Definitions and Descriptions Flashcards
Both A and AS Level
ABC Model
A cognitive approach to understanding mental disorders, focusing on the effects of irrational beliefs on emotions.
Agentic State
A person sees themself as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes.
Aim
A statement of what the researcher intends to find out in a research study.
Anxiety
An unpleasant emotional state.
Attachment
An emotional bond between two people.
A two-way process that endures over time.
It serves the function of protecting an infant.
Authoritarian Personality
A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority.
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
Governs the brain’s involuntary activities and is self-regulating. It’s divided into the sympathetic branch and the parasympathetic branch.
Behaviourist
Believing that human behaviour can be explained in terms of conditioning, without the need to consider thoughts/feelings.
Biological Approach
Views humans as biological organisms and so provides biological explanations for all aspects of psychological functioning.
Brain
The part of the central nervous system that is responsible for coordinating sensation, intellectual and nervous activity.
Brain Plasticity
The brain’s ability to modify its own structure and function as a result of experience.
Broca’s area
An area in the frontal lobe of the brain, usually in the left hemisphere, related to speech production.
Capacity
This is a measure of how much can be held in memory. It’s represented in terms of bits of information, such as number of digits.
Case Study
A research investigation that involves a detailed study of a single individual, institution or event.
They provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalise from.
Central Executive
Monitors and coordinates all other mental functions in working memory.
Central Nervous System (CNS)
Comprises the brain and spinal cord. It receives information from the senses and controls the body’s responses.
Circadian Rhythm
A pattern of behaviour that occurs or recurs aproximately very 24 hour, and which is set and reset by environmental light levels.
Classical Conditioning
Learning through association. A neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that it eventually takes on the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response.
Closed Questions
Questions that have a predetermined range of answers from which respondents select one.
Produces quantitative data.
Co-variable
The two measured variables in a correlational analysis.
They must be continuous.
Coding
The way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory. Information enters the brain via the senses and is then stored in various forms, such as visual, acoustic or semantic codes.
Cognitive
Relates to mental processes such as perception, memory and reasoning.
Cognitive-behavioural Therapy (CBT)
A combination of cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy.
Cognitive Interview
A police technique for interviewing witnesses to a crime, which encourages them to recreate the original context of the crime in order to increase the accessibility of stored information. Because our memory is made up of a network of associations rather than of discrete events, memories are accessed using multiple retrieval strategies.
Cognitive Neuroscience
An area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive functions.
Commitment
The degree to which members of a minority are dedicated to a particular cause or activity. The greater the perceived commitment, the greater the influence.
Compliance
Occurs when an individual accepts influence because they hope to achieve a favourable reaction from those around them. An attitude or behaviour is adopted not because of its content, but because of the rewards or approval associated with its adoption.
Computer Model
Refers to the process of using computer analogies as a representation of human cognition.
Concordance Rate
A measure of genetic similarity.
Conditions of Worth
Conditions imposed on an individual’s behaviour and development that are considered necessary to earn positive regard from significant others.
Confederate
An individual in a study who isn’t a real participant and has been instructed how to behave by the investigator.
Confidentiality
Concerns the communication of personal information from one person to another, and the trust that the information will be protected.
Conformity
A form of social influence that results from exposure to the majority position and leads to compliance with that position. It’s the tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group.
Confounding Variable
A variable under study that isn’t the IV but which varies systematically with the IV. Changes in the dependent variable may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV, and therefore the outcome is meaningless. To ‘confound’ means to cause confusion.
Congruence
If there is a similarity between a person’s ideal self adn self-image, a state of congruence exists. A difference represents a state of incongruence.
Consistency
Minority influence is effective provided there is stability in the expressed position over time and agreement among different members of the minority.
Content Analysis
A kind of observational study in which behaviour is observed indirectly in written or verbal material such as interviews, conversations, books, diaries or TV programmes.
Continuity Hypothesis
The idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure, trusting and socially confident adults.
Continuous Variable
A variable that can take on any value within a certain range.
