B Flashcards
Any of a family of drugs derived from barbituric acid that depress activity of the central nervous system
- They typically induce profound tolerance and withdrawal symptoms and depress respiration
- Use of these became common in the 1930s, but they were rapidly supplanted in the 1970s by the benzodiazepines, which lack the lethality associated with overdose
- The prototype of the group, barbital, was introduced into medical practice in 1903
Barbiturate
A group of nuclei (neuron cell bodies) deep within the cerebral hemispheres of the brain that includes the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and subthalamic nucleus
- The putamen and globus pallidus are together known as the lenticular nucleus and caudate nucleus are together known as the corpus striatum, and the caudate nucleus and putamen are together called the striatum
- They are involved in the generation of goal directed voluntary movement
Basal Ganglia
The naturally occurring frequency of a phenomenon in a population
- This rate is often contrasted with the rate of the phenomenon under the influence of some changed condition in order to determine the degree to which the change influences the phenomenon
Base Rate
A decision making error in which information about rate of occurrence of some trait in a population (the base rate information) is ignored or not given appropriate weight
- For example, people might categorize a man as an engineer, rather than a lawyer, if they heard that he enjoyed physics at school, even if they knew that he was drawn from a population consisting of 90% lawyers and 10% engineers
Base Rate Fallacy
In ego psychology, a feeling of being helpless, abandoned, and endangered in a hostile world
- According to German born U.S. Psychoanalyst Karen D. Horney ( 1885 - 1952), it arises from the infant’s helplessness and dependence on his or her parents or from parental indifference
- Defenses against this and hostility may produce neurotic needs
Basic Anxiety
A category formed at the level that people find most natural and appropriate in their normal, everyday experience of the things so categorized
- One of these ( eg, bird, table) will be broader than the more subordinate categories into which it can be divided ( eg, hawk, dining table) but less abstract than the superordinates category into which it can be subsumed eg, animals, furniture)
Basic Level Category
Research conducted in order to obtain knowledge or to develop or advance a theory
Basic Research
The first of Erikson’s eight stages of development, between birth and 18 months of age
- During this stage, the infant either comes to view other people and himself or herself as trustworthy or comes to develop fundamental distrust of his or her environment
- The growth of basic trust, considered essential for the later development of self esteem and positive interpersonal relationships, is attributed to a primary caregiver who is responsively attuned to the baby’s individual needs while conveying the quality of trustworthiness, while the growth of basic distrust is attributed to neglect, lack of love, or nonconsistent treatment
Basic Trust vs Mistrust
The effects on a child of intentional and repeated physical abuse by parents or other caregivers
- In addition to sustaining physical injuries, the child is at increased risk of experiencing longer term problems, such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, decreased self esteem, and sexual and other behavioral difficulties
Battered Child Syndrome
The psychological effects of being physically abused by a spouse or domestic partner
- The syndrome includes learned helplessness in relation to the abusive spouse, as well as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder
Battered Woman Syndrome
A formula derived from probability theory that relates to conditional probabilities; the probability of event A, given that event B has occurred, p(A|B), and the probability of event B, given that event A has occurred, p(A|B)
- It is expressed as p(A|B)p(B) = p(B|A)p(A)
[Thomas Bayes (1702 - 1761), British mathematician and theologian]
Bayes Theorem
Scales of assessing the developmental status of infants and young children aged 1 month to 42 months
- Test stimuli such as foam boards, blocks, shapes, household objects (eg, utensils), and other common items, are used to engage the child in specific tasks of increasing difficulty and elicit particular responses
- These scales were originally published in 1969 and subsequently revised in 1993; the most recent version is the Bayley III, published in 2005
[Developed by U.S. Psychologist Nancy Bayley ( 1899 - 1994)]
Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development
The popular name for the hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, founded as a monastery in 1247 and converted into a mental institution in 1547
- Many of the patients were in a state of frenzy as they were shackled, starved, beaten and exhibited to the public for a penny a look, general turmoil prevailed
-The word thus became synonymous with wild confusion or frenzy
Bedlam
An experimental design in which one or more groups of participants are measured both prior to and following administration of the treatment or manipulation
Before After Design
- An organism’s activities in response to external or internal stimuli, including objectively observable activities, introspectively observable activities, and unconscious processes
- More restrictively, any action or function that can be objectively observed or measured in response to controlled stimuli
