Glossary
face validity: the extent to which a measure appears on the surface to measure what it is suppose to measure, or to which there is a similarity between the model and the behaviour to be modelled, e.g. the symptoms of a disorder and the behaviour in an animal
facial feedback hypothesis of emotion: the notion that our awareness of facial expression influences the way we feel
false autonomic feedback: providing false feedback to individuals regarding their levels of physiological arousal, often as a way to see how this false information impacts on their real levels of physiological arousal
false consensus effect: the tendency to overestimate how common one’s own behaviour is or attitudes are among other people
falsifiability: the principle, introduced by Popper, that good scientific theories should be capable of being found to be false
family therapy: a specific form of group therapy that attempts to deal with psychopathology that may result from the relationship dynamics within the family
‘faulty’ learning: a term used by behaviourists to describe the kind of learning that may give rise to symptoms of psychopathologyfear appeals: types of persuasive communications that try to motivate people to change their attitudes or behaviour by inducing fear in the recipient
fear hierarchy: in systematic desensitisation therapy, a ranked list of events that cause increasing fear or anxiety that can be used as the basis of exposure to anxiety-provoking events
feature detection theory: the theory that we recognise objects on the basis of the match between their distinctive features and lists of distinctive features of objects stored in memory
feature detectors: detectors, physiological or in artificial systems, which become activated in the presence of particular distinctive features
feminist psychology: an approach to psychology founded on a belief in the worth of women, and the need to achieve social change to address gender inequality
figure-ground segregation: the processes by which objects are seen as separate from each other and from the background
fissure: a groove, a natural division in the cortex
fit: how well a statistical model describes the data collected
fixed interval schedules (FI): in operant conditioning, when a reinforcer is delivered after a predetermined interval if a response has been made
fixed ratio schedule (FR): in operant conditioning, when a reinforcer is delivered after a predetermined number of responses has been made
flashbulb memories: memories which are very vivid, usually because they are of events which were dramatic, surprising and of an emotional nature
flooding: an extinction-based therapy that involves therapist-led prolonged exposure to the emotionally provoking event or situation
fluid intelligence: the aspect of intelligence that involves the ability to see complex relationships and solve problems
focal theory: the idea put forward by Coleman (1980) that adolescence involves difficulties for some individuals at some times
focus gambling strategy (of concept learning): a strategy in which the participant gambles on finding the right answer quickly by producing possible answers which differ from each other in several ways, as opposed to producing answers which differ from each other systematically and in only one way
focused auditory attention: the area of attention dealing with the ability to focus on some auditory inputs and exclude others
focused visual attention: the area of attention dealing with the ability to focus on some aspects of the visual array and exclude others
formulation: the second main stage in speech production, in which the conceptual message has to be translated into a linguistic form ready to be spoken
fornix: a bundle of axons in the brain; carries signals from the hippocampus to the hypothalamus
free association: a psychoanalytic technique where the client is encouraged to verbalise all thoughts, feelings and images that come to mind
free recall: a memory paradigm which requires the participant to repeat back presented information, without constraints on the order or manner of recall
free will: the idea that we can exert conscious control over our actions, rather than behaviour being determined by other causes
free-riding: leaving it to other group members to perform a group task because the person believes their skills to be dispensiblefrequency distribution: a frequency distribution shows how often each of a range of scores or things occurs. In the case of categorical data, a frequency distribution shows how often each category occurred
Friedman’s ANOVA: a test of whether three or more conditions differ when data across those conditions is related (e.g. the same participants have been tested in all conditions) that can be used when the assumptions underlying one-way repeated measures ANOVA have not been met
frontal lobes: a region of the brain located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere
function words: words which themselves carry no meaning (i.e. they don’t name actions or things) but which are necessary to bind the content words together into a meaningful utterance, e.g. ‘to’, ‘from’ and ‘by’
functional analysis: in behaviour modification, an analysis used to try and understand what rewarding or reinforcing factors might be maintaining an inappropriate or maladaptive behaviour
functional fixedness: the tendency in problem solving to focus on a single function of a prop in the problem situation and to ignore its other possible functions
functional level: one of the stages in syntactic planning in speech production. In this stage, the relationship between the main meaning-carrying words (nouns, verbs, etc.) is specified
fundamental attribution error: the tendency for people to underestimate the role of situational factors and overestimate the role of dispositional factors in explaining behaviour. See correspondence bias