Glossary / H

Psychology terms starting with H

892 terms with short definitions. Study these as flashcards

H spreadnoun: A measure of spread subtracts the lower quartile from the upper quartile, describing the middle half of ordered values.
H–R–R platesabbreviation: Hardy–Rand–Rittler testing pictures assess color vision through shapes made from colored dots against a background of other dots.
H0other: The symbol represents the null hypothesis, usually a claim that a population has no specified effect, difference, or relationship.
H1other: The symbol represents the alternative hypothesis, a claim that competes with the null hypothesis, usually proposing an effect or relationship.
Haother: The symbol represents the alternative hypothesis, which challenges the null hypothesis by proposing a different account of the population.
Haab’s pupillary reflexnoun: Directing attention toward a brightly lit object amid darkness normally makes both pupils narrow.
habeas corpusphrase: A court order that checks whether keeping someone confined, including in a hospital, is legally justified.
habilitationnoun: Support and training help a person with a disability develop previously unacquired skills for everyday life and greater independence.
habitnoun: A learned action done automatically in a certain situation, with little conscious thought or choice.
habit disordernoun: A repeated behavior interferes with important parts of daily life, such as learning, relationships, or other activities.
habit family hierarchynoun: Hull proposed that learned responses serving one goal are ranked by strength, making stronger responses more likely.
habit formationphrase: Repeated practice or conditioning makes a behavior become regular and easier to do over time.
habit hierarchynoun: Hull proposed an ordering of possible learned responses by strength; the phrase also describes simple habits organized into complex patterns.
habit regressionnoun: A person returns to an old automatic behavior that they had stopped, sometimes during emotional stress.
habit reversalphrase: A behavior therapy method that teaches a safer action to replace an unwanted repeated habit.
habit strengthnoun: Hull proposed a measure of how strongly a response is learned, shaped by reinforcement frequency, size, and timing.
habit ticnoun: An older label describes a quick, repeated movement attributed to psychological causes rather than a neurological condition.
habit-forming drugnoun: A substance can encourage repeated use through its effects, creating a risk of harmful patterns of use.
habitabilitynoun: An environment's suitability depends on how well it supports occupants' practical needs and preferences for its appearance.
habitatnoun: An organism's living environment includes physical conditions and the other living things around it.
habituationnoun: A response gets weaker after the same stimulus is presented again and again.
habitusnoun: Social experiences, beginning in childhood, shape a person's lasting outlook on the world and their position within it.
haemo-prefix: This word part means blood and can appear as hemo- in another spelling.
hair cellnoun: A specialized inner ear cell detects movement through tiny bending projections, supporting hearing or balance.
hair esthesiometernoun: An instrument uses fine bristles of different strengths to measure how little pressure a person can feel.
hair folliclenoun: A small pocket in the skin surrounds a hair's root and supports its growth.
hair-pulling disordernoun: Repeatedly pulling out one's hair causes hair loss and distress or daily difficulties, despite attempts to stop.
halazepamnoun: This long-acting benzodiazepine medication has been used to reduce anxiety and briefly treat sleep difficulties.
Halcionnoun: This brand name identifies triazolam, a short-acting benzodiazepine medication used mainly to help with sleep.
Haldolnoun: A brand name for haloperidol, an antipsychotic medicine used to reduce hallucinations and severe agitation.
half-lifenoun: The time it takes for the amount of a drug in the blood to drop by half.
half-shownoun: In child therapy, a puppet story about a psychological difficulty pauses so the child can suggest an ending.
halfway housephrase: A supervised temporary home that helps people leaving treatment rebuild daily life with support.
Hallermann–Streiff syndromenoun: A rare condition present at birth affects facial and skull development, often causing short height and vision difficulties.
hallucinationnoun: Seeing, hearing, or feeling something that seems real even though nothing outside is causing the experience.
hallucinogennoun: A drug that causes false sensory experiences and changes perception, thinking, and mood.
hallucinogen abusenoun: An older diagnosis described repeated hallucinogen use causing serious problems when the separate dependence diagnosis did not apply.
hallucinogen dependencenoun: An older diagnosis described a persistent pattern of hallucinogen use that continued despite serious problems and difficulty controlling use.
hallucinogen hallucinosisnoun: Hallucinogen use causes unusually severe hallucinations or delusions that the person does not recognize as drug effects.
hallucinogen intoxicationphrase: Recent use of a hallucinogen causes temporary altered senses, distorted perceptions, and body changes such as fast heartbeat.
hallucinogen-affective disordernoun: Hallucinogen effects cause a substantial, lasting mood disturbance, such as depression, that can continue after intoxication.
hallucinogen-induced mood disordernoun: A significant mood disturbance caused by hallucinogens begins during intoxication and may persist afterward.
hallucinogen-induced psychotic disorderphrase: Severe hallucinations or false beliefs caused by hallucinogens, with symptoms stronger than usual intoxication and needing clinical care.
hallucinosisnoun: Persistent, prominent hallucinations occur while consciousness remains clear, often in connection with substances or neurological conditions.
halo effectphrase: A bias where liking one thing about a person makes you judge their other traits too positively.
haloperidolnoun: An older antipsychotic medicine that lowers dopamine activity to reduce hallucinations, delusions, and severe agitation.
Halstead Category Testnoun: A reasoning test asks people to discover rules linking visual patterns to numbers, using feedback to guide their choices.
Halstead–Reitan Impairment Indexnoun: A score summarizes the proportion of selected cognitive test results that fall within a range suggesting impaired functioning.
Halstead–Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (HRNB)noun: A collection of tests examines thinking, memory, perception, and movement to help assess possible difficulties with brain functioning.
halving methodnoun: A person adjusts a stimulus until it feels half as intense as a comparison stimulus, helping measure perceived intensity.
Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D; HRSD)noun: A clinician uses an interview to rate the severity of depression symptoms, including mood and sleep difficulties.
hammernoun: The malleus is a tiny middle ear bone attached to the eardrum that passes vibrations to the incus.
hand dominancenoun: A person consistently favors a particular hand when performing tasks such as writing, eating, or throwing.
Hand Dynamometer Testnoun: A person squeezes a measuring instrument so an examiner can assess the strength of their grip.
hand-tool dexterity testnoun: An assessment measures how effectively a person handles and operates tools used by hand.
hand-washing compulsionnoun: A person feels driven to wash their hands repeatedly beyond practical need, often to ease distress linked to obsessive thoughts.
hand–arm vibration syndrome (HAVS)noun: Prolonged exposure to vibrating handheld equipment can cause problems with blood circulation, nerves, and movement in the hands and arms.
Hand–Christian–Schüller syndromenoun: This historical name describes a form of Langerhans cell histiocytosis that can affect bones, eye position, and water balance.
handednessnoun: People often show a stable preference for using their left or right hand in particular activities.
handicapnoun: An outdated label described disadvantages that restrict participation in activities or social roles, including barriers in the environment.
handicap principlenoun: An evolutionary proposal suggests costly animal displays can honestly signal qualities that potential mates value because those displays are difficult to maintain.
handwriting analysisnoun: This approach attempts to infer personality or mental state from handwriting features, but its validity has little scientific support.
hanging rootogramnoun: A graph hangs square-root count bars from an expected curve, making differences between observed and predicted frequencies easier to see.
hangovernoun: Unpleasant effects such as headache, thirst, and tiredness can follow heavy drinking as alcohol levels fall toward zero.
Hansnoun: In psychology, this name appears in Clever Hans and Little Hans, two famous examples about learning and childhood fears.
haphazard samplingnoun: Researchers choose participants without random selection or a consistent plan, increasing the risk that the sample misrepresents the population.
haplodiploidynoun: In this reproductive system, one sex develops with a single chromosome set while the other develops with two.
haploidadjective: A cell or organism has a single complete chromosome set, as human sperm and egg cells normally do.
happinessnoun: A feeling of joy, satisfaction, and overall well-being.
happy-puppet syndromenoun: This outdated, disrespectful name described Angelman syndrome, a genetic condition affecting learning, speech, movement, and nervous system development.
hapticadjective: Something involves touch, especially information gathered by deliberately moving the hands or body across an object.
haptic hallucinationnoun: A person experiences a touch sensation even though no outside contact or stimulus is producing it.
haptic horizontal–vertical illusionnoun: When exploring by touch, people may judge equally long vertical and horizontal lines as having different lengths.
haptic illusionnoun: Actively exploring an object through touch produces a perception that differs from the object's actual properties.
haptic mapnoun: A map with raised features lets people explore locations and routes through touch.
haptic Müller-Lyer illusionnoun: Equal raised lines can feel different in length because arrowhead patterns at their ends influence touch judgments.
haptic perceptionnoun: People learn about objects by deliberately touching, moving over, and exploring their surfaces.
haptic picturenoun: An image made with raised outlines allows people to recognize its content by feeling it.
hapticsnoun: This field studies how touch gathers information and how that knowledge can support communication technology.
hard colorsnoun: This color label groups yellow and red shades together.
hard dataphrase: Carefully measured numerical information gathered systematically, often through experiments and statistical analysis.
hard determinismnoun: This philosophical view holds that prior causes fully determine human choices, leaving no genuine free will.
hard drugnoun: An informal label describes drugs associated with physical dependence and serious negative effects, with usage varying across cultures.
hard palatenoun: The firm front section of the mouth’s ceiling contains bone covered by moist tissue.
hard problemnoun: The philosophical challenge is explaining why physical brain activity produces experience that feels like something from the inside.
hard psychologynoun: An informal label describes experimental psychology, often implying greater scientific rigor than other psychological approaches.
hard sellnoun: A sales approach uses strong pressure or persuasive incentives to push someone toward a quick purchase.
hard-wiredadjective: In brain science, this describes nerve connections treated as fixed and resistant to change.
hardinessnoun: A person's mix of purpose, control, and flexibility that helps them handle stress and change.
hardwarenoun: The physical parts that carry out information processing, such as a computer's parts or the brain.
Hardy–Rand–Rittler pseudoisochromatic plates (H–R–R plates)noun: These color vision test images contain shapes distinguishable from surrounding small elements through differences in hue.
haremnoun: In animal behavior, several females form a mating group associated with one or sometimes two males.
harm avoidancenoun: In Cloninger’s personality model, this temperament trait involves sensitivity to possible punishment and a tendency to avoid it.
harm reductionphrase: A treatment approach that lowers the dangers of risky behavior without requiring the person to stop completely.
harmalinenoun: A naturally occurring substance in the ayahuasca vine contributes to the drink’s effects on mental experience.
harminenoun: A plant compound found in ayahuasca blocks monoamine oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down certain chemical messengers.
harmonicnoun: A simple sound component vibrates at a whole-number multiple of a sound’s fundamental frequency.
harmonic meannoun: An average results from taking each value’s reciprocal, averaging those reciprocals, and taking the reciprocal of that result.
harmonynoun: Peaceful, cooperative relationships where people get along and conflicts are minimal.
HAROLDabbreviation: Aging adults often use both brain sides more equally during tasks, reducing the usual left-right difference.
Harris v. Forklift Systems Inc.noun: A 1993 Supreme Court ruling established that workplace harassment claims need not demonstrate psychological injury and require a reasonable-person assessment.
Harrisburg Sevennoun: These seven Vietnam War protesters faced a 1972 trial notable for early use of social science in choosing jurors.
Harvey Impostor Phenomenon Scale (HIPS)noun: This 14-item questionnaire measures feelings of being undeserving or secretly incapable despite evidence of achievement.
hashishnoun: A cannabis preparation made mainly from collected plant resin contains THC, a substance that changes perception and mood.
hasty generalizationnoun: A reasoning mistake occurs when someone draws a broad conclusion from too few, unusual, or unrepresentative examples.
hatenoun: A strong feeling of extreme dislike, anger, and sometimes wanting to hurt someone.
hate crimephrase: A violent act done because of prejudice against a group the victim belongs to or is believed to belong to.
haunted swing illusionnoun: Someone sitting on an unmoving swing feels themselves moving when the surrounding scene moves instead.
