Subject specific vocabulary

The following subject specific vocabulary provides definitions of some key terms used in our A-level Psychology: 7181/7182 specification.

Absorption-addiction model

This is an explanation for the existence and development of parasocial relationships or celebrity worship. The Absorption-addiction model suggests that people form parasocial relationships when they have deficits in real life relationships. Establishing a parasocial relationship allows them to gain a sense of identity and fulfilment which becomes addictive as it provides a means of escape from reality.

Agentic state

This term refers to an individual relinquishing their personal autonomy and moral sense of right and wrong, to submit to obedience. This can result in an individual following an order from an authority figure even if they know it to be harmful to others. This is a situational explanation of obedience and was displayed by some participants in Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience.

Alpha Bias

A type of bias where differences between groups are exaggerated or emphasised. This is an issue in Psychology, as it can result in ideas that one group is different, perhaps superior to another, and consequently reinforce racial or gendered stereotypes leading to loss of opportunities for specific groups. An example of this can be seen in early Intelligence testing studies which resulted in discriminatory treatment of minority groups.

Androcentrism

Androcentrism is a type of gender bias where male experience/behaviour is seen as the standard for what counts as ‘normal’ or desirable behaviour. This is an issue because in comparison, female behaviour is judged to be abnormal or undesirable. Psychology has a long history of androcentrism, with many male researchers using male only participants to draw universal conclusions which include all genders/people. One issue with androcentrism is that it has resulted in a gender data gap that also adversely affects females.

Approach

An approach in Psychology is a perspective or theoretical framework for explaining behaviour. There are a number of key approaches in Psychology including the Biological, Behavioural, Cognitive, Psychodynamic and Humanistic.

Attachment

An emotional and reciprocal bond between caregiver and infant. Mary Ainsworth measured attachment types by observing behaviours including proximity seeking behaviour, separation distress, stranger anxiety, secure base behaviour and reuniting response. She concluded that there are three types of attachments displayed in infant behaviour: Secure (Type B), Insecure Avoidant (Type A) and Insecure Resistant (Type C).

Authoritarian Personality

One explanation for why some people are more obedient that others is that they have an authoritarian personality. This is a dispositional explanation proposed by Theodore F Adorno who studied authoritarianism from 1940s onwards and created ‘The F Scale’ as a tool for measuring the Authoritarian Personality. Adorno identified the following traits in those with authoritarian personalities; rigid beliefs, conformity to norms, submissive to authority, focus on power and toughness, and hostility to those of lower status or members of an out-group. Authoritarian personalities may develop from a harsh parenting style during childhood.

Autonomy

Autonomy refers to an individual’s capacity to think and behave freely and independently of external influences or pressures.

Aversion therapy

A treatment used to reduce addictive behaviours broadly based on classical conditioning. The addictive behaviour is paired with an unpleasant (aversive) experience such as alcohol with an emetic so that the addictive behaviour becomes associated with discomfort. Covert sensitisation is a therapy designed to create the same kinds of associations through imagery, graphic description and mental rehearsal.

Avolition

This term refers to a common negative symptom of schizophrenia where the person involved has little, motivation to initiate, perform or complete daily life activities.
Beck's Negative Triad

A model of the cognitive biases which are characteristic features of depression. The triad consists of three elements, pessimistic thought patterns, about the self, the world and the future.

Beta Bias

A type of bias which ignores differences between different cultural groups including gender. Beta bias can occur if researchers attempt to generalise their findings universally to include those not represented in their sample of participants. Beta bias is an issue in Psychology as it can lead to androcentrism and ethnocentrism by presenting behaviour observed in dominant groups as the norm and any deviations from that as abnormal. The impact of this could be that practices and policies may be established based on non-representative samples which affect the livelihoods and wellbeing of any under-represented or unrepresented groups.

Biological Rhythms

Biological rhythms are natural periodic cycles that occur regularly to regulate bodily functions such as sleep, metabolism and body temperature. Biological rhythms can be circadian (occur once a day), infradian (take longer than a day such as the menstrual cycle) or ultradian (occur more than once per day). Biological rhythms are regulated by endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers.

Biopsychology

A branch of Psychology that examines the biological basis of behaviour. The relationship between biological mechanisms such the nervous and endocrine systems on cognitive processes and behaviour.

Broca’s Area

This is a region of the brain identified by Paul Broca during a post-mortem examination of his patient Louis Victor Leborgne in 1861.  It is in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere in 97% of the population. Damage to Broca’s area results in difficulties in speech production. In the disorder called Broca’s aphasia, people have problems speaking in complete sentences and may find it difficult to articulate too. However, there is relatively good comprehension of speech.

Caregiver Infant Interactions

Caregiver infant interactions are behavioural exchanges between infant and caregiver that help develop the bond of attachment. Two examples of caregiver infant interactions are interactional synchrony and reciprocity.

Compliance

A type of conformity where an individual conforms to a majority group publicly but not privately. An example of this could be when an individual pretends to enjoy watching football but secretly, they think it is boring. Often, people comply with the group behaviour to fit in and to be liked.

Conformity

A type of social influence where an individual or small group of people give into real or imagined pressure from a larger group and go along with the behaviours and beliefs of the majority group. There are three types of conformity: compliance, internalisation and identification.

Capacity

In cognitive psychology, this refers to the amount of information that can be held within/stored in memory.

Case Study

A type of research method that involves an in-depth study of an individual or a (small) group of people. This will often use a variety of techniques to collect data about the behaviour of that individual or group such as, self-report(s), observation(s), questionnaire(s) and interview(s.)

