49 of the Psychology glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
The whole group of people that a researcher wants to draw conclusions about and from which the sample is selected.
The delivery of a treatment by people without specialist qualifications, such as trained lay counsellors or community health workers, under specialist supervision, to widen access where specialists are scarce.
A Māori model of health developed by Mason Durie in 1984 that represents well-being as a meeting house with four walls: spiritual, mental and emotional, physical, and family well-being, standing on the land.
The interruption of face-to-face interaction between people, such as parents and children or couples, by the use of digital devices.
Psychological therapy delivered at a distance through technology, such as video calls, telephone, text messaging or structured online programmes, rather than face to face.
The view that an infant’s inborn temperament, such as how easily they become distressed, shapes their attachment behaviour more than the sensitivity of their caregiver.
The pattern in retrograde amnesia in which recent memories are lost more than older ones, because older memories have been consolidated outside the hippocampus.
The lobe at the side of each cerebral hemisphere, involved in hearing and language comprehension and, on its inner surface, in memory and emotion through the hippocampus and amygdala.
The requirement for a causal claim that the cause comes before the effect in time, which longitudinal and prospective designs can show and one-off correlational studies cannot.
How precisely a brain imaging technique can show when activity happens, measured as the shortest time between changes it can tell apart.
A hormone, produced mainly by the testes and in smaller amounts by the ovaries and adrenal glands, that influences sexual development, sex drive, competitiveness and dominance.
A compliance technique in which an offer is improved, by adding extras or lowering the price, before the person has had a chance to respond to the original offer.
A qualitative method for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns of meaning (themes) across a data set such as interview transcripts, usually following Braun and Clarke’s six phases from familiarisation to the written report.
A diagram used in thematic analysis to show candidate themes, their subthemes and the codes that belong to them, and how the themes relate to one another.
A pattern of shared meaning across a qualitative data set, built from related codes and organised around a central idea that answers something important about the research question.
An organised set of principles that explains and predicts behaviour and can be tested by research.
The ability to attribute mental states such as beliefs, desires, intentions and emotions to oneself and others, and to understand that they can differ from one’s own and from reality.
A model in which attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control predict intention, and intention, together with perceived control, predicts behaviour.
The collaborative relationship between client and therapist, made up of agreement on the goals and tasks of therapy and the emotional bond between them.
A detailed account of a study's participants, setting, context and procedure, which allows readers to judge whether qualitative findings can be transferred to other contexts.
A variable that is not measured or controlled but influences both variables in a correlation, so that they appear related even when neither causes the other.
A structured written log used in cognitive behavioural therapy to note a situation, the automatic thoughts and feelings it triggered, the evidence for and against the thoughts and a more balanced alternative.
The principles of replacement (avoiding animals where possible), reduction (using as few animals as possible) and refinement (minimising pain and distress) that guide animal research.
A cultural dimension describing how strong a society’s social norms are and how far deviation from them is tolerated: tight cultures have many strict norms and punish deviance; loose cultures have weaker norms and tolerate it.
An observation sampling method in which behaviour is recorded only at set intervals, for example which categories occur in a ten-second window every minute.
A behaviour modification system in which tokens are given immediately for target behaviours and later exchanged for backup reinforcers such as privileges, activities or items.
Processing of information that is guided by prior knowledge, expectations and schemas, as opposed to processing driven only by the features of the incoming stimulus.
Strong, frequent or prolonged activation of a child’s stress response without the buffering support of a caring adult, which can disrupt brain development and later health.
Lazarus and Folkman’s model in which stress results from an interaction between person and environment, depending on the person’s appraisal of the demands of a situation and of their resources for coping.
A biological treatment in which a magnetic coil on the scalp induces electrical currents in a targeted area of the cortex; repeated daily sessions (rTMS) are used to treat depression.
A written, word-for-word record of an interview or focus group, usually anonymised, which forms the raw data for qualitative analysis.
The principle that memory is best when the kind of processing used at encoding matches the kind of processing the later memory test requires.
The extent to which the findings of a qualitative study can be applied to other people, settings or contexts, judged by readers from a detailed description of the original study.
A stage model of behaviour change in which people move through precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance, with relapse possible, and interventions are matched to the stage.
The extent to which a person follows a treatment as prescribed, such as taking medication at the right dose and for the recommended length of time.
How well an intervention produces its intended change in real-world conditions, judged by the size, durability and reach of the change; often distinguished from efficacy, how well it works in controlled trials.
Major depressive disorder that has not improved after at least two adequate courses of different antidepressant treatments.
The mistaken belief that because a treatment relieves a condition, the condition must have been caused by a lack of what the treatment supplies or by the process it acts on.
The use of more than one method, data source, researcher or theory to study the same question, so that conclusions do not depend on a single measure; agreement increases credibility.
An older class of antidepressant, named after its three-ring chemical structure, that blocks the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline and also acts on many other receptors, causing more side effects.
An experiment in which the researcher manipulates the independent variable and allocates participants to conditions at random, which allows a cause-and-effect conclusion.
A graph axis that starts at a value other than zero, which can make small differences between bars look much larger than they are.
An economic game in which an investor decides how much money to send to a trustee, the amount is multiplied, and the trustee decides how much to return; the amount sent is used as a measure of trust.
The overall quality of qualitative research, judged by its credibility, transferability, dependability (consistency of the research process) and confirmability (findings shaped by the data rather than the researcher).
An experimental technique that temporarily lowers brain serotonin by giving a diet and amino acid drink lacking tryptophan, the amino acid from which serotonin is made.
A research design that compares the similarity of monozygotic twins with that of dizygotic twins on a trait, to estimate how far variation in the trait is associated with genetic differences.
A research method in which participants answer a reasoning problem twice, first quickly under a deadline or load that blocks deliberate thinking, then again with unlimited time, to separate intuitive from deliberate responses.
A false positive: concluding that an effect or relationship exists, by rejecting the null hypothesis, when in reality there is none.
A false negative: failing to detect an effect or relationship that really exists, by retaining the null hypothesis when it is false; more likely with small samples and unreliable measures.