The Psychology glossary

In Piaget’s theory, the process of changing an existing schema, or creating a new one, when new information does not fit what is already known.

The cultural and psychological change that follows continuous first-hand contact between two or more cultural groups, such as when immigrants settle in a new society.

A difference between family members, usually parents and children, in how far and how fast they acculturate, which can lead to conflict over values, language and behaviour.

Stress caused by the demands of acculturation, such as language difficulties, discrimination, loss of social support and conflict between cultural values, which can lead to anxiety and depression.

A neurotransmitter that makes muscles contract and, in the brain, supports attention, learning and the encoding of new memories in the hippocampus.

The tendency of some participants to agree with statements in a questionnaire or interview regardless of their content; also called yea-saying.

A brief electrical impulse that travels along the axon when the charge inside a neuron reaches a threshold; it is all-or-none, so the neuron either fires fully or not at all.

A pattern of compulsive use of a substance or engagement in an activity that continues despite harmful consequences, marked by craving, loss of control and often tolerance and withdrawal.

A research design that compares adopted people with their biological relatives, who share their genes, and their adoptive relatives, who share their environment, to separate genetic from environmental influences.

An endocrine gland on top of each kidney that releases adrenaline and noradrenaline (from its centre) and cortisol (from its outer layer) in response to stress.

A hormone released by the adrenal glands in response to a threat, which raises heart rate, blood pressure and energy supply as part of the fight-or-flight response.

A short introduction given before new material, such as a title, overview or analogy, that activates relevant prior knowledge so the new material can be linked to existing schemas.

Potentially traumatic events or conditions in the first 18 years of life, such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction, that are associated with poorer health and well-being later in life.

Using psychological knowledge and research to argue publicly for changes in policy or practice that would benefit people or groups, especially those who are marginalised.

Behaviour intended to harm another person who wishes to avoid that harm, whether physically, verbally or through damage to relationships.

A substance that increases the effect of a neurotransmitter, by binding to and activating its receptors or by increasing the amount available in the synaptic gap.

A general statement of what a study sets out to investigate, usually naming the behaviour, the variables or the population of interest, without predicting the result.

One of the different versions of a gene; a person inherits one allele of each gene from each parent.

A form of gender bias that exaggerates or invents differences between men and women and presents them as fixed.

A prediction that there will be an effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable, or a relationship between variables; it may be directional (stating which way) or non-directional.

A small almond-shaped structure inside each temporal lobe that detects threat and triggers fear, and helps to form emotional memories.

A style of thinking in which attention focuses on a central object separated from its context, objects are categorised by rules and attributes, and events are explained by the object’s properties.

The tendency for a numerical estimate or decision to be drawn towards an initial value that a person has considered, even an irrelevant one, so the final judgement stays too close to it.

Evidence based on personal stories or isolated observations rather than systematic data collection, which makes it vivid but unrepresentative and open to bias.

A reduced ability to feel pleasure or interest in activities a person used to enjoy; one of the two core symptoms of major depressive disorder.

A non-human species, or a condition produced in it, that is used to stand in for a human behaviour or disorder so that its causes and treatments can be studied under controlled conditions.

Research that uses non-human animals as participants, either to understand their own behaviour or, more often, to draw conclusions about human behaviour and biology.

The principle that participants’ identities are not recorded or revealed, so that data cannot be linked to a particular person.

A substance that reduces the effect of a neurotransmitter, usually by binding to its receptors without activating them, which blocks the neurotransmitter.

A loss of the ability to form new long-term memories after brain damage, while memories from before the damage remain largely available.

The tendency to describe animals' behaviour in terms of human thoughts, feelings or motives, such as calling a floating rat 'despairing'.

A drug used to treat depression that alters neurotransmission, mainly by increasing the activity of serotonin, noradrenaline or both at the synapse.

A group of mental health disorders characterised by excessive, persistent fear or worry that is out of proportion to real danger and leads to avoidance, such as panic disorder and phobias.

A theory proposing that effective communication between people from different cultures depends on keeping anxiety and uncertainty about each other within a middle range, mainly by communicating mindfully.

A loss or impairment of the ability to produce or understand language, caused by brain damage, usually to the left hemisphere.

A Paper 1 Section B question worth 6 marks that presents an unseen scenario from one of the four contexts and asks the student to apply an approach term to it.

A theoretical framework for explaining behaviour, based on assumptions about what causes behaviour and how to study it, such as the biological, cognitive or sociocultural approach; also called a perspective.

An error in brain imaging data that comes from something other than the brain process being studied, such as head movement, breathing or the scanner itself.

A research technique in which participants repeat an irrelevant sound, such as “the, the, the”, to block subvocal rehearsal in the phonological loop.

Computer systems that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as recognising speech, translating, making recommendations or generating text and images.

One of the broad skills a course assesses: knowledge and understanding (AO1), application and analysis (AO2), or synthesis and evaluation (AO3). Each command term belongs to one of them.

An acculturation strategy in which a person gives up their heritage culture and takes on the culture of the host society.

In Piaget’s theory, the process of fitting new information into an existing schema without changing the schema.

A close, enduring emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver, shown by seeking closeness to that person, especially when distressed, and using them as a source of comfort and security.

A characteristic pattern of attachment behaviour and expectations in close relationships, such as secure, avoidant, resistant or disorganised, in infancy or adulthood.

Bowlby’s theory that infants have an innate, evolved tendency to form an emotional bond with a caregiver, which keeps them close to protection and provides a template for later relationships.

A cognitive process that selects some information from the environment or from memory for further processing while other information is ignored.

The theory that natural environments allow the capacity for effortful, directed attention to recover, because they hold attention without requiring effort.

A tendency to attend selectively to certain kinds of information, such as negative or threatening stimuli, so that they are noticed sooner or held in attention longer.

Treisman’s model of attention in which unattended input is weakened rather than blocked, so that important or expected words, such as one’s own name, can still reach awareness.

A relatively lasting evaluation of a person, object, group or idea, made up of feelings, beliefs and tendencies to behave in a particular way towards it.

The strengthening of opposing attitudes when people who disagree are exposed to the same mixed or inconclusive evidence, so that their views move further apart.

The process of explaining the causes of one's own or another person's behaviour, for example by referring to personality or intentions (internal) or to the situation (external).

A person’s habitual way of explaining the causes of events; a depressive attributional style explains bad events as internal, stable and global.

The loss of participants from a study over time, especially in longitudinal research; it biases results when those who leave differ systematically from those who stay.

A detailed record of every step and decision in a qualitative study, from data collection to analysis, that allows another researcher to check how the findings were reached.

A lifelong neurodevelopmental condition characterised by differences in social communication and interaction and by restricted or repetitive behaviours and interests, varying widely between individuals.

Memory for events and facts from a person’s own life, combining episodic memories with semantic knowledge about the self.

A visual illusion in which a stationary point of light in a completely dark room appears to move, used to study how group norms form in ambiguous situations.

The part of the nervous system that controls involuntary body functions; its sympathetic branch prepares the body for action and its parasympathetic branch returns it to a resting state.

A mental shortcut in which the frequency or probability of an event is judged by how easily examples of it come to mind.

A behavioural treatment in which an unwanted behaviour or stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unpleasant stimulus, such as a nausea-producing drug, so that it comes to be avoided.

The long fibre of a neuron that carries the action potential away from the cell body towards the axon terminals.

A graph in which separate bars, with gaps between them, show a value (such as a count or a mean) for each category or condition; the categories have no numerical scale.

Biological, psychological, social or structural factors that make it harder for a person or group to change behaviour, even when the change would benefit them.

In self-determination theory, the three innate needs for autonomy (acting by choice), competence (feeling effective) and relatedness (feeling connected to others).

The tendency to display one's connection with a successful group, such as a winning team, in order to raise one's own social identity and self-esteem.

Any observable action of a person in response to biological, cognitive and environmental factors; in psychology the term also covers processes such as memory, emotion, motivation, learning and relationships that are inferred from what people do.

The systematic application of learning principles, especially reinforcement, to change a specific, observable behaviour, which is measured before, during and after the intervention.

A psychological treatment for depression that helps people schedule and carry out rewarding and meaningful activities, reducing avoidance and increasing contact with positive reinforcement.

A clearly defined, observable behaviour listed on an observation schedule, operationalised so that different observers record the same actions in the same way.

A process in which a person’s expectation about someone changes how they behave towards them, leading the other person to act in a way that appears to confirm the expectation.