- Historically, objective behavior was contrasted by behaviorists with mental activities, which were considered subjective and thus unsuitable for scientific study
Behavior
The decomposition of behavior into its component parts or processes
- This approach to psychology emphasizes interactions between behavior and the environment
Behavior Analysis
Any persistent and repetitive pattern of behavior that violates societal norms or rules or that seriously impairs a person’s functioning
- The term is used in a very general sense to cover a wide range of disorders or other syndromes
Behavior Disorder
The use of operant conditioning, biofeedback, modeling, aversive conditioning, reciprocal inhibition or other learning techniques as a means of changing human behavior
- For example, it is used in clinical contexts to improve adaptation and alleviate symptoms and in industrial and organizational contexts to encourage employees to adopt safe work practices
- The term is often used synonymously with behavior therapy
Behavior Modification
A recording or evaluation (or both) of the ongoing behavior of one or more research participants by one or more observers
- Observations may be made using charts, checklists, rating scales, ect…) either directly as the behavior occurs or from such media as film, videotape, or audiotape
Behavior Observation
The assumption that behavior, including it’s acquisition, development, and maintenance can be adequately explained by principles of learning
- Attempts to describe environmental influences on behavior, often using controlled studies of animals
Behavior Theory
A form of psychotherapy that applies the principles of learning, operant conditioning, and Pavlovian conditioning to eliminate symptoms and ineffective or maladaptive patterns of behavior
- The focus of this therapy is upon the behavior itself and the contingencies and environmental factors that reinforce it, rather than exploration of the underlying psychological causes of the behavior
- A wide variety of techniques are used such as biofeedback, modeling, and systematic desensitization
Behavior Therapy
A brain system theorized to underlie incentive motivation by activating approach behaviors in response to stimuli related to positive reinforcement
- It has been suggested that the system is associated as well with the generation of positive affective responses, and that a strong or chronically active one tends to result in extroversion
Behavioral Approach System
The systematic study and evaluation of an individual’s behavior using a wide variety of techniques, including direct observation, interviews, and self monitoring
- When used to identify patterns indicative of disorder, the procedure is called behavioral diagnosis and is essential in deciding upon the use of specific behavioral or cognitive behavioral interventions
Behavioral Assessment
An agreement between therapist and client in which the client agrees to carry out certain behaviors, usually between sessions but sentences during the session as well
Behavioral Contract
A couples therapy that focuses on interrupting negative interaction patterns through instruction, modeling, rehearsal, feedback, positive behavior exchange, and structured problem solving
- When practiced with legally married patients, it is called behavioral marital therapy
Behavioral Couples Therapy
The study of the relationships between behavior and the functioning of the endocrine glands and neuroendocrine glands
- For example gonadal secretion of sex hormones affects sexual behavior and secretion of corticosteroids by the adrenal glands affects physiological and behavioral responses to stress
Behavioral Endocrinology
The study of familial or hereditary behavior patterns and of the genetic mechanisms of behavior traits
Behavioral Genetics
A temperamental predisposition characterized by restraint in engaging with the world combined with a tendency to scrutinize the environment for potential threats and to avoid or withdraw from unfamiliar situations or people
Behavioral Inhibition
A brain system theorized to underlie behavioral inhibition by activating avoidance behaviors in response to perceived threats
- It has been suggested that the system is associated as well with the generation of negative affective responses, and that a strong or chronically active system tends to result in introversion
Behavioral Inhibition System
A multidisciplinary field that applies behavioral theories and methods to prevention and treatment of medical and psychologically disorders
- Areas of application include chronic illness, lifestyle issues (eg, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, obesity), somatoform disorders, and the like
Behavioral Medicine
A conceptualization of psychological disorders in terms of overt behavior patterns produced by learning and the influence of reinforcement contingencies
- Treatment techniques, including systematic desensitization and modeling, focus on modifying ineffective or maladaptive patterns
Behavioral Model
A branch of neuroscience and biological psychology that seeks to understand and characterize the specific neural circuitry and mechanisms underlying behavioral propensities or capacities
Behavioral Neuroscience
Any of a number of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and anthropology that study the behavior of humans and nonhuman animals from a scientific and research perspective
Behavioral Science
The experimental analysis, especially as carried out by U.S. Social psychologist Stanley Milgram (1933- 1984) in the 1960s, of individuals willingness to obey the orders of an authority