Control
Refers to the extent to which any variable is held constant or regulated by a researcher.
Controlled Observation
A form of investigation in which behaviour is observed but under conditions where certain variables have been organised by the researcher.
Correlation
Determining the extent of an association between two variables; co-variables may not be linked at all (zero correlation), they may both increase together (positive correlation), or as one co-variable increases, the other decreases (negative correlation).
Correlation Coefficient
A number between -1 and +1 that tells us how closely the co-variables in a correlational analysis are associated.
Cost-benefit Analysis
A systematic approach to estimating the negatives and positives of any research.
Counterbalancing
An experimental technique used to overcome order effects when using a repeated measures design. Counterbalancing ensures that each condition is tested first or second in equal amounts.
Covert Observations
Observing people without their knowledge. Knowing that behaviour is being observed is likely to alter a participant’s behaviour.
Critical Period
A biologically determined period of time, during which certain characteristics can develop. Outside of this time window such development will not be possible.
Critical Value
In an inferential test the value of the test statistic that must be reached to show significance.
Cues
Things that serve as a reminder. They may meaningfully link to the material to be remembered or may not be meaningfully linked, such as environmental cues or cues related to your mental state.
Cultural Relativism
The view that behaviour can’t be judged properly unless it’s viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates.
Cultural Variations
The way that different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices, and the effects these practices have on development and behaviour.
Curvilinear Correlation
A non-linear relationship between co-variables.
Debriefing
A post-research interview designed to inform participants of the true nature of the study and to restore them to the state they were in at the start of the study. It may also be used to gain useful feedback about the procedures in the study. Debriefing is not an ethical issue; it’s a means of dealing with ethical issues.
Deception
A participant isn’t told the true aims of a study and thus can’t give truly informed consent.
Defence Mechanisms
Unconscious strategies that protect our conscious mind from anxiety. Defence mechanisms involve a distortion of reality in some way, so that we are better able to cope with a situation.
Demand Characteristics
A cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps participants work out what the researcher expects to find.
Dependent Variable (DV)
A measureable outcome of the action of the independent variable in an experiment.
Depression
A mood disorder where an individual feels sad and/or lacks interest in their usual activities. Further characteristics include irrational negative thoughts, raised or lowered activity levels and difficulties with concentration, sleep and eating.
Deprivation
To be deprived is to lose something. In the context of child development deprivation refers to the loss of emotional care that is normally provided by a primary caregiver.
Determinism
Behaviour is determined by external or internal factors acting upon the individual.
Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
Abnormality is defined in terms of mental health, behaviours that are associated with competence and happiness. Ideal mental health would include a positive attitude towards the self, resistance to stress and an accurate perception of reality.
Devitation from Social Norms
Abnormal behaviour is seen as a deviation from unstated rules about how one ‘ought’ to behave. Anything that violates these rules is considered abnormal.
Directional Hypothesis
States the direction of the predicted difference between two conditions or two groups of participants.
Dispositional
Explanations of behaviours such as obedience emphasise them being caused by an individual’s own personal characteristics rather than situational influences within the environment.
Dopamine
One of the key neurotransmitters in the brain, with effects on motivation and ‘drive’.
DSM
A list of mental disorders that is used to diagnose mental disorders. For each disorder a list of clinical characteristics is given.
Duration
A measure of how long a memory lasts before it’s no longer available.
Ecological Validity
A form of external validity, concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which it’s demonstrated, to other settings. Ecological validity is established by representativeness and generalisability.
Effect Size
A measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables.
EEG
A method of recording changes in the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp.
Empiricism
The belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience. It’s generally characterised by the use of the scientific method in psychology.
Endocrine Glands
Special groups of cells within the endocrine system, whose function is to produce and secrete hormones.
Endocrine System
A network of glands throughout the body that manufacture and secrete chemical messengers known as hormones.
Endogenous Pacemakers
Mechanisms within the body that govern the internal, biological bodily rhythms.
Episodic Buffer
Receives input from many sources, temporarily stores this information, and then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced.
