Behavioral Science Vocab

Question 1

Ability to generalize from concrete examples and experiences to larger, broader principles.

Answer 1

Abstract reasoning

Question 2

The feeling tone accompaniment of an idea of mental representation. The fluctuating, subjective aspect of emotion that the physician observes (as opposed to mood, which is reported by the patient).

Answer 2

Affect

Question 3

A tension state in which anxiety is manifested in the psychomotor area with hyperactivity (such as handwriting or pacing) and general perturbation.

Answer 3

Agitation

Question 4

Loss of ability to recognize or comprehend the meaning of sensory stimuli.

Answer 4

Agnosia

Question 5

A neurologic side effect of treatment with neuroleptics consisting of motor restlessness, a feeling of muscular quiver, and an inability to sit, stand still, or remain inactive. In severe cases, patients pace constantly, forcefully and repeatedly stomping their legs. Those with milder cases show swinging of their crossed legs and foot jiggling, and their symptoms may be misinterpreted as an increase in anxiety.

Answer 5

Akathisia

Question 6

Absence or diminution of voluntary motion; it may range from moderate inactivity to almost complete immobility.

Answer 6

Akinesia

Question 7

Difficulty in describing or recognizing one’s emotions. Typically describes patients who define emotions only in terms of somatic sensations or of behavioral reaction rather than relating them to accompanying thoughts.

Answer 7

Alexithymia

Question 8

Speechlessness. May be caused by intellectual deficiency, confusion, or impoverished spontaneity as found in schizophrenia or dementia.

Answer 8

Alogia

Question 9

Absence of pleasure in acts that were previously pleasurable.

Answer 9

Anhedonia

Question 10

Unawareness of one’s own physical illness or limitations. Most often seen in patients with non dominant parietal lobe lesions, who deny presence of hemiparesis.

Answer 10

Anosognosia

Question 11

Impairment of memory for events occurring after the onset of amnesia. Difficulty forming “new memories”.

Answer 11

Anterograde amnesia

Question 12

Loss of motivation, loss of interest in daily activities, loss of initiative, and a reduced affective response.

Answer 12

Apathy

Question 13

Any disturbance in the comprehension or expression of language due to brain lesion. Not due to faulty innervation of speech muscles, disorders of articulation or intellectual deficiency. A person with this may have difficulty speaking, reading, writing, recognizing the names of objects, or understanding what other people have said.

Answer 13

Aphasia

Question 14

Voicelessness; Muteness

Answer 14

Aphonia

Question 15

Inability to carry out motor activities despite intact comprehension and motor function.

Answer 15

Apraxia

Question 16

An inability to coordinate muscle activity during voluntary movement.

Answer 16

Ataxia

Question 17

Direction of the consciousness to a person, thing, perception, or thought.

Three types:

(1) Alerting (sustained attention and vigilance)
(2) Orienting (select specific attention from among multiple sensory stimuli)
(3) Executive (monitors and resolves computations such as planning, decision making, error detection, conditions judged to be difficult or dangerous, regulation of thoughts and feelings, and overcoming habitual actions).

Answer 17

Attention

Question 18

A relatively stable and enduring predisposition to behave or react in a certain way toward people, objects, institutions, or issues.

Answer 18

Attitude

Question 19

A symptom often found in schizophrenic or psychotic mood disorder that, in the absence of an external source, consists of hearing a voice or other auditory stimulus that other people do not perceive.

Answer 19

Auditory hallucination

Question 20

A defense mechanism of refusal to encounter situations, objects, or activities due to fear. Some theories claim is due instead to unconscious sexual or aggressive impulses. Commonly seen in phobias, PTSD, and other anxieties.

Answer 20

Avoidance

Question 21

Shallowness and a severe reduction in the expression of feeling (commonly seen in schizophrenia and depression).

