AP Psychology Vocabulary

Absolute threshold

Minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time.

Example: "A researcher finds that participants can detect a faint tone 50% of the time when it is played at 20 decibels, establishing that as the          for that sound."

Abstract thinking

The ability to think about concepts, ideas, and possibilities that are not directly tied to concrete objects or immediate experiences.

Example: "Unlike younger children, a teenager can engage in          by debating the concept of justice without needing a specific real-world example to anchor the discussion."

Accommodation

Adjustment of a schema by changing a scheme to accommodate new information different from what was already known.

Example: "When a child who only knows dogs sees a cat for the first time and creates a new schema for 'cat,' this adjustment of existing knowledge is an example of         ."

Acquisition

Period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response.

Example: "During the          phase of Pavlov's experiment, dogs gradually began to salivate in response to the bell as it was repeatedly paired with the presentation of food."

Activation-synthesis theory

A theory explaining dreams as the brain's attempt to synthesize and make sense of random neural activity during REM sleep.

Example: "According to the         , the vivid but disjointed narrative of a dream results from the brain attempting to create meaning out of random neural firing during REM sleep."

Actor-observer bias

Phenomenon of explaining other people’s behaviors are due to internal factors and our own behaviors are due to situational forces.

Example: "When Maria fails her exam, she blames the unfair test questions, but when her classmate fails, she attributes it to his laziness—this illustrates the         ."

Addiction

A compulsive pattern of psychoactive drug use that can create significant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is no longer consumed.

Example: "After months of daily opioid use, James experiences severe withdrawal symptoms when he stops taking the drug, demonstrating the physical dimension of         ."

Adolescent growth spurt

A period of rapid physical growth that occurs during adolescence, characterized by significant increases in height and weight.

Example: "Between ages 11 and 13, Maya grew four inches in a single year, a rapid increase in height consistent with the         ."

Adoption studies

A research method that compares adopted children to their biological and adoptive parents to determine the effects of genes and environment on behavior and mental processes.

Example: "Researchers used          to compare the IQ scores of adopted children with both their biological parents and their adoptive parents to assess the relative contributions of genetics and environment."

Adulthood

The stage of the lifespan characterized by physical maturity and generally lasting from early adulthood through old age, marked by changes in reproductive ability, mobility, and sensory acuity.

Example: "As individuals move through         , they often experience gradual declines in sensory acuity and physical mobility, even as wisdom and crystallized intelligence may continue to grow."

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Traumatic or stressful events experienced during childhood that can have lasting effects on physical and mental health throughout the lifespan.

Example: "Children who experience multiple adverse childhood experiences, such as neglect or witnessing domestic violence, are at significantly higher risk for depression and anxiety in adulthood."

Afterimages

Visual images that persist after the original stimulus is removed, resulting from the activation of certain ganglion cells while others remain inactive.

Example: "After staring at a bright red image for 30 seconds and then looking at a white wall, a participant perceives a green afterimage due to the fatigue of red-sensitive photoreceptors."

Agonists

Psychoactive drugs that bind to receptors and encourage neural firing by mimicking or enhancing neurotransmitter effects.

Example: "Morphine acts as an agonist by binding to opioid receptors in the brain and mimicking the effects of the body's natural endorphins, thereby reducing the perception of pain."

Agoraphobia

Anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear, anxiety, and avoidance of situations in which it might be difficult to escape if one experiences symptoms of a panic attack.

Example: "A person with          may refuse to use public transportation or visit crowded shopping malls because they fear being unable to escape if a panic attack occurs."

Alarm reaction

First stage of the general adaptation syndrome; characterized as the body’s immediate physiological reaction to a threatening situation or some other emergency; analogous to the fight-or-flight response.

Example: "When the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes, Carlos experienced a rapid increase in heart rate and a surge of adrenaline—classic signs of the          stage of the general adaptation syndrome."

Algorithms

Problem-solving strategies that attempt all possible solutions systematically until the correct one is found.

Example: "A student solving an anagram by systematically testing every possible letter combination is using an algorithm, which guarantees finding the correct answer but is time-consuming."

All-or-none

Phenomenon that incoming signal from another neuron is either sufficient or insufficient to reach the threshold of excitation.

