ABA refers to a specific type of research design in which you have a baseline period where no treatment is given and/or no variable is introduced (A), followed by a period in which the treatment or variable is introduced (B), and then a period in which the treatment is removed so the behavior can be observed a second time (A). This way you can measure behavior before treatment, during treatment, and once treatment is removed.
Although the terms “normal” and “abnormal” can be argued at great length, psychologists often define the term “abnormal” as deviating from what is considered the “norm” and not conforming to the accepted social rules. Sounds pretty weak, right…”abnormal is anything that is not considered normal”. The reality is that we define all sorts of behaviors, thoughts, etc. by what the majority of people do, and say that this is the norm. Behavior that falls outside of this is considered abnormal. It is important to recognize that abnormality is affected significantly by society and culture…what is abnormal in the United States may be considered completely normal in another country.
[top]Abnormal Psychology
A discipline or branch of psychology that studies patterns of normal and abnormal behavior as well as personality disorders. In addition, abnormal psychology is concerned with the origins and treatment of abnormal behavior and disorders. Although the term is not used in this way, it may be helpful for you to think of abnormal psychologists as counseling psychologists and/or clinical psychologists. Abnormal psychology is more of an umbrella term.
[top]Absolute Threshold
This is a term that many students have a difficult time understanding, but it's not as complex as it might seem. One formal definition is that absolute threshold is the smallest intensity of a stimulus that has to be present for the stimulus to be detected. Let's use an example to clear this up. Think of an electric burner on a stove. Imagine turning that burner on and then placing your hand directly on it. At first you won't feel much heat because is takes time for the burner to heat up. But at some point it will get hot enough for you to detect…meaning, there is some temperature that is just hot enough for you to notice it. This isn't the point at which you get burned, but the point at which it is just hot enough for you to detect the presence of the heat.
[top]Accommodation
This term stemmed from the work of Jean Piaget and his work on cognitive development of children. Accommodation is the cognitive process of revising existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding so that new information can be incorporated. In order to make sense of some new information, you actual adjust information you already have (schemas you already have, etc.) to make room for this new information. This is related to assimilation.
[top]Acculturation
There are actually a couple of different meanings to this word (given in no particular order). The first definition here relates to the effects of groups or societies on people…"The modification of the culture of a group or individual as a result of contact with a different culture" or " The process by which the culture of a particular society is instilled in a human from infancy onward." Acculturation may also refer to a cognitive process that is similar to Piaget's "assimilation", as can be seen in this definition of acculturation: "the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structure."
[top]Acetylcholine
Acetylcholine (ACh) is the most common type of neurotransmitter, and the most well understood. It's found in parts of the peripheral nervous system, spinal cord, and areas of the brain. In the peripheral nervous system, ACh activates muscles that help the body move. When Ach is released to the muscle cells, the muscle contracts. In the brain, ACh is involved in breathing, attention, arousal, motivation, etc. Obviously there are many problems that can occur if ACh is blocked (muscles can't contract). One example is the black widow spider uses venom that causes a flood of ACh into muscle cells and results in violent, uncontrollable muscle contractions, paralysis, and death for it's prey.
[top]Achievement test
An achievement test is a standardized test that is designed to measure an individual's level of knowledge in a particular area. Unlike an aptitude test which measures a person’s ability to learn something, an achievement test focuses specifically on how much a person knows about a specific topic or area such as math, geography, or science. One of the most well known achievement tests is the SAT, which is often used by college admission boards to determine who gets accepted to college. Unfortunately, schools often use the SAT to predict how well students will learn (or perform) in college, which means they are using an achievement test as though it was an aptitude test.
[top]Acquisition
Acquisition refers to the initial stage of the learning or conditioning process. In this stage, some response is being associated with some stimulus to the point where we can say the organism (person, animal, etc.) has "acquired" the response. During this stage the response is strengthened (reinforced) so that it is truly "learned". For example, if you are trying to train a rat to press a lever in response to you ringing a bell (i.e., trying to condition the rat to press the lever when and only when you ring the bell), then once the rat presses the lever in only response to the bell, you can say the response is "acquired". You would then continue to gradually reinforce the lever pressing in response to the bell to make sure the response is strengthened.