Episodic Memory
Personal memories of events, such as what you did yesterday or a teacher you liked. This kind of memory includes contextual details plus emotional tone.
Ethical Guidelines (Code of Conduct)
A set of principles designed to help professionals behave honestly and with integrity.
Ethical Issues
Concern questions of right and wrong. They arise in research where there are conflicting sets of values between researchers and participants concerning the goals, procedures or outcomes of a research study.
Ethics Committee
A group of people within a research institution that must approve a study before it begins.
Event Sampling
An observational technique in which a count is kept of the number of times a certain behaviour occurs.
ERP
A technique that takes raw EEG data and uses it to investigate cognitive processing of a specific event. it achieves this by taking multiple readings and averaging them in order to filter out all brain activity that isn’t related to the appearance of the stimulus.
Evolution
Refers to the change over successive generations of the genetic make-up of a particular population. The central proposition of an evolutionary perspective is that the genotype of a population is changeable rather than the fixed, and that this change is likely to be caused by the process pf natural selection.
Exogenous Zeitgeber
An environmental cue, such as light, that helps to regulate the biological clock in an organism.
Experiment
A research method where causal conclusions can be drawn because an independent variable has been deliberately manipulated to observe the causal effect on the dependent variable.
Experimental Design
A set of procedures used to control the influence of factors such as participant variables in an experiment.
External Validity
The degree to which a research finding can be generalised: to other settings, other groups of people or over time.
Externality
Individuals who tend to believe that their behaviour and experience is caused by events outside their control.
Extraneous Variables
Don’r vary systematically with the IV and therefore don’t act as an alternative IV but may have an effect on the dependent variable. They are nuisance variables that muddy the waters and make it more difficult to detect a significant effect.
Eyewitness Testimony
The evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a view to identifying the perpetrator of the crime.
F Scale
Also known as the ‘California F Scale’ ir the ‘Fascism Scale’, the F scale was developed in California in 1947 as a measure of authoritarian traits or tendencies.
Failure to Function Adequately
People are judged on their ability to go about daily life. If they can’t do this and are also experiencing distress (or others are distressed by their behaviour) then it’s considered a sign of abnormality.
Field Experiment
A controlled experiment conducted outside a laboratory. The IV still manipulated by the experimenter, and therefore causal relationships can be demonstrated. Field experiments tend to have lower internal validity and higher external validity. Participants are usually unaware that they’re participant in an experiment; thus their behaviour may be more natural and they are less likely to respond to cues from the experimenter.
Fight-or-Flight Response
A sequence of activity within the body that is triggered when the body prepares itself for defending/attacking or running away to safety. This activity involves changes in the nervous system and the secretion of hormones that are necessary to sustain arousal.
Flexibility
A willingness to be flexible and to compromise when expressing a position.
Flooding
A form of behavioural therapy used to treat phobias and other anxiety disorders. A client is exposed to (or imagines) an extreme form of the threatening situacion under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished.
Free Will
The ability to act at one’s own discretion, i.e. to choose how to behave without being influenced by external forces.
Functional Magentic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
A technique for measuring brain activity. It works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that indicate increased neural activity.
Functional Recovery
Refers to the recovery of abilities and mental processes that have been compromised as a result of brain injury or disease.
GABA
A neurotransmitter that regulates excitement in ther nervous system, thus acting as a natural form of anxiety reducer.
Gene
A part of the chromosome of an organism that carries information in the form of DNA.
Generalisation
Applying the findings of a particular study to the population.
Genotype
The genetic make-up of an individual. The genotype is a collection of inherited genetic material that is passed from generation to generation.
Hemispheric Lateralisation
Refers to the fact that some mental processes in the brain are mainly specialised to either the left or right hemisphere.
Hierarchy of Needs
The motivational theory proposed by Maslow, often displayed as a pyramid. The most basic needs are at the bottom and higher needs at the top.
Histogram
Type of frequency distribution in which the number of scores in each category of continuous data are represented by vertical columns. There is a true zero and no spaces between the bars.
