Glossary / R

Psychology terms starting with R

1,210 terms with short definitions. Study these as flashcards

Rabbreviation: In statistics, this symbol can mean the sample correlation coefficient, showing how strongly two measured things vary together.
R ＆ T playabbreviation: Rough-and-tumble play involves energetic physical interaction, such as playful wrestling, between children or other animals.
R factor analysisnoun: A statistical method examines correlations among measures across people to identify shared underlying factors.
R methodologynoun: A family of research methods analyzes people's scores on objective measures, emphasizing relationships among the measured variables.
r to z transformationnoun: Fisher's statistical conversion changes a correlation into a value better suited to approximate normal-based tests and confidence intervals.
r-RSTabbreviation: Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory proposes that interacting brain systems shape reward seeking, threat responses, and anxiety during goal conflicts.
r-strategynoun: A reproductive pattern involves producing many offspring while spending relatively little time and energy caring for each.
R-technique factor analysisnoun: Researchers analyze correlations between variables measured across people to identify smaller sets of underlying factors.
R–S intervalabbreviation: The response–shock interval measures how long each response delays the next shock in a particular avoidance learning procedure.
R→O relationshipphrase: A response–outcome relationship links an organism's action to the environmental result that action produces.
R→S relationshipphrase: A response–stimulus relationship connects an organism's action with a resulting change in its surroundings.
R2other: This statistic measures the share of outcome variation explained by a linear model combining several predictors.
R2adjother: Adjusted R squared estimates explained outcome variation while accounting for sample size and the number of predictors.
rabbit–duck figurenoun: An ambiguous drawing can appear as a rabbit's head or a duck's head, with perception switching between them.
rabiesnoun: A viral infection attacks the brain and spinal cord, usually spreading through an infected animal's bite and sometimes changing behavior.
racenoun: A social grouping based on seen physical traits that societies use to rank and treat people differently.
race normingnoun: In hiring, applicants face different test score cutoffs according to their racial group.
rachischisisnoun: A developmental defect leaves an opening in the spinal column present at birth.
racial and ethnic minority psychologynoun: A psychology field studies how culture, language, and social conditions shape racial and ethnic groups' experiences and behavior.
racial discriminationphrase: Unfair, harmful treatment of people because they belong to a certain racial group.
racial identitynoun: A person's sense of who they are based partly on belonging to a racial group.
racial memorynoun: A historical psychoanalytic proposal claimed that ancestral experiences leave inherited mental patterns influencing later generations.
racial prejudicephrase: An unfair negative attitude or judgment toward people because of their race.
racial socializationphrase: Parents and other adults teach children about their racial background, pride, and handling prejudice.
racial unconsciousnoun: Historical psychoanalytic theories proposed that inherited traces of ancestors' experiences shape unconscious thoughts and feelings.
racismnoun: Unfair beliefs, feelings, and actions that disadvantage people because of race, from personal slights to unequal opportunities.
radex theory of intelligencenoun: Guttman's theory maps mental abilities around a circle, placing general intelligence centrally and closely related abilities near each other.
radial glianoun: Early brain cells extend long fibers that guide developing neurons as they move to their destinations.
radial mazenoun: A research maze has paths spreading from a central hub and tests animals' learning and memory for locations.
radial nervenoun: A major arm nerve carries movement and touch signals, helping straighten the elbow, wrist, and fingers.
radiationnoun: Energy sent out as waves or tiny particles, sometimes used in medicine and research.
radiation necrosisnoun: Exposure to radiation causes cells within an area of body tissue to die.
radiation therapynoun: A medical treatment uses carefully controlled radiation to treat disease, especially by damaging cancer cells.
radical behaviorismnoun: Skinner’s approach explains actions, thoughts, and feelings as behavior shaped by environmental conditions, including past consequences.
radical empiricismnoun: William James proposed that reality consists of experience and that psychology may investigate every aspect of experience.
radical feminismnoun: A feminist perspective sees women’s oppression as rooted in basic social structures and calls for fundamental changes to those structures.
radical hysterectomynoun: An operation removes the uterus, cervix, nearby supporting tissue, and an upper section of the vagina.
radical therapynoun: A therapy approach links personal distress to social problems and encourages people to improve their lives through social change.
radicalismnoun: A position challenges basic assumptions or calls for fundamental social or political change to address perceived problems.
radiculitisnoun: Inflammation affects a nerve root near the spinal cord and can cause pain, weakness, or reduced sensation.
radiculopathynoun: A spinal nerve root disorder, often caused by pressure, can produce pain, numbness, or weakness along that nerve’s pathway.
radioactive isotopenoun: An unstable form of an element releases radiation as its atomic nucleus changes toward a more stable state.
radioactive tracerphrase: A tagged radioactive chemical lets scientists track where a substance travels through the body.
radiographynoun: An imaging method uses radiation, usually X-rays, to produce pictures of internal structures for examination.
radioimmunoassay (RIA)noun: A laboratory test measures a substance by making it compete with a radioactive version for attachment to antibodies.
radioisotopenoun: An atom belongs to an unstable form of an element that gives off radiation during changes in its nucleus.
radiologynoun: A medical specialty uses images to examine internal body structures and includes uses of radiation to treat disease.
radiotherapynoun: Doctors use controlled radiation to treat illnesses, most often by damaging cancer cells so they cannot keep multiplying.
RAEabbreviation: The abbreviation means rotational aftereffect, when something seems to rotate backward after you have watched it spinning.
ragenoun: Very intense, often uncontrolled anger that may involve strong outbursts without necessarily causing harm.
rage disordernoun: A broad clinical label describes conditions in which episodes of unusually intense anger and aggression are central features.
railway lines illusionnoun: Two equally long horizontal lines look unequal when sloping lines surround them, with the line near convergence appearing longer.
railway spinenoun: A historical label described back pain and related symptoms after railway accidents, with debated physical and psychological explanations.
raloxifenenoun: A medicine changes estrogen receptor activity, blocking estrogen’s effects in some tissues while supporting similar effects in others.
rami communicantesnoun: These nerve branches link spinal nerves with clusters of nerve cells belonging to the sympathetic nervous system.
ramp movementnoun: A slow, continuing body movement is thought to involve movement control by the brain’s basal ganglia.
ramusnoun: A branch extending from a nerve or blood vessel forms part of its wider branching network.
Rana pipiensnoun: A frog species serves as a research animal for studying how nervous systems are structured and function.
randomadjective: Chosen by chance, with no predictable pattern or order.
random activitynoun: Behavior has no obvious goal or outside trigger, although it may serve a purpose that observers cannot see.
random assignmentphrase: Places participants into study groups by chance so groups are similar except for the treatment.
random classificationnoun: Items are grouped together without an apparent shared feature in their appearance or meaning.
random controlnoun: A conditioning comparison presents a cue and a reflex-triggering event independently, making the cue uninformative about the event.
random effectnoun: A statistical effect comes from a factor whose studied levels represent a random sample from a larger possible set.
random errornoun: Chance-based measurement mistakes that vary unpredictably and scatter scores around a person's true value.
random event generator (REG)noun: A device or program produces random or apparently random numbers that researchers can use to make chance-based selections.
random factornoun: A study variable has levels sampled randomly from a broader collection of possible levels researchers want to understand.
random matingnoun: Reproductive partners pair by chance, without selecting one another for particular traits.
random modelnoun: A statistical model includes effects that vary across sampled levels of factors to describe variation in a broader population.
random noisephrase: Chance variation in data that is unrelated to the real pattern or effect being studied.
random number generator (RNG)noun: A device or computer program creates numbers through chance or a calculation designed to imitate chance.
random observationnoun: An observation arises through chance or occurs outside a controlled, planned pattern of observation.
random processphrase: A pattern of events ruled by chance, so probabilities can be estimated but exact outcomes cannot.
random samplingphrase: Choosing study participants by chance so each eligible person has the same known chance of selection.
random selectionphrase: Choosing people or items by chance from a larger group helps prevent the researcher's preferences from shaping the sample.
random variablenoun: A numerical quantity depends on a chance outcome, with possible values described by probabilities.
random variationphrase: Differences in results caused by chance, not by the thing a researcher is testing.
random walknoun: A sequence changes step by step as chance determines each move from its current value.
random walk modelnoun: A decision model explains response speed and accuracy through separate evidence steps that continue until a response threshold is reached.
random-digit dialing (RDD)noun: A survey method contacts potential participants using telephone numbers whose digits are partly or entirely generated by chance.
random-dot stereogramnoun: Two dot patterns, shown separately to each eye, create apparent depth because some matching dots occupy different horizontal positions.
random-effects analysis of variancenoun: A statistical method examines outcome variation and mean differences across factor levels sampled from larger sets of possibilities.
random-effects modelnoun: A statistical model treats effects across sampled factor levels as varying within a larger population of possible levels.
random-interval schedule (RI schedule)noun: Reinforcement becomes available with constant probability per time unit, and the next response receives it.
random-ratio schedule (RR schedule)noun: Each response has the same independent chance of reinforcement, so the number of responses before reinforcement varies.
randomizationnoun: Putting people into study groups by chance so the groups start out as similar as possible.
randomization testnoun: A statistical test compares an observed result with results from allowed reshufflings of group assignments under a no-effect hypothesis.
randomized block design (RBD)noun: Researchers group participants by a relevant shared characteristic, then assign people within each group to experimental conditions by chance.
randomized clinical trial (RCT)noun: A treatment study uses chance to assign eligible participants to experimental or comparison groups and then compares their outcomes.
randomized designnoun: An experiment assigns participants to conditions through chance, helping reduce systematic differences between groups before treatment.
randomized-response technique (RRT)noun: A survey method privately randomizes which question someone answers, protecting individual privacy while allowing estimates of sensitive answers across groups.
rangenoun: The spread of a set of scores is calculated by subtracting its smallest score from its largest.
range effectnoun: While tracking a moving target, the eyes tend to overshoot small movements and undershoot large movements.
range fractionationnoun: A proposed explanation says different sensory cells specialize in different intensity bands, together representing a wide span of stimulus strengths.
range of attentionnoun: Attention can vary in how long it lasts and how many things it covers at once.
range of audibilitynoun: The frequencies a listener can hear extend between lower and upper limits that vary across people.
range of motion (ROM)noun: A joint can move through a certain distance or angle within the limits of its surrounding structures.
range restrictionphrase: When scores cover only a narrow span, relationships can look weaker than they really are.
ranknoun: A person's place in an ordered list compared with others.
rank biserial correlation coefficientnoun: A statistical measure shows how strongly membership in either of two groups relates to ranked scores.
rank correlation coefficientphrase: A number showing how closely two ranked lists match in their order, not their actual amounts.
rank orderphrase: Putting scores or people in order from highest to lowest on one chosen measure.
rank regressionnoun: A statistical method uses predictor information to estimate an outcome’s position among ordered results.
rank transformationnoun: A data conversion replaces each original score with its position among the scores arranged in order.
rank-order datanoun: These values show the order of observations without specifying how large the gaps between them are.
rank-order methodnoun: Participants arrange study items along a chosen quality, such as preference, importance, or size.
rank-order scalenoun: A measurement system assigns ordered positions without assuming equal distances between neighboring positions.
rank-order statistic testnoun: A statistical procedure uses rankings to test ideas about differences between groups or relationships between measurements.
rank-sum testnoun: A statistical procedure pools observations, assigns ranks, and compares groups using the totals of their ranks.
ranked dataphrase: Information placed in order from highest to lowest without showing exact differences between positions.
ranked distributionnoun: A collection of measurements is organized in order, beginning with the smallest value and ending with the largest.
Rankian therapynoun: Otto Rank’s historical therapy emphasized personal will and independence as ways to address emotional difficulties.
ranking experimentnoun: A study asks people to compare items so researchers can order them according to a particular quality.
ranking methodnoun: Workplaces order jobs by their overall organizational value to help decide pay, or order employees by selected performance criteria.
rapenoun: Sexual penetration of someone’s mouth, anus, or vagina occurs without their consent, including when they cannot consent.
rape counselingnoun: Professional support helps people affected by rape or other sexual assault address emotional distress and recovery needs.
rape-trauma syndromenoun: A historical label describes trauma reactions that can follow sexual assault, including symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress disorder.
raphe nucleusnoun: A cluster near the brainstem’s center contains serotonin-producing nerve cells that help regulate alertness and sleep.
rapid alternating movementsnoun: Quickly switching between repeated hand positions helps examiners assess movement coordination and how well the cerebellum works.
rapid cyclingphrase: In bipolar disorder, moods shift into separate highs or lows at least four times within one year.
rapid eye movement (REM)phrase: Large, quick eye movements under closed eyelids that happen during a sleep stage often tied to vivid dreams.
rapid neuroleptizationnoun: A historical practice rapidly gave very high antipsychotic doses, hoping for faster improvement but adding risks without clear benefit.
rapid sequential visual presentation (RSVP)noun: Researchers display a fast sequence of visual items to study how people notice and process information.
rapportnoun: A warm, trusting connection that helps people understand each other and work well together.
rapprochementnoun: In Mahler’s developmental theory, toddlers seek renewed closeness with their mother while developing a separate identity.
Rapunzel syndromenoun: Swallowed hair forms a stomach mass with a tail reaching into the small intestine.
RASabbreviation: A brainstem network that helps control wakefulness, attention, and the brain's alertness level.
Rasch modelnoun: A statistical model predicts test success from a person’s ability relative to question difficulty, keeping other item properties fixed.