- In Milgram’s experiment, each participant played the role of a teacher who was instructed to deliver painful electric shocks to another “participant” for each failure to answer a question correctly
- The latter were in fact confederates who did not actually receive shocks for their many deliberate errors
-Milgram found that a substantial number of participants (65%) were completely obedient, delivering what they believed were shocks of increasing intensity despite the protestations and apparent suffering of the victim
Behavioral Study of Obedience
An approach to psychology, formulated in 1913 by U.S. Psychologist John B. Watson (1878 - 1959), based on the study of objective, observable facts rather then subjective, qualitative processes such as feelings, motives, and consciousness
- To make psychology a naturalistic science, Watson proposed to limit it to quantitative events, such as stimulus response relationships, effects of conditioning, physiological processes, and a study of human and animal behavior
- All of which can be best investigated through laboratory experiments that yield objective measures under controlled conditions
- Historically, behaviorists held that mind was not a proper topic for scientific study since mental events are subjective and not independently verifiable
Behaviorism
- Acceptance of the truth, reality, or validity of something (eg, a phenomenon, a person’s veracity), particularly in the absence of substantiation
- An association of some characteristic or attribute, usually evaluative in nature, with an attitude object (eg, this car is reliable)
Belief
The tendency to be influenced by one’s knowledge about the world in evaluating conclusions and to accept them as true because they are believable rather than because they are logically valid
- Most often assessed with syllogistic reasoning tasks in which the believability of the conclusion conflicts with logical validity
Belief Bias
The idea that people get what they deserve, and that the world is orderly and fair
- In other words, bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good people
- There is large body of evidence that this belief affects people’s behaviors and attitudes, often through secondary victimization of innocent victims or the promotion of helping behavior
Belief in a Just World
The tendency to maintain a belief even after the information that originally gave rise to it has been refuted, otherwise shown to be inaccurate
Belief Perseverance
A set of two or more beliefs, attitudes, or both that are associated with one another in memory
Belief System
The characteristic curve obtained by plotting a graph of a normal distribution
- With a large rounded peak tapering off on either side, it resembles a cross section representational of a bell
Bell Curve
The principle that the ventral roots of the spinal cord are motor in function and dorsal roots are sensory
- Charles Bell ( 1774 - 1842), British surgeon and anatomist
- François Magendie (1783 - 1855), French physiologist
Bell Magendie Law
The tendency of a person to underestimate his or her intellectual and social abilities relative to others
- It is common when the skill in question is relatively hard (eg, sculpting human figures from clay) whereas the opposite generally occurs when the skill in question is relatively easy (eg, operating a computer mouse)
Below Average Effect
A visuoconstructive test used to assess visual motor functioning and perceptual ability as well as to diagnose neurological impairment
- The participant copies line drawings of geometric figures onto blank pieces of paper, and these reproductions are scored on a 5 point scale, ranging from 0 (no resemblance) to 4 (nearly perfect)
- Originally developed in 1938, the test is now in its 2nd edition (published in 2003)
[Lauretta Bender (1897 - 1987), U.S. Psychologist ]
Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test
1.In mental health, denoting a disorder or illness that is not serious and has a favorable prognosis
2. Denoting a condition that is relatively mild, transient, or not associated with serious pathology
Benign
Any of a family of drugs that depress central nervous system activity and also produce sedation and relaxation of skeletal muscles
- Commonly used in the treatment or generalized anxiety and insomnia and are useful in the management of acute withdrawal from alcohol and in seizure disorders
- Clinically introduced in the 1960s, they rapidly supplanted the barbiturates, largely due to their significantly lower toxicity in overdose
- Prolonged use can lead to tolerance and psychological and physical dependence
Benzodiazepine
A feeling of loss, especially over the death of a friend or loved one
- The person may experience emotional pain and distress and may or may not express this distress to others
Bereavement
The probability of a type II error
Beta
An electroencephalograpy, the type of brain wavee (frequency 13- 30 Hz) associated with alert wakefulness and intense mental activity
Beta Wave
In regression analysis, the multiplicative constant that reflects a variable’s contribution to the prediction of a criterion, given the other variables in the prediction equation (eg; b in y = a +bx)
Beta Weight
The variation in experimental scores that is attributable only to membership in different groups and exposure to different experimental conditions
- it is reflected in the analysis of variance by the degree to which the several group means differ from one another and is compared with within group variance to obtain an F ratio
Between Group Variance
Any of a large number of experimental designs in which each participant experiences only one experimental condition (treatment)