Answer 21

Blunted affect

Question 22

Abnormal maintenance of postures, waxy rigidity of the limbs, which may be placed in various positions that are maintained for a time, lack of response to stimuli, mutism, and inactivity; occurs with some psychoses, especially catatonic schizophrenia.

Answer 22

Catalepsy

Question 23

A transient attack of extreme generalized weakness, often precipitated by emotional excitement. Usually a component of narcolepsy.

Answer 23

Cataplexy

Question 24

A group of postural and movement abnormalities, such as catalepsy, stupor, hyperkinesiae, stereotypes, mannerisms, automatisms, and impulsivity. Most common signs are immobility, staring, mutism, stupor, withdrawal, refusal to eat, posturing, rigidity, perseveration, echophenomenon, automatic obedience, and hyperkinesiae.

Answer 24

Catatonia

Question 25

A disorder of associations seen in schizophrenics in which too many associated ideas come to consciousness because of too little selective suppression. Many things that are implicit in ordinary conversation are explicitly communicated and, typically, to an absurd and bizarre degree. Patients may describe a subjective feeling that the central idea has not been communicated until all of its facets have been described in detail.

Answer 25

Circumstantiality

Question 26

A pattern of speech in which words are selected because of sound rather than meaning, resulting in rhyming and punning instead of logic. Normal in young children (and Dr. Seuss). Commonly seen in mania and schizophrenia.

Answer 26

Clang association

Question 27

Reduced clarity of awareness of the environment with reduced capacity to shift, focus, and sustain attention or to engage in goal-directed thinking or behavior. Patient appears drowsy, slow to react. Often seen in delirium. Sometimes called obtunded.

Answer 27

Clouding of consciousness

Question 28

Rapid, jerky speech with faulty phrasing patterns. Speech may be unintelligible. Found with expressive and receptive language disorders.

Answer 28

Cluttering

Question 29

Operation of the mind process by which we become aware of objects of thought and perception, including all aspects of perceiving, thinking, and remembering.

Answer 29

Cognition

Question 30

Having more than one disorder at the same time.

Answer 30

Comorbidity

Question 31

A repetitive, stereotyped, and often trivial motor action, the need for whose performance insistently forces itself into consciousness even though the subject does not wish to perform the act. Failure to perform the act generates increasing anxiety. Completion of the act gives brief decrease in the anxiety. Often associated with obsessive thoughts.

Answer 31

Compulsion

Question 32

Thinking is characterized by focusing on the literal rather than general abstractions.

Answer 32

Concrete thinking

Question 33

The making of bizarre and/or incorrect responses, and a readiness to give a fluent but tangential answer, with no regard whatever to facts, to any question put; seen in amnesia and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. No intention to deceive and no awareness of having fabricated information.

Answer 33

Confabulation

Question 34

Mild reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression.

Answer 34

Constricted affect

Question 35

Ingestion of feces

Answer 35

Coprophagia

Question 36

Physicians' feelings about a patient because of perceived similarity of the patient to significant people in the physicians' life (ie, parent, sibling).

Answer 36

Countertransference

Question 37

A false belief that is firmly maintained in spite of incontrovertible and obvious proof to the contrary and in spite of the fact that other members of the culture do not share the belief. No facts or evidence will dispute this.

Answer 37

Delusion

Question 38

Belief that one's thoughts, feelings, and actions are not one's own but are being imposed by someone else or some other external force (ie, my dental fillings receive thoughts that are implanted into me).

Answer 38

Delusion of control

Question 39

A delusional conviction that ordinary events, objects, or behaviors of others have particular and unusual meanings specifically for oneself (ie, the message on that billboard was for me).

Answer 39

Delusion of reference

Question 40

A delusional belief that one's spouse or lover is unfaithful, based on erroneous inferences drawn from innocent events imagined to be evidence and often resulting in confrontation with the accused.

