Latest Terms Added
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Depolarization
In neuropsychology and physiology, the process of depolarization describes the situation when the electrochemical charge of a neuron becomes less negative and nerve impulses are transmitted. When a neuron becomes activated, there is a sudden influx of sodium ions into the cell which predictably ends in the triggering of an action potential. This communication is…
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Human-nature
Human nature denotes universal, fundamental psychological traits, behaviors, drives, and mechanisms of all individuals. Drives include the primal instincts of self-preservation and social bonding, along with self-expression, curiosity, and communication. Psychologists investigate the nature of these phenomena to discern with greater finality the biological and environmental components of the complex psychosocial framework. Along with basic…
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Experimental-condition
In psychology, the term “experimental condition” denotes the scenario or the variable that the researcher changes within an experiment to determine an impact on the specified behavior or cognitive functioning. This is in contrast to the control condition, in which the variable remains static. By contrasting the outcomes of the different configurations, psychologists establish a…
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Emotionality
Emotionality is defined as the magnitude, rate, and reactivity of a response from a psychological standpoint. It is an integral quality of individual temperament and personality which affects the whole range of a person’s feelings and their expression. High emotionality results in very strong feelings and actions, while low emotionality results in a state of…
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Traditional-marriage
Within the field of psychology, the term ‘traditional marriage’ denotes types of culturally or religiously defined unions between two people that are based on differing expectations around commitment, gender, and family stability. It forms a particular kind of social structure that also provides identity, emotional safety, and aids in the socialization of future children. When…
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Personality-trait
A personality trait refers to an individual’s characteristic thinking, feeling, and behavioral patterns. Psychologists describe and assess individual differences using traits and frameworks such as the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). Traits shape one’s perceptions, responses to situations, relational dynamics, and decision-making processes. Predicting an individual’s behavior enables improvements in personal growth,…
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Dyadic-relationship
A dyadic relationship consists of a two-person interaction such as emotional exchange, communication, and interdependence. In psychology, dyadic relationships are studied to comprehend intimacy, attachment, and social behavior. Such relationships exist between friends, romantic partners, parents and children, and therapists and clients. Emotional well-being, trust, and mutual growth are influenced by the quality of the…
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Symbolic-representation
In psychology, symbolic representation describes the process of the mind using symbols, terms, or pictures to depict physical objects, occurrences, or abstract concepts. It is crucial to cognitive development whereby people learn to think beyond the tangible. Jean Piaget devoted attention to early childhood as a period in which children imaginatively transform objects in symbolic…
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Eugenics
Eugenics involves the unethical attempts to improve the human gene pool through social engineering, controlled reproduction, and selective breeding. Within social engineering, it focuses on the improvement or enhancement of particular traits such as intelligence or physical prowess while, at the same time, discouraging or restricting reproduction of those individuals classified as “unfit.” In psychology,…
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Labial
The term “labial” pertains to the lips, which are crucial components in the construction of certain phonetic sounds of speech. Through the developmental lens, the movement of the lips is one of the first achieved motor functions infants perform in the attempt to reveal primitive verbal communication. For psychologists and speech pathologists, the importance of…
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Identity-foreclosure
Within the discipline of psychology, identity foreclosure is defined as the phenomenon in which individuals adopt an identity and set of values without prior exploration of alternatives. More specifically, foreclosure occurs in adolescence, when individuals make an earlier than average commitment to roles, values, and goals that are primarily determined by parents and social structures.…
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Insight-learning
Insight learning has to do with solving a problem by coming up with a solution instead of through trial and error. This form of problem-solving was demonstrated by Wolfgang Köhler with chimpanzees. In one study, a chimp named Sultan, with a banana out of reach, was able to ‘see’ the solution by combining two sticks…
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Submissiveness
Submissiveness is a behavioral pattern characterized by compliance to the authority of others, usually at the expense of one’s personal needs, opinions, or harmonizing one’s desires with the dominant individual’s preferences. Psychologically, submissiveness is understood as a temporary phenomenon or a trait of one’s personality. For example, an individual might withhold their views even when…
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Social-desirability
The social desirability bias aligns with the social norms that dictate how people should present themselves, irrespective of what they actually do or think, resulting in answers that conform to perceived expectations. It relates to self-reporting in self-report inventories, questionnaires, or interviews. Holding these social attitudes can result in people reporting less frequently how much…
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Lunacy
The term ‘lunacy’ once denoted severe mental disturbances or outright insanity and was thought to be influenced by the phases of the moon, which explains the root ‘luna.’ In the historical period of psychology and medicine, lunacy was used as a general term to describe individuals undergoing extreme irrationality, psychosis, or behaving in otherwise unpredictable…
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Cybernetics
Cybernetics integrates multiple disciplines concerned with systems, feedback, and control within living organisms and machines. In psychology, feedback control systems and loops, reminiscent of a thermostat regulating temperature, help systems regulate behavior, cognition, and emotion. Introduced by Wiener in the 1940s, cybernetics offered the first conceptualizations of self-regulation, communication, and behavior targeting a goal. If,…
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Retrieval
Retrieving information from memory and bringing it into conscious awareness is referred to as retrieval. Memory retrieval spans different types, one of them being “recall” — the free recollection of information, whereby an individual answers an essay question, for example. The activity of recognition is another type of memory retrieval, where a person is able…
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Stimulus
A stimulus is an internal or external phenomenon of an event, object, or object that evokes a response from an organism. In psychology, stimuli simplify behavior, learning, and perception. They can be external, such as light, sound, touch, etc., as well as internal, such as thoughts, feelings, and other physical manifestations. For example, a sudden…
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Unconditioned-stimulus
An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that does not require any prior learning or conditioning to trigger a response. It was first described by Ivan Pavlov in the context of classical conditioning, a learning process. Pavlov, for instance, in his experiments with dogs, considered food to be an unconditioned stimulus as it was able to…
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Bizarre-behavior
Bizarre actions can include thoughts or expressions that encompass some degree of actions that break from norms accepted by society. They can additionally be considered actions that seem strange, irrational or do not make sense to an outsider. Psychologists within the confines of a discipline tend to use the term ‘bizarre actions’ to describe conduct…