Hi, my name is Maude, and I am in my second and last year in Social Science, my field of study is psychology. Some of my course are introduction to psychology, mental health psychology and social psychology and communication. I will soon apply to university in psychology. So, this glossary will be helpful to find definition of hard terms that we have my field of study.
abrecation
noun
The expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion, achieved through reliving
the experience that caused it.
Example: The concept of abreaction may have actually been initially formulated by Freud's mentor, Josef Breuer.
en: abrécation
alexithymia
noun
A personality construct characterized by the sub-clinical inability to identify and describe emotions in the
self.
Example: At university, she was diagnosed as autistic and also discovered she has alexithymia.
en: alexithymie
Behaviorism
noun
The theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to
thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior patterns.
Example: Behaviorism is a theory that focuses on shaping behavior through conditioning.
en: Behaviorisme
butterfly effect
a phrase
Notion that an effect or a trivial thing can have serious consequences if it causes an imbalance and
causes other changes that create a big upheaval.
Example: The dramedy about an autistic teenager who decides that he wants to start dating, and the butterfly effect it has on his long-suffering family, was not a game changer.
en: effet papillon
centration
noun
The tendancy to focus on only one aspect of a situation, problem or object.
Example: Piaget argued that children master centration and conservation spontaneously.
en: centrage
cognitive psychology
phrase
The study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity and thinking.
Example: Behaviorism has largely been replaced by cognitive psychology.
en: psychologie cognitive
coping
noun
Expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master,
minimize or tolerate stress or conflict.
Example: She has learned coping techniques such as meditation.
en: faire face
Evolutionary Psychology
a phrase
An approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory,
perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective.
Example: Sexual jealousy and mate guarding loom large in evolutionary psychology.
en: Psychologie évolutionnaire
flooding
noun
A therapy for phobias in which clients are exposed, with their permission, to the stimuli most frightening
to them.
Example: Flooding, sometimes referred to as in vivo exposure therapy, is a form of behavior therapy and desensitization.
en: inondation
halo effect
a phrase
The tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area.
Example: The halo effect occurs when your judgment of one feature of a thing affects your overall impression of it.
en: effet de halo
Humanistic Psychology
a phrase
A psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person and stresses the
importance of growth and self-actualization..
Example: Humanistic psychology is a therapist seeing a client for the first time for a therapy session and utilizing Maslow's hierarchy of needs to determine where the client was on the hierarchy and to see what needs were and were not being met.
en: Psychologie humaniste
hypermnesia
noun
Exceptionally exact or vivid memory, especially as associated with certain mental illnesses.
Example: Tanny’s hypermnesia allowed her to remember that her apple was 3 weeks, 2 days, 3 hours, and 20 minutes off the tree.
en: hypermnésie
insight
noun
The capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.
Example: Her book provides us with fresh new insights into this behavior.
en: aperçu
neurosis
noun
A class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations,
whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms.
Example: If you want my opinion, I think she's suffering from some form of neurosis.
en: névrose
perception
noun
A process by which an organism becomes aware of and interprets external stimuli.
Example: The perception of himself to be a failure, though nothing could be further from the truth.
en: perception
Psychoanalysis
noun
A method of studying the mind and treating mental and emotional disorders based on investigating the
role of the unconscious mind.
Example: Psychoanalysis is about. Freud developed psychoanalysis, the first type of ' talking cure '.
en: Psychanalyse
pygmalion effect
a phrase
The phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform.
en: effet pygmalion
resilience
noun
Is an individual’s tendency to cope with stress and adversity.
Example: She has shown great resilience to stress.
en: résilience
stimulus
noun
Any phenomenon that causes a reaction or response in an organism.
Example: Heat and light are physical stimuli.
en: stimulus
withdrawal
noun
Estrangement and isolation from others.
Example: This approach will simply cause the child to withdraw into its shell.
