Dictionary of psychological terms

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• Dictionary of psychological terms
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• B
• C
• D
• AND
• F
• G
• H
• Yo
• L
• M
• N
• EITHER
• P
• R
• S
• T
• V
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• Z
  • Bibliography

Dictionary of psychological terms

TO

Open. It is the discharge or release of emotional tension associated with an unpleasant idea, conflict or memory.

Abstinence, syndrome of. Set of signs and symptoms that occur after there is a physical or/and psychic dependence towards a drug and quickly cease its use.

Abulia. Apathy and lack of willpower that includes inability to take own initiatives.

Boredom. Emotional state of dissatisfaction within an existence that, during that period, is perceived as insult and meaningless.

Dexyribonucleic acid (DNA). Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an organic molecule whose structure has the shape of a "double helix" or helicoid. DNA molecules are elementary units from which genes are formed.

Acrophobia. Phobia to high places.

Attitude. Predisposition of the person to respond in a certain way in the face of a stimulus after evaluating it positively or negatively.

Adaptation. State in which the subject establishes a relationship of balance and lacking conflicts with his social environment.

Adaptation, general syndrome of. Set of physical and psychic symptoms of a negative nature that appear when the subject must face a novelty.

Adrenalin. Hormone segregated by the adrenal glands, whose function is to increase blood pressure and the frequency of heart rate.

Aphasia. Alteration of the understanding or transmission of ideas through language in any of its forms (reading, writing or speech), due to trauma or diseases of brain centers involved in language.

B

Babbling. Language disturbance characterized by hesitant and confusing speech.

Barbiturate. Generic name of drugs derived from barbiturate acid, strong hypnotic action.

Test battery. Set of tests that serve to measure certain aspects of the psychology of a subject.

Beautiful indifference. Name translated from the French "Belle Indifférence" to designate the indifference or absence of emotional reactions in patients with symptoms of hysterical conversion.

Primary, secondary benefit. Advantage or benefit that the subject can get out of a pathological state. The first consists in the decrease of an internal tension or the recovery of tenderness or attention of the other. Secondary is more complete; Once the symptom was alerted, the patient does not see the interest that he would assume: healing would raise more distressing problems than his illness.
Biotype. Biological type characterized by the constancy of certain physical and psychic characters.

Bulimia. Abnormally intense and sometimes unstoppable sensation of desire to eat food.

C

C.Yo. (Intelligence quotient.). It is an index number of the division between the age measured by different tests and the chronological age. It is an indicator of the intelligence level that an individual owns in relation to other subjects of the same age. The IC tends to remain relatively stable over time.

Caffeine. Stimulating tonic of the central and heart nervous system. Intensifies brain activity, but its abuse produces cardiac arrhythmia, insomnia and headaches.

Capacities. They are hypothetical mental skills that would allow the human mind to act and perceive in a way that transcends natural laws.

Character. Set of characteristics that distinguish one person from another.

Character, neurosis of. Exaggeration of certain personality features, which cause behavior disorders.

Practical character. The person of character or practical temperament is what is permanently oriented by the real facts, adopts useful attitudes in front of them and does not get carried away by sentimentality.

Catalepsy. Neurological disorder characterized by the complete loss of the power to voluntarily modify the muscle tone, remaining the patient in the same posture in which it has been placed for a prolonged period of time.

Cataplejía. Episodes of sudden bilateral loss of muscle tone that causes the collapse of the individual, often in association with intense emotions such as laughter, anger, fear or surprise.

Catharsis. Liberation, through the word, of the ideas relegated to the unconscious by a defense mechanism.

Catatony. Psychomotor syndrome characterized by the loss of motor initiative, catalyptic muscle tension, presence of paralycetic phenomena (dawn, stereotypy, promotions) and a negativistic mental state and stupor.

Catecholamine. Hormone that activates the central nervous system.

Censorship. According to Freud, part of the psyche that blocks or masks the drives prohibited by the superego.

Brain. Complex structure belonging to the nervous system, located inside the skull, headquarters of superior thinking processes, such as memory and reason.

Brain,. Disorganization caused by the intellect and emotions that leads to the revelation of secrets and false confessions by the subject, as well as to a change of his political and moral ideals.

Sexual response cycle. The sexual response cycle is an activation scheme, physical that is composed of four stages: 1) excitation; 2) Plateau; 3) orgasm, and 41 resolution.

Cycloimia. Periodic alternation of depression phases with mania phases.

Closing. The closure (or enclosure) is an innate organizing principle of perception, according to which the gaps that separate the sensations are "closed" automatically in order to form totalities or complete configurations.

Claustrophobia. Phobia to closed places.

Kleptomania. Disorder in impulse control, characterized by the pathological tendency to steal objects that are subsequently used for any practical purpose.

CLIMATERIO. Phase of the sexual aging process in which women lose their reproductive capacity.

Clinic, Psychology. Study of abnormal or pathological behaviors.

D

Delirium tremens. It constitutes a frightful reaction of the alcoholic patient prey of horrific hallucinations. The experienced terror is so intense that it can cause escape, suicide or even murder.

DELUSION. Fixed False Idea, which presents resistance to be modified although objective data countered it.

Field dependence. Characteristic of cognitive style that tends to be based fundamentally on external indicators to formulate perceptual judgments.

Aggression displacement. The displacement of aggression occurs when aggressive behavior, whether verbal or physical, moves from the original source of frustration to a substitute object.

Cognitive development. Growth that the intellect has in the course of time, the maturation of the superior processes of thought from childhood to adulthood.