Historical Validity
A form of external validity, concerning the degree to which a research finding can be generalised over time.
Hormones
The body’s chemical messengers. They travel through the bloodstream, influencing many different processes including mood, the stress response and bonding between mother and newborn baby.
HPA Axis
Describes the sequence of bodily activity in response to stress that involves the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal cortex.
Humanistic
Refers to the belief that human beings are born with the desire to grow, create and to love, and have the power to direct their own lives.
Hypothesis
A precise and testable statement about the assumed relationship between variables. Operationalisation is a key part of making the statement testable.
Identification
A form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person or group.
Imitation
The action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour.
Imprinting
An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a specific time in development, probably the first few hours after birth/hatching. If it doesn’t happen at this time it probably won’t happen.
Independent Groups Design
Participants are allocated to two (or more) groups representing different levels of the IV. Allocation is usually done using random techniques.
Independent Variable (IV)
Some event that is directly manipulated by an experimenter in order to test its effect on the DV.
Inference/Inferring
Means reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning.
Informational Social Influence
A form of influence, which is the result of a desire to be right - looking to others as a way of gaining evidence about reality.
Informed Consent
Participants must be given comprehensive information concerning the nature and purpose of the research and their role in it, in order that they can make an informed decision about whether to participate.
Infradian Rhythms
Rhythms that have a duration of over 24 hours, and may be weekly, monthly or even annually.
Insecure-avoidant
A type of attachment which describes those children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others.
Insecure-resistant
A type of attachment which describes those infants who both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction.
Institutionalisation
The effect of institutional care. The term can be applied widely to the effects of an institution but out concern focuses specifically on how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the development of children. The possible effects include social, mental and physical underdevelopment. Some of these effects may be irreversible.
Inter-observer Reliability
The extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour.
Interactional Synchrony
When two people interact they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements. This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours.
Interference
An explanation for forgetting in terms of one memory disrupting the ability to recall another. This is most likely to occur when the two memories have some similarity.
Internal Validity
The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors such as confounding/extraneous variables.
Internal Working Model
A mental model of the world which enables individuals to predict and control their environment. In the case of attachment the model relates to a person’s expectations about relationships.
Internalisation
Occurs when an individual accepts influence because the content of the attitude or behaviour proposed is consistent with their own value system.
Internality
Individuals who tend to believe that they are responsible for their behaviour and experience rather than external forces.
Intervening Variable
A variable that comes between two other variables, which is used to explain the association between those two variables.
Interview
A research method or technique that involves a face-to-face, ‘real-time’ interaction with another individual and results in the collection of data.
Interviewer Bias
The effect of an interviewers’s expectations, communicated unconsciously, on a respondent’s behaviour.
Introspection
The process by which a person gains knowledge about their mental and emotional states as a result of the examination or observation of their conscious thoughts and feelings.
Investigator Effect
Anything that an investigator does that has an effect on a participant’s performance in a study other than what was intended. This includes direct and indirect effects. They may act as a confounding or extraneous variable.
Irrational Thoughts
Rational thinking is flexible and realistic, where beliefs are based on fact and logic. Irrational thinking is rigid and unrealistic and lacks internal consistency.
Laboratory Experiment
An experiment carried out in a controlled setting. They tend to have high internal validity because good control over all variables is possible. They also tend to have low ecological validity because participants are aware they’re being studied and the tasks involved tend to be more artificial.
Leading Question
A question that, either by its form or content, suggests to the witness that what answer is desired or leads them to the desired answer.
Learning Theory
The name given to a group of explanations which explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies or higher order thinking.
Legitimate Authority
A person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation.
Linear Correlation
A systematic relationship between co-variables that is defined by a straight line.
Localisation of Function
Refers to the belief that specific areas of the brain are associated with specific cognitive processes.
Locus of Control
People differ in their beliefs about whether the outcomes of their actions are dependent on what they do (internal) or on events outside their personal control (external).