An irrational fear of heights or high places. Many people dislike heights, but someone with a clinical case of acrophobia can have intense emotional and physical responses at just the thought of being in a high place.
[top]Action Potential
Many people often think that the neural impulse (the firing of a neuron) is actually the action potential. However, the action potential is really just one step in the entire sequence of steps that must occur for a neural impulse to occur (we have a nice description of how this occurs in the Class Notes section of AlleyDog.com…go to the Biological Psychology link to read it. During the sequence of events in the neural impulse, the neural membrane opens at one area and allows the positively charged ions to rush in and the negative ions to rush out. When this happens, the charge inside the neuron rises to approximately +40 mv (is this too much information?) for just a brief moment, but long enough to create a domino effect. As action potentials happen over and over within the neuron, it carries the electrical signal (the information) with it. The neural impulse is like a series of action potentials happening over and over again.
[top]Active Listening
Active listening comes from the theories of Carl Rogers' person-centered-therapy. This type of listening involves a person (typically a therapist) listening to a person and then responding to the person using techniques such as paraphrasing. In this way the listener restates what has been said in order to demonstrate empathy, show that he/she was listening and understanding what was being said.
[top]Actor-Observer Bias
This is a social psychology term that refers to the tendency of an individual to regard situations in which he or she is involved as caused by external factors, and to regard situations he or she observes as caused by the actions of those involved. Think of a time when someone was rude to you. Did you say to yourself, “Wow, that person must be having a bad day. I understand why they were rude to me” ? Or did you say something to the effect of, “What a jerk”? If your response was similar to the latter, then you attributed the persons behavior to internal factors (the person is a jerk) rather than external factors (bad day). The likelihood is that if the situation were reversed and you were rude to someone else, you would say it was because of something external and not some internal factor (like you think you are a jerk--I don't think so!).
[top]Acute Schizophrenia
This term is no longer used commonly, but used to refer to a disorder characterized primarily by a sudden onset of schizophrenic symptoms such as aberrant behavior and disorientation. More recently schizophrenia has been classified as a chronic disorder which means that it does not come and go sporadically as the term acute schizophrenia implies.
Things change. As humans, we must also change. Adaptation refers to an individual's ability to adjust to changes and new experiences, and to accept new information. The ability to adapt helps us grow mentally and continually develop.
Any time a person continues to exhibit harmful or obsessive behavior, we can say that they are addicted. There are many, many types of addictions, from gambling, to sex, to drugs and alcohol.
Adjustment may be defined as a process of altering behavior to reach a harmonious relationship with the environment. When people say they are in an “adjustment period” they typically mean they are going through a process of change and are searching for some level of balance or acceptance with the environment, others, or themselves.
[top]Adolescence
The developmental stage that occurs from puberty to maturity, lasting from about ages 12 to 18 (there is some debate about the exact age range, but 12-18 is a commonly accepted range). There are numerous theories about the changes that occur during this stage of life, but one thing that is consistent is that this is a significant time of change and growth. During this time of life we transition to adulthood.
A person in the stage of adolescence, which is the developmental stage that occurs from puberty to maturity, lasting from about ages 12 to 18.
Affect is a fairly general term for feelings, emotions, or moods. To say someone has negative affect means that they have feelings, emotions, or moods that are negative in nature. I guess you can think of this as just a fancy way to say "feelings".
[top]Affective Disorder
Since affect is a general term for feelings, emotion, or moods, affective disorder is a disorder characterized by wide fluctuation of feelings, emotions, and/or moods. For example, a person with affective disorder may be very happy one minute and then terribly depressed the next.
Agape is a Greek term meaning a purely spiritual love of a person. This type of love corresponds to the love of God.
[top]Age Regression
Have you ever seen a movie in which some characters supposedly had something happen to them when they were young and some therapist says he/she will hypnotize the person so they can "go back" in time and remember the thing that happened? Well, that's basically what age regression is…a person is hypnotized so that they can relive a past experience (typically during childhood) which is supposed to help them resolve some internal problem. Unfortunately there are many problems associated with this including false memories.
Let’s be really simple with this term…aggression is any form of behavior that is intended to harm or injure some person, oneself, or an object.
