UPMSP Intermediate Psychology - Code 133 key terms

The earliest school of psychology, associated with Wundt and Titchener, which tried to analyse conscious experience into its basic mental elements through trained introspection.

A method in which a person reports their own inner experiences, feelings and thoughts in a systematic way while performing a task or after it.

A school led by William James that asked what mental processes are for, stressing how consciousness helps an organism adapt to its environment rather than analysing its elements.

An approach holding that psychology should study only observable behaviour, rejecting the study of private mental states as unscientific and explaining learning through stimulus and response.

A school emphasising that perception and thought are organised wholes, so that experience cannot be understood by breaking it into separate parts.

A practical stance in modern psychology in which a psychologist selects ideas and techniques from several theories to fit the particular person and problem rather than following one school.

Freud's theory and therapy, which holds that unconscious conflicts, especially those rooted in early childhood, shape personality and can cause psychological disturbance.

An in-depth investigation of a single person or small group using interviews, records and tests, useful for rare conditions but weak for establishing cause and generalising.

A statistic showing how strongly two measured variables vary together, ranging from -1 to +1; it indicates association but does not by itself prove causation.

The condition that the experimenter deliberately manipulates or varies in an experiment, in order to observe whether it produces a change in the dependent variable.

The behaviour or score that is measured in an experiment, expected to change as a result of the manipulation of the independent variable.

The group of participants in an experiment that receives the treatment or level of the independent variable being tested, and is compared with a control group.

An ethical requirement that participants be told enough about a study, in language they understand, to decide freely whether to take part before data are collected.

The post-study session in which researchers explain the true purpose and methods to participants and remove any misunderstanding or distress caused by the procedure.

The ethical obligation to keep participants' identities and personal data private, reporting findings in ways that do not allow individuals to be identified.

A research design that follows the same individuals over months or years, measuring them repeatedly, so that developmental change within persons can be traced.

A design that compares different age groups measured at one point in time, giving quick information about age differences but not about change within individuals.

A period in the life span marked by characteristic physical, cognitive and social patterns, such as infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood, each with typical tasks and challenges.

The strong emotional bond an infant forms with a caregiver, evident in seeking closeness and distress at separation, and important for later social and emotional adjustment.

The weakest level of a stimulus that a person can detect reliably about half of the time under quiet, ideal conditions.

The smallest detectable change in a stimulus, also called the just noticeable difference, which grows in proportion to the intensity of the original stimulus.

The tendency to perceive familiar objects as keeping the same size, shape, colour or brightness even when the retinal image changes with distance, angle or lighting.

The process of focusing mental resources on one source of information while filtering out competing stimuli, as when following one voice in a noisy room.

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

Learning in which the consequences of a voluntary behaviour, such as reward or punishment, change the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.

Any consequence that increases the probability of the behaviour it follows; it may be positive, adding a pleasant stimulus, or negative, removing an unpleasant one.

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a learned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus or without reinforcement.

Learning by watching others, called models, and imitating their behaviour, especially when the model is rewarded; explained in Bandura's social learning experiments.

A sudden reorganisation of a problem situation that yields the solution, experienced as an 'aha' moment rather than as gradual trial-and-error learning.

The very brief store that holds raw information from the senses for a fraction of a second to a few seconds before it is attended to or lost.

A limited-capacity store holding about seven items for roughly twenty seconds without rehearsal, from which information may pass into long-term memory.

An active system that temporarily holds and manipulates information during tasks such as reasoning and comprehension, rather than merely storing it passively.

The process of transforming sensory information into a form the memory system can store, for example by its sound, its meaning or its visual appearance.

The process of locating stored information and bringing it back into awareness, as in recall or recognition of previously learned material.

Forgetting caused by other learning competing with the material to be remembered, either from earlier learning or from learning that occurs afterwards.

A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a correct solution to a problem if it is followed properly, though it may be slow and demanding.

A quick mental shortcut or rule of thumb that often produces adequate judgements efficiently but can lead to systematic bias in reasoning and decision making.

The cognitive activity of moving from an initial state to a goal state when an obstacle blocks the direct route, using strategies such as means-ends analysis or restructuring.

Thinking that generates many varied and original ideas from a single starting point, commonly used as a measure of creative potential, as in brainstorming.

The drive to act that comes from interest, enjoyment or satisfaction within the activity itself, rather than from external rewards or pressure.

The drive to act that comes from external outcomes such as money, grades, praise or avoiding punishment, rather than from the activity itself.

A model arranging motives in levels, from physiological needs and safety up through belonging, esteem and self-actualisation, with lower needs usually satisfied first.

The theory that bodily changes, such as a racing heart, come first and the emotional experience follows from perceiving those bodily reactions.

The theory that a stimulating event triggers bodily arousal and the subjective feeling of emotion at the same time, with neither causing the other.

The interpretation and evaluation a person makes of a situation and of their own capacity to cope, which shapes the quality and intensity of the emotion felt.

A numerical index of intellectual performance, traditionally mental age divided by chronological age multiplied by 100, now usually based on standard scores.

A person's potential or readiness to acquire a particular skill or to succeed in a specific field with suitable training, assessed by tests that predict future performance.

The consistency of a test or measure, meaning that it yields stable results on repeated administration or across equivalent forms and scorers.

The extent to which a test or measure actually assesses what it claims to measure and supports the inferences made from its scores.

An unconscious strategy of the ego that distorts reality to reduce anxiety, such as rationalisation, projection or denial.

The physical and psychological response to demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding a person's resources, often accompanied by tension and arousal.

A structured psychological treatment that helps clients identify and change distorted thoughts and maladaptive behaviours, widely used for anxiety and depression.

A relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object or issue, consisting of cognitive, affective and behavioural components that predispose a consistent response.

The discomfort felt when a person holds two inconsistent beliefs or when behaviour contradicts an attitude, which motivates change in belief or attitude to restore consistency.

A negative attitude towards members of a group based on their group membership rather than individual qualities, typically involving stereotyped beliefs and hostile feelings.

A change in behaviour or belief toward the group standard, arising from real or imagined group pressure, as shown in Asch's line-judgement studies.

Compliance with the direct commands of an authority figure, studied by Milgram, where ordinary people followed instructions that harmed another person.