Glossary / P

Psychology terms starting with P

2,582 terms with short definitions. Study these as flashcards

Pabbreviation: Shows the chance that something will happen in statistics.
P factor analysisnoun: A statistical method identifies underlying patterns in how several measurements vary together across repeated observations of one person or unit.
p valuenoun: Shows how likely a study result would happen by chance if no real effect exists.
P-cellnoun: A small neuron in the lateral geniculate nucleus relays visual information through a pathway supporting color and fine detail.
P-O-X triadsnoun: Balance theory examines relationships among oneself, another person, and a shared object or event to understand preferences for consistency.
P-technique factor analysisnoun: Repeated measurements from one person or unit are analyzed to uncover underlying dimensions that explain how the measurements change together.
p-zombienoun: A hypothetical being behaves exactly like a conscious person but has no inner experience, in a philosophical thought experiment.
P–P plotabbreviation: A probability-probability graph compares cumulative probabilities from two distributions to show how closely their patterns agree.
p.i. basisabbreviation: An advertiser pays a publication according to the number of inquiries an advertisement generates, such as returned coupons.
P1 componentnoun: An early positive brain electrical response appears around 100 milliseconds after a stimulus begins and is often stronger with attention.
P2 componentnoun: A second positive brain electrical response appears around 200 milliseconds after a stimulus begins and is linked to attention and perception.
P200noun: A positive brain electrical wave, also called P2, occurs roughly 200 milliseconds after stimulation and accompanies several attention and perception processes.
P3 componentnoun: A positive electrical brain response appearing around 300 milliseconds after an event may reflect attention and memory updating.
P300noun: An electrical brain response, also called P3, peaks positively around 300 milliseconds after an event and may reflect attention and memory updating.
P4P (PFP)abbreviation: Short for pay-for-performance, this describes payment linked to measured work results, including healthcare quality.
p53noun: A name used for the TP53 gene and its protein, which help prevent damaged cells from growing uncontrollably.
PAabbreviation: In emotion questionnaires, this abbreviation means positive affect, capturing feelings such as enthusiasm, energy, and active interest.
Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)noun: A listening assessment uses sums of neighboring digits to examine mental speed, attention, and temporary information storage.
pacemakernoun: A natural body part or built device that sets and keeps a biological rhythm, such as heartbeat.
pachygyrianoun: A brain development condition produces unusually broad, thick cortical folds because nerve cells do not reach their expected positions.
Pacinian corpusclenoun: A layered sensory nerve ending detects vibration and quick pressure changes in skin and deeper tissues.
package insertnoun: A document accompanying medicine explains its approved uses, doses, side effects, and other information needed for prescribing.
package testingnoun: Researchers examine how a product’s packaging changes people’s interest, buying choices, or willingness to pay.
padded cellnoun: An outdated name describes a psychiatric hospital room with cushioned surfaces intended to reduce injury during severe distress.
paedo-prefix: This word part means child or children and appears at the beginning of some technical words.
PAGabbreviation: Short for periaqueductal gray, this brainstem region surrounds a fluid channel and helps coordinate defensive responses and pain regulation.
painnoun: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience caused by tissue damage, nerve stimulation, or other harmful events.
pain diarynoun: A daily record tracks pain experiences, related symptoms, treatments, and their effects to help guide assessment and care.
pain disordernoun: A historical diagnosis described disabling pain that medical conditions alone could not explain and psychological factors helped shape.
pain drawingnoun: A person marks a body outline with symbols showing where pain occurs and what it feels like.
pain managementphrase: Methods that prevent, reduce, or stop physical or emotional pain using medicine, psychological treatment, or medical procedures.
pain mechanismsnoun: Processes across nerves, the spinal cord, and the brain create, transmit, and adjust the experience of pain.
pain pathwaynoun: A connected route through the nervous system carries or adjusts signals involved in experiencing pain.
pain perceptionphrase: Feeling body harm as pain when signals warn of actual or possible tissue damage.
pain receptornoun: A sensory nerve ending called a nociceptor detects potentially damaging stimulation and sends signals that can contribute to pain.
pain scalenoun: A standard rating tool uses numbers, descriptions, or faces to communicate how intense pain feels.
pain sensenoun: The capacity to experience pain involves sensory nerve endings and brain processing, often in response to tissue damage.
pain thresholdphrase: The point where a sensation first feels painful to a person.
painful bruising syndromenoun: A rare condition, also called Gardner–Diamond syndrome, involves painful bruises that may appear during periods of severe emotional stress.
painful sexual intercoursenoun: Discomfort or pain during sexual intercourse can affect people of any gender and have several physical or psychological contributors.
paint sniffingnoun: Deliberately breathing fumes from paint products or related solvents to change how one feels is a form of inhalant misuse.
pair bondnoun: A lasting close connection between two individuals involves seeking each other, reacting to separation, and responding warmly at reunion.
PAIR Projectnoun: A research project tracked 168 Pennsylvania couples for 14 years after their weddings, examining how relationships developed or ended.
paired comparisonphrase: Workers are judged by comparing each person with every other person on the same job measures.
paired samplephrase: Uses matched participants so outcome differences are less likely caused by age, gender, or other traits.
paired-associates learningnoun: People learn items together in pairs, then try to recall one item when shown its partner.
paired-samples t testnoun: A statistical test checks whether the average difference between paired measurements is distinguishable from zero given sampling variation.
pairingnoun: Placing two events close together in time so they can become linked in learning.
pairing hypothesisnoun: A proposed explanation of classical conditioning treats events occurring close together in time as the key to learning their connection.
pairmatenoun: Either member of a lasting, closely attached pair is the other individual’s partner within that bond.
pairwise comparisonphrase: A method that tests each possible pair of group levels separately to see which ones differ.
pairwise deletionnoun: An analysis keeps each person’s available data for the variables being compared, even when other measurements are missing.
palatal lispnoun: A speech pattern alters sounds such as s when the tongue’s middle contacts the mouth’s roof and disrupts airflow.
palatenoun: The upper surface inside the mouth has a firm bony front and a flexible muscular back.
palatum durumnoun: The Latin name for the hard palate identifies the firm, bone-supported front section of the mouth’s upper surface.
paleo- (palaeo-)prefix: This word part means ancient or belonging to an earlier period, often in evolutionary history.
paleocerebellumnoun: An evolutionarily older cerebellar region helps control posture and muscles around the trunk, shoulders, and hips.
paleocortexnoun: An evolutionarily old type of cerebral cortex has fewer layers than neocortex and is closely associated with smell.
paleologic thinkingnoun: A historical concept describes concrete, dreamlike thinking guided by feelings and perceptions rather than logical reasoning.
paleopalliumnoun: Another name for paleocortex describes evolutionarily older cerebral tissue with relatively few layers, especially associated with smell.
paleopsychology (palaeopsychology)noun: In Jung’s usage, this studies mental processes proposed to survive from earlier evolutionary stages, including shared unconscious patterns.
paleostriatumnoun: A historical anatomical name identifies the globus pallidus, a basal ganglia structure involved in regulating movement.
palilalianoun: A speech problem where someone repeats words or phrases again and again, often faster each time.
palin- (pali-)prefix: This word part indicates repetition or a change back toward an earlier direction.
palinopsianoun: A visual disturbance makes an image linger or return after the object that produced it is no longer visible.
palinphrasianoun: A person repeats spoken words or phrases without intending to do so.
palliative carenoun: Care during serious illness focuses on easing symptoms and distress while supporting comfort and quality of life.
palliative sedationnoun: Clinicians carefully lower consciousness with medication to relieve otherwise unmanageable suffering, usually near the end of life.
pallidotomynoun: A brain operation creates a small, targeted lesion in the globus pallidus to reduce certain movement symptoms.
palmaradjective: This describes something located on, involving, or belonging to the palm side of a hand.
palmar conductancenoun: The ease with which palm skin carries a small electrical current provides information about bodily arousal.
palmar reflexnoun: Touching or stroking the palm automatically causes the fingers to bend or close, especially in infants.
palmistrynoun: An unsupported practice claims that features of a person's palm reveal personality or predict future events.
palpebral fissurenoun: The gap between the eyelids forms an oval opening when the eye is open.
palpitationnoun: A noticeable heartbeat may feel unusually fast, strong, fluttering, or irregular and can accompany anxiety, exertion, or illness.
palsynoun: An older word for paralysis, meaning loss of muscle movement, still seen in names of some disorders.
Pamelornoun: This brand of nortriptyline is a tricyclic medicine used to treat depression.
PANabbreviation: Positional alcohol nystagmus involves repeated sideways eye movements caused by alcohol intoxication that persist after turning the head sideways.
pan-prefix: This word beginning adds the meaning of all or every to the word it joins.
panaceanoun: A supposedly universal remedy promises to solve every problem or every part of a particular problem.
panarteritisnoun: Widespread inflammation affects the walls of small and medium arteries, potentially involving several organs.
PANASabbreviation: A 20-item self-report questionnaire measures pleasant engagement and emotional distress separately within a chosen time frame.
pancreasnoun: A gland behind the stomach that aids digestion and releases hormones that control blood sugar.
pancreatitisnoun: Inflammation of the pancreas can cause severe belly pain and may result from gallstones, heavy alcohol use, or certain medicines.
pandemicadjective: Spread across many countries and affecting large numbers of people, especially with disease.
panel datanoun: Researchers collect repeated measurements from the same people, households, or other units to examine changes over time.
panel studynoun: A research project repeatedly measures the same selected participants over time, often starting with a randomly chosen sample.
panentheismnoun: A religious or philosophical view holds that everything exists within God, while God also extends beyond the universe.
panicnoun: A sudden, overpowering fear reaction can bring confusion and irrational behavior when danger seems near.
panic attackphrase: A sudden burst of extreme fear with strong body symptoms, even when no real danger exists.
panic control treatmentphrase: A therapy for panic disorder that teaches panic facts, slower breathing, and gradual facing of panic triggers.
panic disorder (PD)phrase: Repeated unexpected panic attacks plus ongoing fear, worry, or avoidance because another attack might happen.
panpsychismnoun: A philosophical view proposes that every part of nature has some basic mental quality or capacity for experience.
pansexualismnoun: A historical view proposes that sexual motivation drives every human action.
pansexualitynoun: A sexual orientation involving potential attraction to people regardless of their gender.
pantheismnoun: A religious or philosophical view holds that the universe as a whole is divine and identical with God.
pantomimenoun: A therapy method that uses gestures to show feelings when speaking feels blocked.
pantry-check techniquenoun: Market researchers inspect household food storage to compare products present with people's reported preferences or use.
Panum phenomenonnoun: A visual illusion occurs when different images shown to each eye combine into one that seems closer than the actual images.
Panum’s fusional areanoun: A narrow zone around matching retinal projections allows slightly mismatched images from the two eyes to appear as one.
papaverinenoun: A substance obtained from opium relaxes smooth muscle and widens blood vessels without producing opium's usual mental effects.
Papez circuitnoun: A brain loop linking emotion and memory, where damage to any part can cause amnesia.
Papez–MacLean theory of emotionnoun: This historical account extended Papez’s ideas, proposing that emotion depends on the whole limbic system, particularly hippocampus and amygdala.
Papez’s theory of emotionnoun: A historical theory proposed that a connected brain loop called the Papez circuit brings together and regulates emotional experience.
papillanoun: A small raised structure on the tongue may contain taste buds or help give the surface its rough texture.
papilledemanoun: Increased pressure inside the skull causes swelling where the optic nerve meets the retina.
Papworth methodnoun: A breathing and relaxation approach teaches slow nasal breathing using the diaphragm and may ease asthma symptoms.
PAQabbreviation: A job analysis survey that rates work activities and conditions across many different jobs.
para Iabbreviation: This abbreviation for primipara describes a person who has given birth once.
para- (par-)prefix: This prefix can mean beside, nearby, resembling, beyond, or outside what is usual, depending on the word.
Para-Time S.R.noun: This commercial name identifies papaverine, which relaxes smooth muscles and allows blood vessels to widen.
parabiosisnoun: Two individuals are physically joined in a way that connects their blood circulation.
parabiotic preparationnoun: Researchers surgically join two genetically similar animals so they share blood circulation for experimental study.
paracentral scotomanoun: A small patch of reduced or missing vision lies near the center of sight while sparing the exact center.
paracentral visionnoun: Sight provided by the retinal tissue just around the fovea detects things slightly away from your exact focus.
paracetamolnoun: Also known as acetaminophen, this medicine reduces pain and fever but has little effect on inflammation.
parachlorophenylalaninenoun: This chemical lowers serotonin in brain cells by blocking its production from the amino acid tryptophan.
parachromatopsianoun: A person has difficulty distinguishing some colors while retaining other color vision.
paracinesianoun: A person's movements are awkward or poorly coordinated rather than smooth and controlled.
paracontrastnoun: A briefly presented visual image changes how a later target appears, even though the two occupy different locations.
paracrineadjective: This describes signaling in which a cell releases chemicals that travel through surrounding fluid and affect nearby cells.
paracusianoun: Hearing is partly impaired, especially for low tones, or altered in another way, such as difficulty locating sounds.
paracyesisnoun: A pregnancy develops outside the uterus, usually within a fallopian tube.
paradigmnoun: A widely accepted way of thinking that guides how people understand a field or solve problems.
paradigm clashnoun: A conflict arises when a new framework of basic assumptions cannot fit with an established scientific or philosophical framework.
paradigm shiftnoun: In Thomas Kuhn's account, science undergoes a major, relatively rapid change in its basic assumptions, questions, and methods.
paradoxnoun: A statement or situation that seems to contradict itself but may still be true.
paradox of freedomnoun: An apparent conflict exists between feeling free to choose and the view that earlier causes determine every action.
paradoxical coldnoun: A hot stimulus can unexpectedly feel cold when it activates nerve fibers that usually signal cold.
paradoxical directivephrase: A therapist tells someone to do the symptom or opposite action to expose a self-defeating pattern.
paradoxical intentionphrase: A therapy method for anxiety asks people to purposely exaggerate feared symptoms, making them seem less scary and less powerful.
paradoxical motionnoun: After watching movement, an unmoving scene can seem to move overall even while its individual details appear stationary.
paradoxical reactionphrase: A medicine causes the opposite effect from what is expected, such as more anxiety instead of less.
paradoxical sleepphrase: A sleep stage with dreaming, rapid eye movements, and an active brain despite relaxed muscles.
paradoxical techniquephrase: A therapist asks someone to keep doing, or do more of, a problem behavior to show control.
paradoxical thinkingnoun: Thinking uses ideas that seem contradictory or challenge usual logic, sometimes helping people approach problems in new ways.
paradoxical warmthnoun: A cooling stimulus unexpectedly produces a feeling of warmth rather than the cold sensation usually expected.
parafoveanoun: A ring of retinal tissue borders the fovea, the eye's central area for the sharpest vision.
parageusianoun: Taste is distorted, so something tastes different than expected, or a taste occurs without a matching source.
paragigantocellular nucleus (PGN)noun: A cluster of nerve cells within the brainstem's reticular formation is thought to help regulate sleep.
paragrammatismnoun: A language difficulty associated with brain damage involves misplaced, missing, or substituted speech sounds, syllables, or words.
paragraph-meaning testnoun: An intelligence assessment asks someone to explain the main message of a short passage.
paragraphianoun: A writing difficulty involves missing or rearranged letters and words, or added words that do not belong.
parahippocampal gyrusnoun: A folded brain region beside the hippocampus helps process scenes and supports memory for places.
parakinesia (paracinesia)noun: Physical movements are awkward or clumsy rather than smoothly coordinated.
parakinesisnoun: In parapsychology, an object allegedly moves with speed or direction that its physical contact cannot explain.
paralalianoun: A speech difficulty involves regularly replacing an intended speech sound with a different one.
paralanguagenoun: How something is said, like tone, loudness, and pauses, adds meaning beyond the actual words.
paraldehydenoun: An older sedative medicine was used to reduce agitation and promote sleep but was replaced by safer options.
paralexianoun: A reading difficulty involves replacing or rearranging letters, syllables, or whole words while reading.
paralinguistic cue (paralinguistic feature)noun: A vocal feature, such as pitch, loudness, or a pause, adds meaning beyond the spoken words.
parallaxnoun: A depth cue where objects seem to shift as your head moves side to side.
parallel distributed circuitnoun: An interconnected network processes the same input through several interacting circuits simultaneously.
parallel distributed processing (PDP)noun: A model of thinking represents information through activity patterns spread across many connected units working together simultaneously.
parallel fibernoun: A branch of a cerebellar granule cell's axon runs through the cerebellar cortex's outer layer.
parallel formnoun: A different version of a test is designed to match its content and measurement properties.
parallel playphrase: Young children play side by side, noticing each other but not truly playing together.
parallel processingnoun: Separate processing systems carry out multiple sequences of operations simultaneously.
parallel searchnoun: A search checks multiple items simultaneously without becoming less efficient as more items are considered.
parallel-forms reliabilitynoun: Test consistency is estimated by measuring how closely people's scores correspond across equivalent versions.
parallel-groups designnoun: A study compares groups during the same period, with each participant experiencing just one condition.
parallelismnoun: A philosophical proposal treats mind and body as separate realities whose events correspond without directly causing each other.
paralogianoun: A pattern of persistently illogical thinking and speech may involve delusions and sometimes occurs in schizophrenia.
paralogismnoun: An argument contains a reasoning error that is often accidental and hard to notice.
paralysisnoun: Loss of ability to move muscles you control, often from damage to nerves, brain, spinal cord, or muscles.
paralysis agitansnoun: An outdated name identifies Parkinson's disease, a progressive brain condition affecting movement through loss of dopamine-producing cells.
paralytic dementianoun: An older name describes declining thinking abilities and physical function caused by advanced syphilis infection in the brain.
paramedicnoun: A specially trained healthcare worker provides emergency medical care, often before and during a journey to hospital.
parameternoun: A number describing a whole population, such as its average, often estimated from a sample.
parameter spacenoun: This collection contains every allowed combination of parameter values for a particular statistical model.
parametricadjective: Describes a statistical test that assumes the data follow certain rules, like normal spread.
parametric statisticsnoun: These mathematical methods analyze data using models that assume particular population patterns described by a fixed number of parameters.
parametric testphrase: A statistical test that assumes the population's scores follow certain patterns, such as a normal spread.
paramimianoun: A person's gestures do not match the feelings they are experiencing.
paramnesianoun: A memory misrepresents an actual experience or presents an event that never occurred.
paranoianoun: Extreme, often false suspicion that other people want to harm, trick, or secretly plot against you.
paranoia querulansnoun: A historical clinical label describes persistent disputes and legal complaints driven by delusional beliefs about being wronged.
paranoidadjective: Showing extreme suspicion or distrust of others, sometimes with false beliefs that people mean harm.
paranoid conditionnoun: An older clinical description involves relatively loosely organized delusions about persecution or exceptional personal importance.
paranoid delusionnoun: A firmly held false personal belief persists despite clear contrary evidence, often involving persecution, exceptional importance, or jealousy.
paranoid disordernoun: An older name for delusional disorder describes persistent delusions lasting a month or longer, after other causes are excluded.
paranoid ideationphrase: Persistent suspicious thoughts that others want to harm, harass, or unfairly target someone.
paranoid litigious statenoun: A historical label describes repeated arguing and legal action based on delusional convictions that personal rights were violated.
paranoid personality disorderphrase: A personality pattern of unjustified distrust, feeling attacked easily, and seeming emotionally cold.
paranoid pseudocommunitynoun: Within a persecutory delusion, real or imagined people are believed to form a group conspiring against the individual.
paranoid psychosisnoun: A clinical description involves delusions of persecution while the person's overall personality remains relatively organized and stable.
paranoid schizophrenianoun: A former schizophrenia subtype emphasized prominent delusions or hearing voices, with relatively less disruption of thinking and mood.
paranoid statenoun: An older clinical label describes delusions about persecution or exceptional importance that form a relatively undeveloped belief system.
paranoid-schizoid positionnoun: Melanie Klein proposed an early mental pattern that manages intense fear by separating experiences into entirely good or bad parts.
paranormaladjective: An alleged event or ability is described as exceeding established scientific explanations for how information or energy travels.
paranormal cognitionnoun: An alleged ability allows knowledge of external events without using recognized senses, but its existence remains disputed.
paranosic gainnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that symptoms can provide inner relief from anxiety linked to conflicting or unexpressed impulses.
paraphasianoun: A speech disturbance produces unintended words or sounds that may resemble the target or seem unrelated.
paraphemianoun: A speech difficulty involves repeatedly inserting unsuitable words or arranging words into combinations without clear meaning.
paraphilianoun: An unusual sexual interest becomes a disorder when it causes distress, problems, or harm to others.
paraphonianoun: A voice disturbance changes the usual quality of a person's vocal sound.
paraphraseverb: To restate someone's words in different language while keeping the same meaning.
paraphrasianoun: A speech disturbance replaces intended expressions with incorrect or altered words or sounds, sometimes related and sometimes unrelated.
paraphrasic errornoun: A speaking error makes speech unclear by blending words, dropping syllables, or inventing words.
paraphrenianoun: A historical label describes later-life delusions and hallucinations without broad intellectual impairment or steadily worsening dementia.
paraplegianoun: Loss of movement in both legs and the lower body because of nerve or spinal cord damage.
parapraxisnoun: In psychoanalytic theory, an everyday mistake is interpreted as expressing wishes, feelings, or impulses outside conscious awareness.
paraprofessionalnoun: A trained support worker helps provide patient care without holding the full professional credentials of the specialists they assist.
parapsychologynoun: A field investigates claimed mental abilities and events, such as telepathy, that appear to exceed established scientific explanations.
parareactionnoun: An unusually intense response to a small event may become a starting point for a delusional belief.
parasitenoun: An organism lives in or on a host, gaining resources at that host’s expense and sometimes affecting its behavior.
parasitismnoun: A relationship between species benefits an organism living in or on another while costing the host resources or health.
parasocial relationshipnoun: A person feels emotionally connected to a media figure, fictional character, or AI without a mutually developed personal relationship.
parasomnianoun: A sleep disorder causing unusual behaviors or body events while asleep or partly waking.
parasuicidenoun: An older clinical label covers deliberate self-injury whether or not the person intended to die.
parasympathetic drugnoun: A medicine increases parasympathetic nervous activity by copying or strengthening the effects of the chemical messenger acetylcholine.
parasympathetic nervous systemphrase: The body system that calms you, saves energy, and supports digestion, sleep, and sexual arousal.
parasympatholytic drugnoun: A medicine reduces parasympathetic nervous activity by blocking effects of acetylcholine, a chemical messenger between cells.
parasympathomimetic drugnoun: A medicine produces parasympathetic responses by imitating acetylcholine or helping this chemical messenger act more strongly.
parataxic distortionnoun: In interpersonal psychoanalytic theory, earlier experiences or unconscious expectations can cause someone to misjudge another person.
parataxisnoun: An uncommon psychological label describes poor integration among aspects of personality, ways of thinking, or emotional experiences.
parathyroid glandnoun: A small gland near the thyroid releases a hormone that helps regulate the body’s calcium and phosphate balance.
parathyroid hormonenoun: A chemical messenger released by the parathyroid glands raises low blood calcium through effects on bones, kidneys, and intestinal absorption.
paratypenoun: The combined environmental influences on an organism help shape how its inherited characteristics appear.
paratypicadjective: An organism’s characteristics are described this way when they develop through environmental influences rather than genetic inheritance alone.
paraventricular nucleus (PVN)noun: A hypothalamus cluster of nerve cells that makes hormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin.
paraverbal therapynoun: A psychotherapy approach uses music, movement, mime, and art to help children communicate when spoken expression is difficult.
paraworldnoun: An imagined setting with ideal conditions helps researchers build models of processes they believe occur in reality.
paregoricnoun: A medicine containing opium and camphor slows intestinal movement and has also been used to manage opioid withdrawal.
parenchymanoun: The tissue that performs an organ’s main work is distinguished from tissue that supports or connects its parts.
parens patriaephrase: A legal doctrine allows government protection of children and people unable to meet basic needs, sometimes limiting their rights.
parent effectiveness training (PET)noun: An educational program teaches parents communication and problem-solving skills intended to improve their relationships with their children.
parent management training (PMT)phrase: Parents learn reward-and-consequence methods to increase helpful child behavior and reduce defiant or aggressive behavior across settings.
parent reportphrase: Information from parents or caregivers about a child's health, behavior, abilities, history, and everyday functioning.
parent teachers association (PTA)noun: An organization brings parents and teachers together to support students, strengthen schools, and encourage community involvement in education.
parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT)noun: A therapist coaches parents of young children to strengthen their relationship through positive play and consistent behavior guidance.
parent–child psychotherapynoun: An attachment-focused therapy helps caregivers understand relationship patterns and respond sensitively to young children experiencing emotional or behavioral difficulties.
parent–offspring conflictnoun: In evolutionary theory, offspring benefit from continued care while parents may benefit from redirecting resources toward future offspring.
parental alienation syndrome (PAS)phrase: A disputed label for a child being pushed by one parent to strongly reject the other parent.
parental alliancenoun: Parents share and coordinate childrearing responsibilities through interactions that can involve cooperation, disagreement, or undermining each other.
parental behaviorphrase: Includes the actions parents take before and after birth to help their young survive and grow.
parental investmentnoun: A parent spends time, energy, and other resources producing and caring for offspring, affecting resources available for other reproduction.
parental investment theorynoun: An evolutionary theory proposes that differences in parenting costs help explain sex differences in mating and caregiving behavior.
parental leavenoun: Time away from employment allows parents to meet caregiving responsibilities, especially following a child’s birth or adoption.
parental perplexitynoun: An uncommon label describes parenting marked by strong indecision, limited spontaneity, and difficulty recognizing and meeting a child’s needs.
parental rejectionnoun: A parent persistently withholds warmth, acceptance, or care from a child, potentially affecting the child’s confidence and relationships.
parental separationnoun: Married parents stop sharing a home and establish separate living arrangements while remaining legally married.
parentingnoun: The ways adults care for, guide, and discipline children as they grow up.
Parenting Stress Index (PSI)noun: A questionnaire measures stress connected with parenting and helps identify difficulties involving parents, children, and their interactions.
parenting stylephrase: A usual way caregivers show warmth, set rules, and guide a child's behavior.
parenting trainingnoun: Programs teach parents and other caregivers practical methods for responding effectively to children’s challenging behavior.
Parents Anonymousnoun: A support program combines parent peer leadership with professional guidance to strengthen parenting and help prevent child abuse.
Parents Without Partnersnoun: This international group helps parents raising children without a partner find companionship, learn useful skills, and enjoy family events.
parergasianoun: A historical psychiatric label described carrying out an unintended action and was also used as a name for schizophrenia.
paresisnoun: Muscles have reduced strength or movement, leaving some ability to move rather than complete paralysis.
paresthesianoun: A tingling, burning, or prickly skin feeling that happens without anything touching the skin.
pareticadjective: This adjective describes someone experiencing partial paralysis or something related to that reduction in muscle movement.
paretic psychosisnoun: A historical name describes severe mental deterioration caused by advanced syphilis infection affecting the brain.
Pareto principlenoun: A rule of thumb suggests that roughly 80 percent of results may come from 20 percent of contributing factors.
paricanoun: A hallucinogenic snuff made from Virola tree bark contains substances that can strongly alter perception.
parietal cortexphrase: Outer brain area in the parietal lobe that helps process touch and body position.
parietal driftnoun: Outstretched arms unintentionally shift position with eyes closed, sometimes suggesting damage involving the brain’s parietal region.
parietal lobenoun: A brain area near the top and back helps process touch, space, and guiding actions using what you see.
parieto-occipital sulcusnoun: A groove on each brain hemisphere’s inner surface separates the parietal precuneus from the occipital cuneus.
Paris Medical Schoolnoun: A historical group around Charcot studied neurology and proposed connections between hypnosis and symptoms then labeled hysteria.
Parkes–Weber syndromenoun: A vascular disorder combines abnormal artery-to-vein connections, skin vessel birthmarks, and excessive growth of an affected limb.
Parkinson’s disease (PD)phrase: A brain disease that slowly lowers dopamine, causing tremor, stiffness, slow movement, and later balance problems.
parkinsonianadjective: Describing movement problems seen in Parkinson's disease, such as tremor, stiffness, and slowed motion.
parkinsonian tremornoun: People with Parkinson’s disease may experience repeated shaking while resting or, sometimes, while moving.
parkinsonismnoun: A group of movement problems that look like Parkinson's disease, often caused by dopamine-blocking antipsychotic medicines.
Parlodelnoun: A brand name identifies bromocriptine, a medicine that activates dopamine receptors to treat Parkinson’s symptoms and certain hormone problems.
parolenoun: Court-ordered supervised freedom lets a patient live outside a facility while still under treatment control and be sent back quickly.
parorexianoun: An older clinical label describes a compulsive urge to eat unusual foods or substances that provide no nourishment.
parosmianoun: A smell that is actually present is perceived in a distorted way, often making familiar odors seem different or unpleasant.
paroxetinenoun: A usually calming antidepressant that boosts serotonin and treats depression, panic, social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
paroxysmnoun: A sudden episode brings a sharp increase or return of symptoms or emotion, sometimes involving a spasm or seizure.
paroxysmal sleepnoun: An older name for narcolepsy describes a disorder involving strong daytime sleepiness and sudden episodes of sleep.
parseverb: To analyze something means separating a visual scene or sentence into parts and identifying their features or arrangement.
parsimonynoun: A scientific principle favors explanations requiring fewer unsupported assumptions when they account equally well for the evidence.
part correlationnoun: A statistical relationship between two measures is calculated after adjusting only one for its association with another measure.
part method of learningnoun: A learner divides material into smaller sections and masters each section in sequence.
part-list cuing inhibitionnoun: Receiving some previously learned items as reminders can make the remaining items harder to remember.
part-objectnoun: Psychoanalytic theories propose that feelings or drives can target a body part or limited image of someone instead of their whole person.
part-set cuing effectnoun: Being reminded of selected items from learned material can interfere with remembering the items that were not supplied.
part–whole problemnoun: A central question asks whether understanding something requires studying its separate pieces or examining how it works as a whole.
parthenogenesisnoun: In this reproductive process, an egg develops into an offspring without being fertilized by sperm.
partialnoun: One of the separate sound frequencies that combine to make a more complex sound.
partial agonistphrase: A drug that activates a receptor but produces a weaker effect than the brain's usual chemical.
partial agraphianoun: An older name for agraphia describes difficulty or loss of writing ability caused by damage or illness affecting the nervous system.
partial correlationphrase: Shows how strongly two things are related after the effects of other variables are statistically removed from both.
partial decussationnoun: At the optic chiasm, some nerve fibers carrying visual information cross to the opposite brain side while others remain uncrossed.
partial hospitalizationphrase: Structured hospital care for part of the day without staying overnight.
partial insanitynoun: A historical legal concept describes mental impairment that reduces a person's criminal responsibility without removing it completely.
partial instinctnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory proposed a separate element of sexual motivation tied to a particular bodily source and goal.
partial least squares regressionnoun: A statistical method predicts outcomes by combining many measures into fewer components chosen for their relationship with those outcomes.
partial lipodystrophynoun: A medical condition involves loss of body fat in particular regions rather than throughout the body.
partial reinforcementphrase: A behavior is rewarded only sometimes, which usually makes it last longer.
partial reinforcement effect (PRE)noun: Behavior rewarded only sometimes often persists longer after rewards stop than behavior previously rewarded every time.
partial replicationphrase: Repeats only some parts of a study to see whether the main results still appear after method changes.
partial reportnoun: A memory test asks someone to recall a selected portion of presented information, often identified by a later signal.
partial schedule of reinforcementnoun: A learning arrangement provides reinforcement after some occurrences of a behavior rather than after every occurrence.
partial seizurenoun: A seizure starts in one small brain area and may or may not briefly affect awareness.
partial sightnoun: Reduced vision remains despite ordinary corrective lenses or treatment and can make activities such as reading or getting around difficult.
partial-interval recordingnoun: Observers divide a session into time blocks and mark whether a behavior happens at any point during each block.
partialingnoun: Researchers statistically adjust measures for their relationships with other variables to examine a particular relationship more clearly.
partialismnoun: Sexual interest centers strongly on a particular bodily feature, such as feet, beyond areas usually associated with sexual arousal.
partially ordered scalenoun: A measurement system allows some items to be ranked relative to others while leaving certain pairs without a defined order.
participantnoun: Someone who joins a study or experiment by doing tasks, answering questions, or being observed.
participant modelingnoun: A therapist demonstrates and explains a helpful behavior, then supports the person as they practice it themselves.
participant observationnoun: A researcher studies a group by taking part in its everyday activities while observing what happens.
participants’ rightsnoun: Research volunteers have protections involving informed choice, privacy, clear information, and the freedom to stop participating without penalty.
participationnoun: Joining in an activity or group process instead of staying on the sidelines.
participative decision making (PDM)noun: Managers involve employees in workplace choices, with participation ranging from offering suggestions to sharing or holding decision authority.
participative leadershipphrase: Leaders share decisions with workers and give them freedom in how they do tasks.
participative managementnoun: An approach to running an organization gives employees a role in directing its work and making organizational choices.
participative researchnoun: In this usage, a researcher learns about a group by joining its activities and observing members' everyday interactions.
participatory action researchphrase: Researchers and community members work together to study a problem and use results to improve conditions.
participatory designnoun: The people who will use a product or system help shape it during development.
participatory ergonomicsnoun: Employees across organizational levels help create workplace changes that better fit workers' bodies and tasks, supporting health and safety.
participatory evaluationnoun: Staff, and sometimes service users, directly assess a program while an evaluation specialist guides the process.
participatory researchphrase: A research method where the researcher joins the group being studied while watching and recording behavior.
particularismnoun: An ethical view holds that moral judgments depend on the details of individual situations rather than fixed general principles.
partitionnoun: In statistics, a component of variation in measured outcomes is separated according to its proposed source, such as random error.
partner abusenoun: A current or former intimate partner uses physical, sexual, or psychological mistreatment, including threats and controlling behavior.
partner swappingnoun: Two or more adult couples agree to exchange partners for sexual activity with everyone's consent.
parturitionnoun: The biological process of childbirth brings a baby or babies out of the pregnant person's body.
paruresisnoun: Anxiety about other people being nearby makes urinating difficult or impossible, especially in shared or public bathrooms.
parvocellular systemnoun: A visual pathway involving small nerve cells helps the brain distinguish fine details and color.
