clep introductory psychology vocabulary

7/30/2019 CLEP Introductory Psychology Vocabulary

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CLEP INTRO PSYCH TERMS

Acceptance unconditional positive regard of another person.

Acute pain pain that lasts for less than three months.Advocacy usually means a professional representing a patient when the professional

believes the patient is disempowered or unable to speak for themself.

Allodynia an exaggerated response to a non-painful stimulus, such as light touch.

Ambiguous loss a loss that is unclear, unconfirmed or indeterminate and therefore is often

more difficult to deal with.

Anxiety an unpleasant physical and emotional reaction to a perceived threat.

Auditability the process of ensuring rigour in qualitative research by identifying the research

process and decision trail.

Authoritarian

parenting

parenting that is rejecting or unresponsive while at the same time attempting to

control the child and what they do.

Authoritative

parenting

parenting that is accepting and responsive while trying to control the child and

protect them from mistakes.

Behaviourism a school of psychology that views behaviour as being influenced by factors external

to the individual, that is, behaviours are learned depending on whether they are

rewarded or not, by association with another event or by imitation.

Biological age age in terms of physical health and development.

Biomedical model

of health

a health model that holds that ill-health is caused by viruses and germs and as such

there is one cause and one cure.

Biopsychological

model of health

this model extends the causes of disease to incorporate the psychological aspects of

illness, such as continual stress leading to an increase in cortisol production that may

have long-term physical consequences on the body's systems.Biopsychosocial model

of health

this model extends the causes of disease to social disadvantages linked to the

environment, and the social, cultural and political structures of a society.

Burnout a psychological syndrome characterised by emotional exhaustion, cynicism and a

diminished sense of self-efficacy that occurs as a consequence of prolonged chronic

workplace stress.

Causal explanations explanations that provide a single or sometimes multiple causes for why things occur;

often formed with the word 'because'.

Central sensitisation an increase in the responsiveness or sensitivity of neurons within the central nervous

system (spinal cord and brain).

Chronic pain pain that lasts beyond the term of normal healing time; pain that lasts for longer than

three months.

Chronological age the number of years since someone was born.

Classical conditioning a simple form of learning by association whereby repeated pairing of a conditioned

stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response.

Code of conduct a statement of belief about the standard of care a profession should deliver.

Cognitive behavioural

therapy

a counselling intervention that utilises behavioural and cognitive principles to assist

the person to set and achieve personal goals or change health behaviours.

Cognitive theory a school of psychology that acknowledges the role of perception and thoughts about

oneself, one's individual experience and the environment as influences on behaviour.

Compliance/adherence when a patient shows the behaviours and follows the treatment regimen a health


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professional has advised they are described by many health professionals as compliant.

For some time, however, this term has been questioned and it has been suggested that

it be replaced by adherence.

Complicated grief grief that is ongoing and problematic for the bereaved person, often associated with

complexities in relationships, lack of preparation for the loss and limited social support.

Concrete operational

stage

when a child uses logical forms of reasoning to classify things into groups based on

characteristics, but only with concrete objects.

Conditioned response the response elicited by the conditioned stimulus in the presence or absence of the

stimulus such as a phobia is a conditioned response.

Conditioned stimulus a neutral stimulus that elicits a particular response after repeated pairing with a

stimulus that naturally produces the response (unconditioned stimulus).

Consumer (of research) an individual who utilises research evidence to inform work practices, that is, engages

in evidence-based practice.

Contextual explanations explanations that provide situational descriptions of what conditions are present when

something happens.

Continuing bonds the important ongoing connections that grievers maintain with the person who is lost,

involving such activities as remembering, establishing memorials and negotiating a

continuing relationship with the lost person.

Coping the process of responding to and managing demands that the individual perceives as

challenging or threatening.

Correlation the degree of relationship between two or more events or characteristics.

Credibility a measure of rigour in qualitative research. It establishes whether the results of the

research are credible or believable from the perspective of the participant in the study.

Daily hassles minor stressful events that can have a cumulative effect on health.

Deconditioning a decline in physical fitness through a long period of inactivity.

Defence mechanism an unconscious psychological process used to reduce anxiety and protect the conscious

mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Common defence mechanisms are

denial, projection, repression and rationalisation.