Circadian Rhythm

A type of biological rhythm that occurs once every 24 hours, for example the sleep/wake cycle.

Classical Conditioning

This is a key assumption of the behaviourist approach. After much research, Ivan Pavlov concluded that behaviour is learned through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning through a process of association. Pavlov’s research was concerned with reflex behaviours in which a specific stimulus called the UCS, always produced a specific response called the UCR. He demonstrated how the stimulus of the reflex (UCS) could be paired with a novel stimulus (CS) so that an association between these is made. New learning occurs when the original UCS is replaced by the CS so that when the CS is now presented what was the UCR occurs. As this original unlearned response occurs, Pavlov called this a conditioned response, or CR.

Coding in Memory

This refers to how sensory information is transformed into a format that can be stored in memory.

Cognitive Approach

A key approach in psychology that focuses on mental processes, such as thinking, memory attention, perception and language skills and proposes explanations for how they work. Cognitive theories are usually based on models. Cognitive psychology suggests that cognitive processes have a central role in influencing human behaviour.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

A type of therapy based on the principles of the cognitive and behaviourist approaches. It aims to identify negative and irrational thoughts and beliefs and to challenge these and replace them with more rational and positive thoughts and beliefs. It is a directive approach to therapy that involves the client as an active figure in the process. It can be used to treat a range of disorders including depression and schizophrenia and works well in combination with drug therapies.

Cognitive Interview

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses which allows the interviewer to draw more accurate testimony/information about the event than standard interview methods. It involves strategies such as changing the chronological order of event when questioning, asking witnesses to report everything, to report from a different perspective and to reinstate internal and external contexts. The cognitive interview avoids the pitfalls of leading questions.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The scientific study of how cognitive functions emerge from the physical and chemical activity of neurons and biological structures in the brain. It is based on research using a range of brain imaging techniques such as fMRI scans, EEGs and ERPs. Cognitive neuroscience has established links between memory and the hippocampus.

Cognitive priming

A term that refers to the process of developing scripts after exposure to media. These are then activated in the presence of similar stimuli or information that occur at a later date. These scripts provide cues about how to behave in similar scenarios in real life. Cognitive priming provides an explanation for the effect of media on aggression.

Comorbidity

This term refers to the situation when a person has two disorders at the same time. For example, schizophrenia can be co-morbid with OCD.

Conditions of Worth

A term used in the humanistic approach to psychology. It describes a situation in which a child believes they have to behave in ways that parents approve of in order to gain their praise and love. Carl Rogers suggested that this was the origin of many psychological problems. To counteract this, the therapist would offer unconditional positive regard to the client.

Confounding Variables

A confounding variable is any extraneous variable that was not eliminated during research design or controlled during data collection and that has had an impact on the dependent variable, (data collected). This can make it difficult to draw accurate conclusions as it raises uncertainty about whether any of the effect observed in the dependent variable is due to the independent variable.

Congruence

A term used in the humanistic approach to psychology, particularly the person-centred therapy pioneered by Carl Rogers. It refers to a state in which there is agreement or consistency between a person's self-concept' (their sense of who they) and 'ideal self' (who they want to be). If a person’s self-concept matches their ideal self, then they are in a state of congruence and will experience good mental health. However, if there develops a mismatch between their self-concept and ideal self; for example, if their self-concept is much less positive than their ideal self, then they are in a state of incongruence. Incongruence can cause feelings of inadequacy low self-worth resulting in anxiety and mental distress.

Correlational Analysis

This term refers to a non-experimental research method in which the researcher investigates a possible association between two variables, called co-variables. Data from such research is displayed on a scattergram. Correlational analysis involves measuring the strength of the relationship between co-variables by calculating a correlation co-efficient. The process could be used, for example, to investigate the relationship between levels of obesity and the incidence of coronary heart disease. Unlike experiments, correlations do not show a cause-and-effect relationship between the variables.

Correlation Coefficient

A correlation coefficient is a value calculated from the data collected in a study that shows the strength and direction of a relationship between co-variables.  Pearson’s r test can be used with interval level data to calculate a correlation coefficient. Spearman’s rho test can be used with interval and ordinal level data. Correlation coefficient values range from between -1 to +1. A value of –1 indicates a perfect negative linear relationship between co-variables, showing that as one variable increases the other decreases. A value of 1 indicates a perfect positive linear relationship which means that as one variable increases so does the other. A value of 0 indicates that there is no relationship between the co-variables studied. The closer the value is to -1 or +1 the stronger the relationship whether positive or negative. The closer the value is to 0 on either side, the weaker the relationship. Remember, correlation does not mean causation. This means that if a positive or negative relationship is found, we cannot conclude that one variable affected the other. We can only conclude that there is a relationship between the co-variables and ascertain the strength and direction of this relationship. Or we can conclude that there is no relationship between the co-variables.

Co-variables

Co-variables are the variables that are measured in a correlational study to see if there is a relationship between them. There is no manipulation of variables in correlational studies so there are no independent or dependent variables, only co-variables.  This means that no causal conclusions can be drawn as correlation does not infer causation. No cause and effect can be found.

Counterbalancing

A technique used in research where the repeated measures design has been employed. It helps to even out order effects that can occur when participants experience all the conditions of the study.

Critical Period

Early research by Konrad Lorenz and later by Harry Harlow found that there is a specific age period by which an attachment can be formed. Once this period passes, the opportunity to form an attachment is lost. John Bowlby drew on this idea and extended it to humans.

