Hello, my name is Oumou, and I am 20 years old. I have been studying Social Sciences here at Ahuntsic, for one and a half years now. My field of study is psychology and social intervention. I decided to create this glossary to help me improve my knowledge about my field of study. The glossary is filled with 20 psychology terms that I do not know and are important for my future career. I found the words in my English book, and I defined them with Google.
Abreaction
Noun
The expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion, achieved through reliving the experience that caused it.
Example: Mental health professionals need to understand the phenomenon of abreaction.
en: Abréaction
Alexithymia
Noun
The inability to recognize or describe one's own emotions.
Example: Alexithymia has been linked to depression and suicidal behavior.
en: Alexithymie
Algolagnia
Noun
desire for sexual gratification through inflicting pain on oneself or others; sadomasochism.
Example: The roots of active algolagnia, sadism, can be readily demonstrable in the normal.
en: Algolagnie
Aphonia
Noun
Aphonia is the term used to describe a loss of voice. When someone loses their voice, it may be partial (hoarseness) or complete (the patient can just about whisper). Aphonia can come on gradually or suddenly, depending on the cause.
Example: It would cheer me considerably to learn that gobblers occasionally suffer from aphonia or speechlessness.
en: Aphonie
Autohypnosis
Noun
induction of a hypnotic state in oneself; self-hypnosis.
Example: You have already started to use autohypnosis to forge new unconscious associations.
en: Autohypnose
Butterfly effect
Noun
The butterfly effect rests on the notion that the world is deeply interconnected, such that one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system.
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
Cohort
Noun
a group of people with a shared characteristic.
Example: A cohort of civil servants patiently drafting legislation.
en: Cohorte
Dissociative disorder
Noun
mental health conditions that involve experiencing a loss of connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, surroundings, behavior and identity.
Example: People who have experienced physical and sexual abuse in childhood are at increased risk of dissociative identity disorder.
en: Trouble dissociatif
Flooding
Noun
an intensive type of exposure therapy in which you must face your fear at a maximum level of intensity for an extended amount of time.
Example: With flooding, a person is unable to avoid (negatively reinforce) their phobia and through continuous exposure, anxiety levels decrease.
en: Thérapie d’exposition in vivo
Hypermnesia
Noun
abnormally vivid or complete memory or recall of the past.
Example: Evaluating hypnotic memory enhancement ( hypermnesia and reminiscence) using multitrial forced recall.
en: Hypermnésie
Lucid dreaming
Noun
a dream during which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming.
Example: Apparently some people are capable of lucid dreaming.
en: Le rêve lucide
Neurosis
Noun
a mental condition that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviour, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality.
Example: The concept of neurosis was replaced by new diagnoses of panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, social phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
en: Névrose
Neurotic
Adjective
having, caused by, or relating to neurosis.
Example: Freud started Wolf-Man's psychoanalysis by taking his emotional history, from what he found Freud believed he could shed light on Wolf-Man's current neurotic state.
en: Névrosé
Operant extinction
refers to the gradual decrease in the response rate of a behavior learned via reinforcement.
Example: Based on recent research innovations, a technology is emerging for effective use of operant extinction in the treatment of severe maladaptive behavior.
en: Extinction opérante
Perception bias
Noun
Perception bias is when our perception is skewed by the stereotypes and assumptions we have about other groups.
Example: There is evidence that although people believe they are making impartial judgements, in fact, they are influenced by perception biases unconsciously.
en: Biais de perception
Placebo
Noun
a harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect.
Example: His Aunt Beatrice had been kept alive on sympathy and placebos for thirty years.
en: Placebo
Prosopagnosia
Noun
a neurological condition characterized by the inability to recognize the faces of familiar people.
Example: Prosopagnosia involves both the temporal and parietal lobes but mainly originates from damage to the fusiform gyrus.
en: Prosopagnosie
Psychosis
a collection of symptoms that affect the mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality.
Example: Studies by anthropologists have found that in countries where individuals suffering from a psychosis are treated within the community by members of that community, rates of recovery are very favourable.
en: Psychose
Pygmalion effect
Noun
The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area and low expectations lead to worse.
Example: The Pygmalion effect only positively impacts those that we already demand a lot from.
en: Effet Pygmalion
Stimulus
Noun
a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue.
Example: Classical conditioning, developed by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, eventually producing a conditioned stimulus and response.