Between Subjects Design
- Partiality; an inclination or predisposition for or against something
- A tendency or preference, such as response type
- In research, systematic and directional error arising during sampling, data collection, data analysis, or data interpretation
- In statistics, the difference between the expected value of a statistic and the actual value that is obtained
Bias
A model of the primary dimensions of individual differences in personality
- The dimensions are usually labeled extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness (denoting the tendency to act in a cooperative, unselfish manner), conscientiousness (denoting the tendency to be responsible and hard working), and openness to experience (denoting a willingness to participate in new aesthetic, cultural, or intellectual experiences) though the labels vary somewhat among researchers
Big Five Personality Model
Any two letter combination
- In psycholinguistic research, the term typically refers to a within word consecutive character sequence (eg; paper contains the bigrams pa, ap, pe, and er ), whereas in learning and memory research it generally refers to a freestanding non word (eg;TL,KE)
Bigram
Denoting or relating to both sides of the body or an organ
- For example, this type of symmetry is the symmetrical arrangement of an organism’s body such that the right and left halves are approximately mirror images of one another; this type of transfer is the transfer of training or patterns of performance for a skill from one side of the body, where the skill (eg, handwriting) was originally learned and primarily used to the other side of the body
Bilateral
Instruction in two languages, typically in one’s native language and in the dominant language of the country in which one is educated
- In the 1970s, the United States adopted this type of educational program to help immigrant children learn English
- By providing the ability to perform equivalent academic work in two languages, this kind of education enables children to do regular school work with their English speaking classmates, thus receiving an equal educational opportunity
Bilingual Education
The regular use of two or more languages by a person or within a group of people
Bilingualism
A set of scores that has two modes (represented by two peaks in their graphical distribution), reflecting a tendency for scores to cluster around two separate values
Bimodal Distribution
Any difference in the sound arriving at the two ears from a given sound source (interaural difference) that acts as a cue to permit auditory localization
- The conmen cues are interaural level differences, interaural time differences, and interaural phase differences
Binaural Cue
The difficulty of perceiving and representing different features, or conjunctions of properties, as one object or event
- This problem arises because different attributes of a stimulus (eg; hue, form, spatial location, motion) are analyzed by different areas of the cerebral cortex; it is relevant in all areas of knowledge representation, including such complex cognitive representations as theory of mind
Binding Problem
A disorder marked by recurring episodes of binge eating (ie; discrete periods of uncontrolled consumption of abnormally large quantities of food) and distress associated with this behavior
- There is an absence of inappropriate compensatory behavior (eg; vomiting, laxative misuse, excess vs exercising, fasting)
Binge Eating Disorder
Any cue to the perception of distance or depth that requires the use of both eyes, such as binocular disparity, and convergence
Binocular Cue
The slight difference between the right and left retinal images
- When both eyes focus on an object, the different position of the eyes produces a disparity of visual angle, and a slightly different image is received by each retina
- The two images are automatically compared and fused, providing an important cue to depth perception
Binocular Disparity
The failure of the eyes to fuse stimuli
- For example, if horizontal bars are viewed through the left eye and vertical bars through the right eye, the perception is a patchy and fluctuating alternation of the two patterns, rather than a superimposition of the patterns to form a stable checkerboard
Binocular Rivalry
The distribution of the outcomes in a sequence of Bernoulli trials, experiments of chance that are independent of one another and each have one of two possible outcomes: (0 or 1; success or failure), with a fixed probability of each outcome on each trial
Binomial Distribution
A paradigm that treats human development as a process that continues both through the lifespan and across successive generations, thus affording important to historical continuity and change as forces indirectly affecting human development through their impact on proximal processes
Bioecological Model
The use of an external monitoring device to provide an individual with information regarding his or her physiological state
- When used to help a person obtain voluntary control over autonomic body functions, such as heart rate or blood pressure, the technique is called biofeedback training
- It may be applied therapeutically to treat various conditions, including chronic pain and hypertension
Biofeedback
- Produced by living organisms or biological processes
- Necessary for the maintenance of life
Biogenic
Any of a group of amines (chemical compounds that contain one or more amino groups [-NH2]) that affect bodily processes and nervous system functioning
- Divided into subgroups (eg; catecholamines, indoleamines) and inside the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and seratonin