Denial an unconscious defence mechanism whereby the individual does not acknowledge an

impending or actual threat or loss.

Dependent variable the presumed effect of the independent variable in the study, that is, the outcome that

results from the intervention.

Depersonalisation an emotional and psychological state in which the person feels that self or the outside

world is unreal, commonly involving feelings of strangeness, a sense that one's mind is

separated from one's body or seeing oneself from a distance.

Descriptive theories theories that do not try to explain in terms of factors but are content to just describe

what appeared to take place.

Determinism a philosophical position that views all events as being predetermined and having a

cause. It also proposes that specific causal factors can potentially be known.

Developmental

milestones

key events or periods of a child's development; sometimes used as a watershed to

predict outcomes if the milestone is met or not met adequately.

Diagnostic and statistical

manual (DSM)

a reference work published by the American Psychiatric Association that provides guidelines

and criteria for the diagnosis and classification of mental disorders.

Diathesis-stress hypothesis a proposition that mental illness results from a combination of a genetic predisposition and

environmental stress, and that both must be present for the condition to manifest itself.

Disenfranchised grief grief that is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, publicly mourned or socially supported.

Specific types of relationships, losses, grievers, circumstances and ways of grieving may not be

socially recognised.

Dual process model a particular conceptualisation of grieving that views the grief process as the oscillation between

loss-oriented work and restoration-oriented work.


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Dysaesthesia an unpleasant abnormal sensation.

Early intervention early diagnosis and treatment of illness to minimise the impact of the illness and its consequences.

Emerging adulthood the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Empathy Sensing and non-judgmentally verbalising how one senses the other individual's feelings and meanings.

Endogamous marriage a marriage in which the bride and groom are from the same group.

Essentialism explaining behaviour or events in terms of some 'essential' property of the person or object such

as 'The tree moved because it possesses magic' or 'All African children like to dance'.

Ethics moral principles that guide action. In health research ethical research ensures that potentialbenefits outweigh possible harm and that participants, consent is informed.

Evidence-based practice using research findings to inform and establish sound clinical practices.

Exogamous marriage a marriage in which the partners are from different groups.

Explanative theories theories that are only satisfied when a cause or a context is given for why the events happened

the way they did; description alone is not enough.

Fear appeal efforts to increase motivation to change an individual's attitudes and behaviours by inducing fear.

Fear-avoidance the avoidance of physical activity due to a fear of increased pain or (re)injury.

Fight/flight mechanism a response to a perceived threat involving sympathetic and endocrine arousal that prepares the

individual to attack or flee.

Flinders model a cognitive- and behavioural-based intervention for self-management of chronic disease.

Formal operational stage stage in which abstract thinking is possible and can be used in reasoning and logical processes.

General adaptation

syndrome (GAS)

a stress response consisting of three phases arousal, resistance and exhaustion.

Genuineness genuine people are 'congruent'; their non-verbal behaviour is consistent with their inner thoughts

and feelings.

Gestalt psychology a school of psychology that maintains that psychological investigation must focus on the whole

individual and the context in which behaviours occur, and not just on parts of the person or on an

isolated behaviour.

Grief process the reactions, behaviours and adaptations that grieving people experience over time in response

to a loss. This process has been described using such concepts as stages, phases and tasks.

Grief work a view of grief, first proposed by Sigmund Freud, that emphasises the emotional, cognitive, socia

l and behavioural activity and effort involved in coping and making adjustments after a significant loss.

Health action process

approach

a theory that explains the initiation, adoption and continuation of health behaviours as a process

that consists of planning, action and maintenance tasks.

Health behaviour action by an individual that enhances, maintains or threatens health.

Health belief model a psychological theory that predicts health behaviours based on the person's perception of the health

threat and belief that engaging in a certain behaviour will reduce the health threat.

Health education an educational approach to increase health literacy to assist individuals and communities to make

informed decisions and take action regarding their health, particularly in relation to lifestyle.

Health inequities inequalities in health that stem from differences in social status and are therefore 'socially unjust'.

Health promotion the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. It can involve a

range of educational, political, social and environmental strategies.

Health psychology a field of study that examines how and why people stay healthy, or become ill, and how individuals

react when ill.

Health a state of mental, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing; not merely the absence of disease.