PASabbreviation: This abbreviation names either the disputed parental alienation syndrome or precategorical acoustic storage, a proposed brief sound memory.
PASATabbreviation: This test checks attention, mental speed, and working memory by asking people to add each spoken number to the previous one.
pascalnoun: A standard unit of pressure can express the small air pressure changes produced by sound waves.
pasmonoun: In some Latin American cultural traditions, distress after a fright is understood as the soul leaving the body.
PASS modelphrase: Describes intelligence as four skills: making plans, focusing, combining information at once, and ordering it step by step.
passbandnoun: A filter allows frequencies within a particular range to pass through with relatively little weakening.
passionnoun: A very strong feeling or devotion that powerfully drives what a person thinks or does.
passionate lovenoun: Intense love involves strong emotional excitement, often sexual attraction, and a powerful wish for the other person's love in return.
passionflowernoun: The plant Passiflora incarnata is used in herbal remedies and studied for possible calming effects, though strong clinical evidence remains limited.
passiveadjective: More likely to let others lead, obey, and be shaped by outside forces than act independently.
passive attentionnoun: Something noticeable captures awareness automatically, without a person deliberately choosing to focus on it.
passive avoidancenoun: Learning occurs when someone prevents an unpleasant consequence by holding back a particular action.
passive copingnoun: A person responds to stress by handing control of its resolution to other people or circumstances instead of taking personal action.
passive deceptionnoun: Researchers deliberately leave out study details that might change how participants respond if they knew them.
passive euthanasianoun: A debated label describes deliberately withholding life-prolonging treatment from someone nearing death.
passive joynoun: A quiet form of happiness involves peaceful satisfaction with how things currently are.
passive learningnoun: People acquire information without intending to learn, or through repetition with little deliberate use of memory strategies.
passive listeningnoun: A counselor pays close attention while allowing the client to speak without interruption or intervention.
passive management by exceptionphrase: A boss steps in only when workers miss standards or make problems, not during normal work.
passive negativismnoun: A person repeatedly resists others' suggestions by declining to respond or cooperate, often without an obvious explanation.
passive noise protectionnoun: Physical barriers, including earplugs and earmuffs, reduce how much unwanted sound reaches the ears.
passive recreationnoun: Recreational therapy offers enjoyment through experiences such as watching performances, with little demand for active participation.
passive rehearsalnoun: A person briefly maintains information by repeating only one or a few different items within each practice round.
passive resistancenoun: People oppose governmental authority, rules, or policies using peaceful protest or refusal to cooperate.
passive smokingnoun: Someone breathes tobacco smoke released by another person's smoking, including exhaled smoke and smoke from burning tobacco.
passive suicidenoun: An ambiguous label describes serious self-neglect sometimes interpreted as expressing suicidal intent, although the behavior alone cannot establish intent.
passive touchnoun: A person experiences contact applied to their skin while remaining still rather than actively exploring an object.
passive transportnoun: Particles cross a cell's membrane along concentration or electrical gradients without the cell supplying energy for that movement.
passive vocabularynoun: A person's understood words make up this vocabulary, including words they rarely or never use themselves.
passive voicenoun: A grammatical construction makes whoever or whatever receives an action the sentence's subject, while the doer may be omitted.
passive-aggressiveadjective: Behavior expresses hostility indirectly while appearing harmless or accidental, sometimes without the person recognizing the underlying motive.
passive-aggressive personality disordernoun: Clinicians historically used this diagnosis for enduring patterns of indirect opposition, including purposeful inefficiency, that disrupted daily responsibilities and relationships.
passive-avoidance learningnoun: An organism learns to withhold a previously untrained action after that action produces an unpleasant consequence.
passive-dependent personalitynoun: An older name describes dependent personality disorder, involving persistent reliance on others for major responsibilities because of low self-confidence.
passivismnoun: An attitude involves yielding to another person's direction, especially within sexual relationships.
passivitynoun: A coping style marked by submissiveness, dependence, and pulling back into doing little or nothing.
passivity phenomenanoun: People experience their thoughts, feelings, impulses, or actions as being controlled or produced by someone outside themselves.
past-life regressionnoun: A controversial hypnosis practice encourages experiences interpreted as memories of previous lives, without establishing that those lives occurred.
past-pointingnoun: During a coordination test, someone misses the examiner's finger with closed eyes after locating it with open eyes.
pastoral counselingnoun: Counseling combines religious or spiritual understanding with behavioral science to support emotional well-being and personal growth.
PATabbreviation: The abbreviation names Progressive Achievement Tests, which compare students' reading and mathematics achievement with national reference groups.
Patau syndromenoun: A genetic condition involving extra chromosome 13 material can cause major developmental disabilities and serious health complications.
patch-clamp techniquenoun: Researchers seal a tiny glass electrode against a cell's membrane to measure electrical currents, sometimes through individual ion channels.
patellar reflexnoun: A tap below the kneecap stretches a tendon and automatically triggers the thigh muscle to straighten the lower leg.
paternal attitudesnoun: A father's beliefs and feelings about his children can shape their development and his understanding of himself as a parent.
paternal behaviornoun: Males care for offspring through direct nurturing or indirect support, such as obtaining resources, especially in studies of other animals.
paternalismnoun: When people in power limit others' choices because they believe it protects those people's welfare.
path analysisphrase: A statistical method that tests how several measured variables directly and indirectly predict one another.
path coefficientnoun: A numerical weight estimates the strength and direction of a particular link between measured variables in a path model.
path constraintnoun: A rule limits which steps someone may take while working toward a problem's solution.
path diagramphrase: A drawing that shows expected cause-and-effect links among measured variables using arrows and connecting lines.
path modelingnoun: A statistical method examines a network of linear relationships among measured variables, including direct links and connections through intermediate variables.
path–goal theory of leadershipnoun: A theory proposes that leaders motivate followers by clarifying routes to goals and rewards while adapting support to the situation.
patho- (path-)prefix: This word-building element adds the meaning of disease or suffering to a larger word.
pathoclisisnoun: The concept describes susceptibility to specific toxins or the tendency of toxins to affect particular organs or organ systems.
pathogennoun: A disease-producing agent, such as a virus or bacterium, can disrupt the body's structures or functions.
pathogenesisnoun: The process explains how a physical illness or mental disorder begins and develops over time.
pathogenic family patternnoun: Recurring family interactions or expectations may contribute to emotional or behavioral disorders, alongside other influences.
pathogenynoun: The sequence through which a physical illness or mental disorder begins and takes shape is also called pathogenesis.
pathognomonicadjective: Describing a sign or symptom that points to one specific disorder and no other.
pathognomynoun: The practice involves identifying emotions and character traits, especially when these are interpreted as indicators of illness.
pathological aggressionnoun: Severe aggression involves violent behavior toward people or property, appearing as a lasting pattern or sudden extreme reaction.
pathological agingnoun: Changes in later life result from diseases associated with aging rather than the usual course of healthy aging.
pathological doubtnoun: Distressing, excessive uncertainty concerns whether an action was completed, or undermines confidence in personal abilities and the future.
pathological fallacynoun: A reasoning error treats disorder-related features observed in a few people as characteristics of everyone.
pathological gamblingnoun: An older diagnostic name describes persistent gambling that causes substantial distress or problems with money, work, or relationships.
pathological griefnoun: An older label describes grief viewed as unusually persistent, delayed, or absent, especially when adaptation to loss remains seriously disrupted.
pathological inertianoun: Brain injury or psychological difficulties can prevent changes in mental approach; another meaning involves greatly reduced ability to initiate actions.
pathological intoxicationnoun: A disputed clinical label describes abrupt, extreme behavioral or mental changes after an unexpectedly small amount of alcohol.
pathological jealousynoun: A person holds an unfounded, fixed belief that their partner is unfaithful, despite evidence against it.
pathological lyingnoun: A person repeatedly feels driven to tell lies, even when doing so offers little clear benefit.
pathologynoun: Unhealthy changes in the body, mind, or behavior that signal disorder.
pathomimicrynoun: Someone imitates, creates, or pretends to have illness symptoms, either deliberately or without conscious awareness.
pathomiosisnoun: A person who is ill downplays their illness or denies having it.
pathomorphismnoun: An older descriptive term labels a body build considered unusually shaped or extreme in its proportions.
pathophysiologynoun: Changes in how the body or an organ works because of disease, apart from changes in structure.
pathwaynoun: A route in the brain or body along which signals or chemicals travel.
patientnoun: A person receiving or seeking care for a health concern, including mental health difficulties.
patient abusenoun: A care provider harms someone receiving treatment by misusing professional power, trust, or the person’s vulnerability.
patient competencenoun: A person receiving care can manage problems, direct their life, and make useful changes in behavior or surroundings.
patient educationphrase: Giving patients clear information about their treatment so they can use it safely and make informed choices.
patient historynoun: An organized account of someone’s development, experiences, and health helps a professional understand their needs and plan care.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)noun: A United States law enacted in 2010 expanded health insurance access and introduced protections for people receiving coverage.
patient variablenoun: A characteristic of someone receiving treatment may influence how care proceeds or what results it produces.
patient violencenoun: Someone receiving care intentionally uses physical force against themselves or others that could cause injury.
patient-centered medical homenoun: A primary care team coordinates ongoing physical and mental health services around a person’s needs, preferences, and circumstances.
Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS)noun: Standardized questionnaires called PROMIS measure people’s own reports of physical, emotional, and social health, allowing comparisons across groups.
patient–client issuenoun: Professionals debate whether to call someone receiving psychological services a patient or a client, reflecting different views of care.
patients’ rightsnoun: People receiving health care deserve clear information, respectful treatment, meaningful choices about care, and protection of private information.
patriarchynoun: A social system where men hold most power and family line is traced through fathers.
patricidenoun: The act occurs when someone murders their father, and the word can also name the person responsible.
patrilinealadjective: Family descent or inheritance is traced through fathers and their male ancestors.
patrilocaladjective: A married couple lives with or near the husband’s family, sometimes following a broader cultural custom.
patternnoun: An organized arrangement of parts across space or time that forms a meaningful whole.
pattern analysisnoun: Researchers use mathematical methods to discover regularities, groupings, or relationships within a large collection of data.
pattern codingnoun: Sensory systems represent information through the timing and sequence of electrical signals sent by nerve cells.
pattern discriminationphrase: Ability to notice differences among shapes, sounds, or other sensory patterns.
pattern recognitionnoun: Finding a meaningful whole in many separate parts, whether in sights, sounds, or other incoming information.
pattern theorynoun: A historical theory proposed that pain comes from intense activity patterns in shared sensory nerves, without dedicated pain fibers.
pattern theory of taste codingnoun: A theory proposes that taste identity depends on activity patterns across taste cells, while total signaling indicates strength.
pattern visionnoun: The visual system distinguishes objects by their shapes, sizes, and other organized features.
patterned interviewnoun: An interviewer covers planned topics while remaining free to explore answers and ask follow-up questions.
patterningnoun: Learning to respond in an organized way to certain cues or situations.
patulous eustachian tubenoun: The passage connecting the middle ear and upper throat stays unusually open, sometimes making one’s own voice sound amplified.
pausenoun: A brief break or delay in speaking that can separate ideas or show the speaker is thinking.
Pavlovian conditioningnoun: Learning occurs when a previously neutral cue becomes able to trigger a response after association with something that naturally triggers it.
pavornoun: This older term denotes intense fright, especially in names for episodes of terror occurring during sleep.
Paxilnoun: The brand name identifies paroxetine, an antidepressant that reduces serotonin reuptake and is used for depression and several anxiety-related conditions.
Paxipamnoun: The brand name identifies halazepam, a benzodiazepine medicine used to reduce anxiety and sometimes treat insomnia briefly.
pay equitynoun: Workers should receive equal pay across genders for jobs with comparable skill demands and responsibilities, even when job titles differ.
pay-for-performance (P4P; PFP)adjective: A payment system ties earnings or bonuses to measured work quality, results, or productivity, including quality of health care.
Payne v. Tennesseenoun: This 1991 ruling by America's highest court allowed victim impact evidence during capital sentencing, subject to limits.
payoff evaluationnoun: An assessment checks whether a program met its goals and produced the intended effects for participants.
payoff matrixnoun: A table displays the possible gains and costs of available choices, often under different conditions or other people’s decisions.
PBAabbreviation: Pseudobulbar affect causes hard-to-control laughing or crying episodes that do not fit the situation or are much stronger than expected.
PCAabbreviation: Principal components analysis transforms measured variables into uncorrelated combinations, ordered by how much variation each captures.
PCCabbreviation: The posterior cingulate cortex is a brain region involved in remembering experiences, directing attention, and thinking about oneself.
PChEabbreviation: The abbreviation stands for pseudocholinesterase, an enzyme present in plasma and elsewhere that can break down the messenger acetylcholine.
PCITabbreviation: A therapy that coaches parents live while they practice calmer, more effective interactions with their child.
PCPabbreviation: Phencyclidine is a drug that can cause hallucinations and feelings of disconnection from one’s body or surroundings.
PCRabbreviation: Polymerase chain reaction is a laboratory method that makes many copies of a selected DNA segment for study.
Pcsabbreviation: The preconscious, in Freud’s theory, contains mental material outside current awareness that can be brought to mind fairly easily.
PDabbreviation: Depending on context, this abbreviation means panic disorder, Parkinson’s disease, personality disorder, or psychological debriefing.
PDATabbreviation: An older label describes Alzheimer’s dementia whose symptoms begin before someone reaches age 65.
PDEabbreviation: The principle of double effect may justify pursuing a good outcome despite a foreseeable, unintended harmful side effect under specific conditions.
PDFabbreviation: A probability density function describes continuous data, with area beneath its curve giving the probability of values within an interval.
PDMabbreviation: Participative decision making gives employees a role in workplace choices, ranging from offering suggestions to sharing decision authority.
PDPabbreviation: Parallel distributed processing models thinking as activity spread across many connected units that work and influence one another simultaneously.
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)phrase: A test of receptive vocabulary asks someone to pick the picture that matches a spoken word.
peak clippingnoun: Electronic equipment cuts off the largest peaks of a speech signal, limiting output while potentially reducing sound quality.
peak experiencenoun: In Maslow’s psychology, a brief moment of intense wonder, joy, or insight brings a powerful feeling of unity beyond oneself.
peak performancenoun: Doing a task at the best level a person's body, mind, or both can reach.
peak procedurenoun: Researchers study timing by mixing trials rewarding the first response after a fixed delay with longer trials that provide no reward.
peak shiftnoun: After discrimination training, the strongest response can move beyond the rewarded stimulus, farther from the unrewarded one.
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficientphrase: A number showing the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two measured variables.
Pearson’s rnoun: A number showing the strength and direction of a linear, or straight-line, relationship between two variables.
pecking orderphrase: A usual ranking of who has more power or status in a social or animal group.
pectus carinatumnoun: An unusually outward-projecting breastbone gives the front of the chest a raised shape.
ped-prefix: This word-building form means children and appears as a shortened version of pedo-.
pedagogynoun: The practice or method of teaching people and helping them learn.
pederastynoun: This historical word describes sexual activity between an adult man and a boy or younger male.
pedestrian movementnoun: People walking through shared spaces often form predictable traffic patterns as they choose routes toward their destinations.
pediatricadjective: Describing the health care, illnesses, or development of infants, children, and teenagers.
pediatric neuropsychologynoun: This specialty investigates how children's brains relate to thinking and behavior, including assessment of developmental differences and brain conditions.
pediatric obesitynoun: A child has excess body fat that can affect health, with growth measures interpreted for their age and sex.
pediatric psychologynoun: This field studies and supports children's health by considering development, emotions, behavior, families, and experiences of illness.
pediatric psychopharmacologynoun: This field examines how medicines affect young people's mental health and behavior, considering development, benefits, and side effects.
pediatric psychosocial preventative health model (PPPHM)noun: This framework matches families of ill children with universal, targeted, or intensive psychological support according to assessed needs.
pediatric therapynoun: Children receive services addressing movement, communication, or daily activities when sensory processing or other nervous system difficulties affect functioning.
pedigreenoun: A family diagram shows relationships and relevant health information to help researchers examine possible inheritance patterns.
pedigree methodnoun: Researchers trace traits through family histories to investigate whether those traits might be inherited.
pedo- (ped-; paedo-; paed-)prefix: This combining form means children and helps build words concerning childhood or young people.
pedologynoun: An early twentieth-century European educational movement sought to study children's physical growth and mental development scientifically.
pedomorphismnoun: Someone interprets an adult's behavior by assigning traits usually associated with children.
pedomorphosisnoun: An adult organism keeps features that were characteristic of an earlier, younger stage of development.
pedophilianoun: A persistent pattern of sexual attraction focuses on children who have not reached puberty.
pedunclenoun: A stalk-shaped group of nerve fibers connects regions within the nervous system.
peduncular hallucinosisnoun: Changes affecting the upper brainstem can cause repeated, vivid visual experiences without matching external objects, often recognized as hallucinations.
peeping Tomnoun: This informal label describes someone who secretly watches others during private nudity or sexual activity for sexual excitement.
peernoun: A person similar in age, role, or group, especially someone a child spends time with.
peer counselingnoun: A person provides counseling to someone with similar standing or experience, often after receiving relevant training.
peer facilitationnoun: Someone helps fellow group members participate, learn, or solve problems using approaches related to peer counseling.
peer groupnoun: People of similar age or status who relate as equals and strongly shape one another's behavior.
peer pressurephrase: Pressure from same-age friends can push someone to match the group's rules, choices, or behavior.
peer ratingnoun: People evaluate the behavior or performance of others who share their group, role, or status.
peer reviewphrase: Other experts in the same field check a study before it is published or accepted.
peer tutoringnoun: A student who understands a topic helps another student learn its skills or ideas.
peg-word mnemonic systemnoun: A memory technique links list items through imagined scenes to familiar words paired with numbers.
pegboard testnoun: A person places small pegs into holes under timed conditions to assess hand coordination and fine movement speed.
Pelizaeus–Merzbacher diseasenoun: A rare genetic condition disrupts nerve insulation in the brain and spinal cord, affecting movement and development.
pellagranoun: Too little available niacin, a B vitamin, causes illness that can affect skin, digestion, and mental functioning.
pelvic floor exercisesnoun: Repeated tightening and relaxing of muscles beneath the pelvis aims to improve their strength and control.
pemolinenoun: A stimulant formerly used for ADHD was withdrawn from the United States market because of serious liver risks.
PENabbreviation: A shorthand for Eysenck's three personality dimensions: psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism.
penalty functionnoun: A mathematical rule makes a statistical score less favorable when an unwanted feature, such as excessive model complexity, increases.
pendular knee jerknoun: After a knee tendon tap, the lower leg swings repeatedly, a reflex pattern that can accompany cerebellar damage.
pendulum problemnoun: A task associated with Piaget tests systematic reasoning by asking what determines the timing of a swinging weight.
penetrancenoun: How often a gene variant actually shows its linked trait in people who carry it.
penetrating head injurynoun: An injury pierces or breaks open the skull, potentially damaging the brain beneath it.
penetrationnoun: In sexual terms, it means the penis enters the vagina past the outer lips.
penile plethysmographnoun: A measuring device records changes in penile size associated with blood flow and erection.
penile prosthesisnoun: A surgically placed device provides penile firmness to support sexual function when erections are difficult.
penisnoun: An external organ carries urine out and can deliver semen during sexual activity.
penis envyphrase: In Freud's theory, some girls supposedly wish they had a penis after noticing sex differences in childhood.
Pennhurst Consent Decreenoun: A court-approved agreement required Pennhurst's closure and individualized community support for its residents with intellectual disabilities.
penologynoun: This field studies correctional systems, punishment, and ways to support rehabilitation after criminal offenses.
Penrose staircasenoun: An impossible staircase drawing appears to rise or descend continuously while returning to its starting point.
Penrose trianglenoun: An impossible drawing shows three apparently solid bars meeting at right angles to form a closed triangular shape.
pentazocinenoun: An opioid pain medicine activates some opioid receptors while blocking or limiting activity at others.
pentobarbitalnoun: A barbiturate medicine slows nervous system activity and was historically used to promote sleep or sedation.
Pentothalnoun: This trade name identifies thiopental, a rapidly acting barbiturate used to produce anesthesia.
people-first languagenoun: This wording places the person before a disability or condition when describing someone.
pepsinogennoun: Stomach glands release an inactive substance that stomach acid helps turn into pepsin, an enzyme that digests proteins.
peptic ulcernoun: An open sore forms in stomach or duodenal tissue when protective defenses fail against digestive acid and enzymes.
peptidenoun: A relatively small molecule consists of amino acid units joined together through chemical links called peptide bonds.
peptide hormonenoun: A chemical messenger built from linked amino acids helps regulate body processes, sometimes including stress responses and social behavior.
per se exclusion rulenoun: A historical Minnesota court rule automatically barred witness evidence involving hypnosis because it could produce unreliable recollections.
per-comparison error ratenoun: The probability of a false positive applies to one particular statistical comparison within a larger set.
perceiveverb: To notice something through the senses or understand what it means.
perceived behavioral controlphrase: A person's belief about how much they can control whether they do a behavior.
perceived competencephrase: A person's belief that they can learn new skills and perform tasks well.
Perceived Fraudulence Scale (PFS)noun: A 51-item questionnaire measures how strongly people feel undeserving of their success or afraid of being exposed as incapable.
perceived realitynoun: A person's experience of what is real reflects their own perceptions and interpretations of the world.
perceived riskphrase: A person's own judgment about how likely and how serious a possible danger seems.
perceived selfnoun: A person's view of their own qualities forms their subjective picture of who they are.
perceived self-efficacynoun: A person's belief about their ability to handle a particular task or achieve a goal shapes their confidence in acting.
perceived simultaneitynoun: Sensory signals arriving at slightly different times are combined into an experience of events happening together.
perceived social support (perceived support)noun: A person's belief that others offer or would provide care and help reflects how supported they feel.
perceived susceptibilityphrase: How likely someone thinks they are to get a disease.
percentage reinforcementnoun: In operant learning, a fixed share of rewards otherwise due under an existing schedule is withheld.
percentilenoun: Shows what percent of scores are the same as or lower than a given score.
percentile reinforcementnoun: A learning procedure makes reinforcement depend on whether a response crosses a cutoff calculated from the person's previous responses.
perceptnoun: What someone experiences after the brain organizes sensory input into a meaningful object or event.
perceptionnoun: Using the senses, the mind organizes incoming information so things and events become meaningful.
perception deafnessnoun: Hearing is reduced when the inner ear or nerve pathways carrying sound information to the brain are impaired.
perception of spatial relationsnoun: People sense objects' shapes, sizes, positions, and directions, including how these relate as objects remain still or move.
perceptiveadjective: Someone described this way notices subtle details and makes thoughtful judgments about people, situations, or creative work.
perceptronnoun: A simple artificial neural model learns to classify inputs by adjusting how strongly each input contributes to its output.
perceptualadjective: Connected to noticing and making sense of sights, sounds, and other sensory input.
perceptual aftereffectnoun: Extended exposure to one sensory pattern temporarily changes how a later pattern is experienced, often in the opposite direction.
perceptual anchoringnoun: A sensory feature is judged using another stimulus as a reference point.
perceptual classificationnoun: Items are sorted into groups according to shared sensory features, such as color, shape, or texture.
perceptual closurenoun: The mind experiences a whole form even when some of its sensory details are missing.
perceptual constancyphrase: Lets us see an object's size, shape, or color as stable even when viewing conditions change.
perceptual cuesnoun: Sensory details help someone identify something or judge its features within a situation.
perceptual cycle hypothesisnoun: A proposed theory says expectations guide exploration, while information discovered through exploration updates those expectations in a continuing loop.
perceptual defensenoun: A psychoanalytic proposal suggests people unconsciously misperceive disturbing information in ways that reduce the anxiety it might cause.
perceptual deficitnoun: Difficulty organizing or making sense of sensory information can interfere with recognizing and understanding things in the environment.
perceptual developmentphrase: Growing ability to organize sights, sounds, and other sensations into meaningful patterns over time.
perceptual distortionnoun: A sensory experience presents things with altered qualities, such as a changed shape, size, sound, or position.
perceptual disturbancephrase: Problems taking in or organizing sights, sounds, body position, or space accurately.
perceptual expansionnoun: A person's ability to organize and understand thoughts, feelings, and sensory experiences becomes broader and richer.
perceptual extinctionnoun: After certain brain injuries, someone detects either side's stimulus alone but misses the side opposite the injury when both occur together.
perceptual fieldnoun: In Gestalt psychology, someone's entire currently experienced surroundings form a single field of awareness.
perceptual filteringnoun: Attention selects some available sensory information for processing because a person cannot fully handle everything arriving at once.
perceptual fluencynoun: A visual item can be processed with greater or lesser ease, often becoming easier after repeated exposure.
perceptual learningnoun: Experience improves the ability to notice sensory differences or recognize relationships among things in the environment.
perceptual maintenancenoun: Designing surroundings to support seeing, hearing, and suitable sensory stimulation helps people carry out the activities intended for that space.
perceptual maskingnoun: One sensory input makes another harder or impossible to detect when they occur together or close in time.
perceptual measurenoun: A test evaluates how someone responds to sensory information, such as judging orientation or naming colors amid competing cues.
perceptual neglectnoun: Following brain injury, a person has difficulty attending to sensory information from one side, often the left.
perceptual organizationnoun: The mind arranges sensory details into meaningful objects and patterns that are experienced as connected wholes.
perceptual organizational deficitnoun: Some people with schizophrenia have difficulty combining an object's visible parts into a unified whole.
perceptual representation system (PRS)noun: A proposed memory system helps recognize previously encountered words and objects through their sensory forms rather than their meanings.
perceptual restructuringnoun: New information leads someone to revise how they perceive something.
perceptual rivalrynoun: Awareness switches, usually without deliberate choice, between competing interpretations of the same sensory input.
perceptual schemanoun: A stored mental framework guides how someone interprets sensory information and what they expect to encounter.
perceptual segregationnoun: Boundaries or shifts in attention make one portion of a sensory scene stand apart from the rest.
perceptual sensitizationnoun: Emotionally significant or threatening events become detectable with weaker sensory signals than would otherwise be needed.
perceptual setnoun: Readiness shaped by expectations, goals, or experience makes someone more likely to notice or interpret things in particular ways.
perceptual speednoun: The ability to quickly and accurately compare simple visual details helps someone spot matches and differences.
perceptual stylenoun: A person's usual way of noticing, selecting, modifying, and interpreting sensory information shapes how they experience their surroundings.
perceptual synthesisnoun: Information across the senses combines into an understanding of the world and one's actions, with unnecessary details left out.
perceptual testnoun: A memory task relies on processing an item's sensory features, such as its appearance, rather than its meaning.
perceptual trainingnoun: Planned practice helps someone become better at recognizing and interpreting objects or events through their sensory features.
perceptual transformationnoun: An experience changes when the sensory input changes or when someone interprets it from a new perspective.
perceptual user interfacenoun: A computer interface detects and responds to human communication signals such as speech, gestures, movements, or facial expressions.
perceptual–motor coordinationnoun: Sensory information guides and adjusts movements as they happen.
perceptual–motor learningnoun: Practice builds a skill by connecting recognition of important sensory cues with suitable body movements.
perceptual–motor matchnoun: The ability to connect sensory information with movement responses learned earlier helps guide familiar actions.
perceptualizationnoun: In Arieti’s historical account of schizophrenia, abstract ideas become sensory experiences, such as hallucinations.
percipientnoun: In parapsychology, a person supposedly receives information through telepathy or another claimed extrasensory process.
percutaneous umbilical cord blood sampling (PUBS)noun: A prenatal test uses a needle through the pregnant person’s abdomen to collect umbilical blood for testing fetal conditions.
perdida del almanoun: In some Latin American cultural traditions, distress following a fright is understood as the soul leaving the body.
peregrinationnoun: Excessive travel between locations can include repeatedly seeking new hospitals in some cases of factitious disorder.
peremptory challengenoun: During jury selection, a party requests a potential juror’s removal without initially stating a specific justification.
perfect correlationphrase: Describes two measures that move in a completely exact pattern, so one score predicts the other score perfectly.
perfect pitchnoun: A person can recognize and name a musical note without first hearing a comparison note.
perfectionismnoun: Expecting yourself or others to do things flawlessly, even when the situation does not call for that much.
perforant pathnoun: A bundle of nerve fibers passes through the subiculum, carrying a major stream of incoming signals to the hippocampal formation.
performancenoun: How well a person carries out a task and produces results.
performance anxietynoun: Worry about doing a task badly, especially when others may judge the result.
performance appraisalnoun: A workplace evaluation of how well an employee is doing their job and meeting goals.
performance assessmentphrase: A workplace evaluation of how well someone is doing a job and whether their performance has improved or worsened.
performance contractnoun: A formal workplace agreement specifies an employee’s expected results and the pay or rewards linked to them.
performance enhancementnoun: Improving physical or mental abilities, including endurance, can raise achievement in an activity through training and other methods.
performance enhancing drugnoun: A substance is taken to boost strength, stamina, speed, or concentration, sometimes through misuse or prohibited use.
performance evaluationphrase: A workplace process that compares an employee's actual work results with the results expected by the organization.
performance goalnoun: In Dweck’s motivation theory, a person aims to show evaluators that they have a particular ability.
performance imagerynoun: Mentally recreating an activity’s sensations helps rehearse a performance or provides cues that guide actions while performing.
performance intensitynoun: The strength of engagement in an activity reflects qualities such as effort, alertness, commitment, and focused attention.
performance IQphrase: A score showing how well someone solves visual and hands-on tasks without much language.
performance managementnoun: An ongoing workplace system uses goals, feedback, reviews, and development opportunities to improve results for employees, teams, and organizations.
performance reviewphrase: A supervisor's formal check of how well a worker does the job, usually with feedback.
performance routinenoun: A planned sequence of mental and physical actions helps maintain attention, energy, confidence, and control during an activity.
performance testphrase: An ability test answered mostly with actions or object handling instead of words.
performance-operating characteristic (POC)noun: A graph compares success on two tasks performed together, showing possible tradeoffs as performance on either task changes.
performativeadjective: An utterance carries out an action through being spoken, as when someone makes a promise by saying so.
peri-prefix: A word beginning with this prefix describes something located around, surrounding, or near another thing.
Periactinnoun: A brand name for cyproheptadine identifies a medicine that blocks histamine and serotonin effects and treats several conditions.
periamygdaloid cortexnoun: An area of brain cortex surrounding the amygdala participates in processing smells, although its boundaries are not sharply defined.
periaqueductal gray (PAG)noun: A brainstem region surrounding the cerebral aqueduct helps organize defensive responses, including freezing.
perikaryonnoun: The main body of a neuron houses its nucleus and most structures that keep the cell functioning.
perilymphnoun: A liquid occupies the gap between the inner ear’s membrane structures and their surrounding bony enclosure.
perimenopausenoun: The transition around menopause involves changing reproductive hormones and often irregular menstrual periods, with physical and emotional experiences varying.
perimeternoun: An instrument maps where someone can detect visual signals while keeping their gaze fixed on a central target.
perimetrynoun: Testing measures how far a person’s vision extends and how sensitively they detect signals across that area.
perinatal asphyxianoun: Around birth, a baby experiences inadequate oxygen supply and carbon dioxide buildup because gas exchange is impaired.
perinatal herpes-virus infectionnoun: A baby acquires herpes simplex infection around birth, which can cause serious illness affecting the brain or other organs.
periodnoun: A repeating cycle's period is the time from one same point to the next.
period effectnoun: Living through a particular historical era or event influences outcomes across people of different ages.
period prevalencenoun: The count or proportion of people experiencing a condition at any time within a specified interval includes existing and new cases.
periodic reinforcementnoun: A behavior earns reinforcement when it is the first response after a fixed waiting interval has passed.
periodicitynoun: Events or patterns return at roughly regular intervals over time.
periodicity pitchnoun: A complex repeating sound can produce a low perceived pitch even when its corresponding fundamental frequency is absent.
periodicity theorynoun: A theory proposes that the timing patterns of auditory nerve signals encode the pitch people hear.
peripheraladjective: Away from the main center, such as nerves beyond the spinal cord or objects at vision's edges.
peripheral anticholinergic syndromenoun: Blocked acetylcholine receptors in peripheral tissues cause a cluster of bodily effects, including mouth dryness and skin flushing.
peripheral auditory systemnoun: The outer, middle, and inner ear together with the auditory nerve receive sound and carry hearing signals toward the brain.
peripheral cuephrase: A side feature, not the message's quality, that people use to judge something with little thinking.
peripheral dysarthrianoun: Damage to peripheral nerves controlling speech muscles can cause breathy speech, unclear consonants, and shortened phrases.
peripheral dyslexianoun: An acquired reading difficulty disrupts visual analysis of written words, including recognizing letters or attending to their arrangement.
peripheral dysostosis with nasal hypoplasianoun: A condition present from birth involves short, broad hands and feet and an underdeveloped nose, sometimes with learning or developmental difficulties.
peripheral nerve fiber classificationnoun: A system groups peripheral nerve fibers into A, B, and C classes by size, insulation, signal speed, and location.
peripheral nervous system (PNS)noun: The body's nerves connect organs, muscles, and sensory receptors with central processing in the spine and brain.
peripheral neuropathynoun: Damage to nerves outside the brain and spinal cord can cause weakness, numbness, pain, or reduced sensation.
peripheral precocious puberty (PPP)noun: Sex hormones cause unusually early physical signs of puberty without early activation of the brain’s usual puberty signaling system.
peripheral route to persuasionnoun: Attitudes change through cues such as a speaker’s appeal, with little careful consideration of the argument itself.
peripheral visionphrase: Seeing things off to the sides using parts of the retina outside the center.
peripheralismnoun: A historical behaviorist view explained psychological activity mainly through bodily events outside the central nervous system.
peripherynoun: The area of sight outside the tiny center point used for sharpest vision.
perirhinal cortexnoun: This cortical area beside the hippocampus helps recognize objects by linking what you see with stored memories.
perisylvian language zonenoun: Regions surrounding the brain’s lateral groove, usually on the left, support language and include Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.
peritraumatic dissociationnoun: During or shortly around a traumatic event, someone temporarily feels disconnected from themselves, their surroundings, or what is happening.
periventricular white matternoun: Brain tissue around the lateral ventricles consists mainly of nerve fibers wrapped in insulating myelin.
