EXPECTANCY
1. Behavioural psychology. The state where an organism anticipates an event based on previous experience. 2. Cognitive psychology. Mental set…
EXTERNAL CONTROL
The belief that one's experience and behaviour are determined by luck, circumstances, other people and external factors. Compare internal control.
LIFE-HISTORY METHOD
an interview which takes a structured approach to obtaining historical data about events when evaluating an individuals current functioning.
MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION (MSE)
a complete evaluation of a patients mental health taking into consideration data including interviews taken by professionals to standardized tests.
MORTALITY SALIENCE
is the cognitive accessibility and process through which an individual considers the inevitability of their own death. This inevitability has…
NEGATIVE ACCELERATION
is the binary opposite to positive acceleration where a situation which should change the rate of development of a variable…
NEUROTICISM
is an umbrella term used to describe a range of meanings. For example, neuroticism could detail a state of neurosis…
OBJECTIVE SCORING
scoring an examination by way of a formula or key, so that varied scorers will come to the exact same…
OPTIMAL LEVEL THEORY
any theory which stresses living beings' strife to reach optimal levels of some attribute, like arousal or stimulation, tension, foraging,…
OVERJUSTIFICATION EFFECT
a paradoxical effect wherein praising an individual for their performance can generate lower, instead of higher, strife and achievement. It…
PASSIVE AVOIDANCE
a form of operant conditioning wherein the person must abstain from a graphic act or reaction which will generate a…
PERCEIVED BEHAVIORAL CONTROL
the degree to which an individual believes an action is under their active management.
PERSPECTIVE
noun. 1. the capacity to observe items, occurrences, and ideas in realistic proportions and unions. 2. the capacity to perceive…
PILOT TESTING
the assessment of some factor of the research materials or procedure utilized in a pilot study.