Biogenic Amine
The concept that psychological and behavioral characteristics are entirely the result of constitutional and biological factors
- Environmental conditions serve only as occasions for the manifestations of such characteristics
Biological Determinism
A variation in the physiological processes of an organism that accompanies a disorder, irrespective of whether it directly causes the disorder
Biological Marker
An approach to abnormal psychology that emphasizes physiologically based causative factors, such as the senile plaques in Alzheimer’s disease, and consequently tends to focus primarily upon biological therapies
Biological Perspective
The science that deals with the area of overlap between psychology and biology and with the reciprocal relations between biological and psychological processes
- It includes such fields as behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral endocrinology, and psychoneuroimmunology
Biological Psychology
Any periodic variation in a living organism’s physiological or psychological function, such as energy level, sexual desire, or menstruation
- Such rhythms are usually linked to cyclic changes in environmental cues, such as day length or passing of the seasons, and tend to be daily (circadian) or annual ( circannual)
Biological Rhythm
Any form of treatment for mental disorders that attempts to alter physiological functioning, including various drug therapies, electroconvulsive therapy, and therapy psychosurgery
Biological Therapy
- A synonym of biological rhythm
- According to pseudoscientific belief, any one of three basic cycles (physical, emotional, and intellectual) with which every individual is programmed at birth
- It is maintained that these rhythms continue unaltered until death and that good and bad days for various activities can be calculated accordingly
Biorhythm
Pertaining to the interplay or mingling of biological and social factors, as with human behavior or that is influenced simultaneously by complex neurophysiological processes and social interactions
Biosocial
Denoting something with two opposites or extremities, such as neurons or disorders
Bipolar
Any of a group of mood disorders in which symptoms of mania and depression alternate
- A distinction is made between Bipolar I disorder, involving one or more manic episodes and one or more major depressive episodes and Bipolar II disorder, characterized by one or more major depressive episodes and at least one hypomanic episode
- In certain diagnostic classifications, cyclothymic disorder is also categorized
Bipolar Disorder
A neuron with only two processes - an axon and a dendrite - that extend from opposite sides of the cell body
Bipolar Neuron
The ordinal position of a child in the family ( first born, second born, youngest, ect)
- There has been much psychological research into how birth order affects personal adjustment and family status, but the notice that it has strong and consistent effects on psychological outcomes is not supported
- Current family structure research sees birth order not so much as a causal factor but rather as an indirect variable that follows more process oriented variables (eg; parental discipline, sibling interaction, and genetic and hormonal makeup) in importance
Birth Order
The psychological shock of being born, due to the sudden change from the security of the womb to being bombarded with stimuli from the external world
- Though first proposed by Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank (1884 - 1939), the concept of this incorporates many of the ideas of Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939), who viewed birth as the child’s first anxiety experience and the prototype of separation anxiety
Birth Trauma
The act of splitting something into two equal parts
- In psychophysics it refers to a scaling method in which a participant adjusts a stimulus until it is perceived as halfway between two other stimuli with respect to a particular dimension
Bisection
A measure of the association between a continuous variable and a dichotomous variable
Biserial Correlation
- Sexual attraction to or sexual behavior with both men and women
- The existence of both male and female genitals in the same organism
- Such anatomical (structural) bisexuality is more properly termed hermaphroditism
Bisexuality
In information theory, the quantity of information that decreases uncertainty or the germane alternatives of a problem by one half
- For example, if a dollar bill has been placed in one of 16 identical books standing side by side on a shelf, and one were to ask if the book is to the right ( or to the left) of center, the answer would provide one bit of information [ bi(nary) + (digi)t]
Bit
Characterized by two variables or attributes
Bivariate
A model for a device, system, or other complex entity - humans and nonhuman animals included - whose internal properties and processes must be hypothesized on the basis of observed empirical relationships between external factors (input) and the resulting effects (output)
Black Box
The tendency of an individual to evaluate a poorly performing in group member less positively than an equally poor or deviant out group member
- Although an apparent contradiction of in group bias, this effect is explained by social identity theory as an individual protection strategy; people favor their in group because of the importance of group membership for self identity
Black Sheep Effect
- Total but temporary loss of consciousness
- Amnesia produced by alcoholic intoxication
Blackout