Perky effectnoun: Imagining something can make an actual, similar visual target harder to notice.
perlocutionary actnoun: Speaking produces an effect on someone else, such as convincing, entertaining, or encouraging them.
permanency planningnoun: A focused process sets deadlines and steps toward securing a lasting, safe home for a child experiencing abuse or neglect.
permanent vegetative statenoun: This historical diagnosis describes prolonged wakefulness without behavioral evidence of awareness, judged unlikely to improve.
permastorenoun: Extensively learned knowledge can remain available in memory for many years with little further loss.
permeabilitynoun: A material's capacity to let substances pass through it depends on its structure and the substances involved.
permeable familynoun: Some sociologists describe a flexible family pattern with varied membership, less rigid roles, and greater independence for members.
permissible exposure levelnoun: A workplace exposure threshold indicates when employers must introduce measures to limit contact with hazards such as excessive noise.
permission schemanoun: A learned reasoning framework helps people check whether required conditions are met before an action is allowed.
permissive parentingphrase: A warm but loosely controlled parenting style with few rules, limits, or consequences for misbehavior.
permissivenessnoun: An interpersonal approach gives others considerable freedom while placing relatively few limits on their choices and behavior.
permutationnoun: An arrangement of selected items counts as different whenever their order changes.
permutation testnoun: A statistical test compares an observed result with results from rearranging data in ways permitted by the null hypothesis.
peroneal muscular atrophynoun: An inherited condition damages nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, gradually weakening and shrinking muscles, especially in hands and lower legs.
perphenazinenoun: An older antipsychotic medicine in the phenothiazine family helps treat schizophrenia symptoms and can cause movement-related side effects.
persecution delusional disordernoun: A form of delusional disorder centers on persistent false beliefs that others intend to mistreat or conspire against the person.
persecutory delusionnoun: A firmly held false belief involves being targeted or threatened by others despite strong evidence against that interpretation.
perseverancenoun: Continuing toward a goal despite difficulty, discouragement, or sustained effort shows this quality.
perseverance effectnoun: Beliefs about oneself or other people can remain unchanged after their supporting evidence disappears or is disproved.
perseverationnoun: Getting stuck repeating an action, thought, or word when it no longer fits the situation.
perseveration–consolidation hypothesisnoun: A proposed memory account holds that repeated brain activity maintains fragile new information until it becomes more resistant to disruption.
perseverative errorphrase: Keeping the same wrong response even after being corrected or when the question changes.
persistencenoun: Keeping a behavior or effort going even after the trigger ends or things get hard.
persistence of an attitudenoun: An attitude's durability describes how consistently it lasts over time when nobody directly challenges it.
persistence of visionnoun: A visual impression can linger briefly after the object or light producing it has disappeared.
persistent complex bereavement disordernoun: A proposed DSM-5 diagnosis described lasting, disabling grief involving intense longing, preoccupation, or difficulty accepting someone's death.
persistent depressive disorderphrase: A long-lasting depressed mood, with other symptoms, continues most days for at least two years.
persistent noncognitive statenoun: An older label describes wakefulness without observable signs of awareness lasting longer than four weeks.
persistent puberismnoun: An older medical label describes arrested development of physical puberty traits, leaving those traits incompletely developed throughout life.
persistent vegetative state (PVS)noun: A prolonged condition involves waking and sleeping cycles without observable awareness for more than four weeks.
person in the patientphrase: Within a psychosomatic approach, a patient's personality and emotions are considered possible contributors to physical illness.
person perceptionphrase: How we notice, judge, and explain other people's actions and motives.
person-centered planningnoun: Planning services starts with an individual's strengths, wishes, and circumstances to support choices and meaningful participation in everyday life.
person-centered teamnoun: A support group chosen by someone with a disability or their advocate meets regularly to plan services around that person's priorities.
person-centered therapyphrase: A humanistic therapy where the therapist offers empathy, honesty, and acceptance so clients can grow and solve problems.
person-needs analysisnoun: A workplace review uses information about individual workers to identify training needs and assess readiness to learn.
person-yearsnoun: Researchers add each person's years of observation, exposure, or experience of a condition to measure combined time.
person–environment interactionnoun: A person's mental and physical abilities interact with surrounding demands, influencing how well they function and feel.
person–machine systemnoun: An integrated arrangement involves people, equipment, and work processes that depend on one another to operate.
personanoun: The social mask someone shows others, hiding deeper and more genuine parts of personality.
personal adjustmentnoun: Adapting to everyday demands includes managing relationships and meeting challenges within family and community life.
personal attributionnoun: An explanation links behavior or outcomes to someone's traits, feelings, abilities, choices, or effort.
personal auditnoun: An interview or questionnaire guides someone in examining their own strengths and areas of difficulty.
personal commitmentnoun: A person's dedication to particular beliefs, viewpoints, or causes can persist whether or not others share those convictions.
personal constructnoun: A mental category someone uses to interpret, predict, and manage people and events.
personal construct therapyphrase: A treatment that helps people test and revise the mental categories they use to understand life.
personal controlphrase: Feeling able to influence your own life and the outcomes that matter to you.
personal data sheetnoun: An organization uses a questionnaire to collect background information about people who work there or seek employment.
personal disjunctionnoun: A person senses a mismatch between how things seem or could be and what is objectively real or likely.
personal dispositionnoun: In Allport's theory, an enduring personality characteristic shapes behavior in a way distinctive to that individual.
personal distance zonenoun: A commonly described spacing for conversation with friends or acquaintances extends roughly half a meter to one and a half meters.
personal documentsnoun: People's writings, recordings, and similar creations can offer researchers clues about their personalities, values, feelings, and beliefs.
personal equationnoun: Differences in people's performance may arise from individual characteristics, historically including differences in observers' response speeds.
personal fablephrase: A teen's belief that their experiences are special and that bad things are less likely to happen to them.
personal identityphrase: A person's sense of being the same self over time, with their own traits, memories, and values.
personal involvementphrase: Caring about an issue because it connects to your own goals, values, or self-image.
Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)noun: A questionnaire asks people to choose between paired statements to estimate how fully they are developing and expressing their potential.
personal plannoun: An individual's picture of their future includes goals they intend to work toward.
personal probabilitynoun: A person's own experience and judgment shape their estimate of how likely an event is.
personal projectsnoun: Personally meaningful goals organize a person's activities over an extended stretch of time.
personal protective equipmentnoun: Wearable gear such as gloves or ear protection creates a barrier that reduces a person's exposure to workplace hazards.
personal spacephrase: The invisible bubble people keep around themselves helps them feel safe, comfortable, and in control.
personal space invasionnoun: Someone moves closer than another person finds comfortable or appropriate, intruding into their preferred surrounding space.
personal strivingsnoun: A person's ongoing goals form an interconnected system in which different aims can help or compete with each other.
personal unconsciousphrase: The hidden part of your mind holding forgotten, repressed, and below-awareness experiences unique to you.
personal-care attendantnoun: A paid helper hired by someone with a disability assists with everyday personal tasks, including dressing or eating.
personal-growth groupnoun: A small group uses direct emotional interaction and shared exercises to help members understand themselves and develop their abilities.
personal-growth laboratorynoun: A guided group course combines discussion and varied activities to build self-awareness, creativity, leadership skills, and sensitivity toward others.
personal-history questionnairenoun: A form collects details about someone's background, interests, abilities, family, and difficulties that may affect everyday functioning.
personalismnoun: A philosophical view holds that reality must be understood through each unique person as a whole, experiencing individual.
personalistic psychologynoun: A psychological school centers on each person's unique personality and how their traits work together to shape adjustment.
personalitynoun: A person's usual pattern of traits, feelings, and actions that shapes how they handle life.
personality assessmentphrase: The process of measuring a person's typical traits, feelings, and behavior patterns using tests, interviews, and observation.
personality changephrase: A lasting shift in usual ways of thinking, feeling, or acting that shape someone's personality.
personality correlatesnoun: These are traits associated with particular conditions, or other characteristics that vary alongside personality measurements.
personality cultnoun: Excessive devotion to a leader builds an idealized public image and may help that leader maintain power.
personality deteriorationnoun: An older clinical description identifies a gradual weakening of someone's identity, self-esteem, motivation, and emotional functioning.
personality developmentphrase: Over time, a person's typical feelings, behavior style, values, relationships, and self-view become more organized and stable.
personality disintegrationnoun: An older clinical description identifies a marked loss of organization among someone's beliefs, attitudes, traits, and behavior.
personality disorder (PD)phrase: A lasting, inflexible pattern of thinking, feeling, and relating that causes problems across many parts of life.
personality dysfunctionnoun: Patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating make it difficult for someone to manage daily life or relationships.
personality inventoryphrase: A questionnaire with fixed choices that measures personality traits using standard scoring and comparison groups.
personality processesnoun: Changing patterns of thought, emotion, and motivation show how personality operates during interactions with people and situations.
personality profilenoun: A visual summary combines personality test scores to show the pattern of a person's measured characteristics.
personality psychologyphrase: This area studies lasting patterns in how people think, feel, and act, including healthy traits and personality disorders.
personality structurephrase: The stable parts of a person's personality and how those parts fit together.
personality studynoun: Research examines how personality traits and changing processes shape emotions, behavior, adjustment, and development across life.
personality testphrase: A set of questions or tasks used to measure a person's usual traits and behavior patterns.
personality traitphrase: A lasting pattern in how someone usually thinks, feels, and acts across many situations.
personality typenoun: A broad category that groups people by shared personality traits, attitudes, and typical behavior patterns.
personality-based integrity testphrase: A hiring test that uses personality traits to estimate whether someone is likely to act honestly at work.
personality-guided therapynoun: A treatment framework uses a person's overall personality to choose methods for changing underlying patterns linked to psychological difficulties.
Personalized Implicit Association Testnoun: A timed sorting task uses personal liking categories without error feedback to reduce cultural influences when measuring automatic attitudes.
personalized instructionnoun: Teaching matches a learner's specific subject needs instead of relying only on their assigned grade or curriculum.
personalized medicinenoun: Health care uses individual biological features, lifestyle, and surroundings to guide diagnosis, prevention, or treatment.
personificationnoun: Sullivan proposed that experiences with someone organize the emotions and attitudes we hold toward that individual.
personnelnoun: The employees of an organization, especially when discussing hiring, testing, and job evaluation.
personnel datanoun: Employee information supports hiring, job assignments, and workforce management, including records of qualifications, pay, and performance.
personnel placementnoun: An organization assigns new or current employees to jobs that best match their qualifications.
personnel psychologyphrase: Part of I-O psychology focused on choosing, training, placing, promoting, and evaluating employees.
personnel selectionphrase: Choosing the job applicants who best fit a role using interviews, tests, and background information.
personnel specificationnoun: A written list identifies the qualifications, experience, abilities, and other relevant qualities required for a particular job.
personnel testnoun: An assessment measures job-relevant abilities, knowledge, interests, or personality to support hiring, assignment, or employee evaluation.
personnel trainingnoun: Organized workplace learning helps employees understand their roles, build skills and knowledge, or develop useful work attitudes.
personologynoun: An approach studies personality by considering the whole individual, including their experiences, needs, relationships, and ways of adapting.
perspectivenoun: Seeing a situation from a certain point of view, including your own and other people's.
perspective takingphrase: Seeing a situation from another person's point of view or from a different social role.
perspective theorynoun: A theory proposes that attitude ratings depend on both actual evaluations and the range of judgments someone considers possible.
perspectivismnoun: A philosophical position holds that truth cannot exist independently of the viewpoints and contexts through which it is understood.
perspirationnoun: Sweat released through the skin, often increasing with heat, exercise, stress, or fear.
persuasionnoun: An active effort to change someone's attitudes, beliefs, or feelings about something.
persuasion therapynoun: A historical supportive therapy uses reasoning, determination, and self-examination to encourage changes in unhelpful attitudes and behavior.
persuasive arguments theorynoun: A theory explains stronger group opinions as resulting from discussion that supplies more arguments supporting the majority's existing position.
persuasive communicationnoun: A message aims to strengthen or change someone's attitude or planned behavior through words, sounds, or images.
pertinence modelnoun: A proposed account of attention gives relevant information greater priority, allowing even weak signals to attract notice.
perturbationnoun: A person experiences emotional unease, anxiety, or distress, sometimes assessed by its intensity.
pertussisnoun: A contagious bacterial illness affects the airways and causes coughing fits, sometimes followed by a high-pitched breath.
pervasive developmental disordernoun: A historical diagnostic category grouped early developmental conditions involving social communication difficulties, repetitive patterns, or broader developmental changes.
perversionnoun: An outdated, judgmental label was applied to behavior, especially sexual behavior, that a culture considered unacceptable.
perverted logic (perverted thinking)noun: An outdated label describes persistently illogical reasoning or speech, sometimes involving beliefs disconnected from reality.
pessimismnoun: A habit of expecting bad outcomes and doubting that hopes or plans will work out.
PETabbreviation: A brain scan that shows which areas are using more energy during a task.
pet therapynoun: Planned therapeutic interactions with animals aim to support emotional, social, physical, or thinking abilities.
pet-assisted therapynoun: Treatment includes guided contact with animals to help people work toward emotional, social, cognitive, or physical goals.
petechial hemorrhagenoun: A tiny amount of bleeding into tissue creates a spot that may be as small as a pinprick.
Peter principlenoun: A proposed workplace pattern suggests successful employees keep receiving promotions until they reach roles they cannot perform well.
pethidinenoun: A synthetic opioid pain medicine, also called meperidine, acts on the nervous system to reduce pain.
petit mal seizurenoun: An older name describes an absence seizure, during which awareness briefly stops and the person may stare without responding.
petrificationnoun: During a form of fossil formation, minerals replace or fill organic material, turning preserved remains into stone.
petting behaviornoun: Sexual touching and other intimate contact may occur as preparation for further sexual activity or as an activity itself.
peyotenoun: A small cactus contains mescaline, a substance that changes perception, and has longstanding ceremonial importance for some Indigenous communities.
Pfaundler–Hurler syndromenoun: An inherited condition called Hurler syndrome causes complex sugars to accumulate in tissues, affecting physical growth and cognitive development.
Pfeiffer’s syndromenoun: A genetic condition causes skull bones to join too early and commonly includes unusually broad thumbs and big toes.
PFSabbreviation: The Perceived Fraudulence Scale is a questionnaire measuring feelings of being undeserving of success and fears of seeming incompetent.
PGabbreviation: A prostaglandin is a chemical messenger acting nearby in tissues to influence processes such as inflammation and muscle contraction.
PGNabbreviation: The paragigantocellular nucleus is a cluster of brainstem nerve cells associated with the regulation of sleep.
PGO spikesnoun: During REM sleep, pontine-geniculo-occipital spikes mark electrical bursts involving the pons, thalamic lateral geniculate nucleus, and the brain's occipital cortex.
PGRabbreviation: The abbreviation means psychogalvanic response or reflex, a sweat-related change in skin electricity that indicates bodily arousal.
pHnoun: A numerical scale describes how acidic or alkaline a solution is, with lower numbers indicating greater acidity.
phacomatosisnoun: A group of often genetic conditions causes unusual growths or tissue changes involving the skin, nervous system, and sometimes eyes.
Phaedra complexnoun: A historical psychological label describes a stepmother's romantic or sexual attraction toward her stepson.
phago- (phag-)prefix: This word part means eating or consuming and appears in terms describing how organisms or cells take material inside.
phagocytosisnoun: Certain cells surround and swallow particles, microbes, or cell fragments, then break them down inside.
phagomanianoun: An older clinical label describes unusually intense hunger or an overwhelming urge to keep eating.
phakomatosis (phacomatosis)noun: A group of often genetic conditions produces tissue abnormalities or growths involving skin, nervous tissue, and sometimes the eyes.
phakoscope (phacoscope)noun: An instrument allows observers to examine the eye's lens shape and watch it change as focus adjusts.
phallicadjective: Describing Freud's stage when children focus on the genitals and feelings toward their parents.
phallic characternoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory proposed a personality pattern involving boasting, exaggerated confidence, vanity, and sometimes competitive or compulsive sexual behavior.
phallic mothernoun: Historical psychoanalysis described a fantasy of a mother having a penis, sometimes interpreted symbolically through traits considered masculine.
phallic personalitynoun: A historical psychoanalytic proposal describes a personality marked by vanity, boasting, excessive confidence, and sometimes competition or compulsive sexual behavior.
phallic phasenoun: Freud proposed a third developmental stage, beginning near age three, when pleasure and curiosity center on the genitals.
phallic pridenoun: Historical psychoanalysis proposed that boys could feel powerful or superior because they had a penis, easing fears of losing it.
phallic sadismnoun: Historical psychoanalysis proposed childhood aggression linked to genital development, including interpreting intercourse as an aggressive act by the male partner.
phallic stagephrase: Around ages three to six, pleasure centers on the genitals and children notice sex-related body differences.
phallic symbolnoun: An object represents a penis through its shape or through a meaning people give it.
phallicismnoun: A religious or cultural practice honors male genitals, often treating them as symbols of fertility or nature's creative power.
phallismnoun: A form of reverence treats male genitals as sacred, often connecting them with fertility and life's creative forces.
phallocentricadjective: Such beliefs privilege masculinity by treating the penis as an important emblem of authority, creation, or reproductive strength.
phallusnoun: The word names a penis or an object representing one, sometimes used as a symbol of fertility or power.
phallus worshipnoun: A spiritual or cultural practice gives sacred importance to male genitals, especially as emblems of fertility and creative power.
phanerothymeadjective: Aldous Huxley proposed this historical word to describe drug effects understood as revealing the mind or soul.
phantasmnoun: An imagined or illusory appearance, often resembling an absent person or ghost, may be recognized as unreal.
phantasmagorianoun: A rapidly changing flow of strange, confusing, or misleading images may occur in dreams or hallucinations.
phantasticumnoun: This historical drug category covered substances that produce hallucinations, which are now generally grouped as hallucinogens.
phantasynoun: Melanie Klein's theory proposes unconscious imagined relationships, wishes, and impulses that help shape thinking and emotion.
phantomnoun: A felt sense that a missing body part is still there after amputation.
phantom breastnoun: After a breast is removed, someone may still feel it as present, sometimes with tingling or pain.
phantom colornoun: A person sees color when viewing certain patterns made only of black and white, such as a spinning disk.
phantom limbphrase: Feeling that a missing arm or leg is still there, sometimes with tingling or pain.
phantom-lover syndromenoun: A person holds a fixed false belief about being loved by, or sexually involved with, someone who does not exist.
phantosmianoun: A person experiences a smell even though no odor source is producing that sensation.
pharmacodynamic tolerancenoun: Repeated drug exposure makes target cells less responsive, so an unchanged dose produces a weaker effect.
pharmacodynamicsnoun: How drugs affect the body and work at cells and receptors.
pharmacogeneticsnoun: Researchers study how inherited gene differences influence medication effects, side effects, and the speed of drug breakdown.
pharmacogenomicsnoun: This research field examines how differences in people's genetic makeup affect their responses to medicines.
pharmacokineticsnoun: How a drug enters, moves through, changes in, and leaves the body.
pharmacological antagonismnoun: One substance reduces another's effect by occupying the same receptors without activating them.
pharmacologynoun: The science of how drugs affect the body and brain, including their helpful and harmful effects.
pharmacopeia (pharmacopoeia)noun: An authoritative reference lists medicines and information about their properties, preparation, quality, or use.
pharmacotherapeutic regimennoun: A medication treatment plan specifies which medicines to take, their doses, timing, and intended length of use.
pharmacotherapynoun: Treating a mental or physical disorder with medicine instead of talk therapy, surgery, or alternatives.
pharynxnoun: A muscular throat passage behind the nose and mouth carries air toward the larynx and food toward the esophagus.
phasenoun: One step or repeating part of a process, such as sleep cycles or stages of change.
phase lockingnoun: A hearing neuron tends to fire at a consistent point in a sound wave's repeating cycle, sometimes skipping cycles.
phase modulationnoun: A wave carries information through changes in its cycle position that follow changes in another signal's amplitude.
phase shiftnoun: The timing of a daily body rhythm moves earlier or later, sometimes making sleep and alertness mismatch daily demands.
phase spectrumnoun: A representation shows the cycle position of each frequency component within a sound or other waveform.
phasic activationnoun: A brief increase in brain activity supports attention and is associated with widely spreading signals from the thalamus.
phasic receptornoun: A sensory receptor responds strongly at first, then quickly sends fewer nerve signals when stimulation stays constant.
phatic communicationnoun: People exchange words mainly to create or sustain social connection, as with greetings and casual small talk.
phencyclidinenoun: Also known as PCP, this drug can cause altered perceptions and feelings of detachment, partly by blocking NMDA receptors.
phencyclidine intoxicationnoun: Recent use of PCP or a similar drug causes significant changes in thinking or behavior alongside physical signs.
phencyclidine intoxication deliriumnoun: PCP or similar drug intoxication can cause rapidly developing confusion and disturbed attention or awareness beyond the usual intoxication effects.
phenelzinenoun: An older antidepressant that blocks breakdown of brain chemicals and has many food and drug risks.
Phenergannoun: This brand name identifies promethazine, a medicine used for allergies, nausea, motion sickness, and sedation.
phenobarbitalnoun: A barbiturate medicine slows nervous system activity and treats certain seizures, with additional uses in managing some drug withdrawal.
phenocopynoun: An environmental influence produces a trait resembling one usually caused by a different genetic makeup.
phenomenanoun: Observable events or experiences that can be noticed, studied, or measured in psychology.
phenomenal absolutismnoun: The belief that our senses reveal reality directly assumes perception is unaffected by our personal viewpoint.
phenomenal fieldnoun: A person's surroundings, thoughts, and feelings together form the world they are aware of at a particular moment.
phenomenal motionnoun: Movement experienced by a person may reflect actual motion or arise even when nothing physically moves.
phenomenal selfnoun: The aspects of yourself currently in awareness shape how you experience who you are at that moment.
phenomenal spacenoun: The world someone experiences at a given moment includes everything they currently notice, think, or feel.
phenomenalismnoun: This philosophical view explains claims about physical things through sensory experiences people have or could have.
phenomenistic causalitynoun: In Piaget's theory, children may assume one event causes another simply because both occur nearby or close together in time.
phenomenological analysisnoun: Researchers describe experiences from the person's viewpoint while trying to set aside prior theories and explanations.
phenomenological deathnoun: A person experiences themselves as lifeless, unable to feel or respond, and may believe they are dead.
phenomenological fieldnoun: Everything a person currently experiences forms their subjective world, a central idea in Carl Rogers's personality theory.
phenomenological theorynoun: This approach explains personality and its changes by examining how people currently experience themselves and their surroundings.
phenomenological therapynoun: Therapy supports clients in discovering the meaning of their own experiences, emphasizing their perspective over the therapist's explanations.
phenomenologynoun: A way of studying experience by carefully describing what consciousness is like from the person's point of view.
phenomenonnoun: An event or thing that can be noticed, measured, or studied.
phenothiazinenoun: A member of this chemical family may be used as an older antipsychotic medicine that blocks certain dopamine receptors.
phenotypenoun: A person's observable traits come from genes working together with environmental influences such as nutrition, stress, and climate.
phenterminenoun: This stimulant medicine reduces appetite and is used to support weight loss.
phentolaminenoun: This medicine blocks alpha adrenergic receptors, widening blood vessels to lower blood pressure in certain conditions.
phenylalkylaminenoun: This broad chemical family includes drugs such as mescaline and MDMA that can change perception and experience.
phenylcyclohexyl derivativenoun: A drug in this chemical group, exemplified by phencyclidine, can produce anesthesia and feelings of separation from body or surroundings.
phenylethylaminenoun: In this usage, a drug belongs to a shared chemical family containing perception-altering substances such as mescaline.
phenylketonuria (PKU)noun: An inherited disorder prevents breaking down phenylalanine, and without early diet treatment it can harm brain development.
phenylpyruvic acidnoun: This substance forms when the body processes phenylalanine through an alternative pathway and can accumulate in phenylketonuria.
phenytoinnoun: This medicine helps control certain epileptic seizures by limiting repeated electrical firing in brain cells.
pheochromocytomanoun: A tumor usually inside an adrenal gland can release excess adrenaline and related hormones, causing high blood pressure and other symptoms.
pheromonenoun: An organism releases a chemical outside its body that affects behavior or bodily responses in others of its species.
phi coefficientnoun: This statistic measures the relationship between two variables that each have exactly two possible categories.
phi phenomenonnoun: Flashes at separate locations can create a feeling of movement without a clearly seen object traveling between them.
phi–gamma functionnoun: An S-shaped cumulative normal curve links stimulus strength with response probability during testing with a fixed set of stimuli.
Phillips Rating Scale of Premorbid Adjustment in Schizophrenianoun: This scale uses case histories to rate functioning before schizophrenia began and help estimate its later course.
philo- (phil-)prefix: This word part adds the meaning of loving something or taking an interest in it.
philologynoun: Scholars examine written records to understand how languages developed and how different languages are historically connected.
philopatrynoun: An animal tends to remain in, or return to, the area where it was born.
philosophical psychologynoun: This field examines the basic ideas, assumptions, and philosophical questions behind psychological theories and research methods.
philosophical psychotherapynoun: This form of psychological treatment draws on philosophical ideas to explore thinking, feelings, actions, and questions about living.
philosophical zombie (p-zombie)noun: An imagined being is physically and behaviorally identical to a conscious person but has no inner experience.
philosophynoun: The study of big questions about reality, knowledge, and right and wrong that helps shape psychology.
philosophy of mindnoun: This field explores consciousness, thought, and how mental experience connects with the brain, body, and surrounding world.
philosophy of sciencenoun: This field examines how science works, what counts as scientific knowledge, and what makes an explanation scientific.
phimosisnoun: A tight foreskin cannot be pulled back far enough to uncover the head of the penis.
Phineas Gagenoun: This nineteenth-century injury survivor became a famous case linking frontal brain damage with reported changes in personality and behavior.
phlebotomynoun: A medical procedure removes blood, usually through a needle in a vein, for testing or treatment.
phlegmatic typenoun: An ancient personality classification attributed low energy and limited emotional responsiveness to an excess of phlegm in the body.
PHOabbreviation: A physician–hospital organization brings hospitals and physician groups under shared ownership and governance to negotiate payment contracts and pursue common goals.
phobianoun: A strong, lasting fear of a specific thing or situation that leads to avoidance or extreme distress.
phobic anxietynoun: Intense fear centers on a particular object or situation despite little or no actual danger.
phobic attitudenoun: In Perls's theory, a person avoids uncomfortable present experience by shifting awareness elsewhere, such as into fantasies about the future.
phobic avoidancephrase: People with phobias purposely stay away from things or situations that make them feel intense fear.
phobic characternoun: In psychoanalytic theory, this historical label describes someone who habitually manages anxiety through strong, fearful avoidance.
phocomelianoun: A limb difference present from birth leaves hands or feet close to the trunk because intervening limb sections are missing.
Phoenix Housenoun: This organization is known for providing substance use treatment and prevention services for adolescents and adults.
phonnoun: A loudness level unit matches a sound to an equally loud 1,000-hertz tone's sound pressure level in decibels.
phon-prefix: This word part contributes a meaning connected with sound, speech, or the voice.
phonasthenianoun: The voice tires or weakens, sometimes after heavy use or alongside general physical weakness.
phonationnoun: Air passing through the voice box makes the vocal folds vibrate, creating voiced sound.
phonenoun: One distinct speech sound a person makes, whether or not it changes word meaning.
phonemenoun: A basic speech sound that can change a word's meaning in a language.
phoneme–grapheme correspondencenoun: A language connects its distinct speech sounds with the letters or letter groups used to represent them.
phonemic awarenessnoun: A person can notice and distinguish the individual speech sounds that make up spoken words.
phonemic disordernoun: A speech difficulty affects the use or distinction of sounds that separate one word from another.
phonemic restoration effectnoun: Listeners may perceive missing speech sounds as present when noise covers them and surrounding speech supplies clues.
phonemicsnoun: A branch of language study examines which speech sound differences change meaning within a particular language.
phonetic symbolismnoun: A proposed connection links certain word sounds with aspects of their meanings beyond purely arbitrary naming.
phoneticsnoun: The study of how speech sounds are made, heard, and physically differ from each other.
phonicsnoun: A reading approach teaches connections between written letters or letter groups and speech sounds to help learners decode words.
phonismnoun: An automatic hearing experience occurs when a different sense, such as sight or touch, is stimulated.
phono- (phon-)prefix: This word part contributes a meaning connected with sound, speaking, or the voice.
phonogramnoun: A written mark represents a speech sound, a syllable, or an entire spoken word.
phonological awarenessnoun: A person can notice and distinguish sound patterns in speech, including rhymes, syllables, and individual speech sounds.
phonological buffernoun: A proposed working memory component briefly keeps speech sounds available before they fade unless mentally repeated.
phonological disorderphrase: A child has ongoing trouble using age-expected speech sounds not explained by hearing, body, or nerve problems.
phonological dysgraphianoun: A writing difficulty makes it hard to turn speech sounds into written spellings.
phonological dyslexianoun: A reading difficulty especially affects sounding out pronounceable invented words, while familiar word reading may be stronger.
phonological loopphrase: Part of working memory that briefly holds spoken sounds by silently repeating them to keep them active.
phonological paraphasianoun: A speech disturbance changes intended words by replacing, rearranging, omitting, or inserting individual sounds.
phonological recodingnoun: During reading, written marks are converted into speech sounds that can form recognizable words.
phonological storenoun: In a working memory model, a temporary storage component retains speech sounds that quickly fade without rehearsal.
phonologynoun: The sound system of a language, including its speech sounds and rules for using them.
phonopathynoun: An older, rarely used label covers disorders affecting the voice.
phonopsianoun: Hearing sounds automatically brings experiences of color in this form of synesthesia.
phonosurgerynoun: Surgery aims to preserve or improve voice quality or make producing vocal sounds easier.
phorianoun: The term describes eye alignment, especially a tendency to drift when the eyes cannot combine their images.
phosphenenoun: A flash or glow is perceived even though no outside light produced that visual experience.
phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5 inhibitor)noun: A medicine blocks an enzyme that breaks down cyclic GMP, helping certain muscles relax and blood vessels widen.
phosphoinositidenoun: A membrane fat containing inositol and phosphate helps control signals within cells, including nerve cells.
phosphorylationnoun: A chemical process attaches phosphate groups to another molecule, often changing how a protein works.
photic drivingnoun: Rhythmic light flashes cause electrical activity in the brain's outer layer to follow the flashing rhythm.
photismnoun: A person experiences light without an outside source, sometimes automatically because another sense has been stimulated.
photo- (phot-)prefix: This word part adds a meaning connected with light or photography to a larger word.
photoagingnoun: Repeated exposure to ultraviolet light gradually causes skin changes such as wrinkles and other signs of damage.
photobiologynoun: A scientific field studies how light affects living things, including their bodies, behavior, and mental processes.
photocoagulationnoun: A medical procedure uses concentrated light, usually a laser, to heat and coagulate proteins in selected tissue.
photocounselingnoun: Counseling uses images from a person's life to explore experiences, understand needs, and strengthen connection with the therapist.
photogenic epilepsynoun: A form of epilepsy involves seizures triggered by certain visual conditions, such as flickering illumination.
photographic memorynoun: An informal label describes unusually accurate, detailed recall, without establishing that memory stores perfect visual copies.
photomanoun: A person sees apparent sparks or flashes that do not come from an external visual source.
photomanianoun: An older descriptive term means an unusually intense craving for light, especially sunshine.
photometernoun: An instrument measures light levels while accounting for how strongly human vision responds to different wavelengths.
photometrynoun: A measurement method quantifies light according to the sensitivity of human vision.
photonnoun: The smallest packet of light energy that travels in electromagnetic waves.
photoperiodismnoun: Animals and plants adjust bodily processes or behavior in response to changing daylight duration or environmental light intensity.
photophobianoun: Light causes unusually strong discomfort or pain because a person is highly sensitive to it.
photopicadjective: This describes seeing under bright lighting, when cone cells provide most visual information.
photopic luminositynoun: Different light wavelengths have different visual effectiveness when the eyes are adapted to bright conditions.
photopic stimulationnoun: Visual input reaches the eyes under lighting bright enough for cone cells to dominate vision.
photopic visionnoun: In bright conditions, cone cells support sight with color information and fine detail.
photopic-sensitivity curvenoun: A graph shows how visual sensitivity changes across wavelengths in bright conditions, with greatest sensitivity near 555 nanometers.
photopigmentnoun: A substance in the eye's light receptors absorbs light and begins chemical changes that produce an electrical response.
photopsianoun: A person experiences flashes, glows, or simple visual patterns without a matching outside source.
photopsinnoun: A protein in cone cells joins with retinal to form a pigment sensitive to particular light wavelengths.
photoreceptornoun: A light-sensing cell in the retina, such as a rod or cone.
photosensitivitynoun: An increased reaction to light can affect the skin, eyes, or nervous system, sometimes because of medication.
phototaxisnoun: An organism changes location by moving closer to light or farther from it in response to illumination.
phototherapynoun: Treatment using bright light to reduce depression linked to seasonal darkness.
phototropismnoun: An organism, especially a plant, grows or orients in a direction determined by light without traveling to another place.