A form of couples therapy based on learning theory that increases rewarding behaviour between partners and teaches communication and problem-solving skills.

A planned activity in cognitive behavioural therapy in which a client tests a negative prediction in real life, so that the belief can be checked against what actually happens.

An approach that explains behaviour as learned through conditioning by the environment, and that studies only observable behaviour rather than unobservable mental processes.

The tendency to judge the logical validity of an argument by whether its conclusion is believable, accepting believable but invalid conclusions and rejecting unbelievable but valid ones.

The tendency for a belief to persist after the evidence on which it was originally based has been discredited or shown to be false.

A bidimensional model of acculturation that crosses two questions, whether to keep one’s heritage culture and whether to seek contact with the host culture, to give four strategies: integration, assimilation, separation and marginalisation.

A form of gender bias that ignores or minimises real differences between men and women, often by studying one gender and assuming the findings apply to both.

A systematic tendency in thinking or research that distorts how information is collected, interpreted or reported, so that conclusions consistently lean in one direction rather than reflecting reality.

A form of confirmation bias in which evidence supporting an existing belief is judged as stronger and more reliable than equally good opposing evidence, and ambiguous evidence is read as support.

A form of confirmation bias in which information consistent with an existing belief is recalled more easily or accurately than information that is inconsistent with it.

A form of confirmation bias in which people look for and select information, questions or sources that are likely to support what they already believe.

Identification with, and competent participation in, two cultures, usually a heritage culture and a host culture; the individual-level outcome of the integration strategy.

The problem in correlational research that the direction of a relationship is unknown: variable A may cause B, or B may cause A.

The regular use of two languages by an individual or a community; bilingual people differ in when they learned each language, how fluent they are and how often they switch.

A distribution with two distinct peaks, which often shows that the data combine two different groups, such as two age groups or two types of participant.

A perspective in psychology that explains behaviour and mental processes through physiological factors such as the brain, neurotransmitters, hormones and genes, and through their evolution.

A physical characteristic of the body, such as a brain structure, neurotransmitter, hormone, gene, sleep or age, that influences behaviour or a cognitive process.

An inherited tendency to learn certain associations, such as taste with illness or snakes with fear, more quickly and lastingly than others because they aided survival in evolution.

Explaining a complex behaviour or mental process by breaking it down into its simplest biological parts, such as genes, neurotransmitters or brain areas.

A treatment of a mental health disorder that acts directly on the body, for example by changing neurotransmission with drugs or brain activity with electrical or magnetic stimulation.

A model proposed by Engel (1977) that explains health and illness through the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors rather than through biology alone.

A measure of body size calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres, used as an indirect measure of body fat in population research.

The blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal measured by fMRI: a change in the magnetic properties of blood as oxygen-rich blood flows to more active brain areas.

An unintended result of a persuasive message in which behaviour moves in the opposite direction to the one intended, such as low energy users increasing their use after learning the average.

A graph that summarises a distribution with a box from the lower to the upper quartile, a line at the median, and whiskers to the lowest and highest scores, with outliers often shown as separate points.

A set of techniques that produce pictures of the living brain's structure or activity without surgery, such as MRI, fMRI, PET and EEG.

The biologically driven sequence of changes in brain structure from before birth to early adulthood, including synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning and myelination, which proceeds roughly from the back of the brain to the front.

Repeated practice on computerised tasks or games intended to improve general cognitive abilities such as working memory or attention.

A region of the left inferior frontal lobe, named after Paul Broca, involved in producing speech and processing grammar; damage to it is linked to slow, effortful speech.

A research design that tests whether one gene, chosen in advance because of its biological role, is associated with a trait or disorder; many such findings have failed to replicate.

Sharing good news with another person; how the listener responds, especially with active and constructive enthusiasm, affects well-being and the quality of the relationship.

The proposal that people raised among rectangular buildings learn to read angles in drawings as three-dimensional corners, which makes them more susceptible to illusions such as the Müller-Lyer illusion.

A detailed, usually long-term investigation of a single individual, group, event or community, using several methods such as interviews, observations and records.

A relationship in which a change in one variable produces a change in another; establishing it requires that the two covary, that the cause comes first, and that alternative explanations are ruled out.

The component of the working memory model that directs attention, coordinates the other components and switches between tasks; it has limited capacity and stores no information itself.

The thin, folded outer layer of grey matter covering the two cerebral hemispheres, responsible for perception, language, memory, thinking and voluntary movement.

One of the two halves of the cerebrum, left and right, joined by the corpus callosum; each mainly controls and receives sensation from the opposite side of the body.

A concept referring to alteration in behaviour, cognition, emotion or biology over time, through maturation, experience, intervention or chance, and to the use of psychological knowledge to bring about and evaluate such alteration.

A substance released by one cell that carries a signal to other cells by binding to their receptors; the main types are neurotransmitters and hormones.

A strategy of grouping separate items into larger meaningful units, so that more information can be held within the limited capacity of short-term memory.

A small-scale research study carried out by a class, led by the teacher or by students under supervision, to experience a research method at first hand within one of the course’s contexts.

A form of learning in which a neutral stimulus, repeatedly paired with a stimulus that already triggers a reflexive response, comes to trigger a similar response on its own.

A question with a fixed set of possible answers, such as yes/no, multiple choice or a rating scale, which produces quantitative data.

The ability to focus on one conversation in a noisy setting while still noticing personally important information, such as one’s own name, from an unattended conversation.

In qualitative analysis, the process of attaching short labels (codes) to segments of data that capture a feature relevant to the research question, so that similar segments can be collected and compared.

The square of the correlation coefficient (r²), which gives the proportion of the variation in one variable that is accounted for by its linear relationship with the other.

The process by which a person evaluates whether a situation is relevant and threatening (primary appraisal) and whether they have the resources to cope with it (secondary appraisal).

A perspective in psychology that explains behaviour through internal mental processes, such as perception, attention, memory and thinking, often treating the mind as an information-processing system.

The limited capacity for attention, working memory and self-control available at any moment, which can be reduced by preoccupying concerns such as worry about money.

A structured, time-limited psychological treatment in which client and therapist work together to identify and change the unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that maintain a disorder.

A systematic deviation from rationality or from an accepted norm in judgement, so that errors in thinking occur in a predictable direction rather than at random.

An unpleasant state of psychological tension that arises when a person holds two related cognitions, such as a belief and knowledge of their own behaviour, that are inconsistent, which motivates them to reduce the inconsistency.

A systematic error in reasoning, such as overgeneralisation or catastrophising, that leads a person to interpret events more negatively than the evidence justifies.

An error in a cognitive process such as memory, attention or perception, often caused by a lack of information or by the use of a heuristic.

A police interviewing technique based on memory research that helps witnesses retrieve more accurate detail by reinstating the context, reporting everything, and recalling in different orders and from different perspectives.

The amount of working memory resources required to carry out a task at a given time; when demands exceed the capacity available, cognitive overload impairs learning and performance.

A theory of learning which proposes that working memory has a limited capacity for new information, so instruction should avoid overloading it and direct its capacity towards building schemas in long-term memory.

The idea that people tend to minimise mental effort, relying on quick, intuitive System 1 judgements and engaging effortful System 2 thinking only when they must.

A simplified representation of a cognitive process, usually drawn as components linked by the flow of information, used to explain the process, generate testable hypotheses and make predictions.

Beck’s model in which a dormant negative self-schema, activated by a matching stressful event, produces cognitive distortions and negative thoughts about the self, world and future that cause depression.

The use of physical actions or external tools, such as notes, reminders, devices or the internet, to reduce the cognitive demands of a task, especially on memory.

Any mental function involved in acquiring, storing, interpreting, transforming or using information, such as attention, perception, memory, language, thinking and decision-making.

A three-item test devised by Frederick (2005) in which each question invites a fast, intuitive but wrong answer, used to measure the tendency to override intuition with reflection.

A technique in cognitive behavioural therapy in which a client identifies negative automatic thoughts, examines the evidence for and against them and replaces them with more balanced alternatives.

In Beck’s model, the pattern of negative thinking about the self, the world and the future that characterises depression.

A difference between age groups caused by the different historical conditions each generation grew up in, rather than by age or development itself.

A longitudinal study that follows a group of people who share a characteristic, such as being born in the same year and place, measuring them repeatedly over time.

