Flowers for Algernon - Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, psychological tests, literary references, and scientific concepts from Daniel Keyes's short story 'Flowers for Algernon'.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A measurement or test once widely used to evaluate human intelligence and learning ability.

Rorschach Test

A psychological test that requires a subject to describe the images suggested by inkblots (misspelled as 'raw shok' by Charlie).

Thematic Apperception Test

A personality test in which the subject makes up stories about a series of pictures.

Motivation

The desire to work hard and achieve a goal (referred to as 'motor-vation' by Charlie).

Subconscious

Mental activity that occurs without someone's conscious awareness.

Plateau

A period or state of reaching a flat, steady level of progress, compared in the text to the flat top of a hill.

Suspicion

A feeling of doubt or mistrust.

Neurosurgeons

Doctors who operate on the nervous system, including the brain and spine.

Chair

A designated professorship position at a college or university.

Despised

Hated or scorned.

Tangible

Able to be felt or perceived; substantial.

Hindustani

A language of northern India.

Regression

A return to a previous, less advanced state.

Algernon-Gordon Effect

The proven hypothesis that artificially increased intelligence deteriorates at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of the increase.

Motor Activity

Physical movement and bodily coordination.

Syndromes

A number of symptoms occurring together and characterizing a specific disease or condition.

Deterioration

The process of becoming worse.

Introspective

Thoughtful and inward-looking.

Fugues of Amnesia

Temporary periods of memory loss.

Robinson Crusoe

A 1719 novel written by British author Daniel Defoe about a man marooned on a desert island.

John Milton

A British poet (1608–1674) who wrote Paradise Lost.