Example: "The          principle explains why a stimulus must surpass the threshold of excitation to trigger a neural response; a stimulus that is too weak will produce no signal at all."

All-or-nothing principle

The rule that a neuron either fires completely or does not fire at all; there is no partial firing of an action potential.

Example: "Regardless of whether a neuron is stimulated by a weak or a strong signal above threshold, the action potential produced is always the same magnitude, demonstrating the         ."

Alpha wave

Type of brain wave characteristic during the early part of NREM stage 1 sleep, which has fairly low amplitude and a frequency of 8–12 Hz.

Example: "As the participant closed her eyes and began to relax before falling asleep, EEG recordings showed a shift to          with a frequency of approximately 10 Hz."

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive neurocognitive disorder that causes brain cells to waste away (degenerate) and die. It's the most common cause of...

Example: "As his          progressed, Harold struggled to recall the names of family members he had known for decades, reflecting the deterioration of long-term memory associated with the disorder."

Amnesia

Loss of long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma.

Example: "Following a severe car accident, the patient developed          and was unable to recall any events from the previous ten years, though she could still form new short-term memories."

Amygdala

Structure in the limbic system involved in our experience of emotion and tying emotional meaning to our memories.

Example: "When participants viewed fear-inducing images during a brain imaging study, researchers observed heightened activity in the         , confirming its role in processing emotional responses."

Analytical psychology

Jung’s theory focusing on the balance of opposing forces within one’s personality and the significance of the collective unconscious.

Example: "In         , Jung proposed that the persona and the shadow are opposing forces within the psyche, and that psychological health requires integrating these elements."

Animism

The tendency to attribute life, consciousness, or human characteristics to inanimate objects or natural phenomena.

Example: "A four-year-old who insists that her stuffed bear feels sad when left alone is demonstrating         , a characteristic of the preoperational stage of cognitive development."

Anorexia nervosa

Eating disorder characterized by an individual maintaining body weight that is well below average through starvation and/or excessive exercise.

Example: "Despite being dangerously underweight, the teenager with          continued to restrict her food intake severely and exercised for hours each day, driven by a distorted body image."

Antagonists

Psychoactive drugs that bind to receptors and discourage neural firing by blocking neurotransmitter effects.

Example: "Naloxone functions as an antagonist by binding to opioid receptors without activating them, thereby blocking the effects of heroin and reversing an overdose."

Antisocial personality disorder

Characterized by a lack of regard for others’ rights, impulsivity, deceitfulness, irresponsibility, and lack of remorse over misdeeds.

Example: "The defendant showed a consistent pattern of lying, manipulating others for personal gain, and expressing no remorse for his actions, which the clinician identified as characteristic of         ."

Anxiety disorder

Characterized by excessive and persistent fear and anxiety, and by related disturbances in behavior.

Example: "Sarah's          caused her to experience persistent, excessive worry about everyday situations, making it difficult for her to concentrate at school or sleep at night."

Anxiety disorders

A category of psychological disorders characterized by excessive fear and/or anxiety with related disturbances to behavior.

Example: "Specific phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder are all classified as          because they involve excessive fear or worry that significantly impairs daily functioning."

Aphasia

A language disorder resulting from damage to brain areas responsible for speech production or comprehension.

Example: "After a stroke damaged his left temporal lobe, the patient developed Wernicke's         , allowing him to speak fluently but producing sentences that were largely incoherent and meaningless."

Apparent movement

The visual perception of movement in objects that are not actually moving, such as in phi phenomenon or motion illusions.

Example: "When a series of still images are displayed in rapid succession, the brain perceives         , which is the foundational principle behind motion pictures and animated films."

Archival research

Method of research using past records or data sets to answer various research questions, or to search for interesting patterns or relationships.

Example: "To investigate trends in childhood obesity over the past 50 years, the researchers relied on          by analyzing health records and government nutrition surveys from previous decades."

Arousal theory

Strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories and weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories.

Example: "According to         , people who witnessed a dramatic bank robbery are likely to form a stronger memory of the event than those who experienced a mundane, uneventful afternoon."