The working relationship in cognitive behavioural therapy in which client and therapist act as a team, treating the client’s beliefs as hypotheses to be tested against evidence rather than as facts.

A theory of social loafing proposed by Karau and Williams (1993) stating that people work hard in groups only if they expect their effort to make a difference to an outcome they value.

A cultural orientation in which people see themselves mainly as members of close in-groups, such as the extended family, and give priority to group goals, loyalty and harmony over personal goals.

The use of a biological treatment, such as an antidepressant, together with a psychological treatment, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, for the same disorder.

A word or phrase at the start of an examination question, such as describe, explain or evaluate, that tells the student what to do with their knowledge and how much depth the answer needs.

The intention to continue a relationship and a feeling of psychological attachment to it; in the investment model, the variable that most directly predicts staying or leaving.

The principle that once people have committed themselves to a position or action, especially publicly, they feel pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.

A model of prejudice reduction proposing that recategorising members of two groups as one larger shared group reduces bias between them.

A relationship in which people give benefits in response to the other person's needs without keeping track of returns, unlike an exchange relationship, in which benefits are expected to be repaid.

In social exchange theory, the standard of outcome a person believes they deserve, based on past experience and expectations; the comparison level for alternatives (CLalt) is the best outcome available elsewhere.

A change in behaviour in response to a direct request from another person who has no authority to give orders, often without any change in private attitudes.

A deliberate method of making a request that increases the chance that the person asked will agree, such as the foot-in-the-door or door-in-the-face technique.

A structural imaging technique that combines many X-ray images taken from different angles into cross-sectional pictures of the brain.

A broad, general idea that applies across all areas of psychology and is used to analyse and evaluate content and research; the course uses six: bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective and responsibility.

The Paper 1 Section C essay, worth 15 marks, in which the student evaluates or discusses an area of study from one context through one of the six concepts and argues to a reasoned conclusion.

The percentage of pairs of twins or relatives in which both members show a trait or disorder, given that one of them has it.

An emotional reaction, such as fear, acquired through classical conditioning, so that a previously neutral stimulus now triggers it.

The learned response triggered by a conditioned stimulus, usually similar to but weaker than the unconditioned response.

A formerly neutral stimulus that, after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a learned response on its own.

A learned avoidance of a food or drink after its taste has been followed by illness, which can form after one pairing even when illness is delayed by hours.

A person who appears to be a participant or bystander but is working for the researcher and follows a script as part of the procedure.

A range of values around a sample estimate, calculated so that intervals made this way would contain the true population value a stated percentage of the time, usually 95%.

The duty to keep information about participants private and secure, sharing it only with their permission or when the law requires it.

The tendency to search for, interpret and recall information in ways that support existing beliefs or hypotheses, while giving less attention or weight to information that contradicts them.

The process by which reasoners sense, often quickly and without awareness, that an intuitive answer conflicts with logical or probabilistic principles, shown for example by lower confidence in intuitive answers to conflict problems.

A change in behaviour or belief that brings a person into line with a group, as a result of real or imagined group pressure rather than a direct request or order.

An extraneous variable that changes systematically with the independent variable, so that its effect cannot be separated from the effect of the independent variable.

The error of judging that a combination of two events or characteristics is more probable than one of them alone, which is logically impossible.

A written document in which a participant, and for a minor a parent or guardian, confirms that they understand a study’s aim, procedure and rights, and agree to take part.

The understanding that a quantity such as number, mass or volume stays the same when its appearance changes, as long as nothing is added or taken away.

A debiasing strategy in which people deliberately generate reasons why their initial judgement or an anchor might be wrong before making a final decision.

A rehabilitation treatment after stroke in which the unaffected arm is restrained so that the patient must practise intensively with the weakened arm, encouraging functional reorganisation.

An abstract psychological concept, such as intelligence, anxiety or attachment, that cannot be observed directly and has to be inferred from behaviour, self-report or physiological measures.

The extent to which a measure truly reflects the theoretical construct it is meant to measure, shown when it relates to other measures and behaviour as the theory predicts.

The comfort an infant gains from soft physical contact with a caregiver, which Harlow’s research with monkeys suggested is a more important basis for attachment than feeding.

The proposal that contact between members of different groups reduces prejudice, especially under conditions of equal status, shared goals, cooperation and support from authorities.

A research technique that systematically codes written, spoken or visual material into categories, which are then counted (quantitative) or interpreted for meaning (qualitative).

A real-world area in which psychological content and concepts are applied; the course uses four: health and well-being, human development, human relationships, and learning and cognition.

Better recall when the external environment at retrieval matches the environment in which the information was learned.

A model proposing that development is a gradual, cumulative process of quantitative change in knowledge, skills and processing capacity rather than a sequence of distinct stages.

The arrangement in which each cerebral hemisphere controls movement of, and receives sensation from, the opposite side of the body.

The group or condition in an experiment that does not receive the treatment or manipulation, providing a baseline against which the experimental condition is compared.

An observation carried out in a setting arranged by the researcher, often a laboratory, so that every participant meets the same situation and behaviour can be recorded systematically.

The cognitive and behavioural efforts a person makes to manage a stressful situation and the emotions it causes, either by changing the problem (problem-focused) or by regulating the emotions (emotion-focused).

A model who at first shows difficulty, errors or doubt and then gradually overcomes them, demonstrating both a skill and how to deal with setbacks.

A thick band of nerve fibres that joins the left and right cerebral hemispheres and allows them to share information.

A relationship between two variables in which they change together, either in the same direction (positive correlation) or in opposite directions (negative correlation), without showing that one causes the other.

A number between −1 and +1 that shows the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables; values near zero mean little or no linear relationship.

A research method that measures two or more variables as they naturally occur and tests whether and how strongly they are related, without manipulating either variable.

A hormone released by the adrenal glands in response to stress that raises blood sugar, suppresses non-essential functions such as immune responses, and affects memory.

Weighing the possible costs of a study to participants, such as distress or deception, against its possible benefits, such as new knowledge or better treatments, to judge whether it is justified.

A control for order effects in a repeated measures design in which participants complete the conditions in different orders, for example half in the order AB and half in the order BA.

A technique that replaces an unwanted conditioned response with an incompatible one by pairing the conditioned stimulus with a stimulus that produces the new response, such as relaxation.

A psychological treatment in which a therapist works with both partners together to reduce relationship distress, for example by changing communication, behaviour or emotional responses.

An observation in which the participants do not know that they are being observed, for example because the observer is hidden or poses as an ordinary member of the group.

The extent to which qualitative findings give a true and believable picture of the participants' experiences and perceptions; a part of trustworthiness.

A type of validity showing the extent to which scores on a measure agree with, or predict, an outside criterion such as behaviour, diagnosis or a later outcome.

A limited window in development during which a specific experience is necessary for a function to develop normally; if the experience is missing, the function cannot develop fully later.

The careful analysis and evaluation of claims, evidence and arguments, including their assumptions, alternative explanations and limitations, in order to reach a reasoned judgement.

Research that compares behaviour or mental processes in two or more cultures, using the same method or measure in each, to find out which findings are universal and which are culturally specific.

A research design that compares different groups, such as different age groups, at a single point in time, showing differences between groups rather than change within individuals.

A systematic distortion that arises when behaviour is studied or judged by the standards of one culture, or when findings from one culture are assumed to apply to all cultures.

The ability to understand, respect and work effectively with people from cultures other than one’s own, including awareness of how one’s own culture shapes one’s assumptions.

The spread of beliefs, practices, products or technologies from one cultural group to another through contact such as trade, migration, media or the internet.

A measurable aspect of a culture’s shared values on which whole cultures can be placed and compared, such as individualism–collectivism or power distance, used to explain cross-cultural similarities and differences in behaviour.

An aspect of culture, such as shared values, language, schooling, social practices or the environment a group lives in, that influences behaviour or a cognitive process.

The principle that behaviour and beliefs should be understood and judged in relation to the culture in which they occur, rather than by the standards of the researcher’s own culture.

A schema learned through membership of a culture, such as a script for a wedding or a meal, which members of that culture share and use to interpret events and texts.

The psychological tools (such as language, number systems and writing) and material tools (such as calculators or maps) that a culture provides and that shape how its members think.

A treatment whose content, language, delivery or goals have been systematically changed to fit the culture of the people receiving it, while keeping its active ingredients.

The shared beliefs, values, norms, practices and symbols of a group, passed from one generation to the next and shaping the identity and behaviour of its members.

