Key Words and Meanings - Year 13 Psychology

• Approaches, Biopsychology & Issues and Debates

  Inference	The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
  The unconscious	The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which continues to direct much of our behaviour.
  Self-actualisation	The desire to grow psychologically and fulfill ones full potential - becoming what you are capable of.
  Congruence	The aim of Rogerian therapy, when the self-concept and ideal self are seen to broadly accord or match.
  Conditions of worth	When a parent places limits or boundaries on their love of their children; for instance a parent saying to a child 'I will only love you if you study medicine'.
  Hemispheric lateralisation	The idea that the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other, as in the example of language.
  Plasticity	This describes the brain's tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and new learning.
  Broca's area	An area of the frontal lobe of the brain in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for speech production.
  Wernicke's area	An area of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for language comprehension.
  Circadian rhythm	A type of biological rhythm, subject to a 24 hour cycle, which regulates a number of body processes such as the sleep/wake cycle and changes in core body temperature.

• Issues & Debates, Biopsychology and Schizophrenia

  Free will	The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces.
  Determinism	The view that an individual's behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individuals will to do something.
  Holism	A argument or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts.
  Reductionism	The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts.
  Ethical implications	The impact that psychological research may have in terms of the rights of other people especially participants. This includes at a societal level, influencing public policy and ways in which certain groups or people are regarded.
  Infradian rhythm	A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of less than one cycle in 24 hours, such as menstruation and seasonal affective disorder.
  Ultradian rhythm	A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of more than one cycle in 24 hours such as stages of sleep.
  Endogenous pacemakers	Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms such as the influence of the suprachiasmatic (SCN) on the sleep/wake cycle.
  Exogenous zeitgebers	External cues that may affect or entrain our biological rhythms, such as the influence of light on the sleep/wake cycle.
  Hallucinations	A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They are sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there.

• Schizophrenia, Relationships & Forensic Psychology

  Offender profiling	Also known as 'criminal profiling', a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.
  Geographical profiling	A form of bottom-up profiling based on the principle of spatial consistency; than and offender's operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes.
  Cognitive distortions	Faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately and usually negatively.
  Hostile attribution bias	The tendency to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others, as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they may not be.
  Minimalisation	A type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion. A common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt.
  Delusions	A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They involve beliefs that have no basis in reality, for example, that the sufferer is someone else or that they are the victim of a conspiracy.
  Speech poverty	A negative symptom of schizophrenia that involves reduced frequency and quality of speech.
  Avoilition	A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lower activity levels.
  Co-morbidity	The occurrence of two illnesses or conditions together, for example a person has both schizophrenia and a personality disorder.
  Antipsychotics	Drugs used to reduce the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

• Forensic Psychology and Relationships

  Custodial sentencing	A judicial sentenced determined by a court where the offender is punished by serving time in prison (incarceration) or in some other closed therapeutic and/or educational institution such as a psychiatric hospital.
  Recidivism	Re-offending, a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behaviour in the context of crime.
  Behaviour modification	An application of the behaviourist approach to treatment, based on the principles of operant conditioning. The aim is to replace undesirable behaviours with more desirable ones through the use of positive and/or negative reinforcement.
  Anger management	A therapeutic programme that involves identifying the signs that trigger anger as well as learning techniques to calm down and deal with the situation in a positive way.
  Restorative justice	A system for dealing with criminal behaviour which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims. This enables the offender to see the impact of their crime and serves to empower victims by giving them a 'voice'.
  Self-disclosure	Revealing personal information about yourself. Romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as their relationship develops, these strengthen a romantic bond when used appropriately.
  Filter theory	An explanation of relationship formation. It states that a series of different factors progressively limits the range of available romantic partners to a much smaller pool of possibilities.
  Social exchange theory	A theory of how relationships form and develop. It assumes that romantic partners act out of self-interest in exchanging rewards and costs. A satisfying relationship is maintained when rewards exceed costs.
  Absence of gating	Face-to-face relationships often fail to form because of obstacles such as facial disfigurements that some people might find off-putting. These barriers or 'gates' are absent in computer-mediated communication allowing virtual relationships to begin.
  Complementarity	Similarity becomes less important as a relationship develops, and is replaced by a need for your partner to balance your traits with opposite ones of their own.

• Revision