HAVSabbreviation: Hand–arm vibration syndrome develops after excessive exposure to vibrating handheld tools, affecting the hands and arms.
Hawthorne effectphrase: People often work or act better simply because they know someone is watching or studying them.
Hay methodnoun: This job evaluation approach helps set pay by comparing required knowledge, problem-solving demands, and responsibility for outcomes.
Hayflick limitnoun: Many normal body cells can divide only a limited number of times before they stop, often as telomeres shorten.
hazardnoun: A possible source of harm, illness, injury, or damage in a setting or activity.
hazard analysisnoun: A systematic review identifies possible dangers and estimates how likely and serious their effects could be.
hazard controlnoun: This process identifies and assesses dangers, then removes them or reduces people’s exposure to them.
hazard functionnoun: This mathematical function shows how an event’s immediate occurrence rate changes over time among cases where it has not happened.
hazard ratenoun: This rate describes how quickly an event could occur at a particular time, given that it has not happened yet.
hazard-assessment matrixnoun: A table ranks potential dangers by combining the likelihood of each with the seriousness of its possible consequences.
hazard-control protocolnoun: This priority sequence addresses dangers through removal by design, protective barriers, warnings, and then training.
hazingnoun: Group initiation practices subject newcomers to humiliation, harassment, or physical or emotional discomfort as part of joining.
Hbabbreviation: Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein inside red blood cells that carries oxygen and gives blood its red color.
HCBSabbreviation: These services provide support at home or within communities, helping people with disabilities manage everyday activities and participate locally.
HCFAabbreviation: Health Care Financing Administration was a United States federal agency name used before CMS, overseeing programs including Medicare and Medicaid.
HDabbreviation: Huntington’s disease is an inherited condition involving progressive brain cell loss that affects movement, thinking, mood, and behavior.
HDIabbreviation: The Hamilton Depression Inventory is a 38-item questionnaire people complete themselves to report the severity of depressive symptoms.
head bangingnoun: Repeatedly hitting the head against a surface can occur as a patterned movement, especially in early childhood.
head injuryphrase: Damage to the scalp, skull, or brain from impact or sudden motion, often affecting thinking or behavior.
head nystagmusnoun: After rotation, the head moves slowly against the turning direction, followed by a quick movement with that direction.
head retractionnoun: Strong irritation inside the nose can automatically trigger the head to pull backward.
head rollingnoun: Some children repeatedly turn their heads from one side to the other while settling down to sleep.
Head Startphrase: A U.S. program that gives low-income young children and families education, health, and support to prepare for school.
head traumaphrase: A blow or jolt to the head that can damage the brain and affect thinking, mood, or behavior.
head voicenoun: The higher register of speaking or singing is associated with a sensation of resonance in the head.
head-direction cellnoun: A neuron becomes especially active when an animal’s head points in a particular direction within its surroundings.
head-of-the-table effectnoun: Group members tend to view someone seated at a table’s end as a leader, especially when none is appointed.
head-related transfer function (HRTF)noun: A mathematical description captures how the ears, head, and torso alter incoming sound depending on its direction and frequency.
head-slavedadjective: A virtual reality display updates its scene to match changes in the user’s head position or direction.
head-up display (HUD)noun: A display places important operating information straight ahead so users can monitor it while watching their surroundings.
headachenoun: Pain felt in the head, sometimes as a medication side effect or stress symptom.
headache diarynoun: A personal log tracks headache timing, symptoms, possible triggers, and treatment results to help reveal patterns.
headshrinkingnoun: A ritual practice involves preserving and reducing the size of detached heads, historically documented in some cultural traditions.
headsticknoun: A rod attached to headgear lets someone use head movements to point, press, or move objects.
healing groupnoun: People gather to support members' emotional well-being, personal growth, or relationships through shared activities and interaction.
healthnoun: A person's overall physical, mental, and emotional well-being, not just the absence of illness.
health activities questionnairenoun: A survey asks about current habits and actions that affect health, such as exercise, eating, and preventive care.
health anxietyphrase: Ongoing fear of serious illness comes from misreading normal body feelings or minor symptoms as dangerous.
health behaviornoun: Actions that help or harm wellness, shaped by a person's attitudes, habits, and social influences.
health behavior modelnoun: A proposed explanation suggests that personality influences health through daily choices and habits, such as exercise and eating.
health carephrase: Services that protect, check, treat, and support people's physical and mental well-being.
Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Actnoun: A 2010 United States law revised health insurance reforms and changed federal support for college education.
Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA)noun: A federal agency previously used this name while overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, and children's public health insurance programs.
health care organizationnoun: An organized group of workers, guided by leaders, provides health services through an institution such as a hospital.
health care proxynoun: A chosen person has legal authority to make treatment decisions when someone cannot decide for themselves.
health care psychologynoun: This field studies how thoughts, behavior, biology, and social conditions influence health and uses findings to improve care.
health care reform movementnoun: Organized efforts seek changes that make physical and mental health services more accessible, effective, and affordable.
health care systemnoun: Connected services, organizations, and arrangements provide and organize health care within a region or country.
health coachingnoun: Individual guidance helps people choose health goals, find their own motivation, and develop practical steps toward change.
health disparitynoun: A measurable gap in health or care between social groups often reflects unequal resources, opportunities, or treatment.
health economicsphrase: Using economics to study healthcare costs, choices, and which services give the most value.
health educationnoun: Planned teaching helps people understand physical and emotional health, prevent illness, and make informed choices about well-being.
health homenoun: A continuing care team coordinates a person's physical and mental health services around their needs and preferences.
health information technologynoun: Digital equipment and software organize and share health information to support patients, professionals, and care services.
health insurancenoun: An agreement provides payment for covered health expenses in return for regular payments, according to the plan's rules.
health literacynoun: A person's ability to find, understand, discuss, and use health information helps them make decisions and manage care.
health locus of controlnoun: A person's beliefs locate influence over their health in their own actions, other people, chance, or outside circumstances.
health maintenance organizationnoun: A prepaid health plan arranges members' care mainly through a designated provider network, usually coordinated by a primary care professional.
health planphrase: An organized insurance program that pays for a specific set of health care services.
Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS)noun: This historical name describes standardized measures used to compare health plans and report their performance to employers.
health professionalphrase: Someone with advanced training in healthcare, such as patient care, administration, or support services.
health promotionphrase: Organized efforts help people gain more control over physical and mental health to improve overall well-being.
health psychologyphrase: This field studies how thoughts, behavior, and social life affect health, illness, and medical care.
health risk appraisalnoun: Information about habits, medical history, or physical measurements is used to estimate someone's chances of developing health problems.
health screeningphrase: Tests used on people at risk to find disease or disorders before symptoms appear.
health services researchnoun: Researchers study how care is organized, paid for, accessed, and delivered, and how these factors affect results.
health statusphrase: A person's current level of physical health, judged by self-report or medical measures.
health visitornoun: A health professional visits families at home to support well-being, assess needs, and help address health concerns.
health-related quality of life (HRQL)noun: This describes how physical and mental health shape someone's daily abilities, relationships, emotional experience, and satisfaction with living.
health–belief modelphrase: People are more likely to prevent illness when they feel at risk, think it is serious, and expect benefits.
healthcare information system (HIS)noun: An organized technology system connects patient records with administrative and financial information to support health service operations.
hearingnoun: The sense that detects sound and helps the brain understand what made it.
hearing aidnoun: A wearable electronic device makes sounds louder and may adjust them to support a person's hearing.
hearing disordernoun: A condition present from birth or caused by illness or injury reduces a person's ability to hear.
hearing levelnoun: A sound level in decibels is measured relative to a standard hearing threshold for a particular pitch.
hearing lossphrase: Reduced ability to detect usual sound loudness or pitch, or both, across the normal hearing range.
hearing mutenoun: An outdated, disrespectful label was applied to someone who could hear but did not speak.
hearing protectionnoun: Equipment or techniques reduce the strength of sound entering the ears to limit noise exposure.
hearing theoriesnoun: Scientific explanations describe how the ears and nervous system turn sound into experiences such as pitch, loudness, and location.
heart attackphrase: A blocked artery can suddenly cut off blood to heart muscle, causing chest pain and possible tissue death.
heart blocknoun: Electrical signals that coordinate heartbeats travel too slowly or fail to pass through part of the heart's signaling pathway.
heart rate reactivitynoun: Heartbeat speed changes in response to emotional states or situations, with the pattern also shaped by bodily activity.
heart rate variability (HRV)phrase: The natural variation in time between heartbeats can show how well the body handles stress and stays healthy.
heatnoun: Warmth felt when something touching the body is hotter than your normal body temperature.
heat dolorimeternoun: A research instrument applies controlled heat to measure when a person feels pain or how strongly they experience it.
heat effectsnoun: Uncomfortably hot surroundings can change bodily functioning, thinking, feelings, and behavior, with responses varying across people and conditions.
heat exhaustionnoun: Excessive heat and losses of water and salt can cause an illness involving weakness, dizziness, and other symptoms.
heat shock proteinnoun: A cellular helper protein supports proper protein folding and handling, often becoming more abundant during physical stress.
heat stressnoun: Excessive environmental heat places strain on an organism, potentially disturbing physical functioning and mental performance.
heat-induced asthenianoun: Extended exposure to hot conditions can produce weakness, low energy, and reduced mental functioning, sometimes with irritability or sleep difficulties.
heatstrokenoun: Dangerous overheating disrupts brain function when the body cannot control its temperature, creating a medical emergency.
Hebbian synapsenoun: A connection between neurons strengthens when activity in the sending neuron helps activate the receiving neuron.
hebephrenianoun: A historical schizophrenia category emphasized disorganized speech and behavior, along with reduced or contextually unexpected emotional expression.
hebetudenoun: A state of markedly reduced emotional responsiveness includes sluggishness and little interest in surrounding activities.
Hecht’s theory of visionnoun: A historical theory proposed that noticing small brightness differences depends on chemical changes in the eye's light-sensitive cells.
hedgenoun: A speaker softens or limits a statement's certainty or commitment through qualifying language.
Hedges’s gnoun: An effect size expresses the gap between two group averages in pooled standard deviation units, corrected for small sample bias.
HEDISabbreviation: A common set of yearly measurements helps employers compare how well different health insurance plans serve their members.
hedonic contingency hypothesisnoun: A proposed explanation suggests happy people examine information more deeply when they expect it to preserve their good mood.
hedonic contrastnoun: Something pleasant can seem even more appealing when experienced alongside or after something extremely similar but less pleasant.
hedonic levelnoun: The strength of pleasant or unpleasant feelings comes from a particular thought or interaction.
hedonic psychologynoun: A psychological approach studies experiences of pleasure and pain, their biological and social influences, and their connections to action.
hedonic relevancenoun: The importance of a situation or activity depends on how much it could help create or preserve a good mood.
hedonic theorynoun: A proposed explanation holds that pleasant and unpleasant feelings are major forces motivating humans and other animals.
hedonic time-order errornoun: Timing can shift preference between equally appealing options, favoring the first after short gaps and the second after longer gaps.
hedonic tonenoun: An experience has a feeling quality that makes it pleasant or unpleasant.
hedonic treadmillnoun: A hypothesis proposes that happiness often drifts toward its earlier level as people adjust to positive or negative life changes.
hedonic well-beingnoun: Happiness or contentment comes from experiencing pleasure and having little pain or distress.
hedonicsnoun: This area of psychology explores pleasure and displeasure in experiences and thinking, including their effects on motivation.
hedonismnoun: People are mainly driven to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
hegemonynoun: One person, group, or state holds dominance over others, sometimes making its beliefs seem like unquestionable common sense.
height phobianoun: An intense, excessive fear of high places causes avoidance or strong distress when heights cannot be avoided.
Heinz dilemmanoun: A moral story used to judge how people think about right and wrong, involving whether Heinz should steal medicine.