Long-term Memory (LTM)
Your memory for events that have happened in the past. This lasts anywhere from 2 minutes to 100 years. LTM has potentially unlimited duration and capacity and tends to be coded semantically.
Matched Pairs Design
Pairs of participants are matched in terms of key variables such as age and IQ. One member of each pair is allocated to one of the conditions under test and the second person is allocated to the other condition.
Mean
The arithmetic average of a data set. It takes the exact values of all the data into account. Add all the numbers together and divide that by the total amount of numbers.
Measure of Central Tendency
A descriptive statistic that provides information about a ‘typical’ value for a data set.
Measure of Dispertion
A descriptive statistic that provides information about how spread out a set of data are.
Median
The middle value of a data set when the items are placed in rank order.
Meditational Processes
Refer to the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those stimuli.
Meta-analysis
A researcher looks at the findings from a number of different studies and produces a statistic to represent the overall effect.
Minority Influence
A form of social influence where members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of their exposure to a persuasive majority.
Misleading Information
Supplying information that may lead a witness’ memory for a crime to be altered.
Mode
The most frequently occuring value of item in a data set.
Modelling
A form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual performing that behaviour.
Monotropy (Monotropic)
The idea that the one relationship that the infant has with their primary attachment figure is of special significance in emotional development.
Motor Cortex
A region of the brain responsible for the generation of voluntary motor movements.
Motor Neurons
Form synapses with muscles and control their contractions.
Multi-store Model
An explanation of memory based on three separate memory stores, and how information is transferred between these stores.
Multiple Attachment
Having more than one attachment figure.
Mundane Realism
Refers to how a study mirrors the real world. The research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered in the research environment will occur in the real world.
Natural Experiment
A research method in which the experimenter hasn’t manipulated the independent variable directly. The IV would vary whether or not the researcher was interested. The researcher records the effect of the IV on a dependent variable - this DV may be measured in a lab. Causal conclusions can only tentatively be drawn.
Natural Selection
The process by which inherited characteristics than enhance an individual’s reproductive success are passed on to the next generation, and so become more widespread in the population over time.
Naturalistic Observation
An observation carried out in an everyday setting, in which the investigator doesn’t interfere in any way but merely observes the behaviour in question.
Nature
Behaviour is seen to be a product of innate factors.
Negative Correlation
Describes a correlation where, as one co-variable increases, the other decreases.
Negative Skewed Distribution
Most of the scores are bunched towards the right. The mode is to the right of the mean because the mean is affected by the extreme scores tailing off to the left.
Negative Triad
A cognitive approach to understanding depression, focusing on how negative expectations about the self, world and future lead to depression.
Neurochemistry
The study of chemical and neural processes associated with the nervous system.
Neurotransmitter
Chemical substances that play an important part in the workings of the nervous system by transmitting nerve impulses across a synapse.
Non-directional Hypothesis
Predicts simply that there is a difference between two conditions or two groups of participants, without stating the direction of the difference.
Non-participant Observation
The observer is separate from the people being observed.
Noradrenaline
A neurotransmitter found mainly in areas of the brain that are involved in governing autonomic nervous system activity.
Normal Distribution
A symmetrical bell-shaped frequency distribution. This distribution occurs when certain variables are measured, such as IQ or the life of a light bulb. Such ‘events’ are distributed in such a way that most of the scores are clustured close to the mid-point; the mean, median and mode are at the mid-point.
Normative Social Influence
A form of influence whereby an individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval or to avoid social dissaproval.
Nurture
Behaviour is a product of environmental influences.
Obedience to Authority
Refers to a type of social influence whereby somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority. There is also the implication that the person receiving the order is made to respond in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise have done without the order.
Observer Bias
Observers’ expectations affect what they see or hear. This reduces the validity of the observations.
OCD
An anxiety disorder where anxiety arises from both obsessions (persistent thoughts) and compulsions (behaviours that are repeated over and over again). Compulsions are a response to obsessions and the person believes the compulsions will reduce anxiety.
One-tailed Test
Form of test used with a directional hypothesis.