Healthy cities a global movement initiated by WHO that encourages local governments to engage in health

development through political commitment, institutional change, capacity building, partnership-based

planning and innovative projects.

Humanistic psychology a school of psychology that emphasises the development of a concept of self and the striving of the

individual towards achieving personal goals and potential.


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Hyperalgesia an exaggerated response to a noxious stimulus.

Illness prevention strategies that aim to deter the occurrence of illness.

Independent variable the presumed cause of the outcome (dependent variable) observed.

Indigenous Australian a person who identifies as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Indulgent (or permissive)

parenting

parenting that both accepts what a child does and does not try to control the child.

Informed consent an ethical principle that requires a researcher to obtain the voluntary participation of subjects

after informing them of potential benefits and risks.Interdisciplinary an approach to healthcare practice in which different health disciplines, such as psychology, nursing,

social work, podiatry, physiotherapy and other medical and allied health professionals, work collaborat

Intersectoral an approach whereby different agencies and government departments such as health, housing and

transport work collaboratively on a common goal like 'health'.

Kinship family or blood ties.

Levels of loss Weenolsen's framework proposing that loss is experienced at five levels primary, secondary, holistic,

self-conceptual and metaphorical.

Locus of control (LOC) the individual's belief regarding responsibility for reinforcement for a particular behaviour and whether

the individual believes that reinforcements (outcomes) are controlled by the self (internal LOC) or by

the environment (external LOC).

Mori an indigenous New Zealander.

Marriage a permanent and legally recognised arrangement between two people that includes both a sexual and

an economic relationship with mutual rights and obligations.

Mechanism a scientific philosophy developed by Descartes that rejects purpose and qualities in favour of what is

quantifiable. It proposes that all natural phenomena, including human behaviour, can be explained by

physical causes and processes.

Mediational/

mediationism

behaviour or concepts are mediated by something else; we see a tree and walk towards it but this is

mediated by the eye and brain and these must be part of our explanation.

Medical model the view that health and illness (including behavioural and emotional problems) have physical causes

and hence are treated with biomedical interventions. It is the predominant model of care delivery in

Western healthcare systems.

Micro-skills attending behaviours that are the essence of good communication including eye contact, attentive bod

language, vocal style and verbal style.

Mindfulness the mindful person is one who sees novelty in every situation and activity, whether done before or not.

Modelling learning by observation (also called vicarious learning).

Monogamous

marriage

a marriage in which there is only one husband or wife.

Morbidity the frequency or occurrence of a disease, and the degree to which the illness or disability affects the pe

Mortality the number of deaths in a population from a specific cause.

Motivational

interviewing

a client-centred; semi-directed counselling approach that encourages an individual to change a health

behaviour by focusing on reasons for and against the change. The resulting cognitive dissonance create

state of ambivalence for the person and hence an opportunity for the person to initiate change. It is

particularly suited to clients with addictive behaviours.

Nature/nurture

debate

the controversy concerning whether human behaviour is influenced more by genetic inheritance and

biology (nature) or by learning and the environment (nurture).

Neglectful (uninvolved)

parenting

parenting that is unaccepting or unresponsive to the child and also does not try to control them.

Neo-liberal policy policy based on the idea that the market will provide what is needed given the opportunity. Health is

therefore a commodity and those who need health purchase it.

Neuropathic pain pain arising from pathology to or changes within the peripheral and central nervous system.

New public health a health movement that, prior to the 1980s, operated principally within a biomedical framework that in


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the 21st century also acknowledges social and political influences on health.

Nociception activity in the nervous system generated by a noxious stimulus.

Nociceptive pain pain arising from injury or pathology in the tissues, for example, soft tissue sprains and strains, bone

fractures or appendicitis.

Nociceptor a nerve cell or receptor that is preferentially sensitive to a noxious stimulus.

Nonfinite loss the loss, associated with experiences such as disability and dementia, that unfolds throughout one's

lifespan and involves awareness of having lost 'what should have been'.

Noxious stimulus a stimulus that is actually or potentially damaging to body tissue.Object permanence when a child acts as if an object has permanence even when it cannot be seen.

Operant conditioning a learning process whereby outcomes are controlled by consequences of the behaviour, that is,

behaviour is rewarded, punished or ignored.