Associative learning

Form of learning that involves connecting certain stimuli or events that occur together in the environment (classical and operant conditioning).

Example: "Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of         , because both involve forming connections between stimuli or between behaviors and their consequences."

Asthma

Psychophysiological disorder in which the airways of the respiratory system become obstructed, leading to great difficulty expelling air from the lungs.

Example: "Research has shown that psychological stress can trigger or worsen          attacks, illustrating how this psychophysiological disorder involves both biological and emotional factors."

Ataque de nervios

A culture-bound anxiety disorder experienced mainly by people of Caribbean or Iberian descent, manifesting as panic attacks.

Example: "A Puerto Rican woman who experienced trembling, crying, and a feeling of being out of control following the death of a family member was described by her doctor as having an         , a culturally specific stress response."

Atkinson-Shiffrin model

Memory model that states we process information through three systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Example: "According to the         , information that is rehearsed in short-term memory is more likely to be encoded into long-term memory for later retrieval."

Attention

The selective focus on specific sensory information while filtering out other stimuli, involving both sensation and perception.

Example: "During a crowded lecture, a student's          was captured by the professor's dramatic pause, allowing her to encode that key point into memory despite the surrounding distractions."

Attentional variables

Factors related to a person's focus and awareness that affect whether they notice a situation requiring help and respond to it.

Example: "In Latané and Darley's bystander intervention model,          explain why individuals in a noisy, distracting environment may fail to notice that someone nearby needs help."

Attitude

Evaluations of or feelings toward a person, idea, or object that are typically positive or negative.

Example: "A student who has a strongly positive          toward environmental conservation is more likely to volunteer for a campus recycling initiative than one who views the issue negatively."

Attitude change

The process by which existing attitudes are modified or replaced in response to new information, experiences, or psychological pressures.

Example: "After reading a compelling report on the health risks of processed foods, Marcus underwent significant          and began to view fast food far more negatively than before."

Attitude formation

The process by which attitudes develop and are established through experience, learning, and social influence.

Example: "A child who grows up hearing her parents speak positively about a particular political party may develop a favorable attitude toward that party through          via social modeling."

Attribution theory

A psychological framework explaining how people interpret and explain the causes of behavior and mental processes in themselves and others.

Example: "         helps explain why a student who fails a test might attribute the outcome to bad luck (external) rather than insufficient preparation (internal)."

Auditory sensory system

The biological structures and processes involved in hearing, including the ear and neural pathways that detect and process sound.

Example: "Sound waves enter the ear and are converted into neural signals by hair cells in the cochlea, which are then transmitted to the auditory cortex via the         ."

Authoritarian parenting style

Parents place a high value on conformity and obedience, are often rigid, and express little warmth to the child.

Example: "Parents who demand strict obedience, enforce rigid rules without explanation, and rarely show affection toward their children are exhibiting an         ."

Authoritative parenting style

Parents give children reasonable demands and consistent limits, express warmth and affection, and listen to the child’s point of view.

Example: "An          is associated with the best outcomes for children because it combines clear behavioral expectations with emotional warmth and open communication."

Autism spectrum disorder

Childhood disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication, and repetitive patterns of behavior or interests.

Example: "A child diagnosed with          may struggle to interpret social cues such as facial expressions and may become intensely focused on a narrow range of topics or activities."

Avoidant attachment

Characterized by child’s unresponsiveness to parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if parent leaves.

Example: "In the Strange Situation experiment, a toddler with          showed little distress when his mother left the room and did not seek comfort from her upon her return."

B. F. Skinner

Expanded the basic ideas of behaviorism to include the idea of reinforcement and punishment—environmental stimuli that either encourage or discourage certain responses. Helped establish and popularize the operant conditioning model of learning. Skinner’s intellectual influence lasted for decades.

Example: "         demonstrated through his experiments with the operant chamber that pigeons could learn complex behaviors through systematic reinforcement, illustrating the power of environmental consequences in shaping behavior."

Babbling

A stage of language development in which infants produce repetitive consonant-vowel combinations like 'ba-ba-ba'.

Example: "At around six months of age, infants begin          by producing repetitive syllable combinations like 'da-da-da,' which is a critical precursor to the development of meaningful speech."

