Psychology

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

The Australian Indigenous population, including Aboriginal peoples, Torres Strait Islander peoples, and those with both heritages.

Accuracy

The closeness of a measurement to the true value of the quantity being measured.

Acquired

Present after brain injury or significant psychological event.

Acquisition

The process of learning to associate two events (neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus).

Acronym

An abbreviation formed from the first letter of each word, pronounced as a single word.

Acrostic

A phrase or poem where the first letter of each word serves as a memory cue.

Acute stress

Stress that occurs due to a sudden threat and lasts for a short time.

Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder (ASPD)

A circadian rhythm sleep disorder with advanced sleep onset and awakening times.

Affective functioning

A person's experience of their emotions.

After conditioning

The final stage of classical conditioning.

Agonist

A drug that mimics neurotransmitter action by binding to the same receptor.

Alarm reaction stage

The first stage of general adaptation syndrome, consisting of shock and countershock phases.

Altered state of consciousness

A state differing in awareness compared to normal waking consciousness.

Alzheimer’s disease

A neurodegenerative disease causing memory loss and cognitive decline.

Amygdala

A brain structure involved in emotional reactions and memory formation, especially fear.

Amyloid plaque

Abnormal beta-amyloid protein build-up interfering with neuron communication.

Antecedent

An environmental stimulus that triggers an action.

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to form new explicit long-term memories after an amnesia-causing event.

Anxiety

An emotion characterized by worry and uneasiness about potential negative outcomes.

Aphantasia

The inability to visualize imagery.

Appraisal

The process of categorizing an event based on its perceived significance.

Benzodiazepine

An agonist drug that reduces anxiety by affecting the central nervous system.

Between subjects design

An investigation design where participants are randomly allocated to control or experimental conditions.

Biological factor

A factor related to physiological functioning of the body.

Biological intervention

A treatment targeting physiological mechanisms contributing to a condition.

Biological risk factor

A physiological factor that may contribute to mental disorders.

Blood alcohol concentration (BAC)

The percentage of alcohol in the bloodstream.

Blue light

Light emitted from screens and bulbs, affecting sleep patterns.

Brain

A complex structure processing sensory stimuli and coordinating responses.

Brain atrophy

The loss of neurons in the brain.

Brain scan

An examination showing brain activity and tissues.

Breathing retraining

An anxiety management technique teaching control of breathing in phobic situations.

Bright light therapy

A treatment for sleep disorders involving exposure to bright light.

Approach strategy

An effort to confront and deal directly with a stressor.

Attention

The first stage in observational learning, where the learner watches the model's behavior.

Autobiographical memory

A memory system of episodes from an individual's life.

Autonomic nervous system

A subdivision of the peripheral nervous system controlling internal body functions.

Avoidance behaviour

Actions taken to escape difficult thoughts and feelings.

Avoidance strategy

An effort to avoid a stressor without direct confrontation.

Bar chart

A method to display data with discrete categories.

Basal ganglia

Structures involved in motor movement and procedural memory.

Before conditioning

The first stage of classical conditioning where no learning has occurred.

Behaviour

Any observable action by an organism.

Behavioural functioning

A person's observable actions.

Behaviourist approach

An approach stating that behaviors are learned through environmental interactions.

Beneficience

an ethical concept involving the commitment to maximising benefits and minimising risks and harms

Benzodiazepine

a type of agonist drug that works on the central nervous system to make the post- synaptic neuron less likely to fire, which regulates anxiety

Between Subjects

an investigation design in which participants are randomly allocated to either the control or the experimental condition

Biological Factor

a factor that relates to the physiological functioning of the body

Blue Light

a part of the visible light spectrum that is emitted from smartphone screens, computer monitors, televisions, LED and fluorescent light bulbs, as well as sunlight

Breathing Retraining

an anxiety management technique that involves teaching someone with a specific phobia how to control their breathing in the presence of their phobic stimulus

Bright Light Therapy

a therapy to treat a sleep disorder in which the person is exposed to a bright light to reset the sleep–wake cycle

Case Study

a type of investigation of a particular activity, behaviour, event or problem that contains
a real or hypothetical situation and includes real-world complexities

Catastrophic Thinking

a cognitive bias that involves overestimating and exaggerating the worst possible outcomes to situations even though they are unlikely to occur

Central Nervous System

the brain and the spinal cord; processes and coordinates responses to sensory stimuli