Optimism the perception and belief that adverse events are a temporary challenge to be addressed and are

within the control of the individual.

Pain behaviour any behaviour that serves to indicate that a person is in pain such as complaining, grimacing, limping

or avoiding activity.

Palliative care an approach to healthcare concerned primarily with attending to physical and emotional comfort,

rather than effecting a cure, through responding holistically to symptoms, pain, and emotional,

social and spiritual needs.

Peripheral sensitisation the increased sensitivity of nociceptors at the periphery that occurs in response to a noxious stimulus.

Pessimism the perception and belief that adverse events are permanent, catastrophic and outside the control of

the individual.

Phenomenology a qualitative research methodology that examines a phenomenon or the 'lived experience' of a

phenomenon. It aims to understand either the experience or the meaning of the experience for the

participant/s.

Policy a series of actions by a government that guide present or future courses of action. For example,

Medicare is a government policy that provides health care for all Australians with funding derived

from the taxation base. This enables Medicare to be classified as a universal health care policy based

on redistribution of taxes between high income earners and lower income groups.

Polyandry where a woman has more than one husband at the same time.

Polygyny (polygamous

marriage)

marriage to multiple spouses.

Population health the health of a group of people who are united by a specific factor, for example, biological, social or

geographic. A population health approach is action taken to improve the health of whole populations.

Positivism the philosophical view that knowledge is limited to facts that are observable or obtained through

scientific experiment.

Post-traumatic stress

disorder (PTSD)

a serious, debilitating mental illness that affects some people who experience or witness an extremely

traumatic stressful event that is outside the realm of usual human experience and involves the threat o

death or serious injury.

Preoperational stage children begin to have words for the things around them and use those words but this stage is 'pre'

operational where 'operational' refers to 'logical' operations.Primary appraisal the individual's judgement as to whether a particular event or situation is negative (poses a threat),

positive (benign) or neutral (irrelevant).

Primary health care a holistic approach to healthcare that is underpinned by a philosophy of social justice and addresses the

social determinants of health in addition to biomedical causative factors for illness.

Primary intervention the implementation of biomedical, psychosocial, political and environmental strategies that aim to fost

wellbeing and prevent the occurrence of illness.

Probability the likelihood that a research finding occurred by chance (statistical significance).

Prolonged grief

disorder

a particular type of complicated grief, characterised by intrusive thoughts related to the deceased, inte

separation distress, and/or distressingly strong yearnings for the person or thing that is lost, lasting long


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than six months and causing significant impairment in functioning.

Protective factors

for health

factors that reduce the likelihood that an illness will occur, for example, by being vaccinated, by having

access to clean water and by having a supportive family and social network.

Proximity proxemics is the distance people place themselves from each other in different interactions such as pub

social and personal.

Psychoanalytic theory a personality theory that asserts that behaviour is driven by unconscious processes, as well as influence

by childhood/developmental conflicts that either have been resolved or remain unresolved.

Psychological age an individual's ability to adapt to various circumstances compared with others who might be the same

chronological age.

Psychological death a situation in which a person lacks consciousness of existence, for example, due to medical brain death,

or where someone's personality or behaviour has changed so significantly, for example, due to mental

illness or brain injury, that others view the person as they previously existed as dead.

Psychology the empirical study of human behaviour.

Psychoneuroimmunology the multidisciplinary study of the interrelationship between behavioural, neuroendocrine and immunol

adaptive processes.

Public health concerned with the health of individuals, communities and populations and also the identification and

modification of environmental factors that impact on health.

Qualitative research a research paradigm that is interested in questions that involve human consciousness and subjectivity

and values humans and their experiences in the research process.Quantitative research a process that attempts to find out scientific knowledge by measurement of elements.

Quasi experimental

design

a study design in which random assignment is not used but the independent variable is manipulated

and certain mechanisms of control are used.

Randomised control

trial (RCT)

an experimental study of the effects of a variable (e.g. a drug or treatment) administered to human

subjects who are randomly selected from a broad population and assigned randomly to either an

experimental or a control group.

Rational non-adherence a person may not believe that what the health professional suggests is in their best interest and, after

considering the facts, may choose not to accept treatment or choose a different therapy.