Rat Mannoun: Freud gave this historical case nickname to a patient whose obsessions he interpreted through proposed unconscious family conflicts.
rate codingnoun: Nerve cells represent information through how frequently they produce electrical signals during a given period.
rate dependence effectnoun: A proposed principle holds that a body system’s starting activity level influences the size of its later response.
rate dependencynoun: How frequently someone acts before taking a drug can influence whether that drug speeds up or slows down those actions.
rate lawnoun: A principle of neural signaling holds that stronger stimulation is represented by more frequent nerve impulses.
rate of changenoun: Here, change during one time unit is divided by the starting value to express proportional growth or decline.
rater reliabilityphrase: Shows how much different judges agree when they score or observe the same thing.
ratingnoun: A score given to a person or thing using numbers or words on a scale.
rating errorphrase: A score someone gives that is wrong because bias skews judgment, like first impressions or one good trait.
rating scalephrase: A scoring tool that places people or things on a numbered range for a trait or behavior.
rating scale judgment tasknoun: In a detection study, participants rate their confidence after deciding whether a signal was present.
ratio dataphrase: Numbers that show exact amounts, with equal steps and a real zero meaning none at all.
ratio IQnoun: An older intelligence score divides estimated mental age by actual age, then multiplies the result by 100.
ratio reinforcementphrase: Giving a reward after a set number of responses, not after waiting a certain time.
ratio scalephrase: A measurement scale with equal steps and a true zero, so ratios like twice as much make sense.
ratio strainnoun: Learned responding may pause for long periods when earning reinforcement requires an excessively large fixed number of responses.
ratio variablephrase: A measured quantity with equal units and a true zero, such as height or weight.
rationaladjective: Guided by clear thinking and logic rather than mainly by feelings or impulse.
rational addictionnoun: A disputed economic theory proposes that addictive substance use reflects weighing expected benefits against present and future costs.
rational authoritynoun: Someone gains informal influence because their knowledge or abilities help a group achieve its goals.
rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)phrase: A CBT approach that challenges irrational beliefs to reduce upsetting feelings and replace self-defeating behavior with healthier actions.
rational knowledgenoun: Understanding is reached by reasoning through ideas or following a logical argument.
rational learningnoun: A person learns meaningfully by understanding the material and how its parts connect.
rational problem solvingphrase: Using logic to choose the best answer to a problem.
rational psychologynoun: A philosophical approach studies the mind through logic and deduction to understand the principles that make experience possible.
rational soulnoun: Aristotle proposed that humans possess a kind of soul capable of reasoning, beyond the capacities he attributed to other organisms.
rational suicidenoun: A controversial concept proposes that ending one’s life can sometimes reflect reasoned judgment in circumstances of severe suffering.
rational thinkingphrase: Using logic rules to solve problems, a skill many psychologists see as central to intelligence.
rational typenoun: Jung’s personality theory groups thinking and feeling types together because both evaluate experience through judgments.
rational-economic mannoun: An economic model imagines a person who logically compares possible outcomes and chooses according to personal self-interest.
rationalismnoun: A philosophical view holds that reasoning can provide knowledge about reality without depending entirely on sensory experience.
rationalitynoun: Using reasons and evidence to choose beliefs, wants, or actions that make sense.
rationality of emotionsnoun: A theoretical view proposes that emotions follow logically from how a person interprets a situation.
rationalizationnoun: Making bad behavior sound reasonable to avoid guilt or criticism without facing the real motive.
rationally based persuasionnoun: An attempt to shift an attitude focuses on changing beliefs about the qualities of its target.
rauwolfia derivativenoun: A substance obtained from Rauwolfia plants belongs to a group historically used to calm agitation and lower blood pressure.
Raven’s Progressive Matricesnoun: A nonverbal reasoning test asks people to select the missing piece that completes each abstract visual pattern.
RAVLTabbreviation: This assessment checks memory by having people repeatedly hear words and recall them both immediately and after waiting.
raw dataphrase: The first measurements collected before any fixing, recoding, or analysis changes them.
raw scorephrase: The original test score before it is changed into percentages, standard scores, or other forms.
Rayleigh equationnoun: A color-matching relation specifies how much red and green light must mix to match a yellow light.
Rayleigh scatteringnoun: Air molecules scatter shorter light wavelengths more strongly than longer ones, helping explain why the daytime sky looks blue.
Raynaud’s diseasenoun: Cold or emotional stress can temporarily narrow small blood vessels, usually in fingers or toes, causing discomfort and color changes.
Razadynenoun: This brand of galantamine treats Alzheimer’s symptoms by slowing the breakdown of acetylcholine, a chemical involved in memory.
rbother: This symbol denotes biserial correlation, linking a continuous measure with two categories assumed to reflect an underlying normally distributed variable.
RBC theoryabbreviation: Recognition by components theory proposes that people identify objects through simple three-dimensional shapes and the arrangements connecting them.
RBDabbreviation: In research, randomized block design groups similar participants before randomly assigning people within each group to different experimental conditions.
rbisother: This symbol represents biserial correlation, relating a continuous measure to two categories created from an assumed normally distributed underlying variable.
Rcother: This symbol represents canonical correlation, measuring the strongest linear association between weighted combinations drawn from two sets of variables.
rCBF (RCBF)abbreviation: Regional cerebral blood flow measures how quickly blood passes through a particular brain area, helping researchers study its involvement in thinking.
RCFTabbreviation: The Rey Complex Figure Test assesses visual memory and related abilities by having someone copy a detailed drawing and later reproduce it.
RCMASabbreviation: This revised questionnaire uses yes-or-no answers from children and teenagers to assess the amount and kinds of anxiety they report.
RCTabbreviation: A study that randomly assigns people to treatments to test what works best.
RdAabbreviation: The abbreviation means reading age, an estimate matching someone’s tested reading performance to the typical performance of an age group.
RDCabbreviation: Research Diagnostic Criteria were historical rules developed to help researchers identify mental disorders more consistently and support later diagnostic systems.
RDDabbreviation: In survey research, random-digit dialing selects telephone numbers partly at random to contact potential participants, including people with unlisted numbers.
reach envelopenoun: The space someone can reach while sitting or standing helps designers decide where workplace tools and controls should go.
reactance theoryphrase: When people feel a choice is being taken away, they push back and want that choice even more.
reactionnoun: A person's response to something that happens or is presented.
reaction formationnoun: A defense mechanism where a hidden unacceptable urge is covered by acting like the exact opposite.
reaction potentialnoun: Hull’s historical learning theory estimated a cue’s likelihood of producing a response by multiplying learned habit strength by motivational drive.
reaction time (RT)phrase: The delay between a stimulus appearing and a person's response.
reaction typenoun: In historical psychiatry, a symptom pattern placed a person’s condition into a category, such as mainly emotional or confused reactions.
reactional biographynoun: During a job interview, an applicant describes past experiences in ways that reveal how they responded to workplace situations.
reactivation of memorynoun: A stored memory becomes accessible again, sometimes because a present cue resembles something experienced when that memory formed.
reactiveadjective: Happening as a response to a specific event or stressor, rather than appearing without a clear trigger.
reactive aggressionphrase: Angry, impulsive behavior triggered by a real or imagined threat, insult, or frustration.
reactive attachment disorderphrase: A childhood disorder where severe neglect leads a child to avoid comfort and have very limited attachment to caregivers.
reactive copingnoun: People manage stress that has already happened or is happening by addressing consequences, accepting losses, or adjusting goals and meaning.
reactive depressionnoun: An older descriptive label identifies a major depressive episode understood to have been triggered by a distressing life event.
reactive disordernoun: An older label described a mental condition thought to develop in response to intense environmental stress or a traumatic experience.
reactive inhibitionnoun: Hull’s historical theory proposed that repeated responding or fatigue builds a temporary tendency for a response to become weaker.
reactive jealousynoun: Jealous feelings arise when a specific, real threat puts a valued relationship’s continuation at risk.
reactive manianoun: A descriptive label identifies an episode of mania or hypomania understood to have been triggered by an outside event.
reactive measurenoun: A research measurement changes the behavior being studied, for example when people act differently because they know someone is watching.
reactive psychosisnoun: This label describes temporary psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, occurring as a severe response to a traumatic situation.
reactive schizophrenianoun: A historical category proposed that some schizophrenia began suddenly after major environmental stress and generally had better outcomes than gradual forms.
reactivitynoun: When people know they are being watched, they may change behavior in ways that skew results.
readability levelnoun: An estimate describes how easily a text can be understood, considering vocabulary, sentence structure, presentation, and other features.
readership-survey techniquenoun: Advertising researchers ask people which print advertisements they remember seeing, then test their recall of details to estimate how thoroughly they read.
readinessnoun: Being mentally or practically prepared to respond, learn, or start a change.
readiness potential (RP)noun: A measurable shift in the brain’s electrical activity can begin roughly half a second before a person makes a voluntary movement.
readiness testphrase: Measures how prepared someone is to learn a subject well from upcoming teaching.
reading age (RdA)noun: A test-based estimate expresses reading performance as the age at which that performance is typical.
reading delaynoun: A person’s reading skills develop more slowly than expected for their age.
reading disabilitynoun: Persistent difficulty recognizing or understanding written words can reflect a reading-related learning disability or an acquired difficulty.
reading disorderphrase: Older diagnosis for unexpectedly poor reading that disrupts school and daily life, now included under specific learning disorder.
reading epilepsynoun: In this form of reflex epilepsy, the activity of reading can trigger seizures.
reading laddernoun: A planned sequence of increasingly challenging reading materials helps students build skills, sometimes using books that share a theme.
reading levelnoun: The school grade a written passage seems suited for based on how hard it is to read.
reading machinenoun: An assistive device scans printed words, recognizes their letters, and speaks the text aloud for people with visual impairments.
reading quotientnoun: A reading comparison score divides a child’s estimated reading age by their actual age, using matching units.
reading readinessnoun: Developing abilities such as distinguishing sounds and visual patterns prepares a child to begin learning to read.
reading retardationnoun: This outdated label described reading achievement at least two years below a person’s estimated mental age.
reading spannoun: In memory testing, a score counts how many sentence-ending words someone recalls while also reading the sentences.
readmissionnoun: Returning a patient to a hospital or clinic after an earlier stay for a related problem.
reafferencenoun: Sensory feedback results from your own movement, such as changing retinal images when your eyes turn.
reafference principlenoun: This principle proposes that the brain compares copies of movement commands with resulting sensory feedback to coordinate movement and interpret perception.
Realnoun: In Lacan's theory, the unreachable part of reality that images and language can never fully capture.
real limitnoun: A boundary marks the lowest or highest continuous value represented by a rounded measurement or score.
real selfnoun: In Karen Horney’s theory, a person’s genuine feelings, wishes, and possibilities for growth form an underlying self.
real-life testnoun: Historically, some clinics required people to live publicly in their affirmed gender before receiving gender-affirming surgery.
real-time amplificationnoun: A speech technique immediately plays a speaker’s amplified voice back to them, helping them adjust voice quality and clarity.
real–ideal self congruencenoun: The degree of agreement between someone’s actual qualities and the qualities they wish to have indicates this form of self-congruence.
real–simulator modelnoun: A hypnosis experiment compares hypnotized participants with people instructed to pretend, usually keeping the experimenter unaware of each person’s group.
realismnoun: The view that things in the world exist whether or not anyone notices or thinks about them.
realism factornoun: In the psychological study of art, this dimension describes how accurately an artwork represents recognizable objects.
realistic anxietynoun: Anxiety triggered by a recognizable, real danger can prepare someone to protect themselves.
realistic group conflict theorynoun: This theory proposes that competition between groups for limited resources can produce prejudice, hostility, and conflict.
realistic job preview (RJP)phrase: An honest look at both the good and hard parts of a job before someone accepts it.
realistic thinkingphrase: Basing thoughts and actions on what a situation really requires, rather than on wishes or distortions.
realitynoun: What truly exists, even when our senses, beliefs, or wishes give a different picture.
reality awarenessnoun: The ability to perceive outside objects as separate from yourself and distinct from one another supports contact with reality.
reality confrontationnoun: A therapist invites someone to consider whether they have misunderstood an event or another person's intentions.
reality monitoringnoun: A mental process distinguishes experiences that happened outside the mind from experiences created through imagination or thought.
reality orientationnoun: An intervention uses repeated reminders and familiar cues to help confused people recognize themselves, their surroundings, and the current time.
reality principlephrase: The ego's rule of delaying or changing urges so a person can deal with the real world.
reality testingphrase: The ability to tell what is real from fantasy and understand yourself as separate from the world.
reality therapyphrase: A short, active therapy that helps people choose better behaviors to meet needs and handle real-life demands.
reasonnoun: An explanation or justification for why something happened or why someone made a choice.
reasonable accommodationsnoun: Changes at school or work help people with disabilities access activities and carry out essential tasks without imposing undue hardship.
reasonable doubtphrase: A real, sensible uncertainty about guilt that should stop a jury from convicting someone of a crime.
reasonable person standardphrase: A legal rule judging whether someone acted as an average careful person would in the same situation.
reasoned action modelnoun: This theory proposes that attitudes and perceived social expectations shape intentions, which then guide behavior.
reasoningnoun: Using logic to work from information or rules toward a conclusion.
reasoning testphrase: Measures how well someone figures out patterns and logical answers from clues or rules.
reassociationnoun: In hypnoanalysis, a proposed process revisits apparently forgotten traumatic experiences to connect them with conscious understanding and personality.
reassurancenoun: Supportive comments from a helper that lower anxiety and make it easier to try new thoughts or relationships.
rebelliousnessnoun: A tendency to push back against authority, especially parents or parent-like rules.
rebirthingnoun: Practices bearing this name include breathing exercises claiming emotional benefits and discredited attempts to resolve problems by reliving birth.
rebound phenomenonphrase: Symptoms can briefly return, sometimes stronger, after a medicine is stopped suddenly or a block is removed.
reboxetinenoun: An antidepressant medicine increases the availability of norepinephrine by selectively slowing its uptake back into nerve cells.
