Psychology 102

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manifest content: parts of the dream that are remembered, symbolic of the dream's true meaning
Entity Theorists: People who see intelligence as fixed, permanent quality that people are born with
Latency period: Freud's period of pyschosexual development, from age five to puberty, during which the child's sexual feelings are largely suppressed
Socially desirable responding: The tendency to describe ourselves as having positive, or at normal, traits
Content Validity: Assess the degree to which the content of a test samples broadly across the domain of interest
Personal identity: A sense of who we are as individuals and how well we stack up against peers; Erik Erikson's theory postulated that it is shaped by a series of personal crises that each person confronts at characteristic stages of development
Fluid Intelligence: The natural ability to solve problems, reason, and remember; thought to be relatively uninfluenced by experience
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): A widely used self-report inventory for assessing personality traits and for diagnosing psychological problems
Factor analysis: A statistical procedure developed by Charles Spearman that determines how many subsets of highly correlated items are in a larger test; each subset is called a common factor, useful for summarizing the subset under a single name
Resistant attachment: Strange Situation test:: does not want to leave mother, does not like when the mother leaves
Anal stage: Freud's second stage of psychosexual development, occuring in the second year of life; pleasure is derived from the process of defecation
Phallic Stage: Freud's third stage of psychosexual development,lasting from about age three to age five; pleasure is gained from self-stimulation of the sexual organs
ego: In Freud's theory, the portion of personality that induces people to act with reason and deliberation and helps them conform to the requirements of the external world
plasticity: The genetic code does not rigidly fix the internal circuitry of the brain but rather environmental influences fill in the "gaps"
zygote: The fertilized human egg, containing 23 chromosomes from the father and 23 chromosomes from the mother, which pair up to form the master genetic code
cross-sectional design: A research design in which people of different ages are compared at the same time
embryonic period: The period of prenatal development lasting from implantation to the end of the eighth week; during this period, the human develops from an unrecognizable mass of cells to a somewhat familiar creature
Mental Retardation: A label commonly assigned to someone who scores below 70 on a standard IQ test; other factors, such as the ability to adapt to the environment, are also considered before putting someone in this category
gender roles: Specific patterns of behaviour that are consistent with how society dictates males and females should act
preconscious mind: The part of the mind that contains all the inactive but potentially accessible thoughts and memories
IQ (intelligence quotient): A single number calculated to represent a person's intelligence
self-actualization: The ingrained desire to reach our true potential as human beings
development: The age-related physical, intellectual, social and personal changes that occur throughout an individual's lifetime
Achievement motivation tests: Psychological tests that measure your desire to perform challenging tasks and reach difficult goals
Secondary Traits: The less obvious characteristics of an individual's personality that do not always appear in his or her behaviour; such as grouchiness at morning meetings
Tacit Knowledge: The special knowledge in a particular area that allows one to think quickly and efficiently
longitudinal design: A research design in which the same people are studied or tested repeatedly over time
fetal period: The period of prenatal development lasting from the ninth week until birth, during which the fetus develops functioning organ systems, and increases are seen in body size and in the size and complexity of brain tissue
dementia: Physically based losses in mental functioning
id: In Freud's theory, the portion of personality that is governed by inborn instinctual drives, particularly those related to sex and aggression
Attachments: Strong emotional ties formed to one or more intimate companions
schemas: Mental models of the world the people use to guide and interpret their experiences
Conditions of worth: The expectations or standards that we believe others place on us
self-efficacy: The beliefs that we hold about our own ability to perform a task or accomplish a goal
Deviation IQ: An intelligence score that is derived from determining where your performance sits in an age-based distribution of test scores
preference technique: At which choice the baby choses to look, uses this because babies can't talk
morality: The ability to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate actions, may be tied to his or her level of cognitive development
assimilation: The process through which people fit new experiences into existing schemas
Multiple Intelligences: The notion proposed by Howard Gardner that people possess a set of separate and independent "intelligences" ranging from musical to linguistic to interpersonal abilities
Standardization: Keeping the testing, scoring, and interpretation procedures similar across all administrations of a test
Humanistic psychology: An approach to personality that focuses on people's unique capacity for choice, responsibility, and growth
Creativity: The ability to generate ideas that are original, novel and useful
germinal period: The period in prenatal development from conception to implantation of the fertilized egg in the wall of the uterus
teratogens: Environmental agents - such as disease, organisms, or drugs - that can potentially damage the developing embryo or fetus
Predictive Validity: Assesses how well the test predicts an important criterion
Temperament: Behavioural tendencies that have biological orgins
