Source Traits and Surface Traits: Key Differences
Discover the hidden personality patterns that shape our behavior and how these core qualities manifest in unexpected ways in our daily lives.
What Is a Psychological Construct?
A psychological construct is a framework used to describe psychological phenomena, such as behavior, emotion, or experience. These things don’t have a physical presence, so they cannot be objectively measured by looking at their size, weight, or appearance. By labeling a construct, researchers can make inferences about these abstract concepts. Constructs are used in psychological…
Transference in Psychology: Definition and Effects
Transference happens when people transfer their feelings onto their therapist or another authority figure.
What Is Habituation (Psychology)? Definition and Examples
Habituation involves responding less to a stimulus after you get used to it.
Action Potential: Definition and Function
An action potential takes place when the voltage of a cell changes, allowing an electrical signal to travel down the axon toward the end of the cell.
What Is the Constancy Principle?
The constancy principle suggests that psychic energy strives to stay in a steady, balanced state.
Psychology Definitions
Explore our growing collection of psychology definitions and terms. A – B Abnormal Psychology Absolute Threshold Accommodation Action Potential Actualizing Tendency Acquisition Affirmations Assimilation Autocratic Leadership Autonomy Attachment Theory Barnum Effect Behaviorism Bias Blind Spot Big 5 Personality Traits C – D Cardinal Traits Case Study Chunking Choice Blindness Classical Conditioning Cognitive Bias Cognitive Dissonance…
What Is Accommodation In Psychology?
In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, accommodation refers to the process by which people alter their existing schemas or create new schemas as a result of new learning. This is part of the adaptation process. Old schemas may be changed and, in some cases, entirely new schemas may be formed. How Accommodation Works Piaget’s theory…
What Is Random Selection?
Random selection refers to a process that researchers use to pick participants for a study. When using this method, every single member of a population has an equal chance of being chosen as a subject. This process is an important research tool used in psychology research, allowing scientists to create representative samples from which conclusions…
What Are Expectancy Effects?
Definition: Expectancy effects refer to changes in behavior that occur simply because the participant in an experiment believes that their behavior should change. In other words, people sometimes change how they act in certain situations simply because they think that their behavior is supposed to change. Researchers often utilize placebo control groups to determine if…
Absolute Threshold: A Definition With Examples
The absolute threshold is the smallest amount of a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time. It can involve any of the senses, including hearing, taste, vision, smell, and touch. The term absolute threshold is often used in psychology research yet students are often confused about what it means. Let’s take a…
What Is a Factorial Design? Definition and Examples
A factorial design is a type of experiment that involves manipulating two or more variables. While simple psychology experiments look at how one independent variable affects one dependent variable, researchers often want to know more about the effects of multiple independent variables. How a Factorial Design Works Let’s take a closer look at how a…
What Is the Organismic Valuing Process?
In Carl Rogers’s theory of personality, the organismic valuing process refers to evaluating subjective experiences to determine their possible impact on self-improvement. The concept is rooted in humanistic psychology and Rogers’ client-centered therapy. Essentially, Rogers proposed that people possess an innate tendency to evaluate their lives and experiences based on their own internal, subjective frame…
What Is Weber’s Law?
Weber’s law, also sometimes referred to as Web-Fechner law, is a principle that quantifies how people perceive a change in a stimulus. According to Weber’s law, the just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus size. The just noticeable difference, also known as the difference threshold, is the smallest possible difference between…