The confusion, anxiety and disorientation that can follow moving into an unfamiliar culture, when familiar cues and routines no longer apply.

A pattern of distress and behaviour recognised as an illness within a particular culture, with its own local name and explanation; DSM-5 calls these cultural concepts of distress.

A small signalling protein released by immune cells; pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-α promote inflammation and can affect mood and behaviour.

The process of organising, summarising, displaying and interpreting research data, with tables, graphs, statistics or thematic analysis, to find patterns and judge what conclusions the data supports.

The instrument a researcher uses to gather data, such as a questionnaire, Likert-type scale, observation checklist or interview schedule, made up of individual items.

The point in qualitative data collection at which further interviews or observations produce no new codes or themes, used to decide when a sample is large enough.

Any strategy that reduces the effect of a cognitive bias on judgement, either by changing how the person thinks or by changing the situation in which the decision is made.

A full explanation given to participants after a study about its true aims and any deception, with a check on their well-being and a chance to ask questions or withdraw their data.

Misleading participants about the aims or procedures of a study, by withholding information or giving false information; acceptable only when unavoidable and causing no lasting harm.

The cognitive process of choosing between two or more options, which involves judging the likelihood and value of possible outcomes.

A type of long-term memory for facts and events that can be consciously recalled and put into words; it includes episodic and semantic memory.

A top-down research strategy that starts from an existing theory, derives a testable hypothesis and collects data to support or refute it.

The reproduction of an observed action after a delay, without the model being present, which shows that the action has been stored in long-term memory.

The process of perceiving or treating members of a group as less than fully human, which weakens moral restraints on harming them.

Cues in a study that suggest to participants what the researcher expects, which can lead them to change their behaviour to fit their interpretation of the study's purpose.

A pattern of communication in conflict in which one partner pressures the other for change through requests, criticism or complaints while the other avoids the discussion or withdraws.

A short, branching extension of a neuron that receives signals from other neurons and carries them towards the cell body.

The growth of new branches on a neuron’s dendrites in response to experience, which allows the neuron to form more synapses with other neurons.

The variable that the researcher measures in an experiment, expected to change as a result of the independent variable.

The loss of, or prolonged separation from, an attachment figure after an attachment has formed, for example through bereavement, hospitalisation or parental absence.

A cross-cultural comparison built from the features that several emic studies show to be genuinely shared by the cultures being compared, rather than imposed from one culture.

A social norm that describes what most people actually do in a situation, such as most hotel guests reusing their towels, as opposed to what people approve of.

Statistics that summarise a set of data, such as measures of central tendency and of dispersion, without testing whether results could be due to chance.

Conditions of learning, such as retrieval practice, spacing and interleaving, that make learning feel harder and slower at first but improve long-term retention and transfer.

The view that behaviour is caused by factors outside a person’s control, such as genes and brain chemistry (biological determinism) or upbringing and culture (environmental determinism), leaving little room for free will.

The process by which a person comes to understand who they are, including their self-concept, self-esteem and identity, shaped by attachment, culture, peers and childhood experiences.

The branch of psychology that studies how and why behaviour, thinking, emotions and the self change across the lifespan, especially from infancy to adolescence.

The process of identifying a disorder by comparing a person’s symptoms, their duration and their effects with the criteria of a classification system such as DSM-5-TR or ICD-11.

The American Psychiatric Association’s classification of mental health disorders, now DSM-5-TR (2022), which defines each disorder by its symptoms, their duration and their effect on functioning.

A predisposition or vulnerability to a disorder, which may be genetic, biological, cognitive or psychosocial, and which increases the risk of the disorder without causing it on its own.

A model proposing that a disorder or behaviour develops when an underlying vulnerability (the diathesis) interacts with environmental stress, so that neither alone is sufficient to produce it.

A research technique in which a different message is played to each ear through headphones, and participants usually repeat aloud (shadow) one of them.

The hypothesis that individuals differ in how strongly they are affected by their environment, so that the most susceptible people do worst in adverse environments and best in supportive ones.

Electronic devices, systems and services that create, store or transmit information in digital form, such as smartphones, computers, the internet, social media, video games and artificial intelligence.

A distinction between measures that record the behaviour of interest itself and measures that infer a construct or process from something else, such as brain activity from blood oxygen.

Physical and psychological symptoms, such as dizziness, anxiety and sleep disturbance, that can occur when an antidepressant is reduced or stopped, especially suddenly.

Unfair behaviour towards a person because of their membership of a particular group, such as excluding, harming or giving fewer resources to them.

The subjective experience that processing information is difficult, for example when text is printed in a hard-to-read font; it was proposed as a cue that triggers deliberate System 2 thinking.

A pattern of indiscriminate friendliness in which a child approaches and seeks comfort from unfamiliar adults without the wariness usual for their age, often after institutional care.

An attachment type in which the infant shows contradictory, confused or frightened behaviour towards the caregiver, lacking a consistent strategy for seeking comfort.

Culturally learned norms about which emotions may be shown, how strongly, and to whom in a particular situation.

Any strategy used to lessen cognitive dissonance, such as changing behaviour, changing an attitude or belief, adding consonant cognitions or making the dissonant cognition seem unimportant (trivialisation).

The way the scores in a set of data are spread across their possible values, shown by how often each value or interval occurs; described by its shape, centre and spread.

Twins who develop from two eggs fertilised by two different sperm, so, like ordinary siblings, they share on average about 50% of the genes that vary between people.

An epigenetic process in which methyl groups attach to DNA, usually reducing the expression of a gene without changing its sequence.

A compliance technique in which a large request that is likely to be refused is followed by a smaller request, which is then more likely to be accepted as a concession.

A neurotransmitter involved in movement, motivation and reward, which signals that an outcome is valuable and strengthens the behaviour that led to it.

The hypothesis that the symptoms of schizophrenia, especially hallucinations and delusions, are linked to excessive dopamine activity in certain pathways of the brain.

A relationship in which more exposure to a possible cause goes with a greater effect; it supports, but does not prove, a causal explanation.

A pattern of results in which one factor affects process A but not process B, while a second factor affects B but not A, which is evidence that the two processes are separate.

The proposal that difficulties in understanding between autistic and non-autistic people run in both directions, because each group finds the other’s ways of thinking and communicating hard to read.

A survey or interview question that asks about two things at once, so that a single answer cannot show which part the respondent is responding to.

A research design in which neither the participants nor the researchers who collect the data know which condition each participant is in, so that their expectations cannot affect the results; in a single-blind design only the participants are unaware.

The use of a legal or illegal drug in a way that harms the user or others, or that is not medically intended, such as taking a prescription drug in larger doses than prescribed.

A learning strategy in which material is represented in both words and images, giving two linked memory codes and two routes for retrieval.

A theory proposing that thinking and decision-making rely on two types of process: fast, automatic, intuitive System 1 processing and slow, effortful, deliberate System 2 processing that can check and override it.

A model of adolescent risk-taking in which a reward system that becomes highly responsive at puberty matures earlier than a prefrontal control system that develops gradually into the twenties.

A research method in which participants perform two tasks at once; if performance falls, the tasks are assumed to compete for the same limited-capacity component.

A mental health disorder involving persistent disturbance of eating and of how body weight and shape are experienced, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder.

An online environment in which a person mainly encounters information and opinions that match their existing views, through their own choices and recommendation algorithms, which can reinforce those views.

The error of drawing conclusions about individuals from data that describe groups, such as assuming that a person holds the values indicated by their country’s average cultural dimension score.

Bronfenbrenner’s model in which development is shaped by interacting environmental systems nested around the child: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem.

The extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to behaviour in real-life settings, which depends on how natural the setting, task and materials were.

A standardised measure of how large a difference or relationship is, independent of sample size, such as Cohen’s d (the difference between two means in standard deviation units) or the correlation coefficient r.

The tendency to value a goal, group or outcome more highly when much effort, cost or suffering was spent reaching it, which reduces dissonance between the effort and a disappointing result.

The proposed reduction in self-control after an earlier task that required self-control, explained as the using up of a limited resource; large preregistered replications have found little or no effect.

In Piaget’s theory, the young child’s difficulty in distinguishing their own point of view from that of others, so that they assume others see and think as they do.

An encoding strategy in which new information is connected to existing knowledge, for example by explaining why a fact is true or how it relates to other ideas.