Heisenberg principlenoun: Quantum physics places a fundamental limit on how precisely a particle's position and momentum can both be known.
helicotremanoun: An opening at the cochlea's tip connects two fluid passages and reduces hearing responses to extremely low frequencies.
heliocentric theorynoun: An astronomical model places the Sun centrally, with Earth and the other planets traveling around it.
heliotropismnoun: An organism or its parts orient in response to sunlight, as when a flower turns toward the Sun.
helleborenoun: A poisonous plant in the genus Veratrum has historically supplied substances used as medicines.
Helmholtz chessboardnoun: A checkerboard with squares enlarging toward its edges can create an illusion of depth under particular viewing conditions.
Helmholtz color mixernoun: An instrument combines two lights with separately adjustable wavelengths and brightness levels into one uniform field for studying color perception.
Helmholtz square illusionnoun: A square filled with horizontal stripes can appear taller, while vertical stripes can make the square appear wider.
Helmholtz theorynoun: A historical hearing theory proposes that perceived pitch depends on which location along the inner ear's basilar membrane responds most strongly.
help-seeking behaviornoun: A person looks for or asks for assistance from other people, community resources, or professional services.
helpernoun: In animal behavior, an individual helps care for young that are not its own offspring.
helpingnoun: Actions meant to improve another person's well-being, even when doing so costs the helper something.
helping modelnoun: An educational approach supports students' overall growth, including thinking, movement, emotions, relationships, creativity, and values.
helping professionsphrase: Jobs focused on caring for, treating, or teaching people to improve their health, learning, or well-being.
helping relationshipnoun: A connection between people or groups includes an intention to support another's growth, maturity, or ability to function.
helplessnessnoun: Feeling powerless because you believe nothing you do can make a bad situation better.
helplessness theorynoun: A proposed explanation suggests repeated uncontrollable stress can teach people that their actions make no difference, reducing later attempts to act.
hem-prefix: A word part placed before another element adds the meaning of blood.
hematomanoun: A pocket of blood that collects outside a blood vessel after it leaks or breaks.
hematophobianoun: A persistent, excessive fear of seeing blood causes strong distress or avoidance of situations where blood might appear.
hemeralopianoun: This visual condition makes objects harder to see under strong illumination while allowing better sight when lighting is low.
hemeraphonianoun: A historical label describes psychologically attributed daytime voice loss, with the ability to speak potentially returning at night.
hemi-prefix: A prefix added to a word gives it the meaning of half.
hemiachromatopsianoun: Brain injury causes color vision loss across the matching half of each eye's view, opposite the injured brain region.
hemiamblyopianoun: Posterior brain injury removes color and shape perception and weakens light perception across the matching half of each eye's view.
hemianalgesianoun: A person loses the ability to feel pain throughout either the left or right bodily half.
hemianesthesianoun: A person loses sensitivity to sensory stimulation throughout either the left or right bodily half.
hemianopia (hemianopsia; hemiopia)noun: Missing sight in one half of what a person can normally see.
hemianopic dyslexianoun: Reading becomes difficult because missing areas in corresponding parts of both eyes' views interrupt access to text.
hemiasomatognosianoun: A person lacks awareness of one bodily half or has difficulty recognizing it as belonging to them.
hemiballismusnoun: Neurological damage causes large, involuntary flinging movements of limbs on either the left or right bodily half.
hemichoreanoun: Irregular, involuntary jerking movements affect muscles on either the left or right bodily half.
hemicranianoun: Head pain affects either the left or right half, as can happen during a migraine.
hemidecorticationnoun: A surgical operation removes the brain's outer gray matter layer from one cerebral hemisphere.
hemimegalencephalynoun: A rare developmental condition causes one cerebral hemisphere to grow unusually large and may affect seizures, movement, and learning.
hemineglectnoun: Following brain injury, a person may fail to notice or attend to one side of their body or surrounding space.
hemiopianoun: Vision is absent across half of the usual visual field because part of the visual pathway is damaged.
hemiparesisnoun: Weakness or partly reduced movement on the left or right half of the body.
hemiplegianoun: Paralysis affects the left or right half of a person's body, usually because of nervous system damage.
hemispatial neglectphrase: After brain damage, a person may ignore one side of space, usually the left side.
hemispheral roles in emotionphrase: The brain's left and right hemispheres may contribute differently to producing and regulating emotions, including approach and avoidance.
hemispherenoun: One of the brain's two matching halves, especially a half of the cerebrum or cerebellum.
hemispherectomynoun: A surgical procedure removes a cerebral hemisphere, often to treat severe epilepsy that other treatments have not controlled.
hemispheric asymmetrynoun: The brain's two cerebral hemispheres differ in structure and in how strongly they contribute to particular abilities.
hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults (HAROLD)noun: A model proposes that older adults use both prefrontal hemispheres more evenly during thinking tasks than younger adults do.
hemispheric communicationnoun: The brain's left and right cerebral hemispheres exchange nerve signals, mainly through the connecting fibers of the corpus callosum.
hemispheric dominancenoun: An older concept describes one brain half contributing more than the other to particular functions, such as speech.
hemispheric encoding–retrieval asymmetry (HERA)noun: A proposed memory pattern gives the left brain half a larger role in storing experiences and the right in recalling them.
hemispheric lateralizationphrase: Some abilities, like language or handedness, depend more on one brain half than the other.
hemlocknoun: A poisonous plant contains toxic alkaloids and appears in historical accounts of medicinal preparations and intoxication.
hemo- (hem-; haemo-; haem-)prefix: This word part adds the meaning of blood to medical and biological terms.
hemodynamic responsenoun: Local brain activity produces changes in blood supply and oxygen levels that help researchers measure activity indirectly using fMRI.
hemoglobin (Hb)noun: An iron-containing protein inside red blood cells carries oxygen and gives blood its red appearance.
hemoglobinopathynoun: An inherited disorder changes the structure or production of hemoglobin, the blood protein that carries oxygen.
hemophobianoun: A lasting, intense fear of blood can cause strong distress and avoidance of situations where blood might appear.
hemorrhagenoun: Bleeding from a broken blood vessel, especially dangerous when it happens in the brain.
hemorrhagic strokephrase: A stroke caused by a burst blood vessel that bleeds into or around the brain.
hemothymianoun: A historical label described an intense desire for bloodshed or for killing another person.
hempnoun: The cannabis plant supplies fiber and other products, and its name has also been used informally for marijuana.
henbanenoun: A poisonous plant contains chemicals that block acetylcholine signals and can cause sedation, confusion, and hallucinations.
Henle fibernoun: A slender extension of a cone cell near the retina’s center connects with a bipolar cell positioned farther sideways.
Henning’s odor prismnoun: A historical model places six proposed basic smells at a prism’s corners and arranges related smells between them.
Henning’s taste tetrahedronnoun: A historical model arranges sweet, sour, bitter, and salty tastes on a triangular pyramid, with mixtures between its corners.
hepatic encephalopathynoun: Liver dysfunction allows substances such as ammonia to disrupt brain function, causing changes in thinking, behavior, and movement.
hepatitisnoun: Inflammation affects the liver and can result from viruses, alcohol, other toxic substances, or immune system activity.
HERAabbreviation: The hemispheric encoding–retrieval asymmetry hypothesis proposes greater left hemisphere activity during memory formation and greater right hemisphere activity during recall.
herbal ecstasynoun: A marketing name describes herbal stimulant products promoted for energizing effects and sometimes mistaken for MDMA.
herbal remedynoun: A preparation made from plant material is used to address symptoms or illness, with benefits and risks varying by product.
herd instinctnoun: A proposed inborn drive leads animals to gather together and people to form social groups.
here and nowphrase: Attention to what the client and therapist are thinking, feeling, and doing in the session right now.
hereditarianismnoun: A viewpoint gives inherited genetic differences the leading role in explaining behavior and differences between people.
hereditary ataxianoun: An inherited disorder makes coordinated movement difficult, often affecting balance, walking, or speech.
hereditary hyperuricemia (hereditary choreoathetosis)noun: An older name for Lesch–Nyhan syndrome describes an inherited enzyme deficiency causing excess uric acid and movement and behavioral difficulties.
hereditary myopathynoun: An inherited disease affects muscle tissue and may cause weakness or other problems with muscle function.
hereditary predispositionnoun: Inherited genetic features increase the likelihood of developing a trait or condition, alongside environmental and developmental influences.
hereditynoun: Traits passed from parents to children through genes and DNA.
heredity–environment controversynoun: A longstanding debate concerns how inherited characteristics and life experiences contribute to development and differences between people.
Hering graysnoun: A collection of 50 paper samples progresses from white through gray to black in steps intended to look equally spaced.
Hering illusionnoun: Two straight parallel lines appear to curve outward when viewed against lines spreading from a point between them.
Hering theory of color visionnoun: A historical theory proposed opposing chemical processes for red versus green, yellow versus blue, and white versus black.
Hering–Breuer reflexnoun: Sensory signals from the lungs automatically adjust breathing, especially by limiting inhalation when the lungs expand.
Hering’s afterimagenoun: A brief visual impression remains after something disappears, preserving its original color and color intensity.
heritabilitynoun: How much genes help explain differences in a trait across a group, not one person.
heritagenoun: Traditions, values, and resources passed down through families or groups across generations.
hermaphroditismnoun: In some plants and animals, one organism has functioning reproductive structures for both egg-producing and sperm-producing roles.
hermeneuticsnoun: The study of interpretation examines how people understand meaning in language, actions, art, and other forms of expression.
herniationnoun: An organ or other body tissue pushes through an opening or beyond the space that normally contains it.
heronoun: In psychodrama, the main person acts out the problem being explored in the group.
heroinnoun: A very addictive opioid drug that quickly causes intense pleasure and can lead to overdose and dependence.
herpes infectionnoun: An infection caused by a herpes-family virus can produce illnesses such as cold sores, chickenpox, shingles, or brain inflammation.
herpes-simplex encephalitisnoun: Infection with herpes simplex virus inflames brain tissue and can cause seizures, confusion, and serious memory difficulties.
herpetic neuralgianoun: Nerve pain occurs during shingles when the virus responsible for chickenpox becomes active again.
hertznoun: A frequency unit, written Hz, counts how many complete cycles occur during each second.
Heschl’s gyrusnoun: A ridge across the upper temporal lobe contains brain tissue involved in early processing of sound.
hetaeral fantasynoun: A historically gendered fantasy involves imagining oneself as a courtesan, a paid intimate companion, or imagining having such a companion.
hetero-prefix: This word part adds the meaning of difference or otherness to the word it joins.
heterochromic iridocyclitisnoun: Inflammation affects the eye’s iris and ciliary body, with pigment loss changing the iris’s color.
heterochronynoun: An evolutionary change shifts when a developmental feature appears or how quickly it develops relative to other features.
heterocyclic antidepressantnoun: An antidepressant in an older group has a ring-based chemical structure and changes signaling involving serotonin or norepinephrine.
heteroeroticismnoun: Sexual or romantic desire is directed toward people of a different sex from oneself.
heterogameticadjective: Having two different sex chromosomes typically allows an organism to produce reproductive cells carrying either chromosome type.
heterogamynoun: A marriage joins partners whose backgrounds differ in areas such as religion, ethnicity, education, or social and economic circumstances.
heterogeneitynoun: Having a lot of differences within a group, such as varied traits, scores, or backgrounds.
heterogeneity of variancenoun: The spread of scores differs across groups or changes with the value of another variable.
heterogeneousadjective: Made up of different kinds of parts rather than all being the same.
heterogeneous groupnoun: A collection contains people or items that differ in important characteristics, such as age, background, or ability.
heterohypnosisnoun: One person guides another into hypnosis through suggestions that may alter attention, experience, or responses.
heterolalianoun: A person accidentally speaks or writes an unintended expression, sometimes reversing the meaning they meant to communicate.
heteromorphosisnoun: A body structure has an unusual form, or a lost part regrows as a different kind of structure.
heteronomousadjective: Guided by outside rules or authority instead of one's own judgment about right and wrong.
heteronomous stagephrase: In Piaget's theory, children judge right and wrong by adult rules and punishment, not by motives or fairness.
heteronomynoun: A person's actions are directed by other people or outside demands, with limited freedom to decide independently.
heteronormativitynoun: A social assumption treats heterosexual relationships and fixed male and female roles as the expected way everyone should live.
heteronymous hemianopianoun: Vision is missing from opposite halves of the two eyes' visual fields, affecting both outer halves or both inner halves.
heteronymous reflexnoun: Stimulating one muscle automatically causes another muscle that helps perform the same movement to contract.
heterophemynoun: Someone mistakenly uses words they did not intend in speech or writing, sometimes expressing the reverse of their intended message.
heterophilianoun: Someone feels love or romantic, emotional, or sexual interest in people whose sex differs from their own.
heterophilynoun: People form social ties with others who differ from them in background, beliefs, or other characteristics.
heterophorianoun: An eye tends to drift out of alignment when the eyes are not working together to maintain a shared view.
heteroscedasticitynoun: Unequal spread of scores across groups or predictor values, which can upset some statistical tests.
heterosexismnoun: Bias and social systems that treat straight people as normal and devalue LGBTQ+ people.