Psychosexual development. Combination of biological maturation and learning that generates changes in both sexual behavior and personality, from childhood to adulthood and throughout the latter.

Psychosocial development. Personality growth of a subject in relation to others and in his status as a member of a society, from childhood and throughout his life.

Derailment (loss of associations). Language pattern in which a person's ideas separate from each other so that they are not mutual relationship or are only tangentially related. When moving from one phrase or prayer to another, the subject changes idiosyncratically the issue from a frame of reference to another, being able to say things according to a juxtaposition that lacks significant relationships. The disorder takes place between sentences, unlike incoherence, where the disorder occurs within sentences. An occasional change of inadvertent or non -connection does not constitute derailment.

Disorientation. Confusion about the time of day, date or station (temporary), about where one (place) or who is (person) is located (person).

Intersonalization. Alteration of the perception or experience of oneself, so that one feels separated from the body itself or of the mental processes themselves, as if it were an external observer (P. eg., feeling as if one were dreaming).

AND

Eclecticism. It is the point of view that the value of the concepts derived from two or more thought systems or psychological schools should be appreciated. An eclectic will not rush to arbitrarily reject any finding or principle due to the mere fact that the premises established long ago are not admitted well.

Ecolalia. Pathological repetition, typical of a parrot and apparently meaningless of a word or phrase finished emitting by another person.

Ecopraxia. Repetition by imitation of another person's movements. The action is not voluntary and has a semi -automatic and uncontrollable character.

Ectomorph, type. According to W. Sheldon, high and thin morphological type.

Mental Age (EM). Global intellectual development level corresponding to a certain age.

Halo effect. Tendency of an observer to carry out a tendentious evaluation (either positive or negative) of another person based on characteristics of this that, although notorious, lack relevance with respect to what it should evaluate.

Effect, law of. Principle by which only the answers are immediately followed by a reinforcement.

Egocentrism. Exaltation of one's personality, until considering it as the center of attention and general activity. It is frequent in immature children and adults.

Selfishness. Excessive affection of someone to themselves, putting their own convenience to that of others.

Electroencephalogram. Graphic record of potential differences produced in brain cells.

It. According to Freud, where the most primary psychic processes and instinctive impulses reside.

Emotion. Affective status, a subjective reaction to the environment, accompanied by organic (physiological and endocrine) changes of innate origin, influenced by experience and has the adaptive function. They refer to internal states such as the desire or the need directed to the body. The basic categories of emotions are: fear, surprise, aversion, anger, sadness and joy.

Empathy. Mental state in which a subject identifies with another group or person, sharing the same mood.

Empiricism. Doctrine according to which all our ideas and concepts derive from experience and this, in turn, is based exclusively on the information that comes to us through the sense organs.

Endomorph, type. According to W. Sheldon, is the flaccid corporeal and round lines.

Endorphins. They are natural opiates produced in the brain and in the pituitary gland. They are considered a class of neurotransmitters.

Psychosomatic disease. It is caused or aggravated by psychological factors such as stress, changes in lifestyle, personality variables and emotional conflicts.

Biorrealimentation training. Method of conditioning by which the voluntary control of certain autonomous responses of the organism is achieved, such as heart rate, brain wave schemes, circulation in the cardiovascular system and muscle tension.

Enuresis. Involuntary and unconscious urine emission.

Erogenous, area. Part of the body particularly sensitive to sexual excitement.

Eros. Greek God of love.

Erotic. Relative to eros, that is to love and desire.

Vital space. Physical and psychic space that every living being precise for normal development.

Body scheme. Global body awareness.

Schizophrenia. Serious mental illness, characterized by personality split and a rupture of normal psychic mechanisms, which causes incomprehensible behavior and a loss of contact with reality.

Mood. Generalized and persistent emotion that influences the perception of the world. Frequent examples of mood are depression, joy, anger and anxiety. These are the types of mood:

• Dysphoric. Unpleasant mood, such as sadness, anxiety or irritability.
• High. Exaggerated feeling of well -being, euphoria or joy. A person with a high mood can say that he feels "above", "in ecstasy", "at the top of the world" or "by the clouds".
• Eutimic. Mood within the "normal" range, which implies the absence of depressed or elevated encouragement.
• Expansive. Absence of control over the expression of their own feelings, often with the valuation of their own meaning or importance.
• Irritable. Easily angry and susceptible to anger.

Insexual state. State in which an individual manifests mixed, and in different degrees, characteristics of each sex, including physical forms, reproductive organs and sexual behavior.

Stereotype. In social psychology a fixed set of attributes is called stereotype that the observer of a specific group assumes all its members.

Stimulating. Drug that increases the individual's motor and psychic activity.

Conditioned stimulus. Originally neutral stimulus, which finally provokes an unconditioned (innate) response about the individual.

Unconditioned stimulus. Any stimulus that regularly provokes an unreasonable or innate response. The individual cannot control the response to the stimulus since it occurs as a reflex act.

Stimulus-response. Theory that explains the behaviors of an individual as a set of reactions to preceding stimuli.

Stockholm,. Alteration of behavior through which the victim empathizes with his abuser. More information.

Stress. Any requirement that produces a state of tension in the individual and that asks for a change or adaptation by the same.

Psychosocial stress. Any event or vital change that can be temporarily associated (and perhaps causally) at the beginning, occurrence or exacerbation of a mental disorder.

Ethology. Science that studies animal behavior.

Stupor. State in which stimulation is not responded and accompanied by immobility and mutism.

