Glossary
pain: an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage
pain anxiety: a model of pain perception which argues that some individuals are fearful of pain, and as such have developed a phobia of pain that makes them hypervigilant for pain cues and anxious about these cues when they detect them
panic disorder: a category of anxiety disorder characterised by repeated panic or anxiety attacks
papez circuit: a major pathway of the limbic system, chiefly involved in the cortical control of emotion
paradigm: a typical pattern or an example of something
parallel processing: two or more sets of processes which occur simultaneously, as opposed to serially (one after the other)
parasuicide: a collective name for potentially lethal self-harming or suicidal gestures, and risky behaviour that may result in death
parasympathetic nervous system: part of the autonomic nervous system
paraventricular nucleus (PVN): a hypothalamic nucleus
parietal lobes: cortical region behind the frontal lobes
parsing: deriving the meaning from an analysis of the grammatical structure
partial agonists: an agonist that activates a receptor, but not to its full efficacy
partial correlation: a measure of the relationship between two variables while ‘controlling’ the effect that one or more additional variables has on both
parvocellular layer: a layer of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus
pathology model: approaches to psychopathology that view psychological problems as symptoms produced by an underlying cause
pattern recognition: the process by which a particular pattern (implicitly two-dimensional) is recognised
Pearson’s r: see correlation
peers: children of approximately the same age
performance goals: (also called ego-involvement goals) which focus on achieving normative-based standards, doing better than others, or doing well without a lot of effort
periaqueductal grey: midbrain grey matter that is involved in pain perception
peripheral nervous system (PNS): outside the CNS, the peripheral nervous system is divided into the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system
peripheral processing route: persuasion processing that is characterised by a person not engaging in effortful issue-related thinking such as heuristic processing peripheral traits: from Asch’s configural model of impression formation, that certain traits have an insignificant impact on the final impression formed about another person
permastore: the idea that long-term memories are in a store from which information is never lost, analogous to the idea of permafrost in arctic and antarctic regions
person approach to human error: the idea that human error is the responsibility of the person making the error, without regard for the systems in which that person is operating
personal self: the total, essential or particular being of a person; the individual
personality disorders: a category of psychopathology characterised by rigid and on-going patterns of thought and action (e.g. anti-social personality disorder). The inflexibility of the behavioural patterns found in personality disorders can cause serious personal and social difficulties, as well as a general impairment of functioning person-positivity bias: the general tendency to see other people as inherently good and as such to form a positive impression of them
persuasion: attitude formation or change process. Occurs usually after exposure to arguments or other information about the attitude object
PGO waves: a particular waveform of REM sleep which arise from the pons and go to the cortex. PGO stands for pons, geniculate and occipital cortex
phantom limb phenomenon: a phenomenon in which individuals who have had a limb amputated still continue to report pain in the non-existent limb
pharmacodynamics: the biochemical and physiological effects of drugs on the body
pharmacokinetics: the factors influencing a drug as it travels through the body. Route of administration, rate of absorption and termination of the drug action are all important pharmacokinetic factors
phenotype: the observed quality of an organism, such as its morphology, development, or behaviour (see also genotype)
phenylketonuria (PKU): an autosomal recessive genetic disorder that can cause problems with brain development, leading to progressive mental retardation
phoneme restoration effect: the phenomenon in which a listener restores a phoneme which has been omitted or obscured to produce a meaningful perception
phonemes: the smallest unit of sound in a language. The speech sound which distinguishes a word from other words
phonological (or indirect) route to reading: the route to accessing the meaning of a word which converts the written form of a word to a pronunciation before using this pronunciation to access the word’s meaning in the mental lexicon
phonological awareness: the ability to be able to identify the component sounds of a language and be able to manipulate these components
phonological encoding: the coding of verbal information into memory in the form of the sounds of the words involved
phonological form: that aspect of a word concerned with its sound
phonological loop: a component of the working memory model which stores verbal material in phonological form
photoreceptors: light sensitive cells of the retina (rods and cones)
phrase structure: the particular way in which a sentence breaks down to show how the words cluster together
physiological arousal: it involves the activation of the reticular activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond
physiological reductionism: a form of reductionism that suggests that complex behaviour can be explained in terms of brain structure or genetics
physiological: an approach to psychology that investigates the affects of brain operation and genetics on behaviour
pituitary gland: a endocrine gland that secretes hormones
placebo effects: a description of the fact that after receiving treatment for a psychological problem, many people will show improvement even though the therapy given was unstructured or the medication they received was inactive
platykurtic: a distribution of scores that has a relatively large number of scores at the extremes. These distributions tend to look flat (see Figure 38.4)
pleasure principle: the pleasure principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain pluralistic ignorance: the belief that one’s attitudes and emotions are different from others while at the same time one’s observable behaviour is the same as others
polarised: during the resting potential, the neuron has two different charges on the inside and outside and is said to be polarised
polygraph: a polygraph (commonly yet incorrectly referred to as a lie detector) is a device that measures and records several physiological variables such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity
pons: a brain stem structure
