Psychology key terms

An individual's beliefs about what is right and wrong.

Distress arising when someone follows an order that conflicts with their sense of right and wrong.

A monocular depth cue in which nearby objects appear to move faster or further across the visual field than distant objects when the observer moves.

A need or desire that drives behaviour, such as hunger or the desire to succeed.

A region of the frontal lobe that controls voluntary movement.

A neuron that carries signals from the central nervous system to an effector, such as a muscle or gland.

Magnetic resonance imaging: a technique that produces detailed images of structures inside the body, including the brain.

An explanation of memory involving separate sensory, short-term and long-term stores, with information moving between them.

The extent to which a research task resembles an activity encountered in everyday life.

A fatty insulating covering around some nerve fibres that helps electrical impulses travel faster.

A research method that investigates a naturally occurring independent variable which the researcher does not manipulate.

An observation in which participants’ behaviour is studied in their natural environment.

The process by which inherited characteristics that increase reproductive success become more common over generations.

The influence of inherited biological factors on behaviour.

The debate about the relative influence of inherited biological factors and environmental experiences on development and behaviour.

A relationship in which higher values of one variable tend to accompany lower values of the other.

A mental framework containing unfavourable beliefs about oneself, which can bias the interpretation of experiences.

A reduction or loss of usual functioning, such as reduced emotional expression, motivation or speech.

Beck’s three connected patterns of negative thinking about the self, the world and the future.

A newborn baby.

The body's communication system, which receives information, processes it and coordinates responses.

Damage to nerve cells in the brain, for example following a stroke or an injury.

A specialised nerve cell that receives and transmits information in the nervous system.

The development and strengthening of connections between neurons associated with learning and experience.

The nervous system's ability to change and adapt through development, experience or injury.

A standardised task used to assess a mental ability, such as memory, attention or problem-solving, to help understand brain functioning.

The study of relationships between the brain, behaviour and mental processes, including memory.