Heterosexual–Homosexual Rating Scalenoun: The Kinsey Scale uses seven ratings, from zero to six, to describe patterns ranging from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual.
heterosexualitynoun: A sexual orientation involves romantic or sexual attraction toward people of a different sex.
heterosisnoun: Offspring from genetically different parents show greater vigor or other favorable qualities compared with their parents.
heterosocialitynoun: People of different sexes have social relationships that do not involve romance or sexual activity.
heterostasisnoun: Klopf proposed that an organism seeks the greatest possible stimulation.
heterotopianoun: During development before birth, gray matter forms in locations normally occupied by white matter within the brain or spinal cord.
heterotropianoun: The eyes are visibly misaligned, so they do not consistently point toward the same target.
heterozygousadjective: An organism carries two different versions of a particular gene at corresponding positions on paired chromosomes.
heuristicnoun: A mental shortcut uses past experience to judge quickly, but it can lead to mistakes.
heuristic searchnoun: A problem-solving method uses practical rules to narrow the options explored when looking for a solution.
heuristic valuenoun: An idea has this quality when it inspires additional questions, exploration, or new ways of thinking.
heuristic-systematic model (HSM)noun: A persuasion theory proposes that people judge messages through quick decision rules, careful examination of evidence, or both.
Heymans’s lawnoun: A historical generalization proposes that strengthening one stimulus makes a person less sensitive to another stimulus occurring simultaneously.
Heywood casenoun: A statistical model produces an impossible or problematic estimate, such as a negative amount of unexplained variation.
HFAabbreviation: Short for high-functioning autism, this outdated label described autistic people considered intellectually able and less affected by everyday difficulties.
HGPRTabbreviation: Hypoxanthine–guanine phosphoribosyltransferase is an enzyme that recycles DNA building blocks; severe deficiency causes Lesch–Nyhan syndrome, affecting development and behavior.
Hi-Wa itcknoun: Historical accounts describe separation-related distress among Mohave people, including low mood, sleep difficulties, and reduced appetite.
hibernationnoun: Some animals conserve energy through prolonged seasonal inactivity, reduced body temperature, and greatly slowed bodily processes.
Hick’s lawnoun: Choice reaction time generally rises with the logarithm of the number of equally likely response options.
Hidden Figures Testnoun: A person finds and traces simple shapes inside complicated drawings to assess how well they separate details from surrounding patterns.
hidden griefnoun: A person's grief receives little recognition or acceptance from others, making its expression and support harder to obtain.
hidden observernoun: Hilgard proposed a separate part of awareness that registers experiences a hypnotized person reports not noticing.
hidden profile tasknoun: A group must combine information held by different members to discover which option is best.
hidden variablenoun: An unnoticed factor influences an outcome and may explain why two measured variables appear connected.
hidden-clue testnoun: A participant must identify which overlooked feature of a situation signals how to obtain a reward.
hierarchical clusteringnoun: A statistical method builds nested groups by repeatedly joining similar items or splitting larger groups according to differences.
hierarchical designnoun: A study samples units within larger groups, such as children within classes and classes within schools.
hierarchical linear model (HLM)noun: A statistical model analyzes relationships across nested levels while accounting for similarities among observations belonging to the same group.
hierarchical modelnoun: A way of organizing test abilities so smaller skills fit under broader abilities, like general intelligence.
hierarchical model of personalitynoun: A personality theory organizes characteristics into levels, with broader qualities grouping or guiding more specific ones.
hierarchical regressionnoun: Researchers add predictors in planned stages to measure how much each new set improves prediction of an outcome.
hierarchical theory of intelligencenoun: A theory organizes mental abilities into levels, connecting broad abilities with narrower skills used for particular tasks.
hierarchically nested designnoun: A research plan samples smaller units contained within successively larger groups, such as workers within teams within organizations.
hierarchizationnoun: In Piaget's theory, advanced ways of thinking develop from earlier, simpler mental structures that make later development possible.
hierarchynoun: A ranked order of levels, people, or systems from higher or stronger to lower.
hierarchy of motives (hierarchy of needs)noun: Maslow proposed that human needs form levels, from basic survival and safety through belonging and esteem to personal growth.
hierarchy of responsenoun: Possible reactions to a particular cue or situation are ranked according to how likely each is to occur.
hierarchy-legitimizing mythnoun: In social dominance theory, a widely accepted belief makes unequal status between social groups seem natural or justified.
highnoun: The felt experience of being intoxicated after taking a psychoactive drug, which changes brain activity.
high blood pressurephrase: Blood pushing too hard against artery walls, which can strain the heart and damage vessels over time.
high chromaticitynoun: A color has strong purity, with little appearance of added white, gray, or black.
high resolutionnoun: A sensory or measuring system can tell apart inputs separated by only a tiny difference along some dimension.
high riskphrase: Having a much greater chance than usual of getting a disorder, disease, or other harmful outcome.
High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ)noun: A self-report questionnaire uses 142 items to assess 14 personality dimensions in young people aged 12 through 18.
high thresholdphrase: A level that is crossed only when a real signal is present, not by random noise.
high-altitude cerebral edemanoun: Dangerous swelling in the brain can develop at high altitude, causing confusion, poor coordination, and sometimes coma.
high-functioning autism (HFA)phrase: Older, debated label for autistic people with average or higher IQ and fewer daily living difficulties.
high-involvement managementnoun: Managers encourage employees to help shape decisions by sharing business information, developing skills, and rewarding participation and commitment.
high-pass filternoun: A device or procedure preserves signal frequencies above a chosen boundary while weakening lower frequencies.
high-potency antipsychoticnoun: A first-generation medicine treats psychosis at relatively low doses, strongly blocking dopamine D2 receptors and often causing movement side effects.
high-risk designnoun: A research approach studies people considered especially likely to develop a disorder to investigate its emergence and possible causes.
high-technology assistive devicenoun: An electronic tool with complex technology helps a person with a disability communicate, move, or perform other activities.
higher brain centernoun: A loosely named area within the cerebrum supports mental activities such as remembering, learning, or reasoning.
higher level skillnoun: An ability or working method can be used across many different tasks.
higher mental processnoun: A complex mental activity involves abilities such as reasoning, imagining, remembering, judging, or using language.
higher order conditioningnoun: An initially ineffective cue gains a learned response through pairing with another cue that already triggers that response.
higher order consciousnessnoun: A proposed form of awareness includes abstract ideas, thought involving language, and awareness of oneself beyond immediate sensory experience.
higher order constructnoun: A broad, organized concept brings different pieces of information together within a person's existing knowledge.
higher order correlationnoun: A statistical association between two measures is calculated after accounting for other variables' influence on both measures.
higher order designnoun: A study examines several factors together to assess their individual effects and how their effects depend on each other.
higher order interactionnoun: A statistical pattern involves at least three factors, where an interaction between some factors changes depending on another factor.
higher order processesnoun: Mental control abilities help people plan, organize actions, manage impulses, and adjust their approach while pursuing goals.
higher order thoughtnoun: Deliberate, complex thinking that a person notices can guide intentional actions and reflection about oneself.
higher response unitnoun: A complex action consists of several simpler responses organized into a larger whole.
highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)noun: A treatment strategy combines several medicines that interrupt HIV multiplication at different stages to suppress the virus.
highway hypnosisnoun: An informal label describes drowsy, reduced attention that can develop during lengthy drives along repetitive roads.
hilusnoun: An inner region of the dentate gyrus contains varied neurons and granule-cell axons within the brain's memory circuitry.
hindbrainnoun: Back part of the developing brain that later forms the medulla, pons, and cerebellum.
hindsight biasphrase: After something happens, believing you knew it all along more than you really could have.
Hindu caste systemnoun: A social hierarchy associated with Hindu societies assigns inherited group membership that has shaped status, occupations, and marriage.
Hinduismnoun: A diverse family of religious traditions originating in South Asia includes varied beliefs, practices, and teachings about karma.
hingenoun: One of two scores that mark off the lowest and highest quarter of a data set.
hippie (hippy)noun: A member of a counterculture prominent during the 1960s and 1970s often valued peace, shared living, and alternatives to materialism.
hippocampal formationnoun: A connected brain system including the hippocampus, dentate gyrus, and subiculum helps establish lasting memories.
hippocampal gyrusnoun: Another name for the subiculum identifies a brain region beside the hippocampus that exchanges signals within memory circuitry.
hippocampal sclerosisnoun: Loss of hippocampal nerve cells and reactive changes in supporting cells can disrupt memory and are often associated with epilepsy.
hippocampusnoun: A brain structure helps form new memories of facts and events and supports learning about places.
hippotherapynoun: Trained rehabilitation therapists use a horse's movement to support goals such as improved balance, posture, coordination, and movement.
HIPSabbreviation: Harvey Impostor Phenomenon Scale uses 14 questionnaire items to assess feeling like a fraud despite evidence of personal success.
hircineadjective: An odor described within Zwaardemaker's historical classification has a goatlike or rancid-fat quality.
hired gunnoun: An outdated informal label describes an expert witness who favors the paying client's position over factual accuracy.
HISabbreviation: A computer system that stores, shares, and manages patient health information in healthcare settings.
Hispanic/Latinoadjective: Describing people with family roots in Latin America or Spain, across many racial backgrounds.
histaminenoun: A body chemical that helps trigger allergies and, in the brain, helps control alertness and appetite.
histamine antagonistnoun: A medicine blocks histamine's effects at its receptors, often treating allergies and sometimes producing sleepiness.
histamine headachenoun: An older name describes cluster headache, involving intensely painful attacks near one eye that recur during grouped periods.
histo- (hist-)prefix: A word-building element adds the meaning of body tissue to scientific terms.
histogenesisnoun: The developmental process produces body tissues as cells form organized groups with particular functions.
histogramnoun: A graph for continuous data uses touching bars to show how often scores fall within ranges.
histologynoun: A scientific field examines how cells and other components are arranged within tissues using microscopic detail.
historical analysisnoun: Research investigates earlier events to help explain present conditions or consider what might happen later.
historical control groupnoun: A comparison group comes from earlier records and is selected to resemble participants receiving the treatment being studied.
historical fallacynoun: An interpretation mistakenly treats something produced by a process as though it caused or already belonged to that process.
historical linguisticsnoun: A branch of language research examines changes in languages across different periods and traces their historical relationships.
historical methodnoun: A counseling or therapy approach emphasizes a client's earlier life experiences when understanding and addressing present concerns.
historical prospective studynoun: Researchers use existing records spanning time to trace disorder development and examine its links with earlier risk factors.
historical psychoanalysisnoun: An interpretive approach uses psychoanalytic ideas about unconscious motives to examine people, events, and movements from the past.
historical traumanoun: The psychological and social effects of collective traumatic experiences can continue across generations within families and communities.
historicismnoun: A viewpoint treats historical circumstances as essential for understanding ideas, or proposes historical laws that could predict future events.
history effectnoun: Events outside a study influence its measured results, potentially confusing conclusions about the intervention being tested.
history takingphrase: Gathering a person's background information from them and other sources to understand their health or behavior.
histrionic personality disorderphrase: A long-lasting pattern of dramatic, attention-seeking emotions and behavior that often seems shallow and exaggerated.
