psychological science

habit, use - (psychology) an automatic pattern of behavior in reaction to a specific situation; may be inherited or acquired through frequent repetition; "owls have nocturnal habits"; "she had a habit twirling the ends of her hair"; "long use had hardened him to it"

rehearsal - (psychology) a form of practice; repetition of information (silently or aloud) in order to keep it in short-term memory

inhibition, suppression - (psychology) the conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts or desires

behaviour, behavior - (psychology) the aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation

extraversion, extroversion - (psychology) an extroverted disposition; concern with what is outside the self

introversion - (psychology) an introverted disposition; concern with one's own thoughts and feelings

ambiversion - (psychology) a balanced disposition intermediate between extroversion and introversion

image, persona - (Jungian psychology) a personal facade that one presents to the world; "a public image is as fragile as Humpty Dumpty"

readiness, set - (psychology) being temporarily ready to respond in a particular way; "the subjects' set led them to solve problems the familiar way and to overlook the simpler solution"; "his instructions deliberately gave them the wrong set"

anima - (Jungian psychology) the inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious

double bind - (psychology) an unresolvable dilemma; situation in which a person receives contradictory messages from a person who is very powerful

cognitive operation, cognitive process, mental process, process, operation - (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents; "the process of thinking"; "the cognitive operation of remembering"

perceptual constancy, constancy - (psychology) the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation

chunking, unitisation, unitization - (psychology) the configuration of smaller units of information into large coordinated units

introjection - (psychology) unconscious internalization of aspects of the world (especially aspects of persons) within the self in such a way that the internalized representation takes over the psychological functions of the external objects

stimulus generalisation, stimulus generalization, generalisation, generalization - (psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus

reinforcer, reinforcing stimulus, reinforcement - (psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it

law of effect - (psychology) the principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences; behavior having good consequences tends to be repeated whereas behavior that leads to bad consequences is not repeated

science, scientific discipline - a particular branch of scientific knowledge; "the science of genetics"

abnormal psychology, psychopathology - the branch of psychology concerned with abnormal behavior

association theory, associationism - (psychology) a theory that association is the basic principle of mental activity

atomism - (psychology) a theory that reduces all mental phenomena to simple elements (sensations and feelings) that form complex ideas by association

applied psychology, industrial psychology - any of several branches of psychology that seek to apply psychological principles to practical problems of education or industry or marketing etc.

cognitive psychology - an approach to psychology that emphasizes internal mental processes

animal psychology, comparative psychology - the branch of psychology concerned with the behavior of animals

child psychology, developmental psychology, genetic psychology - the branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children

differential psychology - the branch of psychology that studies measurable differences between individuals

experimental psychology, psychonomics - the branch of psychology that uses experimental methods to study psychological issues

functionalism - a psychology based on the assumption that all mental process are useful to an organism in adapting to the environment

neuropsychology, physiological psychology, psychophysiology - the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes

psychometrics, psychometrika, psychometry - any branch of psychology concerned with psychological measurements

configurationism, Gestalt psychology - (psychology) a theory of psychology that emphasizes the importance of configurational properties