PHRabbreviation: This abbreviation names the point-hour ratio, an academic average found by dividing grade points by total attended class hours.
phrasenoun: A group of words that acts together in a sentence but does not make a full clause.
phrase markernoun: A tree diagram shows how words fit into phrases and how those phrases form a sentence.
phrase-structure grammar (PSG)noun: A grammar system uses rules that replace sentence parts with smaller units to describe how grammatical sentences can be built.
phratrynoun: A kinship group joins several clans that claim shared ancestry, usually traced through either mothers or fathers.
phrenic nervenoun: A nerve running from the neck controls the diaphragm for breathing and carries sensation from some nearby tissues.
phreno- (phren-)prefix: This word part adds the meaning of mind or brain to a word.
phrenologynoun: A discredited historical theory claimed skull shape revealed personality and abilities by indicating the sizes of underlying brain regions.
phthalatenoun: A chemical in a family often used to make plastics flexible may also interfere with hormone activity.
phthinoidadjective: In Kretschmer's disputed historical classification, this described a slight, poorly developed build with a narrow, flattened chest.
phthisic typenoun: In Carus's historical classification, this body category described a slender build with a flattened chest resembling illness-related wasting.
phylogenetic principlenoun: A rejected historical theory claimed an individual's development repeats the evolutionary stages of its species.
phylogenynoun: The evolutionary history of a group traces its origins and relationships across generations.
phylumnoun: A major biological grouping sits below kingdom and brings together related classes of organisms.
physiatrics (physiatry)noun: A medical specialty helps people improve daily functioning through rehabilitation, pain care, exercises, and supportive equipment.
physical abilitiesnoun: Bodily capacities, including strength, quickness, and balance, influence how someone performs movement and physical tasks.
physical abusephrase: Intentional violence that injures someone's body, often by a caregiver or partner, and can cause lasting harm.
physical activityphrase: Body movement made by skeletal muscles that uses more energy than the body needs at complete rest.
physical agenoun: An estimate of bodily maturity compares skeletal development with typical bone development at different calendar ages.
physical anthropologynoun: A field studies human biological origins, evolution, variation, and adaptation to different environments.
physical dependencephrase: After repeated drug use, the body adapts and causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the person stops.
physical determinismnoun: A philosophical view holds that physical causes determine events, including thoughts and actions, according to natural laws.
physical disorderphrase: A mental or behavior problem caused by disease or damage in the body or brain.
physical examinationphrase: A health professional checks the body and basic body functions to find illness or other medical problems.
physical extension devicenoun: An assistive tool extends a disabled person's reach so they can touch, move, or operate objects.
physical mapnoun: A chromosome diagram locates genes and DNA markers using distances counted in DNA base pairs.
physical medicine and rehabilitationnoun: A medical specialty assesses and treats physical limitations to improve functioning through rehabilitation, pain care, and supportive devices.
physical modalitynoun: This treatment applies heat, cooling, or other physical methods to relieve pain or help injured tissue recover.
physical symbol system hypothesisnoun: A proposed theory holds that manipulating physically represented symbols is required for general intelligence and can produce it with suitable organization.
physical therapy (PT)noun: Professional care uses movement training and other physical methods to improve mobility, ease pain, and prevent functional difficulties.
physicalismnoun: A philosophical position holds that everything that exists, including the mind, is physical or depends entirely on physical reality.
physician assistant (PA)noun: A licensed health professional provides medical care in collaboration with physicians, with responsibilities depending on local rules.
physician-assisted suicidenoun: A physician provides the means for a person to end their own life at that person's request.
physician–hospital organization (PHO)noun: Hospitals and physician groups jointly own and manage an organization to negotiate payment contracts and pursue shared goals.
physiogenicadjective: This describes a disorder that arises from processes within the body.
physiognomic perceptionnoun: A perceptual tendency makes objects seem to express emotions, such as a cheerful color or a gloomy building.
physiognomynoun: A discredited practice claims that facial appearance reveals a person's character or personality.
physiologic nonepileptic seizurenoun: An episode resembling an epileptic seizure arises from another bodily disturbance, such as fainting, rather than epileptic brain activity.
physiological agenoun: An estimate of biological condition compares how body systems function with typical patterns of development, health, and aging.
physiological antagonismnoun: Two substances act through different receptors to produce opposing effects on a bodily function.
physiological arousalphrase: Body activation during emotion or stress, shown by changes like faster breathing, higher blood pressure, and slowed digestion.
physiological assessmentnoun: An evaluation checks how the body or its parts work by examining physical and chemical processes.
physiological correlatenoun: A bodily measurement varies alongside a behavioral measurement, without that relationship alone showing that either causes the other.
physiological cyclenoun: A repeating pattern of bodily changes unfolds over time, such as alternating sleep and wakefulness.
physiological dependencenoun: The body adapts to repeated drug exposure so that stopping or reducing it can produce withdrawal symptoms.
physiological dysfunctionnoun: A problem disrupts how cells, tissues, or organs carry out their usual chemical and physical activities.
physiological factorsnoun: Features of how the body works, including hormone activity and circulation, can influence an outcome or condition.
physiological measurenoun: An instrument or measurement method records bodily activity, such as heartbeat speed or skin sweating, often during research.
physiological motivenoun: A drive to act comes from a basic bodily requirement, such as needing food, water, or sleep.
physiological needphrase: A basic body requirement needed to stay alive, including eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping.
physiological nystagmusnoun: Tiny, quick, normal eye movements help maintain vision while someone keeps looking at a scene.
physiological paradigmnoun: A perspective explains mental disorders through altered brain structures or bodily processes and emphasizes treatments targeting those changes.
physiological psychologynoun: A branch of psychology investigates how bodily processes relate to thinking, feelings, and behavior.
physiological response specificitynoun: A proposed principle holds that a person tends to show the same kind of bodily response across different situations.
physiological salinenoun: A water solution contains 0.9 grams of sodium chloride per 100 milliliters, approximately matching the osmotic concentration of extracellular fluid.
physiological zeronoun: A contact temperature produces no feeling of warmth or cold on the skin.
physiologynoun: How living bodies and body parts work, including their chemical and physical processes.
physiopathologynoun: A field studies how disease or disorder changes the way the body and its organs function.
physiotherapynoun: Trained practitioners use exercises and other physical treatments to support movement, reduce pain, and improve everyday functioning.
physique typenoun: A category describes someone's overall body build, sometimes within historical theories linking bodily features with personality.
physostigminenoun: A drug increases acetylcholine signaling by slowing its breakdown and can reverse certain anticholinergic drug effects.
phytoestrogennoun: A plant compound can interact with estrogen receptors and produce some effects resembling those of estrogen.
PIabbreviation: Earlier learning makes it harder to remember or learn newer information.
pia maternoun: A thin protective membrane hugs the brain’s folds and directly surrounds the spinal cord.
pia-arachnoidnoun: Two inner membranes surrounding central nervous tissue, the arachnoid and pia, are grouped together as one anatomical structure.
Piagetian tasknoun: An activity developed by Jean Piaget tests how infants, children, or teenagers understand and reason about their world.
Piagetian theorynoun: Jean Piaget proposed that children develop thinking through four stages, building understanding through experience and changing mental frameworks.
pibloktonoun: A historical label described episodes of intense agitation, altered awareness, and later memory gaps reported among some Arctic Indigenous people.
picanoun: An eating disorder involving repeated eating of nonfood items like dirt, paint, hair, or plaster.
Pick’s diseasenoun: A brain disease involving abnormal protein deposits called Pick bodies progressively affects behavior, language, and thinking.
Pickwickian syndromenoun: An older name describes obesity-related breathing that is too shallow, causing excess carbon dioxide while awake and often sleep problems.
picrotoxinnoun: A research substance blocks GABA-related inhibition in the nervous system, increasing nerve activity and potentially causing seizures.
pictophilianoun: Sexual interest or arousal arises from looking at erotic images or films.
pictorial imagerynoun: Mental pictures represent things remembered or imagined, even when those things are not currently visible.
pictorial realismnoun: A display follows this design principle when its images match how users expect the represented system to work.
picture superiority effectnoun: People tend to remember objects better after seeing their pictures than after reading their names.
picture-anomalies testnoun: A visual assessment asks someone to identify impossible or nonsensical details in cartoons to examine problems with visual understanding.
picture-arrangement testnoun: A subtest in older Wechsler intelligence scales asks people to order drawings into a sensible story.
picture-completion testnoun: A visual test asks people to identify important details left out of drawings showing familiar things.
picture-interpretation testnoun: An assessment asks people to explain an image's meaning to help explore thinking abilities or personality.
picture-world testnoun: A projective assessment asks children to build stories around realistic scenes, adding elements to portray an actual or wished-for world.
pidginnoun: A contact language develops among people without a shared language, combining language elements for limited practical communication.
pie chartnoun: A circle split into slices to show how each category makes up part of a whole.
piecewise regressionnoun: A statistical method fits separate line segments to different data ranges, allowing the relationship's slope to change.
pieceworknoun: Workers earn pay according to how many units of work they complete.
Pierre Robin sequencenoun: A condition present from birth involves a small lower jaw and backward tongue position that can obstruct breathing and feeding.
pigeon breastnoun: A chest shape has a breastbone that projects farther outward than usual.
pigment bleachingnoun: Light changes the structure of rhodopsin, reducing its color as it starts the process of visual signaling.
pigment epitheliumnoun: A layer of colored retinal cells absorbs stray light and maintains nearby light receptors by clearing shed material.
pigment regenerationnoun: The eye rebuilds working rhodopsin after light has changed it, restoring the pigment's ability to detect light.
Pike’s Peak modelnoun: A professional training framework outlines skills psychologists need when providing psychological care to older adults.
pilocarpinenoun: A drug activates certain acetylcholine receptors, stimulating parasympathetic responses and helping reduce eye pressure in glaucoma.
pilocytic astrocytomanoun: A usually slow-growing, grade one tumor develops from brain or spinal support cells called astrocytes.
piloerectionnoun: Tiny skin muscles automatically raise body hairs in response to cold or emotion, producing goosebumps in humans.
pilot selectionnoun: An assessment process evaluates whether applicants have the abilities and movement coordination needed to fly aircraft.
pilot studyphrase: A small test run checks methods and measures before a larger research study begins.
Piltz’s reflexnoun: An automatic pupil widening occurs when a person directs attention toward something.
pimozidenoun: A conventional antipsychotic blocks dopamine D2 receptors and is also used to manage severe tics associated with Tourette syndrome.
pincer gripnoun: A person holds a small object using the thumb and index finger together.
pineal glandnoun: A small brain gland that releases melatonin, a hormone that helps control sleep and daily rhythms.
Pinel’s systemnoun: Philippe Pinel's historical classification grouped mental conditions into melancholia, mania with delirium, mania without delirium, and dementia.
pink noisenoun: A random signal has power per unit of frequency that decreases as frequency increases, giving equal power across octaves.
pink-collar workernoun: An employee works in an occupation historically associated with women, often involving care, service, or office support.
pinnanoun: The visible outer ear gathers sound and directs it into the ear canal.
Piper’s lawnoun: Under certain conditions, quadrupling an evenly lit retinal area outside central vision halves the brightness needed for detection.
piperidinedionenoun: A drug from this chemical group was historically used for sedation or insomnia and has effects resembling barbiturates.
piriform areanoun: A region of the brain's smell-processing cortex receives odor information and connects with other regions, including memory-related structures.
pitchnoun: The perceived highness or lowness of a sound lets people place it on a musical scale.
pitch discriminationnoun: A listener detects differences in how high or low sounds seem.
pithiatismnoun: A historical label proposed that symptoms then called hysterical could arise through suggestion and disappear through suggestion.
Pitres’ rulenoun: A historical proposal predicts that multilingual people recovering from aphasia regain their previously most-used language first.
Pittsburgh Healthy Heart Project (PHHP)noun: Researchers followed healthy older people over time to examine links between stress, social conditions, biology, and early artery changes.
pituitarismnoun: Abnormal pituitary gland activity involves producing too much or too little of its hormones.
pituitary adenomanoun: A noncancerous growth develops in the pituitary gland and may affect hormone production or nearby structures.
pituitary cachexianoun: A historical diagnosis describes severe bodily wasting associated with pituitary failure and reduced activity in other hormone-producing glands.
pituitary glandnoun: A small gland under the brain releases hormones that control growth and tell other glands what to do.
pituitectomynoun: An operation removes the pituitary, a gland that releases hormones controlling several important body functions.
piturinoun: This Australian shrub, scientifically named Duboisia hopwoodii, supplies psychoactive leaves used in some Aboriginal traditions.
pitynoun: A feeling of sadness and concern arises when someone else is struggling or experiencing misfortune.
pivot grammarnoun: Early two-word speech combines a frequently repeated word in a fixed position with words from a larger, changing set.
pivotal variablenoun: A quantity combining sample information and population values has a known probability distribution that does not depend on unknown population values.
PKabbreviation: An abbreviation for psychokinesis names the unproven ability to move objects or influence outside events using thought alone.
PKUabbreviation: An inherited disorder that prevents breaking down phenylalanine, a protein building block, risking brain damage without a special diet.
place attachmentnoun: An emotional bond with a location can provide comfort, security, and a sense of who someone is.
place cellnoun: A hippocampal nerve cell increases its signaling when an animal reaches or approaches a specific spot in its surroundings.
place conditioningnoun: Learning links a location with rewarding experiences, making that place more attractive afterward.
place learningnoun: Learning establishes where a goal is located, allowing someone to find it without relying only on a practiced movement sequence.
place theorynoun: A hearing theory proposes that perceived pitch depends on where vibration peaks along the inner ear's basilar membrane.
placebonoun: An inactive treatment used as a comparison to test whether a real treatment truly helps.
placebo control groupnoun: Study participants receive a lookalike substance without the tested drug ingredient so researchers can compare their outcomes with treated participants.
placebo controlled trialnoun: A clinical study compares a treatment's outcomes with outcomes in participants receiving a placebo.
placebo effectnoun: Expectations and the treatment setting can produce real changes in symptoms or experience beyond a treatment's specific active effects.
placebo groupnoun: A set of study participants receives a placebo, providing a comparison for people receiving the treatment being tested.
placement counselingnoun: Guidance helps people find suitable employment and prepare for applications, interviews, and other steps toward getting work.
placement testnoun: An educational assessment helps choose a class or learning level suited to a student's current skills, knowledge, or interests.
placentanoun: A temporary pregnancy organ connects with the uterus, exchanging nutrients, oxygen, and wastes between maternal and fetal blood supplies.
Placidylnoun: A former brand name identifies ethchlorvynol, a sedative once used to induce sleep but now considered clinically obsolete.
placingnoun: A baby's reflex of lifting a foot onto a surface during the first three months.
plain English lawnoun: A legal rule requires understandable wording in certain documents, or a law itself uses language intended for general readers.
PLANnoun: A mental map for an intended action that helps guide what someone says or does.
plan-continuation biasnoun: People sometimes stick with an existing plan even after changing circumstances make it unsuitable or unworkable.
Planck’s principlenoun: A proposed account says scientific ideas gain acceptance mainly as newer generations replace scientists committed to older views.
plane symmetrynoun: A pattern on a flat surface has transformations, such as reflection, rotation, or shifting, that leave its appearance unchanged.
planned behaviorphrase: Actions a person chooses and can control, rather than automatic or reflexive responses.
planned comparisonphrase: A planned comparison tests a specific group difference chosen before the data are examined.
planned groupnoun: People deliberately establish a group for a purpose, often specifying membership, roles, goals, and ways of working.
planned obsolescence theorynoun: A group of aging theories proposes that inherited genetic instructions set a biological timetable for growing older.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)noun: A United States organization promotes reproductive health services, sexual education, research, and policies supporting access and individual rights.
planning fallacynoun: People tend to predict that a task will take less time than it actually needs, often because they imagine ideal progress.
plantar reflexnoun: Stroking the sole normally makes the toes curl downward after infancy as the nervous system matures.
planum temporalenoun: A region beside the primary hearing cortex helps process sound and language and is usually larger on the left.
plaquenoun: A localized patch of changed tissue forms when substances collect or tissue becomes damaged, including in some brain disorders.
plastic surgerynoun: A surgical specialty repairs, rebuilds, or reshapes body tissues to improve their functioning, appearance, or both.
plastic tonusnoun: A muscle condition allows a limb moved by another person to remain in its new position, sometimes for hours.
plasticitynoun: The brain and body can change with experience, helping learning and lasting adjustment.
plateaunoun: A temporary period when progress in learning seems to stop before improvement starts again.
plateau phasenoun: In a proposed sexual response model, strong arousal continues during a stage between initial excitement and possible orgasm.
Plateau’s spiralnoun: A rotating black-and-white spiral produces an illusion of opposite movement in stationary objects after someone watches it steadily.
Platonic idealismnoun: Plato's philosophy proposes that perfect, timeless forms are more fundamentally real than the changing objects people perceive.
Platonic lovenoun: An affectionate bond involves love without sexual desire or sexual behavior between the people involved.
platycephalynoun: A skull shape has an unusually flattened crown at the top of the head.
platykurticadjective: Describes a score distribution flatter than normal, with fewer middle scores and more extreme scores.
playnoun: Freely chosen enjoyable activity that helps children build thinking, social, and emotional skills.
play group psychotherapynoun: A psychoanalytic group treatment uses shared play to help preschool children express feelings, interact, and develop self-control.
play therapynoun: A therapist uses play to help children express feelings, explore difficulties, and practice new ways of responding.
playactingnoun: People take imagined roles to explore feelings, relationships, and different ways of responding to situations.
playfulnessnoun: A tendency toward fun, joking, and lighthearted interpretations helps people approach experiences without excessive seriousness.
playground designnoun: Planning children's recreation spaces involves choosing layouts and features that can shape how children play and interact.
playing possumphrase: An animal becomes motionless when threatened, creating the appearance of being dead as a defensive response.
pleasantnessnoun: A positive feeling accompanies enjoyable experiences or events that fit someone's wishes and goals.
pleasurenoun: A good feeling that comes from enjoying something or expecting something you want.
pleasure centernoun: A proposed brain region produces pleasure when activated, although rewarding stimulation does not prove that a region specifically generates pleasure.
pleasure principlephrase: Pushes a person to seek immediate pleasure and release tension, especially in Freud's idea of the id.
pleniloquencenoun: A compelling urge to keep talking makes stopping feel difficult.
pleonasmnoun: An expression includes extra words that repeat meaning already supplied by its other words.
pleonexianoun: An older descriptive term names an unusually intense desire to acquire possessions or have more.
plethysmographynoun: A measurement method records the volume of a body part or changes in that volume, often reflecting blood flow.
plexiform layernoun: Either of two layers in the retina contains connections where nerve cells exchange signals involved in vision.
plexiform molecular layernoun: The outermost layer of the neocortex contains many nerve fibers and relatively few nerve cell bodies.
plexusnoun: An interconnected web of nerves, blood vessels, or similar body structures forms a shared network.
PLISSITabbreviation: A sexual counseling model offers permission, limited information, specific suggestions, and intensive therapy according to a person's needs.
plosivenoun: A speech sound such as p or b is produced by blocking airflow and then releasing it suddenly.
Plummer’s diseasenoun: Overactive thyroid nodules produce excess thyroid hormone, potentially causing nervousness, shaking, weight loss, and a racing heart.
plural marriagenoun: A marriage arrangement allows someone to have multiple spouses at the same time.
pluralismnoun: A viewpoint recognizes that something can have several aspects, causes, or meanings.
pluralistic ignorancephrase: Many group members privately disagree, but each wrongly thinks most others accept the group's usual view.
plus mazenoun: A cross-shaped maze with four arms helps researchers study how animals learn routes and remember locations.
plutomanianoun: An unusually intense drive to gain wealth and possessions dominates a person's interests or efforts.
PMabbreviation: The part of memory holding a small amount of information briefly for immediate use.
PMSabbreviation: Premenstrual syndrome involves recurring physical or emotional symptoms before a menstrual period that ease after bleeding begins.
PMTabbreviation: Teaches parents to use clear rules and rewards to reduce a child's acting-out behavior.
PNCabbreviation: The preferred noise criterion sets acceptable levels for continuous background sound inside enclosed spaces.
PNESabbreviation: A seizure-like episode caused by psychological distress, not by the brain's electrical seizure activity.
pneumo-prefix: This word part adds a meaning involving air, gas, or lungs to another word.
pneumoencephalographynoun: An obsolete brain imaging procedure introduced air into fluid-filled brain spaces to make them visible on X-rays.
pneumogastric nervenoun: Another name for the vagus nerve describes a major pathway carrying sensory signals and helping control internal organs.
pneumographnoun: An instrument records breathing by tracking chest movements or changes in lung volume.
PNSabbreviation: The nerves outside the brain and spinal cord that carry messages through the body.
POCabbreviation: A performance-operating characteristic plots results from two simultaneous tasks against each other to show possible tradeoffs.
POEabbreviation: A postoccupancy evaluation examines people's experiences of a completed building to assess how well it meets their needs.
poetry therapynoun: A therapeutic approach uses reading or creating poems to support emotional expression and personal growth.
Poetzl phenomenonnoun: A historical claim proposes that unnoticed words or pictures can later appear in dreams or mental images.
Poggendorf illusionnoun: Two visible pieces of a diagonal line appear misaligned when a strip with parallel edges hides the middle.
POIabbreviation: The Personal Orientation Inventory uses paired statements about values and behavior to assess progress toward fulfilling one's potential.
poikilothermnoun: An animal's body temperature varies substantially, often changing with the temperature of its surroundings.
point biserial correlation coefficientphrase: A statistic showing how strongly a score relates to a yes-or-no variable.
point estimatephrase: A single sample-based number used to guess a population value.
point localizationnoun: The ability to identify where the skin was touched helps people locate a physical sensation.
point methodnoun: A job evaluation system assigns points to levels of required skills, responsibility, and other factors to guide pay.
point mutationnoun: A lasting genetic change alters a single DNA building block, or sometimes a few nearby ones.
point of subjective equality (PSE)noun: A comparison stimulus reaches the level where someone judges it higher or lower than a standard with equal probability.
point prevalencenoun: The number or proportion of people with a condition is measured at one particular moment.
point scalenoun: Uses numbers for each answer choice and adds them to score a trait or interest.
point-light displaynoun: Moving dots marking body locations let researchers study how people recognize movement without seeing the body's outline.
point-of-service plan (POS plan)noun: A health insurance arrangement coordinates care through a primary doctor and usually charges more for providers outside its network.
point–hour ratio (PHR)noun: An academic average comes from dividing a student's accumulated grading points by their total course hours for that term.
pointingnoun: A coordination test where someone touches a target finger first with eyes open, then closed.
Poisson distributionnoun: A probability model describes event counts within a fixed interval when events occur independently at a constant average rate.
Poisson regressionnoun: A statistical method estimates how predictors relate to expected event counts, using a Poisson model for the outcome.
polar bodynoun: A tiny cell formed during egg development receives chromosomes but little cell material and usually breaks down.
polar continuumnoun: A continuous range connects two opposite endpoints and includes the values between them.
polarizationnoun: After group discussion, people's views often move toward a stronger, more extreme position.
polarized membranenoun: A cell boundary separates electrical charges, creating a voltage difference between its inner and outer sides.
polarized thinkingnoun: A thinking pattern treats situations as opposite extremes while overlooking reasonable possibilities in between.
police psychologynoun: A specialty applies psychology to law enforcement through services such as employee selection, work readiness assessments, and counseling.
police-assisted suicidenoun: A suicidal person intentionally seeks to cause their own death through a police officer's use of deadly force.
policy analysisnoun: A systematic comparison of policy options weighs evidence, costs, benefits, and likely outcomes to support decisions.
policy researchnoun: Studies gather and analyze real-world evidence to help organizations or governments develop policies.
polionoun: A viral infection can damage nerve cells involved in movement, sometimes causing muscle weakness or paralysis.
polioencephalitisnoun: An infection causes inflammation in brain tissue containing mainly nerve cell bodies, known as gray matter.
poliomyelitisnoun: An infection with poliovirus can inflame nervous tissue and sometimes cause muscle weakness, paralysis, or breathing difficulties.
politenessnoun: Using gentle, face-saving words to protect another person's dignity, comfort, and sense of control during interaction.
political correctnessphrase: Trying to avoid words or actions that insult or unfairly target people based on group identity.
political geneticsnoun: Historical attempts used ideas about genetics to justify political systems or policies, often including discredited claims of inherited group superiority.
political psychologynoun: A field examines how thoughts, emotions, and social influences shape political beliefs, behavior, and decision making.
political sciencenoun: An academic field studies governments, power, public decisions, and political behavior within and between societies.
political socializationnoun: People learn political expectations, values, and beliefs through families, schools, friends, media, and other social influences.
political sociologynoun: A field studies how social relationships, groups, and structures shape political power, institutions, movements, and policies.
pollutionnoun: Unwanted substances or other contaminants enter the environment and can affect living conditions, health, and behavior.
poltergeistnoun: An alleged unseen presence is said to cause unexplained household noises or movements of objects.
poly-prefix: This word part adds the meaning of many, much, or an excessive amount.
polyamorynoun: A person has, or is open to, multiple romantic or intimate partnerships with everyone's knowledge and freely given agreement.
polyandrynoun: An animal mating pattern pairs a female with several males, each mating only with her.
polychoric correlation coefficientnoun: A statistical measure estimates how two underlying continuous characteristics relate, using observations recorded in ranked categories.
polychotomous variablenoun: A measured characteristic sorts observations into at least three categories, which may have a meaningful order or none.
polydipsianoun: Unusually strong thirst leads to excessive drinking and can arise from physical conditions, psychological factors, or conditioning.
polydrug abusenoun: An older label describes harmful use involving several drugs that repeatedly causes significant problems in daily life.
polydrug dependencenoun: A person develops physical reliance, psychological reliance, or both on several drugs.
polyestrousadjective: An animal described this way has several reproductive cycles with periods of sexual receptivity during one year.
polyethismnoun: Members of an animal group, especially an insect colony, divide work into different specialized tasks.
polygamynoun: A marriage arrangement allows a person to have several spouses simultaneously.
polygenicadjective: Caused or influenced by two or more genes.
polygenic disordernoun: A health condition develops through contributions from many genes, often together with environmental influences.
polygenic inheritancephrase: Many genes together shape one trait, such as height, skin color, or risk for a disorder.
polygenic traitnoun: A characteristic, such as height, is influenced by many genes working together.
polyglotnoun: A person can use several languages to communicate with others.
polyglot reactionnoun: During recovery from brain-related language impairment, a multilingual person regains a nonnative language before their native language.
polygraphnoun: An instrument records several bodily responses, such as pulse and sweating, but cannot establish whether someone is lying.
polygynandrynoun: An animal mating pattern allows both males and females to have several partners.
polygynynoun: An animal mating pattern pairs a male with several females, each mating only with him.
polymerase chain reaction (PCR)noun: A laboratory technique makes many copies of a selected DNA segment so researchers can study it.
polymicrogyrianoun: A brain development condition produces an unusually large number of small folds on the cerebral cortex.
polymodaladjective: A process or structure described this way involves several kinds of sensory information.
polymorphic fusiform layernoun: The deepest neocortical layer, layer six, contains neurons with varied shapes, including spindle-shaped and pyramid-shaped cells.
polymorphic layernoun: The inner region of the dentate gyrus, called the hilus, contains varied neurons and fibers from granule cells.
polymorphismnoun: A population contains distinct forms of a physical characteristic, behavior, or gene.
polymorphous perversitynoun: Freud proposed that infants experience sexual pleasure through many body areas and ordinary activities.
polyneuritisnoun: Several nerves become inflamed, usually outside the brain and spinal cord, potentially causing pain or muscle weakness.
polyneuropathynoun: A disorder damages many peripheral nerves, potentially affecting sensation, muscle control, or automatic body functions.
polynomialnoun: A mathematical expression adds terms containing constants and variables raised to nonnegative whole-number powers.
polynomial contrastnoun: A statistical comparison tests whether averages across at least three ordered conditions follow a particular straight or curved pattern.
polynomial regressionnoun: A statistical model uses powers of a predictor, such as squares or cubes, to describe curved relationships with an outcome.
polyopianoun: A visual disturbance makes a single object appear as several images.
polyorchidismnoun: A person is born with at least three testicles instead of the usual two.
polypeptidenoun: A long chain of amino acids joined through peptide bonds can form part or all of a protein.
polyphagianoun: An unusually strong drive to eat leads a person to consume excessive amounts of food.
polypharmacynoun: A person uses several medications during the same treatment period, sometimes to improve results beyond what one medication achieves.
polyphasic activitynoun: A person performs several activities simultaneously, a behavior described within the Type A personality pattern.
polyphasic sleepnoun: Sleep is spread across several relatively short periods during a full day and night.
polysemynoun: A single word carries several related meanings that listeners distinguish using context.
polysensory unitnoun: A nerve cell or sensory receptor normally responds to several different kinds of stimulation.
polysomnographynoun: An overnight test records brain, breathing, heart, and eye activity to help diagnose sleep problems.
polysubstance dependencenoun: An older label describes physical or psychological reliance on several drugs, also known as polydrug dependence.
polysurgical addictionnoun: A historical label describes a compulsive urge to seek repeated operations despite no identified physical disease explaining their need.
polysynaptic arcnoun: A nerve pathway links sensory input to a response through multiple synapses and at least one intervening neuron.
polysynaptic reflexnoun: An automatic response travels along a nerve pathway containing at least two synapses.
polytomous variablenoun: A measured characteristic has at least three possible categories, whether ranked or unranked.
POMCabbreviation: Proopiomelanocortin is a protein that enzymes cut into smaller signaling molecules, including hormones involved in stress and pain regulation.
POMRabbreviation: A problem-oriented medical record organizes patient information into background details, identified problems, treatment plans, and progress updates.
POMSabbreviation: The Profile of Mood States questionnaire asks people to rate feelings across six dimensions of temporary mood.
ponsnoun: A brainstem area that relays signals and helps balance and smooth voluntary movement.
pontine nucleusnoun: A cluster of neurons in the lower pons relays information from the cerebral cortex to the cerebellum.
pontine sleepnoun: This sleep state includes characteristic electrical spikes across the pons and connected visual regions, associated with REM sleep.
pontine–geniculo–occipital spikesnoun: Brief voltage peaks linked with REM sleep appear in the occipital cortex, pons, and lateral geniculate nucleus.
pontocerebellar pathwaynoun: A bundle of nerve fibers connects pontine nuclei with the cerebellum, supplying information that helps fine-tune movements directed by cerebral cortex.
Ponzo illusionnoun: Equal lines appear different in length when surrounding slanted lines suggest depth, making the apparently farther line look longer.
pooled estimatephrase: A single best guess of a population value made by combining independent estimates.
pooled interdependencenoun: People or teams work separately, then combine their results to meet a shared organizational goal.
poolingnoun: Combining several separate estimates into one average value, sometimes giving some estimates more weight than others.
poor premorbid schizophrenianoun: A historical label described gradually developing schizophrenia with early onset and social or developmental difficulties before symptoms appeared.
pop-outnoun: A visual target stands out immediately because a basic feature differs from surrounding items, even among many distractions.
popular childnoun: In peer rating research, this child receives many positive nominations and relatively few negative ones.
popular psychologynoun: Psychological ideas shared with or understood by the public may range from accurate explanations to oversimplified advice.
populationnoun: The whole group a researcher wants to study and draw conclusions about.
population attributable risk (PAR)noun: This estimates the excess disease rate across a population attributable to a particular exposure, assuming the relationship is causal.
population correlation coefficientnoun: A number describes the strength and direction of association between two continuous measurements throughout an entire population.
population densitynoun: How many people or other living things are in a certain amount of space.
population distributionphrase: Shows how all scores on a variable are spread across the entire group being studied.
population meanphrase: The true average score or value for every member of the whole group being studied.
population psychologynoun: This field studies how population patterns, such as migration and family size, connect with people's attitudes and behavior.
population researchphrase: Studies how groups grow, shrink, move, and spread across places, and why those changes happen.
population standard deviationphrase: Shows how spread out all scores in a whole population are around the average.
population stereotypenoun: In product design, a generalization about a user group's typical abilities or expectations guides how systems are arranged.
population validityphrase: Shows whether results from a study sample can apply to the larger group of interest.
population variancephrase: Shows how spread out all scores in a whole group are by squaring the standard deviation.
population vectornoun: A combined directional signal from many motor cortex neurons represents intended movement, weighting each neuron's preferred direction by its activity.
PORabbreviation: A problem-oriented record organizes patient information into background details, identified concerns, treatment plans, and progress updates.
porencephalynoun: An uncommon brain condition involves abnormal fluid-filled cavities within the tissue of a cerebral hemisphere.
poriomanianoun: An older clinical label describes an overwhelming urge to leave or wander, sometimes accompanied by memory loss.
pornographomanianoun: An older label describes compulsive writing of sexually explicit letters or sexual excitement associated with writing obscene language.
pornographynoun: Sexually explicit writing, images, or recordings are created mainly to produce sexual arousal in their audience.
pornolagnianoun: An obscure historical label describes a sexual preference for partners who provide paid sexual services.
porphyrianoun: A group of disorders disrupts heme production, allowing chemicals to accumulate and sometimes causing neurological or psychological symptoms.
PORTabbreviation: This research group evaluated schizophrenia care and produced recommendations to help people achieve better results from treatment.
port-wine stainnoun: A lasting reddish or purplish birthmark results from unusually formed small blood vessels in the skin.
portal-systemic encephalopathynoun: Brain functioning changes when substances normally cleared by the liver accumulate, potentially affecting thinking, mood, behavior, and movement.
Porter–Lawler model of motivationnoun: This work motivation model links effort, abilities, performance, rewards, and perceived fairness to explain employee satisfaction and motivation.
Porter’s lawnoun: This principle states that flickering light must flash faster to appear steady as its brightness increases logarithmically.
Porteus Maze Testnoun: An early intelligence assessment uses drawn mazes to examine planning ahead and reasoning through possible routes.
Portman Clinicnoun: A British clinic founded in 1933 used psychoanalytic approaches to study and treat difficulties involving delinquency and behavior.
portmanteau neologismnoun: A newly created word blends pieces of two or more existing words into one expression.
Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)phrase: A standard survey rates the kinds and levels of worker behaviors a job requires, helping compare jobs.
position effectnoun: Where something appears in a series can change how well it is remembered or noticed.
position powernoun: Influence that comes from holding an official role others accept as having authority to make decisions.
positional alcohol nystagmus (PAN)noun: Alcohol causes repeated involuntary sideways eye movements that continue after certain changes in head position.
positional cloningnoun: Researchers identify a disease-related gene by locating its chromosome position, even when its biological function is unknown.
positive accelerationnoun: Learning or performance improves by increasingly larger amounts over repeated practice attempts.
positive addictionnoun: A proposed concept describes strong urges for activities such as meditation as potentially beneficial habits that support well-being.
positive affectphrase: Feeling pleased, calm, or happy when goals are met, danger is avoided, or things seem satisfying.
Positive Affect Scalenoun: This ten-item section of PANAS asks people to rate feelings such as enthusiasm, energy, and determination during a specified period.
positive afterimagenoun: A brief visual impression remains after something disappears, keeping roughly the original appearance in color and brightness.
positive afterpotentialnoun: After an electrical impulse, a nerve or muscle cell briefly becomes less polarized and easier to excite again.
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)noun: A twenty-item questionnaire separately measures energetic, pleasant feelings and distressing feelings over a specified time period.
positive attitudenoun: In counseling, a client feels accepting or approving toward the therapist, treatment, another person, or themselves.
positive contingencynoun: One event is more likely when another event occurs than when that other event does not occur.
positive contrastphrase: A bigger response in one setting after rewards or conditions get worse in another setting.
positive correlationphrase: When one measure goes up or down, the other tends to move the same way.
positive discriminationphrase: Giving preference to people from disadvantaged groups to correct past unfair treatment.
positive discriminative stimulusphrase: A cue showing that a response will be rewarded with something pleasant.
positive emotionphrase: A feeling such as happiness, relief, or contentment that happens when things go well or danger passes.
positive eugenicsnoun: A discredited historical approach encouraged reproduction among people judged to have supposedly superior inherited traits.
positive exercise addictionnoun: This proposed concept describes feeling dependent on a regular workout routine while experiencing benefits to bodily health and emotional well-being.
positive family historynoun: A person's relatives have a particular condition or pattern of illness, which may suggest inherited susceptibility.
positive feedbacknoun: Supportive responses like praise or approval that tell someone their behavior or performance is going well.
positive hallucinationnoun: A person experiences a sight, sound, or other sensation without a matching external source.
positive hit ratephrase: Among people predicted to succeed, the proportion who actually do succeed.
positive illusionnoun: An overly favorable belief about oneself, personal control, or future outcomes persists beyond what available evidence supports.
positive incentivenoun: A wanted object or situation draws someone toward actions that could help them obtain it.
positive motivationphrase: Wanting to act because it can bring a reward or other desired result.
positive practicephrase: After a misbehavior, the person repeatedly practices the correct behavior to reduce the problem.
positive psychologyphrase: An approach in psychology that studies strengths, happiness, and supportive settings that help people thrive.
positive punishmentphrase: Adding something unpleasant after a behavior to make that behavior happen less often.
positive regardphrase: Showing warmth, caring, and acceptance toward someone helps them feel worthwhile and grow in healthy ways.
positive reinforcementphrase: A behavior happens more often when it is followed by something pleasant or rewarding.
positive relationshipphrase: When one thing goes up, the other tends to go up too, or both go down together.
positive reward theorynoun: This theory proposes that people use substances because they expect or experience enjoyable, satisfying effects.
positive schizophrenianoun: A historical classification describes schizophrenia dominated by hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech and behavior.
positive self-talkphrase: Using kind, helpful thoughts to guide yourself and challenge harsh or untrue ideas.
positive skewphrase: A distribution with most scores low and a long tail stretching toward higher scores.
positive stereotypephrase: A fixed belief that a group shares especially good traits, even when people differ.
positive symptomnoun: An added or distorted experience, such as a hallucination or delusion, can occur in schizophrenia and other conditions.
positive transfernoun: Earlier learning makes a new skill or subject easier to learn because useful knowledge carries over.
positive transferencephrase: When a client feels warmth, trust, or admiration toward a therapist based on earlier important relationships.
positive tropismnoun: An organism grows or turns toward a stimulus, such as a plant bending toward light.
positive–negative asymmetrynoun: Negative information often influences judgments, feelings, and decisions more strongly than equally significant positive information.
positivismnoun: A family of philosophical views holds that reliable knowledge should rest on observation and scientific testing.
positivist criminologynoun: This approach explains criminal behavior through biological, psychological, and social influences rather than treating free choice as the complete explanation.
positivity effectphrase: Older adults often notice and remember positive information more than negative information, more than younger people do.
positron emission tomography (PET)phrase: A brain scan that tracks radioactive tracers to show activity, blood flow, and chemical use.
possessionnoun: A state in which someone is believed to be controlled by a spirit or demon.
possession trancenoun: During this altered state, someone experiences their usual identity as replaced by an outside being or force, sometimes with memory gaps.
possessivenessnoun: An excessive need to claim ownership can involve controlling another person's choices, time, or relationships.
possible selfnoun: A mental picture of who someone might become can reflect hopes or fears and guide future choices.
post hoc comparisonnoun: Researchers make this unplanned statistical comparison after collecting data, often to explore differences suggested by earlier analyses.
post hoc testphrase: A follow-up statistical check comparing specific groups after an overall test shows a real difference.
post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)noun: An emergency course of medicines after possible HIV exposure lowers the chance that infection will develop.
postcaptivity health problemsnoun: Physical and psychological difficulties can continue or emerge after someone is released from being held captive.
postcentral areanoun: This sensory brain region behind the central sulcus helps process touch, body position, and movement sensations.
postcentral gyrusnoun: This folded ridge behind the brain's central sulcus contains the primary cortical region for processing body sensations.
postchiasmatic visual deficitnoun: Damage beyond the optic nerve crossing disrupts brain processing of vision, affecting corresponding parts of both eyes' visual fields.
postcognitionnoun: In parapsychology, this proposed ability involves experiencing past events or knowing their details without ordinary sources of information.
postcolonialismnoun: This field examines colonization's lasting effects on cultures, identities, power, and the experiences of people who were colonized.
postcompetition anxietynoun: Worry after a contest can concern unmet goals, others' judgments, or expectations created by the result.
postconcussion syndromenoun: Ongoing symptoms after a concussion can affect thinking, mood, sleep, and physical comfort beyond the usual recovery period.
postconventional levelphrase: At this highest moral stage, people judge right and wrong by chosen ethical principles beyond group rules.
postcopulatory behaviornoun: In nonhuman animals, actions immediately after mating may include resting, making sounds, guarding a partner, or handling sperm.
postcreolization continuumnoun: A range of connected language varieties can develop as a creole changes through contact with a socially dominant language.
postdictive validitynoun: A measure shows this validity when its scores match earlier records of the behavior it aims to assess.
postemployment servicesnoun: Support after someone starts work helps people facing disability or financial barriers keep their jobs and progress.
postencephalitic amnesianoun: Following viral brain inflammation, some people have serious difficulty remembering recent experiences and lose memories from before the illness.
postencephalitis syndromenoun: Lasting or delayed health problems can develop as consequences of brain inflammation, including difficulties with movement.
posterioradjective: Located behind or toward the back part of the body or brain.
posterior cerebral arteryphrase: A brain blood vessel that brings oxygen-rich blood to the occipital lobe, thalamus, and lower temporal areas.
posterior chambernoun: A small eye space behind the iris and ahead of the lens contains watery fluid called aqueous humor.
posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)noun: This rear section of the cingulate cortex participates in personal memories, attention, and thinking about oneself.
posterior commissurenoun: A small nerve-fiber bridge links regions across the brain's midline near the midbrain and diencephalon.
posterior communicating arterynoun: A connecting blood vessel links internal carotid and posterior cerebral arteries within the arterial ring beneath the brain.
posterior cortexnoun: In this usage, the brain's occipital outer layer includes primary visual processing tissue and nearby visual regions.
posterior cortical atrophy (PCA)noun: Progressive tissue loss in rear brain regions causes difficulties interpreting visual information and may affect reading, spelling, and calculation.
posterior cranial fossanoun: A hollow at the rear of the skull's inner base holds the cerebellum and parts of the brainstem.
posterior distributionnoun: In Bayesian statistics, updated probabilities for unknown values combine earlier expectations with evidence from newly observed data.
posterior hornnoun: This rear extension of a lateral brain ventricle contains the fluid that surrounds and cushions nervous tissue.
posterior nucleusnoun: Here, a cluster of thalamic nerve cells responds to visual signals and helps distinguish different brightness levels.
posterior pituitaryphrase: The back part of the pituitary gland stores and releases hormones made by the hypothalamus.
posterior probabilitynoun: The chance something is true after you include new related information you have observed.
posterior rhizotomynoun: Surgeons cut selected sensory spinal nerve roots to reduce pain or excessive muscle tightness.
posterior rootnoun: This bundle carries sensory messages into the spinal cord through an entry on its back side.
postfigurative culturenoun: In Margaret Mead's framework, this cultural pattern centers on younger generations learning mainly from older generations.
postformal thoughtnoun: A proposed form of adult reasoning accepts uncertainty and contradictions, combining different viewpoints to handle complex situations.
postganglionic autonomic neuronnoun: An autonomic nerve cell with its body in a ganglion sends signals onward to an organ.
postherpetic neuralgianoun: Persistent nerve pain can remain in an area affected by shingles after the rash has healed.
posthypnotic amnesianoun: After hypnosis, a person has difficulty recalling events from the session, often following a suggestion to forget them.
posthypnotic suggestionnoun: An instruction offered during hypnosis asks someone to respond later, sometimes when a particular cue appears.
postictaladjective: Describing the period after a seizure or stroke, when confusion and memory problems may occur.
postlingually deafenedadjective: This describes someone who became deaf after having already learned a language.
postmenopausenoun: This life phase follows menopause, after menstrual periods have permanently ended.
postmodernismnoun: These philosophical approaches question universal accounts of truth and emphasize how language, culture, and experience shape knowledge and identity.
postmortem examinationnoun: A medical examination of a deceased person's body investigates disease, injury, and the circumstances of death.
postnatal periodnoun: Here, the first roughly six weeks after childbirth involve recovery as the reproductive system moves toward its earlier condition.
postoccupancy evaluation (POE)noun: Researchers assess people's experiences in a completed building to understand how its design meets needs and shapes behavior.
postoperative complicationnoun: An additional health problem develops after surgery and may relate to the procedure, anesthesia, infection, or existing illness.
postpartum bluesnoun: Brief sadness, tearfulness, or mood changes commonly occur during the first days after giving birth.
postpartum depressionphrase: A serious depression that begins within months after childbirth and lasts longer than normal baby blues.
postpartum periodnoun: During roughly six weeks after giving birth, the reproductive system recovers and gradually moves toward its condition before pregnancy.
postpartum psychosisnoun: A serious condition after childbirth involves losing touch with reality through experiences such as hallucinations, delusions, or severe confusion.
postpositivismnoun: These approaches move beyond strict positivism, treating scientific knowledge as revisable and shaped partly by assumptions and interpretation.
postreconstructive surgerynoun: An additional operation after reconstructive surgery aims to improve the repaired area's functioning, sometimes by repositioning muscles, tendons, or nerves.
postreinforcement pausenoun: During operant learning, this gap begins when reinforcement finishes and ends when the same kind of behavior happens again.
postrotational nystagmusnoun: The eyes make quick, repeated movements without deliberate control after the body stops spinning rapidly.
postschizophrenic depressionnoun: A period of depression can develop after an episode of intense schizophrenia symptoms has eased.
poststructuralismnoun: An intellectual movement questions whether language, knowledge, and personal identity can have completely fixed meanings.
postsynapticadjective: Describes the side of a nerve-cell junction where chemical messages arrive and trigger a response.
postsynaptic potential (PSP)noun: A receiving nerve cell undergoes a local voltage change when a signal arrives through a connection with another cell.
postsynaptic receptornoun: A protein on or inside a receiving nerve cell responds to chemical messengers and helps change that cell's activity.
posttestnoun: A measure given after a treatment or study condition to see what changed.
posttest counselingnoun: After genetic results are shared, counseling helps people understand their meaning, consider next steps, and address emotional needs.
posttest-only control-group designnoun: An experiment randomly assigns people to treatment and control groups, then measures outcomes afterward without a baseline test.
posttetanic potentiation (PTP)noun: After a nerve cell fires rapidly, its next signals temporarily produce stronger electrical responses in receiving cells.
posttraumatic amnesia (PTA)noun: Memory becomes disrupted after physical injury or severe psychological distress, leaving gaps about the event or what followed.
posttraumatic disordersnoun: Psychological conditions can develop following overwhelming experiences, affecting emotions, memory, behavior, or a person's sense of connection.
posttraumatic epilepsynoun: A lasting tendency to have repeated seizures can develop after a brain injury, sometimes becoming apparent much later.
posttraumatic growthnoun: Positive changes in priorities, relationships, or personal strength may emerge as someone works through deeply challenging experiences.
posttraumatic personality disordernoun: A historical label describes lasting changes in emotional reactions, impulse control, or social behavior following a severe head injury.
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)phrase: A trauma-related disorder with intrusive memories, avoidance, numbness, and constant alertness after experiencing or witnessing severe danger.
posttreatment follow-upnoun: Later checkups assess how someone is doing after treatment and whether improvements continue or difficulties return.
postulatenoun: A basic statement accepted as true and used to build a theory.
postural aftereffectnoun: A person's body position briefly changes because an earlier sensory experience continues to influence posture after it ends.
postural arm driftnoun: Outstretched arms slowly shift from their held position while the eyes are closed, often moving toward the body's center.
postural controlnoun: The body manages its position and balance through coordinated muscle activity and information from the senses.
postural hypotensionphrase: A drop in blood pressure when someone stands up, causing dizziness or faintness.
postural instabilityphrase: Trouble keeping the body balanced while standing or walking, common in middle-stage Parkinson's disease.
postural mirroringnoun: Someone partly or fully copies another person's posture or gestures, often without noticing they are doing so.
postural reflexnoun: An automatic movement or muscle adjustment helps keep the body balanced and in its intended position.
postural setnoun: A person adopts a ready position with increased muscle tension before making an expected response.
postural tremornoun: A body part shakes while someone deliberately holds it steady against gravity, such as keeping an arm raised.
posturenoun: The way someone's body is positioned or held, such as standing upright or lying face up.
posturingnoun: Someone holds an unusual body position for a prolonged time, a movement symptom that can occur in catatonia.
postventionnoun: Support offered after a suicide or other traumatic death helps bereaved relatives, friends, and communities cope with the loss.
postventral nucleusnoun: A region of the thalamus passes sensory information from the body and face to brain areas that process bodily sensations.
postvoluntary attentionnoun: Focus stays active and productive with little felt effort because an activity has become absorbing and meaningful.
potnoun: A common slang word for marijuana, a drug made from the cannabis plant.
potassium channelnoun: A protein passage through a cell's outer membrane selectively lets charged potassium particles cross, helping regulate nerve cell signaling.
potencynoun: Describes how strong a drug is, based on how little is needed to produce an effect.
potentialnoun: In biopsychology, voltage, measured in volts, that helps push electrical signals through neurons.
potential-stress scorenoun: A rating adds assigned values for life changes to estimate their combined potential to create stress.
potentiationnoun: When one drug makes another drug's effects stronger, especially making a harmful drug more dangerous.
potlatchnoun: Some Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest hold ceremonies involving feasting and gift giving that express status, obligations, and sharing.
Pötzl phenomenon (Poetzl phenomenon)noun: A historical claim proposes that words or pictures presented outside awareness may later appear in dreams or mental imagery.
Pötzl’s syndromenoun: A neurological syndrome combines impaired reading despite preserved writing with missing areas of vision and difficulty perceiving colors.
povertynoun: Having too little money and support to live safely and join normal community life.
poverty of content of speechnoun: A person speaks a usual amount but communicates little clear information because their words are vague or repetitive.
poverty of ideasnoun: Thinking produces fewer new or spontaneous ideas, sometimes showing up as vague statements or repeated simple phrases.
poverty of speechnoun: A person produces unusually little speech, often giving short answers without adding details.
POWabbreviation: A prisoner of war is someone held captive by an opposing side during armed conflict.
powernoun: The ability to influence other people's behavior, even when they do not want to comply.
power analysisphrase: A calculation researchers use to estimate how many participants a study needs to detect a real effect.
power basenoun: A source of influence, such as authority, expertise, or control of rewards, gives someone power in relationships.
power distancenoun: A cultural pattern reflects how readily people accept unequal authority and influence within groups, workplaces, or society.
power elitenoun: A sociological theory proposes that a small circle of connected leaders shares values and strongly influences major institutions.
power functionphrase: Shows how one thing changes when another is raised to a power, often linking stimulus strength to sensation.
power gripnoun: The hand holds an object firmly by pressing it between the finger pads and palm.
power lawnoun: Perceived strength of a sensation changes by a power rule as actual stimulus intensity changes.
power of the situationphrase: People's thoughts, feelings, and actions can change a lot because of the social setting around them.
power playnoun: Someone uses a forceful strategy to get a desired result, often by pressuring others to cooperate.
power spectral densitynoun: A measurement describes how much sound power lies within each unit of frequency around a particular frequency.
power spectrumnoun: A representation shows how a sound's power is distributed across its different frequencies.
power testnoun: An assessment measures mastery through increasingly difficult questions while allowing enough time that speed matters little.
power transformationnoun: A mathematical rule changes data using powers, such as squares or square roots, to improve their suitability for statistical analysis.
power-coercive strategynoun: A strategy seeks social change through economic, social, or political pressure, often using nonviolent collective action.
powerlessnessnoun: Feeling unable, or truly unable, to control events that affect your health, life, or surroundings.
PPAabbreviation: The parahippocampal place area is a brain region that responds to visual scenes and may help people recognize places.
PPACAabbreviation: A U.S. health reform law passed in 2010 expanded insurance options and introduced financial help and protections for people buying coverage.
PPFAabbreviation: An American organization called Planned Parenthood supports reproductive healthcare, education about sexuality, and people's rights to obtain those services.
PPOabbreviation: A preferred provider organization connects insured people with health professionals and facilities that have agreed to negotiated service prices.
PPVTabbreviation: A test of receptive vocabulary, meaning understanding words heard, by choosing pictures that match spoken words.
PQ4Rabbreviation: A study routine uses previewing, questioning, reading, reflecting, reciting, and reviewing to strengthen understanding and memory.
PRabbreviation: A progressive ratio schedule requires an increasing number of responses to earn each successive reward.
practical intelligencephrase: Using knowledge effectively in everyday life, including adapting to, changing, or choosing situations wisely.
practical intelligence tasknoun: An activity tests how well someone uses everyday knowledge to solve a real problem.
practical significancephrase: How much a study finding matters in everyday life, even when the measured effect is small.
practicenoun: Repeating an action many times helps improve performance or build a new skill.
practice effectphrase: Better performance caused by repeating the same task, not by the treatment being studied.
practice guidelinesphrase: Recommendations that help clinicians recognize and treat disorders and practice ethically, based on research or expert judgment.
practice theory of playnoun: One proposed explanation suggests that children's playful activities build abilities needed for future adult responsibilities.
practice trialnoun: An unscored attempt lets a participant learn a test or experiment's procedure before measurements begin.
practicumnoun: A supervised hands-on training placement where psychology students practice clinical work before a full-time internship.
Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS)noun: A genetic condition affects growth, muscle strength, learning, and hunger, often causing intense appetite and difficulty feeling full.
pragmatic aphasianoun: Damage to the brain's right hemisphere can cause difficulties adjusting communication to fit a situation or social setting.
pragmatic languagephrase: Using words in ways that fit the social situation, listener, and conversation rules.
pragmatic reasoning schema theorynoun: This theory proposes that people reason using rules learned from experience with particular situations and goals.
pragmaticsnoun: Study of how people use language to communicate meaning based on context, goals, and the listener.
pragmatismnoun: A philosophical approach evaluates ideas and claims about truth through their practical effects in experience.
Prägnanznoun: A Gestalt principle says perception favors the simplest, clearest, most organized pattern that the available information allows.
prananoun: In Hindu traditions, a proposed life energy is associated with breath and the vitality of living beings.
prandial drinkingnoun: Fluid intake occurs because eating stimulates a person or animal to drink.
praxiologynoun: This field studies human actions, including how people can carry them out efficiently.
praxisnoun: The brain's ability to plan and carry out learned movements.
prayernoun: A person communicates silently or aloud with a deity or spiritual being, often expressing gratitude, requests, or reflection.
PREabbreviation: A learning effect where behaviors rewarded only sometimes keep going longer after rewards stop.
pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)noun: A preventive approach uses medicine before possible HIV exposure to lower infection risk in people who do not have HIV.
pre–post designnoun: Researchers assess participants using matching measures before and after an intervention or condition to examine change.
preadolescencenoun: The childhood period just before adolescence covers roughly the two years leading up to puberty.
preafferencenoun: The brain prepares sensory areas for the sensations it expects an intended movement to produce.
preattentive processingnoun: The mind processes basic features of incoming information without awareness before focused attention selects that information.
preaversive stimulusnoun: In conditioning, a signal occurs before an event that a person or animal tends to avoid.
precategorical acoustic storage (PAS)noun: A proposed sensory memory system briefly holds sounds before the mind sorts them into meaningful categories.
precausal thinkingnoun: In Piaget's account, young children explain natural events through wishes or intentions rather than physical processes.
precedence effectnoun: When sound and its reflections arrive close together, the earliest sound mainly determines where listeners locate its source.
precentral gyrusnoun: A frontal brain ridge immediately ahead of the central groove contains the primary motor cortex, which helps control movement.
prechiasmatic visual deficitnoun: Vision is impaired by damage along the visual pathway before the point where the two optic nerves meet.
precipitating causenoun: An event or factor directly triggers the onset of a condition, sometimes activating an existing vulnerability.
precisionnoun: How tightly repeated scores or estimates cluster, with smaller standard errors meaning more exact results.
precision gripnoun: An object is held between the thumb pad and one or more fingertip pads for careful control.
precision medicinenoun: Health care is tailored using a person's biology, lifestyle, and surroundings to improve diagnosis, prevention, or treatment.
precision of processnoun: This index measures how tightly psychophysical measurements cluster around their average, calculated as one divided by their variance.
preclinical psychopharmacologynoun: Researchers study a potential mind-affecting drug's actions and possible risks before it is used clinically with patients.
precocialadjective: Some animals are born or hatch with relatively developed abilities to move and perform other basic behaviors.
precocious pubertynoun: Puberty begins unusually early, generally before age eight in girls or age nine in boys.
precocitynoun: Physical features or mental abilities develop much earlier than is usual for a person's age.
precognitionnoun: In parapsychology, a claimed ability allows someone to know future events without ordinary sensory information or reasoning.
precompetition anxietynoun: Before a contest, heightened worry and bodily arousal may help or hinder performance depending partly on how they are interpreted.
precompetition imagerynoun: Before competing, someone mentally pictures or senses performing skills to rehearse and prepare their state of mind and body.
preconceptionnoun: A belief or expectation forms before someone has learned much about the person, object, or issue involved.
preconscious (Pcs)adjective: Describes thoughts not in awareness right now but easy to bring into mind.
preconscious thinkingnoun: In psychoanalytic theory, thought occurs outside current awareness but remains readily available to conscious attention.
preconventional levelphrase: At this first moral stage, children judge right and wrong by punishment, reward, and their own needs.
precuenoun: An advance signal provides partial information that helps someone prepare an upcoming movement before receiving full instructions.
precuneusnoun: A region on each brain hemisphere's inner parietal surface contributes to several kinds of thinking.
precursornoun: Something that comes before and helps lead to something else, such as a chemical making a neurotransmitter.
predationnoun: An animal obtains nourishment by hunting down other animals and killing them to eat.
predatornoun: An animal gets food by hunting and consuming other animals.
predator pressurenoun: Predators influence prey population size and the likelihood that prey survive long enough to reproduce.
predatory aggressionnoun: An animal directs behavior toward catching prey, a pattern better understood as food seeking than ordinary aggression.
predatory paraphilianoun: Sexual interest or arousal centers on activities involving someone who does not consent.
predecisional negative shiftnoun: A negative electrical change in brain activity precedes a person's reported awareness of deciding to move.
predestinationnoun: Some Christian teachings hold that God determines in advance who receives salvation through divine grace rather than personal merit.
predicatenoun: In grammar, the sentence part containing the verb says what the subject does, experiences, or is like.
predicate analysisnoun: A system of symbolic logic examines relationships inside statements as well as logical connections between complete statements.
predicate thinkingnoun: A person treats objects as alike, sometimes even identical, on the basis of just one common quality.
predictionnoun: A statement about what will likely happen, based on theory, evidence, or past patterns.
predictive discriminant analysisnoun: A statistical method combines several current measurements to predict which category a later outcome will belong to.
predictive efficiencynoun: This measure expresses how many predictions from a test or model turn out correctly, as a count or proportion.
predictive researchnoun: Researchers measure present information to forecast later events or behavior.
predictive testingnoun: Genetic testing identifies a variant expected to cause a particular disease in everyone who carries it.
predictive validityphrase: Shows how well a test score predicts a future outcome measured later.
predictive valuephrase: How often a test result correctly matches a person's real status or outcome.
predictor variablephrase: A measured factor used to estimate or explain changes in an outcome variable.
predisposing causenoun: A background factor makes a condition more likely without directly triggering its onset.
predispositionnoun: A built-in tendency to develop a trait or disorder when certain genes or life conditions are present.
PREEabbreviation: The partial reinforcement extinction effect means intermittently rewarded behavior tends to persist longer after rewards stop than consistently rewarded behavior.
preeclampsianoun: A pregnancy complication involves newly elevated blood pressure with signs such as urine protein or other organ problems.
preeningnoun: Birds maintain feathers by picking through their own plumage or another bird's plumage.
preestablished harmonynoun: Leibniz proposed that God arranged independent units of existence, including mind and body, to stay coordinated without influencing one another.
preexperimental designnoun: A study lacks both a comparison group and random allocation of participants, limiting conclusions about causes.
preferencenoun: Choosing one option or response more often than others shows what someone likes better.
preference for consistencynoun: A personality trait describes how strongly someone wants their beliefs, attitudes, and related thoughts to fit together.
preference methodnoun: Researchers present several options and observe which one a person or animal selects.
preference testnoun: A research measure records choices among alternatives to learn about someone's behavior or feelings.
preferential effectnoun: Parapsychology researchers report greater guessing accuracy for certain targets or conditions while supposedly testing the same unusual ability.
preferential looking techniquenoun: Researchers compare looking toward different displays to assess what infants or other nonverbal participants can visually distinguish.
preferential matchingnoun: In tests of claimed extrasensory perception, a judge compares unrestricted guesses with possible targets and evaluates their similarity.
preferred noise criterion (PNC)noun: An indoor acoustic standard sets acceptable levels for continuous background sound.
preferred provider arrangement (PPA)noun: An insurer and healthcare providers agree by contract to offer care at negotiated or reduced prices.
preferred provider organizationnoun: An organized healthcare network provides members with services through contracts that set negotiated, often discounted prices.
prefigurative culturenoun: A cultural pattern involves older generations learning mainly from younger people, often amid rapid social change.
prefixnoun: A word part added to the start of another word to change its meaning.
preformismnoun: A discredited biological theory claimed development simply enlarges or unfolds structures and abilities already present in reproductive cells.
prefrontal cortexnoun: Front brain area that helps with attention, planning, self-control, working memory, and social behavior.
prefrontal lobenoun: The frontmost region of each brain hemisphere supports planning, memory, learning, emotions, and social behavior.
prefrontal lobotomynoun: A historical psychiatric operation cut connections between prefrontal brain regions and other areas, sometimes causing lasting changes in personality and abilities.
preganglionic autonomic neuronnoun: A nerve cell carries automatic body-control signals from the brain or spinal cord to a peripheral nerve cluster.
pregenital organizationnoun: Freud's historical theory describes how pleasure-seeking energy is organized before the mature genital stage.
pregenital phasenoun: Freud's historical theory groups early periods of pleasure-focused development before the mature genital stage under this name.
pregnancynoun: The period when an embryo, later called a fetus, develops inside a person's uterus.
pregnancy brainnoun: An informal label describes reported forgetfulness and other thinking difficulties during pregnancy, whose extent and causes remain debated.
prehensionnoun: An animal grasps an object or supports itself using a body part suited for gripping.
prejudicenoun: A harmful opinion or feeling about a person or group formed before real experience with them.
prekindergartennoun: An early education program helps children develop skills for school before they reach kindergarten.
prelingually deafenedadjective: A person was born deaf or became deaf before acquiring language.
prelinguisticadjective: Describing the time before a baby can speak words, including coos and babbling.
preliterateadjective: A child has not yet learned to read and write.
preloadingnoun: Researchers introduce food or fluid into an animal's digestive tract before offering food or water, then measure eating or drinking.
prelogical thinkingnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes a style of thought guided mainly by wishes and immediate pleasure rather than logic or practical reality.
Premack’s principlenoun: Access to an activity someone usually does more often can reinforce a less frequent activity when made dependent on it.
premarital counselingnoun: Qualified guidance helps people planning marriage discuss expectations, responsibilities, intimacy, and possible disagreements.
premarital sexphrase: Sexual activity between people before they are married.
premature adrenarchenoun: Adrenal glands begin producing increased androgen hormones unusually early, sometimes causing early pubic hair or body odor.
premature agingnoun: Age-related bodily changes occur earlier or faster than expected because of environmental exposures, genetic conditions, or other diseases.
premature deathnoun: A person dies earlier than the usual expected lifespan for people in their demographic group.
premature ejaculationphrase: Ejaculation happens sooner than wanted, with very little stimulation or soon after sex begins.
premature terminationphrase: Therapy ends before the planned work is finished, often because the client stops coming too soon.
prematuritynoun: Birth occurs before the usual pregnancy duration is complete, leaving an infant's body systems less developed.
premeditationnoun: A person deliberately decides to commit a crime beforehand, showing planning or advance thought.
premenstrual dysphoric disorderphrase: A severe mood problem before menstruation that disrupts daily life and eases soon after bleeding begins.
premenstrual syndrome (PMS)noun: Recurring physical and emotional symptoms develop before a menstrual period and usually ease shortly after bleeding begins.
premisenoun: A starting statement in an argument that supports the conclusion drawn from it.
premonitory dreamnoun: A dream seems to anticipate or warn about a later event.
premoral stagephrase: Very young children do not yet grasp rules or reliably tell right from wrong.
premorbidadjective: Describing a person's condition before a disease or disorder begins.
premorbid abilitiesnoun: A person's thinking skills before brain injury or illness are estimated to help assess later changes.
premorbid adjustmentphrase: How well a person was functioning before a serious mental disorder began, often used to predict schizophrenia outcomes.
premorbid functioningphrase: A person's thinking ability before brain illness or injury, estimated later to judge how much was lost.
premorbid personalitynoun: A person's characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving existed before illness, injury, or another traumatic event.
premortem claritynoun: Someone nearing death sometimes becomes mentally alert again after being confused or withdrawn.
premotor areanoun: A region of the brain's movement-control cortex helps prepare actions, especially those guided by sights or other external cues.
premotor theory of attentionnoun: A theory proposes that preparing actions, especially eye movements, directs attention toward the places those actions would target.
premutationnoun: A gene change with extra DNA repeats that is not full disease level but can grow in children.
prenataladjective: Describing anything that happens or exists during the time before birth, from conception until delivery.
prenatal carephrase: Medical checkups and education during pregnancy help prevent problems and protect the mother and developing baby.
prenatal counselingnoun: Supportive guidance helps people considering or experiencing pregnancy explore decisions, prepare for possible outcomes, and manage related feelings.
prenatal developmental anomalynoun: A structural or functional difference from typical development arises before birth.
prenatal diagnosisnoun: Medical assessment identifies a disease, genetic condition, or developmental abnormality in a fetus before birth.
prenatal infectionnoun: Before birth, a fetus acquires an infection passed on by the person carrying the pregnancy.
prenatal influencenoun: A condition or exposure before birth can adversely affect fetal development, such as poor nutrition, infection, or certain substances.
prenatal masculinizationnoun: Before birth, androgen hormones guide developing sexual structures and brain pathways toward patterns typically associated with males.
prenatal periodphrase: The time of development from conception to birth, including germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages.
prenatal screeningnoun: Tests during pregnancy check whether a developing baby may have particular health conditions.
prenatal stressnoun: Stress experienced during pregnancy involves bodily changes that may affect pregnancy outcomes and the baby's development.
preoccupationnoun: Being so caught up in your own thoughts that you ignore what is happening around you.
preoccupied attachmentnoun: An adult relationship pattern combines doubts about personal worth or ability with confidence in others' support and dependability.
preoedipaladjective: In Freud's historical theory, this describes early development before proposed childhood desires and rivalries involving parents emerge.
preoperational stagephrase: From about age two to seven, children use symbols and language but still think intuitively rather than logically.
preoptic areanoun: A region in the hypothalamus, the brain area controlling basic body functions, helps regulate temperature and hormone release.
preorgasmicadjective: This describes the period just before orgasm, when breathing, heartbeat, and muscle tension increase.
preparadigmatic sciencenoun: In Kuhn's proposed framework, a scientific field has yet to develop shared basic ideas and research methods.
preparationnoun: Getting yourself mentally ready to act by planning or imagining what you will do.
preparatory adjustmentnoun: Changes in brain activity and bodily readiness prepare someone for a task and help improve performance.
preparatory responsenoun: An earlier action within a behavior sequence helps lead toward an eventual goal or reward without directly achieving it.
preparatory setnoun: An alert state prepares someone to react in a specific way to something they expect.
preparednessnoun: An inherited learning tendency makes certain connections easier to learn, proposed to reflect a species' evolutionary history.
preperceptual processingnoun: The mind processes basic features of incoming information without awareness before attention focuses on them.
prephallicadjective: In Freud's historical account, this describes the oral and anal phases preceding his proposed phase of focus on the genitals.
prepotencynoun: A parent's stronger tendency to pass certain genetic traits to a child than the other parent.
prepotent responsenoun: One reaction has a stronger tendency to occur than other possible reactions in the same situation.
prepotent stimulusnoun: One signal is more likely than competing signals to capture attention or trigger a reaction.
prepsychotic panicnoun: Arieti proposed a stage before schizophrenia's hallucinations or delusions, marked by distressing changes in how someone sees themselves.
prepsychotic personalitynoun: A historical label describes personal traits once viewed as possible signs of a future psychotic disorder.
prepubertal stagenoun: This childhood period covers roughly two years leading up to the beginning of puberty.
prepubertynoun: This phase of childhood includes approximately two years before pubertal changes start.
prepubescencenoun: This childhood phase spans about two years before the onset of physical changes associated with puberty.
prepucenoun: A movable skin fold covers the penis's tip or forms the hood over the clitoris.
prepulse inhibitionnoun: A faint signal shortly before a stronger signal reduces the reflex that the stronger signal would normally trigger.
preputiumnoun: A fold of movable skin forms either the penile foreskin or the hood covering the clitoris.
prepyriform areanoun: A region along the underside of the brain's temporal lobe receives information about smells.
presbycusisnoun: Age-related gradual loss of hearing sharpness, especially for high-pitched sounds.
presbyopianoun: An age-related change that makes close objects harder to focus on because the eye's lens stiffens.
preschool programnoun: An organized learning plan serves children who are not yet old enough to enter regular school.
prescribingnoun: Giving a patient an order for treatment, especially a medication to take.
prescribing information (PI)noun: Official medication documentation explains approved uses, doses, unwanted effects, and other details needed for prescribing.
prescribing psychologynoun: This area of psychological practice combines mental health care with medication prescribing by specially trained psychologists where legally permitted.
prescription drugnoun: A medicine in this category requires an order from an authorized healthcare professional for legal supply.
prescription privilegenoun: Legal permission allows a qualified professional to order medications for treating health conditions.
prescriptive authority (RxP)noun: In psychology, this legal permission allows specially trained psychologists to prescribe medications that affect mental processes.
prescriptive eclectic psychotherapynoun: This approach uses research findings to match varied therapy methods and ways of working together with each client's particular needs.
prescriptive grammarnoun: An approach to language sets rules for approved usage and promotes one variety as the standard.
prescriptive normnoun: A shared social expectation states how people ought to behave, think, or feel in a particular situation.
prescriptivismnoun: A language practice promotes selected ways of speaking or writing as correct while treating other varieties as inferior.
preselectionnoun: In assisted reproduction, an embryo is chosen over alternatives because it appears more likely to develop successfully.
presenile dementianoun: An older label describes dementia beginning before someone turns 65, with thinking difficulties that interfere with everyday life.
presenile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (PDAT)noun: This older label describes dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease that begins before a person's sixty-fifth birthday.
presenilinnoun: These proteins cross cell membranes, and certain changes in their genes are linked to inherited Alzheimer's disease starting relatively young.
