Glossary
daily hassles: the irritating, frustrating, distressing demands that to some degree characterise everyday transactions with the environment (e.g. losing things, traffic jams, inclement weather, finding the coffee jar is empty, arguments, etc.)
deception: deliberately misleading participants about the purpose of the research (or some part of it) in which they are engaged
decision criterion (β) the parameter in signal detection theory which reflects the participant’s criterion for saying whether a signal was present or not
decision-making: the process by which one chooses between different options to nominate one
declarative knowledge (in skill acquisition): the knowledge involved at the initial cognitive stage which is of a form that can be declared or expressed explicitly
decoupler: according to Leslie, this enables children to form a secondary representation in pretend play
deduction: the process of drawing conclusions about specific cases from general principles. Deduction is used to develop predictions from hypotheses as part of the hypothetico-deductive method
deductive reasoning: the processes involved in drawing appropriate conclusions from given premises
defence mechanisms: a psychoanalytic concept developed to describe those mechanisms whose function it is to deal with conflicts by keeping them in the unconscious. Examples include repression, denial and rationalisation
degrees of freedom: the number of items that are free to vary when calculating a statistic
deliberative processing: that type of cognitive processing that a person is aware of, has control over and has access to
delta waves: Stage 3 sleep brain waves as measured by EEG.
delusions: firmly held but erroneous beliefs – often found in those diagnosed with schizophrenia – that usually involve a misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences
demand characteristic: when a participant attempts to perform the task in the manner in which they think the experimenter would wish, they are responding to the demand characteristics of the study
democratic leadership: A type of leadership characterised by consultation with and consent from other group membersdemonology: the belief, held by many ancient civilizations, that those exhibiting symptoms of psychopathology were possessed by bad spirits
dendrites: the branched projections of a neuron that conduct the electrical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body
dependent t-test: a test of whether the difference between two means is different from zero, when the means come from the same sample of people (usually tested under two different conditions)
dependent variable: synonym for outcome variable. This name is usually associated with experimental methodology (which is the only time it really makes sense) and is so-called because it is the variable that is not manipulated by the experimenter and so its value depends on the variables that have been manipulated
depolarising: a reduction in the polarity of a neuron during an action potential
deprivation: the loss of some experience, often used to refer to relationships or simulating experiences
depth perception: the perception of the world as having a third dimension
determinism: the belief that every behaviour is the result of identifiable causes
deviation: the difference between the observed value of a variable and the value of that variable predicted by a statistical model. For example, the deviation of an observation from the mean is simply the observed value minus the mean of all observations
Diagnostic & Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV-TR): in 1952 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) published their first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) describing the symptoms for diagnosing psychopathology. This is now in its fourth edition, also with a text revision (TR)
diathesis-stress models: a theory that explains behaviour as both a result of biological and genetic factors (‘nature’), and life experiences (‘nurture’)
dichotic listening task: a technique for determining the degree to which a participant can attend to the inputs to one or both ears
dichotomous traits: characteristics that exist in different forms, e.g. eye colour
diencephalon: a region of the brain made up of thalamic and hypothalamic structures
difference research: research that looks for differences between groups of participants, in either experimental or quasi-experimental designs
diffusion of responsibility: the belief that the presence of others in a situation makes one less responsible for the events that occur in that situation. See also the bystander effectdigit span: the maximum number of digits that can be repeated back from immediate memory without error
dimensions of Classification: the five axes on which psychopathology and illness are diagnosed in DSM-IV-TR
direct perception: immediately being able to perceive the nature of a stimulus. Often used to describe the idea that we perceive the nature of the world directly, without recourse to internal representations or stored knowledge or experience
direct social comparison: a term referring the process through which people come to know themselves by evaluating their own attitudes, abilities and beliefs in comparison with others around them
discontinuity: the idea that there is little or no relation between earlier and later characteristics
discounting principle: states that the role of a cause in producing an effect is decreased if other possible causes are also present
discourse analysis: general term applied to forms of textual analysis
discourse analysis: operates on the basic assumption that by studying what we say (and how we interact) we can gain access to psychological processes. The starting point for a discourse analysis could be a transcribed individual interview (which has an advantage of control) or a group discussion (which has the advantage that you can look at natural interactions)
discrete variable: a variable having only integer values (contrast with continuous variable)
discrimination: the behavioural expression of prejudicediscriminative stimuli: the ability to be able to tell two or more stimuli apart (associative learning term)
displacement: in the context of the design characteristics of language, the characteristic referring to the ability to use language to refer to something in another place and/or at another time
dispositional cause: causes of behaviour to do with things internal to the person being perceived such as personality, beliefs and attitudes
dissociation of function: in the context of brain-damaged patients, when one function such as memory is impaired whilst another, such as language, seems to be unimpaired
distal stimulus: the stimulus that is out there in the world; the real stimulus
distinctive feature: a perceptual component of the stimulus which is crucial for perception of its identity
distinctiveness: the extent to which a person’s response to a particular event or stimulus is specific to that social situation or whether the response occurs for a number of events. From Kelley’s covariation model
divided attention: the area of attention concerned with determining the degree to which we can divide our attention between two or more simultaneous tasks
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): a double stranded molecule that codes the genetic sequence
dominant trait: a genetic characteristic that when passed on to offspring overrides others
dopamine hypothesis in schizophrenia: a theory of schizophrenia that claims that the symptoms of schizophrenia are importantly related to excess activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine
double dissociation of function: in the context of brain-damaged patients, when a patient shows impairment in function A (e.g. memory) with function B (e.g. language) being unimpaired, whilst another patient shows an impairment in function B with function A being unimpaired
double-bind hypothesis: a theory first put forward by Bateson (1956) that schizophrenia is caused by the individual being subjected within the family to contradictory messages from loved ones
dream analysis: a method used by psychoanalysts to access unconscious beliefs and conflicts
drive theory: Zajonc’s ideas about how the presence of others causes arousal which in turn motivates performance of habitual behavioursdrives: internal states that arise in response to a disequilibrium in an animal's physiological needs
drug self-administration: a behavioural technique in which an animal performs a task in order to receive infusions of a drug. Used to measure reinforcement in addiction
dual task paradigm: an experimental paradigm in which performance on two tasks done simultaneously is compared with performance on either of the two tasks alone
duality of patterning: in the context of the design characteristics of language, the characteristic referring to the fact that sounds can be combined to form new, large-sized units
dual-process dependency model: Model of social influence in which informational and normative social influence occur separatelydual-route model: a model of reading aloud which identifies two routes, one which converts written words to pronunciations which are then used to access meaning and a second route in which the written form is used to access meaning directly. This model supposes that irregular features of a language have to be learnt and produced on an individual basis, but that regular features are produced by computation of a rule
dyslexia: a specific learning disability that involves a difficulty with literacy