Bariatric surgery

Type of surgery that modifies the gastrointestinal system to reduce the amount of food that can be eaten and/or limiting how much of the digested food can be absorbed.

Example: "After          reduced the capacity of her stomach, the patient could only consume small amounts of food at each meal, leading to substantial weight loss over the following year."

Basilar membrane

Thin strip of tissue within the cochlea that contains the hair cells which serve as the sensory receptors for the auditory system.

Example: "High-frequency sounds cause the          near the base of the cochlea to vibrate, while low-frequency sounds cause vibration near the apex, supporting the place theory of hearing."

Basolateral complex

Part of the brain with dense connections with a variety of sensory areas of the brain; it is critical for classical conditioning and attaching emotional value to memory.

Example: "The          of the amygdala plays a critical role in fear conditioning by linking neutral stimuli with aversive outcomes, thereby storing emotionally significant memories."

Behavior therapy

Therapeutic orientation that employs principles of learning to help clients change undesirable behaviors.

Example: "A therapist using          helped a client overcome her phobia of spiders through systematic desensitization, gradually pairing relaxation with increasing exposure to the feared stimulus."

Behavioral perspective

An approach to psychology that emphasizes the study of observable behavior and learning through conditioning.

Example: "From the         , a child's aggressive outbursts at school are best understood and modified by identifying the environmental reinforcers that are maintaining the behavior."

Belief perseverance

The tendency for a belief to persist even when evidence suggests it is inaccurate, often reinforced by confirmation bias.

Example: "Even after the original study claiming a link between vaccines and autism was retracted and thoroughly debunked, many people continued to hold the belief due to         ."

Beta wave

Type of brain wave characteristic during wakefulness, which has a very low amplitude and a frequency of 13–30 Hz.

Example: "While studying for an exam, the student's EEG showed fast-frequency, low-amplitude          indicating an alert and active state of wakefulness."

Binocular depth cues

Depth perception cues that require information from both eyes, such as retinal disparity and convergence.

Example: "The slight difference between the images received by each eye, known as retinal disparity, is one of the most important          used to judge the distance of nearby objects."

Biofeedback

Stress-reduction technique using electronic equipment to measure a person’s involuntary (neuromuscular and autonomic) activity and provide feedback to help the person gain a level of voluntary control over these processes.

Example: "Using         , the patient learned to recognize when her muscle tension was increasing and practiced relaxation techniques to consciously lower it, reducing her chronic headaches."

Biological perspective

View that psychological disorders like depression and schizophrenia are associated with imbalances in one or more neurotransmitter systems.

Example: "From the         , major depressive disorder is associated with reduced levels of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain, which is why antidepressants that increase these neurotransmitters are often prescribed."

Biopsychosocial model

Perspective that asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual’s health.

Example: "To fully understand why a patient developed anxiety disorder, the clinician applied the          and considered genetic vulnerability, maladaptive thought patterns, and the chronic stress of poverty."

Bisexual

Emotional, romantic, and/or erotic attraction to those of the same gender or to those of another gender.

Example: "A person who identifies as          may experience romantic and sexual attraction to individuals of both the same and different genders."

Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)

Requirement of certain occupations for which denying an individual employment would otherwise violate the law, such as requirements concerning religion or sex.

Example: "A theater director's requirement that only female actresses audition for the role of a historical queen is a legitimate bona fide occupational qualification because the character's gender is central to the role."

Borderline personality disorder

Instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood, as well as impulsivity; key features include intolerance of being alone and fear of abandonment, unstable relationships, unpredictable behavior and moods, and intense and inappropriate anger.

Example: "A patient with          described intense, unstable relationships in which she would idealize a friend one day and then feel overwhelming anger and abandonment fears the next."

Brain

The central organ of the central nervous system that processes information and controls body functions.

Example: "The          integrates sensory information from the environment with stored memories and emotional signals to produce coordinated responses to complex situations."

Brain plasticity

The ability of the brain to rewire itself, modify existing connections, or create new connections throughout development to compensate for damage or support learning.