Present State Examination (PSE)noun: A structured interview assesses a broad range of current psychiatric symptoms and was developed for an international schizophrenia study.
presentationnoun: How information or stimuli are shown to a person or animal for learning, testing, or observation.
presenteeismnoun: Someone attends work despite illness, injury, or another condition that limits their ability to work effectively.
presentingnoun: An animal posture where one turns away and lifts the rear, often to allow mating.
presenting symptomnoun: A person identifies this difficulty as the reason they are seeking professional help.
presentistadjective: This perspective explains past events' effects on behavior through the ways those events are represented in the mind now.
presolution variabilitynoun: A person's behavior varies while working on a difficult problem before reaching a successful answer.
prespeech developmentnoun: Early growth in perception, learning, and communication builds abilities that support later spoken language.
pressnoun: An outside event or situation that triggers a person's inner need or motive.
pressor effectnoun: Blood pressure rises when an agent, such as a hormone or medicine, causes blood vessels to narrow.
pressurenoun: Force pushing on a body surface or tissue, such as skin, blood vessels, or the brain.
pressure gradientnoun: Pressure on the skin gradually decreases with distance in every direction from the point where something presses.
pressure of activitynoun: A strong, difficult-to-control drive produces persistent activity and restless movement, often during mania.
pressure of ideasnoun: Many different thoughts arise unusually quickly and flow rapidly through awareness, commonly during mania.
pressure of speechnoun: Speech becomes unusually rapid and driven, sometimes difficult to control, often during mania or hypomania.
pressure sensenoun: This bodily sense detects forces such as pressing, pulling, stretching, or sliding against skin and other tissues.
pressure spotnoun: A small skin location responds especially strongly when pressure is applied.
pressure ulcernoun: A wound develops when sustained pressure damages skin and underlying tissue, often during prolonged immobility.
pressure-threshold testnoun: A sensory assessment uses hairs of increasing stiffness to find the lightest pressure someone can detect.
pressured speechphrase: Speaking very fast and hard to interrupt, often seen during manic or hypomanic episodes.
prestigenoun: The amount of respect and admiration a person gets from others because of status or achievements.
prestige suggestionnoun: A message gains persuasive power because its source has respected status.
prestriate cortexnoun: Visual regions beyond the brain's primary visual cortex process features such as color, shape, and movement.
presuppositionnoun: An unstated assumption is treated as already true within a spoken or written message.
presynapticadjective: Describes the sending side of a synapse, where a neuron releases chemical messengers to another cell.
pretend playphrase: Young children act as if things are real or possible when they know they are not.
preterm infantphrase: A baby born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, often before the body is fully ready.
preterm viabilitynoun: A fetus has the capacity to live outside the womb before pregnancy reaches full term.
preternaturaladjective: Something appears beyond explanation using currently known physical laws.
pretestnoun: A measure given before a study or treatment to show what someone was like at the start.
pretest counselingnoun: Genetic counseling helps someone consider family history, risks, benefits, and limitations before deciding whether to have genetic testing.
pretest sensitizationphrase: Taking a pretest can change how people react later in a study, making a treatment seem stronger.
pretest–posttest designnoun: Researchers assess participants using matching measures before and after an intervention or condition to examine change.
pretraumatic stress disordernoun: A proposed condition involves disabling, ongoing stress and repeated mental images of a feared future traumatic event.
pretrial publicitynoun: News coverage before a trial may shape potential jurors' opinions before they examine courtroom evidence.
prevalencenoun: How many people in a group have a condition at one time or during a set period.
preventionnoun: Actions that lower the chance of mental, physical, or social problems before they start or get worse.
prevention designnoun: Tools and systems are arranged to make mistakes by their users less likely.
prevention psychologynoun: A psychological field uses research to promote well-being and prevent, delay, or lessen health problems across people and communities.
prevention researchnoun: Researchers study risks, protective influences, screening, and interventions to discover how future health problems can be avoided.
prevention trialnoun: A study tests whether an intervention lowers the chance of a health condition developing or delays its appearance.
preventive carenoun: Health services aim to avoid illness or limit its effects through protection, early detection, and timely treatment.
preventive copingnoun: People build skills, support, and other resources to handle possible stressful events in the distant future.
preventive counselingnoun: Counseling offers guidance and skills to lower the chance of expected difficulties or conflicts developing.
preventive health behaviornoun: People take actions to protect well-being, lower health risks, or discover health problems early.
preventive stress managementnoun: An intervention teaches people about expected stressors and lets them practice coping skills before those situations occur.
preverbaladjective: A developmental period occurs before language is acquired, although sounds and gestures can support communication.
preverbal constructnoun: Kelly proposed that an unspoken concept formed before language develops can continue shaping how someone understands experiences.
prevocational trainingnoun: Programs teach general work habits and basic employment skills before someone trains for or enters a particular job.
preynoun: The one being hunted, harmed, or taken advantage of by someone stronger or more powerful.
priapismnoun: A penile erection persists without sexual arousal or continues long after sexual activity ends.
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkinsnoun: In this 1989 ruling, America's highest court recognized workplace sex stereotyping as evidence of unlawful discrimination.
price–quality relationshipnoun: An actual or assumed connection links an item's cost with how good it is.
prick experiencenoun: A tiny pointed contact or electrical stimulus on skin produces a sensation that may feel sharp, itchy, or pressure-like.
pridenoun: Feeling good about yourself after achieving something and getting others' approval, often shown by standing taller and seeking notice.
prima faciephrase: Something appears sufficiently supported on initial examination, although later evidence could change that judgment.
primacy effectphrase: People often remember or weigh early information more than later information.
primal anxietynoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes a basic anxiety originating in birth, separation from the mother, and overwhelming new sensations.
primal envynoun: Klein proposed that infants envy the mother's nourishing breast and fantasize about spoiling the comfort it provides.
primal fantasynoun: Classical psychoanalysis proposes that children imagine explanations for mysteries about sex, conception, birth, or bodily loss.
primal fathernoun: Freud imagined an early tribal leader whom his sons killed and ate, then later honored as a god.
primal repressionnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes an initial process that keeps ideas linked to instinctive wishes from ever entering awareness.
primal sadismnoun: Classical psychoanalysis proposes an inward death instinct, equated with masochism, partly joined to pleasure-seeking energy and partly directed toward oneself.
primal scenenoun: Classical psychoanalysis describes a child's first witnessed or imagined parental sexual encounter as something the child interprets as violent.
primal therapynoun: Janov's therapy encourages reliving early distress and expressing it through voice and movement, aiming to release unresolved pain.
primal traumanoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that an early painful experience can underlie psychological difficulties developing later.
primal-horde theorynoun: Freud speculated that early families ruled by one dominant father explain later marriage restrictions, guilt, and sacred group symbols.
primary abilitynoun: Thurstone proposed seven basic thinking abilities, including reasoning, memory, and number skills, as components of intelligence.
primary agingnoun: Changes arise from the body's built-in aging processes, such as hair gradually losing pigment.
primary amenorrheanoun: Menstrual periods have never begun by the age or developmental stage when they are expected.
primary anxietynoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes automatic anxiety when a stimulus disrupts the ego's organization and ability to function.
primary appraisalphrase: The first check of whether a situation affects your goals, values, and safety as threat, harm, or challenge.
primary attentionnoun: Attention is drawn automatically to something noticeable without a deliberate effort to focus.
primary auditory cortex (A1)phrase: The first brain area that receives and organizes sound information, located in the temporal lobe.
primary behavior disordernoun: An older umbrella label groups varied childhood and adolescent difficulties involving habits, conduct, toileting, or school behavior.
primary carephrase: The first general medical care someone gets when they enter the health care system.
primary care behavioral healthnoun: Behavioral health professionals work within primary medical care teams to offer coordinated assessment and brief treatment.
primary care provider (PCP)phrase: A doctor who gives basic medical care and often decides when someone should see a specialist.
primary care psychologynoun: A psychology specialty provides prevention and treatment alongside routine medical care, either directly in medical settings or through consultation.
primary caregiverphrase: The person who gives a child most of their daily care, comfort, and protection.
primary caretaker standardnoun: A custody decision rule favors the parent who previously handled most of a child's everyday care.
primary causephrase: Something that makes a disorder likely, and without it the disorder probably would not happen.
primary circular reactionnoun: Piaget described infants repeating actions centered on their own bodies after discovering an interesting or satisfying result.
primary colorsnoun: A chosen set of basic colors can be combined in different amounts to produce a range of other colors.
primary consciousnessnoun: Edelman proposed this basic awareness of sights, sounds, and other sensations as an early evolutionary form of consciousness.
primary controlnoun: A person tries to feel more in control by directly changing their surroundings or circumstances.
primary copingnoun: A person manages stress by actively trying to change outside conditions to better match their wishes.
primary cortexnoun: Certain regions of the brain's outer layer handle major incoming sensory signals or outgoing commands for muscle movement.
primary datanoun: Researchers collect this information themselves through experiments, observations, or other direct methods for their study.
primary deviancenoun: In labeling theory, an initial departure from social rules occurs before rule breaking becomes part of someone's identity.
primary drivenoun: An inborn urge motivates an organism to obtain something its body needs or perform a biologically important activity.
primary emotionphrase: One of the basic feelings people in many cultures show and recognize in similar ways.
primary empathynoun: A therapist tries to understand a client's experience from within and reflect the client's viewpoint and feelings back.
primary environmentnoun: A setting central to someone's life supports ongoing close interactions, especially with family or other important people.
primary factorphrase: A broad trait measured directly from test items before any higher-order factors are identified.
primary familial xanthomatosisnoun: Also called Wolman disease, this inherited condition involves too little acid lipase, allowing fats to build up inside cells.
primary gainnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that symptoms can ease anxiety arising from inner conflicts or wishes a person cannot express.
primary groupnoun: A small, lasting group with close personal ties helps shape members' values, attitudes, and understanding of social life.
primary gustatory cortexnoun: This region of the brain's outer layer first processes incoming taste signals alongside information about touch and internal bodily conditions.
primary health carenoun: General health services provide a person's usual first point of help within the health system.
primary hypersomnianoun: An older diagnosis described disabling, persistent excessive sleepiness that was not explained by another medical, mental, or sleep condition.
primary hypertensionphrase: High blood pressure that develops without a clear medical cause is the most common kind in adults.
primary identificationnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory proposes that an infant initially experiences their mother as belonging to the infant's own self.
primary insomnianoun: An older diagnosis described persistent, disruptive difficulty sleeping that was not explained by substances or another medical, mental, or sleep condition.
primary line of sightnoun: An imaginary straight line joins the object someone is looking at to the middle of their pupil.
primary masochismnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory proposes that some destructive instinct remains directed inward after joining with libido, while much is directed outward.
primary maternal preoccupationnoun: Winnicott proposed that intense focus on a newborn shortly after childbirth makes a mother especially responsive to her infant's needs.
primary memory (PM)phrase: A brief mental holding space for a few items over several seconds; an older name for short-term memory.
primary mental abilitynoun: In Thurstone's model, intelligence includes seven basic abilities: verbal understanding, word fluency, number skills, spatial thinking, memory, perceptual speed, and reasoning.
primary microcephalynoun: A condition present at birth involves unusually small head size as the main developmental difference and may affect intellectual development.
primary mood disorderphrase: A long-lasting mood problem that stands as its own diagnosis, not caused by another disorder.
primary motivationphrase: Comes from basic bodily needs such as hunger, thirst, sleep, or avoiding pain.
primary motor cortexphrase: A strip in the frontal lobe starts voluntary movements, mainly controlling the opposite side of the body.
primary narcissismnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory proposes an early infant stage when pleasure-seeking energy centers on the infant's own body and satisfaction.
primary narcissistic identificationnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theory describes an infant's earliest identification as experiencing their mother within their own sense of self.
primary neednoun: An inborn bodily requirement, such as water or sleep, arises from biological processes and is satisfied physically.
primary obsessional slownessnoun: An uncommon pattern associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder involves extreme orderliness and everyday self-care routines that can take hours.
primary odornoun: Some theories propose basic smell qualities that combine to create the range of odors people experience.
primary oocytenoun: An immature egg cell has begun meiosis, the special division for reproduction, but has not completed its first division.
primary personalityphrase: The person's original identity in dissociative identity disorder, before any secondary identities appear.
primary physiciannoun: A doctor provides general health care and may arrange referrals when a patient needs more specialized services.
primary positionnoun: Both eyes look directly forward at a shared target while the head and body remain upright.
primary preventionphrase: Programs for healthy or at-risk people that build wellness early to stop mental or physical problems before they start.
primary processphrase: Unconscious thinking that jumps between ideas, ignores logic and reality, and chases immediate wish satisfaction.
primary progressive aphasia (PPA)noun: A syndrome caused by gradual brain degeneration mainly affects language at first, making communication increasingly difficult over time.
primary qualitynoun: In Locke's philosophy, an object's physical property, such as size or motion, belongs to it independently of someone's perception.
primary reinforcementnoun: A consequence makes an action more likely to happen again without prior learning being needed for that consequence to reinforce behavior.
primary reinforcernoun: A reward that is naturally satisfying because it meets a basic need, like food or warmth.
primary relationshipnoun: A person's closest bond receives especially high priority, time, and effort, usually involving strong intimacy and commitment.
primary repressionnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes an initial process that keeps ideas linked to instinctive wishes from ever entering conscious awareness.
primary rewardnoun: Something can strengthen behavior through its natural value, such as water during thirst, without that value first being learned.
primary sensory areanoun: A region of the brain's outer layer receives a sense's incoming signals for an early stage of processing.
primary sensory endingnoun: A nerve ending coils around fibers inside a muscle spindle and signals muscle stretch, responding especially strongly as stretching begins.
primary sex characteristicnoun: A bodily feature, such as an ovary or testis, has a direct role in reproduction.
primary skin sensesnoun: The skin's basic sensations include warmth, cold, contact, and pain, which can combine into more complex experiences.
primary sleep disordernoun: An older diagnostic category covered sleep problems attributed to internal or learned factors rather than other disorders, medical conditions, or substances.
primary somatosensory area (S1)noun: This brain region just behind the central sulcus performs early cortical processing of touch and other information from the body.
primary spermatocytenoun: An immature sperm-producing cell undergoes the first meiotic division to produce two secondary spermatocytes.
primary stutteringnoun: Young children's speech may contain interruptions or repetitions without visible awareness, tension, or emotional distress about speaking.
primary suggestibilitynoun: A person readily responds to openly stated suggestions, sometimes with movements that seem to happen automatically.
primary symptomsphrase: These are the core signs caused directly by a disorder and needed to identify it.
primary tasknoun: During multitasking, one activity receives priority and enough attention to maintain acceptable performance before attention goes elsewhere.
primary tastenoun: A proposed basic taste quality, such as sweetness or bitterness, serves as a building block for taste experiences.
primary taste cortexnoun: This cortical region receives taste information early and combines it with signals about touch and conditions inside the body.
primary territorynoun: A person or group controls an essential space for their exclusive use and connects it closely with their identity.
primary thought disordernoun: Disrupted organization of thinking appears through disconnected ideas and unusual or hard-to-follow language, especially in schizophrenia.
primary tonenoun: Either original sound presented alongside another of different frequency can contribute to extra tones generated within the ear.
primary visual cortex (V1)phrase: The first brain area that receives visual signals and maps basic features of what we see.
primary visual systemnoun: The main visual pathway carries retinal signals through the thalamus to visual cortex, supporting detailed sight.
primatenoun: A mammal belonging to the biological group containing humans, other apes, monkeys, and lemurs belongs to this category.
PRIME theorynoun: This model proposes that behavior emerges as evaluations, motives, impulses, responses, and plans influence one another in each moment.
primidonenoun: This seizure medicine acts on the nervous system and is partly converted by the body into phenobarbital.
primigravidanoun: A person experiencing their first pregnancy can be described with this medical noun.
primingnoun: Earlier exposure to something changes how quickly or easily related information is noticed or understood later.
primiparousadjective: This describes someone who has completed one pregnancy reaching the stage counted as a birth.
primitiveadjective: More ancient in evolution, especially brain parts that developed earlier than newer structures.
primitive defense mechanismnoun: Psychoanalytic theories propose that early unconscious defenses, including denial, manage anxiety, historically linked to a supposed death drive.
primitive reflexnoun: An automatic movement triggered in early infancy usually fades as the nervous system develops.
primitive superegonoun: Object relations theory proposes an early, harsh conscience formed by taking frightening images of others into one’s inner world.
primitivizationnoun: Historical psychoanalysis proposed a retreat from organized thinking and reality checking toward earlier dependence and fantasy under overwhelming strain.
primordial imagenoun: Jung proposed that inherited symbolic patterns within a shared unconscious help shape how people experience themselves and the world.
principal components analysis (PCA)noun: This statistical method transforms measurements into uncorrelated weighted combinations, ordered by how much variation each captures.
principal components regressionnoun: This prediction method uses selected uncorrelated components formed from original measurements as inputs to a regression model.
principal factor analysisnoun: This statistical method extracts underlying factors from estimated shared variation among measurements while allowing for measurement error.
principal-axis factor analysisnoun: This factor extraction method typically starts by estimating each measurement’s shared variation from how well the other measurements predict it.
principlenoun: A basic rule or guiding idea used to explain behavior, science findings, or decisions.
principle of belongingnessnoun: This learning principle proposes that meaningful connections between items are learned more readily than connections based only on nearness.
principle of beneficencephrase: Researchers should design studies to help people, increase benefits, and reduce possible harm.
principle of closurenoun: Perception often fills missing parts of an image or sound so that an incomplete pattern seems whole.
principle of common fatenoun: Objects moving together in a matching direction tend to be seen as members of one group.
principle of common regionnoun: People tend to visually group items when a boundary surrounds them, making the enclosed items seem connected.
principle of constancynoun: Classical psychoanalysis proposed that mental activity seeks stable, minimal tension, likened to the equilibrium of nonliving matter.
principle of continuitynoun: Perception tends to connect aligned edges into smooth paths, even when they cross or are partly hidden.
principle of double effect (PDE)noun: This ethical principle permits some actions with intended benefits and foreseeable unintended harms when additional conditions justify them.
principle of economynoun: When explanations fit the evidence equally well, this principle favors the one requiring fewer unsupported assumptions.
principle of equipotentialitynoun: A historical learning assumption held that all stimulus pairings could be learned equally easily, regardless of their particular characteristics.
principle of good continuationnoun: The visual system tends to interpret aligned marks as smooth, continuing lines rather than abruptly changing fragments.
principle of good shapenoun: Perception tends to organize figures into forms that appear regular, consistent, and stable.
principle of inclusivenessnoun: Perception may favor a larger figure so strongly that a smaller figure entirely contained within it goes unnoticed.
principle of independent assortmentnoun: During egg or sperm formation, versions of different genes separate independently when those genes are not genetically linked.
principle of least effortnoun: This behavioral hypothesis proposes that organisms tend to choose actions they expect will use the least energy or effort.
principle of mass actionnoun: Lashley historically proposed that the amount of damaged cortex determines learning impairment more than the damage’s location.
principle of nonmaleficencephrase: Researchers must avoid harming participants and reduce any unavoidable distress as much as possible.
principle of optimal stimulationnoun: This theory proposes that organisms learn and choose actions that bring stimulation toward a personally preferred level.
principle of parsimonynoun: Researchers favor explanations needing fewer extra assumptions when competing explanations account for the evidence equally well.
principle of Prägnanznoun: Perception tends to organize available information into the simplest, clearest, and most stable meaningful pattern the situation allows.
principle of primacynoun: Information encountered early in a sequence often gains an advantage in memory, learning, or judgments about someone.
principle of proportionalitynoun: This judicial principle holds that punishment should match how serious the offense is.
principle of proximitynoun: The visual system tends to group nearby objects together, treating them as a connected set.
principle of recencynoun: Information encountered most recently often has an advantage in recall or in judgments made soon afterward.
principle of segregationnoun: The two copies of a gene separate during egg or sperm formation, leaving each cell with one copy.
principle of similaritynoun: Objects sharing features such as color, shape, or size tend to be perceived together as a group.
principle of symmetrynoun: Perception tends to combine balanced, corresponding parts around a center into one coherent figure.
principled negotiationnoun: This approach resolves disagreements by addressing underlying interests, protecting relationships, creating shared benefits, and using fair, objective standards.
print enlargement systemnoun: An assistive device displays enlarged versions of printed words or pictures to support people with low vision.
prionnoun: A misfolded protein can spread damage through the brain and cause diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
prion diseasephrase: A fatal brain disorder caused by misshapen proteins that spread, leading to fast worsening movement and thinking problems.
prior distributionnoun: In Bayesian statistics, a probability distribution represents uncertainty about an unknown quantity before the current data are incorporated.
prior entrynoun: An attended event may seem to occur before an unattended event even when both happen simultaneously.
prior probabilityphrase: An initial estimate of how likely something is, based on earlier knowledge and past data.
prism adaptationnoun: Practicing movements while wearing vision-shifting prisms changes visual and movement coordination, an approach studied for reducing spatial neglect.
prison psychologistnoun: A psychologist working in correctional settings assesses psychological needs and supports mental health, rehabilitation, and related institutional decisions.
prison psychosisnoun: This historical name for Ganser syndrome describes episodes involving nearly correct answers to simple questions and sometimes altered awareness.
prisoner abusenoun: People in authority commit this abuse when they physically or psychologically mistreat someone held in custody.
prisoner of war (POW)noun: A person captured and held by an opposing force during armed conflict may be called a prisoner of war.
prisoner’s dilemmanoun: A decision game gives each player reason to compete, although both receive better outcomes when both cooperate.
privacynoun: Being able to control how much contact and personal information other people can have about you.
private acceptancephrase: Truly changing your own beliefs to match a group's view, even when no one is watching.
private adoptionnoun: A birth parent voluntarily arranges a child's legal placement with adoptive parents through an intermediary outside public child welfare placement.
private eventnoun: An experience or activity, such as imagining or feeling discomfort, is directly observable only by the person experiencing it.
private mental hospitalnoun: A psychiatric hospital operates under private management and provides care for people experiencing mental health conditions.
private practicephrase: Working independently as a self-employed psychologist or doctor instead of being employed by an organization.
private selfnoun: The inner side of someone's identity includes feelings and self-understanding known mostly to that person.
private self-consciousnessnoun: A personality tendency involves regularly directing attention toward one's own thoughts, feelings, and reasons for acting.
private speechphrase: Self-directed talk used to think aloud and guide behavior, especially in children's problem solving.
privationnoun: A lack of something necessary, especially basic needs like food or sleep, from the start.
privilegenoun: A special benefit or advantage someone gets, either for behavior or from belonging to a favored group.
privileged accessnoun: Each person has direct awareness of their own conscious experiences that others can know only indirectly.
privileged communicationphrase: Private information shared with certain professionals that usually cannot be revealed without the person's permission.
pro-choiceadjective: Supporting people's freedom to make informed reproductive decisions includes supporting access to legal abortion and choosing to have children.
pro-lifeadjective: Describing a position that seeks to prohibit or restrict legal abortion, sometimes based on religious beliefs.
proactive aggressionphrase: Planned, deliberate harm used to get something wanted, rather than as a reaction to threat.
proactive copingnoun: People build skills and resources to pursue future challenges as opportunities for achievement and growth.
proactive interference (PI)phrase: Older learning makes it harder to remember new, similar information later.
proattitudinal behaviornoun: An action matches a person's positive or negative evaluation of someone or something.
probabilismnoun: A scientific viewpoint holds that evidence and reasoning support predictions with degrees of likelihood rather than absolute certainty.
probabilistic functionalismnoun: A proposed theory explains perception as using useful but imperfect environmental clues, making judgments probable rather than certain.
probabilistic hypothesisnoun: A proposed explanation is assessed by how likely it is to be correct, rather than only accepted or rejected.
probabilitynoun: The chance that a certain event will happen.
probability curvenoun: A graph uses a curve to show how probability is spread across possible values.
probability density function (PDF)noun: A mathematical function describes continuous values so that areas beneath its curve give probabilities for ranges.
probability distributionphrase: A pattern showing how likely each possible score or outcome is.
probability learningnoun: Through experience, the frequency of choosing an option tends to approach how often that option is rewarded.
probability level (p value)noun: A p value measures how likely results at least as extreme are under the null hypothesis and the test's assumptions.
probability plotnoun: A graph compares two distributions using corresponding probabilities or quantiles, often checking observed data against a theoretical pattern.
probability rationoun: The chance of randomly selecting a particular kind of item is expressed as its count divided by the total count.
probability samplingphrase: Choosing people for a study so each person in the group has a known chance of being picked.
probability tablenoun: A chart lists possible outcomes and their chances under stated conditions.
probability theoryphrase: Math and statistics used to predict how likely different events are to happen.
probability valuenoun: A p value gives the probability of equally or more extreme results under the null hypothesis and the test's assumptions.
probabilogical modelnoun: A proposed theory organizes beliefs into linked arguments, where pairs of beliefs imply conclusions that other arguments may also support.
probandnoun: The person whose possible inherited condition starts a family investigation serves as its central reference point.
probationnoun: A court sentence letting a person stay in the community under supervision instead of going to jail.
probe techniquenoun: A memory test asks whether a specific item appeared in an earlier sequence.
probingnoun: Using direct questions in therapy to encourage talking and help a client discover important thoughts or facts.
probitnoun: A probability unit converts a cumulative probability into its corresponding location on the standard normal distribution.
probit analysisnoun: A regression method predicts the probability of either of two outcomes using a link based on the normal distribution.
problem behaviorphrase: Actions that harm the person or others, or break important social rules.
problem boxnoun: A testing device requires a person or animal to discover how its fastenings work to enter or leave it.
problem checklistnoun: A questionnaire asks people to mark which listed difficulties apply to their own lives.
problem drinkingnoun: An informal label describes alcohol use that brings unwanted consequences, ranging from occasional difficulties to an alcohol use disorder.
problem findingnoun: A set of skills helps people notice and identify questions or difficulties that deserve attention and solutions.
problem isomorphsnoun: Different-looking problems share an underlying structure and require essentially equivalent steps to solve.
problem representationnoun: A mental or visible model shows a problem's parts and how those parts connect.
problem solvingphrase: Using reasoning and creativity to move from a difficult situation toward a goal or answer.
problem spacenoun: A mental model includes a problem's possible states and the routes available for reaching a solution.
problem-focused copingphrase: Trying to reduce stress by tackling the problem itself, especially when you believe the situation can change.
problem-oriented record (POR)noun: A care record organizes patient information into background data, identified problems, separate treatment plans, and related progress notes.
problem-solving approachnoun: A way of handling difficulties uses deliberate coping strategies to address obstacles and stressful situations.
problem-solving interviewnoun: A job interview presents a problem for the applicant to solve, allowing assessment of their thinking and solution skills.
problem-solving skills training (PSST)phrase: A therapy for disruptive children that teaches step-by-step social problem solving to reduce acting out and build helpful behavior.
problem-solving therapy (PST)noun: A structured therapy teaches people to define difficulties, develop options, choose actions, and review results to improve coping.
problems in livingnoun: Practical difficulties, such as maintaining housing or employment, can become treatment targets for people managing long-term mental health conditions.
procainenoun: A medicine temporarily numbs a limited body area during medical or dental procedures.
procedural justicephrase: People's sense that the steps used to make decisions at work are fair, consistent, and unbiased.
procedural knowledgenoun: Knowing how to do something, such as riding a bike, without needing to explain each step.
procedural learningphrase: Learning a skill through practice until you can do it automatically without much attention.
procedural memorynoun: Memory for how to do skills and actions, even when you cannot explain the steps.
procedural rationalitynoun: The quality of reasoning is judged by how a decision was reached rather than by the decision's outcome.
proceptivitynoun: During animal mating behavior, females actively seek or encourage males to mate.
process analysisnoun: In psychotherapy, examination focuses on how therapist and client interact and how their relationship develops.
process approachphrase: A neuropsychological testing method that studies how someone solves tasks, not just the final score.
process conflictnoun: Group members disagree about practical arrangements for completing work, such as responsibilities, schedules, or resource allocation.
process consultationphrase: A consultant watches how a work group works together and gives feedback to help it work better.
process evaluationphrase: A program check that gives quick feedback so administrators can improve training while it is still running.
process experiential psychotherapynoun: A therapy helps clients explore immediate experiences and work through thoughts and emotions toward goals they choose.
process lossnoun: A group falls short of its potential because its members' effort, coordination, communication, or leadership works less effectively.
process model of emotion regulationnoun: A proposed model distinguishes strategies that influence emotions as they develop from strategies that change responses after emotions arise.
process observernoun: A group member or consultant watches how a group works and shares observations to help improve its functioning.
process researchphrase: Studies what happens during therapy that helps or hinders change for clients and therapists.
process schizophrenianoun: A historical category described schizophrenia with early, gradual onset, presumed biological origins, and an expected course of continuing difficulties.
process studynoun: An investigation examines the mechanisms and conditions through which an activity produces its results.
process variablephrase: A feeling, thought, action, or relationship factor that changes how therapy unfolds over time.
process-dissociation procedure (PDP)noun: A memory method estimates deliberate remembering and automatic recognition by comparing tasks that let these processes cooperate or compete.
process–reactiveadjective: A historical schizophrenia distinction contrasts symptoms developing gradually with symptoms appearing suddenly after a period of relatively typical functioning.
Processes of Adaptation in Intimate Relationships Projectnoun: A long-term marriage study followed 168 Pennsylvania couples to investigate how earlier relationship experiences predicted later adjustment and separation.
Processing Speed Indexphrase: Shows how quickly someone handles simple visual information without using words.
processing-efficiency theorynoun: A theory proposes that anxiety consumes attention through worry but can encourage extra effort that helps maintain performance.
processornoun: Anything that receives information in the right form and performs set operations on it.
prochlorperazinenoun: A medication that blocks dopamine signals treats nausea and vomiting and also has uses in treating psychotic symptoms.
procrastinationnoun: Putting off a planned task even though you know the delay will likely cause problems.
procreative sexnoun: Sexual activity capable of producing a pregnancy falls into this category, whether or not pregnancy is intended.