A social psychological phenomenon in which individuals or groups attempt to cope with the bad things that have happened to others by holding the victim responsible for the trauma or tragedy
Blaming the Victim
The mammalian embryo at a very early stage of development
- It consists of a tiny hollow sphere containing an inner cell mass, enclosed in a thin layer of cells that help implant it in the uterine lining
Blastocyst
- Denoting a lack of sight
- Denoting a lack of awareness
- In research, this type of procedure may be deployed deliberately to enhance experimental control: a single blind is a procedure in which participants are unaware of the experimental conditions under which they are operating; a double blind is a procedure in which both the participants and the experimenters interactive with them are unaware of the particular experimental conditions and a triple blind is a procedure in which the participants, experimenters and data analysts are all unaware of the particular experimental conditions
Blind
The area of the monocular visual field in which stimulation cannot be perceived because the image falls on the site of the optic disk in the eye
Blind Spot
Profound, near total, or total impairment of the ability to perceive visual stimuli, defined in the United States as acuity of 20/200 or worse in the better eye with best correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less in the widest meridian of the better eye
- Major causes include cataract, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration and diabetes
Blindness
The capacity of some individuals with blindness in parts or all of the visual field to detect and localize visual stimuli presented within the blind field region
- Discrimination of movement, flicker, wavelength, and orientation may also be present
- However, these visual capacities are not accompanied by awareness
- They have been demonstrated only in experimental conditions, when participants are forced to guess
Blindsight
An experimental design that divides participants into relatively homogenous subsets or blocks
- The greater the homogeneity of each of the blocks, the greater the statistical power of the analysis
Block Design
- A process in which one’s flow of thought or speech is suddenly interrupted
- The individual is suddenly aware of not being able to perform a particular mental act, such as finding the words to express something he or she wishes to say
- Also called thought deprivation; thought obstruction - A phenomenon of stimulus control in which previous learning restricts or prevents conditioning of a response to a new stimulus
- For example, a light paired with an unconditioned stimulus for several trials results in some conditioning for the light
- Adding a tone at this point would result in the tone being less effective as an elicitor than it would if it had been present from the beginning
Blocking
A semipermeable barrier formed by cells lining the blood capillaries that supply the brain and that helps maintain a constant environment in which the brain can function
- It prevents large molecules, including many drugs, passing from the blood to the fluid surrounding brain cells and to the cerebrospinal fluid, and thus protects the brain from potentially harmful substances, ions and small molecules, such as water, oxygen, carbon dioxide and alcohol, can pass freely
Blood Brain Barrier
A persistent and irrational fear of blood, specifically of seeing blood
- An individual confronting blood experiences a subjective feeling of disgust and fears the consequences of the situation, such as fainting
- In certain diagnostic classifications, such as DSM IV TR, the broader term blood injection injury phobia is used instead
Blood Phobia
The pressure exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels, especially the arteries
- It varies with the strength of the heartbeat, the elasticity of the artery walls and resistance of the arterioles, and the person’s health, age, and state of activity
Blood Pressure
In the multiple intelligences theory, the skills involved in forming and coordinating bodily movements, such as dancing, playing a violin, playing basketball
Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence
- The entire physical structure of an organism such as the human body
- The main part of a structure or organ, such as the body of the penis
- A discrete anatomical or cytological structure, such as the mammillary body
Body
A somatoform disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with an imagined defect in physical appearance or markedly excessive concern with a slight physical anomaly
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
The mental picture one forms of one’s body as a whole, including both its physical and functional characteristics (body perception) and one’s attitudes towards these characteristics (body concept)
Body Image
The expression of feelings and thoughts, which may or may not be verbalized, through posture, gesture, facial expression, or other movements
- Although it is often called nonverbal communication, such movements may be unintentional, and many investigators therefore believe the term ‘‘communication” is often inappropriate in this context
Body Language
A widely used measure of adiposity or obesity based on the following formula: weight (kg) divided by height squared (m2)
Body Mass Index
The process in which attachments or other close relationships are formed between individuals, especially between mother and infant
- An early, positive relationship between a mother and a newborn child is considered to be essential in establishing unconditional love on the part of the parent, as well as security and trust on the part of the child