Stupor,. Particular state that is characterized by psychomotor slowness and inert behavior that is accompanied by a torpor of consciousness.

Euphoria. Psychic excitation state that is accompanied by a high affective tone.

Exaltation. Modification of the affective tone characterized by feelings of euphoria.

Exhibitionism. Pathological tendency to show in public the genital organs.

Experimental, psychology. Branch of psychology that uses controlled experiments and observation for behavior study.

Ecstasy. Synthesis hallucinogenic drug that is manufactured in clandestine laboratories. They are amphetaminic derivatives, capable of altering the behavior and vital functions of the organism.

Extinction. Active process during which the probability that a conditioned response is gradually decreasing. It can also be considered as the unlearning of a habit.

Extraversion. According to c. G. Jung, characteristic of the individual "of a conciliatory nature", apparently open and available, which easily adapts to any situation, relates without problems and ventures without difficulties and with confidence to unknown situations.

Early ejaculation. In man, inability to control sexual excitement, producing an early expulsion of semen.

F

Phallic, phase. In this phase the child's sexual interest focuses on the genital organs. It is when the Oedipus complex arises.

Familiar, therapy. Psychotherapeutic method for the treatment of families.

Fancy. Free activity of thought by which premises and conclusions can ignore reality. Also defense mechanism by which invented mental images produce unreal substitute satisfactions.

Autistic fantasy. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin through excessive fantasies that replace the search for interpersonal relationships, the most effective action or the resolution of the problems.

Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy. Treatment of psychic diseases and disturbances through psychotopármacos.

Residual phase. The phase of a disease that occurs after the remission of flowery symptoms or full syndrome.

Fetishism. Psychosexual disorder consisting of achieving sexual excitement through an object.

Fixation. Linking libido to certain objects of one of its evolutionary states.

Phobia. Persistent and irrational fear towards a specific object, situation or activity (the phobic stimulus), which results in an incoercible desire to avoid it. This usually leads to avoid the phobic stimulus or to face it with terror.

Concept formation. It is the learning process by which we create mental or cognitive classes.

Reactive training.Defense mechanism by which the individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin replacing the behaviors, thoughts or feelings that are unacceptable by other diametrically opposite (this defense mechanism usually acts in simultaneity with repression).

Frigidity. Female inability to achieve orgasm.

Frustration. Situation in which the subject is when he finds an obstacle that does not allow him to satisfy a desire or reach a goal.

Ideas leak. An almost continuous accelerated flow, with abrupt thematic changes, which are usually based on understandable associations, stimuli that distract attention or word games. When serious, speech can be incoherent and disorganized.

G

Gen. Basic Inheritance Unit.

Generalization. In learning, a phenomenon obtained by a response to a stimulus, also in the presence of similar stimuli.

Stimulus generalization. It is the tendency of a stimulus, similar to another original stimulus conditioned, to evoke a conditioned response, although to a somewhat minor degree.

Behavioral genetics. It is the study of the influence of the genetic structure inherent in an organism in determining its features, talents or predispositions.

Kidney glands. See adrenal, glands.

Greatness. Excessive evaluation of the value, power, knowledge, importance or identity of oneself. When it is extreme, greatness can reach delusional proportions.

Cluster. Set of people influenced with each other and who pursue a common purpose: for example the family, a political party or a basketball team.

Control Group. Set of subjects used in an experiment in order to provide an observation that can be compared with the behavior of the experimental group, which is what you want to study.

Group, therapy. Contemporary treatment of numerous patients (from 6 to 12) in charge of one or more psychotherapists.

H

Speak pressing. Speak that is excessive in quantity, accelerated and difficult or impossible to interrupt. It is usually excessive volume and splicing. The person frequently speaks without any social incitement and can continue to do so even when no one listens to him.

Ability. Ability to act that develops thanks to learning, exercise and experience.

Habit. Tendency to act in a mechanical way, especially when the habit has been acquired by exercise or experience. It is characterized by being entrenched and because it can be executed automatically.

Hashish. Narcotic extracted from cannabis. Causes euphoria and in large excitation dose and hallucinations.

Hedonism. Concepción according to which the primary motivating factor of human behavior is the bipolar dimension.

Heroin. Derived from opium, specifically from the morphine plant, whose capsule is called "opemidera", from which a resin called "opium bread" is extracted, which is the active substance. It acts as a central nervous system depressant (CNS).

Heterosexual. Individual sexually attracted by people of the opposite sex.

Hyperacusia. Dolorous sensitivity to sounds.

Hypersomnia. Excessive sleepiness, manifested by prolonged night sleep, difficulty maintaining a state of alertness during the day or diurnal episodes of unwanted sleep.

Hypersensitivity, theory of. Theory that maintains that whatever the effect of a drug, abstinence will produce opposite effects. For example, if exciting, abstinence will produce depression.

Hypnosis. State of alteration of induced consciousness in a cooperating subject. It is characterized by a narrowing of the focus of attention and increased suggestibility.

Hypnotic. Drug that produces a natural dream (somniferous).

Hypochondria. State characterized by an excessive concern for health or a disease.

Hypoglycemia. It is an organic disorder in which a low blood sugar level appears. In people suffering from hypoglycemia as a clinical condition, this state tends to be chronic, in which case the organism weakens.

Homeostasis. Term that designates the regulation of the balance of the internal environment and in general of the entire activity of the organism.

Homosexual. Subject whose affectivity and erotic desires are directed towards individuals of their own sex.

