaxation and then confronts feared stimuli in a graded hierarchy, from least to most frightening, so that anxiety is gradually extinguished.

A therapeutic procedure that helps clients identify, challenge and replace distorted or irrational beliefs with more realistic appraisals, widely used in cognitive and cognitive-behavioural therapy.

The ability to understand another person's experience from their own frame of reference and to communicate that understanding, a core ingredient of the therapeutic relationship and of effective listening.

A relatively enduring evaluation of an object, person or issue, comprising cognitive, affective and behavioural components that predispose a person to respond in a favourable or unfavourable way.

The discomfort felt when a person holds two inconsistent cognitions, or acts against a held belief, which motivates change in attitudes or behaviour to restore consistency.

A negative prejudgement of a group and its members, based on faulty or inflexible generalisations, involving an affective bias that can lead to discriminatory behaviour.

A change in belief or behaviour in response to real or imagined group pressure, so that a person adopts the norms of others; it can be motivated by information or by a desire to be accepted.

Compliance with the commands or instructions of an authority figure, studied in classic experiments where ordinary participants followed orders that conflicted with their own values.

A positive state of functioning that combines feeling good with functioning effectively, encompassing physical health, satisfying relationships, a sense of purpose and the capacity to manage life's demands.

A communication skill in which the listener attends closely, reflects back the speaker's content and feelings, and checks understanding, rather than merely waiting to reply or offering advice.