Example: "After a stroke damaged part of her motor cortex, the patient's          allowed adjacent neural regions to gradually take over the lost functions through intensive physical therapy."

Brain's reward center

The brain region that processes reward and reinforcement, influencing learning, cognition, and emotional responses.

Example: "When a rat pressed a lever that delivered direct electrical stimulation to its         , it continued pressing the lever thousands of times, neglecting food and water."

Burnout

A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress in the workplace, characterized by reduced effectiveness and motivation.

Example: "After years of working 70-hour weeks with little recognition, the nurse experienced         , feeling emotionally exhausted, detached from her patients, and unable to find meaning in her work."

Bystander effect

Situation in which a witness or bystander does not volunteer to help a victim or person in distress.

Example: "In a study replicating the         , participants who believed they were the only witness to a staged emergency were far more likely to offer help than those who believed many others were also present."

Cataplexy

Lack of muscle tone or muscle weakness, and in some cases complete paralysis of the voluntary muscles.

Example: "During an episode of          triggered by laughter, the narcoleptic patient suddenly lost muscle tone and collapsed to the floor while remaining fully conscious."

Cause-and-effect relationship

Changes in one variable cause the changes in the other variable; can be determined only through an experimental research design.

Example: "Because the researchers randomly assigned participants to either the treatment or control group, they were able to establish a          between the new therapy and reduced depression scores."

Central executive

A component of the working memory model that controls attention and coordinates information processing.

Example: "The          of working memory directs attention between the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad, coordinating the processing of verbal and visual information simultaneously."

Central nervous system

The part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord that processes information and coordinates responses.

Example: "When Maria touched a hot stove, sensory information traveled through her peripheral nervous system to her         , where her brain processed the pain and initiated a rapid withdrawal response."

Central nucleus

Part of the brain involved in attention and has connections with the hypothalamus and various brainstem areas to regulate the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems’ activity.

Example: "The          of the amygdala coordinates the body's fear response by sending signals to the hypothalamus, which triggers autonomic reactions such as increased heart rate and rapid breathing."

Central route to persuasion

A persuasion pathway involving careful, thoughtful analysis of persuasive arguments and evidence.

Example: "A voter who carefully reads a candidate's policy proposals and evaluates the supporting evidence before deciding how to vote is being persuaded through the         ."

Central sleep apnea

Sleep disorder with periods of interrupted breathing due to a disruption in signals sent from the brain that regulate breathing.

Example: "Unlike obstructive sleep apnea,          occurs because the brain intermittently fails to send the proper signals to the muscles that control breathing during sleep."

Cerebellum

Hindbrain structure that controls our balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills, and it is thought to be important in processing some types of memory.

Example: "Damage to the          can result in loss of balance, poor coordination, and unsteady gait, as this structure is essential for fine-tuning motor movements."

Change blindness

The failure to perceive changes in the environment due to inattention or lack of focus on those changes.

Example: "In a classic demonstration of         , participants failed to notice when one person was swapped for another during a brief visual obstruction because they were not attending to the person's identity."

Character strengths

Positive traits and virtues classified into six categories: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

Example: "Positive psychologists identify          such as courage and gratitude as core virtues that, when actively cultivated, contribute to greater well-being and life satisfaction."

Classical conditioning

Learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired or associated with the behavior.

Example: "A child who was once stung by a bee near a garden may develop a fear of all gardens through         , as the garden becomes associated with the pain of the sting."

Climate Change

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather patterns and average temperatures on Earth due primarily to human activities such as burning fossil...

Example: "Psychologists studying          have found that eco-anxiety—a chronic fear about environmental threats—is increasingly common among young people who feel powerless to prevent global warming."

Clinical psychology

Area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior.

Example: "After earning her doctorate in         , Dr. Reeves specialized in diagnosing and treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder using evidence-based cognitive-behavioral techniques."

Cochlea

Fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure that contains the sensory receptor cells of the auditory system.

Example: "Sound vibrations travel through the bones of the middle ear and create fluid waves in the         , which stimulate hair cells that convert mechanical energy into neural impulses."

Cochlear implant

Electronic device that consists of a microphone, a speech processor, and an electrode array to directly stimulate the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain.