[top]Alexithymia
This term was requested by a student and is a term we are not very familiar with. As a result, we searched for a definition and found the following...we hope you find it useful: "Sifneos (1972) coined the term alexithymia to designate a group of cognitive and affective characteristics typical of many patients with psychosomatic illnesses. It is thought to be a personality trait that is characterized by a decreased ability to communicate feelings, a decreased ability to identify feelings, a cognitive tendency toward detail and external operations or events, and a paucity of imaginative thought, dream recall, or fantasy" (Taylor, 1994).
[top]Alpha Waves
Alpha waves are a type of brain wave that occur when a person is relaxed, but still awake. Alpha waves typically occur when you are falling asleep, as you pass from wakefulness into sleep (from wake into stage 1 sleep).
[top]Altered State (of consciousness)
If college students don’t know what this term means, who will? Just kidding. An altered state of consciousness is any mental state or condition that varies from a person’s normal state of awareness. Things that can produce altered states include alcohol, drugs, dreams, hypnosis, meditation, sensory deprivation, or hallucinations.
Altruism refers to unselfish behaviors or actions done for the sake of someone else. For example, if you volunteer at a nursing home, or give
Money to someone in need, etc., you are helping someone else without receiving benefit. However, there is debate about altruism - some people who say altruism doesn't "really" exist because you do get something out of unselfish acts - you feel good about yourself. I'll leave it to you to decide if altruism exists.
Amnesia is the inability to recall past events. Amnesia can result from physical trauma (such as being in an accident and getting a blow to the head) or from psychological problems. One type of amnesia, dissociative amnesia, is the inability to recall events that results from psychological problems, specifically from too much stress. This is sometimes seen in victims of horrible events such as violent crimes, murder, war, etc. It is not a typical situation, but sometimes when an event is simply too difficult for a person to handle, they protect themselves by blocking the memory of the event. In these cases the problem is usually temporary.
[top]Amphetamines
Amphetamines are a type of stimulant that speeds up bodily processes, and includes caffeine (coffee, tea, soda), nicotene (cigarettes), and cocaine. Some of the effects include increased heart rate, increased respiration, reduced appetite, and increased energy. Many modern-day "energy drinks" contain a lot of caffeine to give you all this energy.
No, this is not pronounced "ah-mig-DAH-la", but rather, "ah-MIG-dah-la" (don't ask me why I felt compelled to include the pronounciation!). The amygdala is actually 2 areas of the brain (not one) containing lots of neurons that influence anger, aggression, fear, and rage. Although there are other parts of the brain that influence these emotions, the amygdala may have the most influence. Early studies demonstrated that damaging these areas can turn very aggressive animals into docile, even fearful creatures.
[top]Anaclitic Depression
This is a type of depression that occurs primarily in infants who have been separated from or lost their mothers or primary caretakers. If a child suffers from anaclitic depression there is a high risk of serious developmental problems both intellectually and physically. Although anaclitic depression has been reserved almost exclusively for infants, psychologists have found it in adults and even monkeys.
[top]Anal Character
This term is an extension of Freud’s anal stage of development (you remember Freud’s stages of development, right?) in which a person develops a specific type of a personality that stems from unresolved conflicts during the anal stage of psychosexual development. A person with an anal character typically shows traits such as excessive neatness and orderliness, stinginess, and an inability to be flexible.
The anal stage is one of the stages in Freud’s psychosexual theory of development, which occurs in the second year of life. During this stage, the anus becomes the focus of sexual gratification. This occurs because the child finds sexual pleasure in the sensations that come with having or withholding bowel movements.
[top]Anal-Expulsive
Freud’s psychosexual theory of development has several stages and lots of elements within those stages. The term anal-expulsive refers to a time during the anal stage of development (which lasts from about 18 months to three or four years old) in which the focus of pleasure is the anus and children find sensual pleasure in having bowel movements (expelling feces). This is the opposite of anal-retentive in which children retain feces (they resist having bowel movements).
Freud believed that a child who does not successfully take control over their sphincter at the anal stage will become fixated and may end up with a anal-expulsive personality - which includes being disorganized, messy, careless, rebellious, and sometimes cruel.