Yo

Delusional idea. False belief based on an incorrect inference regarding the external reality that is firmly sustained. The belief is not ordinarily accepted by other members of the subculture or culture to which the subject belongs (P. eg., It is not an article of religious faith). When an erroneous belief implies a value judgment, only delusional idea is considered when the trial is so extreme that it challenges all credibility. Delusional ideas are subdivided according to their content. Some of the most frequent types are the following:

• Delusional jealousy. Delusional idea that the subject has thinking that he is betrayed by his sexual partner.

• Of greatness. Delusional idea of ​​exaggerated value, power, knowledge or identity, or a special relationship with a deity or a famous person.
• Reference. Delusional idea whose theme is that certain facts, objects or people of the subject's immediate environment adopt a particular and unusual significance. These delusional ideas are usually negative or pejorative nature, but they can also be of greatness. They differ from reference ideas, where false belief is not supported as firmly or is as organized as a true belief.
• Of being controlled. Delusional idea in which certain feelings, impulses or acts are experienced as if they were under the control of some external force rather than under oneself.
• Dissemination of thought. Delusional idea that the thoughts themselves are being disseminated in a high voice so that they can be perceived by others.
• Erotomaniac. Delusional idea that another person, usually of superior status, is in love with the subject.
• Strange. Delusional idea that implies a phenomenon that the subject's culture would consider totally implausible.
• Insertion of thought. Delusional idea that certain own thoughts are not of oneself, but rather they are inserted in one's mind.
• Persecutory. Delusional idea whose central theme is that the subject (or someone close to him) is being attacked, tormented, beaten, persecuted or conspired against him.
• Somatic. Delusional idea whose main content belongs to the appearance or functioning of the body itself.
• Overvalued idea. Persistent and non -reasonable belief that remains with less intensity than the delusional idea (that is, the subject is able to accept the possibility that his belief may not be true). The belief is not usually accepted by other members of the culture or subculture to which the subject belongs.

Paranoid ideation. Ideation that implies suspicions or belief of being tormented, persecuted or treated unfairly, but of proportions lower than those of a delusional idea.

Idealization. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin attributing exaggeratedly positive qualities to others.

Reference ideas. Feeling that certain causal incidents or that certain external events have a particular and unusual meaning that is specific to each subject. It must be distinguished from a reference delirium, in which there is a sustained belief with delusional conviction.

L

Lability. Emotional state characterized by an alteration of conscious control of emotional reactions.

Latency, phase. According to Freud, the child's development phase in which sexuality remains more or less numb. It extends from seven years to adolescence.

Latent, content. The hidden part of a dream, a fantasy, of thoughts and emotions. It is expressed in a masked manner in the manifest content.

Body language. Nonverbal communication form carried out through gestures, movements, etc.

Lexitimia: Neurological disease in which, due to a cranium-idephalic trauma, the person does not know how to recognize their feelings.

Effect Law. This law establishes that if an agency your response to a stimulus is satisfactory, you will learn and be "printed" in your nervous system.

Libido. According to Freud, form of the vital energy that directs and originates the manifestations of sexual instinct.

Logorrhea. Excessive LOCUITY.

Logotherapy. It is a class of psychotherapy aimed at helping the person with problems to rediscover the meaning of his life, which he has lost.

Psychomotor slowness. Visible generalized slowdown of movements and speech.

LSD 25. Semi -manTITETIC DERIVATIVE OF ONE OF THE CORNEZUELO ALCONZUERO ALCONZUELO (A fungus). It is a colorless and tasteless liquid that causes its action at the CNS level.

M

Macropsy. Visual perception that objects are greater than they really are.

Mania. Mood disease characterized by psychic hyperactivity and a background of joy, euphoria and frantic activity, which have no real motivation.

Maniac-depressive, psychosis. Mental illness characterized by the alternation of manic and depressive phases.

Manifesto, content. How much the subject recalls and/or consciously recounts a dream, a fantasy or his thoughts and emotions.

Dope. Popular denomination of the extract of a part of cannabis, produces euphoria and sensation of flotation.

Masochism. Psychosexual disorder in which sexual excitement is achieved through physical pain or humiliation inflicted and/or requested by a couple member to another.

Masturbation. Self -excitation of erogenous zones, to climax.

Defense mechanism. Automatic psychological process that protects the individual from anxiety and consciousness from external or internal threats or hazards. Defense mechanisms mediate the individual's reaction to emotional conflicts and external threats. Some defense mechanisms (P. eg., projection, dichotomization and "acting out") are almost always maladaptive. Others, such as suppression and denial, can be maladaptive or adaptive depending on their severity, inflexibility and the context in which they occur.

Agonist medication. Chemical extrinsic to the substances produced endogenously, which acts on a recipient and is capable of producing the maximum effect that can be achieved by stimulating said receiver. A partial agonist is only able to produce less than the maximum effect, although it is administered in sufficient concentration to look at all available receptors.

Agonist/antagonist medication. Extrinsic chemical to endogenously produced substances that acts on a family of receptors (such as opioid receptors), so that he is a partial agonist or agonist with respect to a type of receiver and antagonist with respect to another.

Antagonist medication. Chemical extrinsic to the substances produced endogenously that occupies a recipient, does not produce physiological effects and prevents that endogenous and exogenous chemical factors produce some effect on said receiver.

Meditation. Mental process through which the subject reaches his deepest self.

Megalomania. Feeling of power and superiority that has no real foundations.

Identical twins. They are those that derive from the same zygote and consequently have the same genetic structure.