defence mechanisms: According to Freud, unconscious processes used by the ego to ward off the anxiety that comes from conflicts between the superego and the id
preconventional level: In Kohlberg's theory, the lowest level of moral development, in which decisions about right and wrong are made primarily in terms of external consequences
sublimation: A defense mechanism used to channel unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities
accommodation: The process through which people change or modify existing schemas to allow for new experiences when they occur
Secure attachment: Strange Situation test: go and play, explore, not frightened
centration: The tendency to focus attention on one particular aspect of a situation and to ignore other aspects
Self-Deception: socially desirable responding that is based on an unconscious bias
Achievement tests: Psychological tests that measure your current level of knowledge or competence in a particular subject
preoperational period: Piaget's second stage of cognitive development, lasting from age two to about seven; children begin to think symbolically but often lack the ability to perform mental operations, like conservation
Mental age: The chronological age that best fits a child's level of performance on a test of mental ability; typically calculated by comparing a child's test score with the average scores for different age groups
conventional level: In Kohlberg's theory of moral development, the stage in which actions are judged to be right or wrong based on whether they maintain or disrupt the social order
Social learning theory: The idea that most important personality traits come from modelling, or copying, behaviour of others
incongruence: A discrepancy between the image we hold of ourselves - our self-concept- and the sum of all our experiences
Bell Curve: The plot of frequencies obtained for many psychological tests; most people's scores are in the middle range, and the decline in frequencies is similar whether the scores get higher or lower than the mean
gender schemas: The organized sets of beliefs and perceptions held about men and women
Impression Management: socially desirable responding that is conscious and based on purposeful distortion
Gifted: A label commonly assigned to someone who scores above 130 on a standard IQ test
Crystallized Intelligence: The knowledge and abilities acquired as a result of experience (as from schooling and cultural influences)
Oral Stage: The first stage in Freud's conception of psychosexual development, occurring in the first year of life; in this stage, pleasure is derived primarily from sucking and placing things in the mouth
g (general intelligence) factor: The large underlying factor that contributed to performance on a variety of ability tests
Personality profiling: Estimating the personality makeup of an individual based on indirect evidence, such as his or her eating habits, room arrangement, and so on
Self-monitoring: The degree to which a person monitors a situation closely and changes his or her behaviour accordingly
Objective Test: One that is scored in a standardized fashion so that anyone calculating the result gets the same answer
Aptitude Tests: Psychological tests that measure your ability to learn and solve problems in a particular subject area
Culture-fair test: Tests that avoid the use of language so that the test is fair to all cultures
Test-retest reliability: The ability of a test to give consistent scores across time
Savant: An individual with a special talent despite generally low intelligence
cognitive-behavioural theories: An approach to personality that suggests it is reward and punishment experiences , and interpretations of those experiences, that determine personality growth and development
dying trajectories: The psychological path people travel as they face their impending death
Psychometrics: The use of psychological tests to measure the mind, especially individual differences
Subjective definitions: Based on personal opinion; each person's seems designed to suit his or her personal needs and worldviews
Self-Concept: An organized set of perceptions that we hold about our abilities and characteristics
trait taxonomies: Systems for distinguishing the most important individual differences in personality; these are usually associated with an inventory of psychometric tests designed to measure these traits
Projection: A defense mechanism in which unacceptable feeling or desires are dealt with by attributing them to others
Heritability: A mathematical index that represents the extent to which IQ differences in a particular population can be accounted for by genetic factors
Big Five: The five dimensions of personality - extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness - that have been isolated through the application of factor analysis; it is widely believed that virtually all personality terms in language can be accounted for by appealing to one or more of these basic dimensions
Intelligence prototype: The characteristics each person believes are present in the perfectly intelligent person
denial: A defense mechanism involving the refusal to accept an external reality that creates anxiety
formal operational period: Piaget's last stage of cognitive development; though processes become adult-like, and people gain mastery over abstract thinking
sensorimotor period: Piaget's first stage of cognitive development, lasting from birth to about two years of age; schemas revolve around sensory and motor abilities
Collective unconscious: The notions proposed by Carl Jung that certain kinds of universal symbols and ideas are present in the unconscious of all people
instrumental conditioning: Learning from the consequences of behaviour
Mental Speed: The speed of transmission among the neural pathways of the brain
s (specific intelligence) residual: The remainder part of a specific ability test that is unique and not explained by g
unconscious mind: The part of the mind that Freud believed housed all the memories, urges and conflicts that are truly beyond awareness
Self-report questionnaires: Personality tests that ask the person of interest a set of questions about how he or she thinks, acts or feels