Procrustes analysisnoun: A statistical method transforms a pattern of data to fit a chosen reference pattern as closely as possible.
procyclidinenoun: A medicine blocks acetylcholine activity to ease Parkinson's symptoms and certain movement problems caused by other medications.
prodigynoun: A young person shows exceptionally advanced ability in a particular area, such as music, mathematics, or chess.
prodromal myopianoun: Early cataract changes can increase nearsightedness, temporarily allowing someone to read nearby print without their usual reading glasses.
prodromal syndromenoun: A group of early signs or difficulties may indicate that a mental or neurological disorder is beginning.
prodromenoun: An early symptom or group of symptoms appears before a disorder or episode becomes fully developed.
prodrugnoun: A medication begins with little or no activity and becomes more active after the body chemically changes it.
product appealnoun: An advertisement highlights a feature or suggested benefit to connect a product with consumers' wishes or needs.
product championnoun: A person promotes an innovation and explains its advantages to encourage others to adopt it.
product imagenoun: Consumers connect a product or brand with a set of feelings, ideas, and expectations.
product rulenoun: A historical legal standard excused criminal responsibility when an unlawful action resulted from a mental disorder or intellectual impairment.
product testingnoun: Researchers examine consumers' reactions to a product to guide decisions about its design, packaging, or marketing.
product-moment correlation coefficientphrase: A number showing how strongly two variables change together in a straight-line pattern.
production deficiencynoun: A person fails to generate an effective task strategy independently, even though they may be able to carry it out.
production effectnoun: People generally remember studied words better when they say them aloud than when they read them silently.
production methodnoun: A participant adjusts a stimulus until its felt intensity matches an assigned number relative to a numbered reference stimulus.
production rulesnoun: Conditional instructions link a particular situation with an action, helping explain how a cognitive skill operates.
production systemnoun: A computer model solves problems by matching current information to conditional rules and carrying out the actions they specify.
production tasknoun: A test asks someone to generate responses meeting stated conditions or to demonstrate language through speaking or writing.
productive languagenoun: Language someone creates through speech or writing expresses their own messages to other people.
productive lovenoun: In Fromm's theory, loving involves active care, understanding, responsibility, and respect while both people maintain their individuality.
productive orientationnoun: Fromm proposed a personality pattern involving independent growth, active thinking and feeling, and meaningful relationships that preserve individuality.
productive thinkingnoun: In Fromm's theory, a person examines an issue fairly while caring about it and considering its full context.
productive vocabularynoun: The words a person regularly uses when speaking or writing make up this part of their vocabulary.
productivitynoun: How much useful work or output is produced compared with the time, effort, and materials used.
proecological behaviornoun: Actions such as conserving electricity and recycling help protect or improve the natural environment.
proestrusnoun: In animals with an estrous cycle, this stage comes just before the period of sexual receptivity.
professionnoun: A job field needing special training, set entry rules, and ethical standards for how members work.
professional developmentphrase: Ongoing learning and skill building people in a profession do to stay competent and grow.
professional ethicsphrase: Shared rules guide how people in a job should act responsibly and treat others fairly.
professional labelingnoun: Official medication information gives prescribers details about a drug's uses, doses, effects, and risks.
professional licensingnoun: Government authorities authorize qualified people to practice a profession after they meet required standards.
professional managernoun: A person trained extensively in management uses specialized knowledge to direct work within an organization.
professional standardsphrase: Expected rules for how members of a profession should act and do their work well.
professional-aptitude testnoun: An assessment helps select applicants for professional education by measuring abilities relevant to learning and succeeding in that field.
professional–client sexual relationsnoun: A healthcare provider violates professional boundaries by becoming sexually involved with someone currently receiving their care.
profilenoun: A graph showing one person's scores across several tests, traits, or measures.
profile analysisphrase: A statistical method compares groups across several same-scale traits by their average level, pattern, and spread.
profile matching systemnoun: A hiring method compares applicants' characteristics with a description of an ideal or typical worker in the role.
profile of a disordernoun: A visual summary, often a graph, displays the symptoms and other features associated with a disorder.
Profile of Mood States (POMS)noun: A questionnaire measures changing feelings across six areas: tension, sadness, anger, energy, tiredness, and confusion.
profilingnoun: Investigators infer possible offender characteristics from crime details to help focus an investigation, using methods whose accuracy is debated.
profound mental retardationnoun: An outdated, offensive diagnostic label described people with very substantial intellectual limitations and extensive needs for everyday support.
progerianoun: A rare genetic condition causes children to develop certain physical features and health problems associated with aging unusually early.
progesteronenoun: A steroid hormone helps prepare the uterine lining for an embryo and supports pregnancy after implantation.
progestogennoun: A natural or manufactured steroid produces effects resembling progesterone, a hormone involved in menstrual cycles and pregnancy.
prognosisnoun: A best estimate of how a disorder will develop, how long it may last, and its likely outcome.
program effectivenessphrase: How well a treatment works when regular providers use it in everyday settings without tight research control.
program efficacynoun: Researchers determine how well an intervention achieves its intended results when tested under tightly controlled study conditions.
program evaluationphrase: Checking whether a workplace or social program works well enough to keep, change, grow, or stop.
Program for Learning in Accordance With Needs (PLAN)noun: An educational system developed in the 1960s personalized school instruction using learning goals jointly chosen by teachers and students.
program impactphrase: How well a planned service or program achieves its goals, shown by its real effects.
program integritynoun: The degree of agreement between a program's planned procedures and what staff actually deliver indicates its integrity.
program monitoringnoun: Staff track selected measures to check how a program operates and what results it records over time.
program outcomenoun: A change or result arising from carrying out a program counts as one of its outcomes.
programmed cell deathnoun: Cells undergo a regulated self-destruction process that helps shape developing tissues and remove cells no longer needed or functioning properly.
programmed instructionnoun: A teaching method presents small steps, checks each answer, and directs learners toward the next step or extra review.
programmed practicenoun: A therapy assignment involves practicing planned encounters with feared situations in everyday life between appointments.
programmingnoun: Planning an ordered series of steps to carry out a project, especially in research or organizations.
programming languagenoun: A formal system of symbols and rules lets people write instructions that computers can carry out.
Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)noun: These New Zealand educational assessments compare students’ reading and mathematics performance with national standards based on other students’ results.
progressive bulbar palsynoun: A worsening nerve disorder weakens muscles used for speaking, chewing, and swallowing.
progressive educationnoun: An educational approach emphasizes practical exploration, students’ interests and learning pace, and connections between schoolwork and everyday experience.
progressive lipodystrophynoun: A rare condition involves gradual loss of fat beneath the skin, often in matching areas on both body sides.
Progressive Matricesphrase: A nonverbal test of reasoning where people choose the missing piece in visual patterns.
progressive muscle relaxationphrase: A method of lowering tension by tensing and then relaxing muscle groups one by one.
progressive muscular atrophynoun: A motor neuron disease progressively damages the neurons directly activating muscles, leading to increasing weakness and loss of muscle bulk.
progressive myopianoun: Distant details become harder to see as nearsightedness worsens over months or years.
progressive relaxationnoun: A relaxation method reduces bodily tension by attending to muscle groups in sequence, often tightening each before letting go.
progressive spinal muscular atrophynoun: An older disease label describes worsening muscle wasting caused by deterioration of spinal nerve cells that activate muscles.
progressive supranuclear palsynoun: A worsening brain disorder affects eye movements, especially looking downward, and can disrupt balance, speech, swallowing, thinking, and behavior.
progressive teleologic regressionnoun: A historical theory proposed that schizophrenia involves increasingly dreamlike thinking as attempts to escape distress repeatedly fail.
progressive-interval schedule (PI schedule)noun: A reinforcement arrangement rewards the first response after a waiting period that lengthens following every reward.
progressive-ratio schedule (PR schedule)noun: A reinforcement arrangement requires an increasing number of responses to earn each successive reward.
Project Follow Throughnoun: A federally funded American project compared teaching approaches for elementary students from families with low incomes, extending support beyond preschool.
Project Head Startnoun: A federally funded American program supports young children from families with low incomes through education, health services, and family assistance.
project methodnoun: A teaching approach lets students plan and complete learning projects individually or together, with limited direct instruction.
project teamnoun: A temporary work group with people from different specialties joins together to complete one specific task.
projected jealousynoun: A proposed psychological pattern involves accusing a partner of unfaithfulness while attributing one’s own unfaithful behavior or wishes to them.
projectionnoun: People protect themselves by seeing their own unwanted feelings or traits as belonging to someone else.
projection areanoun: A region of the brain’s outer layer receives signals associated with a particular sense, such as sight or hearing.
projection fibernoun: A nerve cell extension carries signals between the brain’s outer layer and structures below it.
projection neuronnoun: A nerve cell sends signals to relatively distant targets through a long extension called an axon.
projective devicenoun: A consumer research method explores reactions through word associations or invented dialogue, often concealing which prompts matter most.
projective doll playnoun: A play therapy activity uses dolls to help children express emotions, tell meaningful stories, and explore relationships.
projective identificationphrase: A defense mechanism where someone puts unwanted feelings into another person, who then starts acting as if they fit.
projective methodphrase: An assessment approach that uses unclear tasks so people reveal feelings, wishes, and conflicts indirectly.
projective playnoun: A therapy approach invites children to express feelings through toys and imagined situations, helping clinicians explore emotional concerns.
projective psychotherapynoun: A therapy method presents clients with selected answers from their projective tests and invites them to share freely associated thoughts.
projective techniquenoun: An assessment method uses unclear pictures, words, or other prompts to explore personality through a person’s interpretations.
prolactinnoun: A hormone made mainly by the pituitary gland supports milk production and contributes to reproductive functions and parental behavior.
prolapsed intervertebral disknoun: Soft material inside a spinal disk pushes through its outer covering and may press on nearby nerves.
proliferationnoun: A rapid increase in number occurs through repeated reproduction or multiplication, especially when cells divide.
Prolixinnoun: A brand name identifies fluphenazine, an antipsychotic medicine also available in an injection that releases medication slowly.
PROLOGabbreviation: A computer language called Programming in Logic uses facts, rules, and pattern matching to answer questions, including in artificial intelligence research.
prolonged exposure therapyphrase: A PTSD treatment where people safely revisit trauma memories and avoided situations until fear lessens.
promethazinenoun: An antihistamine medicine treats allergies, nausea, and motion sickness and can also produce sedation.
promiscuitynoun: A pattern of casual sexual relationships involves multiple partners, often without lasting commitments.
promptnoun: A hint or signal that helps someone remember something or do the wanted behavior.
promptingnoun: Gentle hints from a therapist that help a client keep talking about important issues.
pronationnoun: A forearm rotation turns the palm downward, while foot pronation involves a movement that turns the sole outward.
proneadjective: More likely than usual to do, feel, or have something, often something unwanted.
pronounnoun: A word like he, they, or this that takes the place of a noun.
pronoun reversalnoun: Speakers exchange pronouns used for themselves and other people, sometimes using the word you to mean themselves.
proofnoun: Strong evidence used to support a claim, though psychology rarely shows anything with complete certainty.
proofreader’s illusionnoun: A reader misses a written error because expectations about meaning override attention to the actual letters or words.
proopiomelanocortin (POMC)noun: A protein produced in the pituitary and elsewhere can be cut into chemical messengers involved in stress, appetite, and pain.
propaedeuticnoun: An introductory lesson or course prepares someone to study a larger subject in greater depth.
propagandanoun: Communication uses strongly biased information, sometimes including falsehoods, to shape people’s beliefs, emotions, or actions toward a preferred goal.
propaganda analysisnoun: A systematic examination explores how propaganda is constructed, what responses it seeks, and how effectively it influences people.
propanediolnoun: In this drug classification, a chemically related group includes medicines developed to reduce anxiety by slowing nervous system activity.
propensitynoun: Someone shows a marked inclination to choose certain actions or react in certain ways.
prophasenoun: An early stage of cell division involves chromosomes becoming compact and the cell beginning preparations to separate them.
prophecy formulaphrase: A formula that predicts how a test's reliability will change if you lengthen or shorten it.
prophylactic maintenancenoun: Ongoing treatment, often medication, aims to keep a condition stable and reduce the chance that symptoms return.
prophylactic surgerynoun: An operation removes tissue or an organ before cancer develops to lower risk in someone especially likely to develop it.
prophylaxisnoun: Preventive measures aim to stop a physical or mental health condition from developing.
propinquitynoun: Physical closeness, and sometimes psychological closeness, between people can create conditions that help relationships develop.
propinquity effectnoun: People who encounter each other repeatedly are more likely to develop friendships or romantic relationships.
proportion of variance indexnoun: A statistical measure shows the share of differences in an outcome accounted for by one or more predictors.
proportionaladjective: Keeping the same ratio means amounts change together without changing their overall balance.
proportional hazards modelnoun: A statistical model links predictors to event timing while assuming their relative effects on instantaneous event risk stay constant.
proportional samplingnoun: Researchers select members of each subgroup so the sample preserves that subgroup’s share of the population.
propositanoun: A female family member provides the starting point for investigating a possible genetic condition within her family.
propositionnoun: A statement’s underlying meaning can be judged true or false, even when expressed using different words.
propositional analysisnoun: A system of logic examines connections among whole statements without examining their internal parts.
propositional knowledgenoun: Knowledge is represented through basic units of meaning expressed as statements, which may connect into larger structures.
propositional networknoun: A diagram represents a statement’s concepts and their relationships using connected points.
propositusnoun: A male family member provides the starting point for investigating a possible genetic condition within his family.
propoxyphenenoun: A synthetic opioid pain medicine was withdrawn from the United States market in 2010 because of dangerous heart rhythm effects.
propranololnoun: A medicine that blocks stress hormones, lowering blood pressure and easing shaky body signs of performance anxiety.
propriate strivingnoun: In Allport’s theory, adolescents develop their sense of self by exploring possibilities and forming lasting goals.
proprietary drugnoun: A medicine is sold under a company’s protected brand name, sometimes with patent protection as well.
propriety standardsnoun: Ethical and legal requirements guide program evaluations to protect people, support fairness, and ensure responsible reporting and spending.
proprioceptionnoun: An internal sense tells you where your body parts are and how they move, even without looking.
proprioceptive stimulusnoun: A change inside the body activates receptors that provide information about bodily position or movement.
proprioceptornoun: A sensory receptor detects changes such as muscle stretch or tendon tension, helping track bodily position and movement.
propriumnoun: Allport proposed a central sense of self that brings together identity, bodily awareness, personal value, thinking, and goals.
propulsive gaitnoun: A walking pattern involves forward leaning and short, shuffling steps that become increasingly quick, often occurring with Parkinson’s disease.
prosencephalonnoun: The forebrain includes the cerebral hemispheres and deeper structures such as the thalamus and hypothalamus.
prosocialadjective: Describes behavior meant to help or benefit other people.
prosocial aggressionnoun: Aggressive behavior serves another goal and produces consequences judged beneficial to society, such as protecting others.
prosodicadjective: Describing speech features such as rhythm, stress, and pitch that add meaning beyond individual sounds.
prosodynoun: The rhythm, stress, and pitch patterns that give speech meaning and emotion across sounds.
ProSomnoun: A brand name identifies estazolam, a benzodiazepine medicine used for brief treatment of insomnia.
prosopagnosianoun: A brain-based problem that makes recognizing faces hard, even when seeing other objects is mostly normal.
prospect theoryphrase: Explains that people judge risky choices unevenly, usually fearing losses more than they value equal gains.
prospective memoryphrase: Remembering to carry out a planned action later, such as taking medicine after dinner.
prospective researchnoun: Researchers begin observing participants now and continue into the future to study changes and later outcomes.
prospective samplingnoun: Researchers choose participants according to risk exposure, then follow them to observe whether a condition develops.
prospective validitynoun: Evidence shows how well a test or measurement relates to an outcome measured later.
prostaglandin (PG)noun: A locally acting chemical messenger helps regulate bodily processes such as inflammation, blood pressure, and smooth muscle activity.
prostatenoun: A gland below the bladder surrounds the urine-carrying tube and contributes fluid to semen.
prosthesisnoun: A manufactured replacement worn on or placed inside someone's body takes over missing or impaired physical functions.
prostheticsnoun: A medical specialty designs and makes artificial parts to replace parts of the body.
Prostigminnoun: A brand name identifies neostigmine, a medicine that slows acetylcholine breakdown and is used for myasthenia gravis.
prostitutionnoun: Adults consensually provide sexual services to other adults in exchange for payment or other compensation.
prot-prefix: A word element placed at the beginning expresses being first, original, or ancestral.
protagonistnoun: In psychodrama, the chosen person becomes the main character whose life situation is acted out.
protanomalynoun: An altered response of long-wavelength cone cells reduces sensitivity to red light and makes some colors harder to distinguish.
protanopianoun: Missing functional long-wavelength cone pigment makes reds appear dimmer and certain red and green shades difficult to distinguish.
protean careernoun: A person shapes their working life around personal goals and needs, often changing employers, roles, or settings.
protease inhibitornoun: A medicine blocks protein-cutting enzymes, including viral enzymes needed to produce infectious particles in HIV or hepatitis C.
protected classphrase: A legally protected group cannot be unfairly denied jobs, housing, schooling, or services because of identity traits.
protected relationshipnoun: A professional relationship requires ethical protection of client information, including records, session details, and the fact that contact occurred.
protected t testnoun: Researchers compare pairs of group averages only after an overall F test finds evidence that the averages differ.
protective factorphrase: A trait or support that lowers the chance, harm, or stress effects of a problem.
protective reflexnoun: An involuntary movement pulls someone back from something irritating or painful without requiring a conscious decision.
proteinnoun: A large body-building molecule made of amino acids that cells use to grow, repair, and do jobs.
protein deficiencynoun: Too little protein in food or body tissues can interfere with growth, strength, and normal bodily functioning.
protein hormonenoun: A chemical messenger made from an amino acid chain travels through blood to regulate activities in target tissues.
protein kinasenoun: An enzyme attaches phosphate groups to proteins, often changing their activity or interactions.
protein metabolismnoun: The body builds proteins from amino acids and breaks proteins down through ongoing chemical reactions.
protensitynoun: A conscious experience has a time-spanning quality, lasting across some duration rather than occupying only an instant.
Protestant work ethicnoun: A set of values treats effort, discipline, and delayed rewards as morally worthwhile, historically associated with Protestant thought.
Proteus syndromenoun: A rare condition caused by a noninherited AKT1 gene change produces uneven overgrowth of bones, skin, or other tissues.
protheticadjective: A sensory dimension varies in perceived amount or strength while keeping the same basic kind of experience.
proto- (prot-)prefix: A word beginning signals something ancestral, original, or first in a sequence.
protocolnoun: The full written record of a study, test session, or case, often made during the event.
protocol analysisnoun: Researchers study recorded accounts of people thinking aloud during tasks to investigate how they approach those tasks.
protolanguagenoun: A proposed ancestral language gave rise to related languages and can sometimes be partly reconstructed by comparing them.
proton-pump inhibitor (PPI)noun: A medicine decreases stomach acid production by blocking the enzyme system that pumps acid from stomach lining cells.
protopathicadjective: In a historical sensory classification, certain peripheral nerve responses detect broad stimulation such as pain, extreme temperatures, and strong touch.
protoplasmnoun: The living material inside a cell includes both its cytoplasm and the contents of its nucleus.
prototypal approach to classificationphrase: Psychological difficulties are classified by how closely their combined features match a typical pattern of a disorder.
prototypenoun: A mental picture of the most typical example in a category, used to judge new cases.
prototype modelnoun: This theory proposes that people sort things into categories by comparing them with a mentally formed average example.
prototypicalitynoun: The extent to which an example represents the usual features of its category determines how typical it seems.
protriptylinenoun: This tricyclic antidepressant treats depression by reducing the reabsorption of certain chemical messengers between nerve cells.
Proust phenomenonnoun: A sensory experience unexpectedly brings back a personal memory, often with vivid feelings and sensations.
proverb testnoun: An assessment asks people to explain traditional sayings to explore their thinking abilities and sometimes their wisdom.
providernoun: A person or facility that gives patients health care services, such as treatment or testing.
Provigilnoun: This brand of modafinil promotes wakefulness and is used to treat excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy.
provocative testingnoun: Clinicians deliberately bring on symptoms under controlled conditions to investigate their cause or evaluate a treatment.
provocative victimnoun: An older bullying research label describes someone who experiences bullying and also behaves aggressively, including when responding to it.
proxemicsnoun: Researchers study how people use space and how distance, crowding, and physical arrangements shape social behavior.
proximaladjective: Closer to the center, starting point, or thing being compared than something else.
proximal responsenoun: A reaction takes place inside an organism, such as a muscle contracting or a gland releasing a substance.
proximal stimulusnoun: Physical energy directly reaching sensory receptors provides the immediate input for perception, such as light striking the retina.
proximate causenoun: The immediate event in a chain that directly brings about an outcome.
proximate explanationnoun: Behavior is explained through the bodily processes or developmental experiences that produce it.
proximitynoun: Things that are near each other are usually seen as belonging together in one group.
proximity compatibilitynoun: A design principle places a control near the part of a display that it changes.
proximodistaladjective: Development or movement proceeds outward from the body's center, often with trunk control developing before precise hand control.
proxy variablenoun: Researchers use an available measurement to estimate a strongly related characteristic that is difficult or costly to measure directly.
Prozacnoun: A brand name for fluoxetine, an antidepressant often used for depression and some anxiety problems.
PRPabbreviation: The psychological refractory period is a delay in responding to a second signal arriving soon after a first.
PRSabbreviation: The perceptual representation system supports recognizing previously encountered words and objects through their sensory features rather than their meanings.
prudencenoun: Careful judgment considers future consequences and manages immediate wishes in light of longer goals.
pruderynoun: A disapproving label describes modesty judged excessive, especially strong discomfort or moral disapproval concerning sexual topics.
pruningnoun: During brain development, unused neurons and synapses are removed so brain signaling becomes more efficient.
prurient interestnoun: In obscenity law, sexual interest judged excessively unhealthy or degrading is considered when evaluating material.
pruritusnoun: An itching sensation creates an urge to scratch and can involve physical or psychological factors.
PSEabbreviation: The point of subjective equality is a comparison value with equal chances of being judged above or below a standard.
pseudesthesianoun: An illusory bodily sensation feels present despite lacking its apparent physical source, as with sensations in a missing limb.
pseudo- (pseud-)prefix: This prefix indicates that something is false, apparent, or resembles another thing without actually being that thing.
pseudoachondroplasianoun: A genetic bone growth condition causes short limbs and joint problems while generally leaving intelligence unaffected.
pseudoanginanoun: Chest pain resembles heart-related angina even though evaluation finds no evidence that heart disease explains it.
pseudoasthmanoun: An older label describes asthma-like breathing symptoms for which examinations found no identifiable physical basis.
pseudobulbar affect (PBA)phrase: Sudden uncontrollable laughing or crying that does not fit the situation, often after brain disease or injury.
pseudobulbar palsynoun: Damage to brain pathways controlling mouth and throat muscles makes speaking, chewing, and swallowing difficult.
pseudocholinesterase (PChE)noun: This enzyme, also named butyrylcholinesterase, helps break apart acetylcholine and some drugs within blood plasma and elsewhere.
pseudochromesthesianoun: A form of synesthesia makes sounds, tastes, or other nonvisual experiences automatically produce accompanying sensations of color.
pseudocommunicationnoun: A clinical label describes communication attempts using speech fragments, sounds, or gestures whose intended meaning others cannot readily understand.
pseudocommunitynoun: Within a persecutory delusion, a person believes that real or imagined people form an organized group targeting them.
pseudoconditioningnoun: A previously neutral cue produces a response because earlier stimulation increased general responsiveness, without requiring a learned association.
pseudoconversationnoun: Children speak alongside one another, but their remarks do not meaningfully connect into a shared exchange.
pseudoconvulsionnoun: An older label describes a nonepileptic episode involving collapse and muscle contractions, without the abnormal brain discharges of epilepsy.
pseudocyesisnoun: A person experiences physical signs of pregnancy and believes they are pregnant despite no actual pregnancy.
pseudodementianoun: Memory and thinking problems that look like dementia but come from depression, not brain disease, and can improve.
pseudoephedrine (pseudephedrine)noun: This decongestant reduces swelling in nasal passages and can also increase alertness, anxiety, or difficulty sleeping.
pseudoepilepsynoun: An outdated label describes seizure-like episodes that occur without the abnormal brain electrical activity responsible for epileptic seizures.
pseudoesthesianoun: An illusory bodily feeling occurs without its apparent physical source, such as a sensation located in an absent limb.
pseudoforgivenessnoun: Someone outwardly expresses forgiveness while continuing to feel resentment, anger, or a wish for payback toward the other person.
pseudogroupnoun: Research participants believe they are completing tasks together even though each actually works separately, allowing study of perceived group membership.
pseudohallucinationnoun: A vivid perception-like experience occurs without an external source, while the person recognizes that it is internally generated.
pseudohermaphroditismnoun: An outdated label described intersex variations in which external genital appearance differed from patterns typically associated with the person's gonads.
pseudohydrocephalusnoun: A head with typical circumference appears unusually large because the face or body is comparatively small.
pseudohypertrophic muscular dystrophynoun: An older name for Duchenne muscular dystrophy describes progressive muscle weakness with apparent enlargement caused by fat and connective tissue.
pseudohypoparathyroidismnoun: A genetic condition makes body tissues respond poorly to parathyroid hormone, disrupting calcium regulation and sometimes affecting development.
pseudoidentificationnoun: A proposed psychological defense involves taking on someone else's views or values to reduce the risk of criticism.
pseudoinsomnianoun: A person feels they have slept too little even though observations indicate an adequate amount of sleep.
pseudoisochromatic chartsnoun: These color vision tests contain patterns whose hidden figures become visible when someone can distinguish particular colors.
pseudologia fantasticanoun: This pattern involves elaborate invented stories, often told for admiration or escape, which the storyteller may briefly believe.
pseudomemorynoun: An apparent recollection presents something that did not happen as a real past experience.
pseudomutualitynoun: A family appears understanding and close while rigid relationship rules prevent members from openly expressing their individual feelings.
pseudoneurologicaladjective: This historical description applies to symptoms resembling nervous system disease without an identified neurological explanation.
pseudoneurotic schizophrenianoun: This outdated diagnosis described widespread anxiety and other psychological symptoms with brief episodes of losing contact with reality, often during stress.
pseudonomanianoun: This older label describes an unusually strong urge to tell lies or deliberately change facts.
pseudoparalysisnoun: Pain prevents movement or strength in a limb even though no nervous system cause can be identified.
pseudoparkinsonismnoun: Medication effects can cause Parkinson-like movement symptoms, such as stiffness and slowed movement, often improving when the cause is addressed.
pseudopersonalitynoun: A person creates an invented identity or character to keep others from learning about their actual self.
pseudophonenoun: This research device exchanges the sounds reaching each ear to investigate how people judge where sounds originate.
pseudoprecocious pubertynoun: Hormonal effects produce early bodily signs of puberty without the usual maturation of reproductive function.
pseudopregnancynoun: A person develops bodily signs resembling pregnancy even though no pregnancy has occurred.
pseudoprodigynoun: This label describes someone whose exceptional early abilities are attributed mainly to excessive training by adults.
pseudopsychologynoun: An approach claims to explain thoughts or behavior through methods that lack scientific grounding or involve deception.
pseudopsychopathic schizophrenianoun: This historical diagnosis described antisocial behavior thought to conceal underlying difficulties with distinguishing reality from unreal experiences.
pseudorandomadjective: A sequence or process appears governed by chance but follows an underlying rule or other nonrandom method.
pseudoretardationnoun: This offensive historical label attributed delayed intellectual development to difficult psychological or social conditions rather than factors present at birth.
pseudosciencenoun: An idea system may look scientific but cannot be tested well enough to show whether it is wrong.
pseudoscopenoun: This optical device exchanges the views reaching each eye, reversing perceived depth so raised shapes may appear sunken.
pseudoseizurenoun: This discouraged label describes a seizure-like episode that does not result from the abnormal brain electrical activity responsible for epilepsy.
pseudosenilitynoun: This older label describes thinking or memory difficulties in older adults that may improve when an underlying condition is treated.
pseudowordnoun: An invented, pronounceable letter sequence follows a language's spelling and sound patterns without being an actual word.
PSGabbreviation: Short for phrase-structure grammar, this rule system describes how sentences are built from smaller grammatical parts.
PSIabbreviation: An abbreviation used for parenting stress and psychological screening measures, and a label for proposed paranormal mental abilities.
Psi Betanoun: This United States organization honors psychology achievement among students attending two-year colleges and supports their scholarly and professional growth.
Psi Chinoun: This international organization recognizes outstanding psychology scholarship at universities and four-year colleges while supporting research and student development.
psi-hittingnoun: In studies of claimed psychic abilities, this describes results exceeding chance predictions by a statistically significant amount.
psi-missingnoun: In studies of claimed psychic abilities, this describes results falling below chance predictions by a statistically significant amount.
psilocinnoun: This psychedelic compound occurs in certain mushrooms and affects perception, mood, and thinking through serotonin receptors.
psittacismnoun: Someone repeats language or ideas mechanically without understanding what the repeated material means.
PSPabbreviation: Short for postsynaptic potential, this electrical change occurs in a receiving neuron after a signal crosses a synapse.
PSSTabbreviation: A therapy method that teaches step-by-step ways to solve everyday problems.
PSTabbreviation: Short for problem-solving therapy, this approach teaches practical steps for identifying difficulties, choosing solutions, and checking results.
psychachenoun: Deep emotional suffering can feel intensely painful and has been proposed as a factor contributing to suicide risk.
psychalgianoun: This obsolete label described bodily pain, often involving the head, that a person understood as arising from emotional difficulties.
psychasthenianoun: A MMPI scale measuring chronic anxiety, worry, doubt, and obsessive thinking.
psychenoun: A person's whole mind, including thoughts, feelings, and inner life, apart from the body.
psychedelic drugnoun: A substance strongly changes perception, feelings, and thinking, usually by acting on serotonin receptors in the brain.
psychedelic therapynoun: This treatment approach uses psychedelic substances, often alongside psychotherapy, to try to relieve mental or physical health problems.
psychedelicsnoun: These substances alter sensory experience, emotion, and thought, commonly through their effects on the brain's serotonin receptors.
psychiatric classificationnoun: Clinicians and researchers organize mental health conditions into diagnostic groups to support communication, assessment, treatment, and research.
psychiatric diagnosisphrase: Identifying a mental disorder by matching a person's symptoms to official categories used by clinicians.
psychiatric disabilitynoun: A mental health condition creates lasting limitations that make everyday activities and responsibilities substantially difficult.
psychiatric disorderphrase: A pattern of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that causes distress or problems in daily life.
psychiatric evaluationnoun: A clinician gathers information about symptoms, history, and functioning to understand mental health needs and guide care.
psychiatric hospitalphrase: A place where people stay overnight to get care for serious mental health problems.
psychiatric illnessnoun: A health condition disrupts thinking, feelings, or behavior enough to cause significant distress or difficulty functioning.
psychiatric interviewnoun: A mental health professional discusses someone's experiences, symptoms, and history to build understanding and guide assessment and care.
psychiatric nosologynoun: This system groups and names mental health conditions according to diagnostic categories used in clinical work and research.
psychiatric nursingnoun: This nursing specialty supports people with mental health difficulties through physical care, therapeutic relationships, education, and treatment assistance.
psychiatric pharmacogenomicsnoun: Researchers study how genetic differences influence people's responses to medicines used for mental health conditions.
psychiatric rehabilitationnoun: Services that help people with serious mental illness build daily living, work, and social skills.
psychiatric unitphrase: A hospital section where people stay for intensive care of serious mental health problems.
psychiatristnoun: A medical doctor who diagnoses mental disorders and can prescribe medicine and other treatments.
psychiatrynoun: A medical field that diagnoses, treats, and tries to prevent mental and behavior disorders.
psychicadjective: Describing mental processes or responses linked to the mind rather than direct physical action.
psychic apparatusnoun: Freud proposed an organized set of mental systems and processes to explain how the mind operates.
psychic blindnessphrase: A person can see normally but cannot recognize or make sense of what is seen.
psychic conflictnoun: Psychoanalytic theory describes tension between opposing wishes, drives, or parts of a person's mental life.
psychic determinismnoun: Freud's view proposed that every mental event has underlying causes that psychological analysis can uncover.
psychic energizernoun: This historical name described antidepressant medicines, originally certain drugs that reduce the breakdown of brain chemical messengers.
psychic energyphrase: In psychoanalytic theory, the force from inner drives that powers thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
psychic healingnoun: Practitioners attempt to treat illness through claimed paranormal or spiritual powers whose healing effects are not scientifically established.
psychic linknoun: Parapsychology proposes a connection allowing minds to exchange information without sensory communication, but its existence is not established.
psychic numbingnoun: After trauma, a person may feel emotionally shut down and unable to express affection or experience closeness.
psychic painnoun: Severe emotional suffering can feel deeply painful even when it does not arise from a physical injury.
psychic paralysis of visual ideationnoun: A pattern of visual difficulties affects locating objects, directing eye movements, and noticing more than one object at once.
psychic realitynoun: A person's inner world of imagined experiences, feelings, and memories has its own personal reality apart from outside events.
psychic seizurenoun: An epileptic seizure can produce sudden changes in feelings, thinking, or perception, including unusual familiarity or imagined sights.
psychic suicidenoun: A historical, unproven claim suggests that someone can die solely by deciding to, without taking any physical action.
psychic tensionnoun: Emotional strain develops when a person faces anxiety, conflicting wishes, or an urgent and difficult situation.
psychic traumanoun: An overwhelming experience can deeply disrupt a person's emotional life and sense of safety, sometimes with lasting effects.
psyching outphrase: Someone deliberately tries to make another person feel worried, intimidated, or unsure of their abilities.
psyching upphrase: A person uses preparation activities to reach a helpful level of focus and energy before performing.
psychismnoun: A philosophical view proposes that every part of nature has some form of awareness or mental quality.
psycho-prefix: Before a word, it means mind, mental processes, or behavior.
psychoacousticsnoun: Researchers study how sound's physical properties relate to hearing experiences and its effects on living systems.
psychoactive drugnoun: A substance acts on the brain to noticeably change mental processes such as mood, awareness, perception, or thinking.
psychoanalysisnoun: A therapy approach that explores unconscious thoughts and early relationships to explain problems and change personality.
psychoanalystnoun: A specially trained therapist who treats problems by exploring unconscious thoughts, feelings outside a person's awareness.
psychoanalytic group psychotherapynoun: A therapist uses psychoanalytic methods with a group to explore unconscious conflicts and relationship patterns repeated among participants.
psychoanalytic play techniquenoun: In Melanie Klein's approach, therapists interpret children's imaginative play as possible expressions of unconscious wishes and emotional conflicts.
psychoanalytic psychotherapynoun: A therapist helps someone understand unconscious feelings, conflicts, and relationship patterns to address emotional difficulties.
psychoanalytic theoryphrase: A group of ideas, starting with Freud, that explains behavior through unconscious motives and early relationships.
psychobiographynoun: A written account of someone's life uses psychological ideas to examine their personality alongside their experiences.
psychobiologynoun: This scientific field examines how biological activity and psychological processes influence one another, including behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
psychocardiologynoun: This field studies how emotions, behavior, and social circumstances affect coronary heart disease and care for people experiencing it.
psychochemistrynoun: This field investigates connections between chemicals, behavior, and mental activity, including chemical processes involving genes and metabolism.
psychocutaneous disordernoun: A skin condition is thought to be significantly influenced by psychological factors, which may trigger symptoms or make them worse.
psychodermatologynoun: This field examines how skin conditions and mental health influence each other and combines care for both.
psychodiagnosisnoun: Finding the causes of behavior, especially mental problems, using interviews, tests, and other psychological methods.
psychodramanoun: Clients act out important life scenes in therapy to gain insight into themselves, others, and possible new responses.
psychodynamic approachphrase: Explains behavior by hidden motives from the past that shape personality, feelings, and mental problems.
Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM)noun: A clinical handbook uses psychodynamic ideas to understand symptoms alongside personality, emotional abilities, and relationships when guiding assessment and treatment.
psychodynamic group psychotherapynoun: A therapist guides group members in supporting each other while recognizing overlooked or unconscious patterns in their feelings and behavior.
psychodynamic psychotherapyphrase: A talk therapy from psychoanalysis that explores unconscious thoughts, feelings, and transference to build insight and lasting change.
psychodynamic theoryphrase: A group of theories explaining behavior through hidden inner motives, conflicts, and early relationships.
psychodynamicsnoun: Interacting wishes, emotions, needs, and defenses, both noticed and unnoticed, help shape a person's behavior and mental experiences.
psychoeducationnoun: Teaching patients and families about a condition, its treatment, and coping skills can reduce shame and stress.
psychoeducational diagnosticiannoun: A trained specialist assesses children to identify learning disabilities and understand the difficulties affecting their learning.
psychoeducational problemsnoun: Difficulties with schoolwork become serious enough to cause considerable emotional distress or other psychological difficulties.
psychoendocrinologynoun: Researchers examine how hormones and the systems producing them relate to behavior, mental activity, and psychological disorders.
psychogalvanic reflex (PGR)noun: Sweat gland activity changes how easily electricity passes through the skin when the body responds to a stimulus.
psychogenesisnoun: Mental processes, personality, and behavior have origins and develop over time, a development described by this concept.
psychogeneticsnoun: Researchers investigate how psychological characteristics are passed between generations through biological inheritance.
psychogenicadjective: Caused by mental or emotional factors rather than a clear physical problem.
psychogenic amnesianoun: An older label describes significant gaps in personal memories attributed to psychological factors, often involving stressful or traumatic experiences.
psychogenic cardiovascular disordernoun: Heart or circulation symptoms lacking an identified physical explanation are attributed to psychological factors under this label.
psychogenic disordernoun: A condition without an identified bodily explanation is believed to arise from psychological influences such as stress or emotional conflict.
psychogenic hypersomnianoun: Historically, unusually lengthy sleep episodes were attributed to emotional difficulties, including a proposed wish to withdraw from stressful situations.
psychogenic mutismnoun: A person loses the ability to speak because of psychological factors rather than an identified physical cause.
psychogenic nocturnal polydipsianoun: Unusually intense thirst at night leads to excessive drinking and is attributed to psychological influences rather than physical causes.
psychogenic nonepileptic seizure (PNES)noun: A seizure-like episode arises involuntarily through psychological or functional processes, without the electrical bursts that produce epileptic seizures.
psychogenic pain disordernoun: A historical diagnosis described persistent, disabling pain in which psychological factors contributed and physical illness alone did not fully explain symptoms.
psychogenic polydipsianoun: Excessive fluid drinking, often accompanied by intense thirst, is attributed to psychological factors rather than a bodily need.
psychogenic pruritusnoun: Persistent itching is linked to psychological factors and may remain difficult to relieve despite treatment.
psychogenic purpuranoun: A rare condition involves painful bruises that may enlarge and is thought to be associated with severe emotional distress.
psychogenic seizurenoun: An involuntary seizure episode is linked to psychological or functional processes and occurs without the electrical discharges responsible for epilepsy.
psychogenic vertigonoun: A false feeling of personal or surrounding movement is linked to psychological factors when identified physical problems do not fully explain it.
psychographicsnoun: Marketing researchers study people's values, lifestyles, interests, and opinions to anticipate buying choices and group potential customers.
psychographynoun: A descriptive account portrays mental experiences or uses psychological ideas to characterize a real or imagined person.
psychohistorynoun: An approach to historical study uses psychoanalytic ideas to interpret people, events, and social movements from the past.
psychokinesis (PK)noun: An unproven paranormal claim proposes that thoughts alone can move objects, alter their form, or influence outside events.
psycholinguisticsnoun: Researchers use models of language to investigate the mental processes involved in learning, producing, and understanding it.
psychological abusephrase: Repeated words or actions that hurt someone's feelings, self-worth, or sense of safety without physical harm.
psychological acculturationnoun: An individual's attitudes and behavior change through contact with another culture, with adjustments differing in kind and extent.
psychological adaptationnoun: A person adjusts successfully to difficult experiences through flexible thinking, emotional responses, and behavior, often supported by others and coping skills.
psychological aestheticsnoun: A branch of psychology examines how people experience beauty and what shapes their reactions to art.
psychological assessmentphrase: Using interviews, tests, and observation to judge a person's problems, abilities, and treatment needs.
psychological atomismnoun: A historical view proposes that mental experience consists of separate, independent units that cannot be divided further.
psychological autopsyphrase: An after-death review uses records and interviews to rebuild a person's mental state before dying.
psychological contractphrase: An employee's unwritten beliefs about what they and their employer owe each other at work.
psychological counselingnoun: A trained professional helps someone explore difficulties involving thoughts, emotions, or behavior and work toward solutions.
psychological debriefing (PD)phrase: A brief talk after trauma meant to prevent later stress problems, though it can sometimes worsen distress.
psychological deficitnoun: An individual's thinking, emotional functioning, or behavior falls substantially below an appropriate comparison standard.
psychological dependencenoun: A person relies on a substance for rewarding feelings, often experiencing cravings and difficulty staying away from it.
psychological determinismnoun: A philosophical position holds that thoughts, feelings, and actions are necessarily caused by factors beyond a person's control.
psychological disorderphrase: A pattern of thoughts, feelings, or behavior that causes major distress, disability, or risk.
psychological distancephrase: How emotionally detached or uninvolved someone feels from another person or people.
psychological distressphrase: Painful feelings and body symptoms that can be normal stress but may also signal a mental disorder.
psychological dysfunctionnoun: Difficulties in mental processes or behavior interfere with a person's ability to function effectively.
psychological examinationnoun: A professional uses interviews, observation, and tests to evaluate someone's abilities, personality, daily functioning, and possible psychological difficulties.
psychological factorsphrase: Thoughts, feelings, experiences, and relationships that shape behavior, personality, health, and mental problems.
psychological factors affecting medical conditionnoun: An older diagnostic label describes thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that worsen a physical illness or interfere with its treatment.
psychological fieldnoun: In Kurt Lewin's theory, a person's perceived situation includes the needs, possibilities, and surrounding influences shaping behavior right now.
psychological interventionphrase: Any planned action meant to improve thoughts, feelings, behavior, or daily functioning.
psychological kidnappingnoun: An informal label describes claimed coercive control that restricts someone's ability to express their personality and make independent choices.
psychological masqueradenoun: A physical medical condition produces symptoms that can be mistaken for a psychological disorder.
psychological maturitynoun: A person handles experiences effectively, recovers from difficulties, and manages developmental demands appropriate to their age.
psychological menoun: In William James's theory, this is the self someone can examine, including belongings, social identity, and inner experience.
psychological modelnoun: A theory or simplified representation explains mental processes or behavior and often helps predict what people will do.
psychological momentnoun: An especially suitable time allows an action or message to have its intended effect on someone.
psychological needphrase: A mental or emotional need, such as belonging or approval, that supports well-being but is not required for survival.
psychological networknoun: A person's meaningful relationships include people and groups whose opinions matter to them and who offer emotional support.
psychological rapportnoun: In Jung's theory, an intensified attachment to the analyst was proposed to compensate for difficulties relating to present reality.
psychological reactancephrase: A pushback feeling that makes people want a restricted choice even more when freedom seems threatened.
psychological refractory period (PRP)noun: Responding to a second signal takes longer when it follows closely after a first signal requiring a response.
psychological rehabilitationnoun: Professional support helps someone with a physical impairment develop or rebuild confidence, coping skills, independence, and a workable self-image.
psychological resiliencephrase: Bouncing back and adapting well after stress, trauma, loss, or other hard experiences.
psychological scalenoun: A measurement system or instrument assigns scores to psychological characteristics, such as attitudes, emotional experiences, or abilities.
Psychological Screening Inventory (PSI)noun: A brief questionnaire uses 130 true-or-false statements to help identify people who may need a fuller mental health evaluation.
psychological significancenoun: A research finding matters psychologically when it meaningfully informs understanding of people's thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or actions.
psychological skills training (PST)noun: Athletes practice mental techniques, including imagery, attention control, relaxation, and goal planning, to improve their sports performance.
psychological social psychologynoun: This approach studies how other people influence individuals, emphasizing the mental processes behind their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
psychological statisticsnoun: This field develops and applies methods for designing studies, measuring behavior, selecting samples, analyzing data, and reporting psychological findings.
psychological testnoun: A standardized set of questions or tasks used to measure behavior, abilities, feelings, interests, or personality.
psychological testingphrase: Using standardized tests to measure a person's abilities, traits, symptoms, or behavior in a careful, consistent way.
psychological timenoun: A person's experience or estimate of passing time can change with attention, activity, emotions, and other influences.
psychological treatmentphrase: Help from trained mental health professionals that uses talk, teaching, or behavior methods to improve thoughts, feelings, and actions.
psychological tremornoun: Involuntary shaking is associated with psychological influences, such as tension, rather than being a deliberately produced movement.
psychological universalnoun: A mental or behavioral feature appears across cultures, although its expression or meaning may vary between communities.
psychological warfarenoun: Military-related influence tactics aim to strengthen friendly morale or alter opposing soldiers' and civilians' beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.
psychologismnoun: A philosophical approach grounds logic, knowledge, truth, or word meanings in how human minds operate.
psychologistnoun: A professionally trained expert in psychology studies behavior and mind, and may assess, treat, teach, or do research.
psychologisticadjective: An explanation gives excessive weight to psychological ideas or language, or only superficially resembles a psychological account.
psychologynoun: The science of mind and behavior, studied through careful observation, testing, and experiments.
psychology of religionnoun: This field studies religious beliefs, spiritual experiences, and organized religion in relation to people's mental processes and behavior.
psychometricadjective: Describing tests or methods used to measure mental abilities, traits, or other psychological characteristics.
psychometric examinationnoun: A set of psychological tests measures characteristics such as reasoning ability, personality, interests, or skill in using the hands.
psychometric functionnoun: A mathematical relationship links a stimulus's physical properties to people's judgments, often showing how detection changes with stimulus strength.
psychometric modelnoun: A statistical framework explains test responses and measurement errors, helping researchers evaluate how dependable scores are under different conditions.
psychometric researchnoun: Researchers develop and evaluate psychological measurements, examining scoring, consistency, supported interpretations, and whether items work differently across groups.
psychometric scalenoun: A tool or scoring system measures an aspect of thinking, feeling, social experience, or behavior.
psychometric scalingnoun: Researchers build a psychological measuring instrument by analyzing responses, selecting suitable items, and deciding how scores should be calculated.
Psychometric Societynoun: An international nonprofit professional group advances numerical measurement methods for psychology, education, and related social sciences.
psychometric testnoun: A carefully designed test used to measure a person's abilities, traits, symptoms, or knowledge.
psychometric theories of intelligencenoun: These theories explain intellectual abilities using evidence from intelligence tests, often identifying underlying abilities through patterns among scores.
psychometriciannoun: A specialist in psychological measurement designs, studies, and improves tests so they give accurate and useful results.
psychometricsnoun: Measuring mental traits and behavior with tests, and making sure those tests work well.
psychometrynoun: A branch of psychology measures mental characteristics and behavior while developing and improving the instruments used for those measurements.
psychomimeticnoun: A drug can produce experiences resembling psychosis, such as hallucinations or delusions, and was historically studied for that purpose.
psychomimic syndromenoun: A historical label describes developing symptoms resembling another person's illness without physical evidence of that illness, often near a death anniversary.
psychomotilitynoun: A movement or motor habit, such as handwriting or walking, is shaped or directed by mental activity.
psychomotoradjective: Describes body movement that is caused or changed by mental activity.
psychomotor agitationphrase: Noticeable restless movement caused by inner distress, such as pacing or fidgeting, often seen in depression or mania.
psychomotor disordernoun: A disturbance affects mental control of movement, or psychological factors contribute to a problem with movement.
psychomotor domainnoun: An area of educational learning concerns developing physical movements, coordination, spatial awareness, and skilled use of the body.
psychomotor epilepsynoun: An older name describes epilepsy involving seizures that begin in one brain region and impair awareness, sometimes with repetitive movements.
psychomotor excitementnoun: Mental tension or disturbance produces restless movements, such as repeated pacing, rubbing objects, or wringing the hands.
psychomotor hallucinationnoun: A person experiences a false bodily sensation that body parts are shifting to different locations within their body.
psychomotor retardationphrase: Marked slowing of thinking, speech, and body movement, often seen during major depression.
psychomotor seizurenoun: An older name describes a seizure beginning in one brain region that disrupts awareness and may cause repeated movements.
psychomotor skillnoun: An ability combines thinking with controlled body movements to carry out a task.
psychomotor testnoun: An assessment measures performance on tasks that require thinking and body movements to work together.
psychoneuroendocrinologynoun: A scientific field explores how psychological experiences, nerve activity, and hormones influence one another, behavior, and health.
psychoneuroimmunologynoun: A scientific field investigates connections among psychological processes, brain activity, behavior, and the body's immune defenses.
psychoneuromuscular theorynoun: A proposed explanation says imagining movement sends weak signals to muscles, strengthening pathways used when performing that movement.
psychoneurosisnoun: An outdated label grouped conditions involving anxiety or emotional distress while a person generally remained aware of reality.
psychonomicadjective: An approach to psychology emphasizes controlled experiments, numerical measurements, and concepts defined through observable testing procedures.
Psychonomic Societynoun: A professional organization established in 1959 supports sharing experimental research about thinking, learning, behavior, and related subjects.
psychonomicsnoun: A scientific approach seeks general laws explaining how the mind works.
psychonosologynoun: A system organizes mental disorders into categories according to shared features.
psychooncologynoun: A field studies how psychological experiences, behavior, and social relationships relate to cancer risk, detection, treatment, outcomes, and coping.
psychopathnoun: An outdated label was used for someone with antisocial personality disorder, involving persistent disregard for other people's rights.
psychopathia sexualisnoun: A historical label from Richard von Krafft-Ebing described sexual interests or behavior judged unacceptable under the standards of his era.
psychopathic personalitynoun: An older diagnostic name described antisocial personality disorder, involving a lasting pattern of disregarding and violating others' rights.
psychopathologynoun: Unusual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that show a mental disorder is present.
psychopathynoun: Another name for antisocial personality disorder, a lasting pattern of harming others and ignoring rules.
psychopharmacological drugnoun: A medicine is used to treat symptoms of a mental or behavioral condition.
psychopharmacologynoun: The study of how drugs change thoughts, feelings, behavior, and brain function.
psychopharmacotherapynoun: A treatment approach uses medicines to reduce symptoms of mental disorders.
psychophysicaladjective: Describing how physical signals and experiences are linked to what a person senses or feels.
psychophysical dualismnoun: A philosophical position holds that mental experience and physical matter belong to two fundamentally distinct kinds of reality.
psychophysical functionnoun: A mathematical relationship connects a stimulus's physical properties with people's reports or judgments about what they perceive.
psychophysical lawphrase: A rule linking stimulus strength to how strong a sensation feels.
psychophysical methodnoun: A standardized research technique tests how changes in physical stimulation relate to what people sense or judge.
psychophysical parallelismnoun: A philosophical proposal holds that mental and bodily events correspond without either directly causing the other.
psychophysical propertiesnoun: In Berlyne's theory of artistic preference, a stimulus's built-in sensory features, such as intensity or pitch, contribute to arousal.
psychophysical relationshipphrase: The link between a physical stimulus and the sensation or experience a person reports.
psychophysical researchnoun: Scientific investigations measure how physical features of stimuli relate to people's sensory experiences and responses.
psychophysical scalingphrase: Methods for matching a physical stimulus feature to how strong or big it seems to a person.
psychophysical tuning curve (PTC)noun: A graph shows the sound level needed at different masker frequencies to make a fixed test tone just undetectable.
psychophysicsnoun: Studies how measurable stimulus features, like light intensity, connect to what a person actually senses.
psychophysiological assessmentnoun: An evaluation uses recordings of bodily activity to draw conclusions about mental processes or emotions.
psychophysiological researchnoun: Scientific studies investigate relationships between bodily activity and mental processes such as remembering, thinking, or feeling.
psychophysiologynoun: Studies how body processes connect with thoughts, feelings, and actions.
psychopoliticsnoun: A field examines psychological influences on political behavior and how political systems affect people's experiences.
psychosciencenoun: An umbrella category includes sciences studying mental activity, behavior, mental disorders, and their treatment.
psychosexualadjective: Describing sexual feelings or behavior as shaped by the mind and emotions more than the body.
psychosexual developmentphrase: Freud's theory says personality grows through childhood stages where sexual energy focuses on different body areas.
psychosexual disordersnoun: A historical diagnostic grouping combined sexual functioning difficulties, certain sexual interests, and diagnoses concerning gender identity.
psychosexual dysfunctionnoun: An older name described sexual difficulties involving desire, arousal, orgasm, or pain.
psychosexual stagesphrase: Freud's five childhood stages say personality grows through pleasure focused on different body areas.
psychosexual traumanoun: An earlier traumatic sexual experience is connected with emotional difficulties a person experiences later.
psychosisnoun: A severe mental state where contact with reality is lost, causing false beliefs, hallucinations, or disorganized thinking.
psychosocialadjective: Describes how social, cultural, and environmental forces shape thoughts, feelings, and behavior together.
psychosocial deprivationnoun: Limited access to supportive social contact and mental stimulation can restrict opportunities for emotional and intellectual development.
psychosocial developmentphrase: Growth of personality across life shaped by relationships, society, and culture.
psychosocial factorsphrase: Social and environmental influences, like relationships and culture, shape a person's behavior, stress, and mental health.
psychosocial interventionphrase: Uses counseling, support, or behavior-change help to improve emotional, relationship, and daily-life problems linked to illness or risk.
psychosocial mental retardation (psychosocial mental developmental delay)noun: An outdated, offensive label proposed that adverse social or psychological conditions caused delays in intellectual development.
psychosocial oncologynoun: A field studies psychological, behavioral, and social aspects of cancer and provides support to patients and families.
psychosocial rehabilitationnoun: Coordinated services help people with serious mental illness develop everyday, social, and work skills while supporting recovery and community participation.
psychosocial stressornoun: A demanding life situation creates substantial emotional strain that may contribute to health problems or worsen existing difficulties.
psychosocial supportphrase: Help from professionals and supportive groups that eases emotional stress during illness, crisis, or disaster.
psychosocial therapynoun: Psychological treatment helps people manage emotional or behavioral difficulties in situations involving family, work, or other social relationships.
psychosomaticadjective: Describing physical symptoms or illness that are caused or worsened by stress, anxiety, or other mental factors.
psychosomatic disordernoun: A physical condition is understood to be importantly influenced by psychological factors in its development or progression.
psychosomatic medicinenoun: A medical field examines how psychological factors contribute to physical illness and its treatment.
psychostimulantnoun: A drug that speeds up the central nervous system, increasing alertness, energy, and activity.
psychosurgerynoun: A surgical treatment for mental disorders removes or deliberately destroys selected brain tissue to alter problematic brain activity.
psychosynthesisnoun: In Jung's psychoanalytic approach, therapeutic work aims to integrate unconscious material, including dreams and wishes, with the broader personality.
psychotechnicsnoun: Practical methods apply psychological principles to real situations or to influencing a person's behavior.
psychotechnologynoun: A body of psychological knowledge supports practical applications, and the word also covers using that knowledge.
psychotherapeutic processnoun: The unfolding of therapy includes each participant's thoughts, feelings, and actions, along with their interactions throughout treatment.
psychotherapynoun: A trained professional uses talking and relationship-based methods to assess and treat emotional, thinking, and behavior problems.
psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibitionnoun: A behavioral treatment pairs anxiety triggers with a competing response, such as relaxation, aiming to weaken learned anxiety.
psychotherapy integrationnoun: A treatment approach combines ideas or methods from different therapy traditions to fit a person's needs.
psychotherapy matchingnoun: A selection process pairs someone with treatments or therapists suited to their difficulties, needs, preferences, and circumstances.
psychotherapy researchphrase: Scientific studies test how therapy works, what happens during it, and whether it helps people.
psychoticadjective: Having lost contact with reality, often with hallucinations or fixed false beliefs.
psychotic disorderphrase: A severe mental illness causes loss of reality testing, with false beliefs, hallucinations, or very disorganized thinking.
psychotic episodephrase: A time when someone has hallucinations, false beliefs, or badly mixed-up speech.
psychotic featurenoun: A symptom involves a major disturbance in recognizing reality, such as hallucinations, delusions, or severely disorganized speech or behavior.
psychoticismnoun: In Eysenck's personality theory, a dimension groups tendencies toward impulsiveness, aggression, emotional distance, and disregard for social rules.
psychotogenicadjective: This describes a state produced by drugs that resembles psychosis, potentially involving hallucinations, unusual beliefs, or emotional changes.
psychotomimeticadjective: A substance described this way can produce experiences resembling psychosis, such as hallucinations or strongly held false beliefs.
psychotoxicadjective: An agent described this way can damage the brain through its toxic effects.
psychotropic drugphrase: A medicine or other substance that changes mood, thinking, perception, or behavior by acting on the brain.
PTabbreviation: Physical therapy uses movement and other physical treatments to improve function and manage pain, injury, or illness.
PTAabbreviation: Posttraumatic amnesia involves difficulty remembering events around or after an injury or deeply distressing experience.
PTCabbreviation: A psychophysical tuning curve graphs the sound levels needed at different frequencies to just hide a fixed test sound.
Ptolemaic theorynoun: This historical astronomical model placed Earth at the universe's center, with other heavenly bodies moving around it.
ptosisnoun: An organ or body part sits lower than usual, most commonly appearing as a drooping upper eyelid.
PTPabbreviation: Posttetanic potentiation occurs when a rapid burst of nerve signals temporarily strengthens a receiving neuron's response to a later signal.
PTSDabbreviation: A disorder that can follow trauma and includes flashbacks, fear, and being on constant alert.
ptyalismnoun: Excess saliva builds up because too much is produced or swallowing cannot keep pace with normal production.
pubertas praecoxnoun: Puberty begins unusually early, typically before eight years in girls or nine years in boys.
pubertynoun: A body stage when sex organs mature and visible adult traits begin, marking the start of adolescence.
puberty ritenoun: A community uses a ceremony or customary practice to mark a young person's transition toward adult status during puberty.
pubescencenoun: The body goes through the period of change leading into sexual maturity at puberty.
pubescent growth spurtnoun: Hormonal changes during puberty cause a faster increase in height, weight, bone growth, and muscle development.
public adoptionnoun: A government child welfare agency arranges a child's permanent legal placement with adoptive parents.
public awareness campaignnoun: An organized effort uses several communication methods to help a community understand an issue and its importance.
public distance zonenoun: People may keep roughly 3.5 to 7.5 meters apart during formal speeches, official occasions, or ceremonies.
public health approachnoun: Communities improve health by preventing illness, tracking problems, supporting healthy conditions, and making useful services accessible.
public health nursenoun: A nurse with public health training helps communities prevent illness, learn about health, and obtain needed care.
public health servicesnoun: Organized services work to prevent illness and support better health across a community.
public mental hospitalnoun: A government operates this hospital to provide care for people with mental health disorders.
public policy interventionnoun: A government changes rules to require changes in behavior or surroundings, often to improve public health.
public residential facilitynoun: A residence managed directly by a local or state government houses and supports people who have developmental or intellectual disabilities.
public selfnoun: The version of yourself others encounter emerges through your behavior, appearance, words, and interactions.
public self-consciousnessnoun: A person tends to notice and think about aspects of themselves that others can observe.
public service psychologynoun: Psychologists work within public agencies to address psychological needs, improve services, and support the people those agencies serve.
public sociologynoun: Sociologists collaborate with people and community groups on practical research aimed at addressing social problems and supporting change.
public territorynoun: A person or group temporarily occupies a space that remains available for public use.
public-speaking anxietynoun: Speaking before an audience brings fear of criticism, embarrassment, or other unfavorable judgments.
publication biasphrase: Published research often looks more positive because studies finding no real effect are less likely to appear.
publication ethicsphrase: Rules for sharing research honestly, including fair credit, proper citation, and avoiding duplicate or simultaneous submission.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Associationnoun: This reference book explains APA guidelines for clear scholarly writing, source citations, formatting, and presentation of research findings.
PUBSabbreviation: A prenatal test uses a needle through the abdomen to collect blood from a fetus's umbilical cord for analysis.
pudendal nervenoun: A nerve from the lower spine carries sensation and muscle-control signals for the genital and nearby pelvic regions.
pudendumnoun: This anatomical name means the external genital organs, especially the vulva.
puer aeternusnoun: In Jung's theory, this proposed archetype represents eternal youth through the symbolic image of an ever-young boy.
puerilismnoun: This older descriptive word labels behavior judged less mature than expected for a person's age.
puerperal disordernoun: A disorder develops during early recovery after childbirth, potentially involving depression, mania, psychosis, or confusion.
puerperiumnoun: During roughly six weeks after childbirth, the reproductive organs gradually recover toward their condition before pregnancy.
Puerto Rican syndromenoun: This historical label described mal de pelea, a reported pattern of brooding followed by sudden aggressive outbursts in Puerto Rico.
Pulfrich effectnoun: Dimming one eye's view delays its signals, making a sideways-moving object appear to travel along a path with depth.
pull modelnoun: A psychological theory proposes that positive experiences attract people toward forming goals or finding meaning.
pull-out programnoun: Students leave their usual classroom for part of the day to receive specialized instruction matched to their learning needs.
pulmonary embolismnoun: Material carried through the bloodstream, usually a clot, blocks an artery supplying the lungs.
pulsenoun: The beat felt in an artery shows how fast the heart is pumping blood.
pulvinarnoun: A large cluster of nerve cells at the back of the thalamus helps process visual information and guide eye movements.
punnoun: A playful expression uses multiple meanings or similar word sounds to create humor.
punch-drunkadjective: This outdated description was used for lasting thinking, speech, balance, or movement difficulties associated with repeated head injuries.
punctate sensitivitynoun: Different tiny spots on the skin vary in sensitivity to touch, temperature, and pain because sensory receptors are unevenly distributed.
punctuated equilibriumnoun: An evolutionary theory proposes long stretches of little species change interrupted by relatively rapid periods when new species emerge.
pungentadjective: In the historical stereochemical theory of smell, this describes one of seven proposed odor categories, associated with sharp smells.
punishmentnoun: A consequence after a behavior that makes that behavior less likely to happen again.
punishment and obedience orientationphrase: In Kohlberg's first moral stage, people obey rules mainly to avoid punishment from authority figures.
punitive damagesnoun: A civil court awards this money to penalize especially wrongful conduct and discourage similar behavior.
punitive parentingnoun: A parent repeatedly relies on punishment, often harsh or controlling, to manage a child's behavior.
pupilnoun: The black opening in the eye lets light in and changes size automatically.
pupillary reflexnoun: The eye's pupil automatically becomes smaller in brighter surroundings and larger when the light dims.
pupillary-skin reflexnoun: Scratching the cheek or chin can trigger an automatic widening of the eye’s pupil.
pupillometrynoun: Researchers measure pupil size and its changes to study responses such as attention, interest, or mental effort.
puppetry therapynoun: A therapist uses puppet play to help children express feelings and explore experiences or relationships.
puppy lovenoun: An informal expression describes youthful romantic feelings that can be intense but may change quickly.
Purdue Pegboard Testnoun: A timed assessment measures finger and hand coordination through tasks involving small pegs, using each hand and both together.
pure alexianoun: Brain damage disrupts reading while leaving writing, speaking, and understanding speech relatively preserved.
pure colornoun: A color experience results from light containing just one wavelength.
pure consciousnessnoun: In Vedanta philosophy, awareness is proposed to exist without any particular thought, sensation, or object within it.
pure researchnoun: An investigation aims to expand understanding without seeking an immediate practical use for its findings.
pure sciencenoun: Scientific work seeks fundamental knowledge about how things operate, regardless of whether that knowledge has practical uses.
pure tonenoun: A sound contains a single frequency, with pressure changes forming a smooth, repeating sine wave.
pure word deafnessnoun: Heard words become difficult to recognize while reading, writing, speaking, and recognition of other sounds remain largely intact.
pure-stimulus actnoun: Hull proposed an action that provides body-sense cues for a later goal-directed response without itself advancing the goal.
pure-tone audiometrynoun: A hearing assessment finds the quietest single-frequency sounds a person can detect at several pitches.
purgingnoun: Getting rid of eaten food by vomiting or laxatives to prevent weight gain.
purging disordernoun: An eating disorder involves repeated purging to influence weight or shape without episodes of unusually large, uncontrolled eating.
Purkinje afterimagenoun: A second lingering visual image appears in a color complementary to that of the original stimulus.
Purkinje cellnoun: A large, branching neuron in the cerebellum helps regulate signals needed for coordinated movement.
Purkinje figuresnoun: Under special lighting conditions, people can see branching patterns produced by blood vessels within their own retinas.
Purkinje shiftnoun: As lighting dims, vision becomes relatively more sensitive to shorter wavelengths, making blues and greens appear brighter than reds.
Purkinje–Sanson imagesnoun: Three reflected views of an object arise from the cornea’s front surface and the lens’s front and back surfaces.
purplenoun: A color seen when the eye combines short and long light wavelengths.
purposenoun: A goal or reason that guides what someone does and keeps them working toward it.
purpose in lifenoun: A person feels that their life has a meaningful direction or aim.
purposeful behaviornoun: An action or sequence of actions is organized around reaching a particular goal.
purposeless hyperactivitynoun: Prolonged, unusually high activity lacks a clear goal and may appear as a symptom of certain disorders.
purposive accidentnoun: An apparently accidental event is understood as intentionally caused, sometimes attributed to wishes the person does not acknowledge.
purposive behaviorismnoun: Tolman’s learning theory proposes that goals and learned expectations guide organized patterns of behavior.
purposive psychologynoun: An approach to psychology assumes that conscious goals usually motivate and organize an organism’s behavior.
purposive samplingphrase: Choosing participants because they have specific traits needed for the study, rather than by chance.
purposivismnoun: An explanatory approach gives goals and purposes a central role in understanding behavior.
pursuit rotornoun: A device measures eye-hand coordination by asking someone to keep a stylus over a target on a rotating disk.
pursuitmeternoun: An instrument measures how well someone tracks a target as it moves.
push modelnoun: A psychological theory proposes that unpleasant experiences drive people to seek meaning or develop goals.
push switchnoun: An accessible control uses one or more pressure-operated buttons that can be activated with different body parts.
push-down stacknoun: A memory model places each new item on top, allowing access only to the most recently added remaining item.
putamennoun: A brain area in the basal ganglia that helps control movement using messages from motor cortex.
putridadjective: In a historical theory linking molecular shape to smell, this describes the odor category associated with decay.
puzzle boxnoun: A research box where an animal solves a simple mechanism to escape or get food, showing how it learns.
PVSabbreviation: Persistent vegetative state describes wakefulness without observable signs of awareness lasting longer than four weeks.
PWSabbreviation: A genetic disorder causing weak muscles, feeding problems early, and later intense hunger and learning difficulties.
pycnodysostosis (pyknodysostosis)noun: An inherited CTSK gene disorder alters bone breakdown, causing short stature, unusually dense bones, and distinctive skeletal development.
Pygmalion effectphrase: Higher expectations from authority figures can lead people to perform in ways that match those expectations.
pygmalionismnoun: A person develops romantic love for something they have created.
pygmyismnoun: An outdated label described inherited short stature with proportionate body dimensions and was also applied inappropriately to ethnic groups.
pyknic typenoun: Kretschmer’s historical classification described a short, stocky build and controversially linked it with sociability and changing moods.
pyknodysostosisnoun: An inherited CTSK gene disorder affects skeletal growth and bone breakdown, producing short stature and unusually dense bones.
pyknolepsynoun: An older name for childhood absence epilepsy describes frequent, brief seizures that interrupt a child’s awareness.
pyloric stenosisnoun: Narrowing at the stomach’s outlet restricts food from passing into the small intestine.
pyr-prefix: This word part adds a meaning involving fire, burning, or fever.
pyramidnoun: A layered triangle diagram often used to show needs from basic survival up to growth.
pyramidal cellnoun: A neuron with a roughly pyramid-shaped main body occurs in the cerebral cortex and other brain regions.
pyramidal tractnoun: A major nerve pathway carries movement commands from the cerebral cortex toward muscles through brainstem and spinal connections.
pyramidotomynoun: A surgical procedure cuts fibers within the brain’s pyramidal pathway, which carries signals involved in movement.
pyridostigminenoun: By slowing acetylcholine breakdown, this medicine strengthens signals from nerves to muscles and helps treat muscle weakness in myasthenia gravis.
pyriform area (piriform area)noun: A region of the brain’s smell cortex processes odor signals and communicates with other regions, including memory-related structures.
pyro- (pyr-)prefix: This word-building element indicates fire or burning, and sometimes fever.
pyrogennoun: A substance or other agent triggers a rise in body temperature, producing fever.
pyrolagnianoun: Sexual excitement is associated with watching or starting large fires.
pyromanianoun: An impulse-control disorder involves repeated fire-setting, fascination with fire, rising tension beforehand, and pleasure or relief afterward, without outside rewards.

Learn one EPPP term a day

Add a flashcard widget to your home screen. Tap a term to see what it means. Cards you miss come back sooner.

Get iPhone app Get Android app