• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Personal constructs—a set of bipolar categories we use as labels to help us categorize and interpret the world; Kelly believes that personality is a habitual way we live our lives trying to make sense out of what happens.

Personal fable—exaggerated belief in one’s uniqueness and immortality in adolescence.

Personal unconscious—according to Jung, a storehouse of all our past memories and hidden instincts and urges unique to the individual.

Personality—a unique pattern of consistent feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that originate within the individual.

Personality disorders—chronic, maladaptive thought and behavior patterns that are troublesome to others, harmful, or illegal.

Phallic stage—Freud’s third stage of psychosexual development; the primary erogenous zone is the genital area; during this time children become attached to the opposite-sex parent.

Phenotype—the expression of the genes.

Phenylketonuria (PKU)—recessive trait that results in severe, irreversible brain damage unless the baby is fed a special diet low in phenylalanine.

Phobia—irrational fear of specific objects or situations, such as animals or enclosed spaces.

Phonemes—smallest possible sound units of spoken language.

Photoreceptors—modified neurons (rods and cones) that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses at the retina.

Physiological motivations—such as hunger, thirst and sex. Each is influenced by biological factors, environmental factors and learned preferences and habits. The hypothalamus and endocrine system are implicated in each of these motives.

Pineal gland—endocrine gland in brain that produces melatonin that helps regulate circadian rhythms and is associated with seasonal affective disorder.

Pitch—the highness or lowness of a sound. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency and pitch. The longer the wavelength, the lower the frequency and the lower the pitch.

Pituitary gland (sometimes called master gland)—endocrine gland in brain that produces stimulating hormones which promote secretion by other glands, including TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone); ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which stimulates the adrenal cortex; FSH, which stimulates egg or sperm production; ADH (antidiuretic hormone), to help retain water in your body; and HGH (human growth hormone).

Place theory—the position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depending on the frequency of a tone. Accounts well for high-pitched sounds.

Placebo—a physical or psychological treatment given to the control group that resembles the treatment given to the experimental group, but contains no active ingredient.

Placebo effect—a response to the belief that the independent variable will have an effect, rather than to the actual effect of the independent variable; can be a confounding variable.

Plasticity—modifiability of neural connections that enables generation of new synapses which results in storing and retrieval of memories or one part of the brain taking over the function of another, etc.

Pleasure principle—Freud claims that the id part of the personality seeks immediate gratification of its wants and needs.

Pons—part of brainstem that includes portion of reticular activating system or reticular formation critical for arousal and wakefulness; sends information to and from medulla, cerebellum, and cerebral cortex.

Population—all of the individuals in the group to which the study applies.

Positive psychology—the scientific study of optimal human functioning.

Positive reinforcement—a rewarding consequence that follows a voluntary behavior thereby increasing the probability the behavior will be repeated.

Positron emission tomography (PET)—shows brain activity when radioactively-tagged glucose rushes to active neurons and emits positrons.

Postconventional level—Kohlberg’s third and final level of moral development, in which people come to understand that moral rules include principles that apply across all situations and societies.

Post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)