Memory. Mental ability to conserve and evoke how much has been lived. Very complex psychic phenomenon in which elementary psyche (traces that the sensations leave in nerve tissue), the upper nerve activity (creation of new nerve connections by repetition, that is, conditioned reflexes) and the conceptual system or intelligence proper. Specifically human activity as soon as it involves the recognition of the past image as the past.

Menarchy. Appearance of the first menstruation.

N

Narcissism. Defense mechanism characterized by excessive concern towards the person itself.

Narcolepsy. Irresistible sleep trend.

Narcotic. Chemical substances that cause sleep appearance.

Necrophilia. Psychosexual disorder in which a sexual inclination towards the bodies is observed.

Denial. Defense mechanism by which those aspects of reality that are considered unpleasant are rejected. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal origin or extending to recognize some painful aspects of external reality or subjective experiences that are manifest for others. The term psychotic denial It is used when there is a total affectation of the ability to capture reality.

Nerve. A nerve is a beam of neurons that is part of the peripheral nervous system. The nerves can be sensory or engines (there are also mixed). The former conduct information from abroad to nerve centers, while the latter transmit it to the effector organs.

Nervousness. Mild state of nervous system, with psychic disorders of some intensity (irritability, little attention, etc.) and organic (motor restlessness, etc.).

Neurasthenia. Set of alterations of the excitability of the nervous system, characterized by the increase in fatigue, with a feeling of somatic and psychic exhaustion.

Neuroleptic. Psychological drug with sedative, anxiolytic and antipsychotic effects.

Neurology. Medical discipline that studies the pathological aspects of the peripheral nervous system.

Neuron. It is a cell specialized in information communication. It is the basic functional unit of the brain and nervous system.

Neurosis. Set of psychic and emotional symptoms produced by a psychological conflict that have become chronic. The ability to reason consistently is preserved.

Neurotransmitter. It is a chemical "messenger" that allows a neuron to excite or inhibits depolarization (that is, the "download") of another neuron adjacent to it.

Empty nest, syndrome of. Sensation of emotional vacuum that parents experience when children become independent, abandoning the paternal home.

Nymphomania. Female psychosexual disorder characterized by the absolute disinhibition of sexual instincts.

NISTAGMO. Involuntary rhythmic movement of the eyes, which consists of rapid tremors of small amplitude in a recurring direction and movement, slower, in the opposite direction. The nystagmus can be horizontal, vertical or rotary.

Aspiration level. Subjective pattern according to which an individual fixes his goals and evaluates his achievements.

EITHER

Obsession. It emerges in the thought of an idea, a feeling or a trend, which appears in the patient in disagreement with his conscious thinking, but that persists despite all the efforts that the subject makes to get rid of him.

Obsessive-compulsive, neurosis. Neurosis in which obsessions and compulsions have become chronicles, disturbing the normal life of the subject.

Hate. Reactive emotion in front of a person or an experience that hurts or threat.

Oligofrenia. See mental weakness.

Forgot. Inability of the individual to recall a fragment of information that is certain that it exists in his memory.

Omnipotence. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin thinking or acting as if he had special powers or capacities and were superior to others.

ONICOPHY. Habit of biting your nails.

Oritical. Relative to the world of dreams.

Opium. Narcotic extracted from the capsules of Papaverum album.

Oral, phase. Period covered by the first year of life. According to Freud, during this phase the needs, perceptions and modes of expression of the child focus on the mouth, through which he obtains all his immediate bonuses.

Organism. Any living entity.

Orgasm. Reflected action caused by sexual stimulation, it is the culminating point of pleasure during this excitation.

P

Panic. Acute episode of anxiety states characterized by intense and irrational fear.

Sexual paper or role. Attitudes, behavior patterns and personality attributes defined by the culture in which the individual lives as stereotypously "male" or "female" social papers.

Paranoia. Interpretive delirium that evolves progressively, with a seemingly perfect logic without intellectual deterioration. Paranoia is rare that it be established purely, so it is more convenient to talk about paranoid personality, whose essential traits are an exaggerated susceptibility, a hypervaluation of the self, distrust and a peculiar mental construction.

Parasomnia. Abnormal physiological behavior or facts that occur during sleep or in sleep-vigilia transitions.

Pedagogy. Science of Education.

Pedophilia. Psychosexual disorder characterized by erotic interest towards children.

Thought. Generic term that indicates a set of mental activities such as reasoning, abstraction, generalization, etc. whose purposes are, among others, problem solving, decisions and representation of external reality.

Magic thinking. Erroneous belief that one's thoughts, words or acts will cause or avoid a specific fact in a way that defies the commonly accepted cause and effect laws. Magic thinking can be part of the normal development of the child.

Perception. Psychic function that allows the organism, through the senses, receive and prepare the information from abroad and convert them into total organized and endowed with meaning for the subject.

Profile. Graphical representation of the results of a test or test battery.

Perseveration. Persistent repetition and without any objective of activities, words or phrases.

Person. The individual understood as being gifted with conscience.

Personality. Psychic structure of each individual, the way in which it is revealed by their way of thinking and expressing itself, in their attitudes and interests and in their actions. They are durable patterns of perceiving, relating and thinking about the environment and oneself. Personality traits are prominent aspects that manifest in a wide range of important social and personal contexts. Personality traits only constitute a personality disorder when they are inflexible and maladaptive and cause subjective discomfort or significant functional deficit.

Authoritarian personality. The individual with authoritarian personality usually presents the following features: blind obedience to authority, strict compliance with rigid norms, expectation of unconditional loyalty by their subordinates, hostility against members of other groups and admiration for the powerful.