Answer 40

Delusional jealousy

Question 41

A state in which one feels loss of one's own identity; feeling strange or unreal. Sometimes is an unconscious control mechanism to quell or suppress overwhelming affect (ie, terror, horror, helplessness). Typically seen in psychosis and/or depression.

Answer 41

Depersonalization

Question 42

A symptom of a though disorder (ie, psychosis) in which one constantly gets "off the track" in one's thoughts and speech; similar to loosening of association (usually seen in schizophrenia).

Answer 42

Derailment

Question 43

An alteration in one's perception of the environment such that things that are ordinarily familiar seem strange, unreal, or two-dimensional.

Answer 43

Derealization

Question 44

Difficulty in articulating words, caused by impairment of the muscles used in speech.

Answer 44

Dysarthria

Question 45

An impairment in the ability to control movements, characterized by spasmodic or repetitive motions or lack of coordination (as in a tic).

Answer 45

Dyskinesia

Question 46

A mood of general dissatisfaction, restlessness, depression, and anxiety; used to describe depressed state.

Answer 46

Dysphoria (Dysphoric mood)

Question 47

Lack of the normal rhythm, melody, and articulation of speech. Experiences normal mood (unlike emotional blunting), but unable to express it via speech. Suggestive of non dominant frontal lobe disturbance.

Answer 47

Dysprosody

Question 48

A syndrome of abnormal muscle contraction that produces repetitive involuntary twisting movements and abnormal posturing of the neck, trunk, face, and extremities. May be due to tardive dyskinesia, a medication side effect.

Answer 48

Dystonia

Question 49

Involuntary parrot-like repetition of a word or sentence just spoken by another person, sometimes occurring in schizophrenia, neurodegenerative disorders, and autism.

Answer 49

Echolalia

Question 50

The involuntary imitation of movements made by others, sometimes occurring in schizophrenia, neurodegenerative disorders, and autism.

Answer 50

Echopraxia

Question 51

Describing elements of a person's behavior, thoughts, impulses, drives, and attitudes that are unacceptable and cause anxiety.

Answer 51

Ego-Dystonic

Question 52

Denoting aspects of a person's thoughts, impulses, attitudes, and behavior that are felt to be acceptable and consistent with one's self.

Answer 52

Ego-Syntonic

Question 53

Emotional excitement marked by acceleration of mental and bodily activity, with extreme joy and overly optimistic attitude. An elated, unstable mood often seen in mania.

Answer 53

Elation

Question 54

Exaggerated feeling of well-being, euphoria, or elation (May be similar in intensity to elation or a little less intense -- Can by synonyms).

Answer 54

Elevated mood

Question 55

A type of delusional disorder in which the subject harbors a delusion that a particular person is deeply in love with them.

Answer 55

Erotomania

Question 56

An exaggerated feeling of physical and mental well-being, especially when not justified by external reality (More intense than elation or elevated mood). It may be induced by drugs such opioids, amphetamines, and alcohol and is also a feature of mania.

Answer 56

Euphoria

Question 57

Mood in the normal range -- not depressed or elevated.

Answer 57

Euthymic mood

Question 58

Unrestrained expression of one's feelings, often over-valuing one's significance or importance. Delusions of grandeur and omnipotence are called expansive delusions.

Answer 58

Expansive mood

Question 59

Absence of or diminution in the amount of emotional tone or outward emotional reaction typically shown by oneself or others under similar circumstances; a milder form is termed blunted affect. This is rarely seen outside schizophrenia. Patients with OCD may have affect block, which looks familiar.

Answer 59

Flat affect

Question 60

A continuous stream of speech in which the patient switches rapidly from one topic to another. Topics often unrelated to the preceding one or is stimulated by some environmental circumstance. The condition is frequently a symptom of acute manic states. In schizophrenia, the topical changes seem more disjointed, whereas in mania the topical changes seem more socially normal.