Cue reactivity

This is an example of classical conditioning, where objects and environments associated with an addiction become conditioned stimuli. In the context of addictive behaviour it refers to the way in which people experience a greater craving and a physiological reaction, such as an increased heart rate, when exposed these associated stimuli, for example, cigarette smoke or lighters, in the context of smoking. The increased craving may lead to an increase in the addictive behaviour.

Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism involves understanding and explaining behaviour from the point of view of the culture within which it originates, rather than viewing it from the lens of another culture. This promotes understanding and respect and prevents negative judgements. Cultural relativism helps to achieve cultural sensitivity and avoid ethnocentric bias as it means not imposing cultural values of one culture on another culture.

Deindividuation

A term used in the context of aggression and obedience. It refers to a state in which individuals have lower self-awareness and a weaker sense of personal responsibility for their actions. This may result from the relative anonymity of being part of a crowd.

Defence Mechanisms

The psychodynamic approach has identified a number of defence mechanisms. These are unconscious ways in which an individua is protected from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings. These include repression, denial, displacement, projection, sublimation and regression.

Demand Characteristics

These occur when participants pick up cues from the researcher or information about the study and try to guess what the researcher is looking for, as a result of which, their behaviour changes. At this point, participants may attempt to help the researcher by behaving in a way they think the experiment expects. Alternatively, they may try to sabotage the results by deliberately underperforming. Either way, demand characteristics might become a confounding variable and need to be controlled. Some researchers attempt to deal with demand characteristics by using minor deception or by using double blind controls.

Denial

This is a defence mechanism where an individual refuses to acknowledge the reality of the situation. A person on the verge of alcohol addiction may pass off concerns raised by family or friends by claiming to be a ‘social drinker’.

Dependent Variable

In research, this is the variable that is measured. For example, if a researcher was testing the effect of dancing on mood, the dependent variable would be the value of the measurement of mood which could be measured on a scale of 1) not very happy)-5 (very happy.)

Depression

A disorder characterised by low motivation, energy and mood. The DSM V (DSM 5) provides a list of criteria for diagnosis that include low mood, diminished interest or pleasure in activities, insomnia or hypersomnia among others. Symptoms of depression can be behavioural (what a person does), emotional (how they feel) and cognitive (what they are thinking).  Treatments for depression can involve drug therapy such as SSRIs as well as talking therapies such as, person centred therapy and/or CBT.

Diathesis-stress model

This model proposes that people develop psychological disorders when they possess both an inherited or constitutional predispositions (diathesis) and are exposed to stressful events. For example, twins may both have inherited a susceptibility to schizophrenia but only one experiences critical life events that trigger the onset of symptoms of schizophrenia.

Differential association theory

This is a learning theory of offending behaviour. The idea is that individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behaviour through interactions or 'association' with intimate personal groups such as family and friends. On balance, criminal behaviour is likely to occur when the individual is exposed to positive attitudes to criminal behaviour more than positive attitudes for law-abiding.

Displacement in Freudian Psychology

This is another defence mechanism or unconscious way of dealing with negative emotions such as anger or stress. During displacement, an individual may unleash their frustrations on someone or something other than the cause of their emotional state. For example, if a parent tells off their child for not cleaning their bedroom, instead of arguing with their parent, the child may slam the bedroom door.

Displacement in Cognitive Psychology

In Cognitive Psychology, the term displacement is used to describe a type of forgetting from short term memory. Due to the limited capacity of short- term memory, displacement occurs when new information pushes out previously held information.

Dispositional Factors

Dispositional factors refer to inner aspects of an individual such as personality that drives their behaviour rather than situational factors.

Duration

In cognitive psychology, this refers to the length of time that information can be held in memory. In short term memory this is believed to be around 18-30 seconds when there is no rehearsal/repetition allowed. In long term memory, this is likely to be up to a lifetime for many people and many memories.

Ego

According to Freud’s Psychodynamic Approach, the ego is a part of the psyche. The psyche consists of the id, ego and superego. The ego operates on the reality principle. Its role is to mediate and maintain a balance between conflicts arising from the demands of the id and those of the superego. It does this by activating defence mechanisms such as denial or repression etc. Freud believed that the ego develops during the anal stage of psychosexual development.

Enmeshment

This describes a family where parents are over-emotionally involved with their child(ren) but may be dismissive of their child’s emotional needs. This can make it difficult for the child to develop an independent self-concept or identity. Enmeshment is used in the family systems explanation of disorders such as anorexia.

Endogenous Pacemakers

An endogenous pacemaker is an internal body clock that helps regulate biological rhythms. An important endogenous pacemaker in mammals is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which is located in the hypothalamus and sits just above the optic chiasm. It responds to signals from the retina and is important in regulating many circadian rhythms including the sleep/wake cycle.

Episodic Memory

A type of long-term memory (LTM) that involves recollections of events and experiences in an individual’s life such as a birthday party they once had, a chat with a friend or a concert they attended. Episodic memories are time-stamped so people can remember when the memory occurred and experience a sort of mental time travel through past events. Such memories require conscious recall.