HITnoun: Correctly noticing that a signal is present during a signal detection task.
hit ratephrase: In signal detection, the share of signal-present trials correctly identified as having the signal.
HIVabbreviation: A virus that weakens the immune system over time and can lead to AIDS if untreated.
HIV dementianoun: A severe condition caused by HIV's effects on the brain disrupts thinking, everyday functioning, and often movement or mood.
HIV-associated dementianoun: Severe HIV-related brain dysfunction causes substantial problems with thinking and daily activities, sometimes alongside movement and behavioral changes.
HIV-associated Kaposi sarcomanoun: A cancer caused by human herpesvirus 8 occurs in people with HIV, especially when immune defenses are weakened.
HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND)noun: A group of conditions involves HIV-related difficulties with thinking, attention, learning, or memory, ranging from subtle changes to severe impairment.
HIV/AIDS counselingnoun: Professional guidance helps people understand HIV prevention, testing, and treatment while addressing related emotions, relationships, and social challenges.
hivesnoun: Temporary raised skin swellings often itch or burn and may arise from allergies or be worsened by stress.
HLMabbreviation: A hierarchical linear model analyzes grouped data while accounting for similarities among people within the same group.
HMabbreviation: The initials identify Henry Molaison, whose memory difficulties after brain surgery helped reveal how the brain forms lasting memories.
hMGabbreviation: Human menopausal gonadotropin combines hormones collected from urine after menopause to help stimulate egg release during fertility treatment.
HMOabbreviation: A health maintenance organization provides members care through a designated provider network, usually coordinated by a primary doctor, for regular payments.
ho’oponopononoun: A Hawaiian practice brings family or community members together to work through problems and rebuild peaceful relationships.
hoardingnoun: Persistent difficulty letting possessions go can produce crowded living areas and interfere with daily life.
hoarding orientationnoun: Fromm proposed a personality pattern in which people seek security through saving and owning because they fear their needs will remain unmet.
hoarsenessnoun: An unusually rough or strained voice can result when the vocal folds do not vibrate normally.
Hoffmann’s signnoun: An involuntary thumb and finger curling response after a fingernail flick can suggest altered control in movement pathways.
hol-prefix: This word part adds the meaning of wholeness or completeness to a word.
hold functionsnoun: Certain thinking abilities, especially vocabulary and accumulated knowledge, tend to remain steady or improve across much of adulthood.
holding environmentnoun: In psychoanalytic thinking, reliable caregiving or therapeutic support provides emotional safety for experiencing and managing difficult feelings.
holdover effectnoun: An earlier experimental condition continues influencing a participant’s responses during a later condition.
holiday syndromenoun: An informal label describes sadness, worry, or a gloomy outlook experienced around holidays.
holismnoun: An approach explains systems by considering how their parts work together to create qualities that separate pieces cannot fully explain.
holistic educationnoun: Schutz’s psychotherapy approach casts the therapist as a teacher supporting chosen learning across bodily, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual life.
holistic healingnoun: A care philosophy proposes that treating the interconnected body, mind, and spirit can restore overall balance.
holistic healthnoun: A health perspective considers bodily needs, thoughts, emotions, relationships, surroundings, and spiritual concerns when planning prevention and care.
holistic psychologynoun: A psychological perspective studies people and experiences as connected wholes shaped by bodily, mental, social, and cultural influences.
Hollingshead scalesnoun: These measures estimate a person’s social and economic position using information about education and occupation.
hollow-square puzzlenoun: A team exercise develops cooperation by asking members to assemble a model using pieces distributed among individuals and the group.
Holmes’s phenomenonnoun: A limb moves back excessively when resistance suddenly stops, suggesting difficulty with the cerebellum’s control of movement.
Holmgren Test for Color Blindnessnoun: An early standardized assessment checked color vision by asking people to match yarn bundles with sample colors.
holo- (hol-)prefix: This beginning word element signals that something is whole, entire, or complete.
hologramnoun: A recorded pattern of overlapping light waves can recreate an image that appears to have depth.
holographic brain theorynoun: Pribram proposed that brain activity processes information through wave interference patterns resembling those used to create holograms.
holographynoun: A technique records how light waves overlap to produce images that appear to occupy three dimensions.
holonomic brain theorynoun: Pribram’s proposed account suggests that the brain handles information using patterns of interfering waves, comparable to holographic recording.
holophrasenoun: A young child’s single spoken word can communicate a fuller message that listeners understand from the situation.
holophrastic stagenoun: During an early language period, children usually speak individual words that may communicate broader messages with gestures and tone.
Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT)noun: A personality assessment scores interpretations of inkblots using structured rules intended to improve consistency over earlier inkblot methods.
hom-prefix: This word element can express sameness or similarity, or indicate a human being, depending on its origin.
HOMEabbreviation: A checklist that rates how much support and learning stimulation a child's home provides for development.
home and community-based services (HCBS)noun: Care and practical supports help people with disabilities live at home or within their community instead of an institution.
home cagenoun: A research animal’s usual enclosure houses it during periods outside experimental sessions.
home carenoun: Health workers provide treatment or everyday assistance where a person lives, supporting care in familiar surroundings.
home health aidenoun: A trained worker visits people who need support at home and helps with personal tasks such as dressing or bathing.
home health carenoun: Professional health services and practical assistance are delivered in a person’s residence to support daily life and ongoing care.
Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)noun: An assessment combines observation and caregiver reports to evaluate a child’s learning opportunities and support within the household.
home rangenoun: An animal regularly uses this area for activities such as finding food, resting, and moving between locations.
home schoolingnoun: Children receive organized education mainly at home or in another private setting, often guided by parents or tutors.
home visitphrase: A professional goes to someone's house to give help, support, or follow-up care.
home-based reinforcementnoun: Teachers share school progress with caregivers, who provide rewards or other consequences at home to support learning and behavior.
home-service agencynoun: An organization arranges workers who provide personal care or household assistance to people with disabilities in their residences.
homelessnessnoun: Living without a stable, permanent place to stay because personal and social problems block housing.
homemaker home health aidenoun: An agency worker supports people with disabilities at home through household chores, personal assistance, and rehabilitation activities.
homeo-prefix: This word beginning adds the idea of similarity or likeness to the word it joins.
homeopathynoun: This alternative healing practice proposes treating symptoms with extremely diluted preparations of substances thought to produce similar symptoms when concentrated.
homeostasisnoun: The body keeps internal conditions steady, like temperature, water, and blood sugar, despite outside changes.
homeostatic principlenoun: A social psychology proposal suggests people adjust activities and relationships to regain a comfortable amount of stimulation.
homeotherm (homoiotherm)noun: An animal maintains a relatively steady body temperature despite changes in the temperature around it.
homesicknessnoun: Being away from familiar places and people can bring strong sadness and a longing to return home.
homeworknoun: Tasks a therapist asks a client to do between sessions to practice skills or gather information.
homicidenoun: One person causing another person's death, whether lawful, excused, accidental, or criminal.
homicidomanianoun: A historical clinical label described an overwhelming desire to kill other people, sometimes accompanied by attempts.
homicidophilianoun: Sexual arousal is linked to murder or fantasies about murder.
homingnoun: An animal's skill of finding its way back home from far away with few or no landmarks.
hominidnoun: A member of the great ape family includes humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and their extinct relatives.
homo- (hom-)prefix: A word beginning can mean alike from Greek roots or human from Latin roots.
homocysteinenoun: The body produces this amino acid while processing methionine, and elevated levels are associated with some brain and heart conditions.
homocystinurianoun: An inherited disorder disrupts homocysteine processing, allowing it to accumulate and sometimes affecting learning, vision, and blood vessels.
homoeroticismnoun: Sexual or romantic desire is directed toward people whose sex matches one's own.
homogameticadjective: Having matching sex chromosomes means producing reproductive cells that carry only one kind of sex chromosome.
homogamynoun: Marriage joins partners who resemble each other in background, such as education, religion, or social standing.
homogeneitynoun: Similarity across groups or scores, especially when important statistical features are about the same.
homogeneity of cognitive functionnoun: Some developmental stage theories assume that children's thinking works similarly across different activities and situations within a stage.
homogeneity of covariancenoun: Groups share equal patterns of how much measured variables vary individually and change together.
homogeneity of variancephrase: Scores spread out by about the same amount in each study group.
homogeneousadjective: Made up of parts or people that are all very similar to each other.
homogeneous groupnoun: A collection contains people or items that share characteristics important to the situation being considered.
homogenitalitynoun: A person's interest focuses on the genitals of people whose sex matches their own.
homographnoun: A word shares its spelling with another word that has a different, unrelated meaning.
homolateraladjective: Two structures or events occur on one matching side of a person's body.
homologousadjective: Describes body parts or genes that are similar because they came from a shared ancestor.
homologynoun: Similar features in different species reflect inheritance from a shared ancestor, even when their present functions differ.
homonymnoun: A word matches another in spelling, pronunciation, or both, while carrying an unrelated meaning.
homonymous hemianopianoun: Missing the same half of vision in both eyes after damage behind the optic chiasm, where eye nerves cross.
homonymous paracentral scotomanoun: Small blind areas occupy corresponding locations near the center of each eye's visual field, while sparing the exact center.
homonymous quadranopianoun: Vision is lost in a matching quarter of each eye's visual field because of damage to brain visual pathways.
homonymous reflexnoun: Stimulating a muscle triggers an automatic response that contracts that very muscle.
homophilenoun: An older label described someone whose love or attraction was directed toward people of their own sex.
homophilynoun: People linked through relationships tend to resemble each other in background, interests, attitudes, or other characteristics.
homophobianoun: Fear, hostility, or prejudice targets gay people, same-sex attraction, or people perceived as gay.
homophonenoun: A word sounds identical to another word with an unrelated meaning, whether their spellings match or differ.
homoplasynoun: Similar features evolve independently in different lineages instead of being inherited as those features from a shared ancestor.
homoscedasticitynoun: Means the spread of prediction errors stays about the same across all values of a variable.
homosexual behaviornoun: Romantic or sexual interactions occur between people whose sex matches, regardless of how they describe their orientation.
homosexual communitynoun: An outdated expression described local LGBTQ+ people collectively, especially their shared spaces, organizations, traditions, and social connections.
homosexual lovenoun: A loving relationship between people of matching sex can include emotional closeness, romance, and sexual attraction.
homosexual marriagenoun: A marital partnership unites two individuals who share the same sex, with legal recognition depending on location.
homosexual panicnoun: An obsolete label attributed intense anxiety to feared same-sex attraction, anticipated same-sex sexual assault, or losing a same-sex partner.
homosexual rights movementnoun: Organized efforts seek equal treatment, social acceptance, and freedom from discrimination for LGBTQ+ people.
homosexualitynoun: Romantic, sexual, or emotional attraction mainly toward people of the same sex.
homovanillic acid (HVA)noun: This chemical forms when the body breaks down dopamine and helps researchers investigate dopamine activity.
homozygousadjective: Having matching versions of a gene at the same spot on both paired chromosomes.
homunculusnoun: An imagined inner thinker is sometimes proposed to explain mental activity, but its own thinking still needs explanation.
honest signalnoun: An animal's communication reliably indicates something about its condition, characteristics, or likely actions.
honestly significant difference testnoun: Tukey's statistical procedure compares every pair of group averages while controlling the overall chance of falsely detecting differences.
honestynoun: Being truthful and fair in what you say, do, and report.
honesty testnoun: An employment assessment uses reported attitudes, past actions, or personality traits to estimate the likelihood of counterproductive workplace behavior.
hookupnoun: A casual sexual encounter with no expectation of dating or building an ongoing romantic relationship afterward.
Hooper Visual Organization Test (VOT)noun: This assessment asks people to identify familiar objects by mentally assembling their pictured fragments.
Hoover’s signnoun: A clinical finding compares voluntary and automatic leg movements to help identify functional weakness.
hopenoun: Expecting good outcomes and believing problems can improve helps people keep working toward goals.
hopelessnessnoun: Feeling sure that nothing will get better or feel good again, often seen in depression and suicide risk.
Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL)noun: This questionnaire asks people about psychological and physical symptoms to assess patterns and overall levels of distress.
Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT)noun: This standardized assessment measures learning and memory by asking people to recall and recognize words from a spoken list.
hordenoun: A large group travels or gathers together, with older anthropological usage especially describing a mobile clan.
horizontal career movenoun: A person changes job function or specialty while remaining at a comparable level of organizational authority.
horizontal cellnoun: A retinal nerve cell connects sideways across nearby visual pathways, helping combine and adjust incoming light signals.
horizontal communicationnoun: Employees exchange information with colleagues who hold comparable authority within their organization.
horizontal décalagenoun: Piaget's theory proposes that children master similar reasoning tasks at different times in a consistent sequence within one developmental stage.
horizontal groupnoun: Members of a group occupy a shared social class, even if they differ in other ways.
horizontal job enlargementnoun: A job gains more tasks or greater variety while keeping duties at a similar level of difficulty and responsibility.
horizontal loadingphrase: Adding more tasks at the same skill level to make a job broader.
horizontal mobilitynoun: People change social positions or roles while staying within their existing social class.
horizontal planenoun: An imagined flat slice through a standing body or brain separates higher regions from lower ones.
horizontal sectionnoun: A physical tissue slice or imaging view cuts across an organ horizontally, such as separating upper and lower brain portions.
horizontal transmissionnoun: An infection spreads between hosts through routes other than direct transmission from a parent to offspring.
horizontal–vertical illusionnoun: An upright line can appear longer than a sideways line even when their measured lengths match.
hormic psychologynoun: A historical school of thought proposed that instincts drive people to pursue goals and anticipate outcomes.
hormonenoun: A chemical messenger released into blood by glands that changes how other body parts work.
hormone feedbacknoun: Circulating hormones help control further hormone release by increasing or decreasing signals within a regulatory loop.
hormone replacement therapy (HRT)noun: A medical treatment supplies hormones when the body produces too little or when hormonal changes cause symptoms.
hormone therapyphrase: A medical treatment that changes hormone levels by adding, blocking, or lowering hormones in the body.
Horner effectnoun: A proposed psychological pattern involves fearing or avoiding achievement because success may bring unwanted social consequences.
Horner’s lawnoun: A historical inheritance rule describes how red-green color blindness can pass from a grandfather through his daughter to her son.
Horner’s syndromenoun: Disrupted sympathetic nerve signals cause a drooping eyelid, smaller pupil, and sometimes reduced sweating on one side of the face.
horopternoun: For a fixed gaze, this set of spatial points projects onto matching positions in the eyes' two retinas.
horoscopenoun: An astrological chart or forecast claims to describe personality or predict events using celestial positions, without scientific support.
horseradish peroxidase (HRP)noun: A plant enzyme serves as a laboratory marker that helps researchers trace nerve fibers back to their originating cells.
horseshoe crabnoun: A marine arthropod has compound eyes with large nerve cells that make it useful for studying how vision works.
horticultural therapynoun: Guided gardening activities support treatment or rehabilitation by helping people work toward physical, emotional, cognitive, or social goals.
hospicenoun: Care for dying people that focuses on comfort, pain relief, and emotional support rather than cure.
hospital phobianoun: A lasting, intense fear of hospitals exceeds the actual danger and causes significant distress or avoidance.
hospitalismnoun: A historical label describes slowed infant growth, movement, and engagement associated with institutional care lacking stable, responsive caregiving.
hospitalitisnoun: An older label describes symptoms returning near hospital discharge, attributed to psychological dependence on hospital life.
hospitalizationnoun: Being admitted to an inpatient medical or psychiatric setting for care, or the time spent there.
hostile aggressionphrase: Angry behavior aimed mainly at hurting someone, rather than getting some other reward.
hostile attribution biasphrase: Assuming other people meant harm when their unclear actions may have been accidental or harmless.
hostile witnessnoun: A courtroom witness resists giving testimony or shows opposition toward the side questioning them during direct examination.
hostile work environmentnoun: A workplace becomes intimidating or offensive through harassment, discrimination, or other unwelcome conduct or displays.
hostile–detached marriagenoun: An unstable marital pattern combines emotional distance with brief, spiteful conflicts between partners.
hostile–engaged marriagenoun: An unstable marital pattern involves frequent, lengthy arguments with too little affection or humor to balance them.
hostilitynoun: Openly showing strong dislike, anger, or opposition toward someone or something.
hostility displacementnoun: Anger or aggression is redirected toward someone or something other than its original source.
hot cognitionnoun: Thinking and reasoning are shaped by the emotions a person experiences or brings to a situation.
hot flashnoun: A sudden episode of bodily heat, often with sweating, commonly occurs around menopause as hormone levels change.
hot platenoun: Researchers use this heated laboratory platform to assess animals’ responses to painful heat by measuring reaction times.
hot-deck imputationnoun: Missing entries in a dataset are filled using observed values from similar cases within that same dataset.
hot-seat techniquenoun: In gestalt therapy, focused therapist questioning helps a client explore difficult experiences and express feelings to increase awareness.
Hotelling’s T2 testnoun: A statistical test evaluates differences in several averages together while accounting for relationships among the measured variables.
hothousingnoun: Intensive early instruction aims to speed up young children's academic learning beyond its usual pace.
hotlinenoun: A telephone service connects people in crisis with trained staff or volunteers who provide support and referrals.
houselightnoun: A small lamp provides steady, dim background lighting inside an apparatus used for conditioning experiments.
Hovland modelnoun: A persuasion theory proposes that attitude change depends on encountering, noticing, understanding, accepting, and remembering a message.
HPAabbreviation: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is the brain-body stress system that triggers hormone release during challenge.
HPA axisabbreviation: A body stress system linking two brain parts with the adrenal glands to release hormones.
HPV vaccinenoun: A vaccine helps the immune system prevent infections from selected human papillomavirus types, including types that cause cancer.
HRabbreviation: The staff group that hires, trains, pays, and supports employees at work.
HRNBabbreviation: The Halstead–Reitan Neuropsychological Battery combines tests of thinking, memory, perception, and movement to assess possible effects of brain damage.
HRPabbreviation: Short for horseradish peroxidase, this plant enzyme helps researchers identify the cells from which nerve fibers originate.
HRSDabbreviation: A clinician uses this interview-based rating scale to assess how severe a person's depression symptoms are.
HRTabbreviation: Short for hormone replacement therapy, this treatment supplies hormones to address low production or symptoms related to hormonal changes.
HRTFabbreviation: A head-related transfer function describes how sound direction and the listener's body shape alter sound reaching each eardrum.
HSCLabbreviation: The Hopkins Symptom Checklist asks people about symptoms across several areas to estimate their psychological distress.
HSD testabbreviation: A follow-up statistics test that shows which group means differ after ANOVA finds an overall difference.
HSIabbreviation: Short for human systems integration, this field uses knowledge of human abilities and needs to improve complex technology design.
hsieh-pingnoun: A culturally described trance state in China and Taiwan is interpreted as ancestral possession and may involve trembling or unusual perceptions.
HSMabbreviation: The heuristic-systematic model proposes that people judge persuasive messages through simple mental shortcuts, careful examination, or both.
HSPQabbreviation: The High School Personality Questionnaire uses adolescents' own answers to assess 14 dimensions of personality.
hubrisnoun: Excessive, arrogant pride leads someone to overestimate their importance, judgment, or abilities.
HUDabbreviation: A head-up display places important information in an operator's forward view, reducing the need to look elsewhere.
huenoun: The basic color you see, mainly set by light's wavelength and somewhat by its intensity.
Hull’s mathematico-deductive theory of learningnoun: A historical mathematical theory proposed that conditioning builds habits through reinforcement that reduces needs, using formal rules to predict behavior.
human channel capacitynoun: The human mind has an upper limit on how much information it can process at once.
human chorionic gonadotropinnoun: A placental hormone supports early pregnancy by keeping the ovarian corpus luteum active so it continues producing progesterone.
human courtshipnoun: People seek and develop a romantic or sexual partnership through culturally shaped activities that may build attraction and commitment.
human ecologynoun: An area of study examines how people and their physical surroundings and social settings influence one another.
human engineeringnoun: Designers apply knowledge of human abilities and needs to make equipment and environments safer, more comfortable, and easier to use.
human errornoun: A person's incorrect action or missed step causes a system involving people and machines to operate differently than intended.
human factorsnoun: This field studies how people's abilities, needs, and limits affect system use and guides designs that support them.
human factors engineeringnoun: An interdisciplinary field designs and improves equipment, environments, and systems to suit people's abilities, needs, and limits.
human factors psychologynoun: A branch of psychology studies how people use systems to help make tools, tasks, and environments fit them better.
Human Genome Projectnoun: An international research effort mapped human genes and produced a reference sequence covering most human DNA between 1990 and 2003.
human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8)noun: A herpesvirus called HHV-8 can cause Kaposi sarcoma, especially when immune defenses are weakened.
human immunodeficiency virusnoun: A virus known as HIV damages immune cells and can lead to AIDS without effective treatment.
human information storagenoun: In a computer-based view of memory, the mind converts incoming information into forms it can keep, use, and recall.
human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG)noun: A fertility medicine combines hormones collected from urine after menopause to stimulate ovarian activity and support egg development.
human naturephrase: The built-in yet changeable ways people tend to think, feel, and act as humans.
human operator modelingnoun: Researchers build descriptions or mathematical models to explain and predict how people think and act while operating equipment.
human papillomavirus (HPV)noun: A family of viruses called HPV includes types that cause warts and others that can cause cancer after persistent infection.
human relationsphrase: How people interact, communicate, and get along with one another in work and everyday settings.
human relations theorynoun: A management approach proposes that supportive leadership, employee attitudes, and workplace relationships help organizations succeed.
human relations trainingnoun: Structured activities help people notice others' emotions and needs and develop more constructive ways of interacting.
human resources (HR)phrase: The workplace department that hires, trains, evaluates, and supports employees.
human strengthnoun: A morally valued personal quality, such as kindness or hope, supports a fulfilling life for oneself and others.
human systems integration (HSI)noun: A research and design field applies knowledge of human thinking and physical abilities to make complex technologies support effective performance.
human traffickingnoun: People are recruited, held, or controlled for exploitation, often through force, deception, or threats.
human-growth movementnoun: A movement rooted in humanistic psychology promotes personal development, emotional openness, sensitivity to others, and greater freedom in everyday life.
human-potential modelnoun: An educational approach rooted in humanistic psychology aims to help learners develop fully across intellectual, emotional, social, and other abilities.
human-potential movementnoun: A humanistic movement in psychology and therapy encourages personal development, openness to experience, freer living, and greater sensitivity in relationships.
human–machine systemnoun: An arrangement connects people, machines, and working processes so their actions depend on and affect one another.
human–system couplingnoun: The degree of mutual dependence between a person operating something and the system determines how closely their actions are linked.
human–vehicle interfacenoun: The controls, displays, and other contact points let a person operate a vehicle and receive information about it.
humanismnoun: A perspective places human dignity, values, and lived experience at the center of understanding people.
humanistic communitarian socialismnoun: Erich Fromm proposed a society of small, cooperative communities organized around human dignity, individual development, shared participation, and freedom from exploitation.
humanistic consciencenoun: In Erich Fromm's theory, moral judgment comes from personal standards rather than fear of authorities or their internalized demands.
humanistic perspectivenoun: A psychological viewpoint assumes people are basically constructive and naturally seek fuller development when their surroundings support growth.
humanistic psychologynoun: This approach stresses free choice, personal growth, and seeing the whole person instead of just behaviors or symptoms.
humanistic therapyphrase: A therapy approach that helps people grow by focusing on present feelings, choice, and personal responsibility.
humanistic–existential therapynoun: A therapy approach explores the whole person's lived experience while emphasizing freedom, personal choice, and responsibility for shaping life.
humanitynoun: Caring treatment of other people, shown through kindness, help, and love in close relationships.
humanoidnoun: A robot or other artificial figure has a shape or features resembling those of a human.
humidity effectsnoun: Moisture in the air changes how temperature feels, with high humidity making heat less comfortable by slowing sweat evaporation.
humiliationnoun: A painful feeling of shame can arise when someone feels degraded, belittled, or stripped of dignity.
humilitynoun: Keeping a balanced view of yourself while admitting limits, mistakes, and gaps in what you know.
humornoun: Seeing or expressing what is funny in a situation and often responding with laughter or smiles.
humoral immunitynoun: An immune defense uses antibodies made by B cells to recognize foreign substances and help neutralize or remove them.
humoral reflexnoun: An automatic bodily response includes the release of a hormone.
humoral theorynoun: A historical theory incorrectly explained health and temperament through the balance of four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, and two biles.
hungernoun: The body's feeling that signals a need for food, growing stronger as the last meal wears off.
hunger centernoun: A traditional name identifies a region in the lateral hypothalamus where stimulation can trigger eating.
hunger drivephrase: An internal state caused by not eating that pushes a person or animal to seek food.