Example: "A profoundly deaf child who received a          was able to perceive sound for the first time because the device directly stimulated the auditory nerve, bypassing the damaged hair cells."

Cocktail party effect

A phenomenon where people can selectively attend to specific information, such as hearing their name, in a noisy or distracting environment.

Example: "Although the room was filled with dozens of simultaneous conversations, Elena immediately noticed when someone across the room mentioned her name, demonstrating the         ."

Cognitive development

Domain of lifespan development that examines learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Example: "Piaget's four-stage theory of          traces how children's thinking evolves from simple sensorimotor interactions with the world to the capacity for abstract, logical reasoning in adolescence."

Cognitive dissonance

Psychological discomfort that arises from a conflict in a person’s behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to one’s positive self-perception.

Example: "A smoker who knows cigarettes are harmful but continues to smoke may experience          and resolve it by convincing himself that the health risks are exaggerated."

Cognitive load

The amount of mental effort or processing capacity required to complete a task or make a decision.

Example: "Students learning a complex new mathematical procedure while simultaneously listening to a lecture may experience high         , which can impair their ability to retain either set of information."

Cognitive perspective

A psychological approach that explains mental disorders as resulting from maladaptive thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or emotions.

Example: "From the         , a person's depression may be maintained by automatic negative thoughts and distorted beliefs about themselves and the future rather than by external circumstances alone."

Cognitive therapy

Form of psychotherapy that focuses on how a person’s thoughts lead to feelings of distress, with the aim of helping them change these irrational thoughts.

Example: "A therapist using          helped a client identify and challenge his irrational belief that a single failure meant he was completely worthless, replacing it with a more balanced view."

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Psychotherapy that focuses on cognitive processes and problem behaviors that is sometimes used to treat sleep disorders such as insomnia.

Example: "A patient with insomnia was treated with         , which targeted both the maladaptive thoughts about sleep and the unhelpful behaviors—like lying in bed awake for hours—that perpetuated the disorder."

Collective unconscious

Theoretical repository of information shared by all people across cultures, as described by Carl Jung.

Example: "Carl Jung argued that the          explains why myths and archetypal symbols, such as the 'hero's journey,' appear independently in cultures around the world that have had no contact with one another."

Collectivism

A cultural orientation that emphasizes group harmony, interdependence, and collective welfare over individual goals and personal identity.

Example: "In a culture that prizes         , an individual may choose a career that benefits her family and community rather than one that maximizes personal income or individual achievement."

Collectivist culture

Culture that focuses on communal relationships with others such as family, friends, and community.

Example: "In a         , decisions about marriage, career, and finances are often made with careful consideration of how the choice will affect the extended family and the broader community."

Communication

The exchange of information and ideas between individuals using language and other symbolic systems.

Example: "Effective          between a therapist and client—including both verbal disclosure and nonverbal cues like tone and posture—is considered fundamental to building a therapeutic alliance."

Comorbid disorder

Individual who has two or more diagnoses, which often includes a substance abuse diagnosis and another psychiatric diagnosis, such as depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.

Example: "The patient was diagnosed with a          because she met the criteria for both major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder, each of which required a separate but coordinated treatment plan."

Companionate love

Type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment, but not passion; associated with close friendships and family relationships.

Example: "After 40 years of marriage, the couple described their relationship as         —deeply committed and emotionally intimate, even though the intense passion of their early years had faded."

Concrete operational stage

Third stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; from about 7 to 11 years old, children can think logically about real (concrete) events.

Example: "A child in the          can understand that a ball of clay rolled into a long snake still contains the same amount of clay, demonstrating the concept of conservation."

Confederate

Person who works for a researcher and is aware of the experiment, but who acts as a participant; used to manipulate social situations as part of the research design.

Example: "In Milgram's obedience study, the learner who appeared to receive electric shocks was actually a          trained to respond with scripted cries of pain that grew increasingly distressed."

Confidentiality

Therapist cannot disclose confidential communications to any third party, unless mandated or permitted by law.

Example: "When a client disclosed personal struggles during a therapy session, the psychologist upheld          by not sharing that information with the client's employer, as there was no legal obligation to do so."