Recovery a tertiary intervention that refers to the process of making adaptations to live with a chronic illness and

to minimising disability.

Reductionism a philosophical approach in which concepts are interpreted with reference to simpler processes. The

issue under investigation is analysed into simpler parts or organised systems, with a view to explaining

or understanding it.

Refereed journal a journal that requires its articles to have been evaluated or critiqued by expert peers before being

accepted for publication.

Reliability a statistical term for the internal consistency of a test; the extent to which it can be expected to produc

the same result on different occasions.

Resilience the ability to bounce back following adversity, and to achieve good outcomes despite challenges and th

Rigour the extent to which research methods are scrupulously and meticulously carried out in order to recogn

important influences in the study.

Risk factors for health increase vulnerability to illness, for example, social inequities and poor nutrition.Sample a group of cases or individuals studied as representatives of the population from which they are drawn

Secondary appraisal the individual's assessment of his/her personal (internal) and environmental (external) resources to res

to a particular stressful event or situation.

Secondary intervention healthcare which is delivered when symptoms, injury or illness are identified. Treatment is initiated as e

as possible to restore health.

Secondary source scholarly material written by person(s) other than the individual who developed the theory or conducte

the research. Most are usually published. Often a secondary source represents a response to or a summ

and critique of a theorist's or researcher's work.

Self-actualisation the achievement of one's potential and the mark of a healthy individual according to Maslow.


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Self-efficacy the personal belief that one can achieve certain goals and cope adequately in particular circumstances.

Sensorimotor stage children at this age think, as it were, through their senses and their physical movements; children explo

and learn just what they physically interact with through their senses.

Social age the social roles and expectations relative to chronological age.

Social construction an idea, concept or phenomenon that is viewed as real because there is agreement within a social grou

that they will act as if the construction does exist.

Social death the experience of sick or dying persons in which they are perceived and treated by other persons, such

health professionals, as if they were already dead.

Social determinants

of health

the social and economic factors that impact health outcomes such as socioeconomic status, housing an

employment.

Social justice a value base that views fairness and equity as a right for all regardless of social position.

Social learning theory Bandura's theory of observational learning or modelling.

Social marketing uses marketing principles and theory from the disciplines of psychology, sociology and communications

to identify solutions to social and health problems and to encourage individuals and populations to lea

healthy lifestyles.

Social scaffolding having social support or help from those around you.

Sociological model

of health

the view that factors that are external to the individual influence health outcomes such as social determ

Sociological

perspective

an explanatory model for human behaviour in which the emphasis shifts from the individual to the broa

social forces influencing the person.

Statistical significance the likelihood that the results of a study could have occurred by chance or not (probability).

Stigmatisation the process of perceiving, describing or responding to a person or groups of people in such a way that

they are socially discredited, devalued or isolated.

Stress a physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural experience of an individual in response to an event tha

the individual perceives to be challenging or threatening.

Stressor the event or experience that challenges or threatens the individual's coping resources.

Tertiary intervention healthcare delivered when the disease cannot be cured or the illness process is prolonged. It aims to as

individuals (and their family and carers) to cope with a change in their health status, to limit disability

from the health problem and to promote health and quality of life.The therapeutic triad the three qualities considered important by Rogers genuinesss, acceptance and empathy.

Theory of planned

behaviour

a psychological theory that proposes that a person's intentions and behaviour can be understood by

identifying the person's attitudes to the behaviour, subjective norms about the behaviour and the

person's belief regarding their control of the action.

Third force a term used to describe the school of humanistic psychology.

Transtheoretical

model

a model of behaviour change that outlines the stages a person goes through when changing a behaviou

The stages are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance (or relapse).

Typology the systematic classification of types, such as losses, that have characteristics or traits in common.

Unconditioned

stimulus

a stimulus that regularly and reliably elicits a response such as salivation at the sight of food.

Validity determination of whether a measurement instrument actually measures what it is purported to measu

Yerkes-Dodson law a hypothesis that predicts performance based on the degree to which the individual is aroused. The the

predicts that performance increases with arousal up to a point at which performance deteriorates.

Zone of proximal

development

Vygotsky's term for the range of behaviour between what a child can do alone and what a child can do

social scaffolding.

clep introductory psychology vocabulary

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