Hunger Winternoun: The Dutch famine of 1944–1945 became a research setting for studying links between prenatal undernutrition and later health, including mental illness.
Hunter syndromenoun: An inherited disorder linked to the X chromosome causes complex sugars to accumulate in tissues and sometimes reduces intellectual functioning.
hunting behaviornoun: Animals and people seek and pursue other animals to eat them or, in humans, for sport, sometimes working together.
Huntington’s disease (HD)phrase: An inherited brain disorder that slowly causes jerky movements, thinking decline, and mood or behavior changes.
Hurler syndromenoun: A severe inherited form of MPS I causes complex sugars to accumulate in tissues, affecting physical health and cognitive development.
Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndromenoun: A rare genetic condition causes children to develop physical changes resembling accelerated aging, including early cardiovascular disease.
HVAabbreviation: The abbreviation stands for homovanillic acid, a substance formed when the body breaks down the brain messenger dopamine.
HVLTabbreviation: The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test measures learning and memory by asking people to remember words they hear.
hwa-byungnoun: A Korean cultural pattern of distress links suppressed anger with emotional suffering and physical symptoms such as heat or chest pressure.
hyaline membrane diseasenoun: A breathing disorder mainly affects premature newborns whose lungs lack enough surfactant to keep their tiny air sacs open.
hyalophagianoun: Eating glass is a behavior that may occur as part of pica, which involves persistently eating nonfood substances.
hybridnoun: An offspring made by breeding two genetically different plants or animals.
hybrid vigornoun: Offspring from genetically different parents sometimes show greater vitality or other favorable qualities than their parents.
hybridizationnoun: Crossing genetically different parents produces offspring that researchers can study to explore how inherited differences influence behavior.
hybristophilianoun: Sexual attraction is directed toward people who commit crimes.
hydantoinnoun: In drug classification, this names a group of chemically related medicines, including phenytoin, used mainly to control seizures.
hydrationnoun: Water is added to, taken into, or combined with a substance or the body's tissues.
hydraulic modelnoun: A physiological or psychological model compares internal processes to pressurized fluid that builds up, flows, and seeks release.
hydro- (hydr-)prefix: A word beginning with this element usually indicates a connection with water or another fluid.
hydrocephalusnoun: Too much brain fluid raises pressure in the head and can harm thinking, movement, and development.
hydrocodonenoun: An opioid medicine reduces pain by acting on opioid receptors and is also used in some cough medicines.
hydrocortisonenoun: Another name for cortisol, this hormone helps regulate energy use, inflammation, and the body's response to stress.
hydrogen-ion concentrationnoun: The amount of hydrogen ions in a solution helps determine how acidic that solution is.
hydrophobianoun: A strong, lasting fear of water can lead someone to avoid water even when it poses little danger.
hydrotherapynoun: Treatment uses water, through bathing or exercises in water, to support recovery from illness or injury.
hydroxyzinenoun: This antihistamine medicine can cause sleepiness and is used to ease itching and anxiety.
hygienenoun: Healthy habits that keep the body clean and support good health, such as regular sleep routines.
hygiene factorsphrase: Basic job conditions that prevent dissatisfaction when adequate but do not by themselves make workers try harder.
hylozoismnoun: This philosophical view proposes that every material thing has some quality of life, whether or not it has awareness.
hymennoun: A thin fold of tissue around the vaginal opening varies naturally in shape, size, and flexibility.
hyoscinenoun: Also called scopolamine, this medicine blocks acetylcholine signals and can prevent motion sickness while affecting alertness and memory.
hyp-prefix: This shortened form of the prefix hypo- means below, under, or less than the usual amount.
hypacusianoun: Reduced hearing sensitivity makes sounds harder to detect than they would be with typical hearing.
hypalgesianoun: Reduced pain sensitivity makes a normally painful stimulus feel less painful than expected.
hyper-prefix: This prefix adds the meaning of above, beyond, or greater than the usual level.
hyperactivitynoun: Unusually high movement and restlessness that is more than expected for a person's age.
hyperacusisnoun: Everyday sounds may seem unusually loud or uncomfortable because tolerance for sound is reduced.
hyperaggressivitynoun: An unusually strong tendency to act aggressively makes expressions of anger or hostility more likely.
hyperaldosteronismnoun: Excess production of aldosterone makes the kidneys retain sodium and lose potassium, often raising blood pressure.
hyperalgesianoun: Heightened pain sensitivity makes a painful stimulus hurt more than would normally be expected.
hyperarousalnoun: A state of being overly alert after trauma, with jumpiness, poor sleep, and trouble focusing.
hyperbulimianoun: An unusually intense appetite occurs together with eating amounts of food that are excessive.
hypercalcemianoun: The calcium level in a person's blood is higher than the expected healthy range.
hypercathexisnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory proposes that someone can direct excessive mental energy toward a person, idea, or other focus.
hypercholesterolemic xanthomatosisnoun: This disorder combines high blood cholesterol with fatty deposits in tissues and an increased risk of early artery disease.
hypercolumnnoun: A small unit in primary visual cortex contains neurons responding to every line orientation and input from both eyes.
hypercomplex cellnoun: A visual cortex neuron responds best to a moving corner or a moving line of a particular length.
hypercorrectionnoun: A speaker or writer mistakenly uses an incorrect language form while trying to sound especially proper or correct.
hypercriticaladjective: Someone described this way examines details and finds faults far more than the situation reasonably calls for.
hyperemianoun: A particular body area contains more blood than usual, which can produce visible redness.
hyperesthesianoun: Sensory experiences feel unusually intense because sensitivity is increased, especially for sensations involving touch.
hyperexcitabilitynoun: A person reacts unusually strongly or readily to stimulation, a pattern that can occur during mania.
hyperfunctionnoun: An organ or bodily process works more intensely than its usual or expected level.
hypergenitalismnoun: Genital structures develop beyond the extent considered typical for a person's developmental stage.
hypergeusianoun: Increased taste sensitivity makes flavors noticeable at lower concentrations or stronger than they usually seem.
hyperglycemianoun: The amount of glucose, a sugar used for energy, rises above the healthy range in blood.
hyperhedonianoun: Pleasure from activities or events becomes unusually intense to a degree considered clinically abnormal.
hyperhidrosisnoun: Abnormally heavy sweating that can happen even without heat, exercise, or strong feelings.
hypericinnoun: This compound found in St. John's wort has been studied for possible contributions to the plant's effects on mood.
Hypericum perforatumnoun: The plant known as St. John's wort is used in herbal preparations studied for depression and other conditions.
hyperingestionnoun: A person takes excessive amounts of food, drinks, or drugs by mouth, sometimes exceeding safe limits.
hyperintensitynoun: An area appears brighter than surrounding tissue on a magnetic resonance image, with significance depending on the scan and context.
hyperkinesisnoun: Unusually excessive movement can involve involuntary motions or marked restlessness and overactivity, depending on how the word is used.
hyperkinesthesianoun: Heightened sensitivity affects bodily sensations such as touch, pressure, weight, movement, and the position of body parts.
hyperkinetic syndromenoun: An older label described attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, involving persistent difficulties with attention, impulse control, or excessive activity.
hyperlexianoun: A young child recognizes written words unusually early and well, while understanding their meaning remains substantially less developed.
hyperlipidemianoun: Blood contains unusually high levels of fats, such as cholesterol or triglycerides, which can increase artery disease risk.
hyperlordosisnoun: The spine curves inward more than expected, particularly in the lower back or neck.
hypermanianoun: This historical label describes extremely severe mania involving nonstop activity, unpredictable behavior, confusion, and speech that is difficult to follow.
hypermetrianoun: A voluntary movement overshoots its intended target because movement control is impaired, often involving the cerebellum.
hypermnesianoun: Across repeated memory tests, a person recalls more items overall on a later attempt than on an earlier one.
hypermobile testesnoun: Normally descended testes can temporarily move upward toward the groin when an automatic muscle contraction pulls them.
hypermotilitynoun: Movement within a body system becomes unusually active, especially the muscular contractions that move material through the digestive tract.
hyperobesitynoun: An older medical label describes a very high degree of obesity, although the exact thresholds have varied.
hyperopianoun: Without adjustment by the eye's lens, light focuses behind the retina, often making nearby objects difficult to see clearly.
hyperorexianoun: Appetite becomes unusually strong to a degree considered clinically abnormal, regardless of how much someone actually eats.
hyperosmianoun: An unusually sensitive sense of smell makes even faint odors easier to detect.
hyperparathyroidismnoun: Overactive parathyroid glands release too much hormone, disrupting mineral balance and sometimes affecting mood, sleep, and concentration.
hyperphagianoun: Eating much more than normal because of brain damage or a body metabolism problem.
hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA)noun: An unusually high blood level of phenylalanine, a protein building block, can affect brain development when severe.
hyperphilianoun: An unusually intense sexual response centers on a particular activity or stimulus.
hyperphorianoun: One eye tends to drift upward when the eyes cannot combine their views into one image.
hyperphrenianoun: An older name describes unusually active thinking accompanied by easy distraction and difficulty staying focused.
hyperplasianoun: A tissue or organ grows larger because its cells increase in number.
hyperpneanoun: Breathing becomes deeper and may also become faster than usual.
hyperpolarizationnoun: A cell's interior becomes electrically more negative compared with its exterior, often making a neuron less likely to fire.
hyperprosexianoun: Attention becomes so tightly fixed on one thought or stimulus that other information is shut out.
hyperreactivitynoun: A person's physical or emotional response is much stronger than the triggering event would usually produce.
hypersensitivitynoun: Strong emotional reactions to perceived disapproval, exclusion, or evaluation by other people.
hypersexualitynoun: Much stronger than usual sexual urges or behavior that happen very often and may cause problems.
hypersomnianoun: Too much sleep or daytime sleepiness that causes problems, sometimes as part of another disorder.
hypersomnolence disordernoun: Persistent excessive sleepiness, despite substantial sleep, causes significant distress or problems with everyday functioning.
hyperspecificitynoun: A learned connection between stimuli fails to carry over when those stimuli appear in a new combination.
hypersthenianoun: A condition combines unusually powerful muscles with abnormally high muscular tightness.
hypertelorismnoun: Two organs or body areas are spaced farther apart than is typical, especially the eyes.
hypertensionnoun: Persistently high blood pressure in the arteries, often without a clear cause.
hypertensive crisisphrase: A sudden, dangerous spike in blood pressure that can quickly damage organs if not treated.
hyperthermianoun: An unusually dangerous rise in body temperature that can cause confusion, dehydration, seizures, or death.
hyperthymianoun: An emotional reaction is unusually strong compared with the event that brought it about.
hyperthyroidismnoun: A thyroid gland that makes too much hormone, causing a sped-up body, nervousness, and weight loss.
hypertonianoun: Muscles have unusually high resting tension, making them stiff and harder to move passively.
hypertrophynoun: A tissue or organ becomes larger because its existing cells grow bigger.
hypertropianoun: The eyes are misaligned vertically, with one pointing higher than the other during viewing.
