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P
Panic attack -
A period in which a person has uncomfortable and frightening physical and
psychological symptoms, including heart palpitations, trembling, fear of dying, and a perceived
loss of control.
Panic disorder -
A disorder characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks.
Papillae -
Small bumps on the skin that hold taste buds, which in turn hold the taste receptors
in the tongue and throat, on the inside of the cheeks, and on the roof of the mouth.
Paranoid type -
A subtype of schizophrenia characterized by marked delusions or hallucinations and
relatively normal cognitive and emotional functioning.
Parasympathetic nervous system -
Part of the autonomic nervous system that keeps the body still and conserves energy.
It is active during states of relaxation.
Parental investment -
The sum of resources spent in order to produce and raise
offspring.
Partial reinforcement effect -
Phenomenon in which responses resist extinction because of partial or intermittent
schedules of reinforcement.
Passionate love -
Sexual desire and tenderness for, and intense absorption in, a person with whom one
is romantically involved.
Peg word method -
Process of remembering a rhyme that associates numbers with words and words with the
items to be remembered.
Penis envy -
In psychoanalytic theory, a sense of discontent and resentment that Freud thought
women experience, resulting from their wish for a penis.
Percentile score -
A score that indicates the percentage of people who achieved the same as or less than
a particular score.
Perception -
Organization and interpretation of sensory information.
Perceptual constancy -
The ability to recognize that an object is the same even when it produces different
images on the retina.
Perceptual set -
The readiness to see in a particular way that’s based on expectations, experiences,
emotions, and assumptions.
Perceptual speed -
The amount of time a person takes to accurately perceive and discriminate between
stimuli.
Peripheral nervous system -
The part of the nervous system outside the brain and the spinal cord that includes
the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system.
Persecutory delusion -
A belief centered on the idea that one is being oppressed, pursued, or
harassed.
Personality -
The collection of characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make up a
person.
Personality disorders -
Disorders characterized by stable patterns of experience and behavior that differ
noticeably from patterns considered normal by a person’s culture.
Personal unconscious -
An individual’s unconscious, unique to him or her.
Person-centered theory -
A theory, proposed by Carl Rogers, stating that the self-concept is the most
important feature of personality.
Person perception -
The process of forming impressions about other people.
Phi phenomenon -
An illusion of movement that arises when a series of images is presented very quickly
one after another; also called stroboscopic movement.
Phoneme -
The smallest distinguishable unit in a language.
Phonemic encoding -
A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes how words sound.
Photoreceptor -
Cells that are specialized to receive light stimuli.
Physical dependence -
Addiction based on a need to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Pineal gland -
A gland that secretes melatonin.
Pinna -
The visible part of the ear.
Pituitary -
The master gland of the endocrine system, which regulates the function of many other
glands.
Placebo effect -
The effect on a subject of receiving a fake drug or treatment. Expectations of
improvement contribute to placebo effects.
Placenta -
The tissue that passes oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s blood into the fetus
and removes waste materials from the fetus.
Place theory -
Explains how people discriminate high-pitched sounds that have a frequency greater
than 5000 Hz.
Pleasure principle -
The drive to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. It is the operating principle of the
id.
Polygenic traits -
Traits influenced by several genes.
Polygraph or lie detector -
A device that detects changes in autonomic arousal.
Polygyny -
A mating system in which a single male mates with many females.
Pons -
A part of the hindbrain involved in sleeping, waking, and dreaming.
Population -
The collection of individuals from which a sample is drawn.
Positive correlation -
A relationship between two variables in which as one variable increases, the other
does too.
Positively skewed distribution -
A data distribution with a few very high scores.
Positive punishment -
In operant conditioning, the presentation of a stimulus after a response so that the
response will be less likely to occur.
Positive reinforcement -
In operant conditioning, the presentation of a stimulus after a response so that the
response will be more likely to occur.
Positive symptoms -
Symptoms indicated by the presence of altered behaviors.
Positron emission tomography (PET) -
A method for studying the brain that involves injecting a radioactive substance,
which collects in active brain areas.
Postsynaptic neuron -
At a synapse, the neuron that receives a neurotransmitter.
Postsynaptic potential -
The voltage change that occurs at a receptor site of a postsynaptic neuron when a
neurotransmitter molecule links up with a receptor molecule.
