Psychology: Psychology Overview

State of dependence caused by frequent and regular use of drugs, alcohol, or other substances. It is characterized by uncontrolled craving, tolerance, and symptoms of withdrawal when access is denied.

Anticipatory tension or vague dread persisting in the absence of a specific threat. In contrast to fear, which is a realistic reaction to actual danger, anxiety is generally related to an unconscious threat.

From The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
Biofeedback is best understood as a closed feedback loop consisting of a person or other animal, a response, a means to detect the response, and a mechanism for displaying the response to the person or animal—the response is thus fed back.

From Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Psychology
The discovery of classical conditioning is attributed to Pavlov, who famously trained dogs to salivate when presented with a bell. Naturally, dogs will salivate when presented with food, in order to facilitate digestion.

The state of being aware of oneself and one's surroundings, without hindrance from sleep, illness, drugs, or hypnotism.

Mental activity associated with the rapid-eye-movement (REM) period of sleep. It is commonly made up of a number of visual images, scenes or thoughts expressed in terms of seeing rather than in those of the other senses or in words.

From The Brain Book: An illustrated guide to its structure, function and disorders.
Emotions are generated in the limbic system, which does not support consciousness itself. Intense emotions create “knock-on” activity in the cortex, especially in the frontal lobes, which we experience as a conscious “feeling” or mood.

In philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles.

A false perception having no relation to reality and not accounted for by any exterior stimulus; a dreamlike (or nightmarish) perception occurring while awake.

In psychology, the general mental ability involved in calculating, reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, learning quickly, storing and retrieving information, using language fluently, classifying, generalizing, and adjusting to new situations.

Systematic communication by vocal symbols. It is a universal characteristic of the human species.

From Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Psychology
A tradition of memory theories runs unbroken from the ancient Greeks to the present. While rarely ‘scientific’, let alone Psychological, they do all appear to be rational attempts at understanding the same thing.

Well-being and soundness of mind, not only in terms of intellectual abilities, but also in terms of the capability to deal with everyday problems, and the capacity to get on well with other people and to form and sustain relationships.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
A mnemonic (pronounced nemonic) is any device or method that helps memory. The word ‘mnemonic’ comes from the name Mnemosyne, who was the Greek goddess of memory.

In psychology, the intention of achieving a goal, leading to goal-directed behavior. Some human activity seems to be best explained by postulating an inner directing drive.

Phenomenon reported by some people who have been clinically dead, then returned to life.

In psychology, mental organization and interpretation of sensory information.

In psychology, the patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion unique to an individual, and the ways they interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations.

Branch of medicine that concerns the diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, including major depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety.

Science or study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment.

Resting state in which an individual becomes relatively quiescent and relatively unaware of the environment.

In anthropology, the integrated system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which delimit the range of accepted behaviors in any given society.

Process, beginning at birth, of developing intellectual capacity, skills, and social awareness, especially by instruction.

In ecology, the sum of conditions affecting a particular organism, including physical surroundings, climate, and influences of other living organisms. Areas affected by environmental issues include the biosphere and habitat.

Transmission from generation to generation through the process of reproduction in plants and animals of factors which cause the offspring to resemble their parents.

In psychology, the patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion unique to an individual, and the ways they interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations.

A system of thought, feeling, and action that is shared by a group and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social consequences of their actions; and a frame of reference by which individuals may relate to their group and their universe.

Level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved. The evaluation of a standard of living is relative, depending upon the judgment of the observer as to what constitutes a high or a low scale.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the nation’s major psychology organization. The APA works to advance psychology as a science and a profession, and to promote human welfare.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults
The history of psychiatric care at Bellevue Hospital Center and the history of psychiatric care in the United States are closely interwoven.

From The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
Halfway houses are locales where all activities and interactions may be viewed as having potentially healing, rehabilitative, and supportive properties and where all members may consciously or unconsciously contribute to therapy.

Mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college.

An institution in which certain kinds of illness are investigated and treated.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
At Oxford, England, one of the oldest English-language universities in the world.

Institution of higher learning for those who have completed primary and secondary education.

From Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Psychology
CBT is an extremely successful and popular method of psychotherapy, loosely based on cognitive principles.

From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
The view that mental states are defined by their causes and effects. As a metaphysical thesis about the nature of mental states, functionalism holds that what makes an inner state mental is not an intrinsic property of the state, but rather its relations to sensory stimulation (input), to other inner states, and to behavior (output).

School of psychology that interprets phenomena as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts, maintaining that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
The subfield of psychology that traces the development over time of moral reasoning and opinions in the lives of individuals.

From The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology
A branch of applied psychology covering organizational, military, economic and personnel psychology and including such areas as tests and measurements, the study of organizations and organizational behaviour, personnel practices, human engineering, human factors, the effects of work, fatigue, pay, consumer surveys and market research.

Name given by Sigmund Freud to a system of interpretation and therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders.

From The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
As a school or system of psychology, structuralism had its antecedents in British philosophy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Branch of biology concerned with the study of body structure of various organisms, including humans.

Branch of biology concerned with the study of heredity and variation - inheritance. It aims to explain how characteristics of living organisms are passed on from one generation to the next.

Scientific study of language, covering the structure (morphology and syntax; see grammar), sounds (phonology), and meaning (semantics), as well as the history of the relations of languages to each other and the cultural place of language in human behavior.

The science and art of treating and preventing disease.

A branch of medical science which studies the actions, uses, and undesirable side-effects of drugs. The first descriptions of remedies from plant sources were made by the ancient Greeks and Chinese.

Study of the ultimate reality, causes, and principles underlying being and thinking.

In its broadest sense, the study of all pharmacological agents that affect mental and emotional functions. The term is usually applied more specifically to the study and synthesis of drugs used in the control of psychiatric illnesses, namely the antipsychotic, antianxiety, antidepressant, and antimanic medications.

Scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious.