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• Classic-Fiction

Identity vs. role confusion—in Erikson’s theory, establishing an identity is the developmental task of adolescence or stage 5 of his psychosocial theory of development.

Idiographic methods—personality techniques that look at the individual such as case studies, interviews, and naturalistic obervations.

Imagery—mental pictures.

Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)—long-term memory for skills and procedures to do things affected by previous experience without that experience being consciously recalled.

Imprinting—the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.

In-group—a group of which one is a member and one tends to favor.

In vivo desensitization—behavior therapy for phobics; the client actually is placed in the fearful settings rather than imagining them as in systematic desensitization.

Incentive—a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior, pulling us toward a goal.

Incongruence—in Rogerian therapy, discrepancy between a client’s real and ideal selves.

Incubation—putting aside a problem temporarily; allows the problem solver to look at the problem from a different perspective.

Independent variable (IV)—the factor the researcher manipulates in a controlled experiment (the cause).

Individualism—identifying oneself in terms of personal traits with independent, personal goals.

Individualized tests—given to individuals in 1:1 setting; cost of hiring a professional makes them expensive; probably better for determining individual IQ scores; subjective grading.

Individuation—according to Jung is the psychological process by which a person becomes an individual, a unified whole, including conscious and unconscious processes.

Inductive reasoning—reasoning from the specific to the general, forming concepts about all members of a category based on some members.

Industrial/Organizational psychologists—psychologists who aim to improve productivity and the quality of work life by applying psychological principles and methods to the workplace.

Inferential statistics—statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions.

Information processing model of memory—explanation of memory that compares operation of human memory to a computer involving encoding, transfer to storage, and retrieval from storage.

Informational social influence—accepting others’ opinions about reality, especially in conditions of uncertainty.

In-groups—groups of which we are members.

Inhibitory neurotransmitter—chemical secreted at terminal button that reduces or prevents neural impulses in the postsynaptic dendrites.

Insight learning—the sudden appearance (often creative) or awareness of a solution to a problem.

Insomnia—the inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep.

Instinct—inherited, complex automatic species-specific behavior.

Instinct theory—theory of motivation that physical and mental instincts such as curiosity and fearfulness cause us to act.

Instinctive drift—the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behavior which interferes with learning.

Instrumental aggression—hostile act intended to achieve some goal.

Instrumental learning—learning that occurs when a response is weakened or strengthened by its consequence.

Intellectualization—Freudian defense mechanism that involves reducing anxiety by reacting to emotional situations in a detached, unemotional way.

Intelligence—the global capacity to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment.

Intelligence quotient (IQ)—mental age divided by chronological age multiplied by 100.

Interference theory—learning some items may prevent retrieving others, especially when the items are similar.

Intermittent reinforcement—the occasional reinforcement of a particular behavior; produces responding that is more resistant to extinction than continuous reinforcement.

Internal locus of control—based on Julian Rotter’s research, the belief that you control