Multiple personality. Mental disorder characterized by the altered appearance in a subject of two or more contradictory personalities with each other.

Nightmare. Dreams with terrifying and distressing character, which lack pathological significance if they are not very intense or repetitive.

Píconico, type. According to E. Kretschmer, the low and thick constitutional type.

Pyromania. Need not subjectable to the control of the will to cause fires and witness them.

Placebo. Pharmacological substance or treatment without any effect but provides relief to the patient for a phenomenon of persuasion.

Placebo, effect. Effect that causes one more medicine for suggestion than due to its real pharmacological efficacy.

Polarization. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin seeing himself or others as completely good or bad, without integrating into cohesive images the positive or negative qualities of each. Not being able to experiment simultaneously ambivalent affections, the individual excludes from his emotional conscience a balanced vision and expectations of himself and others. Often, the individual idealizes and devalues ​​alternately to the same person or himself: it grants exclusively loving, powerful, useful, nutritious and kind or exclusively bad, hateful, choller, destructive, repellent or useless.

Distributed practice. It is a learning situation that is characterized by the inclusion of rest periods or "recreations" between essays. It contrasts this concept with the group of grouped practice, learning situation in which, on the contrary, one essay follows the other without any period of rest.

Negative practice. Method used to extinguish habits and by which the erroneous trend associated with such habits are repeated consciously and deliberately.

Prejudice. Attitude, belief or opinion that is not based on sufficient information or experience to achieve a resounding conclusion. It is literally defined as a "previous trial".

Premenstrual, syndrome. Set of physiological and psychic symptoms that appear a few days before menstruation.

Present principle. If we assume that two of the actions that make up the repertoire of behaviors of an organism present different degree of probability in terms of their occurrence: one of them is very likely to occur, and the other, few probabilities. The Preck principle establishes that the action with a high probability of occurrence can be used to reinforce the low probability.

Affective deprivation. Lack of a satisfactory and lasting relationship with one or more people. It is very negative for the normal and intellectual development of the child.

Projection. Defense mechanism that the individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin attributing incorrectly to the other feelings, impulses or own thoughts that are unacceptable. It consists of projecting qualities, desires or feelings that produce anxiety outside of themselves, directing them towards something or someone who is fully attributed.

Psychoanalysis. Psychotherapeutic method for the treatment of psychic disorders, which uses free association techniques and the interpretation of dreams. It is a personality theory based on concepts such as unconscious motivation, I, he it and the Superyo.

Psychobiology. It is the study of behavior based on its biological foundations.

Psychocirugia. It is the surgery practiced in the brain in order to treat a psychic disorder.

Psychopharmaceutical. Chemical capable of modifying normal or pathological psyche.

Psychophysics. It is the study of the functional relationship between the magnitudes of physical stimuli and sensory responses to them.

Psychophysiology. Trend of experimental psychology that considers psychic functions from the physiological point of view.

Psychogen. Referred to pathological manifestations, whose origin does not reside in an organic lesion but in a psychic disorder.

Psychology. Science that studies the psychic activity and behavior of organisms.

Comparative psychology. It is the study of the similarities and differences that manifest species of organisms that contrast with each other in their behavior.

Psychopathy. Generic name of a mental disorder that is characterized by associal behavior.

Psychotherapy. It is any reeducation process that aims to help a person with problems, mainly resorting to psychological interventions, in contrast to organic treatments, such as drug administration.

Psychotic. This term has historically received numerous different definitions, none of which has managed to be universally accepted. The strictest psychotic definition is limited to delusional ideas or prominent hallucinations, in the absence of consciousness about its pathological nature. A somewhat less restrictive definition would also include significant hallucinations that the individual accepts as hallucinatory experiences. A definition is still broader that also includes other positive schizophrenia symptoms (that is, disorganized, intensely disorganized or catatonic behavior). Finally, the term has been conceptually defined as a loss of the limits of the self or an important alteration of the verification of reality.

Psyche. Set of the sensitive, affective and mental functions of an individual.

Psychiatry. Branch of medicine that studies psyche's diseases.

Psychosis. Severe psychic disorder that totally affects the personality and behavior of the subject, with disturbance of judgment, will and affectivity.

Psychosomatic. Relative, at the same time, both to the psychic or mental component of personality and organic.

Psychotherapist. Specialist in psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy. Set of therapeutic means based on the interpersonal relationship; Through dialogue, and interventions of the therapist, the overcoming of the psychic conflict is possible.

Puberty. Stage of life in which a set of morphological and physiological transformations that enable the beginning of sexual functions are carried out; Mark the step of childhood to adolescence.

Drive. Instinctive tendency that pushes to perform or shy away certain acts.

R

Rationalization. Defense mechanism that tends to give a logical explanation to the feelings, thoughts or behaviors that would otherwise cause anxiety or feelings of inferiority or guilt.

Rapport. It is said that in a relationship between two or more people there are Rapport When their thoughts or feelings harmonize with each other or when they present a series of shared views.

Feature. Characteristic element of relatively stable personality. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin inventing their own explanations, reassuring but incorrect, to cover up the true motivations that govern their thoughts, actions or feelings.

Reactive, training. Defense mechanism by which everything that cannot be satisfied is replaced on the contrary: for example, love towards a person that does not apply to hate, etc.

Recognition. Ability to identify a certain number of elements of a set learned above.

Reconstruction. Phenomenon by which memories return to memory by stimuli connected to the events of the past.

Memory. Reproduction of something lived or learned above.

Reflection. Spontaneous organic response and not learned.

