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-L-
Latent Learning
Learning that occurs without apparent
reinforcement but is not demonstrated until such
time as reinforcement occurs.
Law
of Effect
Theory proposed by Thorndike stating that
those responses that are followed by a positive
consequence will be repeated more frequently than
those that are not.
Learned
Helplessness
A condition that occurs after a period of
negative consequences where the person begins to
believe they have no control.
Learning
Theory
Based on the idea that changes in
behavior result more from experience and less from
our personality or how we think or feel about a
situation.
Legitimate
Power
Power derived through one's position, such as a
police officer or elected official.
Libido
Sigmund Freud’s
terminology of sexual energy or sexual drive.
Locus
of Control
A belief about
the amount of control a person has over situations
in their life.
Long
Term Memory
Relatively
permanent memory.
Lucid
Dream
A dream in which
you are aware of dreaming and are sometimes able
to manipulate the dream.
-M-
Maturation
Changes
due to the natural process of aging as determined
by your genetics
Mean
A method of determining an average where
the sum of the scores are divided by the number of
scores.
Measure
of Central Tendency
An
average (see Mean, Median, and/or Mode)
Median
A method of
determining an average by using the score that
falls in the middle of the distribution.
Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory, 2nd. Edition
An Objective
test utilizing 567 items which have been
empirically derived to measure a variety of
psychological concerns.
MMPI-2
See
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, 2nd.
Edition.
Mode
A method of determining an average by using
the score(s) which occurs most frequently.
Motivation
The process that energizes and/or maintains
a behavior.
-N-
Naturalistic
Observation
A research method
where the subject(s) is(are) observed without
interruption under normal or natural
circumstances.
Negative
Correlation
A correlation
where as one variable increases, the other
decreases.
Neurotransmitter
A chemical found
in animals that plays a role in our behavior,
cognitions, and emotions.
Nightmare
A frightening
dream occurring in REM sleep.
Nondeclarative
Memory
A subsystem
within Long term memory which consists of skills
we acquire through repetition and practice (e.g.,
dance, playing the piano, driving a car)
Normal
Curve
A graphical
interpretation of a population that is ‘bell
shaped’ as it has the highest frequency in the
middle and this frequency diminishes the farther
you get from the center on either end.
Norm
An expectation
based on multiple observations.
-O-
Object
Permanence
The understanding
that objects exist even when they are not directly
observed.
Objective Techniques
A generic term for the psychological
procedures used to measure personality which rely
on measurable or objective techniques such as the
MMPI-2 and WAIS-III.
Obsession
A
persistent and seemingly uncontrollable thought.
Olfaction
The sense of
smell.
Operant
Conditioning
Learning that
occurs due to the manipulation of the possible
consequences.
Overlearning
A
technique used to improve memory where information
is learned to the point that it can be repeated
without mistake more than one time.
-P-
Panic Attack
Period of extreme anxiety and physical
symptoms such as heart palpitations, shakiness,
dizziness, and racing thoughts. Initial
attacks are often reported to feel like a heart
attack due to the heart palpitations. A
medical exam should be conducted to rule out any
such condition.
Perception
The process of
organizing and using information that is received
through the senses.
Person
Centered Therapy
The therapeutic technique based on
humanistic theory which is non-directive and
empathic.
Personality
The stable set of individual characteristics that
make us unique.
Permissive [parents]
Parenting style consisting of very few
rules and allowing children to make most decisions
and control their own behavior.
Persuasion
The deliberate attempt to influence the
thoughts, feelings or behaviors of another.
Phobia
An intense fear of a specific object or
situation. Most of us consider ourselves to
have phobias, but to be diagnosable, the fear must
significantly restrict our way of life.
Placebo
A
treatment condition used to control for the
placebo effect where the treatment has no real
effect on its own.
Placebo
Effect
The phenomenon in research where the
subject’s beliefs about the outcome can
significantly effect the outcome without any other
intervention.
Plasticity
The ability of the brain, especially in our
younger years to compensate for damage.
Pleasure
Principle
Freud’s theory regarding the id’s
desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain in
order to achieve immediate gratification.
Population
The entire group
to which research is hoping to generalize
(e.g., males, adults, U.S. citizens).
Positive
Correlation
A correlation where as one variable increases, the
other also increases, or as one decreases so does
the other.
Positive
Reinforcement
Something positive provided after a response in
order to increase the probability of that response
occurring in the future.
Prejudice
Negative beliefs, attitudes, or feelings about a
person's entire character based on only one
characteristic. This belief is often based
on faulty information.
Primacy
Effect
The tendency to remember the first bit of
information in a series due to increased
rehearsal.
Primary
Reinforcer
A reinforcer that
meets our basic needs such as food or water.
Projection
In Psychoanalytic Theory, the defense
mechanism whereby we transfer or project our
feelings about one person onto another.
Projective Techniques
A generic term for the psychological
procedures used to measure personality which rely
on ambiguous stimuli.
Psychiatrist
A
medical doctor with training in mental illness.
Psychoanalysis
Developed by
Sigmund Freud, this type of therapy is known for
long term treatment, typically several times per
week, where the unresolved issues from the
individual's childhood are analyzed and resolved.
These issues are considered to be primarily
unconscious in nature and are kept from
consciousness through a complex defense system.
Psychodynamic
Therapy
A modern adaptation of psychoanalytic
therapy which has made sometimes minor and
sometimes major changes to Freud's original
theories.
Psychology
The study of emotion, cognition, and
behavior, and their interaction.
Psychosis
Break from reality, usually
identified by hallucinations, delusions, and/or
disorientation.
Punishment
The
adding of a negative stimulus in order to decrease
a response (e.g., spanking a child to decrease
negative behavior).
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