ponzo illusion: an illusion in which two horizontal lines of equal length are seen as being of different lengths when they are superimposed on converging vertical lines
population: in statistical terms this usually refers to the collection of units (be they people, plankton, plants, cities, suicidal authors, etc.) to which we want to generalise a set of findings or a statistical model
positional level: the second stage in syntactic planning in speech production. At this stage, word order is specified
positive reinforcement: when there is an increase in the likelihood of a behaviour due to the addition of a reinforcer after a behaviour
positive skew: a property of a distribution of scores indicating that scores cluster at the lower end and the distribution tails off towards the higher, more positive, scores (see Figure 38.4)
positive symptoms in schizophrenia: the disturbed behaviours found in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia that tend to reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions (e.g. developing inappropriate beliefs or perceiving things that are not there)
positivism: non-critical acceptance that science is the only valid way to get true knowledge
positivity bias: the tendency for people to evaluate individual human beings more positively than groups or impersonal objects
post hoc tests: a set of procedures for comparing differences between pairs of means usually carried out when no specific hypotheses have been made about how groups will differ. They are usually used after an analysis of variance in which a significant effect has been found relating to several group means. Multiple comparisons are used to then determine which of the group means differ by comparing all combinations of pairs of group means. Typically, each test is a t-test but corrected for the fact that many tests are done
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a diagnostic category used to describe a set of persistent symptoms that occur after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event such as combat during a war, rape or other types of criminal assault, child abuse, car or airplane crashes, or natural or human-caused disasters
power: the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually false
practical intelligence: the ability that individuals use to find the best fit between themselves and the demands of the environment
practice effects: the possibility that performance on a task changes (the assumption is for the better) when a task is performed more than once
predictive validity: the degree to which test scores indicate a result on a specific measure that is consistent with some other criterion of the characteristic being assessed. The extent to which you can make hypothesis about the animal model in response to an intervention (see also face validity and construct validity)
predictor variable: a variable that is used to try to predict values of an outcome variable. It is used synonymously (by me at least) with independent variable prejudice: derogatory attitudes towards a social group or members of that group primacy effect: that information presented earlier will have a greater influence than later information on a person’s judgements of other people or issues, e.g. that the first item on a list is remembered better than the following items
primary appraisal: in transactional models of stress and coping, an appraisal of the potency of a stressor
priming paradigm: a research approach that activates particular schemas or representations in memory for use when other consistent stimuli are encountered
priming task: a task which seeks to facilitate or inhibit the response to a word by presenting a related word immediately before it
principles and parameters theory (PPT): a theory put forward by Chomsky and his colleagues which supposes that language acquisition involves innate structures
proactive interference: the observation that information acquired at time T1 impedes the retrieval of similar information acquired at time T2, often by intrusion
procedural memory: memory for procedures or skills
procedural stage of skills acquisition: the intermediate stage of skills acquisition in which knowledge of what needs to be learned is converted into a set of procedures or production rules
productive strategy: a term in Gestalt psychology which refers to producing a solution which is appropriate to the problem and which is created and arrived at through insight. To be contrasted with a reproductive strategy
projective tests: a method of personality assessment in which an individual is presented with a standardised set of ambiguous, abstract stimuli and asked to interpret their meanings; the individual's responses are assumed to reveal inner feelings, motives and conflicts pro-social behaviour: any actions that are thought of as positive by society. See also helping and altruism
protein hormones: hormones that influence the function of previously made proteins
prototype model of semantic memory: the idea that concepts stored in memory are stored in the form of prototypes of those concepts prototype: cognitive representation of the typical or ideal features of a specific category
proximal stimulus: the stimulus that falls on the retina
proximity principle: a Gestalt principle underpinning the law of pragnanz in which lines which are close together are seen as belonging together
Prozac: the brand name for fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that is used as a treatment for symptoms of depression
psychiatry: the profession whose approach to psychopathology is based on medicine. Psychiatry attempts to identify the biological causes of psychopathology and its main aim is to treat these causes with medication or surgery
psychoanalysis: the theory developed by Freud which suggests that personality and behaviour are determined by unconscious impulses
psychodynamic: a psychological model in which behaviour is explained in terms of past experiences and motivational forces; actions are viewed as stemming from inherited instincts, biological drives, and attempts to resolve conflicts between personal needs and social requirements
psychopathology: the study of deviations from normal or everyday behavioural and psychological functioning
psychophysics: a sub-discipline of perception which seeks to map changes in the physical stimulus to changes in the psychological stimulus
psychosomatic illness: physical illness that is affected by psychological factors (e.g. stress can make you more susceptible to picking up infectious illnesses by affecting your immune system)
punishment: a stimulus which decreases the likelihood of a particular behaviour
P-value: the probability of a test statistic at least as extreme as the one observed occurring, if the null hypothesis is correct
pyramidal motor system: a motor system that controls fine movement