A biological treatment in which a brief electrical current is passed through the brain of an anaesthetised patient to produce a controlled seizure; used mainly for severe or treatment-resistant depression.

A technique that records the brain's electrical activity through electrodes on the scalp, showing changes in activity millisecond by millisecond.

The degree to which the elements of information in a task must be processed together because they depend on one another; high element interactivity produces high intrinsic load.

A characteristic of a whole system that comes from the interaction of its parts and cannot be found in, or predicted from, any part on its own.

An approach to research that studies behaviour from inside one culture, using the concepts, categories and meanings of its members, usually through qualitative methods such as interviews and participant observation.

A form of couples therapy based on attachment theory that helps partners identify their negative cycle of interaction and express underlying attachment needs to rebuild a secure bond.

The ability to understand and share another person’s feelings; often divided into cognitive empathy (understanding what others feel) and affective empathy (responding emotionally to it).

Data gathered systematically through observation, measurement or experiment, using procedures that others can check and repeat.

The process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory, for example as sounds (acoustic encoding) or meanings (semantic encoding).

The principle, proposed by Endel Tulving, that memory is best when the cues present at retrieval match those encoded together with the information at learning.

The process by which a person learns the norms, values, beliefs and behaviours of their own culture, mostly in childhood, through family, peers, school, media and everyday practices.

The network of glands, including the pituitary and adrenal glands and the testes and ovaries, that secrete hormones into the bloodstream to regulate the body and behaviour.

An environment that offers more sensory, physical, social and cognitive stimulation than a standard one; in animal research it is compared with an impoverished environment to study plasticity.

A communication strategy that builds educational messages into popular entertainment, such as soap operas, so that characters model behaviours the audience may learn and adopt.

Any influence on behaviour or mental health that comes from outside the person’s biology, such as life events, relationships, socioeconomic conditions, culture and physical surroundings.

The study of changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the DNA sequence itself, including changes caused by the environment and experience.

The component added to the working memory model by Baddeley (2000): a limited-capacity store that combines information from the other components and long-term memory into integrated episodes.

A type of declarative long-term memory for personal events experienced at a particular time and place, such as a first day at school.

Reflection on how the researcher's choices of research question, method and analysis may have shaped the findings and what other choices could have shown.

The assumption in twin research that monozygotic and dizygotic twins experience equally similar environments, so that greater similarity in monozygotic twins can be attributed to genes.

Lashley’s proposal that intact areas of the cortex can take over the functions of damaged areas, so that the amount of damage matters more than its location.

A theory proposing that people are most satisfied when the ratio of each partner's contributions to benefits is similar, and that being under-benefited or over-benefited causes distress.

A line drawn above and below a mean on a graph to show the spread or uncertainty around it, such as one standard deviation, the standard error or a 95% confidence interval.

The principles researchers must take into account to protect the rights, dignity and well-being of participants and others affected by research, such as informed consent, protection from harm and confidentiality.

A group that reviews research proposals before they begin, judging whether risks to participants are acceptable and justified by the benefits and whether procedures meet ethical standards.

The tendency to judge other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture, often treating one’s own way of thinking or behaving as normal or superior.

A qualitative research approach in which a researcher studies a cultural group in its natural setting over a long period, mainly through participant observation and interviews, to describe its way of life from the inside.

An approach to research that studies behaviour from outside a culture, using concepts and standardised measures assumed to apply to all cultures, so that different cultures can be compared.

An observation sampling method in which the observer records every occurrence of each behavioural category during the whole observation period.

A pattern of EEG activity linked in time to a specific stimulus or event, found by averaging the recordings from many repeated trials.

Describes an effect of a neurotransmitter that makes the postsynaptic neuron more likely to fire an action potential.

A set of higher-order cognitive processes, including inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility, that allow people to plan, control attention and regulate their behaviour.

A form of researcher bias in which the researcher's expectations about the results unintentionally influence participants' behaviour or the way data are recorded.

A research method in which participants report their behaviour, thoughts or feelings several times a day in their everyday lives, usually through prompts on a phone, giving many real-time measurements per person.

Brain change that depends on experiences specific to an individual, such as learning a language, a skill or a route, and that can happen at any age.

Brain change that depends on experiences almost every member of a species meets at a predictable age, such as patterned light or speech, which the brain needs to wire its basic systems.

A research method in which the researcher manipulates an independent variable and measures its effect on a dependent variable while controlling other variables, so that cause and effect can be tested.

The procedures used to stop extraneous variables affecting the dependent variable, such as standardised instructions, random allocation, counterbalancing, control groups and blinding.

The finding that instructional techniques which help novices by reducing cognitive load lose their benefit, or impair learning, for more knowledgeable learners, for whom the guidance is redundant.

The beliefs a person holds about an illness, including its name, cause, course, effects and appropriate treatment, which shape how they understand distress and what help they seek.

A behavioural treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder in which a person is exposed to situations that trigger obsessions and helped not to perform the compulsions that usually reduce the anxiety.

A behavioural treatment in which a person is repeatedly and safely confronted with a feared object, situation or memory, without escape or avoidance, until the fear response weakens.

The extent to which a study’s findings can be generalised beyond the study itself, to other people, settings and times.

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a learned response when the conditioned stimulus appears without the unconditioned stimulus, or when a behaviour is no longer reinforced.

The cognitive load imposed by the way information is presented or by the learning activity, when that design does not contribute to learning, such as searching between separate sources.

Any variable other than the independent variable that could affect the dependent variable and so must be controlled or accounted for.

Applying findings from one group or species to another that was not studied, such as using results from rats to draw conclusions about humans.

Motivation to engage in an activity in order to obtain a separate outcome, such as a reward, a grade, approval or the avoidance of punishment.

An account given by a person who saw an event, such as a crime or accident, describing what happened and who was involved, often used as evidence in court.

The public image and social dignity a person claims in interaction with others, which can be lost, protected or given; people try to maintain both their own face and that of others.

The extent to which a measure or model appears to show what it claims to, for example how closely an animal's behaviour resembles the human symptom it stands for.

A theory proposing that people in all cultures manage face during conflict, and that values such as individualism–collectivism shape conflict styles through concern for one’s own or others’ face.

A belief that does not match reality; understanding that someone can hold a false belief and will act on it is the standard test of theory of mind in children.

A memory of an event, or a detail of an event, that did not happen or happened differently, which the person nonetheless experiences as genuine.

Improvement in an ability or setting different from the one trained, such as better reasoning after working memory training; near transfer is improvement on closely similar tasks.

A persuasive message that tries to change behaviour by arousing fear of the harmful consequences of not following its recommendation, such as graphic warnings on cigarette packets.

A list of feared situations, ranked by the person from least to most anxiety-provoking, which is worked through step by step in systematic desensitisation or graded exposure.

The tendency for perception of an object to be influenced by its surrounding context, measured for example by the rod and frame test.

An experiment carried out in a real-world setting, such as a school, street or workplace, in which the researcher still manipulates the independent variable.

Written qualitative records made during or soon after an observation, describing what happened, in what context, and the observer’s reflections.

The rapid set of physiological changes, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and blood glucose, that prepares an organism to confront or escape an immediate threat.

Broadbent’s (1958) model of attention in which a filter selects one input on the basis of physical features, such as the ear or voice, and blocks the others before their meaning is processed.

A payment, voucher or other reward made conditional on a health-related behaviour or outcome, such as biochemically verified abstinence from smoking.

A vivid, detailed and confidently held memory of the circumstances in which a person learned of a surprising, emotional and important event.

The large rise in average scores on intelligence tests across the twentieth century in many countries, too fast to be genetic and so attributed to environmental change.

A group interview in which a small group of participants, usually about four to ten, discuss a topic together, guided by a moderator.

A compliance technique in which a person is first asked to agree to a small request, which makes them more likely to agree to a larger, related request later.

Gottman's term for four negative communication behaviours during conflict, criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling, which predict relationship breakdown.

The tendency for choices between options with identical outcomes to change depending on how the options are described, for example as gains or as losses.

The capacity of a person to choose how to act, rather than having behaviour fully determined by biological or environmental causes; closely linked to agency, the ability to act intentionally and influence one’s own life.

A table that shows how many times each value or category occurs in a set of data, often with the percentage of the total for each.

The lobe at the front of each cerebral hemisphere, involved in voluntary movement, speech production, planning, decision-making and self-control.

A functional brain imaging technique that tracks changes in blood oxygenation (the BOLD signal) to show which brain areas are more active during a task.

