Obedience: Obedience occurs when you change your opinions, judgments, or actions because someone in a position of authority told you to. The key aspect to note about obedience is that just because you have changed in some way, it does not mean that you now agree with the change. For example, if you are a democratic senator, and the president came to you and demanded that you vote for a something that you were not in favor, and you did go ahead and vote the way the president said, you would be obeying (or displaying obedient behavior). However, this does not mean that you now agree with the way you voted or what you voted for....only that you did what you were told to do. Obesity: The state of being overweight. Interestingly, this definition seems to change so often that providing a definition is silly. It used to be that obesity was defined as being a certain percentage above the "normal" weight for a specific age and height. According to that definition, a person who was 20% above the average weight for a specific height and age was considered obese. However, in more recent years, obesity has been defined by specific weight ranges for people within a specific age and height. (Since the specific ranges seem to change regularly, I do not include them here.) Object Permanence: A developmental term that refers to a child's ability to understand that objects still exist after they are no longer in sight. Infants eight-months old or younger tend not to have this ability. It is not until they become more cognitively developed that they understand to search for an object even though it has been hidden from view. Object Relations: Object relations are emotional bonds between people, as oppsed to exhibiting love of self. When you show more concern for another person than for yourself in a situation, you're showing object relations. Objective Tests: Inventories which assess your personality or various abilities in an unbiased manner. These tests rely on the mathematical score instead of a person's intuition. Observational Learning: The process of acquiring information by observing others. Learning to tie your shoe by observing another individual perform the task would be an example of observational learning. Observer Bias: Observer bias is quite similar to Demand Characteristics except that the bias is with the "observers" of the research (i.e., the research team) rather than the participants. In other words, observer bias occurs when the observers (or researcher team) know the goals of the study or the hypotheses and allow this knowledge to influence their observations during the study. For example, if an observer knows that the researcher hypothesized that females speak in more complex sentences, they may believe they hear females speaking that way during the study even if it's not really true. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: An anxiety disorder where individuals are unable to stop thinking the same thoughts or performing the same tasks over and over again. A common Obsessive-compulsive disorder is frequent hand washing. Individuals attempt to alleviate their fear or anxiety by performing certain rituals (e.g.., washing hands 63 times before leaving the house). These rituals are to the extent that they have trouble carrying on with their daily activities. Occipital Lobe: The brain can be divided into four main areas, one of which is the occipital lobe, which is the area of the brain located at the rear of the head. The occipital lobe is responsible for sight. Oedipus Complex: Within psychodynamic theory, the Oedipus Complex occurs during the phallic stage and is a conflict in which the boy wishes to possess his mother sexually and perceives his father to be a rival in love. According to Freud, the child must give up his sexual attraction for his mother in order to resolve this attraction and move to the next stage of psychosexual development. Failure to do so would lead the child to become fixated in this stage. Typically the Oedipus Complex refers to a boy wanting to possess his mother, while the Electra Complex refers to a girl wishing to possess her father. But don't be surprised if some refer to the Oedipus Complex for both boys and girls. One-Word Stage: During language development children go through stages during which their language gets better and better until they can finally speak fluently. The one-word stage, as the name implies, the stage in which children speak mainly in single words. For example, during the one-word stage a child isn't yet able to say "I want milk" so they say "milk". This stage occurs from about age 1-2, and then gives way to the two-word stage (seriously…it's true). Operant Behavior: In psychology we often compare and contrast two different types of conditioning or learning: operant conditioning and classical conditioning. Within each of these are types of learning. Operant behavior (which goes along with operant conditioning) refers to behavior that "operates" on the environment or is controllable by the individual. Operant behavior is done because it produces some type of consequence. For example, you are probably familiar with Pavlov's dog (classical conditioning) in which the dog salivated in response to meet powder. The dog couldn't control the salivation…that's classical conditioning. However, if the dog understood that by coming when called it would receive a treat, then it would be engaging in operant behavior. Operant Conditioning: Operant