Glossary
obedience: carrying out orders given by somebody in authority
objective tests: a type of personality test. One type is a paper-and-pencil test containing clear, specific questions, statements or concepts to which a person writes responses
observational design: a general term for research in which the researcher does intervene or exert control over events or variables. This can take the form of watching, recording and coding behaviour, or surveys and questionnaire research
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): a category of anxiety disorder in which the main symptoms are either obsessions (uncontrollable thoughts) or compulsive rituals
occipital lobes: also known as the visual cortex. The region of the cortex at the rear of the brain
olfaction: perception of odours
olfactory epithelium: tissue inside the nose involved in small perception
one-tailed hypothesis: a directional hypothesis such as ‘checking Facebook in statistics classes will lead to worse marks in the statistics exam’. This is directional because you predict a direction for the effect: exam marks will be worse if you check Facebook in your statistics class
one-tailed test: a test of a directional hypothesis such as ‘checking Facebook in statistics classes will lead to worse marks in the statistics exam’. This is directional because you predict a direction for the effect: exam marks will be worse if you check Facebook in your statistics class
one-way independent ANOVA: a test of whether the means of three or more conditions differ when data across those conditions are independent (e.g. different participants have been tested in different conditions)
one-way repeated measures ANOVA: a test of whether the means of three or more conditions differ when data across those conditions are related (e.g. the same participants have been tested in all conditions)
ontology: the branch of philosophy that investigates what kinds of things exist
opaque languages: languages like English where there are inconsistencies between the sounds of speech and the way these sounds are represented by letter(s)
operant conditioning: a learning approach that is based on the positive and negative reinforcement of responses to stimuli
operation: in the context of problem-solving, a term used by Newell and Simon (1961) to refer to the appropriate actions (mental or physical) which enable a problem-solver to move from state to state towards solution of the problem
operationism: the philosophical approach that emphasises the need to use operational definitions - definitions of constructs in terms of the means by which they are measured - to investigate unobservable phenomena
opportunity sampling: a sample of entities that happen to be available
opsins: light sensitive receptors
optic chiasm: the part of the brain where the optic nerves partially cross
optic nerve: a nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain
optical flow pattern: the pattern of flow of objects in the world as the observer moves towards or away from a point on the horizon
optimistic bias: the degree to which people believe that bad things will happen to other people (e.g. being involved in a car accident) rather than to themselves
ordinal data: data that tell us not only that things have occurred, but also the order in which they occurred. These data tell us nothing about the differences between values. For example, gold, silver and bronze medals are ordinal: they tell us that the gold medallist was better than the silver medallist, however, they don’t tell us how much better (was gold a lot better than silver, or were gold and silver very closely competed?)
orexin: a neuropeptide released by the hypothalamus
organisation and memory: a consistent observation that the way in which to-be-remembered material is organised, either in presentation or by the memorist, is crucial to its subsequent retrieval
organisational effects: the processes that differentiate the body and brain
orthography: a writing system
osmoreceptors: receptors that detect changes in the concentration of the interstitial fluid
osmosis: the diffusion of a solvent through a semi-permeable membrane from a region of low solute concentration to a region of high solute concentration
osmotic thirst: a thirst that occurs when the solute concentration of extracellular fluid increases (see also hypovolemic thirst)
ossicles: the three bones (malleus, incus and stapes) within the middle ear space and serve to transmit sounds
outcome variable: a variable whose values we are trying to predict from one or more predictor variables. Also known as a dependent variable
outgroup: a group to which a person does not belong or thinks they do not belong
outliers: an extreme score, which is unrepresentative of the scores to which it belongs
overlapping waves model: Siegler’s proposal that cognitive development involves different strategies and eventually one of these becomes dominant because it is the most effective
overt attention: attention which is dependent on orienting responses and eye movements