Posthypnotic amnesia -
The phenomenon that occurs when a person who has been hypnotized and instructed to
forget what happened during hypnosis accordingly claims not to remember what
happened.
Post–traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -
A disorder in which a person constantly re-experiences a traumatic event, avoids
stimuli associated with the trauma, and shows symptoms of increased arousal.
Preconscious -
The part of the mind that contains information that is outside of a person’s
attention, which is not currently being attended to, but which is readily accessible if
needed.
Prejudice -
A negative belief or feeling about a particular group of individuals.
Prenatal period -
The time between conception and birth.
Pressure -
A sense of being compelled to behave in a particular way because of expectations set
by oneself or others.
Presynaptic neuron -
At a synapse, the neuron that releases a neurotransmitter.
Primary auditory cortex -
In the temporal lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in processing auditory
information.
Primary motor cortex -
In the frontal lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in controlling muscle
movement.
Primary process thinking -
Thinking that is irrational, illogical, and motivated by a desire of immediate
gratification of impulses.
Primary punisher -
In operant conditioning, a consequence that is naturally unpleasant.
Primary reinforcer -
In operant conditioning, a consequence that is naturally satisfying.
Primary somatosensory cortex -
In the parietal lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in handling
touch-related information.
Primary visual cortex -
In the occipital lobe of the cerebrum, the brain part involved in handling visual
information.
Priming -
The retrieval of a particular memory by activating information associated with that
memory.
Principle of closure -
The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to interpret familiar
incomplete forms as complete by filling in gaps.
Principle of continuity -
The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to perceive interrupted
lines and patterns as continuous by filling in gaps.
Principle of parsimony -
The principle of applying the simplest possible explanation to any set of
observations; also called Occam’s razor.
Principle of proximity -
The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to perceive objects as
a group when they are close together.
Principle of similarity -
The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to group similar
objects together.
Principle of simplicity -
The Gestalt psychology principle that states that people tend to perceive forms as
simple, symmetrical figures rather than as irregular ones.
Prison study -
A famous study done by Philip Zimbardo that showed the influence of roles.
Proactive interference -
The forgetting of new information because of previously learned
information.
Problem solving -
The active effort people make to achieve a goal that cannot be easily attained.
Procedural memory -
Memory of how to do things. Procedural memory is usually considered
implicit.
Prognosis -
A prediction about the probable course and outcome of a disorder.
Projection -
A defense mechanism that involves attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts or
feelings to someone else.
Projective hypothesis -
The idea that people interpret ambiguous stimuli in ways that reveal their concerns,
needs, conflicts, desires, and feelings.
Projective personality tests -
Tests that require subjects to respond to ambiguous stimuli, such as pictures and
phrases, that can be interpreted in many different ways.
Projective test -
A test that requires psychologists to make judgments based on a subject’s responses
to ambiguous stimuli. It is used to assess a psychological disorder.
Prototype -
A typical example of a concept.
Proximity -
The tendency to perceive objects that lie close together as groups.
Psychoactive drugs -
Drugs that have effects on sensory experience, perception, mood, thinking, and
behavior.
Psychoanalysis -
A technique developed by Sigmund Freud to treat mental disorders. It is also a theory
of personality developed by Freud that focuses on unconscious forces, the importance of
childhood experiences, and division of the psyche into the id, ego, and superego.
Psychodynamic model -
The idea that psychological disorders result from maladaptive defenses against
unconscious conflicts.
Psychodynamic theories -
Theories based on the work of Sigmund Freud. These theories emphasize unconscious
motives and desires and the importance of childhood experiences in shaping
personality.
Psychological dependence -
Addiction based on cravings for a drug.
Psychological test -
An instrument that is used to collect information about personality traits, emotional
states, aptitudes, interests, abilities, values, or behaviors.
Psychometric approach -
A method of understanding intelligence that emphasizes people’s performance on
standardized aptitude tests.
Psychophysics -
The study of the relationship between physical properties of stimuli and people’s
experience of the stimuli.
Psychotherapy -
The treatment of psychological problems through confidential verbal communications
with a mental health professional.
Puberty -
The beginning of adolescence, marked by menarche in girls and the beginning of
nocturnal emissions in boys.
Pubescence -
The two years before puberty.
Punishment -
The delivery of a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a response will
occur.
Pupil -
An opening that lets light into the back of the eye.
Pure light -
Light of a single wavelength.
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