A form of neuroplasticity in which undamaged brain areas take over functions that were carried out by a damaged area, as in recovery after a stroke.

The tendency to overestimate personal or dispositional causes and underestimate situational causes when explaining other people's behaviour.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid: the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, which makes neurons less likely to fire and is the target of alcohol and anti-anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines.

The use of game design elements such as points, badges, levels, leaderboards and streaks in non-game settings, such as learning, to motivate behaviour.

A systematic distortion in how people of different genders are studied, described, diagnosed or treated, either by exaggerating differences between them or by ignoring real differences.

A set of behaviours, attitudes and activities that a culture considers appropriate for males or for females, learned through socialisation from early childhood.

A cognitive theory that children build mental frameworks of what their culture links with each gender and then use them to guide attention, memory and their own behaviour.

A section of DNA on a chromosome that carries the code for making a protein, and that is passed from parents to their children.

A situation in which the effect of an environmental factor on a behaviour or disorder depends on a person’s genotype, or the effect of a genotype depends on the environment.

The tendency for people’s genes and environments to be related, because parents pass on both, because traits evoke reactions, and because people choose environments that suit them.

Selye’s model of the body’s non-specific response to any prolonged stressor, in three stages: alarm, resistance and exhaustion, in which illness becomes more likely.

The extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to people, settings and times beyond the sample studied; also called external validity.

The transmission of traits from parents to their children through the genes they pass on.

A research method that scans hundreds of thousands of genetic variants across the genome in very large samples to find variants statistically associated with a trait or disorder.

The particular set of alleles that a person carries, either for one gene or across their whole genome.

The working memory resources a learner devotes to processing the material and constructing schemas; the revised theory treats it as part of the capacity used for intrinsic load.

The increasing economic, social and cultural interconnection of societies across the world, driven by trade, migration, travel and communication technologies, which speeds up cultural diffusion.

The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, involved in almost all fast signalling between neurons and in strengthening synapses during learning and memory.

A theory proposing that specific, challenging goals lead to higher performance than vague or easy goals, provided people are committed to them, receive feedback and have the ability to reach them.

A classroom management method in which teams win privileges if members break class rules fewer than a set number of times, so each pupil’s behaviour affects the whole team.

The tendency to remember less of information that one expects to be able to find again online, while remembering better where it can be found.

Brain tissue made up mainly of neuron cell bodies, dendrites and synapses, which forms the cerebral cortex; its volume is measured in structural brain scans.

The ways people think, feel and act as members of groups, including conformity, compliance, intergroup relations and how individuals become part of a group.

The tendency for a group's attitudes or decisions after discussion to be more extreme, in the direction members already leaned, than the average of their individual views before discussion.

Harris’s theory that children are socialised mainly by identifying with and adapting to their peer groups outside the home, rather than by the way their parents bring them up.

A mode of thinking in a cohesive group in which the wish for agreement overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives, leading to poor decisions.

The belief that intellectual abilities can be developed through effort, effective strategies and help from others, as opposed to a fixed mindset, the belief that ability cannot change.

A process of enculturation in which children learn by taking part in real community activities alongside more experienced people, who adjust their support as the child’s skill grows.

A cognitive bias in which one positive characteristic of a person, such as physical attractiveness, leads others to assume that the person also has other positive characteristics.

A clinician-rated scale, usually of 17 items scored after an interview, used to measure the severity of depression in treatment research; higher scores mean more severe depression.

A change in participants' behaviour, often an improvement in performance, that occurs because they know they are being observed or studied rather than because of the variable being tested.

A cognitive model proposing that health behaviour depends on perceived susceptibility to and severity of a health problem, the perceived benefits of and barriers to action, cues to action and self-efficacy.

A condition that harms physical health and is strongly influenced by behaviour and the environment, such as obesity, drug misuse or problematic social media use.

The process of enabling people and communities to increase control over and improve their health, through education, campaigns, and changes to policies and environments.

The process of looking for support for a health or mental health problem, from formal sources such as doctors or from informal sources such as family, religious leaders and traditional healers.

The proportion of the variation in a trait within a population that is associated with genetic differences between its members; it does not apply to individuals and changes with the environment.

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb that produces a quick judgement with little effort; heuristics are usually adequate but can lead to systematic errors called cognitive biases.

A culture in which much of the meaning of a message is carried by the situation, the relationship and non-verbal cues rather than the explicit words, so communication tends to be indirect.

Conditioning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with an established conditioned stimulus, rather than an unconditioned stimulus, and comes to trigger a conditioned response itself.

The tendency, after an outcome is known, to overestimate how predictable it was and how well one would have predicted it beforehand.

A curved structure inside each medial temporal lobe that is essential for forming new declarative memories and for spatial memory.

A graph of the frequency distribution of continuous data, in which touching bars show how many scores fall into each equal-width interval on the horizontal axis.

The four HL-only parts of the course that extend the core: the roles of culture, motivation and technology in behaviour across the four contexts, and data analysis and interpretation.

Explaining behaviour as an integrated whole, on the view that a person in their relationships, culture and history is more than the sum of separate parts.

A style of thinking in which attention is spread over the whole field, objects are understood through their relationships and context, and events are explained by the situation.

The tendency of people to form ties with others who are already similar to them, which can make friends look alike without any influence between them.

A cognitive theory proposing that people who explain negative events by stable, global causes become hopeless after negative life events, and that hopelessness leads to depression.

A chemical messenger secreted by an endocrine gland into the bloodstream, which carries it to target cells throughout the body that have receptors for it.

The culture of the larger society in which immigrants, refugees or sojourners settle, also called the host society or receiving society.

The slower stress pathway in which the hypothalamus releases CRH, the pituitary gland releases ACTH and the adrenal cortex releases cortisol, which keeps energy available during continuing stress.

A technique in which people publicly advocate a behaviour and are then reminded of their own failures to perform it, creating dissonance that is most easily reduced by changing their behaviour.

A small structure at the base of the brain that regulates hunger, thirst, body temperature and sleep, and controls hormone release through the pituitary gland.

A precise, testable prediction of the relationship between variables in a study, stated in operationalised terms.

A person’s sense of who they are as an individual and as a member of social groups, including the values, roles and commitments that give them continuity over time.

One of four positions in Marcia’s model of adolescent identity (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, achievement), defined by whether a person has explored options and made commitments.

A culturally shared way of expressing and communicating suffering, such as “thinking too much” or “nerves”, which other members of the culture recognise and respond to.

A computer-based reaction-time task that infers the strength of automatic associations between concepts, such as social groups and good or bad, from how quickly people sort words and images.

An attitude, expectation or association that influences judgement and behaviour without the person being aware of it, as opposed to explicit bias, which the person knows about and could report.

The error of applying a concept or measure developed in one culture to another culture as if it were universal, without checking whether it has the same meaning or relevance there.

A social group to which a person feels they belong and with which they identify.

The tendency to evaluate, reward and treat members of one's own group more favourably than members of other groups.

The number of new cases of a condition that develop in a population during a stated period, usually expressed as a rate per 100 or per 1,000 people per year.

Learning that happens without an intention to learn, studied by giving participants a task with material and then an unexpected memory test.

An experimental design in which different participants take part in each condition, so each person experiences only one level of the independent variable.

A view of the self as a separate, unique individual defined by personal traits, preferences and achievements, more common in individualist cultures.

The variable that the researcher manipulates or compares in an experiment, to test its effect on the dependent variable.

Approaches to psychology developed from within a culture, using its own concepts, values and ways of knowing to understand its people, rather than theories and methods imported from elsewhere.

A cultural orientation in which people see themselves mainly as independent individuals, give priority to personal goals and rights, and have relatively loose ties beyond the immediate family.

A dissonance paradigm in which a person is led to act or speak against their own attitude with little external justification, usually leading them to change the attitude to fit the behaviour.

A qualitative method in which categories are not decided in advance but are developed from the data themselves, by open coding, grouping codes and abstracting them into broader categories.

A bottom-up research strategy that starts from data, often qualitative, identifies patterns and themes, and builds explanations or theory from them, as in grounded theory.

Statistical procedures that use data from a sample to judge whether a difference or relationship is likely to exist in the population, by estimating how probable the result would be if it were due to chance alone.

A statistical procedure, such as a t-test or chi-squared test, that turns sample data into a test statistic and a p-value so that a decision can be made about the null hypothesis.