Ethical Guidelines

In the UK, the code of ethics, also known as ethical guidelines, is set out by the British Psychological Society (BPS). The code focuses on four primary ethical principles: respect, competence, responsibility and integrity, which give the precise forms of ethical conduct and behaviour expected to the society’s members in their conduct, in their research and in clinical practice. Psychologists must adhere to these professional and moral guidelines in their work to safeguard those with whom they work. In research, Psychologists have a responsibility to engage with participants with integrity and act in the interest of their wellbeing. To behave ethically when conducting research on human participants means to seek informed consent, maintain confidentiality and anonymity, and allow participants the right to withdraw from the study if they wish and ultimately to protect participants from psychological and physical harm.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is an issue of cultural bias. It occurs when one one’s own culture is perceived to be an idealised standard for behaviour. In Psychology, ethnocentrism can occur in a number of ways including if findings from research in one culture are used to judge behaviours observed in other cultures as deviations. With ethnocentrism there is a tendency to view behaviour from other cultures through the lens of one’s own culture meaning that interpretations can be biased and result in inaccurate generalisations and perpetuation of stereotypes and prejudice.
Ethnocentrism can be overcome by reflexivity, cultural relativism and through indigenous psychologies.

Exogenous Zeitgebers

The term ‘exogenous’ means external and the term ‘zeitgeber’ literally translates to ‘time giver’. Exogenous zeitgebers are any external cues that help regulate our internal biological clocks and therefore influence biological rhythms. Examples of exogenous zeitgebers include light, temperature and social cues like mealtimes.

Experimental Methods

Experimental methods are research methods psychologists use to systematically investigate behaviour. There are four types of experimental method: laboratory, field, natural and quasi. Using experimental methods involves manipulating an independent variable to see how it affects a dependent variable. This allows for cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn as long as variables other than the independent variable are controlled.

Experimental Designs

Experimental designs are the different ways in which participants are allocated to the conditions of the independent variable. There are three types of experimental design that can be used to collect data. These are the independent groups design, matched pairs design and repeated measures design. Each has its strengths and weaknesses so a researcher must consider carefully which best suits their research aim.

Extraneous Variables

In psychological research that uses experimental methods, only an independent variable (IV) should influence a dependent variable (DV). All other variables must be controlled. An extraneous variable is any variable other than the independent variable that might affect the dependent variable. This could lead to invalid conclusions being drawn about the effect of the IV on the DV. Researchers will try to control and eliminate extraneous variables. However, if an extraneous variable is not controlled or eliminated, it becomes a confounding variable if it does affect the DV.

F Scale

The F Scale is a tool for measuring the Authoritarian Personality. It was created by Theodor W. Adorno (1950). The ‘F’ stands for fascism. Adorno hoped to identify individual who could be susceptible to fascist propaganda following from the rise of Nazism during World War II. Stanley Milgram and Alan Elms (1966) found a positive correlation between high levels of obedience and score on the F Scale suggesting that these two factors could be related to each other.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A brain imaging technique which uses a magnetic field and radio signals to monitor the blood flow in the brain. Areas of the brain that are involved in activities done by the person during scanning have a greater blood oxygenation and flow, so specific brain areas can be linked to specific abilities.

Gating

Gating is a term commonly used in romantic relationships. A gate is any factor/obstacle that may prevent an individual from pursuing a relationship with someone they meet. In effect, gating refers to barriers that inhibit relationships from progressing. Examples of gates are unique to individuals but could include things like a person’s hair style, a facial characteristic, the way a person dresses or laughs. In face-to-face relationships such gates may prevent individuals from getting to know each other better and a relationship may end before it starts. In many virtual relationships there is an absence of gating so relationships can develop further than they might in a face-to-face relationship as the barriers are more difficult to detect or just absent.  By the time people do meet, they have got to know each other and like each other well enough so that the way one speaks or the other laughs or looks may no longer be an issue.

General Adaptation Syndrome

This was proposed by Selye to describe a three-stage sequence of physiological changes which occur when people or animals are subjected to prolonged stress. The stages are called the alarm reaction, the stage of resistance and the stage of exhaustion.

Generalisations

This involves making wider applications of the conclusions from the data collected in a study to those not involved in the research sample or the population from which the sample was obtained. This includes applying findings to the general population.

Hemispheric lateralisation

This term refers to the idea that the left and right brain hemispheres have specialised functions so that some behaviours are localised to the left hemisphere and others to the right hemisphere. One example of this is that the left hemisphere is considered to be the language centre of the brain as it contains Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s in the majority of the population.  The right hemisphere is generally associated with spatial abilities and facial recognition among other behaviours.

Hostile attribution bias

This is a tendency to perceive hostile intent on the part of others, even when it is not present. The term is used in the context of offending behaviour and aggression and is a cognitive explanation of aggression. The idea is that people may interpret, perhaps wrongly, the behaviour of others as being threatening and/or aggressive towards them, and so react aggressively believing they are responding to provocation.

Id

The id is a part of the psyche in Freud’s psychodynamic approach. The term ‘id’ originates from the Latin word ‘id’ which translates to ‘it’. According to the psychodynamic approach the id develops during the oral stage and operates on the ‘pleasure principle’. It is a primitive part of the personality, driven by instincts rather than morals. The gratification seeking id conflicts with the Superego.

Idiographic Approaches

This term refers to the study of human behaviour by focusing on individuals and their differences and the uniqueness of their experiences. Qualitative data collection is favoured as this is more in depth rather than just numerical scores for tests. Psychologists who follow idiographic approaches avoid universal generalisations. A good example of an idiographic approach in psychology is humanistic psychology Idiographic Approaches contrast with nomothetic approaches.

Independent Groups Design

An experimental design where two different sets of participants are used in the conditions of a study. The people in the sample will be allocated, (usually randomly,) to a condition.