REBTabbreviation: A therapy that challenges irrational beliefs to change upsetting feelings and actions.
rebus writingnoun: A writing approach uses pictures or other symbols for their spoken sounds to represent words.
recallnoun: Bringing learned information back into awareness so it can be remembered or used.
recall biasphrase: A memory error that changes how people report past events or behaviors, often undercounting or overcounting them.
recall methodnoun: A memory assessment asks people to produce previously learned information instead of selecting it from displayed choices.
recall score methodnoun: A scoring approach measures memory by counting correctly recalled items or calculating the fraction remembered.
recall testphrase: Asks a person to produce learned information from memory without being shown choices.
recapitulation theorynoun: An abandoned theory claimed that individual development repeats evolutionary history, with a historical extension to children's thinking and behavior.
received supportnoun: Help or comfort actually provided by other people can include practical assistance, resources, advice, or emotional care.
receivernoun: In communication theory, a person, device, or process takes in signals and converts them into understandable information.
receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC curve)noun: A graph plots successful detections against false alarms across decision thresholds to show how well signals can be distinguished.
receiving hospitalnoun: A healthcare facility evaluates newly arriving patients and provides initial treatment, including care for possible mental health conditions.
recency effectphrase: People remember the last items or newest information better than earlier material.
receptive amimianoun: A communication impairment prevents someone from understanding the meaning expressed through other people's gestures.
receptive amusianoun: A musical perception impairment makes recognizing or appreciating features of musical sounds and their patterns difficult or impossible.
receptive aphasianoun: An acquired language impairment caused by brain damage mainly affects understanding spoken or written words.
receptive characternoun: In Fromm's psychoanalytic theory, a proposed personality pattern involves relying on others and readily following their wishes.
receptive fieldnoun: A sensory cell responds to stimulation within a particular region or range of features, such as sound frequencies.
receptive languagephrase: Understanding words and sentences that someone else says or writes.
receptive vocabularyphrase: The words a person understands when heard or read, even if they do not use them.
receptivitynoun: In animal mating research, this describes the period when a female accepts a male's mating approaches, often near ovulation.
receptornoun: A cell's receiving site where specific neurotransmitters or drugs attach and change the cell's activity.
receptor adaptationphrase: Sensory cells gradually stop reacting when the same stimulus stays unchanged for a while.
receptor cellnoun: A specialized sensory cell detects a particular kind of stimulation and converts it into a biological signal.
receptor fieldnoun: A particular sensory cell responds to inputs from a specific area or to certain stimulus features.
receptor moleculenoun: A protein in a nerve cell's membrane binds particular chemical messengers and starts a response inside the cell.
receptor potentialnoun: Stimulation changes a sensory receptor cell's voltage by a varying amount, which can help trigger nerve impulses.
receptor sitenoun: A specialized area on a cell's outer membrane contains molecules that bind and respond to specific chemical messengers.
recessive allelephrase: A gene version affects a trait only when both paired chromosomes carry it, not a stronger dominant version.
recidivismnoun: Repeated offending after punishment or conviction, especially when someone keeps returning to crime.
recidivism ratenoun: A measure describes how often offending happens again within a specified group and period, sometimes extending to clinical relapse.
recipient factorsphrase: Traits of the person hearing a message, like intelligence or self-esteem, that affect how persuasive it feels.
reciprocalnoun: A number that multiplies with another number to make exactly 1.
reciprocal altruismnoun: Helping at a cost to oneself can persist when recipients later return help to the original helper or their offspring.
reciprocal determinismnoun: In social cognitive theory, personal factors, actions, and surroundings continually influence one another.
reciprocal inhibitionphrase: Replacing anxiety with a response that cannot happen at the same time, usually through gradual counterconditioning.
reciprocal innervationnoun: During a reflex, nerve signals activate one muscle group while simultaneously reducing activity in the opposing group.
reciprocal likingnoun: People tend to feel warmer toward others when they believe those others like them.
reciprocal punishmentnoun: A consequence is chosen to reflect the nature of a wrongdoing and help someone understand its effects.
reciprocal relationshipnoun: Two variables may each influence the other, or mathematically have values that multiply together to equal one.
reciprocal rolesnoun: People in connected social positions show patterns of behavior that respond to the behavior expected from each other.
reciprocal transformationnoun: A data conversion replaces each nonzero value with one divided by that value before analysis.
reciprocal-teaching procedurenoun: Teachers and students alternate leading reading discussions that involve summarizing, asking questions, clearing up confusion, and predicting what comes next.
reciprocitynoun: A back-and-forth exchange where people respond to each other with roughly equal care, help, or attention.
reciprocity lawnoun: Under limited sensory conditions, stimulus strength and exposure time can trade off, with their product determining the sensory effect.
reciprocity normphrase: The social rule that people should return help or favors they receive from others.
recodingnoun: Information is changed into a different representation to support remembering, processing, or later data analysis.
recognitionnoun: Feeling that a person, object, or fact is familiar because you have seen or learned it before.
recognition by components theory (RBC theory)noun: This theory proposes that people recognize objects by identifying simple solid shapes called geons and how those shapes connect.
recognition memoryphrase: Being able to tell that facts or events were seen before, even without remembering details.
Recognition Memory Test (RMT)noun: Warrington's assessment checks memory for words and unfamiliar faces by asking people to choose previously shown items from pairs.
recognition methodnoun: A memory assessment presents familiar and new items and asks people to identify which they encountered earlier.
recognition spannoun: During reading, this is the amount of text someone can take in while their eyes pause at one position.
recognition techniquenoun: An advertising survey asks people who recognize an advertised product to recall details, sometimes including nonexistent ads to check errors.
recognition testphrase: A memory test where you pick what you saw before from choices or mixed-in new items.
recognition thresholdnoun: The minimum presentation time needed to identify a stimulus marks this threshold under particular testing conditions.
recognition vocabularynoun: The words someone understands make up this vocabulary, including words they rarely or never use themselves.
recognitory assimilationnoun: In Piaget's theory, infants selectively apply a familiar action pattern according to the object or purpose involved.
recollectionnoun: A clear, detailed memory linked to a particular event, time, or place.
recombinant DNAnoun: A DNA molecule combines genetic pieces from different sources, often through laboratory techniques used to study or change genes.
recombinationnoun: During egg or sperm formation, matching chromosomes exchange DNA sections, creating new combinations of inherited information.
recompensationnoun: A person becomes better able to adjust to their surroundings and reduce stressful conditions.
reconditioning therapynoun: This behavioral treatment uses learning principles to replace troublesome reactions with more helpful responses.
reconsolidationnoun: A recalled memory can become changeable before brain processes stabilize it again.
reconstituted familynoun: A family forms when partners create a household that includes children from one or both partners’ earlier relationships.
reconstructionnoun: Bringing back important past experiences and interpreting them to understand current emotional problems.
reconstructive memoryphrase: Remembering rebuilds past events from stored bits, using general knowledge and expectations to fill missing parts.
reconstructive psychological evaluationnoun: An investigation after someone dies uses available evidence to estimate their earlier mental state and help clarify the death.
reconstructive psychotherapynoun: This therapy seeks broad personality change through insight into personal development, unconscious conflicts, and ways of coping.
reconstructive surgeryphrase: Surgery that repairs body parts to improve how they work or look after injury, illness, or birth problems.
record keepingphrase: Therapists routinely save written notes about clients for care, legal, and later review purposes.
recovered memorynoun: A person experiences remembering an apparently traumatic event that they previously could not consciously recall.
recovered memory therapynoun: This disputed treatment seeks to uncover supposedly forgotten or repressed childhood trauma, sometimes using hypnosis or prompted mental imagery.
recoverynoun: Steady return of lost abilities or normal functioning after an illness, injury, or other harmful condition.
recovery of functionnoun: An ability partly or fully returns after illness or injury damages nerves, an organ, or another body part.
recovery rationoun: This measure divides the number of people discharged from an institution by admissions during the same period.
recovery timenoun: The interval after a response allows a cell to respond again or a bodily process to return to baseline.
Recovery, Inc.noun: This self-help organization, founded by Abraham Low in 1937, teaches deliberate control of reactions and attitudes toward mental health difficulties.
recreationnoun: Enjoyable activities during free time help people feel refreshed and renewed.
recreational drugnoun: A substance is used for enjoyment or altered movement, senses, thinking, or feelings rather than for treatment.
recreational therapynoun: Treatment uses personally chosen leisure activities to support rehabilitation or health for people experiencing illness or disability.
recruitmentnoun: Finding and inviting people to take part in a research study.
recruitment biasnoun: The way participants enter a study systematically favors certain people, potentially distorting findings or limiting how widely they apply.
rectal administrationnoun: Medication is placed inside the rectum so the tissue lining can absorb it, often using a suppository.
rectal reflexnoun: Pressure from stool in the rectum triggers nerve signals that prepare the body to empty the bowel.
rectangular distributionphrase: Shows all values, or score ranges, as equally likely to happen.
recumbentadjective: A person or body is positioned lying down or reclining.
recuperative theorynoun: This proposed explanation holds that sleep restores resources, relieves mental or physical tiredness, and helps reset the body’s internal balance.
recurrentadjective: Happening again after a break or period of getting better.
recurrent circuitnoun: A network of connected neurons allows signals to travel along a loop back to where they began.
recurrent collateral inhibitionnoun: A motor neuron’s branching output activates a Renshaw cell, which sends inhibition back to limit that motor neuron’s activity.
recurrent dreamnoun: A dream returns on multiple occasions, often repeating similar events, images, or themes.
recurring-figures testnoun: This memory task asks people to recognize which abstract shapes appeared earlier in a sequence of cards.
recursionnoun: In grammar, a rule can apply again to structures it already produced, allowing sentences to keep expanding in principle.
recursiveadjective: A rule or procedure repeatedly uses its previous result as material for its next application.
recursive modelnoun: A statistical model represents effects moving forward between variables without any chain looping back to influence its starting variable.
red nucleusnoun: A cluster of neurons in the midbrain receives cerebellar signals and contributes to movement control through connections with the spinal cord.
red reflexnoun: Light directed into the eye can produce a reddish reflection visible through the pupil from the eye’s inner tissues.
red sagenoun: The plant Salvia miltiorrhiza supplies roots used in traditional Chinese medicine and contains compounds studied for effects on brain signaling.
red–green blindnessnoun: A difference in color vision makes certain reddish and greenish shades difficult to tell apart.
red–green responsesnoun: In opponent color processing, neural responses signaling redness oppose those signaling greenness, helping the visual system distinguish colors.
redintegrationnoun: A partial reminder brings back a fuller memory or recreates a response learned with a larger set of cues.
redirected behaviornoun: An action shifts away from its original target or purpose, often when an intended response is blocked or motivations conflict.
redoutnoun: Negative acceleration forces push blood toward the head and eyes, causing vision to take on a reddish appearance.
reduced modelnoun: A statistical model uses fewer adjustable quantities than a fuller comparison model, often by leaving out selected predictors.
reductio ad absurdumnoun: A logical argument rejects an assumption by deriving a contradiction, or supports a claim by finding a contradiction in its denial.
reduction to essence rulenoun: Fuzzy trace theory proposes that people across ages tend to extract a message’s basic meaning.
reductionismnoun: An explanatory approach treats complex events as understandable through simpler, more basic processes, such as explaining thoughts through brain activity.
redundancynoun: Having backup parts lets a system keep working even when one part fails.
redundancy analysisnoun: This statistical method combines one group of measures to explain as much variation as possible in another group.
redundant codingnoun: A display or control communicates the same distinction through multiple features, such as color and shape, making identification easier.
redundant prepucenoun: The foreskin extends farther over the penis’s tip than usual, without necessarily causing a medical problem.
reduplicated babblingnoun: An infant repeats a similar syllable several times in a row, such as saying ba-ba-ba.
reduplicative paramnesianoun: A person firmly but mistakenly believes that a familiar place or person exists as a duplicate, sometimes at another location.
reeducationnoun: Training helps people replace unhelpful thoughts, feelings, or actions with more effective ones, or regain previously learned skills.
reenactmentnoun: In therapy, reliving past trauma or relationships while feeling the original emotions again.
reentrantadjective: In neuroscience, signals travel both ways between groups of neurons, helping coordinate activity across brain regions.
reentrynoun: A person returns to community life after living in an institution, such as a psychiatric hospital or prison.
reevaluation counselingnoun: This peer counseling approach has two people alternate between listening and expressing emotions about upsetting experiences.
refeeding syndromenoun: Restarting nutrition after severe malnutrition can cause dangerous shifts in body minerals and fluids, affecting organs.
reference distributionnoun: A mathematically derived pattern of possible values provides a comparison for interpreting results collected in research.
reference groupnoun: A person uses this group as a standard for judging their own abilities, attitudes, beliefs, or scores.
reference group theorynoun: This theory proposes that groups people identify with or compare themselves against partly shape their beliefs and self-judgments.
reference memorynoun: In animal research, stored knowledge about relationships that stay unchanged across repeated trials helps guide choices.
reference populationnoun: The group used as the comparison standard for judging a study's results or a test score.
referentnoun: A person others admire and identify with, which gives that person influence over them.
referent powerphrase: The ability to influence people because they admire, like, or want to be like you.
referential attitudenoun: A person expects to find clues around them supporting beliefs that ordinary events carry special personal meaning.
referential signalnoun: An animal's communication appears to indicate a particular thing or event nearby, such as food or a predator.
referralnoun: Sending a client to another professional or service for evaluation, advice, or treatment.
referred sensationnoun: A feeling is experienced in a body location different from the place where stimulation actually occurs.
reffect sizeother: This notation indicates how strongly a predictor and an outcome vary together while leaving other influences unadjusted.
reflectancenoun: A surface's reflected light divided by the light arriving at it gives this measure.
reflected appraisalsnoun: People form beliefs about others' opinions of them by interpreting the feedback those others provide.
reflected glarenoun: Bright light bouncing off a surface interferes with a person's ability to see clearly.
reflection of feelingphrase: A counselor repeats the emotion they hear so the client can notice it and explain it more clearly.
reflection responsenoun: During a Rorschach test, someone describes an inkblot as an object together with its mirrored image.
reflection–impulsivitynoun: A thinking-style dimension describes how much people weigh possible answers before responding versus quickly choosing their first idea.
reflectiveadjective: Showing careful thought and slow, deliberate choice instead of acting quickly on impulse.
reflective abstractionnoun: Piaget proposed that people can develop new understanding by thinking through knowledge they already have, without receiving further information.
reflective consciousnessnoun: The mind can notice and think about its own ongoing activities, including thoughts and feelings.
reflective functioningnoun: Understanding your own and other people's thoughts, feelings, and intentions helps make sense of behavior.
reflectivity–impulsivitynoun: People vary in their tendency to examine alternatives carefully or respond immediately with an initial answer.
reflexnoun: An automatic, inborn body response to a trigger that happens without conscious thought.
reflex arcnoun: A nerve pathway links incoming sensory information to an automatic response by a muscle or gland.
reflex attentionnoun: Something noticeable automatically draws attention without a person deliberately choosing to focus on it.
reflex epilepsynoun: A form of epilepsy involves seizures reliably brought on by particular triggers, including certain sounds, touches, or lights.
reflex inhibitionnoun: One automatic response becomes weaker or is blocked because a conflicting reflex is happening or has just happened.
reflex integrationnoun: Two automatic reactions combine to produce one response that is more complex than either alone.
reflex latencynoun: The delay from the arrival of a triggering stimulus until an automatic response begins can be measured.
reflex reservenoun: Skinner proposed that reinforcement builds a store of responses that appear afterward, when reinforcement stops and extinction proceeds.
reflex strengthnoun: An automatic response's potential vigor or readiness can be estimated, often using how quickly it begins after stimulation.
reflex sympathetic dystrophynoun: This historical label describes persistent limb pain with swelling or movement changes, now called CRPS type I, without established nerve damage.
reflexive behaviornoun: Automatic reactions happen in response to stimulation without deliberate control and can provide a basis for classical conditioning.
reflexivitynoun: In qualitative research, researchers examine how their own assumptions, experiences, and motives shape the study they conduct.
reflexogenous zonenoun: A particular body area produces a specific reflex when the appropriate kind of stimulation reaches it.
reflexologynoun: A historical psychological school associated with Bekhterev proposed that complex behavior could be built from simple reflexes.
reformatory paranoianoun: A historical label described exaggerated personal importance expressed through grand plans to remake society and recruit followers.
reformismnoun: A position favors improving existing institutions, practices, or ideas while preserving their basic foundations.
refractionnoun: Light changes direction when it crosses between materials at an angle, helping the eye focus images.
refractive error (refractive disorder)noun: An eye fails to focus incoming light precisely onto its light-sensitive retina, making vision less clear.
refractive indexnoun: A material's value equals light's speed in empty space divided by its speed within that material.
refractoryadjective: A condition described this way does not improve with treatment that would usually be expected to help.
refractory periodnoun: After firing, a nerve or muscle cell briefly cannot respond again, then needs stronger stimulation than usual.
refractory phasenoun: Following orgasm, a recovery interval can temporarily make renewed sexual arousal or another orgasm difficult or impossible.
reframingnoun: Seeing a problem in a new way so it feels more manageable and opens different solutions.
refusal ratenoun: This research measure records what share of people considered possible participants explicitly decline to take part.
refutabilitynoun: A claim has this quality when some possible observation or experiment could show that it is wrong.
refutationnoun: Showing with reasons or evidence that a claim is wrong or does not hold up.