Answer 60

Flight of ideas

Question 61

Duel tendency to place an undue emphasis on internal characteristics to explain someone else's behavior in a given situation rather than one's own behavior (ie, I was late because I hit every red light, but you were late because you were too lazy to organize your day). Often a key component in implicit bias contributing significantly to systematic discrimination.

Answer 61

Fundamental attribution error

Question 62

Exaggerated self-regard with unrealistic ideas about one's superiority, uniqueness, invulnerability, importance. Often found in mania and/or delusions. Acute state, as opposed to narcissism's chronicity.

Answer 62

Grandiose

Question 63

Sensory perception that compellingly appears to be a real and true perception, but occurs without external stimulation of the relevant sensory organ as opposed to an internal thought.

Answer 63

Hallucination

Question 64

Abnormally increased arousal, responsiveness to stimuli, and screening of the environment for threats. State of anxious expectation bordering on suspiciousness. Often found in paranoia, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder.

Answer 64

Hypervigilence

Question 65

Related to the state preceding sleep; applied also to various hallucinations that may manifest themselves at that time.

Answer 65

Hypnagogic

Question 66

Related to the state coming out of sleep; applied to hallucinations occurring on awakening.

Answer 66

Hypnopompic

Question 67

A pervasively elevated mood (with or without irritability) where an individual is extremely energetic, talkative and confident but engages in risky or otherwise inadvisable behaviors. This behavior is not to the extent that it necessitates hospitalization, psychosis or marked impairment of functioning.

Answer 67

Hypomania

Question 68

An unfounded suspicion or conviction that the conversation, smiling, or other actions of other persons are about one-self.

Answer 68

Ideas of reference

Question 69

An erroneous perception, a false response to a sense-stimulation; but in a normal person this false belief usually brings the desire to check or verify its correctness, and often another sense or other senses may come to the rescue and satisfy him or her that it is merely an illusion.

Answer 69

Illusion

Question 70

Incongruent with the situation or with the content of a patient's ideas or speech.

Answer 70

Inappropriate affect

Question 71

Disorganization; used most commonly to refer to speech that is disconnected and unintelligible.

Answer 71

Incoherence

Question 72

Legal term indicating a degree of mental illness that interferes with ability to discharge one's legal responsibilities.

Answer 72

Insanity

Question 73

Process by which people form opinions, reach conclusions, and make critical evaluations of events and people based on available material. Often used to describe the quality of conclusions and decisions made.

Answer 73

Judgment (ie, good/poor judgment)

Question 74

Showing a near lack of concern about symptoms (often seen with neurological symptoms, especially Alzheimer's dementia).

Answer 74

La belle indifference

Question 75

Rapid changes in emotion unrelated to external events or stimuli.

Answer 75

Labile affect

Question 76

Excessive speech, some or all of which may be meaningless or invented (neologisms). Often seen in mania, Wernicke aphasia, schizophrenia.

Answer 76

Logorrhea

Question 77

A thought or communication pattern characterized by diffuse, vague, confusing and illogical connections between one idea and the next.

Answer 77

Loose associations

Question 78

State of mood, energy, and thought characterized by excessive excitement, exalted feelings, elevated mood, psychomotor over-activity, and over-production of ideas that is present to the degree that it impairs functioning or requires hospitalization.

Answer 78

Mania

Question 79

An inexact term indicating depression of cerebral function, ranging from sedated to comatose, often as the result of intoxication, metabolic illness, infection, or neurological catastrophe.

Answer 79

Obtunded

Question 80

An idea or impulse that repetitively and insistently forces itself into consciousness even though it is unwelcome.

Answer 80

Obsession

Question 81

Hallucination involving the perception of odor.

Answer 81

Olfactory hallucination

Question 82

Awareness of one's environment, with reference to place, time, and people.

Answer 82

Orientation

Question 83

Exaggerated, sometimes grandiose thoughts that one is being harassed, persecuted or unfairly treated.

Answer 83

Paranoid ideation

Question 84

Lacking in ideas or thought content, though it can be with a normal amount of speech.