Independent Variable

In experimental research, the independent variable (IV) is manipulated to see how it affects the dependent variable (DV.). An example of this could be a study that aims to investigate the effect of walking on wellbeing. The independent variable would be concerned with walking, perhaps whether participants walk for 10 minutes each evening, or 20 minutes or not at all. The number of walking conditions is chosen by the researcher. Wellbeing, which is the dependent variable, could be measured on a self-report scale. The researcher would look to see if there are differences in the wellbeing data found in the different conditions.

Identification

In social psychology this is a type of conformity where an individual conforms to a particular group (or person or role,) because they want to fit in with the established behaviours of the chosen group, (person or role.) The individual publicly and privately values the behaviours of the group and will change their own behaviours and beliefs to been seen as like the group.  However, when not part of the group anymore the individual’s beliefs and behaviours may change so the identification is not always permanent.

Inferences

Inferences are reasoned conclusions about a general pattern of behaviour that are drawn from the specific data obtained in a study. In cognitive psychology it is impossible to observe directly mental processes such as memory or perception. Therefore, researchers look at differences in performances seen in the data collected in research and they make a reasoned guess or judgement about what the data means. Inferences are reasoned explanations for the data, and these go beyond the raw results.

Infradian Rhythms

A type of biological rhythm that occurs less frequently than once every 24 hours. This could be something that happens weekly, monthly or even annually. The menstrual cycle is a good example of an infradian biological rhythm.

Insecure-Avoidant Attachment (Type A)

In developmental psychology, this is one of the attachment types that Mary Ainsworth identified in her Strange Situation study. Insecure-avoidant infants are also known as Type A and behaviour is characterised by low proximity seeking behaviour, low secure base behaviour, low stranger anxiety, low separation distress and a limited reuniting response.

Insecure-Resistant Attachment (Type C)

In developmental psychology, this is one of the attachment types that Mary Ainsworth identified in her Strange Situation study. Insecure-resistant infants are also known as Type C and behaviour is characterised by high proximity seeking behaviour, high secure base behaviour, high stranger anxiety, high separation distress and a reuniting response that showed infants, although distressed rejected comfort.

Interactional Synchrony

A type of caregiver infant interaction which involves coordinated and rhythmic interaction between infant and caregiver.  Interactional synchrony involves a more mirrored exchange than reciprocity, like a dance where both the infant and caregiver are in tune with each other, producing the same behaviours at the same time for a period. An example of this could be if the infant smiles, the caregiver smiles back so that their movements and emotions are temporarily aligned and in sync.

Interference

An explanation for forgetting when similar material, e.g. the vocabulary of two similar languages such as Italian and Spanish, is confused in recall from the LTM. Retroactive interference occurs when newly learned information interferes with and prevents the recall of previously learned information. Proactive interference occurs when past memories inhibit an individual’s ability to retrieve newly learned memories.

Internal Working Model

In developmental psychology, Bowlby suggested that a monotropic attachment allows the infant to create an internal working model, or a mental framework for what relationships should be like. It allows the infant to get a sense of their role in the relationship and expectations of themselves and others. This framework then acts as a template for what future relationships should be like. Bowlby proposed that this internal working model will be applied to future relationships influencing them well into adulthood. It would go on to influence their relationships with peers, romantic partners and even their own parenting styles.

Internalisation

In social psychology this is the third type of conformity proposed by Kelman along with compliance and identification.  Internalisation involves a private and public change in behaviour in response to majority influence. An individual who internalises wholeheartedly embraces the new behaviours. One example of this is when a person decides to become vegetarian after attending an animal rights charity event and being persuaded by the information presented at the event. They change their behaviour because they feel it’s the right thing to do and they want to do it. They have internalised this belief.

Interval data

When the data collected in a study is a direct measurement of the participants’ performances/behaviour we call this interval data. This means that the scale used to collect the data has spaces between the numbers that are always equal. When a participant is timed when doing a task, the times are interval level measurements. If the researcher decides that the numerical scale used in the study is an interval scale, they can analyse their data using a statistical test that requires interval data.

Learning Approach

According to learning approaches human behaviour is the result of learning. This learning can occur through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning and vicarious reinforcement. The Behaviourist approach and social learning theory are examples of the learning approach.

Levels of Measurement

This refers to the level of data collected from studies and how that data should be used in a statistical test. There are 3 levels of measurement known as ‘nominal’, ‘ordinal’ and ‘interval’.

Localisation of Function

A theory within psychology that specific regions of the brain are specialised for specific functions. An example of this is that the occipital lobes control visual function or that the motor cortex is specialised to allow movement.

Locus of control

This refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events in their lives. People with an 'internal' locus of control tend to take personal responsibility for their actions and to feel that they control their own actions. People with an external locus of control tend to feel that their lives and actions are strongly influenced by luck, chance, other people and environmental factors. The term can be applied to explain how people respond to stressful situations or situations where others are exerting social pressures.

Longitudinal

Some research conducted by psychologists requires more time to truly understand the dynamics at play. Longitudinal research refers to studies that are designed to track participants or measure behaviour over a long period of time. This could be months or years. An example of such research includes Michael Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee study which spanned more than two decades.

Long Term Memory (LTM)

In cognitive psychology, long term memory (LTM) is the ability to recall information over a significant period of time. According to the multi-store model of memory the LTM store has unlimited capacity, the duration of up to a lifetime and information is most often coded semantically.