Open Questions
Questions that invite respondents to provide their own answers rather than select one of those provided. They tend to reduce qualitative data.
Operant Conditioning
Learning through reinforcement or punishment. If a behaviour is followed by a desirable consequence then that behaviour is more likely to occur again in the future.
Operationalise
Ensuring that variables are in a form that can be easily tested.
Opportunity Sample
A sample of participants produced by selecting people who are most easily available at the time of the study.
Order Effect
In a repeated measures design, an extraneous variable arising from the order in which conditions are presented.
Order of Magnitude
A means of expressing a number by focusing on the overall size. This is done by expressing the number in terms of powers of 10.
Overt Observation
Observational studies where participants are aware that their behaviour is being studied.
Participant Observation
Observations made by someone who is also participating in the activity being observed, which may affect their objectivity.
Peer Review
The practice of using independent experts to assess the quality and validity of scientific research and academic reports.
Peripheral Nervous System
The part of the nervous system that is outside the brain and spinal cord.
Phenotype
The observable characteristics of an individual. This is a consequence of the interaction of the genotype with the environment.
Phobias
A group of mental disorders characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulus or group of stimuli. The anxiety interferes with normal living.
Phonological Loop
Codes speech sounds in working memory, typically involving maintenance rehearsal.
Pilot Study
A small-scale trial run of a study to test any aspects of the design, with a view to making improvements.
Pituitary Gland
The ‘master gland’, whose primary function is to influence the release of hormones from other glands.
Population Validity
A form of external validity concerning the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalised to other groups of people besides those who took part in the study.
Positive Correlation
Refers to the instance, in a correlation, of covariables both increasing together.
Positive Skewed Distribution
Most of the scores are bunched towards the left. The mode is to the left of the mean because the mean is affected by the extreme scores tailing off to the right.
Post-event Discussion
A conversation between co-witnesses or an interviewer and an eyewitness after a crime has taken place which may contaminate a witness’ memory for the event.
Post-mortem Examinations
Ways of examining the brains of people who have shown particular psychological abnormalities prior to their death in an attempt to establish the possible neurobiological cause for this behaviour.
Presumptive Consent
A method of dealing with lack of informed consent or deception, by asking a group of people who are similar to the participants whether they would agree to take part in a study. If this group of people consents to the procedures in the proposed study, it is presumed that the real participants would also have agreed.
Primary Attachment Figure
The person who has formed the closest bond with a child, demonstrated by the intensity if the relationship. This is usually a child’s biological mother, but other people can fulfil the role.
Primary Data
Information observed or collected directly from first-hand experience.
Privacy
A person’s right to control the flow of information about themselves.
Proactive Interference
Past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something.
Procedural Memory
Memory for how to do things. These memories are automatic as the result of repeated practice.
Protection from Harm
During a research study, participants shouldn’t experience negative physical or psychological effects.
Psychoanalysis
A term used to describe the personality theory and therapy associated with Freud.
Psychodynamic
Refers to any theory that emphasises change and development in the individual, particularly those theories where ‘drive’ is a central concept in development.
Punishment
Involves the application of an unpleasent consequence following a behaviour, with the result that the behaviour is less likely to occur again in the future.
Qualitative Data
Information in words that can’t be counted or quantified. Can be turned into quantitative data by placing them in categories and counting frequency.
Quantitative Data
Information that represents how many, how long, etc. there are of something.
Quasi-experiments
Studies that are ‘almost’ experiments. The IV doesn’t vary at all - it is a condition that exists. The researcher records the effect of this IV on a DV. Causal conclusions can only be tentatively be drawn.
Questionnaire
Data is collected through the use of written questions.
Random Allocation
Allocating participants to experimental groups or conditions using random techniques.
Random Sample
A sample of participants produced by using a random technique such that every member of the target population being tested has an equal chance of being selected.
Range
The difference between the highest and lowest item in a data set.
Reciprocity
Responding to the action of another with a similar action where the actions of one partner elicit a response from the other partner.
Reinforcement
Refers to anything that strengthens a response and increases the likelihood that it will occur again in the future.