[top]Anal-Retentive (anal stage of motivational development)
The anal stage of motivational development is characterized by the child's central area of bodily concern in the rectum. Bowel movements become a source of pleasure to the child. The child may defecate to receive pleasure. However, gaining pleasure from defecating brings the child into conflict with the parents regarding toilet training. Freud claimed that delays during this stage (or this stage occuring prematurely) can cause fixation. Fixation during the anal stage can result in anal retention in which a person exhibits compulsive cleanliness, ordderliness, or fussiness.
Someone who is androgynous has both male and female traits. This is not to say that the person has male and female genitalia, but that the person exhibits both male and female behaviors, emotions, etc. This type of person is very much a mix of maleness and femaleness.
[top]Anecdotal Evidence
Anecdotal Evidence is information you obtain from a subjective report, an observation, or some kind of example that may or may not be reliable. In addition, anecdotal evidence is not scientifically valid or representative of a larger group or of conditions in another location.
[top]Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa (often referred to as just anorexia) is a very serious, pathological loss of appetite and self induced limiting of food intake. Anorexia nervosa can lead to severe psychological, emotional, and physical problems, including death. This disorder most often affects females (although males do suffer from anorexia as well), and is typically associated with a tremendous amount of concern for and misperception of one's own body image.
[top]Antecedent Conflict
Antecedent conflict is the concept or theory that suggests events that happen early in life which are troubling, traumatic, or disturbing bring about intense reactions to conflict during adult life. This is not to say that people who simply don’t deal with problems well have antecedent conflict. Rather, responses to conflict are severe and very intense, well outside the “normal” range or responding.
People who are antisocial tend to have and exhibit hostility toward society or to the established values of the society in which they live.
[top]Antisocial Behavior
Antisocial behavior is exhibited typically by people who are “antisocial” which is hostility toward society or the established values of society. When behaviors are exhibited that violates rules or conventions of society and/or personal rights, they are exhibiting antisocial behavior.
[top]Antisocial Personality
This is a type of personality disorder in which the person has impulsivity, an inability to live by the rules, customs, and laws of the society in which they live, and a lack of anxiety or guilt about their behavior. It is synonymous with sociopathic personality and sociopath.
We all experience some anxiety sometimes, but many people don’t really know what it is. According to one dictionary definition, anxiety can be defined as a strong and unpleasant feeling of nervousness or distress in response to a feared situation, often accompanied by physiological effects such as nausea, trembling, breathlessness, sweating, and rapid heartbeat.
[top]Anxiety Disorder
The class of disorders containing any disorder in which anxiety is the primary feature or in which anxiety appears when the individual tries to resist a phobia. There are a variety of anxiety disorders including Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Social Phobia,
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Acute Stress Disorder. Each of these anxiety disorders has specific criteria outlined in the DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual) that must be reached before someone is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Aphasia is the inability to use language appropriately and may include problems speaking language, hearing language, and reading language. Some with aphasia are able to read properly, but can't speak the language, speak the language but not be able to read it, or read letters but not numbers. Aphasia usually results from damage to parts of the brain such as Broca's (speaking problems) area or Wernicke's area (understanding language problems).
[top]Applied Research
As opposed to basic research, applied research is the type of research which is conducted to solve practical problems, find cures to illnesses, develop therapies with the purpose of helping people, and other similar types of practical problem-solving research.
[top]Aptitude Tests
As you probably know, aptitude refers to a person's capacity to learn. It should come as no surprise then that an aptitude test is a test designed to predict learning capacity for a particular area or particular skills. For example, the SAT is a test designed to predict how well you will perform in college (I won't get into the good and/or bad of this test). It is not designed to measure how will you did in high school (that would be an achievement test) but how capable you are of learning all the new skills necessary to do well in college.
[top]Assimilation
This term stemmed from the work of Jean Piaget and his work on cognitive development of children. Assimilation is the cognitive process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding. This means that when you are faced with new information, you make sense of this information by referring to information you already have (information processed and learned previouly) and try to fit the new information into the information you already have. A similar process is accommodation (another one of Piaget's processes), but with accomodation the information you already have has to be adjusted to incorporate the new information.
[top]Association
The term "association" has different meanings depending on whether you're viewing it from a cognitive or behavioral perspective. From the cognitive perspective, an association is a bond or connection between two images, thoughts, ideas, or other psychological phenomena, whereby the occurrence of one tends to bring to mind the other. The simple thought of one idea produces the thought of the other. For example, when you read the word “stop” did a word come to mind? (Maybe a stop sign or a red light?)