REGabbreviation: These initials mean random event generator, a tool producing chance-based outputs for research, sometimes through computer algorithms.
regeneration of nervesnoun: Damaged nerve cells or their extensions can regrow, with recovery more limited in the mammalian brain and spinal cord.
regenerative medicinenoun: A medical field studies and develops ways to repair damaged tissues through natural healing or newly created replacement tissue.
regimennoun: A planned treatment schedule that lays out what to do, how often, and for how long.
regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF; RCBF)phrase: Shows how much blood reaches one brain area, helping identify which parts work during specific mental tasks.
regional localization theorynoun: This theory proposes that different areas of the brain's outer layer specialize in particular sensory and movement functions.
registernoun: The style of language people choose based on the setting, purpose, or topic.
registered nurse (RN)noun: A licensed nursing professional completes approved education and qualification requirements to assess patients, provide care, and teach health skills.
Regitinenoun: A trade name identifies phentolamine, a medicine that blocks alpha-adrenergic receptors and widens blood vessels to lower blood pressure.
regress onverb: To statistically model an outcome using one or more predictors is to estimate how their values relate to that outcome.
regressionnoun: A method for predicting one score from another based on how strongly they are linked.
regression analysisphrase: A statistical method uses one or more variables to predict or explain scores on another variable.
regression artifactnoun: A study result becomes misleading when unusually extreme initial scores move toward typical levels and appear to show an intervention's effect.
regression coefficientnoun: A model's numerical weight estimates outcome change per unit increase in one predictor while other included predictors remain fixed.
regression constantnoun: A regression model's intercept gives its predicted outcome when every predictor in that model has a value of zero.
regression diagnosticsnoun: These checks use graphs and calculations to identify problems with a regression model’s assumptions or fit.
regression effectnoun: Unusually high or low measurements tend to be less extreme when repeated, partly because chance influences scores.
regression equationphrase: A math rule that uses predictor scores to estimate an outcome score.
regression in the service of the egonoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that temporarily allowing freer, less logical thinking can support creativity and useful adjustment.
regression linenoun: A line on a graph that shows the best overall pattern for predicting one variable from another.
regression modelphrase: A statistical formula that uses one or more variables to predict another variable.
regression sum of squaresnoun: This statistic totals squared differences between a model’s predicted outcomes and the overall outcome average, measuring variation the model explains.
regression toward the meanphrase: Very unusual scores often move closer to average when people are measured again, even without any real change.
regression treenoun: A branching prediction model repeatedly divides data using predictor values to estimate a numerical outcome for each final group.
regression weightnoun: A coefficient shows how a model’s predicted outcome changes with a predictor, while other included predictors remain fixed.
regression-discontinuity design (RDD)noun: Researchers estimate treatment effects by comparing outcomes just above and below a cutoff that determines treatment assignment.
regressive reconstructive approachnoun: This psychotherapy approach encourages emotionally intense revisiting of traumatic experiences, with interpretation proposed to support emotional adjustment.
regretnoun: A painful feeling that comes when you remember something in the past and wish it had gone differently.
regret theorynoun: This decision theory proposes that remembered and expected regret influence choices when outcomes are uncertain.
regularadjective: Following the usual pattern, schedule, or standard without unusual breaks or exceptions.
regulation of consciousnessnoun: People use activities to manage their state of awareness or change what they experience within it.
regulatory behaviornoun: An organism performs actions that meet basic bodily needs and help keep its internal conditions balanced.
regulatory drivenoun: A motivational state, such as thirst or hunger, urges an organism to restore bodily conditions needed for survival.
regulatory focus theorynoun: This theory explains goal pursuit through promotion, emphasizing hopes and gains, or prevention, emphasizing duties and avoiding losses.
regulatory systemnoun: Interacting processes keep conditions within an organism or one of its organs relatively stable.
REGWQ testnoun: This statistical procedure identifies which independent groups differ in average scores after a one-factor analysis with equally sized groups.
rehabilitationnoun: Helping a person regain skills, independence, and daily functioning after injury, illness, or disability through treatment or training.
rehabilitation centernoun: A specialized facility provides coordinated services that help people improve daily functioning after illness, injury, or disability.
rehabilitation counselingnoun: A trained profession helps disabled people pursue personal, work, and community goals through counseling, coordinated services, and advocacy.
rehabilitation engineeringnoun: This field uses engineering and research to create tools, processes, and environments that support disabled people’s everyday lives.
rehabilitation medicinenoun: This medical specialty assesses and treats physical limitations to improve functioning through therapies, pain management, and supportive devices.
rehabilitation neuropsychologynoun: This specialty assesses and addresses thinking, emotional, behavioral, and social difficulties following nervous system damage to support daily functioning.
rehabilitation programnoun: A coordinated set of services supports a person’s functioning and goals following illness, injury, or disability.
rehabilitation psychologynoun: This psychological specialty studies and supports adjustment, participation, and well-being among people living with disabilities or lasting health conditions.
rehabilitation teamphrase: A coordinated group of health professionals who help one person regain skills and function after illness or injury.
rehearsalnoun: Practicing information or a future situation over and over helps you remember it or feel more ready.
rehospitalizationnoun: Someone previously discharged from hospital care is admitted again because their earlier health problem, or a connected problem, needs care.
Reichenbach phenomenonnoun: A historical, scientifically unsupported claim describes a special energy supposedly emitted by crystals, magnets, and living organisms.
Reicher–Wheeler effectnoun: People identify briefly shown letters more accurately within familiar words than when those letters appear by themselves.
Reichian analysisnoun: Wilhelm Reich’s largely discredited psychotherapy treated the ability to experience full orgasm as a central sign of psychological health.
reificationnoun: Someone treats an abstract idea or explanatory concept as if it were a concrete thing.
reikinoun: Practitioners hold their hands near or lightly against someone’s body, aiming to promote healing through a proposed life energy.
reincarnationnoun: Some religious and philosophical traditions teach that existence continues after death through rebirth in another body.
reinforceverb: Make a behavior more likely by following it with a reward or other consequence that strengthens it.
reinforced practicenoun: Learners practice desired actions and receive consequences that encourage those actions to happen again.
reinforcementnoun: After a behavior, adding or removing something so that behavior happens more often.
reinforcement contingencyphrase: The link between a behavior and whether a reward becomes more or less likely afterward.
reinforcement counselingnoun: This behavioral counseling approach changes learned behavior by arranging reinforcing consequences and adjusting when they occur.
reinforcement delaynoun: The interval separates an action from the reinforcing consequence that follows it.
reinforcement of alternative behaviorphrase: Stopping rewards for a problem behavior while rewarding a better replacement behavior instead.
reinforcement schedulephrase: A plan that sets when a behavior earns a reward, shaping how often it happens.
reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST)noun: This theory links personality differences to biological systems governing responses to rewards, threats, and, in its revised form, goal conflicts.
Reinforcement Survey Schedule (RSS)noun: An assessment questionnaire identifies experiences and activities a person enjoys, helping therapists select possible reinforcers for behavior change.
reinforcement therapyphrase: A treatment that uses rewards to start and keep healthier behaviors through operant conditioning, learning from consequences.
reinforcernoun: Something that makes a behavior happen more often when it follows that behavior.
reinforcer effectnoun: An additional factor increases how strongly two measured features are connected.
reinforcing causenoun: A condition helps sustain a person’s behavior or recurring behavioral pattern, whether helpful or unhelpful.
reinforcing stimulusnoun: An event or condition following an action increases how likely that action is to happen again.
reinstatement following extinctionnoun: After extinction, a learned reaction to a cue reappears following an event that naturally triggers responding.
reintegrationnoun: A stage of White racial identity where a person pulls back to beliefs of White superiority after discomfort.
reintegrative stagenoun: Schaie proposed that older adults increasingly use their thinking abilities to reconsider life priorities and pursue personally meaningful activities.
Reissner’s membranenoun: A delicate tissue barrier in the cochlea keeps the upper fluid chamber separate from the middle fluid chamber.
Reitan Indiana Aphasia Screening Testnoun: A 32-item screening tool checks language, drawing or construction skills, arithmetic, and the ability to distinguish right from left.
Reitan–Klove Sensory Perceptual Examinationnoun: This neuropsychological examination checks touch, vision, and hearing on the body’s left and right sides.
Reiz limen (RL)noun: A sensory threshold marks the faintest input someone notices on roughly half the attempts under particular testing conditions.
rejected childphrase: A child whom many peers dislike and few choose as a friend.
rejecting–neglecting parentingnoun: A parenting pattern combines little emotional support with limited supervision, guidance, or attention to a child’s needs.
rejectionnoun: Being pushed away or denied love, attention, acceptance, or approval by another person.
rejection errornoun: Researchers mistakenly reject an accurate null hypothesis, concluding that their test found something beyond chance.
rejection methodnoun: An algorithm generates random candidate values, keeping those that satisfy an acceptance rule and discarding the rest.
rejection regionnoun: A set of test statistic values leads researchers to reject the null hypothesis under their chosen testing rule.
rejection valuenoun: A cutoff for a test statistic marks a boundary where results lead to rejecting the null hypothesis.
relapsenoun: A return of symptoms or substance use after a time of getting better or stopping.
relapse preventionphrase: Teaching people coping thoughts and actions before treatment ends to lower the chance symptoms or unhealthy behaviors return.
relapse ratephrase: The percent of people who get better but later have the disorder again.
related samplesphrase: Groups of scores linked in pairs, such as the same people measured twice.
related-measures designnoun: An experiment compares measurements from the same participants across every treatment condition being studied.
related-samples t testnoun: A statistical test evaluates whether the average difference between paired measurements is consistent with a specified value, usually zero.
relatednessnoun: Feeling close and connected to other people, with trust, care, and a sense of safety.
relatedness needsphrase: In ERG theory, these are needs for close relationships, belonging, and feeling valued by other people.
relationnoun: A meaningful connection between two things, such as test scores and the traits they may measure.
relational aggressionphrase: Hurting someone by damaging their friendships or social standing through gossip, exclusion, or public embarrassment.
relational discriminationnoun: A learned response depends on how stimuli compare, such as which is bigger, rather than their individual features.
relational framenoun: A proposed learned pattern helps people understand relationships between unfamiliar things by applying relationships they already know.
relational frame theory (RFT)noun: A behavioral theory proposes that language and thinking develop through learning context-guided ways to relate things beyond their physical features.
relational learningnoun: Learning involves distinguishing things by how they compare, such as relative brightness, instead of by fixed features.
relational mappingnoun: Knowledge about relationships in one set of things is applied to understand matching relationships in another set.
relational primacy hypothesisnoun: A developmental proposal suggests that even young infants can understand situations or solve problems through comparisons with other situations.
relational psychoanalysisnoun: A psychoanalytic approach explores how early relationships shape identity and uses the therapeutic relationship to understand and change interpersonal patterns.
relational researchnoun: Researchers observe how variables vary together without deliberately changing them or controlling the conditions in which they occur.
relational selfnoun: Part of a person's identity comes from their close connections and the roles they hold with important people.
relational shiftnoun: As children develop, their comparisons increasingly emphasize shared relationships rather than similarities in appearance when solving problems.
relational turbulencenoun: Partners may experience uncertainty, emotional upset, and disrupted interactions as commitment grows or major life changes reshape their relationship.
relational wordnoun: A word such as 'and' or 'of' mainly organizes grammar rather than naming an object, action, or quality.
relational worldnoun: In psychoanalytic theories, early relationships shape a person's understanding of other people and their usual ways of approaching them.
relationshipnoun: A connection between things, events, or variables, showing how they go together or affect each other.
relationship conflictnoun: Tension within a group arises from personal incompatibilities among members, rather than disagreements about the work itself.
relationship leadernoun: A person guides a group by offering emotional support and responding considerately to members' interpersonal needs.
relationship rolenoun: A group member takes on behaviors that support people's emotional needs and maintain or improve connections among members.
relationship systemnoun: A culture or group recognizes an organized network of personal bonds that includes family ties and other connections.
relationship therapynoun: Psychotherapy may use the supportive client–therapist bond as its main tool or focus on improving relationships among people.
relationship trainingnoun: Structured activities teach people to understand others' feelings and needs and interact in more constructive ways.
relationship-motivatedadjective: A leadership style prioritizes supportive group connections, reduces personal friction, and encourages members to sustain morale.
relative accommodationnoun: The eyes can change their focusing power within a certain range while their inward turning angle stays unchanged.
relative deprivationnoun: People feel they have fewer valued resources or opportunities than others have or than they expected to have.
relative efficiencynoun: A ratio compares statistical tests' sample needs at matching power and significance levels, or compares estimates' uncertainty.
relative frequencynoun: An event's count is divided by the total count to show its share of all recorded observations.
relative frequency distributionnoun: A table shows what proportion or percentage of all observations falls into each category or score level.
relative judgmentnoun: A person evaluates sensory stimuli by comparing them with each other or with a reference stimulus.
relative measurementnoun: A score gains its meaning through comparison with scores from a particular group rather than through a fixed independent standard.
relative pitchnoun: A listener identifies a musical pitch by comparing it mentally with another pitch they already know.