Answer 84

Paucity of thought content

Question 85

Conviction that one is being plotted against or threatened with bodily harm, disgrace, or control of his thoughts and actions.

Answer 85

Persecutory delusion

Question 86

Persistent repetition of the same verbal or motor response to varied stimuli; continuance of activity after cessation of the causative stimulus.

Answer 86

Perseveration

Question 87

Reduction in amount, content, or spontaneity of speech

Answer 87

Poverty of speech

Question 88

Speech that is increased in amount, accelerated, and difficult to impossible to interrupt; often loud and emphatic.

Answer 88

Pressured speech

Question 89

A premonitory symptom; a symptom indicating the onset of a disease.

Answer 89

Prodrome

Question 90

Visible generalized slowing of movements and speech. Often seen in depression.

Answer 90

Psychomotor retardation

Question 91

Phase of an illness that occurs after remission of the florid symptoms or the full syndrome.

Answer 91

Residual phase

Question 92

Inability or unwillingness of a patient to discuss certain ideas, desires, or experiences.

Answer 92

Resistance

Question 93

Loss of memory for events preceding a trauma.

Answer 93

Retrograde amnesia

Question 94

A person's belief of his or her own ability to succeed in reaching a specific goal. Often used in the context of Motivational Interviewing therapy.

Answer 94

Self-efficacy

Question 95

Erroneous belief about the appearance or functioning of one's body that persists despite evidence to the contrary. May pertain to bodily organs or parts.

Answer 95

Somatic delusion

Question 96

Hallucination involving the perception of a physical experience localized within the body.

Answer 96

Somatic hallucination

Question 97

Repetitive, seemingly driven, and nonfunctional motor behavior.

Answer 97

Stereotyped movement

Question 98

An imprecise term for organically determined unconsciousness and unresponsiveness with immobility and mutism but retention of consciousness.

Answer 98

Stupor

Question 99

Hallucination involving the perception of being touched or of something being under one's skin.

Answer 99

Tactile hallucination

Question 100

A type of association disturbance in which thought and speech diverge or digress from the topic of the moment so that they appear unrelated or irrelevant. When repeated, is labeled loosening and results in destroying speech's ability to effectively communicate with others.

Answer 100

Tangentiality

Question 101

Involuntary movement, including lip smacking, jaw and tongue movements, writhing of extremities, difficulty swallowing; usually a side-effect of medications including anti-psychotics.

Answer 101

Tardive dyskinesia

Question 102

Sudden arrest in flow of thinking

Answer 102

Thought blocking

Question 103

The delusion of experiencing one's thoughts, as they occur, as being broadcast from one's head to the external world where other people can hear them or read their mind.

Answer 103

Thought broadcasting

Question 104

The delusion that one's thoughts are not really one's own but are being placed into one's mind by an external force.

Answer 104

Thought insertion

Question 105

Involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic, irresistible motor movement or vocalization.

Answer 105

Tic

Question 106

Unconscious assignment to others of feelings and attitudes that were originally associated with important figures (parent, sibling, etc) in one's early life.

Answer 106

Transference

Question 107

The domain of the psyche that stores repressed urges and primitive impulses.

Answer 107

Unconscious

Question 108

Meaningless repetition of words and phrases (not repeating what has been said by another).

Answer 108

Verbigeration

Question 109

Hallucination involving sight; may consist of formed images, such as of people, or of unformed images, such as shadow or flash of light.

Answer 109

Visual hallucination

Question 110

The rigid maintenance of a body position over an extended period of time; a state of decreased responsiveness accompanied by a trancelike state, as seen in organic or psychologic disorders.

Answer 110

Waxy flexibility

Question 111

A jumble of words and phrases (a neologism) that lacks logical coherence and meaning; often characteristic of disoriented individuals and persons with schizophrenia.

Answer 111

Word salad