MAOA gene

This is a genetic variant that has been linked to aggressive behaviour. MAOA stands for ‘monoamine oxidase a’ which is the name of the enzyme produced by this gene and which breaks down certain neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline. People who possess the MAOA-L variant of this gene (the ‘L’ indicates ‘low activity’) produce low levels of the MAOA enzyme. MAOA-L has been associated with a higher risk for anti-social behaviours such as aggression. The MAOA gene, whether high activity (MAOA-H) or low activity (MAOA-L) is found on the X chromosome.

Mediational processes

Mediational processes are cognitive processes that occur between the external, environmental stimulus a person experiences and the response the person produces to that stimulus. Mediational processes include, attention, memory, thinking and decision-making and show that learning is not purely an automatic, stimulus response action and that there are mental processes that take place before a response it made.

Memory

The process by which information is coded, stored and retrieved. Research has found evidence to support the existence of a short-term memory, a long-term memory as described in the multi-store model of memory and the working memory model is an alternative description of how short-term memory might operate.

Meta-analysis

A statistical process in which the data from a large number of studies involving a similar research question and methods of research, are combined to provide conclusions about the whole body of research. As the data in a meta-analysis comes from a much larger group of participants the conclusions may be regarded with more confidence.

Minority Influence

This occurs when an individual or a small group of people convince larger groups of people to change their behaviour. Minority groups can drive social change through campaigns, for example the campaign to ban on smoking in public places and the suffragette movement campaigning for female emancipation.

Monotropy

As part of his monotropic theory, John Bowlby claimed that a single attachment to or affectional bond with the primary caregiver was most important for the wellbeing of the child. The special bond formed would enable the child to develop a sense of security and emotional maturity. It would programme the internal working model and therefore, all future relationships would be judged against the monotropic relationship.

Neurotransmitters

These are chemical messengers that allow the transmission of an impulse from one cell to the next enabling cells to communicate throughout the body. Key neurotransmitters in psychology are dopamine, serotonin, GABA and noradrenaline. Neurotransmitters can be excitatory meaning the message is likely to be forwarded by the receiving cell, inhibitory meaning the message is likely to be prevented from being forwarded or modulatory sending messages to many neurons at the same time.

Nominal

Nominal data is a frequency count and a way of recording behaviour which is a response or action. The behaviour seen will be assigned into a behavioural category, usually as a tally. An example of this could involve counting the number of students who have visited London and the number who have not. When a researcher has collected data in this way, they have used the nominal level of measurement, and the data should be analysed using a test that requires this kind of data.

Nomothetic Approach

Nomothetic approaches seek to identify universal traits and patterns of behaviour in order to be able to establish universal laws or principles of behaviour. Examples of nomothetic approaches in psychology include the behaviourist approach, the cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach and the biological approach.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is concerned with explaining how we learn through experience. The consequences of a behaviour can be pleasant or unpleasant and these consequences act as reinforcers. If an individual is rewarded for an act, they will repeat it. That is known as positive reinforcement. If the consequence is, that after producing an act something that was unpleasant is removed, the individual again is likely to repeat the action/behaviour. This is negative reinforcement.

Operationalisation of variables

Operationalising variables is an important part of research design and hypothesis formulation. It involves precisely identifying how any variable being studied will be measured or manipulated by the researcher. For example, in a study investigating the effect of sleep on memory, the variables of sleep and memory are broad. For research purposes, they need to be broken down into quantifiable measures. So, sleep can be operationalised into ‘whether participants sleep 4 hours per night or even 8 hours per night’, and ‘memory’ can be operationalised to ‘number of words recalled from a word list’. This means the independent variable of sleep can now be controlled, and the dependent variable of memory can be measured.

Ordinal Data

If data is not a behaviour or action that is categorised as in nominal data, then it is often a score of some sort achieved by each participant in the study. Numerical data can be a precise measurement of something such as a time taken to do something, or it can be less precise such as a rating a person gives themself. When the scores collected in a study are not precise measurements, researchers might decide they should not call their data an interval measurement and they should treat it as ordinal data. This would mean using a statistical test that required the ordinal level of measurement.

Plasticity

This is the idea that the brain is malleable. Plasticity is the brain’s ability to change, reorganise and adapt as a result of experience through changing synaptic connections. Research on London taxi drivers by Eleanor Maguire et al (2000) found increased grey matter in the posterior hippocampus in comparison to that of participants in the control group. The posterior hippocampus is the area of the brain that is involved in spatial cognition and memory. In further research Eleanor Maguire found that retired taxi drivers who were no longer using active in their jobs, experienced a reduction of this grey matters. Their experiences had changed and so did their brains.  Plasticity plays an important role in functional recovery.

Paradigms

This term refers to a set of assumptions, methods and terminology shared by. Each different 'approach' could be considered to have its own paradigm. The historical sciences are regarded as having a single paradigm often involving observation, theory, hypothesis, empirical testing, support/challenge leading to refined theory. A paradigm shift happens when the established paradigm has been challenged to the point that a different one takes its place. The change from a predominately behaviourist approach in explaining behaviour to a cognitive one in psychology in the1960s could be an example a paradigm shift in psychology.

Parasocial relationships

These are one-sided relationships, that a fan feel they have with a celebrity. This develops through the fan’s access to media such as concerts, TV appearances, films, magazines etc, where the celebrity is unaware of the fan's identity or even existence. Three levels of parasocial relationships have been identified. These are ‘entertainment-social’, ‘intense personal’ and ‘borderline pathological’. These levels of parasocial relationships can be measured using the Celebrity Attitude Scale which was developed by Lynn McCutcheon (2002).