relative positionphrase: Seeing one object partly block another makes the blocked one seem farther away.
relative refractory periodnoun: During partial recovery from an electrical impulse, another impulse requires greater stimulation than usual in nerve or muscle cells.
relative risknoun: A ratio divides an event's probability in one group by its probability in a comparison group.
relative scotomanoun: A region within someone's field of vision has reduced visual sensitivity rather than a complete absence of sight.
relative sensitivitynoun: A person can detect differences in sensory qualities or strength by comparing one stimulus with another.
relative survivalnoun: A survival rate for people with a condition is divided by the rate for demographically similar people without it.
relativismnoun: The view that truth or right and wrong depend on people or culture, not universal rules.
relaxationnoun: A calmer state in the mind or body, with less tension, stress, or physical tightness.
relaxation techniquenoun: A method used in therapy to help a person calm the body and lower stress.
relaxation therapynoun: Treatment uses methods for loosening muscle tension to help reduce emotional tension.
relay nucleusnoun: A cluster of neuron cell bodies passes signals between nerve pathways in the brain or spinal cord.
relearning methodnoun: Memory retention is measured by comparing the time or practice needed to learn material initially and to learn it again.
releasenoun: Stored tension or emotion is expressed or let go, often bringing a feeling of relief.
release from proactive interferencenoun: Recall improves after switching material categories because earlier learning interferes less with remembering the new items.
release inhibitornoun: A substance reduces or blocks the discharge of hormones or other chemical messengers from cells or glands.
release phenomenonphrase: A lower brain center acts freely when damage stops a higher center from holding it back.
release theory of humornoun: A historical explanation proposes that laughter releases built-up mental energy, including energy used to hold back unacceptable impulses.
release therapynoun: A therapeutic approach aims to ease emotional distress through expressing and experiencing feelings that have been held back.
release zonenoun: A specialized site at a sending neuron's ending allows tiny sacs to empty chemical messengers into the gap between cells.
releasernoun: In animal behavior, a particular cue triggers a characteristic, largely inherited action sequence when conditions are suitable.
releasing hormonephrase: A hypothalamus chemical messenger tells the front pituitary to release specific hormones into the body.
relevance–sensitivity tradeoffnoun: Study design balances precise, specific measurement of outcomes against how well findings apply outside the original research setting.
relevant–irrelevant testnoun: A polygraph procedure compares bodily reactions to questions about an investigated event with reactions to unrelated questions.
reliabilitynoun: How consistently a test gives similar scores, with little random error, across repeated uses.
reliability coefficientphrase: A number from 0 to 1 showing how consistently a test gives similar scores with little measurement error.
reliability diagonalnoun: A correlation table's upper-left-to-lower-right entries show each measure's reliability instead of the usual values of one.
reliability indexphrase: A number showing how consistently a test gives similar results across time, items, or raters.
reliability of componentsnoun: An average summarizes how consistently scores are measured within the separate item groups that form a larger test.
reliability of compositesnoun: The consistency of a combined score reflects how reliably several related items or ratings work together.
reliability samplingnoun: Selected products are tested to judge whether a larger batch will still meet quality requirements at a future time.
reliability theorynoun: A framework explains consistency in test scores and specifies how measurement error is understood and estimated.
reliefnoun: A good feeling that comes when danger, worry, or pain ends or never happens.
religionnoun: An organized set of spiritual beliefs and practices, often shared by a group and treated as sacred.
religiositynoun: How religious a person is, including how strongly they believe, practice, and value their faith.
religious delusionnoun: A fixed belief with religious content persists despite strong contrary evidence and falls outside the person's cultural or religious context.
religious faithnoun: Trust in a divine being or spiritual power can guide someone's values, actions, and sense of purpose.
religious healingnoun: People seek relief from bodily illness or emotional distress through spiritual rituals believed to have healing power.
religious instinct hypothesisnoun: A proposed explanation suggests humans have an inborn tendency to believe in and worship a higher power.
religious manianoun: A historical description combines extreme activity, agitation, and restlessness with experiences of religious sights or sounds that others cannot perceive.
religious obsessive-compulsive disordernoun: Distressing, unwanted religious or moral fears lead someone to repeat rituals or checks to seek certainty or relief.
religious therapynoun: Psychological support draws on religious resources, including spiritual counseling, sacred writings, and activities within a faith community.
religiousnessnoun: A person's tendency to hold religious beliefs and participate in religious activities can vary in strength and expression.
REMabbreviation: A sleep stage marked by quick eye movements, vivid dreams, and brain activity similar to waking.
REM behavior disorder (RBD)noun: During rapid eye movement sleep, reduced muscle stillness allows a sleeping person to physically act out dreams.
REM latencyphrase: The time from falling asleep until the first period of REM sleep, when vivid dreaming usually happens.
REM reboundphrase: After being kept from dream sleep, people spend extra time in REM once allowed to sleep.
REM sleepphrase: A sleep stage with vivid dreams, quick eye movements, and brain activity like wakefulness while most muscles are paralyzed.
REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)phrase: During dream sleep, normal paralysis is lost, so a person may act out dreams with movements or shouting.
REM stormnoun: During sleep, the eyes briefly make a concentrated series of fast movements.
REM-sleep deprivationnoun: Researchers selectively reduce rapid eye movement sleep to investigate its roles in dreaming, memory, and other processes.
remandverb: A court sends a case back for further proceedings or orders an accused person held in custody or released on bail.
remedial educationnoun: Additional teaching helps learners strengthen particular skills or knowledge they have not yet mastered after earlier instruction.
remedial therapynoun: A targeted intervention helps someone improve functioning in an area where they are experiencing difficulty, such as reading.
remember cuenoun: A signal in a memory experiment tells participants that particular information will appear on a later test.
remember–know procedurenoun: A memory task asks people whether recognition includes specific remembered details or only a feeling of familiarity.
rememberingnoun: Bringing past information back into awareness and keeping it available for later use.
remembrancenoun: Remembering past experiences can also describe a group stage when former and remaining members reflect on earlier involvement.
Remeronnoun: This brand name identifies mirtazapine, an antidepressant that changes signaling involving the brain chemicals serotonin and norepinephrine.
remifentanilnoun: A powerful opioid related to fentanyl provides very brief pain relief and is used during anesthesia.
remindernoun: A signal that gets a person to start again or keep doing something they meant to do.
reminiscencenoun: Remembering personal past experiences, often positive ones, with many memories coming from the teen and young adult years.
reminiscence theory of knowledgenoun: Plato suggested that understanding comes from remembering perfect, timeless patterns supposedly encountered before we were born.
reminiscence therapynoun: Sharing or writing about personal memories is used to support emotional well-being, often among older adults.
remissionnoun: Symptoms become much less severe or disappear for a time, without meaning the disorder is cured.
remitted-disorder studynoun: Researchers investigate people whose disorder symptoms have eased or disappeared to understand improvement, recurrence, and possible treatment needs.
remorsenoun: Painful guilt and regret after doing something wrong in the past.
remote associationnoun: A learned connection links items separated by other items within a list or sequence.
remote causenoun: An earlier or distant factor starts or fundamentally shapes a chain of events leading to an outcome.
remote effectnoun: An outcome appears later or elsewhere than the action or process that produced it.
remote grandparentnoun: A grandparent has little interaction with their grandchildren because of geographical separation or limited emotional connection.
remote maskingnoun: A sound becomes harder to hear because another sound has a much higher frequency.
remote memorynoun: Remembering events or facts from the distant past, often from many years earlier.
remote perceptionnoun: In parapsychology, someone allegedly perceives a distant scene without ordinary sensory access; another meaning involves technology providing distant sensory information.
remote viewingnoun: A planned activity follows set procedures to attempt perceiving distant or hidden things through an alleged extrasensory ability.
remote-association testnoun: A creativity task asks someone to find one word that connects three seemingly unrelated words.
remotivationnoun: An intervention rebuilds interest and participation so someone can engage with treatment and potentially benefit from it.
removing harmful consequencesphrase: Researchers have an ethical duty to address study-related distress and help participants regain their earlier emotional well-being.
renaladjective: This adjective describes something connected with the kidneys or their work in the body.
renal systemnoun: The kidneys and connected organs, vessels, and nerves work together to remove body wastes through urine.
Renard Diagnostic Interviewnoun: A historical structured interview gathers symptom information for assessing 15 mental disorders using the Feighner diagnostic criteria.
renewal following extinctionnoun: A learned response returns when the setting changes from where that response was weakened through extinction.
Renfield’s syndromenoun: A historical, informal label describes blood drinking associated with sexual arousal or, in some accounts, delusional beliefs.
renifleurnoun: An older label describes someone with a strong interest in body smells, especially as a source of sexual arousal.
reninnoun: A kidney enzyme begins a chemical sequence that helps raise blood pressure and regulate the body's fluid balance.
renin–angiotensin systemnoun: A linked chemical signaling system helps regulate blood pressure, fluid balance, thirst, and release of the hormone aldosterone.
Renpenning syndromenoun: An inherited condition linked to the X chromosome mainly affects males and can involve intellectual disability, delayed development, and physical differences.
Renshaw cellnoun: A spinal cord nerve cell receives signals from motor neurons and feeds back inhibition that limits their firing.
renunciationnoun: Giving up something desired can, in psychoanalytic theory, involve the ego refusing or redirecting instinctive urges.
reorganization principlenoun: Gestalt psychology proposes that new experiences reshape existing patterns of understanding instead of simply adding separate pieces of information.
reorientation therapynoun: Discredited practices attempt to change or suppress a person's LGBTQ+ identity, expression, or related behavior and can cause psychological harm.
repairnoun: A quick fix someone makes while talking to clear up confusion or correct a mistake.
reparameterizationnoun: A mathematical model is rewritten using different quantities to describe it, often making calculations or interpretation easier.
reparationnoun: Actions seek to make amends for earlier harm; Klein's psychoanalytic theory connects them with restoring valued relationships.
reparative therapyphrase: An unethical treatment attempt meant to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
reparentingnoun: Some approaches seek to supply missed parental care through a therapist's nurturing role or through a person's own supportive actions.
repeat offendernoun: Someone who commits crimes again after being caught, punished, or released.
repeatabilitynoun: A study or measurement shows this quality when repeating it under the same conditions produces similar findings.
repeated acquisitionnoun: An experiment measures learning across sessions by requiring participants to master a different response sequence each time.
repeated contrastnoun: A statistical comparison examines average scores across conditions or occasions measured in the same participants.
repeated factornoun: A study variable has several conditions or time points at which each participant provides a measurement.
repeated measures analysis of variancenoun: A statistical method compares average results across conditions or times while accounting for repeated measurements from each participant.
repeated measures designphrase: A study design where the same people are tested in all conditions or at multiple times.
repeated measures t testnoun: A statistical test checks whether the average difference between two paired sets of measurements is distinguishable from chance variation.
repeated reproductionnoun: A memory research method asks someone to recall the same material on several occasions, tracking how their account changes.
repertoirenoun: All the learned actions a person or animal can do in different situations.
repertory gridnoun: An assessment organizes someone’s ratings of meaningful people or ideas into a table to explore their personal ways of understanding.
repetitionnoun: Showing or reviewing the same material again and again to help it be learned or remembered.
repetition blindnessnoun: People sometimes miss a repeated item when visual items appear rapidly one after another.
repetition compulsionnoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes an unconscious urge to recreate earlier traumatic patterns in an effort to gain mastery over them.
repetition effectnoun: Encountering information several times usually improves later memory, although the benefit depends on how repetition happens.
repetition primingphrase: Earlier exposure makes a later response to the same or related item faster or more accurate, even without conscious remembering.
repetitive strain injury (RSI)noun: Repeated movement or sustained overuse can cause problems affecting muscles, tendons, or nerves, often producing discomfort and fatigue.
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)phrase: Uses repeated magnetic pulses outside the skull to change brain activity, often to treat depression.
replacement memorynoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that an ordinary childhood memory can hide or blend with a more emotionally significant experience.
replacement samplingnoun: A sampling method returns each selected item to the available pool, allowing it to be chosen again.
replacement therapyphrase: Giving a natural or man-made substance to make up for one the body lacks.
replicationnoun: Repeating a study to see whether the same findings happen again and can be trusted.
reportabilitynoun: A psychological experience has this quality when the person having it can describe or otherwise communicate it.
representationnoun: Something in the mind or data that stands in for something else.
representation of knowledgenoun: The mind organizes and stores information in forms such as concepts, images, and skills that support thinking.
representational changenoun: A young child may misremember an earlier belief after discovering the truth, reporting that they knew it all along.
representational constraintsnoun: Proposed brain-based limits shape what mental representations can contain and how they can be organized, including possible built-in knowledge.
representational insightnoun: A person understands that a symbol, picture, or object can stand for something else.
representational redescriptionnoun: A proposed developmental process lets children recode existing mental knowledge into forms they can understand and use more flexibly.
representational skillsnoun: These thinking abilities let people understand things and experiences through mental stand-ins, including words and images.
representational stagenoun: Piaget proposed a period around ages two through seven when children develop symbolic thinking but still have limitations in logical reasoning.
representational thoughtphrase: Using symbols like words or mental pictures to think about things that are not present.
representational validitynoun: A simulation has this quality when it faithfully reflects its real setting and operates as intended.
representationalismnoun: A philosophical view holds that perception gives us awareness of mental representations rather than direct awareness of external objects.
representative democracynoun: A system of government allows people to choose representatives who make public decisions on their behalf.
representative designnoun: A research approach samples realistic people, situations, and conditions so findings can apply beyond the study setting.
representative factorsnoun: These proposed mental processes let nonhuman primates continue or restart responses by mentally representing a stimulus that has stopped.
representative samplingphrase: Choosing people or other units so the sample fairly matches the larger group being studied.
representativenessnoun: Judging how likely something is by how much it seems to match a typical example.
representativeness heuristicphrase: Judging which group someone belongs to by how much they seem like a typical member, while ignoring real odds.
repressed memoryphrase: A memory blocked from awareness because it is too upsetting, but thought to still affect feelings or behavior.
repressionnoun: An unconscious defense that keeps painful memories, feelings, or wishes out of awareness to reduce anxiety.
repression propernoun: Psychoanalytic theory proposes that previously conscious experiences or wishes can become unconscious through a defensive process.
repression resistancenoun: Psychoanalytic theory describes an unconscious defense during therapy that keeps troubling impulses outside awareness.
repression–sensitizationnoun: A theoretical contrast describes avoiding perceived threats through unconscious denial or approaching them through detached analysis.
repressive coping stylenoun: A coping pattern involves minimizing difficulties and reporting little anxiety while strongly presenting oneself in socially approved ways.
reproducibilitynoun: How likely a study gives the same results when another independent researcher does it again.
reproductionnoun: Making offspring, or babies, so a species continues from one generation to the next.
reproduction theorynoun: A social theory proposes that schools help preserve existing social classes, economic divisions, and unequal opportunities across generations.
reproductive behaviornoun: Biological processes and actions contribute to producing offspring and, in some species, caring for them until independence.
reproductive disordernoun: A health condition affects reproductive organs, hormones, or processes involved in having children or sexual functioning.
reproductive failurenoun: An attempt or process of reproduction does not result in conception or offspring surviving to maturity.
reproductive functionphrase: The body processes and acts involved in creating offspring, including mating, conception, and pregnancy.
reproductive imagenoun: In Piaget’s theory, a mental picture recalls something previously seen and presents objects in a relatively unchanging form.
reproductive imaginationnoun: The mind recreates images of familiar things encountered earlier.
reproductive memorynoun: Recall is understood as accurately reproducing earlier information, although remembering can still introduce changes or errors.
reproductive rightsnoun: These rights protect informed, voluntary reproductive decisions and access to related information and care without coercion or discrimination.
reproductive successphrase: How well someone has children whose own children continue passing on that person's genes.
reproductive suppressionnoun: Social or bodily mechanisms prevent some mature group members from breeding, often through signals from dominant animals.
reproductive technologynoun: Medical procedures assist reproduction by handling both eggs and sperm, often combining them in a laboratory.
reproductive typenoun: Rostan’s historical body classification proposed a category in which reproductive organs supposedly dominated other bodily systems.
res cogitansnoun: Descartes proposed a thinking substance that makes up the mind and exists separately from physical matter.
res extensanoun: Descartes described physical matter as a substance that occupies space, distinct from the nonphysical thinking mind.
resamplingnoun: Researchers repeatedly draw samples from existing data to estimate statistical properties or assess how much results might vary.