Booster. Any stimulus that increases the probability that a certain kind of responses occur.

Mnemonic rule. It is a cognitive strategy used to underpin the functioning of memory.

Regression. Defense mechanism consisting of returning to previous periods of development or ancient behaviors, which were more satisfactory.

Figure-finding ratio. In perception one or more objects (figures) of the perceptual field (background) tends to be isolated. The figure-end relationship consists in perceiving a figure or well-defined guidelines, which is distinguished from the indeterminate and amorphous background.

Repression. Defense mechanism that consists in rejecting out of consciousness everything that is painful or unacceptable to the subject. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin expelling from his conscience or not giving himself a cognitively aware of the desires, thoughts or experiences that cause them discomfort. The affective component can be kept active in consciousness, detached from their associated ideas.

Endurance. Unconscious opposition or perhaps aware to bring experiences, ideas, affections, etc., past, which would cause anxiety.

Answer. Definition An answer in the field of psychology is any behavior caused by a stimulus.

Mental retardation. Incomplete or insufficient development of intellectual development.

Retrospective. Recurrence of a memory, feeling or perceptual experience of the past.

Ritual. Set of acts performed repetitively. Typical of obsessive behaviors.

Role. In social psychology it is considered that the role It is the public personality of each individual, that is, the more or less predictable role that it assumes in order to adapt to the society of which it is part.

S

Sadism. Psychosexual disorder in which the subject obtains pleasure from the act of infringing pain and humiliation to another person to satisfy his sexual desires.

Sedative. Substance that attenuates the states of emotional or motor excitation.

Sensation. Process by which the organs of the senses make stimuli of the outside world into the elementary data or raw material of the experience.

Sign. Objective manifestation of a state that can be pathological. The signs are observed by the clinician more described by the affected individual.

Symbolization. Defense mechanism by which a mental image or conscious thought is used as a symbol to disguise an unconscious thought that produces an anxiety.

Symbol. Any representative stimulus of an idea or a different object of it.

SINAPSIS. It is the functional connection point between two adjacent neurons.

Syndrome. Grouping of signs and symptoms based on its frequent coocurrence, which can suggest a pathogenesis, an evolution, family history or a common therapeutic selection.

General Adaptation Syndrome. It is a physiological reaction guideline caused by chronic tension, whose purpose is to suppress its effects and allow the body to conserve its resources. The guideline is divided into three stages: 1) the alarm reaction, 2) resistance and 3) exhaustion.

Synesthesia. State in which a sensory experience stimulates another modality of sensory experience (P. eg., A sound produces the feeling of a particular color).

Symptom. Subjective manifestation of a pathological state. The symptoms are described by the individual affected more than observed by the examiner.

Conversion symptom. Loss or alteration of sensory or voluntary motor that suggests a medical or neurological disease. It is assumed that certain psychological factors and are associated with the development of the symptom, so that the symptom is not completely explained by a medical or neurological disease or the direct effects of a substance. The symptom is not intentionally produced or faked, and is not culturally sanctioned.

Psychotic symptoms congruent with mood. Delusional ideas or hallucinations whose content is fully consistent with the typical issues of a depressed or manic mood. If the mood is depressive, the content of delusional ideas or hallucinations will consist of issues of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism or deserved punishment.

Delirium content may include persecution issues if they start from self -despective concepts as a deserved punishment. If the mood is manic, the content of delusions or hallucinations will include issues on exaggerated value, power, knowledge or identity or a special relationship with a famous deity or person. Delirium content may include persecution issues if they are based on concepts such as exaggerated value or a deserved punishment.

Non -congruent psychotic symptoms with mood. Delusional ideas or hallucinations whose content is not consistent with the typical issues of a depressive or manic mood. In the case of depression delusions or hallucinations will not imply issues of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism or deserved punishment. In the case of mania, delusions or hallucinations they will not entail issues of value, power, knowledge or exaggerated identity or special relationships with a deity or a famous character.

Examples of psychotic symptoms not congruent with mood are the delusions of persecution (without self -speeter or greatness content), the insertion of thought, the dissemination of thought and delusional ideas of being controlled, whose content does not have an apparent relationship with any From the previously listed topics.

Autonomic nervous system. See vegetative nervous system.

Central Nervous System. Part of the nervous system formed by brain and spinal cord.

Parasympathetic nervous system. Part of the vegetative nervous system that has a predominant inhibitory action.

Peripheral nervous system. Part of the nervous system formed by the roots that emerge from the central nervous system and that will form the nerves. According to the function they can be sensitive, engines and mixed.

Sympathetic nervous system. Part of the vegetative nervous system that has stimulating action.

Vegetative nervous system. Set of nerve fibers not controlled by the will. Has the function of coordinating and guiding the activity of internal organs. It is subdivided into sympathetic and parasympathetic system.

Social, Psychology. Study of relations between individual and society.

Socialization. Process by which an individual develops those essential qualities for his full statement in the society in which he lives.

Sociobiology. It is the study of the social behavior of organisms founded on the premise that such behavior has its origin in genetic guidelines.

Sociogram. Representation of positive and negative relationships or the amount of exchanges between members of a group.

Somatization. Process by which emotional problems are transformed or converted into somatic symptoms.

SOTERIA. Reaction to a certain stimulus, from which a feeling of absurd and unjustified security is obtained.

Soteric, object. Object that provides an unfounded sense of safety.