Primary Data

This is data that is collected by the researcher themselves first hand for the purpose of the study.

Procedural Memory

This is a type of long-term memory relating to knowledge of how to do things, i.e. perform skills and actions. Procedural memories require little conscious effort, are automatic and are not available for inspection. This means we can ride a bike or walk without thinking about it, but it can be difficult to describe how we are doing it step by step. Muscle memory plays a role in this. Examples of procedural memories include swimming, riding a bike, driving, playing an instrument etc. Procedural memories are also resistant to amnesia. In the case study of Clive Wearing it was shown that although episodic and semantic memories were fading, he could still engage in procedural memories such as writing in his diary, reading, and playing the piano.

Psychodynamic Approach

This is one of the approaches in psychology which provides an explanation of human behaviour. It is rooted in the work of Sigmund Freud and focuses on the interplay of conscious and unconscious motivations and conflicts within humans. It emphasises the importance of early experiences in childhood though psychosexual stages of development and the formation of the psyche; id, ego and superego. It offers psychoanalysis as a therapeutic approach to work with clients in mental distress, a directive approach to counselling employing methods such as free association and dream interpretation to help reveal unconscious conflicts and desires.

Psychopathology

This is the scientific study of mental disorders which aims to establish causes of disorders, identify and categorise symptoms as well as finding treatments.

Psychosexual Stages

According to the Freud’s Psychodynamic Approach, there are 5 stages of psychosexual development. These are oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital. If a stage is not completed satisfactorily, then fixation can occur. This means that individuals become ‘stuck’ in this stage and will regress, i.e. revert back to behaviours relating to this stage in adulthood until these conflicts are resolved.

Recidivism

This is a persistent pattern of criminal re-offending by an individual who may be described as a recidivist.

Reciprocity

A type of caregiver infant interaction which involves a mutual exchange of play or communication between infant and caregiver. It is characterised by ‘turn-taking’ where one of the pair produces and action and then the other responds with an action. Each responds to the signals from the other, for example if the infant points to a toy, the caregiver looks in that direction and may pick it up, if the infant reaches for the toy, the caregiver may give it to them. Essentially, the infant and caregiver 'take turns' by for example, smiling, 'cooing', making eye contact etc. Interactions like these help in a child's social development and the formation of attachments.

Reductionism

Reductionism involves explaining or studying complex behaviours and experiences by breaking them down into smaller component parts. One example of this is studying a complex disorder such as schizophrenia by studying a key neurotransmitter such as dopamine for its role in the symptoms of this disorder.

Reliability

The concept of consistency in the measurements provided by a technique or test.

Repeated Measures Design

An experimental design where the sample of participants all engage in all conditions of the study.

Repression

A type of defence mechanism sometimes called ‘motivated forgetting’.  Upsetting or traumatic memories are unconsciously pushed from conscious awareness and into the unconscious mind resulting in an individual ‘forgetting’ the traumatic incident. The ego employs this as a defence mechanism to help reduce the anxiety caused by the memory of the event.   An example of this could be someone forgetting to go to a meeting they really did not want to go to in the first place. Perhaps something had upset them in a previous meeting.

Research

This term can refer to studies conducted using experimental and non-experimental methods. In psychology, it can also refer to theories.

Research Methods

Research methods in psychology are the systematic approach to designing, collecting and analysing data to draw meaningful conclusions and generate theories to understand and explain human behaviour. Research methods used in psychology can be experimental such as laboratory, field, natural and quasi, or they can be non-experimental, such as correlational analyses, observations, interviews, questionnaires, case studies, content analyses and meta-analyses.

Restorative justice programmes

These focus on the needs of the victim, offender and wider community. They involve the offender being encouraged to meet the victim, take responsibility for the offence, to apologise and then to try to make amends.

Retrieval Failure

An explanation for forgetting when material is stored in the LTM but cannot be consciously recalled because of a lack of retrieval cues to 'jog the memory'.

Schema

A cognitive framework of information gained from experiences that help a person to interpret the world around them and build and organise their knowledge and understanding. Schemas can also influence expectations, for example if an individual develops negative self-schemas, they believe negative things about themselves.

Secondary Data

Data for use in research that is collected by somebody other than the researcher. Secondary data can be valuable when conducting meta-analyses. An example of research using secondary data is the Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study on cross cultural variations in Psychology. Secondary data can also be used with other research method such as correlational analyses.

Secure Attachment

In developmental psychology, this is one of the attachment types that Mary Ainsworth identified in her Strange Situation study. Secure infants are also known as Type B. Infants with Type B attachment show some proximity seeking behaviour but are happy to explore the strange environment using their caregiver as a secure base. They show separation distress but are easily comforted by their caregiver in their reuniting response. The majority of infants in Mary Ainsworth’s study were classified as Type B.

Self-actualisation

A term used by Abraham Maslow in the humanistic approach to psychology. It refers to a state in which people achieve fulfilment of their potential. Maslow suggested that every person has a motivation to achieve this. It forms the pinnacle of his ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, with physiological needs needing fulfilment, before safety needs, then social needs and then self-esteem. Each of these needs to be met respectively before an individual can self-actualise.

Self-Report Methods

Self-report techniques are an example of research method in Psychology where participants are able to provide information about themselves, from their perspective without judgement from the researcher. Examples of self-report methods include questionnaires and interviews. Other techniques can also be used such as asking participants to keep a diary of their experiences or to create a log of recollections.