The hypothesis that long-lasting activation of the immune system and raised pro-inflammatory cytokines contribute to the development of depression in some people.

A view of cognition that treats the mind as a system that takes in, transforms, stores and retrieves information in stages, often by analogy with a computer.

Conformity motivated by the wish to be correct, in which a person who is uncertain treats the group as a source of information, so that private belief changes as well as public behaviour.

A participant’s voluntary agreement to take part in research after being told its purpose, procedures, risks and their rights; given by a parent or guardian for children.

Describes an effect of a neurotransmitter that makes the postsynaptic neuron less likely to fire an action potential.

A social norm that describes what most people approve or disapprove of, that is, what a person ought to do, as opposed to what most people actually do.

An attachment type in which the infant explores with little reference to the caregiver, shows little distress at separation and ignores or avoids the caregiver on reunion.

An attachment type in which the infant explores little, is very distressed by separation, and on reunion both seeks contact with the caregiver and resists being comforted.

The placement and upbringing of children in residential institutions such as orphanages, and the effects of that care, which can include delayed development and attachment difficulties.

An explanation of anchoring in which people start from the anchor and adjust towards a plausible value but stop too early, at the edge of the plausible range nearest the anchor.

An acculturation strategy in which a person keeps their heritage culture while also taking part in the host culture and seeking contact with its members.

A form of couples therapy that combines behavioural change strategies with strategies that help partners accept each other's differences, developed by Jacobson and Christensen.

The extent to which two or more independent observers or coders give the same ratings of the same behaviour or material, usually checked by correlating their scores or calculating agreement.

An approach that explains behaviour through the way biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors influence one another, rather than through any one factor alone.

A model of acculturation proposed by Bourhis and colleagues (1997) in which relations between immigrants and the host community depend on how well the acculturation orientations of both groups match, shaped by state integration policies.

A view of the self as connected to others and defined by relationships, roles and group memberships, more common in collectivist cultures.

Hostility, competition or aggression between groups, in which people act as group members rather than as individuals.

A practice strategy in which different types of problem, skill or topic are mixed within a session rather than practised in separate blocks.

A type of reliability showing the extent to which the items of a scale measure the same construct, so that scores on the items rise and fall together.

The extent to which a study shows that the change in the dependent variable was caused by the independent variable and not by other variables, flaws in the procedure or chance.

A mental representation of the self, of attachment figures and of relationships, built from early caregiving experiences, that guides expectations and behaviour in later relationships.

The deepest level of conformity, in which a person privately accepts the group's view as correct, so the change in belief and behaviour lasts when the group is absent.

Cognitive behavioural therapy delivered through structured online modules or an app, either with brief support from a therapist (guided) or entirely as self-help (unguided).

A positive evaluation of another person that makes someone want to approach them and spend time with them, the first step in forming a relationship.

Relationships between two people in which each influences the other's thoughts, feelings and behaviour, such as romantic partnerships, friendships and family relationships.

A structured, time-limited psychological treatment that treats depression by improving current relationships, focusing on grief, disputes, role transitions or social isolation.

A measure of dispersion: the difference between the upper quartile and the lower quartile, giving the spread of the middle 50% of scores; it is not affected by extreme scores.

Numerical data measured on a scale with equal units between values but no true zero point, such as temperature in degrees Celsius or scores on many standardised tests.

A deliberate action designed to change behaviour, cognition, emotion or health, such as a therapy, a medication, a training programme, a campaign or a policy.

A self-report research method in which a researcher asks participants questions face to face, by phone or online and records their spoken answers.

The planned list of questions and follow-up probes used to guide an interview, so that the same topics are covered with every participant.

A change in participants’ answers caused by the characteristics or behaviour of the interviewer, such as age, gender, status or reactions, rather than by the participants’ own views.

Giving a substance, such as oxytocin, as a nasal spray so that it is absorbed through the lining of the nose, used in experiments to raise its levels without an injection.

The cognitive load imposed by the inherent complexity of the material, which depends on how many interacting elements must be processed at once relative to the learner’s existing knowledge.

Motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake, because it is interesting, enjoyable or satisfying, rather than to obtain a separate outcome.

Rusbult's model in which commitment to a relationship rises with satisfaction and investment size and falls with the quality of alternatives, and commitment predicts whether the person stays.

A cooperative learning technique in which each student in a mixed group learns one part of a task and teaches it to the others, so every member depends on every other.

A form of chronic work stress in which high demands are combined with low control over how and when the work is done, linked to a higher risk of coronary heart disease.

An anaesthetic drug that blocks NMDA glutamate receptors and, at low doses, can reduce depressive symptoms within hours in treatment-resistant depression, although the effect is short-lived.

The hypothesis that a first episode of depression usually follows a major stressor, but later episodes are triggered by less and less stress as vulnerability increases.

A stage theory proposing that moral reasoning develops through three levels (preconventional, conventional and postconventional), each with two stages, in a fixed and universal order.

An experiment carried out in a controlled, artificial setting where the researcher manipulates the independent variable and keeps other variables as constant as possible.

A type of artificial intelligence trained on very large collections of text to predict and generate language, used in chatbots and writing assistants.

A theme that goes beyond what participants said explicitly to identify the underlying ideas, assumptions or social meanings that shape the content of the data.

The specialisation of the two cerebral hemispheres for different functions, such as language being processed mainly in the left hemisphere in most people.

Thorndike’s principle that responses followed by satisfying consequences become more likely to recur in the same situation, and those followed by unpleasant consequences less likely.

A question whose wording suggests a particular answer, which can bias the reply and, in eyewitness research, alter what is later remembered.

A state of passivity in which an animal or person stops trying to escape or avoid harm after repeated exposure to unpleasant events it could not control.

The idea that acquiring a behaviour through observation is separate from carrying it out, so a behaviour can be learned but only performed later, when the expected consequences make it worthwhile.

An area of damaged or destroyed brain tissue, caused by injury, disease or surgery; studying the effects of lesions is a main method of linking brain areas to functions.

A classification of quantitative data by the information its numbers carry: nominal (categories), ordinal (ranks), and interval or ratio (equal units). It decides which graphs and statistics can be used.

A model of memory proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972) in which how long information is retained depends on the depth of processing at encoding, from shallow (structural) to deep (semantic).

A rating scale on which participants show how far they agree or disagree with a statement, usually on five or seven points from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

A graph in which points joined by lines show how a variable changes over time or across ordered levels of another variable.

A straight line drawn through the points of a scatterplot so that it lies as close as possible to all of them, showing the direction and slope of a linear relationship.

The hypothesis that the structure and vocabulary of the language a person speaks influence how they perceive, remember and think about the world.

A summary and evaluation of published research on a topic that explains what is already known and shows how a new investigation builds on it.

The theory that specific areas of the brain are responsible for specific psychological functions, so that damage to one area produces a predictable loss of that function.

A memory store that holds information for periods from minutes to a lifetime, with a capacity that is practically unlimited.

A long-lasting strengthening of a synapse that follows repeated stimulation, so that the receiving neuron responds more strongly; it is a leading cellular explanation of learning and memory.

A research design that measures the same participants repeatedly over an extended period, so that change within individuals and the order of events can be studied.

The tendency for losses to have a greater psychological impact than gains of the same size, so that people take risks to avoid a loss that they would not take to secure an equal gain.

A compliance technique in which a person agrees to a request at a low cost, and the cost is then raised; many still comply because they feel committed to their earlier decision.

A culture in which most of the meaning of a message is carried by explicit words, so communication tends to be direct and relies little on shared context or non-verbal cues.

A structural brain imaging technique that uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to produce detailed images of brain anatomy without radiation.

A functional imaging technique that records the tiny magnetic fields produced by the brain's electrical activity, with millisecond timing and better localisation than EEG.

A mental health disorder involving depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure for at least two weeks, with symptoms such as sleep and appetite changes, fatigue, worthlessness and poor concentration.

An acculturation strategy, often not freely chosen, in which a person has little involvement with either their heritage culture or the host culture.

A level descriptor used to mark an answer as a whole: the examiner chooses the band whose description best fits the answer, then awards a mark within that band.

A cultural dimension contrasting societies that value achievement, competition and distinct gender roles (masculine) with societies that value caring, cooperation, quality of life and overlapping gender roles (feminine).

A model who performs a task correctly and confidently from the start, demonstrating the finished skill without errors or doubt.