- In subsequent development, it establishes friendship and trust
Bonding
A procedure for adjusting the p-value of individual related T tests
- It involves dividing the usual significance level value by the number of comparisons being made, so as to avoid the increased rise of Type I error that comes with multiple comparisons
Bonferroni Correction
A situation in which a persuasive message produces attitude change in the direction opposite to that intended
- Occurs when recipients generate counter arguments substantially stronger then the arguments contained in the original message
Boomerang Effect
Any process or operation in which a system uses its initial resources to develop more powerful and complex processing routines, which are then used in the same fashion and so on cumulatively
- In language acquisition, the term is used of children’s ability to learn complex linguistic rules, which can be endlessly reapplied, from extremely limited dada
- In statistics, it denotes a method for estimating the variabilityof a parameter associated with a batch of data, such as the standard error
- A number of samples of equal size are obtained from the original data by sampling with replacement, the parameter is calculated for each, and the individual parameters are combined to provide an estimate of the overall parameter for the entire sample
Bootstrapping
- Pertaining to any phenomenon difficult to categorize because it straddles two distinct classes, showing characteristics of both
- Thus, this type of intelligence is supposed to show characteristics of both the average and sub average categories - An inappropriate designation for someone with Borderline Personality Disorder or it’s symptoms
Borderline
A personality disorder characterized by a long standing pattern of instability in mood, interpersonal relationships, and self image that is severe enough to cause extreme distress or interfere with social and occupational functioning
- Symptoms include impulsive behavior in such areas as gambling, sex, spending, overeating, and substance use; intense but unstable relationships, uncontrollable temper outbursts, self injurious behavior such as fights, suicidal gestures, or self multilation, and chronic feelings of emptiness
Borderline Personality Disorder
Information processing that proceeds from the data in the stimulus input to higher level processes; such as recognition, interpretation, and categorization
- Typically, perceptual or cognitive mechanisms use this type of processing when information is unfamiliar or highly complex
Bottom Up Processing
A graphical display of a batch of data involving rectangular boxes with lines of “whiskers” extending outwards from them
- The ends of the box indicate the upper and lower hinges, a dividing line within the box indicates the median, and the whiskers extending from both ends indicate the smallest and largest scores
Box and Whisker Plot
Abnormal slowness in the execution of voluntary movements
Bradykinesia
The enlarged, anterior part of the central nervous system within the skull
- It develops by differentiation of the embryonic neural tube along an anterior posterior axis to form three main regions - the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain - that can be subdivided on the basis of anatomical and functional criteria
- The cortical tissue is concentrated in the forebrain, and the midbrain and hindbrain structures are often considered together as the brainstem
Brain
Injury to the brain, manifested by impairment of cognitive, motor, or sensory skills mediated by the brain
Brain Damage
Any of various theories that different areas of the brain serve different functions
- Since the early 19th century, opinion has varied between notions of highly precise localization and a belief that the brain, or large portions of it, functions as a whole
- For many investigators, however, the concept of extreme parcellation of functions has given way to concepts of distributed control by collective activity of different regions
Brain Localization Theory
Stimulation of specific areas of the brain, for example, electrical or transcranial magnetic, as a means of determining their functions and effects on behavior and as a therapeutic technique
Brain Stimulation
Spontaneous, rhythmic electric impulses emanating from different areas of the brain
- According to their frequencies, they are classified as:
1) Alpha (8 - 12 Hz)
2) Beta (13 - 30 Hz)
3) Delta (1-3 Hz)
4) Gamma (31 - 80 Hz)
5) Theta (4 -7Hz)
Brain Waves
The part of the brain that connects to the cerebrum with the spinal cord
- It includes the midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata and is involved in the autonomic control of visceral activity, such as salivation, respiration, heartbeat and digestion
Brainstem
A problem solving strategy in which ideas are generated spontaneously and uninhibitedly usually in a group setting, without any immediate critical judgement about their potential value
Brainstorming
A broad class of intense and often coercive tactics intended to produce profound changes in attitudes, beliefs and emotions
Brainwashing
A significant, sometimes sudden, forward step in therapy, especially after an unproductive plateau
Breakthrough
A system of evaluating the presence and severity of clinical psychiatric signs on the basis of 24 factors; such as bizarre behavior, hostility, emotional withdrawal and disorientation
- Each factor is rated on a 7 point scale ranging from “not present” to “extremely severe” based on the judgements of trained observers
Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale
A collection of time limited psychodynamic psychotherapy approaches intended to enhance client self awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior
- One particularly important issue is identified as the central focus for the treatment, thus creating a structure and establishing a goal for the sessions
- Rather than allowing the client to associate freely and discuss unconnected issues, as occurs in more traditional psychoanalytic practice, the brief psychodynamic therapist is expected to be fairly active in keeping the session focused on the main issue
- The number of sessions varies from one approach to another, but this type of therapy is typically considered to be no more than 20 - 25 sessions
Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Any form of psychotherapy intended to achieve change during a short period (generally 10 - 20 sessions)
- These rely on active techniques of inquiry, focus, and goal setting and tend to be symptom specific
- They may be applied on an individual or group level and are used in the treatment of a variety of behavioral and emotional problems
- There are numerous different types, such as brief cognitive behavioral therapy, brief play therapy, brief psychodynamic psychotherapy, focal psychotherapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy
Brief Psychotherapy
A disturbance involving the sudden onset of incoherence or loosening of associations, delusions, hallucinations, or grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
- The condition lasts no longer than one month, with complete remission of all symptoms and a full return to previous levels of functioning
Brief Psychotic Disorder
The perceptual correlate of light intensity
- The brightness of a stimulus depends on its amplitude (energy), wavelength, the adaptation state of the observer, and the nature of any surrounding or intervening stimuli
Brightness
The tendency to perceive a familiar object as having the some brightness under different conditions of illumination
- It is one of the perceptual constancies
Brightness Constancy
One of eight classically identified aphasias, characterized by non fluent conversational speech and slow, halting speech production
- Auditory comprehension is relatively good for every day conversation, but there is considerable difficulty with complex syntax or multi step commands
- It is associated with injury to Broca’s area of the brain
[Pierre Paul Broca (1824 - 1880) French physician]
Broca’s Aphasia
A region of the posterior portion of the inferior frontal convolution of the left cerebral hemisphere that is associated with the motor control of speech
- Discovered in 1861 by Pierre Paul Broca
Broca’s Area
Any of more than 200 distinctive areas of cerebral cortex characterized variation in the occurrence and arrangement of cells (cytoarchitecture) from that of neighboring areas
- These areas are identified by numbers and in many cases have been associated with specific brain functions, such as area 17 (striate cortex or primary visual cortex), areas 18 and 19 (prestriate cortex), area 4 (motor area or primary motor cortex), and area 6 (pre motor area)
[Korbinian Brodmann (1868 - 1918), German neurologist]
Brodmann’s Area
A practice in which female birds of some species lay their eggs in the nest of another species, leaving the other parents to rear the chicks
Brood Parasitism
The protection against stressful experiences that is afforded by an individual’s social support
Buffering
Insatiable hunger for food
- It may have physiological causes or be primarily a psychological disorder
Bulimia
An eating disorder involving recurrent episodes of binge eating (ie, discrete periods of uncontrolled consumption of abnormally large quantifies of food) followed by inappropriate compensatory behaviors (eg, self induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, fasting, and excessive exercise)
Bulimia Nervosa
Persistent threatening and aggressive physical behavior or verbal abuse directed toward other people, especially those who are younger, smaller, weaker, or in some other situation of relative disadvantage
Bullying
Physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion, especially in one’s job or career, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes towards oneself and others
- It results from performing at a high level until stress and tension, especially from extreme and prolonged physical or mental exertion or overburdening workload take their toll
- Most often observed in professionals who work closely with people ( eg; social workers, teachers, correctional officers) in service oriented vocations and experience chronic high levels of stress
Burnout
An anxiolytic that produces relief of subjective symptoms of anxiety without the sedation, behavioral disinhibition, and risk of dependence associated with benzodiazepines
- It’s use has been limited due to its relative lack of efficacy compared with benzodiazepines
- U.S. trade name; Buspar
Buspirone
Any of a class of antipsychotics used primarily in the treatment of schizophrenia, mania, and severe agitation
- They are associated with tardive dyskinesia and numerous extrapyramidal symptoms
Butyrophenome
The tendency for people not to offer help when they know that others are present and capable of helping
- Research suggests that a number of cognitive and social processes contribute to the effect, including misinterpreting other people’s lack of response as an indication that help is not needed, confusion of responsibility, and diffusion of responsibility
Bystander Effect