Semantic Memory

Semantic memories are a type of long-term memory that relates to knowledge of facts, figures and general knowledge of how things work. It can be described as a mixture of an encyclopaedia and a dictionary. Unlike procedural memories, semantic memories do require conscious effort for recall. Examples of semantic LTM include knowing that London is the capital of the UK, knowing how to perform mathematical calculations, understanding why Dr Martin Luther King’s iconic ‘I have a dream’ speech was important.

Situational Factors

These are external environmental factors that may influence human behaviour. In Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience, he tested the effect of situational factors on obedience. He did this by changing the location of the study, the uniform of the authority figure (the ‘teacher’) and also the proximity of the teacher to the ‘learner’.

Short-Term Memory

In cognitive psychology, short-term memory (STM) is a component of the multi-store model. STM has been shown to have a limited capacity, and a short duration.  It is thought that coding in STM is mainly acoustic.

Social Change

Social change refers to a significant change that occurs in society including large scale changes in societal attitudes and social norms. A few examples of social change include changes in ideas about women’s rights, ending racial segregation, legalisation of same sex marriage and banning smoking in public places.

Social Sensitivity

Socially sensitive research is that which has potentially negative implications and consequences for certain social groups. A lack of social sensitivity in research design, participant selection and biased analysis and conclusions can amplify prejudice and lead to discriminatory policies. There are a number of areas within psychology where social sensitivity must be exercised. These include but are not limited to theories of attachment, psychopathology and relationships.

Standardisation

Standardisation is an important feature of psychological research design. In experimental contexts it means the experiences of research participants must be exactly the same with the only difference being the manipulated independent variable. In a study investigating the effect of music on time taken to complete a crossword, all aspects other than whether participants hear music, or no music must be standardised. This means, these possible extraneous variables must be kept the same, eg using the same crossword (unless repeated measures are being used, in which case a different but standardised/same level of difficulty crossword would be used), same volume of music, same researcher, same instructions etc. This helps to control extraneous variables, preventing confounding variables and allows for valid conclusions to be drawn.

Stress inoculation therapy

This is a cognitive therapy used to teach people the skills needed to reduce their reactions to future stressful situations. It involves conceptualisation, skill acquisition and rehearsal, and application and follow-through.

Study

An investigation conducted by a researcher. A study can be conducted using experimental methods, e.g. laboratory, field, natural or quasi. A study can also be conducted using non-experimental methods such as self-report methods, correlational analyses, observations and meta-analyses. A study usually has an aim, set of procedures, findings and conclusions.

Superego

This is part of the psyche as explained by Freud as part of the psychodynamic approach. The superego develops in the phallic stage of psychosexual development and works on the ‘morality principle’. It functions as a sort of moral compass and reflects societal ideals and moral standards. It conflicts with the id.

Synaptic transmission

The process by which information from nerve impulses are carried across the small gap, the synapse, between one neuron and another. The message becomes a chemical one carried by the neurotransmitter.

Theory

A theory is an explanation for a specific behaviour. Theories serve as a framework for understanding and explaining behaviours. Well known theories in psychology include social learning theory, Bowlby’s monotropic theory and family systems theory.

Ultradian Rhythms

A type of biological rhythm that occurs throughout the 24-hour day. Rapid eye movement occurs throughout the day in many physical and mental functions and during sleep there is a pattern of cycles that alternates between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM.) in each cycle there are 5 stages, the first 4 are NREM and the 5th REM and each cycle lasts about 90 minutes.

Validity

Validity is the extent to which a study or a test measures what it claims or attempts to measure. For example, for findings of an experimental study to be valid, it’s important to assess whether it was indeed the independent variable that influenced the dependent variable, and not a confounding variable. Validity refers to the accuracy of research conclusions.

Violation of expectation research

Baillargeon pioneered this kind of research in studying the cognitive development of young infants. Her studies tested cognitive development in terms of what the infant would expect to happen in familiar situations. For example, a hinged screen would be expected to come to rest on a rigid cube behind it and not to squash it. Infants of five months old looked longer when the screen appeared to flatten the cube because it 'violated their expectation', showing that they had learned that objects typically stop when they meet obstacles.

Vicarious reinforcement

This term refers to a feature of social learning theory. A reinforcement, such as reward, makes a behaviour more likely to happen again. When it is vicarious, the person learns by observing the consequences of another person's behaviour, e.g. a young child observing an older sibling being rewarded for a particular behaviour is more likely to produce that behaviour themselves, having learned that the consequence is likely to be pleasant – a reward.

Wernicke’s Area

This is a region of the brain located in the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere in around 90% of the population. It was identified by Carl Wernicke in 1870’s following post-mortem examinations as being involved in language comprehension. Individuals who experience damage to this region of the brain can experience Wernicke’s aphasia where patients may produce fluent but incoherent speech and have difficulty understanding spoken and written language.

Working Memory

The working memory model describes short-term memory as a storage system with multiple components rather than a single unitary store as described in the multi-store model of memory. It was first proposed by Alan Baddeley & Graham Hitch in 1974 and has been updated since. It consists of a central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketch pad and episodic buffer and attempts to account for how STM deals with visual and verbal information in detail.

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

This term relates to a concept used in Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development. It refers to cognitive tasks that are just beyond what a child can do unaided but could be achieved with the help of a more experienced person. Tasks in a child’s ZPD should be the focus of learning.