Relay Neurons
The most common type of neuron in the CNS. They allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate with each other.
Repeated Measures Design
Each participant takes part in every condition under test.
Retrieval Failure
Occurs due to the absence of cues. Based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is available but not accessible.
Retroactive Interference
Current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning.
Right-wing Authoritarianism
A cluster of personality variables (conventionalism, authority submission, and authority aggression) that are associated with a ‘right-wing’ attitude to life.
Schema
A cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain. It helps an individual to make sense of new information.
Scientific Method
Refers to the use of investigative methods that are objective, systematic, and replicable.
Secondary Data
Information used in a research study that was collected by someone else or for a purpose other than the current one.
Secure Attachment
A strong and contented attachment of an infant to their caregiver, which develops as a result of sensitive responding by the caregiver to the infant’s needs. Securely attached infants are comfortable with social interaction and intimacy. Separation/Stanger anxiety can occur.
Self-actualisation
Rogers –> the drive to realise one’s true potential.
Maslow –> the final stage of the hierarchy of needs.
Semantic Memory
Shared memories for facts and knowledge. These may be concrete or abstract.
Sensory Neurons
Carry nerve impulses from sensory receptors to the spinal cord and the brain.
Sensory Register
The information at the senses. Information is retained for a very brief period. Duration: <1/2 of a second. Capacity: very large. Coding: depends on sense organ involved.
Separation Anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when separated from their caregiver.
Serotonin
A neurotransmitter implicated in many different behaviours and physiological processes.
Short-term Memory (STM)
Your memory for immediate events. These memories disappear unless they are rehearsed. Coding: acoustic. Capacity: 7+/-2. Duration: 18-30.
Significance
Indicates that the research findings are sufficiently strong for us to accept the research hypothesis under test.
Skewed Distribution
A distribution is skewed if one tail is longer than another, signifying that there are a number of extreme values to one side or the other of the mid-score.
Sleep-wake Cycle
Refers to alternating states of sleep and waking that are dependent on the 24-hour circadian cycle.
Social Change
Occurs when a society or section of society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm.
Social Desirability Bias
A distortion in the way people answer questions - they tend to answer questions in such a way that presents themselves in a better light.
Social Learning Theory
Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded.
Social Norms Interventions
Attempt to correct misperceptions of the normative behaviour of peers in an attempt to change the risky behaviour of a target population.
Social Releaser
A social behaviour or characteristic that elicits caregiving and leads to attachment.
Social Roles
The behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status.
Social Support
The perception that an individual has assistance available from other people, and that they are part of a supportive network.
Somatic Nervous System
The part of the peripheral nervous system responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the central nervous system.
Somatosensory Cortex
A region of the brain that processes input from sensory receptors in the body that are sensitive to touch.
Split-brain Research
Research that studies individuals who have been subjected to the surgical separation of the two hemispheres of the brain as a result of severing the corpus callosum.
Standard Deviation
Shows the amount of variation in a data set. It assesses the spread of data around the mean.
Strange Situation
A controlled observation designed to test attachment security.
Stanger Anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamiliar.
Stratified Sample
A sample of participants produced by identifying subgroups according to their frequency in the population. Participants are then selected randomly from the subgroups.
Structured Interview
Any interview in which the questions are decided in advance.
Structured Observation
A researcher uses various systems to organise observations, such as behavioural categories and sampling procedures.
Synaptic Transmission
Refers to the process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from one neuron (presynaptic neuron) to another (postsynaptic neuron).
Systematic Desensitisation
A form of behavioural therapy used to treat phobias and other anxiety disorders. A client is gradually exposed to the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished.
Systematic Sample
A sample obtained by selecting every nth person.
Time Sampling
An observational technique in which the observer records behaviours in a given time frame.
Two-process Model
A theory that explains the two processes that lead to the development of phobias - they begin through classical conditioning and are maintained through operant conditioning.
Two-tailed Test
Form of test used with a non-directional hypothesis.