Cerebellum

coordinates timing and fluency of movements; encodes and temporarily stores implicit memories of simple conditioned reflexes

Cerebral Cortex

involved in complex mental abilities, sensory processing, voluntary movements and storage of explicit memories

Chronic Stress

stress that lasts for a long time

Circadian Rhythm

biological processes that coordinate the timing of body activities over a 24-hour period

Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders

a category of sleep disorders in which
sleep is disrupted because the circadian rhythm and a person’s sleep–wake schedule are misaligned

Classical Conditioning

a simple form of learning that occurs through repeated associations between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response

Classification/Identification

a type of investigation that involves
arranging phenomena, objects or events
into manageable sets

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

a common intervention consisting of a range of cognitive and behavioural therapies and learning principles to help people identify and change unhelpful thought processes, feelings and behaviours to more helpful ones

Cognitive Bias

the tendency to think in a way that involves errors of judgement and faulty decision-making

Cognitive Functioning

a person’s mental processing

Conditioning

the learning process by which the behaviour of an organism becomes dependent on an event occurring in its environment

Confidentiality

an ethical guideline that ensures participants remain anonymous, and their personal information is kept private, protected and secure throughout the study

Consciousness

the awareness of your own internal mental processes, including your thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions, and your awareness of the external world around you

Consolidation

the process by which a temporary memory is transformed into a more stable, long-lasting form

Context-Specific Effectiveness

when a coping strategy matches or is appropriate to the stressful situation

Coping

all the things we do to manage and reduce the stress we experience

Coping Flexibility

the ability to modify our coping strategies to adapt and meet the demands of different stressful situations

Cortisol

a hormone produced by the adrenal glands that regulates a wide range of bodily processes, including metabolism, and is released in response to stress

Countershock

the second phase of the alarm reaction stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the body’s ability to deal with the stressor rises above normal

Cultural Continuity

the ability to preserve the historical traditions of a culture and carry them forward with that culture into the future

Debriefing

an ethical guideline involving provision of information to participants at the end of the study, including the true aims, results and conclusions, and answering any questions, clarifying misunderstandings or deception, and providing support to ensure no lasting harm

Decay

the fading away of information in short-term memory when not maintained by rehearsal

Deception in Research

an ethical guideline involving withholding the true nature of the study from participants, when their knowledge of the true purpose may affect their behaviour and subsequent validity of the investigation

Declarative Memory

an explicit long-term memory of specific facts and events, most of which can be stated or ‘declared’

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

a circadian rhythm sleep disorder characterised by a delay in the timing of sleep onset and awakening compared with the timing that is desired

Dementia

a collection of symptoms that are caused by disorders affecting the brain

Dendritic Spine

a dendrite fibre that grows by sprouting on the post-synaptic neuron

Dopamine

a multifunctional neurotransmitter with both excitatory and inhibitory effects, that is involved in many central nervous system functions such as movement, pleasure, attention, mood, cognition and motivation

Dysfunctional GABA system

a failure to produce, release or receive the correct amount of gamma-aminobutyric acid

Electroencephalography (EEG)

a technique that detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity of the brain

Electromyography (EMG)

a technique that detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity of the skeletal muscles

Electro-oculography (EOG)

a technique that detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity of the muscles controlling the eyes

Emotional Wellbeing

relates to the ability to feel a range of emotions and express them in a positive way

Encoding

converting sensory information into a useable from that can be processed by the brain

Enteric Nervous System (ENS)

a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system; it consists of nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract and controls the digestive system

Episodic Future Thinking

projecting yourself forwards in time to pre-experience an event that might happen in your personal future

Episodic Memory

the declarative memory of personally experienced events

Evidence-based intervention

a treatment shown to be effective in valid and reliable research studies

Excitatory effect

the increased likelihood that the post- synaptic neuron will fire an action potential or neural impulse

Exhaustion Stage

the third stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the continued depletion of energy stores and high levels of hormones such as cortisol decrease resistance to the stressor and impair the immune system

Explicit Memory

information that can be consciously retrieved and stated, such as ‘known facts’

External Factor

a factor that influences mental wellbeing and originates from outside a person, such as the physical and social environment

External Validity

whether the results of research can be applied to similar individuals in a different setting

Fear Hierarchy

a list of anxiety-inducing experiences relating to the patient's phobia, in order of from easiest to confront, to the most difficult
to confront

Fieldwork

a type of investigation that involves collecting information through observing and interacting with a selected environment