Rescorla–Wagner theorynoun: A conditioning model proposes that learning changes according to the gap between an actual outcome and what combined cues predict.
researchnoun: A careful, organized study used to answer questions and build knowledge through observation, measurement, or experiments.
research designphrase: The overall plan for a study that guides who takes part, what happens, and how results are analyzed.
Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC)noun: A historical set of rules standardized research diagnoses for 25 mental disorders and helped shape DSM-III.
research diarynoun: A researcher keeps a running record of study activities, decisions, observations, and personal reflections.
research ethicsphrase: Rules and values that guide how studies are planned, run, and reported fairly and safely.
research hypothesisphrase: A prediction made before a study about what pattern the data will likely show.
research methodphrase: A planned way to test ideas with evidence and see how different factors are linked.
research protocolphrase: A detailed plan for a study that explains questions, methods, ethics, timing, and limits.
research registernoun: A database lists ongoing or finished studies connected by a topic, funding source, or research design.
research risknoun: A study may create burdens or unwanted consequences for participants or society, which researchers must assess and minimize.
research sport psychologynoun: A nonclinical research field develops theories about psychological aspects of sport and movement and tests ways to apply them.
research synthesisnoun: A systematic approach evaluates and brings together findings from multiple studies to identify patterns, differences, and overall evidence.
researcher biasphrase: A study can be skewed when investigators' expectations or beliefs unintentionally affect how data are gathered or understood.
resentmentnoun: A lasting bitter anger that grows when someone feels hurt, insulted, or treated unfairly.
reserpinenoun: A rauwolfia drug that lowers brain messengers like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin by draining nerve-cell storage.
reserve capacitynoun: The gap between someone’s current task performance and their best possible performance represents ability that remains unused.
reservedadjective: Showing feelings and opinions very little, especially around other people.
residence ratenoun: This statistic compares residents of a particular institution type on one date with the area's total population.
residential carephrase: A live-in setting that provides meals, supervision, and care for people who cannot safely live independently.
residential habilitationnoun: A support service provides care and daily skill practice at home for people with disabilities or other support needs.
residential mazenoun: Researchers study learning and memory using a maze where an animal lives continuously, including outside testing sessions.
residential schoolnoun: A specialized school provides housing alongside education for young people, including those needing disability or behavioral support.
residential treatmentphrase: Care provided while a person lives in a hospital or treatment center for a set program.
residualadjective: Describes a stage when major symptoms have eased, but milder problems still remain.
residual analysisnoun: Researchers examine gaps between observed results and model predictions to check whether the model fits the data appropriately.
residual errorphrase: The part of a score or result left unexplained by the factors a model measures.
residual mean squarenoun: This statistic estimates unexplained variation by dividing the total squared prediction errors by the remaining degrees of freedom.
residual schizophrenianoun: This historical schizophrenia subtype described lingering negative or mild symptoms after an episode, without prominent hallucinations, delusions, or disorganization.
residual scorenoun: In classical test theory, this value subtracts a person's expected score from their observed score to represent measurement error.
residual sum of squaresnoun: This total adds the squared gaps between observed values and model predictions, measuring variation the model leaves unexplained.
residual termnoun: This part of a statistical equation represents outcome variation that the model's other terms do not explain.
residual variancenoun: This is variation in measured scores left unexplained by the studied factors, including measurement error and other influences.
residual visionnoun: This is the usable sight a person retains despite a visual impairment present from birth or acquired later.
residue methodnoun: This reasoning method uses established causes to explain parts of an outcome, then assigns the remainder to remaining causes.
residue pitchnoun: A listener hears a low pitch implied by a complex sound's repeating pattern, even when its fundamental frequency is absent.
resignationnoun: A giving-up attitude toward one's circumstances or symptoms, expecting nothing can improve.
resiliencenoun: Bouncing back and adjusting well after stress or hardship, using flexible thoughts, feelings, actions, and support.
resinousadjective: This describes a resin-like smell, such as pine, classified as a basic odor quality in Henning's historical model.
resistancenoun: Opposition or pushback against a person, force, treatment, or change.
resistance of an attitudenoun: This is how strongly a person's evaluation stays the same when challenged by arguments or other opposing information.
resistance stagephrase: During ongoing stress, the body stays on high alert while trying to cope and keep working.
resistance to changephrase: Shows how strongly an attitude or behavior stays the same despite efforts or events trying to alter it.
resistance to extinctionphrase: How long a learned behavior keeps happening after rewards or reinforcement, meaning payoff, stop.
resistance to interferencenoun: This ability keeps irrelevant information from disrupting attention and performance while a person carries out a task.
resistance trainingnoun: Exercise challenges muscles against an opposing load, such as weights or elastic bands, to develop strength or endurance.
resistant attachmentphrase: A child both seeks and fights closeness with a caregiver, often after inconsistent care.
resistant estimatornoun: This statistical rule estimates a population characteristic from sample data while limiting the influence of unusually high or low values.
resocializationnoun: This process helps people with mental health conditions rebuild social skills and relationships so they can participate in community life.
resolutionnoun: A final settling of a problem, conflict, or developmental struggle so it can move forward.
resolution phasephrase: Body changes from sexual arousal settle back to normal after orgasm or stopping stimulation.
resolving powernoun: This measures how well an eye or optical device can distinguish nearby objects as separate from each other.
resonance frequencynoun: This is the vibration rate at which an acoustic system responds most strongly to an applied sound.
resource allocationphrase: How a program spreads its time and effort among different people, parts, or activities.
resource competitionnoun: Two demanding tasks interfere with each other when they simultaneously draw on limited mental resources, such as attention.
resource defense polygynynoun: In some animal species, a male mates with multiple females by defending territory with resources that support them and their young.
resource teachernoun: A specialist teaches students with particular learning needs, including disabilities or giftedness, and advises other teachers on supporting them.
resource theorynoun: This theory proposes that relationships and power depend partly on people's resources and how they exchange or withhold them.
respectnoun: Showing and feeling that someone or something deserves care, value, and polite treatment.
respirationnoun: Breathing takes in oxygen and removes carbon dioxide so the body, especially the brain, can keep working.
respiratory depressionphrase: Breathing becomes unusually slow and shallow, often after opioids or other sedating drugs.
respiratory disordernoun: A health condition affects one or more parts of the body involved in breathing, such as the lungs or airways.
respiratory distress syndromephrase: In some premature newborns, too little lung surfactant makes tiny air sacs collapse and breathing become very hard.
respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)noun: A normal heart rhythm pattern typically speeds up during breathing in and slows during breathing out, reflecting vagus nerve influence.
respiratory typenoun: Rostan's historical body classification proposed a type in which breathing and blood circulation systems dominated other bodily systems.
respite carenoun: Temporary support for someone needing care gives their usual family caregivers a break from caregiving duties.
respondentnoun: A person in a study who answers interview, survey, or questionnaire items.
respondent behaviornoun: An identifiable stimulus reliably triggers a response, which may be an unlearned reflex or learned through conditioning.
respondent conditioningphrase: Learning happens when a natural reflex starts after a new signal is repeatedly paired with something meaningful.
respondent validationnoun: Researchers ask participants to review recorded accounts or interpretations of their experiences and provide feedback about accuracy.
responsenoun: A reaction in the body or behavior that happens after a stimulus, or trigger, is detected.
response acquiescencenoun: A person tends to agree with survey or interview statements regardless of what those statements actually say.
response biasnoun: A habit of answering in a certain way no matter what question or signal appears.
response chainnoun: After a starting cue, a sequence unfolds in which each action creates a cue for the next action.
response circuitnoun: A connected nerve route links a structure that detects stimulation with one that produces a bodily response.
response classnoun: Different behaviors belong to one group when they produce the same or similar effects on the surrounding environment.
response conflictnoun: Irrelevant information activates a competing response, slowing a person's choice of the correct response during a task.
response costphrase: A behavior is reduced by taking away something wanted right after it happens.
response deprivationnoun: Restricting an activity below its usual level can make access to it a reinforcer that strengthens another behavior.
response differentiationnoun: Selective reinforcement makes particular forms of a behavior more common while other forms become less common.
response effectnoun: Features of a survey's answer format or administration setting influence the answers participants give.
response frequencynoun: This count records how many times a response occurs during a chosen period of observation.
response generalizationphrase: When one action is rewarded, similar actions start happening more often too.
response hierarchynoun: Possible responses are ranked by how likely each is to occur when a particular cue or situation appears.
response integrationnoun: Simple movements and reflexes become coordinated into a more complex pattern of responding.
response latencynoun: This interval measures how long it takes for a particular response to occur after a stimulus begins.
response learningnoun: A person or animal learns a particular sequence of movements, such as a series of turns through a maze.
response magnitudephrase: How strong, long, or large a person's reaction is.
response preventionphrase: A treatment step where someone faces a trigger and does not do the usual ritual or escape behavior.
response probabilitynoun: This is the chance that a particular response will happen under specified conditions, often estimated from observed behavior.
response propositionnoun: In bioinformational theory, this is mental imagery content describing how someone responds within an imagined situation.
response ratephrase: How often a behavior happens during a set amount of time.
response scalenoun: A structured answering format lets someone express a response by selecting an option or marking a position along a range.
response scenarionoun: One possible pattern of behavior represents how a person might act when faced with a particular cue or situation.
response selectionnoun: During information processing, a person chooses how to respond after identifying a stimulus and before carrying out the response.
response setphrase: A habitual way of answering questions that ignores what each question actually asks.
response strengthphrase: Shows how likely, forceful, and hard to interrupt a certain response is.
response stylephrase: A person's usual way of answering tests across situations because of personality, not the immediate setting.
response suppressionnoun: A behavior becomes less frequent or less likely because of a change introduced during an experiment.
response thresholdnoun: The weakest level of stimulation capable of producing a particular response marks this boundary.
response timenoun: The length of time between something happening and a person's response to it.
response topographynoun: The observable physical form of a behavior includes how long, how strongly, where, and how far it occurs.
response variablenoun: The measured outcome in a study is what researchers try to explain or predict.
response-by-analogy principlenoun: An organism tends to handle a new situation using a response that worked in a similar familiar situation.
response-focused emotion regulationnoun: In Gross’s model, people manage an emotional response after it begins, such as by controlling its outward expression.
response-operating characteristic curvenoun: A graph compares correct detections with false alarms as the rule for saying yes changes.
response–reinforcement contingencynoun: This relationship describes whether a reinforcing event becomes more or less likely after a particular behavior.
response–shock interval (R–S interval)noun: In avoidance experiments, this is the fixed delay before the next shock, restarted whenever the specified response occurs.
responsible stagenoun: In Schaie’s proposed model, middle adulthood involves applying thinking skills to growing family, work, and community duties.
responsivenessnoun: Paying attention to another person's needs and reacting in a caring, helpful way.
RESTabbreviation: A method that limits sights, sounds, and movement to reduce stimulation and study its effects.
rest curenoun: A historical treatment for nervous complaints, mainly prescribed to women, combined enforced prolonged rest with diet and physical treatments.
rest homenoun: A residential facility supports recovering people or older adults who need assistance but do not require constant nursing.
rest periodphrase: A short break during demanding activity that helps restore energy and prevent tiredness or boredom.
restatementnoun: A counselor repeats or rewords a client’s message to check understanding and help the client hear their own meaning.
resting potentialphrase: The voltage difference across a resting neuron membrane leaves the inside more negative than the outside.
resting tremorphrase: A shaking movement that happens in a body part when it is relaxed and not being used.
restitutionnoun: Making someone repair or replace what was harmed after misbehavior, to help reduce that behavior.
restitutionary damagesnoun: A court orders someone to pay money to remove a benefit they gained through improper conduct toward another person.
restless-legs syndromenoun: A condition causes an urge to move the legs, often with uncomfortable sensations during rest, especially in the evening.
restlessnessnoun: Purposeless movement or inability to stay still for a short time, often with pacing or fidgeting.
restoration effectnoun: Perception fills in missing sensory information without conscious effort, making incomplete input seem whole.
restoration therapynoun: This treatment seeks to rebuild bodily structures and restore abilities lost through illness or physical injury.
restorative environmentnoun: A setting can help replenish attention or ease mental and bodily stress, often through contact with nature.
restorative justicephrase: A justice approach focused on helping offenders make amends and heal harm to victims, not just punishing.
Restorff phenomenonnoun: People tend to remember an item better when it stands out from the items surrounding it.