From a behavioral perspective, an association is the forming of a learned connection between a stimulus and a response, or between one stimulus and another. For a more comprehensive understanding of this, you should take a look at conditioning definitions such as conditioned response, conditioned stimulus, etc.
[top]Association Theory
This theory stems from behaviorism and states that concepts are learned by simple, reinforced connections between a stimulus and a desired response. When an organism makes connections between a stimulus (e.g., a bell ringing) and a response (e.g., pressing a lever which may ultimately lead to a reward), it is making an association.
[top]Associative Learning
This is a "learning" or "conditioning" term that refers to learning that two different events occur or happen together. This is really a fundamental component of conditioning since a response to a stimulus won't really be learned if the organism doesn't get the point that the stimulus and response are supposed to occur together. This doesn't have to be a conscious learning (remember, there is a big difference between classical and operant conditioning) but the association must be made for the learning to occur. For example, will a rat learn to press a lever if it never makes the association between pressing the lever and getting the reward? Or why would a dog salivate to a bell if it never makes the connection between the bell and getting food?
When the brain is unable to regulate the body's posture and direction of movement, it causes shaky and unsteady movements. This sometimes happens temporarily when you take medication, but can also be an ongoing medical condition.
Attachment can pertain to all people, regardless of age, but typically relates to the attachment between children and caregivers (usually the mother). Attachment is an emotional tie or bond between two people. This is a very powerful bond that is important for survival - it keeps infants close to their mothers which is important for getting food, staying away from danger, and getting comfort.
Attitudes can be defined as an affective feelings of liking or disliking toward an object (which can be basically anything) that has an influence on behavior. As Don Forsyth describes in his text book (Our Social World), an attitude is not a feeling, a cognition, or a form of behavior; instead, attitudes combine all three components in an "integrated affect-cognition-behavior system." What this all means is that attitudes are made of three components that all influence each other. If one component changes, then it influences the entire attitude structure. In addition, each components not only have an influence on the attitude structure as a whole, but also on each other component. Although many people think attitudes are pretty simple (you like something or you don't), you can see that attitudes are actually quite complex and dynamic.
[top]Attribution
Technically speaking, attribution is the process by which people use information to make inferences about the causes of behavior or events. Simply put, this is how we go about inferring behavior (our own and those of others). For example, if you take an exam and you do well but a friend of yours fails, you might say that you did well because you are smart but your friend failed because he partied all night and didn’t study. In this case, you “attributed” your success to an internal attribution (you’re smart) but “attributed” your friend’s behavior to an external attribution (partied all night).
[top]Attribution Theory
Attribution theory is a Social Psychological theory that relates to the way in which people explain their own behavior and that of others. According to this theory, people tend to attribute (or explain) psychological or external causes as the determining factor in behavior. For example, if someone acts mean to you one day, would you attribute the behavior to the person being a jerk (internal attribution) or to the person having a bad day (external attribution)? Attribution theory examines the ways in which people make these attributions. Make sure you review the definition for the Fundamental Attribution Error, which relates directly to this.
[top]Aversion Therapy
Similar to other types of behavior therapy, aversion therapy is based on the principles of learning (conditioning) and is done to eliminate the presence of some maladaptive behavior. This is done by pairing the maladaptive behavior (which is in some way rewarding to the person who engages in it -- like smoking) with a stimulus that is unpleasant. What happens then is that the pleasant behavior becomes less pleasant and decreases over time until it is gone completely.
Axons are the long, spider-thin, tail-like structures found on neurons (nerve cells). Each neuron has a nerve body, dendrites, and axons, all of which are used to send information throughout your body. The axon carries signals (electric voltages) between the dendrites (the neuron's input sites) and the terminal buttons (the neuron's output sites that are at the very end of the axon). The signal always travels in the same direction - the signal comes into the neuron through the dendrites, through the cell body (soma), to the axon, and then out the terminal buttons to the dendrites of the next neuron. In this way information travels all around your body by going from neuron to neuron.
Pschology Glossary and definitions.
Linear Mode