hyperventilationnoun: Breathing exceeds the body's needs, removing too much carbon dioxide and sometimes causing dizziness or tingling.
hypervigilancenoun: An unusually intense state of watchfulness for possible danger, even when threats are minor or absent.
hypesthesia (hypaesthesia)noun: Sensitivity to sensory input is greatly reduced, especially the ability to feel touch.
hyphedonianoun: Experiences that usually feel enjoyable bring noticeably less pleasure than they ordinarily would.
hyphenophilianoun: Sexual interest or arousal comes from touching materials such as skin, hair, fur, leather, or fabric.
hypn-prefix: This word element gives the meaning of sleep to a longer word.
hypnagogicadjective: Describing the drowsy period while a person is drifting from wakefulness into sleep.
hypnalgianoun: Pain is experienced while someone sleeps or as part of a dream.
hypno- (hypn-)prefix: This combining element adds a meaning connected with sleep to words.
hypnoanalysisnoun: A controversial psychoanalytic approach uses hypnosis to explore feelings and supposedly hidden memories, which may be inaccurate.
hypnodonticsnoun: Dental care uses hypnotic suggestions to ease anxiety, support pain management, or address habits such as tooth grinding.
hypnodramanoun: A historical therapy combines hypnosis with acting out relationships or difficult experiences while helpers play other people.
hypnogenicadjective: Something described this way produces sleep or helps bring about hypnosis.
hypnogenic spotnoun: A proposed body location was thought to trigger hypnosis when touched in a person responsive to suggestion.
hypnoid statenoun: A person experiences a condition resembling hypnosis, sometimes described as a light trance.
hypnophrenosisnoun: This broad name covers disturbances in sleep, without identifying a particular cause or pattern.
hypnopompicadjective: Describes the brief state of partly waking up, when dreamlike perceptions can still happen.
hypnosisnoun: A guided state of focused attention where suggestions can change feelings, sensations, thoughts, or movements.
hypnotherapynoun: Using hypnosis during therapy to ease symptoms, change habits, or support deeper personality change.
hypnoticnoun: A medicine that makes a person sleepy enough to fall asleep and stay asleep.
hypnotic amnesianoun: Suggestions given during hypnosis make particular events difficult or impossible for a person to recall.
hypnotic analgesianoun: Suggestions during hypnosis reduce how strongly a person experiences pain.
hypnotic inductionnoun: A guided sequence of instructions helps someone enter hypnosis and become more responsive to suggestions.
hypnotic regressionnoun: A controversial technique uses hypnosis to encourage apparent reliving of earlier experiences or supposed past lives.
hypnotic rigiditynoun: A suggestion during hypnosis makes a muscle or limb seem stiff and difficult to move.
hypnotic susceptibilitynoun: How easily a person can enter hypnosis and how deeply they can go into trance.
hypnotic trancenoun: During hypnosis, attention becomes absorbed and responses to suggestions may increase, while awareness of surroundings can decrease.
hypnotismnoun: The practice involves guiding people into hypnosis through focused attention and suggestions.
hypnotizabilitynoun: People vary in how readily they experience hypnosis and respond to suggestions made during it.
hypo- (hyp-)prefix: This word beginning indicates something below a usual level or beneath a location.
hypoactive sexual desire disordernoun: Persistently low or absent sexual desire causes significant personal distress and requires assessment of possible explanations.
hypoactivitynoun: Unusually low or slowed movement or other activity, including reduced action in parts of the brain.
hypoacusianoun: Hearing sensitivity is reduced, making some sounds harder to detect.
hypoalgesianoun: A person feels less pain than usual from stimulation that would ordinarily hurt.
hypobaropathynoun: Illness develops at high altitude when reduced oxygen availability affects the body and sometimes thinking.
hypocathexisnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that unusually little mental energy is invested in a person, idea, or other focus.
hypochondrianoun: An older label describes excessive health worry or beliefs about illness that available medical evidence does not support.
hypochondriasisnoun: An old diagnosis for lasting fear of serious illness despite medical reassurance and little evidence of disease.
hypocretinnoun: A brain chemical, also called orexin, that helps control wakefulness, appetite, and arousal.
hypodermic injectionnoun: Medicine or another substance is delivered into the tissue just beneath the skin.
hypoesthesia (hypoaesthesia)noun: Sensory awareness is greatly weakened, most often affecting the feeling of touch.
hypofrontalitynoun: Lower-than-normal activity in the brain's frontal lobes may contribute to schizophrenia, though the evidence is uncertain.
hypofunctionnoun: Lower-than-normal activity in a body part, especially an organ or gland.
hypogastric nervenoun: Paired nerve pathways in the pelvis carry signals that help control the bladder, rectum, and reproductive organs.
hypogeusianoun: A person has reduced ability to detect tastes in food or drink.
hypoglossal nervenoun: A motor cranial nerve is a movement nerve from the brain that controls the tongue and some nearby muscles.
hypoglossianoun: A tongue develops incompletely before birth, leaving it unusually small and potentially making speech sounds difficult.
hypoglycemianoun: Having too little sugar in the blood, which can cause sweating, weakness, dizziness, or seizures.
hypogonadismnoun: The ovaries or testes function below expected levels, potentially reducing hormone production and delaying sexual development.
hypokinesisnoun: Starting an intended movement takes unusually long, even after a person decides to move.
hypokinesthesianoun: Sensitivity to bodily signals, including touch, pressure, movement, and position, is lower than usual.
hypolipemianoun: The blood contains a lower concentration of fats than is considered normal.
hypomanianoun: A milder form of mania, with unusually high mood, energy, and activity.
hypomanic episodephrase: A milder mania period brings unusually high or irritable mood, extra energy, little sleep, and sometimes risky choices.
hypomenorrheanoun: Menstrual bleeding is unusually light or lasts for an unusually brief time.
hypometrianoun: An intended movement stops before its target because brain systems controlling movement distance are not working properly.
hypomotilitynoun: Movement or activity in the body or one of its parts is unusually reduced.
hyponasalitynoun: Speech has too little nasal resonance because a blockage limits sound passing through the nose.
hypoparathyroidismnoun: Too little parathyroid hormone disrupts calcium and phosphorus balance, sometimes affecting muscles, energy, and mood.
hypophagianoun: A person or animal eats unusually little because of a disturbance affecting food intake.
hypophilianoun: Sexual interest, responsiveness, or arousal toward particular activities or stimuli is unusually low.
hypophonianoun: The voice becomes unusually soft or weak because muscles involved in speaking do not coordinate effectively.
hypophorianoun: One eye tends to drift downward when the eyes cannot combine their views into a single image.
hypophyseal cachexianoun: Severe pituitary failure causes bodily wasting and reduced activity in other hormone glands, sometimes with mental changes.
hypophyseal fossanoun: A small hollow in the skull base holds the pituitary gland.
hypophysectomynoun: An operation removes pituitary tissue, changing the body's supply of several important hormones.
hypophysis (hypophysis cerebri)noun: The pituitary is a small gland beneath the brain that releases hormones controlling growth and other body functions.
hypoplasianoun: A body structure remains underdeveloped, usually because too few cells form as it grows.
hypoprosexianoun: A person's capacity to pay attention is reduced beyond ordinary lapses.
hyporexianoun: Appetite becomes unusually weak because of a physical or psychological disturbance.
hyposexualitynoun: Sexual activity occurs at an unusually low level and may accompany reduced sexual desire or interest.
hyposmianoun: The ability to detect certain smells, or smells generally, is reduced.
hyposomnianoun: A person spends less time asleep than usual, often because sleep is disrupted.
hypospadiasnoun: A person is born with the urine outlet below its usual position, commonly on the penis's underside.
hypotensionnoun: Abnormally low blood pressure that can make a person feel dizzy or faint.
hypothalamic hormonenoun: A chemical messenger made by the hypothalamus that controls pituitary gland hormone release or enters the bloodstream.
hypothalamic hyperphagianoun: Damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus in experimental animals produces overeating and weight gain, followed by weight stabilization and selective eating.
hypothalamic syndromenoun: Injury to the hypothalamus causes disturbances in functions such as eating, drinking, sleeping, temperature control, or sexual development.
hypothalamic theory of Cannonnoun: Cannon and Bard proposed that lower brain centers produce emotional experience and bodily expression at the same time.
hypothalamic–hypophyseal portal systemnoun: Specialized blood vessels deliver hormone signals directly between the hypothalamus and the pituitary's front lobe.
hypothalamic–pituitary portal systemnoun: A dedicated blood vessel network carries hypothalamic hormones directly to the pituitary's front lobe to regulate hormone release.
hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis)noun: The hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands exchange hormone signals that help regulate stress responses, energy use, and other functions.
hypothalamusnoun: A small brain area under the thalamus helps control hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, and automatic body functions.
hypothermianoun: The body's internal temperature drops below its normal range, potentially slowing thinking and other vital functions.
hypothesisnoun: A testable prediction, usually based on a theory, about what will happen under certain conditions.
hypothesis testingphrase: Uses sample data to decide whether a claim about a population is likely wrong.
hypothetical constructnoun: An unobservable process or quality is proposed to explain patterns found in measurable evidence.
hypothetical imperativenoun: In Kant's philosophy, a rule recommends an action only on the condition that someone wants a particular goal.
hypothetico-deductive methodnoun: Researchers derive predictions from a testable explanation, then compare them with observations that could support or challenge it.
hypothetico-deductive reasoningnoun: A person imagines possible explanations, works out their predictions, and tests them, an ability Piaget associated with adolescence.
hypothymianoun: An outdated label describes a narrowed range of emotional expression observed in some severe depressive episodes.
hypothyroidismnoun: Too little thyroid hormone slows the body's energy use and can cause fatigue, weight gain, depression, or psychosis.
hypotonianoun: Lower-than-normal muscle tone, causing the body to feel floppy or weak.
hypotropianoun: One eye is misaligned downward relative to the other, interfering with their ability to aim together.
hypovolemic thirstnoun: The urge to drink arises when fluid volume outside cells, including circulating blood volume, becomes too low.
hypoxanthine–guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT)noun: An enzyme called HGPRT recycles cell building blocks, and severe deficiency causes Lesch–Nyhan syndrome, affecting movement, cognition, and behavior.
hypoxemianoun: Oxygen levels in the blood are unusually low, potentially limiting the oxygen supplied to the brain and other tissues.
hypoxianoun: Body tissues receive too little oxygen to support their normal activity.
hypoxic hypoxianoun: Body tissues receive too little oxygen because insufficient oxygen enters the blood, as can happen at high altitude.
hypoxyphilianoun: Sexual arousal is linked to fantasies or experiences of reduced oxygen reaching the brain.
hysterectomynoun: An operation removes the uterus, sometimes together with the cervix and nearby tissue.
hysteresisnoun: A perception depends partly on what was perceived just before, so it may persist as the stimulus gradually changes.
hysterianoun: An outdated label for conversion disorder, when stress appears as blindness, paralysis, or other physical symptoms.
hysterical amnesianoun: An outdated name describes difficulty recalling important personal experiences, usually involving trauma or stress, beyond ordinary forgetting.
hysterical blindnessnoun: An outdated label describes functional vision loss that is not explained by structural damage or disease in the visual system.
hysterical disordernoun: An outdated category grouped involuntary bodily symptoms, involving sensation, movement, or internal organs, that were attributed to psychological causes.
hysterical paralysisnoun: An outdated label describes genuine difficulty moving a body part caused by altered nervous system functioning rather than structural damage.
hysterical personality disordernoun: An older diagnostic name describes a lasting pattern of strong emotional expression and attention seeking that disrupts daily life or relationships.
hysterical psychosisnoun: A historical label described brief, sudden psychotic symptoms after stress in people diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder.
hysteriformadjective: This obsolete adjective described symptoms resembling those once grouped under the broad historical diagnosis of hysteria.
hystero- (hyster-)prefix: This word part indicates that a medical word concerns the uterus.
Hzabbreviation: The symbol for hertz, a unit showing how many cycles happen each second.

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