Genital Stage: Freud's final stage of psychosexual development, during which a person develops mature sexual relationships with members of the opposite sex
16 Personality Factors (16PF): A self-report inventory developed by Cattell and colleagues to measure primary personality traits
NEO-PI-R: A self-report inventory developed to measure the Big Five personality dimensions
Avoidant attachment: Strange Situation test: no attachment to mother, not frightened when stranger present
postconventional level: Kohlberg's highest level of moral development, in which moral actions are judged on the basis of personal codes of ethics that are general and abstract and that may not agree with societal norms
egocentrism: The tendency to see the world from your own unique perspective only; a characteristic of thinking in the preoperational period of development
modelling: observing the behaviour of others and imitating it
superego: In Freud's theory, the portion of personality that motivated people to act in a proper fashion, that is, in accordance with the moral customs defined by parents and culture
personality: The entire organization of psychological characteristics - thinking, feeling, and behaving - that differentiates one person from another
concrete operational period: Piaget's third stage of cognitive development, lasting from age 7 to age 11; children acquire the capacity to perform a number of mental operations but still lack the ability for abstract reasoning
object permanence: The ability to recognize that objects still exist when they're no longer in sight
Intelligence: An internal capacity hypothesized to explain people's ability to solve problems, learn new material, and adapt to new situations, its strength appears to differ across individuals
Strange situation test: Gradually subjecting a child to a stressful situation and observing his or her behaviour towards the parent or caregiver; this test is used to classify children according to type of attachment: secure, resistant, or avoidant
conservatism: The ability to recognize that the physical properties of an object remain the same despite superficial changes in the object's appearance
Construct Validity: Assesses how well the test captures all the details of the theoretical construct
Working Memory: The most direct and active part of memory: holds information ready for use in problem solving, reasoning and comprehension
Cardinal Traits: Allport's term to describe personality traits that dominate an individual's life, such as a passion to serve others or to accumulate wealth
Incremental Theorists: People who see intelligence as malleable and something that people gradually acquire through hard work
Reaction formation: A defense mechanism used to transform an anxiety-producing desire into a kind of opposite - people behave in a way counter to the way they truly feel
Artificial Intelligence: The attempt to understand the meaning of intelligence by building intelligent machines; such machines - usually computer programs - can simulate or surpass many human capabilities
Intelligence tests: Tests that evaluate your overall cognitive ability to learn and solve problems
Reciprocal determinism: The idea that beliefs, behaviour and the environment interact to shape what is learned from experience
Projective test: A type of personality test in which individuals are asked to interpret ambiguous stimuli; the idea is that subjects will project their true thoughts and feelings into the interpretation, thereby revealing elements of their personality
latent content: dream's true meaning
Positive regard: The idea that we value what others think of us and constantly seek others' approval, love and companionship
repression: A defense mechanism used to bury anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings in the unconscious
Rorschach Test: A projective test that requires people to interpret ambiguous inkblots
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): A projective personality test that requires people to make up stories about the characters in ambiguous pictures
trait: A stable predisposition to act or behave in a consistent fashion
Emotional intelligence: The ability to perceive, understand and express emotion in ways that are useful and adaptive
reversibility: The understanding that one kind of operation can produce change and that another kind of operation can undo that change
relativistic thinking: The truth from a moral dilemma may differ from one situation to the next
Person-situation debate: A controversial debate centring on whether people really do behave consistently across situations
Sternberg's three facets of intelligence: Robert Sternberg's theory of intelligence that includes three types of intelligence: analytic, creative, and practical
puberty: The period during which a person reaches sexual maturity and is potentially capable of producing offspring
Split-half Reliability: The ability of a test to give the same score in the first and second halves of the test
menopause: The time during which a woman's menstrual cycle slows down and finally stops
Primary mental abilities: The seven distinct forms of intelligence Thurstone uncovered with modern forms of factor analysis
habituation: The decline in responsiveness to repeated stimulation; has been used to investigate the perceptual capabilities of infants
Psychodynamic theory: An approach to personality development, based largely on the ideas of Sigmund Freud, which holds that much of behaviour is governed by unconscious forces
Central Traits: Allport's term to describe the 5 to 10 descriptive traits that you would use to describe someone you know - friendly, trustworthy, and so on
Conscious mind: The contents of awareness - those things that occupy the focus of your current attention
locus of control: The amount of control that a person feels he or she has over the environment
Reliability: A measure of the consistency of test results; gives people similar scores across times and across parts of the test
Validity: An evaluation of how well the test measures what the label of the test says it is measuring

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