Ultradian Rhythms
Cycles that last less than 24 hours, such as the sleep stages that occur throughout the night.
Unstructured Interview
An interview that starts out with some general aims and possible some questions, and lets the interviewee’s answers guide subsequent questions.
Validity
Refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one.
Vicarious Reinforcement
Learning that isn’t a result of direct reinforcement of behaviour, but through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour.
Visuo-spatial Sketchpad
Codes visual information in terms of separate objects as well as the arrangement of these objects in one’s visual field.
Volunteer Bias
A form of sampling bias because volunteer participants have special characteristics, such as usually being more highly motivated than randomly selected participants.
Volunteer Sample
A sample of participants that relies solely on volunteers to make up the sample.
Wernicke’s Area
An area in the temporal lobe of the brain important in the comprehension of language.
Working Memory Model
An explanation of the memory used when working on a task. Each task is qualitatively different.
Structural Plasticity
Experience causes a change to brain structure. (Growth)
Functional Plasticity
Localised functions move from a damaged region to an undamaged region after injury. (Recovery)
Psychic Determinism
Internal unconscious factors decide our behaviour.
Idiographic
Focuses on the individual and acknowledges uniqueness. (Case Studies)
Nomothetic
Looks to generalise laws of behaviour to all people.
Androcentrism
Psychology is male-dominated. Research only presents a male view.
Alpha Bias
Exaggerating differences between gender and culture.
Beta Bias
Ignoring/Minimising differences between gender and culture.
Ethnocentrism
Doing research based on own cultural values.
Thematic Analysis
Data –> Codes –> Theory –> Report.
Content Analysis
Theory –> Collect Data –> Theory Terms –> Write Report.
List the Glands that form part of the Endocrine System
Thyroid, Adrenal, Pituitary, Ovaries, Testes.
What is the function of the Thyroid Gland?
Secretes thyroxine.
Increases metabolic rates and affects growth.
What is the function of the Adrenal Gland?
Secretes adrenaline.
Controls the sympathetic division in the fight or flight response.
What is the function of the Pituitary Gland?
Causes other glands to secrete their hormones or directpy produces effects.
What is Pavlov’s methodology?
Pavlov demonstrated the importance of learning by association in his classical conditioning experiments - salivation in dogs; the experiments showed learning could be investigated experimentally and using non-human participants.
What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Panic - behaviours such as crying, running, fainting or screaming.
Avoidance - behaviours such as going to places where they might experience/witness the phobic stimulus.
Endurance - behaviours such as being frozen still or remaining in the presence of the phobic stimulus.
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
Anxiety - feelings of worry/distress in the presence of the phobic stimulus.
Fear - feelings of terror/feeling scared.
Hierarchy (Psychopathology)
A list designed by the therapist and client into an order of least feared to most feared situations.
Relaxation (Psychopathology)
Controlling their breathing/Focusing/Visualising and peaceful scene/Progressive muscle relaxation/Using anti-anxiety drugs.
What are the drugs used to treat OCD?
Antidepressants (SSRIs)
Tricyclics
Anti-anxiety (Benzodiazepine)
SNRIs
What do Antidepressants do?
They prevent the reuptake of serotonin and prolong its activity in the synapse in order to reduce anxiety/normalise the ‘worry circuit’.
What do Tricyclics do?
They block the transporter mechanism that reabsorbs both serotonin and noradrenaline, again prolonging their activity.
What do Anti-anxiety drugs do?
They enhance the activity of GABA and therefore slow down the CNS causing relaxation.
What are SNRIs?
More recent drugs which also increase levels of serotonin and noradrenaline and are tolerated by those for whom SSRIs aren’t effective.
What are the cognitive explanations of depression?
Beck’s theory
Ellis’s ABC model
Musturbatory thinking
What is Beck’s theory?
- Faulty information processing
- Negative schemas
- The negative triad
What is Ellis’ ABC model?
A - the activating event
B - the belief, rational or irrational
C - the consequence
In depression, irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotions.
What is Musturbatory thinking?
The source of irrational beliefs.