Conditioning is a type of learning in which a behavior is strengthened (meaning, it will occur more frequently) when it's followed by reinforcement, and weakened (will happen less frequently) when followed by punishment. Operant conditioning is based on a simple premise - that behavior is influenced by the consequences that follow. When you are reinforced for doing something, you're more likely to do it again. When you are punished for doing something, you are less likely to do it again. Operational Definition: A statement of the procedures or ways in which a researcher is going to measure behaviors or qualities. For example, let's say you wanted measure and define "life change". You could do this by giving people the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and then operationally define "life change" as the score on the social readjustment rating scale. Opiates: Opiates are depressant type drugs that are derived from opium. Typically opiates are used to relieve pain and create a euphoric state of consciousness. Some opiates you may have heard of include herion and morphine. Opponent Process Theory: A theory suggested by Solomon where emotional reactions to a stimulus are followed by opposite emotional reactions. This theory may explain why stunt people enjoy their work. First the individual will feel intense anxiety before performing a stunt and then the person will receive an opposite reaction of relief after the stunt is completed. The theory also postulates that repeated exposure to the stimulus will cause less of an initial reaction and a stronger opposing reaction. This may explain why drugs, such as opiates, give diminishing returns after prolonged use yet the effects of withdraw become more intensified and unpleasant. Optic Nerve: The optic nerve is one of the twelve cranial nerves. The optic nerve is behind the eyeball and transmits visual information to the brain. Oral Stage: One of Freud's five psychosexual stages of development where pleasure is centered in and around the mouth. The oral stage is the initial stage of development. According to Freud, this is when infants will be found putting anything into their mouth including their thumbs. Othello Effect (Othelloe Theory): The notion of the Othello Effect stems from Paul Ekman and occurs in an interrogation or Q&A type situation. A person who is actually truthful may feel nervous, anxious, or generally worried that he will not be believed by the other person (for example, a police officer). In this situation, the person may exhibit fear which may appear to be just like the type of nervous behavior a liar may exhibit when they are afraid of being caught. So, the innocent person may be perceived as being untruthful because of their behavior that simply resulted from being nervous about being perceived as untruthful...it's quite the catch 22, isn't it? The role model here is Shakespeare's Iago, insidiously, malevolently and falsely poisoning Othello's mind against his faithful wife Desdemona. These are the lies people fear and resent the most, statements that will not only deceive them but also trick them into foolish or ruinous courses of behavior. Outgroup: Outgroup bias, like ingroup bias, is a simple concept, but one that has very powerful affects on people, societies, and life in general. Ougroup bias is simply the tendency to have negative views about people that are not part of one's own group. The groups can be any groups you associate with at a particular time. So, for example, when you play on an intramural softball team that meets once a week, you are part of that softball team's ingroup; people who are on the other teams are part of the outgroup. Or, it can be something on a much more grand scale like, the situation between religious groups in Ireland. They have been killing each other for years, because they each perceive their own group as being the "right" and "good" group, while the other group (the outgroup) is "bad" and "evil". Outgroup Bias: Humans categorize things. The minute we meet someone we begin placing them into a variety of categories such as male/female, tall/short, attractive/unattractive, intelligent/unintelligent, etc. This is a natural and important part of being human as it helps us organize the very complex world around us. When we categorize people as being part of our own group, they are considered part of the "ingroup"; others are considered to be part of the "outgroup" (see the definitions of each for more details). Members of the outgroup are viewed as less similar and, as a result we may have biases against them. Thus, the outgroup bias includes negative categorizations, feelings, or ideas about people who are not part of our ingroup. Overjustification Effect: There were some very cool studies many years back in which children were given opportunities to play with some toys. They really enjoyed playing with these toys -- it was fun for them. Then the researchers gave the children rewards for playing with the toys. Know what happened? The overjustifaction effect -- getting a reward for doing something that was intrinsically rewarding (it was fun to do all on its own) was now seen as totally different because they were getting rewarded for it. What happened was the kids no longer enjoyed playing with the toys. It became less about fun and more about "work". Still think that people do their best work if they get paid well for it?
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