OCR GCSE Psychology key terms

A network in the brainstem involved in regulating alertness and arousal.

Accessing stored information so that it can be used or recalled.

A signal, such as an image, sound or word, that helps someone retrieve information from memory.

An inability to access stored information because an appropriate cue is absent.

Loss of memories formed before the onset of an illness or injury.

The reabsorption of a neurotransmitter by the neuron that released it.

The ability to mentally reverse an action or sequence of events.

A participant's freedom to stop taking part in research without pressure or penalty, including arrangements for requesting removal of their data.

A person or character whom someone admires, looks up to or wants to resemble.

The smaller group of participants selected from a target population to take part in research.

The number of participants in a sample.

The process of selecting participants from a target population for research.

A systematic tendency for the selection process to over-represent or under-represent particular members of the target population.

A graph plotting paired measurements of two variables, with one point for each pair, to reveal a possible relationship.

A mental framework developed from previous experience that organises knowledge and creates expectations about objects, people or situations.

A mental disorder involving disturbances in thinking, perception, emotion and behaviour, which can include difficulty distinguishing experiences from external reality.

Existing information collected by someone else and used by a researcher in their investigation.

A person’s view of what they are like.

How much a person values themselves.

A research method that gathers information by asking participants to report about themselves.

A questionnaire or interview in which people report their own behaviour or experiences, such as crimes they have committed.

A sampling method in which people volunteer to participate, usually by responding to an advertisement or invitation.

Accepting negative stereotypes about a group you belong to and applying them to yourself.

Representing information in memory according to its meaning.

Long-term memory for facts, meanings and general knowledge.

The memory store that briefly holds information detected by the senses before attention selects some of it for short-term memory.

An offence involving sexual behaviour that violates consent or laws protecting children, such as rape or sexual assault.

A temporary memory store with a capacity of approximately seven items and a duration of about 30 seconds without rehearsal.