OCR GCSE Psychology key terms

Habits and environmental conditions that support regular, good-quality sleep.

Difficulty staying asleep, involving repeated waking or waking too early and struggling to return to sleep.

Difficulty falling asleep at the beginning of a sleep period.

Deep sleep characterised by slow delta brain waves; stages 3 and 4 in the five-stage sleep model.

A process in which a minority viewpoint gains more supporters, making it increasingly influential and potentially turning it into the majority view.

An explanation proposing that disadvantaged social circumstances contribute to the development of mental illness, rather than simply resulting from it.

A change over time in the attitudes, behaviours or accepted norms of a society.

A person's position within society, associated with factors such as occupation and income.

An idea or category whose meaning is shaped by society rather than being fixed universally. Crime is socially constructed because laws differ between societies and change over time.

The tendency to give answers that will be viewed favourably by others rather than answers that accurately reflect the respondent’s behaviour or views.

A tendency to give answers that present oneself favourably rather than accurately.

An explanation proposing that schizophrenia comes before a downward movement in social class, with societal rejection and individual withdrawal contributing to declining social status and worsening mental health.

The effect that other people have on an individual's behaviour, beliefs or opinions.

The process of learning the norms, values and acceptable behaviour of a society.

Albert Bandura’s explanation that behaviour can be learnt by observing and imitating others, influenced by the consequences of their actions.

An expected or accepted way of thinking or behaving within a group.

The ability to influence another person’s behaviour.

A person’s relative position or status compared with others within a social group.

An explanation of depression which proposes that feeling inferior or subordinate to other people can contribute to depressive symptoms.

Single-photon emission-computed tomography: a scanning technique used in this study to measure regional cerebral blood flow.

A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor: an antidepressant that blocks serotonin reuptake, keeping serotonin available in the synaptic gap for longer.

A way of writing a number as $a \times 10^n$, where $1 \leq a < 10$ and $n$ is an integer.

Using the same relevant instructions, materials and procedures across participants or conditions.

A procedure that keeps instructions, materials and other relevant aspects of testing the same across participants and conditions, apart from the intended independent-variable difference.

A test administered and scored according to consistent rules so that results can be compared meaningfully.

A negative social judgement attached to a characteristic or condition, such as the belief that having a mental health problem makes someone weak.

The retention of encoded information in memory over time.

A technique that produces images of the brain’s physical features, such as its size, shape and internal structures.