Psychology Definitions

Flashcards for Social Psychology, Psychodynamic Therapy, Anxiety Disorders, and related topics.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how a person's thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence and are influenced by social groups; how human behavior is affected by the presence of other people.

Impression Formation

The forming of the first knowledge that a person has concerning another person.

Attribution

The process of explaining one's own behavior and the behavior of others; the theory of how people make attributions.

Situational Attribution (Situational cause)

Cause of behavior attributed to external factors, such as delays, the action of others, or some other aspect of the situation.

Dispositional Attribution (Dispositional cause)

Cause of behavior attributed to internal factors such as personality or character.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behavior while underestimating situational factors.

Attraction (Interpersonal attraction)

Liking or having the desire for a relationship with another person.

Reciprocity (Reciprocity of liking)

The tendency of people to like other people who like them in return.

Conformity

Changing one's own behavior to match that of other people.

Obedience

Changing one's behavior at the command of an authority figure.

Deindividuation

The lessening of personal identity, self-restraint, and the sense of personal responsibility that can occur within a group.

Cognitive Dissonance

A sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person's behavior does not correspond to that person's attitudes.

Prosocial behavior

Socially desirable behavior that benefits others.

Altruism

Prosocial behavior that is done with no expectation of reward and may involve the risk of harm to oneself.

Bystander Effect

Refers to the effect that the presence of other people has on the decision to help or not help, with help becoming less likely as the number of bystanders increases.

Personality

The unique and relatively stable ways in which people think, feel, and behave.

Psychodynamic Therapy

A newer and more general term for therapies based on psychoanalysis with an emphasis on transference, shorter treatment times, and a more direct therapeutic approach.

Id

Part of the personality present at birth and completely unconscious.

Ego

Part of the personality that develops out of a need to deal with reality; mostly conscious, rational, and logical.

Superego

Part of the personality that acts as a moral center.

Defense mechanisms (Psychological defense mechanisms)

Unconscious distortions of a person's perception of reality that reduce stress and anxiety.

Trait Theory (Trait theories)

Theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics that make up human personality in an effort to predict future behavior.

Psychopathology

The study of abnormal behavior and psychological dysfunction.

Biological perspective

Model of explaining thinking or behavior as caused by biological changes in the chemical, structural, or genetic systems of the body.

Psychodynamic perspective

The perspective related to psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy

Cognitive perspective

This perspective relates to cognitive psychology, the study of how people think, remember, and mentally organize information.

Anxiety Disorders

A class of disorders in which the primary symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety.

Panic attacks

Sudden onset of intense panic in which multiple physical symptoms of stress occur, often with feelings that one is dying.

Social anxiety (Social anxiety disorder)

(Social phobia) fear of interacting with others or being in social situations that might lead to a negative evaluation.

Generalized anxiety (Generalized anxiety disorder)

A disorder in which a person has feelings of dread and impending doom along with physical symptoms of stress, which lasts 6 months or more.

Phobias

An irrational, persistent fear of an object, situation, or social activity.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

A disorder in which intrusive thoughts or obsessions create anxiety that is relieved by performing a repetitive, ritualistic behavior or mental act (compulsion).

Major Depressive Disorder

Severe depression that comes on suddenly and seems to have no external cause, or is too severe for the current circumstances.

Bipolar Disorder

Periods of mood that may range from normal to manic, with or without episodes of depression (bipolar I disorder), or spans of normal mood interspersed with episodes of normal mood and episodes of hypomania (bipolar II disorder).

Psychosis (Psychotic)

Refers to an individual's inability to separate what is real and what is fantasy.

Schizophrenia

Severe disorder in which the person suffers from disordered thinking, bizarre behavior, hallucinations, and inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Positive symptoms (of schizophrenia)

Symptoms of schizophrenia that are excesses of behavior or occur in addition to normal behavior; hallucinations, delusions, and distorted thinking.

Negative symptoms (of schizophrenia)

Less than normal behavior or an absence of normal behavior; poor attention, flat affect, and poor speech production.

Dissociative Disorders

Disorders in which there is a break in conscious awareness, memory, the sense of identity, or some combination.

Personality Disorders

Disorders in which a person adopts a persistent, rigid, and maladaptive pattern of behavior that interferes with normal social interactions.

Psychotherapy

Therapy for mental disorders in which a person with a problem talks with a psychological professional.

Self-serving bias

A type of cognitive bias in which an individual distorts reality to protect their ego.

Proximity

The concept of nearness or closeness, either physically, socially, or in terms of time.

Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love

love is comprised of three core components: intimacy, passion, and commitment, which interact to form different types of love relationships.

Humanistic Theory

a perspective in psychology that focuses on the unique experiences, potential, and inherent goodness of individuals, emphasizing their capacity for growth and self-actualization.

Insanity

is not a recognized medical diagnosis. It is a colloquial term used to describe severe mental illness or irrational behavior.

Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM)

a handbook used by mental health professionals in the United States and globally to classify and diagnose mental disorders.