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Glossary of terms used on this site

Search for glossary terms (regular expression allowed)

Glossaries

Term Main definition
-ology
Glossaries - Psychology

suffix that denotes “scientific study of”

absentmindedness
Glossaries - Psychology

lapses in memory that are caused by breaks in attention or our focus being somewhere else

accommodation
Glossaries - Psychology

adjustment of a schema by changing a scheme to accommodate new information different from what was already known

acoustic encoding
Glossaries - Psychology

input of sounds, words, and music

acquisition
Glossaries - Psychology

period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response

action potential
Glossaries - Psychology

electrical signal that moves down the neuron’s axon

adolescence
Glossaries - Psychology

period of development that begins at puberty and ends at early adulthood

adrenal gland
Glossaries - Psychology

sits atop our kidneys and secretes hormones involved in the stress response

adrenarche
Glossaries - Psychology

maturing of the adrenal glands

advance directive
Glossaries - Psychology

a written legal document that details specific interventions a person wants (see living will)

agonist
Glossaries - Psychology

drug that mimics or strengthens the effects of a neurotransmitter

algorithm
Glossaries - Psychology

problem-solving strategy characterized by a specific set of instructions

all-or-none
Glossaries - Psychology

phenomenon that incoming signal from another neuron is either sufficient or insufficient to reach the threshold of excitation

allele
Glossaries - Psychology

specific version of a gene

American Psychological Association (APA)
Glossaries - Psychology

professional organization representing psychologists in the United States