Restorilnoun: This brand name identifies temazepam, a benzodiazepine medicine used briefly to treat difficulty sleeping.
restraintnoun: Holding back harmful or unwanted actions shows a person's ability to control impulses.
restricted affectnoun: A person shows a narrower variety of emotions and less intensity in their outward emotional expression.
restricted codenoun: A communication style uses simple, predictable wording and relies heavily on shared context and unspoken cues.
restricted environmental stimulation technique (REST)noun: A procedure reduces surrounding sensory input to study its effects or support relaxation and stress management.
restricted recoverynoun: A law directs some money awarded to punish wrongdoing in civil cases into state funds serving public needs.
restriction of rangephrase: Using scores from only a narrow group can hide or weaken the true link between variables.
results-only work environment (ROWE)noun: A management approach judges employees by their results while allowing broad freedom over work location, timing, and hours.
resurgencenoun: An old rewarded behavior briefly comes back when a newer learned behavior stops being rewarded.
RETabbreviation: Rational emotive therapy is an earlier name for a therapy that challenges rigid beliefs affecting emotions and behavior.
retardationnoun: A slower-than-usual rate or delay in development, movement, thinking, or another body process.
retarded depressionnoun: An outdated label described a major depressive episode involving slowed thinking and movement together with reduced appetite.
retarded ejaculationnoun: An older label describes recurring difficulty reaching ejaculation or orgasm despite sexual arousal and stimulation.
rete mirabilenoun: An artery or vein gives rise to an interconnected web of smaller vessels that carry blood.
retentionnoun: Keeping learned information over time so it can be remembered or relearned later.
retention curvenoun: A graph shows how much learned information a person remembers as time passes.
retention intervalphrase: The time between learning something and being tested on how much of it is remembered.
retention measurenoun: A method assesses what remains in memory after learning, using tasks such as recall, recognition, or relearning.
retest reliabilityphrase: Shows whether a test gives similar scores when the same people take it again later.
reticular activating system (RAS)phrase: A brain network helps control alertness, arousal, and when you sleep or wake.
reticular formationnoun: A network in the brainstem helps control alertness, sleep-wake cycles, and some movement and posture.
reticular membranenoun: A firm cellular barrier in the inner ear’s hearing organ separates fluids with different chemical compositions around sensory cells.
reticulospinal tractnoun: A nerve pathway carries signals from the brainstem to the spinal cord to help maintain posture and control movement.
retifismnoun: An older name describes a sexual interest focused on feet or footwear.
retinanoun: The eye's inner lining senses light and begins turning it into nerve signals for seeing.
retinaladjective: Describes anything connected to the retina, the light-sensing layer at the back of the eye.
retinal bipolar cellnoun: A retinal nerve cell relays signals from light receptors to ganglion cells or amacrine cells.
retinal conenoun: A light-sensitive retinal cell supports color vision and fine detail when enough light is available.
retinal densitometrynoun: A technique estimates how much light retinal pigments absorb by comparing light entering the eye with light reflected back.
retinal detachmentnoun: The retina’s light-sensing tissue separates from its supporting pigment layer, which can impair vision.
retinal disparitynoun: Small differences between each eye's view help the brain judge how far away things are.
retinal fieldnoun: The light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye that respond to one viewed target together make up this group.
retinal ganglion cellnoun: A retinal nerve cell gathers visual signals and sends them toward the brain through its fiber in the optic nerve.
retinal horizontal cellnoun: A retinal nerve cell links neighboring light receptors and their signaling pathways, helping compare light across nearby areas.
retinal imagephrase: The eye forms an upside-down picture on the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back.
retinal lightnoun: A person experiences light without outside visual stimulation, thought to arise from activity within the visual nervous system.
retinal oscillationsnoun: Changing or alternating visual sensations continue after a brief stimulus has disappeared, such as successive colored afterimages.
retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)noun: A single sheet of pigmented cells supports retinal light receptors, absorbs stray light, and clears their discarded membrane material.
retinal receptive fieldnoun: A particular retinal neuron responds when stimulation occurs within a certain area of the visual scene.
retinal rodnoun: A highly sensitive retinal receptor supports vision under dim lighting but does not distinguish colors.
retinal sizenoun: The size of an object’s image on the retina depends on its actual size and distance from the eye.
retinenenoun: An older chemical name identifies retinal, a vitamin A derivative that helps visual pigments respond to light.
retinex theorynoun: A proposed explanation of color vision says the brain compares light signals across a scene to determine perceived colors.
retinitisnoun: Inflammation affects the retina, the light-sensitive tissue lining the inside of the eye.
retinitis pigmentosanoun: A usually inherited eye disorder progressively damages light-sensitive retinal cells, often reducing night vision and side vision.
retinolnoun: A form of vitamin A helps maintain vision and supplies material for making the eye’s light-detecting chemicals.
retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)noun: An eye disorder in premature babies involves abnormal retinal blood vessels that can scar and threaten vision.
retinoscopenoun: An eye examination tool uses reflected light to measure focusing errors and help determine suitable corrective lenses.
retinotopic mapnoun: An ordered representation in a visual brain structure preserves the neighborhood relationships between locations on the retina.
retinotopynoun: Visual neurons are organized so that nearby retinal locations generally correspond to nearby locations in visual processing regions.
retirement counselingnoun: Professional guidance helps workers prepare for the emotional, practical, and social changes involved in leaving regular employment.
retreat from realitynoun: A proposed defensive response involves unconsciously withdrawing into fantasy, inactivity, or detachment to avoid situations that cause anxiety.
retrievalnoun: Bringing stored information back into awareness after it has been learned and kept over time.
retrieval blocknoun: A temporary difficulty recalling known information comes with a feeling that something is preventing access to it.
retrieval cuenoun: A hint or signal that helps bring a stored memory back to mind.
retrieving behaviornoun: Some animal parents pick up offspring found outside their nest and carry them back inside.
retroactive interferencephrase: New learning can make it harder to remember older information, especially when the two are similar.
retrobulbaradjective: An anatomical description indicates that something lies behind the eye’s globe.
retrochiasmatic visual deficitnoun: Damage along visual pathways beyond the optic nerve crossing causes vision problems affecting corresponding areas in both eyes.
retrocochlear hearing lossnoun: Hearing impairment results from problems in the auditory nerve or brain pathways beyond the inner ear’s cochlea.
retrocognitionnoun: In parapsychology, a claimed ability involves experiencing or knowing past events without ordinary sources of information.
retrograde amnesianoun: After brain injury or illness, a person loses memories formed before the event.
retrograde degenerationnoun: After an axon is injured, nerve tissue breaks down backward along it toward the neuron’s main body.
retrograde ejaculationnoun: During ejaculation, some or all semen travels into the bladder instead of leaving through the penis.
retrograde memorynoun: The ability to remember information or experiences from before a chosen time, often an injury or illness, is preserved.
retrograde transportnoun: Materials move along a neuron’s axon from its distant regions back toward its main cell body.
retrogressionnoun: A person returns to earlier, less mature or previously unhelpful behavior when more developed ways of handling conflict fail.
retrogressive formationnoun: A new word is created by removing an ending or other piece mistakenly assumed to have been added.
retrolental fibroplasianoun: An older name describes retinopathy of prematurity, where abnormal retinal vessel growth can cause scarring and vision loss.
retronasal olfactionnoun: Smell sensations occur when odor molecules travel from the mouth through the throat into the nasal cavity.
retropulsionnoun: A movement difficulty involves taking short backward steps while walking or running, sometimes in people with parkinsonism.
retrospectionnoun: A person looks back on past experiences and thinks about what happened or how they behaved.
retrospective auditnoun: A review after healthcare services have occurred checks whether the care was necessary or the billing was appropriate.
retrospective cohort studynoun: Researchers group people by earlier exposures or characteristics, then compare later outcomes using information already available.
retrospective confidence judgmentnoun: After completing a test, a person estimates how well they performed, often judging the accuracy of remembered answers.
retrospective falsificationphrase: Changing a memory or story after the fact by adding false or flattering details.
retrospective medical auditnoun: A systematic review of patient records after discharge evaluates how well diagnostic procedures and treatments worked.
retrospective memoryphrase: Remembering information or events from the past, rather than remembering to do something later.
retrospective researchnoun: Researchers examine earlier events or exposures to help explain present conditions without experimentally controlling those past events.
retrospective samplingnoun: Researchers select people based on earlier exposure or a completed process, then examine their present condition.
retrospective validitynoun: Evidence supports a test when its scores relate to earlier documented examples of the behavior it aims to measure.
Rett syndromenoun: A rare genetic condition in girls causes normal early development, then loss of language, movement, and thinking skills in toddlerhood.
reuptakenoun: After sending a chemical message, the first neuron takes some neurotransmitter back in from the synapse.
reuptake inhibitorphrase: A drug that blocks nerve cells from taking back neurotransmitters, leaving more available between cells.
revealed-differences techniquenoun: Researchers compare partners’ or relatives’ separate questionnaire answers, then observe how they discuss disagreements revealed by those answers.
reverberating circuitnoun: A network of neurons repeatedly reactivates its own signals, a mechanism proposed to help sustain information for memory.
reverienoun: A pleasant mental state involves drifting into daydreams or relaxed, wandering thoughts.
reversal designphrase: A single-case research plan tests a treatment by switching between no-treatment baseline and treatment phases.
reversal errornoun: A reading or writing mistake reverses a letter’s direction or changes the order of letters within a word.
reversal learningnoun: A learner adapts when two choices exchange outcomes, so the previously rewarded choice stops earning rewards and the other starts.
reversal of affectnoun: In psychoanalytic theory, an instinct’s proposed goal changes into its opposite, sometimes switching between oneself and other people.
reversal shiftnoun: In a learning task, the previously correct choice becomes incorrect while the previously incorrect choice becomes correct.
reversal theorynoun: A theory proposes that changing interpretations of bodily activation, such as excitement versus anxiety, help explain motivation, emotion, and performance.
reverse anorexianoun: An informal name for muscle dysmorphia describes persistent, distressing beliefs that one’s body lacks enough muscle despite others’ differing perceptions.
reverse causalitynoun: An apparent cause may actually be an effect, reversing the assumed direction of influence between two things.
reverse counterbalancingnoun: Researchers give half the participants one presentation order and the other half its reverse to reduce effects of order.
reverse discriminationnoun: A disputed label describes perceived unfair preference for historically disadvantaged groups over groups that have generally held advantages.
reverse tolerancenoun: Repeated exposure to certain drugs increases sensitivity, so a later dose can produce stronger effects than before.
reversed dependency trapnoun: A parent’s sense of personal value becomes tied to how well their child performs in school, sports, or other settings.
reversibilitynoun: Understanding that an action can be mentally undone, showing things can return to their original state.
reversible dementianoun: Significant problems with memory and thinking arise from potentially treatable conditions and may improve when those causes are addressed.
reversible figurenoun: An unchanged image supports different visual interpretations that can alternate as a person continues looking at it.
reversible hormone therapynoun: Medication temporarily lowers androgen activity, often to treat prostate cancer, with hormone effects that may recover after treatment stops.
reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase-A (RIMA)noun: An antidepressant temporarily blocks the MAO-A enzyme, reducing its breakdown of certain brain chemicals involved in mood.
reversionnoun: A hidden inherited trait appears in a child even though neither parent shows it.
Reversolnoun: A brand name for edrophonium identifies a brief-acting medicine that slows acetylcholine breakdown and can reverse certain muscle-blocking drugs.
ReVianoun: A brand of naltrexone blocks opioid receptors and is used to treat alcohol and opioid dependence.
Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS)noun: A questionnaire uses 37 yes-or-no items to assess anxiety symptoms in people aged 6 through 19.
revivificationnoun: A hypnosis technique uses suggestions to encourage people to experience seemingly forgotten or blocked memories again.
revolutionary coalitionnoun: An alliance inside a larger organization seeks sweeping changes to its structure and ways of operating.
revolving-door phenomenonnoun: A pattern of repeated hospital or institutional admissions can occur when people leave before recovering sufficiently or receiving adequate support.
rewardnoun: A consequence meant to encourage a behavior, even if it does not really make that behavior happen more often.
reward centernoun: A proposed brain area supports rewarding experiences, although a separate location devoted purely to pleasure has not been established.
reward dependencenoun: In Cloninger's personality model, a temperament trait involves sensitivity to approval and a tendency to continue behaviors that earn rewards.
reward expectancyphrase: An animal or person mentally expects a reward when cues signal that reinforcement, or payoff, usually follows.
reward powerphrase: Influence gained by being able to give wanted rewards, especially when others depend on you for them.
reward responsivenessnoun: In Carver and White's scales, a trait measures how strongly someone responds positively to receiving or anticipating rewards.
reward systemphrase: A brain network that connects certain events or cues with pleasure, satisfaction, and repeated behavior.
reward theorynoun: A family of explanations examines how satisfying outcomes influence learning, choices, and movement toward desired experiences.
rewarded alternative methodnoun: A behavior change procedure stops rewarding an unwanted action while rewarding a preferred alternative.
rewrite rulenoun: A grammar instruction replaces a symbol representing a language structure with symbols representing its component parts.
Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT)noun: A memory assessment measures learning and remembering spoken word lists across repeated presentations, an interfering list, and a delay.
Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT)noun: A drawing assessment compares copying a detailed design with reproducing it later to examine visual memory, spatial skills, and planning.
Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT)noun: A visual assessment examines memory and organizational skills by having someone copy a detailed figure and later draw it without viewing it.
RFTabbreviation: These letters mean relational frame theory, which explains language through learned ways of relating things according to context.
Rh blood-group incompatibilitynoun: A blood-type mismatch can cause an Rh-negative person's antibodies to attack Rh-positive red cells during pregnancy or transfusion.
Rh factor (rhesus factor)noun: An inherited marker on red blood cells helps determine blood type, with the D marker usually defining Rh-positive status.
Rh reactionnoun: An immune response occurs when antibodies in an Rh-negative person target Rh-positive blood cells following exposure.
rhabdomancynoun: A divination practice uses a rod or wand to claim discovery of hidden things, such as underground water.
RHCabbreviation: The letters mean rural health clinic, a center offering basic healthcare without overnight stays in rural communities lacking medical services.
rheoencephalographynoun: A recording technique estimates changes in brain blood flow by measuring how head tissues oppose a small electrical current.
rhesus factornoun: An inherited red-cell surface marker belongs to the Rh blood-group system, with the D marker usually determining positive status.
rhesus monkeynoun: A small monkey often studied because its body and behavior are similar to humans.
rhetorical-question messagenoun: A persuasive message includes questions that invite thought rather than spoken answers, aiming to encourage closer examination of its ideas.
rheumatoid arthritisnoun: An autoimmune condition causes ongoing joint inflammation when the immune system mistakenly targets the body's own tissues.
rhinal fissurenoun: A brain groove runs along the inward-facing, front portion of each temporal lobe.