Subconscious. The phenomena encompassed under the term of subconscious constitute a set of psychic processes or a stratum of personality whose activity is maintained below the conscious levels. Its manifestations are often endowed with greater load and tension than the fully aware and emerge at this level through complex displacement mechanisms, projection, etc., or in the form of dreams.

Sublimation. Displacement form in which energy deviates towards an object that has ideal values. The individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin by channeling potentially maladaptive feelings or impulses in socially acceptable behaviors (P. eg., Contact sports to channel aggressive impulses).

Dream. Important psychic experience that occurs while we sleep. Spontaneous and periodic physiological interruption of consciousness activity, accompanied by functional changes in some organs.

NO-REM DREAM. Sleep period in which rapid eye movements are not appreciated.

Dream Rem. Sleep period in which rapid eye movements are appreciated.

Suggestion. Possibility of influencing a person's behavior. Superstition. Belief in the existence and efficacy of some phenomena that do not have a rational explanation.

Suicide. It consists of voluntarily removing life.

Superego. According to Freud, one of the personality parts that has the function of forming moral consciousness, ideals. It would be formed at an early age assuming the model of an important character with which the child identifies.

Suppression. Defense mechanism in which the individual faces emotional conflicts and threats of internal or external origin by intentionally thinking of problems, desires, feelings or experiences that cause discomfort.

T

Tanatology. It is the study of death and the process that leads to it.

Temper. It is the reactive conformation of an individual, the spontaneous aspect of his personality. It comes from the combination of characteristic provisions emanating from their appetites, emotions and moods.

Central tendency. The statistical concept of central tendency It refers to the grouping of a series of scores around a common intermediate measure.

Tic. Involuntary, sudden, fast, recurring, non -rhythmic and stereotyped motor movement or vocalization.

Shyness. Trend by the person to feel uncomfortable, inhibited, clumsy and very aware of himself in the presence of other people. This produces inability to participate in social life, although you want to do so and know how.

Muscular tone. Status of musculature and excitement, higher in the state of vigil and reduced during sleep.

Toxicomania. Usual and harmful use of toxic, drugs or narcotics. It is generally accompanied by a psychic and sometimes also physical dependence.

Trance. Particular psychic state in which consciousness is limited and the states of amnesia are frequent.

Transsexualism. Important dysphoria for sexual identity associated with a persistent desire to get the physical characteristics and social papers that connote the other biological sex.

Transfer. Projection by the patient of a series of unconscious affections and emotions in the doctor's figure.

Personality disorder. It is a type of behavioral disorder that is characterized by provoking considerable problems for social adaptation. The person suffering from personality disorder does not always feel disturbed, but instead others often consider it disturbing or annoying.

Phobic disorder. It is a kind of mental disorder characterized by irrational fears, which the subject himself recognizes as exaggerated and unfounded.

Mental disorder. Pathological state that is characterized by confusion of ideas, emotional disturbance and maple behavior. It can have organic or functional origin.

Organic mental disorder. It is one in which a pathological state of the body, in particular the brain and the nervous system, generates misfit behavior.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is a psychic disorder that is characterized by involuntary irrational ideas and repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing anguish associated with those irrational ideas.

Psychotic disorders. Serious mental disorders in which contact with reality is lost and notoriously missed behavior is manifested. Some of the symptoms associated with psychotic disorders are personality disorganization, disturbance in thought, the imbalance of moods and the presence of delusions and hallucinations.

Psychic trauma. Emotional shock that leaves a mark on the subconscious.

Transvestism. Psychosexual disorder in which the subject experiences erotic satisfaction for dressing with opposite sex clothes.

V

Validity. In psychology, the concept of validity is mainly applied to standardized psychological tests. It is said that a test is valid if it measures what is supposed to measure.

Functional vaginism. Contracture of the lower third of the vagina that prevents or systematically disturbs the intercourse.

Variable. In statistics it is any feature, attribute, dimension or property capable of adopting more than one value or magnitude.

Blind vision. Patients seem totally blind, at least with respect to a part of their visual field. If they are asked if you can see an object in that area, the answer is negative. But if they are forced to point out where that object is found, it will indicate the right place.

Willpower. The psychic faculty that the individual has to choose between or not to perform a certain act. It depends directly on the desire and the intention of performing a specific act.

Will to mean. According to Viktor Frankl, the will to mean is the innate impulse to find a meaning and purpose in life itself.

Voyerism. Psychosexual disorder in which the subject obtains excitation and erotic pleasure clandestinely observing people who deviate or are naked, or couples in sexual acts.

X

Xenophobia. Phobia to unknown people.

AND

I (ego). According to Freud, it is the "principle of reality", it is aware and has the function of the verification of reality, as well as the regulation and control of the desires and impulses proving from it. Your task is self -preservation and uses all psychological defense mechanisms.

Yoga. Physical and mental discipline whose objective is to achieve the mystical union of the individual with the totality, the universe, the great being, the cosmic consciousness or the deity.

Z

Zen.A variety of meditative Buddhism that seeks to help the individual to achieve a state of lighting characterized by the direct experience of the genuine nature of reality, without the intermediation of abstractions, words, beliefs, concepts or dualisms.

Erogenous zone. Part of the body particularly sensitive to sexual excitement.

Zoophilia. Deviation from the source of sexual attraction, in which excitement is obtained with animals.

Bibliography

Bruno, f. J. Dictionary of fundamental psychological terms. (1997). Barcelona. Paidós Studio.

Cie 10, Mental and behavioral disorders. Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. (1992) World Health Organization. Madrid. Mediator.

DSM-IV, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (1997) APA. Barcelona. Masson.