Other
Psychology Glossary
- Institution
- The Open University (OU)
A glossary of essential Psychology terms taken from DE100 module textbooks Investigating Intelligence, Investigating Methods and Investigating Psychology.
[Show more]
Content preview
Psychology GlossaryTaken from DE100 module textbooks – Investigating Psychology, Investigating
Intelligence, and Investigating Methods.
Acquiescence Response Bias – A tendency to agree with statements presented in scales,
regardless of content.
Anti-Semitism – Prejudice and hostility towards Jewish people.
Aphasia – Impairment to language or language disorder.
Attachment – A relatively long-term, emotionally important relationship in which one
individual seeks proximity to and derives security and comfort from the presence of
another.
Attention – A cognitive process involving the selection of information for further processing,
such as the extraction of meaning.
Attitudes – A person’s beliefs and feelings about issues, events, objects, or people, which
are thought to influence behaviour.
Authoritarian Personality – A kind of personality typified by obedience to authority, strict
adherence to rules, and hostility towards anyone different from oneself.
Autobiographical Memory – Remembering events that are of personal relevance.
Automatic Processing – The automatic processing of stimuli that occurs without conscious
awareness.
Avatar – A term used to describe an alternative virtual identity that is used in three-
dimensional computer games, or an image used to represent oneself in online
communication.
Battery of Tests – A series of tests aimed at measuring the same thing, such as intelligence.
Behaviour Shaping – The procedure of giving reinforcement for successive approximations
to the desired response.
Behaviourism – An approach in psychology, which argued that only observable behaviour
should form the object of study.
Between-Participants Design – Also referred to as an independent groups design. This is a
term used to describe the design of an experiment where participants take part in only one
condition.
Case Study – In neuropsychology, a case study is the in-depth study of a single individual,
which typically involves the collection of data from a variety of sources, using a range of
different methods.
Classical Conditioning – Conditioning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to trigger a
response by virtue of its pairing with an unconditional stimulus.
, Code/Coding – A way of describing observed behaviour using a set of predetermined
categories.
Cognitive – To do with mental processes, such as perception, memory and thinking.
Cognitive Interview – A procedure for interviewing witnesses that draws on research on
memory and incorporates a number of retrieval strategies.
Cognitive Psychology – The study of internal mental processes such as perception,
attention, memory, thinking, and learning.
Cognitive Style – The habitual way a person processes information.
Collectivist Cultures – Cultures characterised by a focus on values such as concern for others
and harmonious relationships.
Condition – A variation in the experimental procedure. By comparing different conditions,
researchers can make inferences about the effects of one variable on another.
Confirmatory Bias – A tendency to pay most attention to those features of a phenomenon
that appear to confirm prior expectations.
Confounding Variable – A variable that is not controlled by the controlled by the researcher
but that can affect the results.
Content Analysis – An approach to the analysis of written, audio, and visual material that
involves identifying and counting pre-selected features relevant to the research question.
Control Condition – The ‘baseline’ condition, against which experimental conditions can be
compared.
Control Group – Participants who are allocated to the ‘baseline’ or control condition.
Controlled Attention – The conscious allocation of resources to the processing of specific
stimuli.
Correlation – An association between two events, meaning that they tend to occur together
more often than one might expect by chance.
Correlation Coefficient – This is a measure of the strength and direction of the relationship
between two variables.
Cortex – The outer layer of the brain.
Counterbalancing – An aspect of experimental design that includes all possible orders in
which participants complete tasks or conditions, or in which experimenters present stimuli –
this is to control for order effects.
Craniometry – The study of people’s intellectual abilities based on the size and shape of
their head.
Crystallised Intelligence – The ability to apply acquired skills, knowledge, and experience to
novel situations.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller ekatie18. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £3.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67474 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now