An experimental design in which participants are paired on characteristics relevant to the study, such as age or ability, and one member of each pair is placed in each condition.

The proposal that people tend to form relationships with partners whose physical attractiveness or overall social desirability is similar to their own.

A caregiver’s ability to notice an infant’s signals, interpret them correctly and respond to them promptly and appropriately, proposed by Ainsworth as the main cause of secure attachment.

Biologically driven change in the body and brain that unfolds with age according to a genetic timetable, largely independent of specific experience, such as the development of the prefrontal cortex in adolescence.

A measure of central tendency calculated by adding all the scores in a set of data and dividing by the number of scores.

A single value that represents the typical or central score in a set of data: the mean, the median or the mode.

A descriptive statistic that shows how spread out the scores in a data set are, such as the range, the interquartile range or the standard deviation.

A concept referring to how psychologists represent behaviour and mental processes as data, by choosing methods and operationalising variables so that the results are reliable, valid and credible.

The degree to which a measure, such as a translated questionnaire, assesses the same construct in the same way in different cultures, so that scores can be fairly compared.

Using two or more media or devices at the same time, or switching rapidly between them, such as messaging while watching videos and studying.

A measure of central tendency: the middle score when all the scores are put in order, or the midpoint of the two middle scores.

The four processes (attention, retention, reproduction and motivation) that Bandura proposed take place between observing a model and imitating the model’s behaviour.

A credibility strategy in qualitative research in which participants are asked to check the researcher's transcripts or interpretations to confirm that they represent their views accurately; also called respondent validation.

A cognitive process by which information is encoded, stored and later retrieved, allowing past experience to affect present behaviour and thought.

The process by which a newly encoded, fragile memory trace is stabilised into a lasting long-term memory, first at synapses within hours and then across brain systems over months or years.

The proposal that stress hormones such as adrenaline, acting through the amygdala, strengthen the consolidation of memories formed during emotional arousal rather than creating them.

A state of psychological and emotional well-being in which a person can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and contribute to their community; more than the absence of a disorder.

A pattern of thoughts, emotions and behaviour that causes significant distress or impairment in daily functioning and meets agreed diagnostic criteria, such as those of DSM-5-TR or ICD-11.

The tendency to develop a more positive attitude towards a person or stimulus simply because of repeated exposure to it.

The proposal that the visible presence of a smartphone, even when unused, reduces attention, cognitive capacity or conversation quality; the evidence for it is mixed.

A statistical technique that combines the results of many studies on the same question to estimate the overall size and consistency of an effect.

Knowledge about one’s own thinking and the ability to monitor and control it, such as judging how well something has been learned and choosing a strategy to learn it.

A way of paying attention, on purpose and without judgement, to present-moment experience, including thoughts and feelings, which are noticed as passing events rather than facts.

A group treatment combining mindfulness meditation with elements of cognitive therapy, designed to prevent relapse in people who have recovered from recurrent depression.

A research method in which participants are divided into groups on a trivial or random basis, with no contact, history or conflict, to test whether categorisation alone produces in-group favouritism.

A form of social influence in which a smaller group or individual changes the views of a majority, usually through a consistent argument that leads to private acceptance (conversion).

The distortion of a memory by misleading information received after the event, so that a person reports details that were not part of the original experience.

The gap between the heritability of a trait estimated from twin studies and the much smaller share of variation explained by genetic variants found in genome-wide association studies.

A research strategy that combines quantitative and qualitative data in one study, so that each kind of data compensates for the limitations of the other.

A technique, such as an acronym, a rhyme or the method of loci, that organises information into a memorable structure to aid encoding and retrieval.

The finding that learners learn more when a diagram is accompanied by a spoken rather than a written explanation, because visual and auditory channels together increase effective working memory capacity.

A measure of central tendency: the score or category that occurs most often in a set of data.

A simplified representation of a complex process, usually showing its components and how they are linked, used to explain the process, test hypotheses and make predictions.

The demonstration of a behaviour by a model (a live person, a media character or a verbal description) that an observer may learn and later imitate.

The hypothesis that depression is caused by low levels or reduced activity of monoamine neurotransmitters, especially serotonin and noradrenaline, in the brain.

An antidepressant that blocks monoamine oxidase, the enzyme that breaks down serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine, so that more of these neurotransmitters is available for release.

Bowlby’s idea that an infant has an innate tendency to form one primary attachment, usually with the mother, which is more important than any other bond.

Twins who develop from a single fertilised egg that splits in two, so they share almost 100% of their genes; also called identical twins.

The distinction between moral rules, judged to be wrong everywhere because they concern harm, rights or justice, and conventional rules, judged to be local customs that authorities could change.

Any person, or tool, with greater understanding or skill than the learner for a particular task, who can guide the learner through the zone of proximal development.

Reasoning in which the wish to reach a particular conclusion, rather than accuracy, influences how evidence is sought, evaluated and remembered.

The processes that give behaviour its purpose or direction, energy and persistence; motives may be conscious, such as a stated goal, or unconscious.

A client-centred counselling approach that strengthens a person’s own motivation to change a behaviour by exploring their ambivalence and reasons for change rather than persuading or instructing them.

A visual illusion in which two lines of equal length appear to differ in length because of the direction of arrow-like fins at their ends.

A model of memory proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) in which information passes through three separate stores, sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory, linked by attention, rehearsal and retrieval.

A society’s policy and attitude of accepting cultural diversity, in which different cultural groups keep their heritage while sharing full participation in the larger society.

The increase in the risk of at least one type I error when many significance tests are run on the same data, because each test at the 0.05 level carries its own chance of a false positive.

The extent to which the tasks and setting of a study resemble situations that people meet in everyday life.

A fatty insulating layer, formed by glial cells, that wraps axons in segments and greatly speeds the conduction of action potentials.

The process in which axons become covered in a fatty myelin sheath, which speeds up and synchronises signals between brain regions; it continues into the twenties, with frontal pathways among the last.

A study in which the independent variable changes naturally, through an event the researcher did not cause or control, and the researcher measures its effect on behaviour.

An observation of behaviour in the setting where it normally occurs, such as a home, playground or street, with no interference from the researcher.

The debate about the relative contribution of inherited factors (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) to behaviour, now usually replaced by the study of how the two interact.

Brief, spontaneous negative thoughts about the self, the world or the future that arise in everyday situations, feel believable and are rarely questioned.

A control process in which a rise in a hormone’s level acts back on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to reduce further release, keeping the level stable.

Strengthening a behaviour because it removes, ends or avoids an unpleasant stimulus, such as pain, anxiety or a loud noise.

An organised set of negative beliefs about the self, formed through early experience, that biases how self-relevant information is processed and creates vulnerability to depression.

A diagnosis of “weakness of the nerves”, with fatigue, headaches, poor concentration and poor sleep, widely used in China for distress often classed in the West as depression or anxiety.

The formation of new neurons; in adult mammals it occurs in only a few regions, such as part of the hippocampus, and how much it happens in adult humans is debated.

A nerve cell that carries information through the nervous system, electrically along its own length and chemically to other cells.

The ability of the brain to change its structure and function in response to experience, learning or injury, throughout life.

The process by which a neuron passes a signal to another cell: an action potential causes release of a neurotransmitter that crosses the synaptic gap and binds to receptors.

A chemical messenger released by a neuron into the synaptic gap that binds to receptors on a neighbouring cell and makes it more or less likely to fire.

A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not trigger the response being studied, apart from perhaps a brief orienting response.

A treatment for tobacco addiction that supplies nicotine through patches, gum, lozenges or sprays without tobacco smoke, reducing withdrawal and cravings while the person stops smoking.

Data in the form of separate, unordered categories (such as attachment type or country), summarised by counting how many cases fall into each category.

An observation in which the researcher watches the group from outside and does not take part in its activities.

A sampling bias that arises when the people who do not respond to a survey differ systematically from those who do, so the results misrepresent the target population.

The sending of information without words, through facial expression, eye contact, gesture, posture, touch, use of space and tone of voice.

A chemical messenger that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain and as a hormone released by the adrenal glands, increasing arousal, alertness and the body’s readiness for action.

A symmetrical, bell-shaped distribution in which most scores cluster around the centre, the mean, median and mode are equal, and about 68% of scores lie within one standard deviation of the mean.

Conformity motivated by the wish to be liked and accepted by a group and to avoid rejection, which usually produces public agreement without private acceptance.