Rhine cardsnoun: A deck containing 25 cards with five repeated symbols was designed for experiments investigating claimed extrasensory abilities.
rhinencephalonnoun: A historical anatomical grouping includes smell pathways, limbic structures, and related brain regions once broadly associated with smell.
rhino- (rhin-)prefix: A word-building element indicates a connection with the nose or the ability to smell.
rhinolalianoun: An unusual amount of nasal resonance changes speech quality, sometimes because nasal passages are blocked or shaped differently.
rhizomelicadjective: An anatomical description concerns the parts of limbs nearest the body, around the shoulders or hips.
rhizotomynoun: A surgical procedure cuts selected nerve roots or root fibers to reduce pain or unwanted muscle contractions.
rho correlationnoun: The symbol rho can indicate a whole population's correlation or Spearman's measure of how consistently two rankings vary together.
rhodopsinnoun: A light-sensitive pigment in retinal rod cells starts the signaling process that supports vision in dim surroundings.
rhombencephalonnoun: The developing hindbrain is an embryonic brain region that later forms the medulla, pons, and cerebellum.
rhyming deliriumnoun: A pattern of difficult-to-control speech involves repeatedly speaking in rhymes and can sometimes occur during mania.
rhythmnoun: A regular pattern in timing, such as body cycles, brain activity, or repeating sounds.
rhythm methodnoun: A contraceptive approach uses menstrual-cycle timing to estimate fertile days and avoids vaginal intercourse during that window.
rhythmic stereotypynoun: In infant play, repeated large movements such as rocking or kicking follow a rhythm without an obvious immediate purpose.
rhythmic stimulationnoun: Repeated sounds or light pulses are presented to encourage brain activity to follow the same timing.
RIabbreviation: Short for random interval, this schedule rewards the first response after unpredictable waits generated by a constant probability over time.
RIAabbreviation: Short for radioimmunoassay, this laboratory method uses antibodies and radioactive labels to measure substances such as hormones.
ribonucleic acidnoun: A usually single-stranded molecule called RNA helps cells use genetic information, including carrying instructions and participating in protein production.
ribosomal RNAnoun: A form of RNA builds part of the ribosome's structure and helps join amino acids into proteins.
ribosomenoun: A cellular structure made from RNA and proteins reads messenger RNA instructions to assemble amino acids into proteins.
Ribot’s lawnoun: A memory principle proposes that newer memories are generally more vulnerable to brain injury than memories formed longer ago.
Ricco’s lawnoun: For sufficiently small light targets, the brightness needed for detection decreases in proportion to the increase in illuminated retinal area.
rich interpretationnoun: An approach to children's language uses surrounding speech, gestures, and circumstances to infer meanings beyond their literal words.
rich mediumnoun: A communication channel carries several kinds of cues, such as words, facial expressions, and tone, that help convey meaning.
ricketsnoun: A childhood disorder prevents growing bones from hardening properly, often because vitamin D is insufficient, leading to weakness and deformity.
Riddoch’s phenomenonnoun: After certain visual-system injuries, a person can detect moving visual targets in an area where stationary targets remain unseen.
ridge regressionnoun: A statistical prediction method penalizes large coefficients, shrinking them toward zero to stabilize estimates when predictors overlap strongly.
right brainphrase: The brain's right hemisphere, which helps control the left side of the body.
right censoringnoun: An event's timing remains unknown because observation stops before the event is recorded for a participant.
right hemispherephrase: The brain's right half helps with sensation, movement, and paying attention to space.
right to diephrase: A debated ethical claim holds that terminally ill people should be allowed to choose death, sometimes with medical assistance.
right to refuse treatmentphrase: Patients have an ethical and sometimes legal entitlement to decline proposed care, including measures that prolong life.
right to treatmentphrase: People may have a legal entitlement to suitable care, especially when a facility has accepted responsibility for treating them.
right-and-wrong testnoun: A legal insanity test asks whether mental illness prevented understanding an act's nature or recognizing its wrongfulness when committed.
right-and-wrong-cases methodnoun: Researchers estimate a sensory threshold by repeatedly presenting fixed stimulus strengths near that threshold in random order.
right-handednessnoun: A person usually favors their right hand when carrying out skilled everyday tasks.
right-hemisphere consciousnessnoun: A hypothesis proposes that the brain's right half can have conscious experiences independently of its left half.
right-or-wrong testnoun: Courts may assess whether mental illness left someone unable to understand their act or know it was wrong.
right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)noun: An attitude pattern combines obedience to established authorities, strong attachment to traditions, and hostility those authorities encourage toward others.
right–left disorientationnoun: A person has recurring trouble telling which side or direction is right and which is left.
right–left orientation testnoun: An assessment checks how accurately someone identifies right versus left on bodies or in directions.
righting reflexnoun: An automatic body response helps an animal or person regain an upright position after being tilted or overturned.
rights of patientsphrase: People receiving health care are entitled to respect, understandable information, privacy, and a say in decisions about their care.
rights of people with mental disabilitiesphrase: People with mental disabilities share rights to appropriate support, education, employment opportunities, community life, and protection from mistreatment.
rigid familyphrase: A family with strict rules that never bend, often causing kids emotional or behavior problems.
rigid rotationnoun: In factor analysis, researchers adjust the arrangement of underlying factors for clearer interpretation while keeping those factors uncorrelated.
rigiditynoun: Stiffness in muscles or a hard-to-change way of thinking, feeling, or acting.
Riley–Day syndromenoun: An inherited condition disrupts nerves controlling sensation and automatic bodily functions, affecting pain perception, feeding, and tear production.
RIMAabbreviation: An antidepressant of this class reversibly blocks monoamine oxidase-A, slowing the breakdown of certain chemical messengers.
ring chromosome 18noun: A chromosome condition involves chromosome 18 forming a ring, with effects that can include physical differences and learning difficulties.
ring-finger dermatitisnoun: Skin becomes inflamed where a ring sits, usually because of irritation, metal allergy, or substances trapped underneath.
Ringelmann effectnoun: Average output per person tends to decline as a working group grows, partly through coordination problems and reduced effort.
Rinne testnoun: A hearing check compares sound heard through air with sound transmitted through skull bone using a tuning fork.
riotnoun: A crowd engages in violent public disorder, shaped by social circumstances, group relationships, and shared reactions.
risenoun: The vertical change between two points on a graph, measured along the y-axis.
risknoun: The chance that harm, loss, or illness will happen, often linked to a behavior or condition.
risk assessmentnoun: A judgment about how likely someone is to cause harm or other serious problems in the future.
risk aversionnoun: A person tends to favor safer choices over alternatives that carry a possibility of loss.
risk factornoun: A trait, condition, or experience that raises the chance a disorder or problem will develop.
risk levelphrase: The set chance of a false alarm, saying an effect exists when it really does not.
risk metricsnoun: Numbers, calculations, or visual displays communicate how likely someone is to develop a disease or psychological disorder.
risk perceptionphrase: A person's own judgment about how likely and serious a danger or health threat seems.
risk predictionnoun: Researchers or clinicians use measured factors and mathematical models to estimate the chance of a future outcome.
risk pronenessnoun: A person tends to accept or seek choices that involve a substantial possibility of loss.
risk rationoun: A comparison divides an event's probability in one group by its probability in another group.
risk sensitivitynoun: An organism can favor environments where resources remain reliably available instead of varying greatly over time.
risk takingphrase: Choosing a challenging action that could fail but might bring success or personal growth.
risk tolerancephrase: How much possible danger or loss someone accepts to try for a desired reward.
risk-as-feelings theorynoun: A proposed model explains how immediate emotions can guide risky choices more strongly than deliberate judgments about possible outcomes.
risk-assessment matrixnoun: A grid ranks potential hazards by combining how likely they are with how serious their consequences could be.
risk-recreation modelnoun: A model links outdoor risk taking with involvement, decision control, social preferences, participation frequency, and preferred settings.
risk–rescue ratingnoun: A clinical measure compares the danger of a suicide attempt with the chances of discovery and rescue.
risky predictionnoun: A scientific forecast exposes its underlying hypothesis to a meaningful chance of being shown false by evidence.
risky shiftphrase: After group discussion, people often choose a riskier option than they would choose alone.
risperidonenoun: An atypical antipsychotic medicine that can reduce psychosis, mania, and severe irritability in autism.
Ritalinnoun: A brand name for methylphenidate, a stimulant medicine often used to treat ADHD.
ritenoun: A community follows a culturally meaningful ceremony, often expressing spiritual beliefs or shared traditions.
rite of passagenoun: A ceremony publicly recognizes someone's movement into a new life stage, role, or social position.
ritualnoun: A repeated, rule-bound action done to ease obsession-driven anxiety, even when the rules make little sense.
ritual abusenoun: Reports describe repeated, organized mistreatment involving ceremonies or symbols, although claims of widespread secret networks remain disputed.
ritualizationnoun: An ordinary animal action develops into a recognizable signal that communicates something to other animals.
rivalrynoun: Competition between people or groups who want the same goal, attention, or status.
rivastigminenoun: A medicine that slows breakdown of acetylcholine, a memory chemical, to help mild to moderate Alzheimer's dementia.
RJPabbreviation: A hiring practice that gives applicants honest information about a job's good and bad parts.
RLabbreviation: The abbreviation means Reiz limen, the weakest stimulus strength a person can detect on about half of presentations.
RMDabbreviation: Repetitive motion disorder involves persistent muscle, tendon, or nerve problems caused by repeated strain or overuse.
RMIabbreviation: Repetitive motion injury develops when repeated strain or overuse affects muscles, tendons, or nerves, often during work.
RMSabbreviation: The root mean square measures magnitude by squaring values, averaging those squares, and taking the resulting square root.
RMTabbreviation: The Recognition Memory Test assesses memory by asking people to select previously shown words and faces from paired alternatives.
RNabbreviation: A registered nurse is a licensed health professional trained to provide nursing care, monitor patients, and teach self-care.
RNAnoun: A single-stranded molecule that helps cells build proteins by carrying and using genetic instructions.
RNGabbreviation: A random number generator produces chance-based or apparently random numbers, useful for assigning research participants to study groups.
road ragenoun: A driver behaves aggressively toward others, often after interpreting another person's driving as an offense.
Robaxinnoun: A brand of methocarbamol helps manage muscle-related pain through effects on the central nervous system.
Robbers Cave experimentphrase: A camp study showing competition can spark group hostility, while shared goals can bring groups back together.
Roberts syndromenoun: A rare inherited condition affects growth and limb development, often with facial differences and sometimes intellectual disabilities.
Robitussinnoun: A cough medicine brand includes some products containing dextromethorphan, a drug that reduces coughing through nervous system effects.
robotnoun: A machine carries out tasks automatically, including work that people could otherwise perform.
robot-assisted gait trainingnoun: A rehabilitation method uses a robotic device to guide repeated stepping movements while a person practices walking.
roboticsnoun: A field of science and engineering develops machines that sense, move, and carry out tasks automatically.
robust estimatornoun: A statistical rule estimates a population feature while staying reasonably reliable when some assumptions about the data fail.
robustnessnoun: A statistical method's ability to stay accurate even when its usual rules or assumptions are broken.
ROC curveabbreviation: A receiver operating characteristic curve graphs correct detections against false alarms as the threshold for saying yes changes.
ROCFTabbreviation: Rey and Osterrieth’s complex figure assessment examines visual memory and organization by asking someone to copy and later redraw an image.
Rock v. Arkansasnoun: A 1987 Supreme Court decision rejected a blanket ban on criminal defendants giving testimony refreshed through hypnosis.
rockingnoun: A repetitive movement involves swaying the body backward and forward, sometimes to provide sensory stimulation or comfort.
rodnoun: A light-sensitive cell in the retina that helps you see in dim light but not color.
rod visionnoun: Seeing in very low light relies entirely on retinal rod cells, which detect brightness but cannot distinguish colors.
Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT)noun: An assessment asks someone to make a rod upright inside a tilted frame, measuring how surroundings influence their judgment.
rod–cone breaknoun: During adjustment to darkness, a turning point occurs when retinal rods become more sensitive to light than cones.
rods of Cortinoun: Two rows of stiff supporting structures form an arch within the inner ear's hearing organ.
Roelofs effectnoun: A large frame placed off-center can shift where someone perceives straight ahead toward the frame's center.
roentgen raynoun: An older name for an X-ray describes short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation that can pass through materials and reveal internal structures.
roentgenogramnoun: An image made using X-ray radiation records internal structures according to how strongly they absorb the radiation.
Rogerian therapynoun: A psychotherapy approach developed by Carl Rogers supports personal growth through the therapist's empathy, acceptance, and genuine engagement.
Rohypnolnoun: A brand name for flunitrazepam identifies a benzodiazepine drug that produces sedation and can impair memory.
rok-joonoun: Another name for koro describes intense fear that genitals are retracting into the body and may cause death.
Rokeach Dogmatism Scalenoun: A questionnaire developed by Milton Rokeach aims to measure how rigidly people hold beliefs and resist competing views.
Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)noun: An assessment developed by Milton Rokeach asks people to rank valued ways of behaving and desired life outcomes.
Rolandic cortexnoun: The brain's outer tissue around its central groove includes areas important for voluntary movement and bodily sensation.
Rolandic fissurenoun: The central sulcus is a deep brain groove separating frontal cortex from parietal cortex.
rolenoun: The usual behaviors people expect from someone in a certain social position or group.
role ambiguitynoun: Uncertainty arises when someone does not clearly understand the duties or behavior expected in a social position.
role conflictnoun: Stress that happens when the expectations of one or more social roles clash with each other.
role confusionphrase: Feeling unsure about who you are and how you fit into groups.
role deprivationnoun: People are denied access to meaningful social positions or activities that matter for belonging, identity, or recognition.
role differentiationnoun: As a group develops, broad responsibilities gradually divide into a larger number of narrower, more specialized roles.
role diffusionnoun: In Erikson's theory, uncertainty about identity and social place can emerge as adolescents explore who they might become.
role enactmentnoun: Someone adopts behavior they believe others expect from a particular social position or status.
role expectationsphrase: Shared ideas about how someone in a group should act, feel, and treat others in that position.
role modelnoun: Someone whose behavior, attitudes, or success another person wants to copy.
role overloadnoun: The demands of one or several social roles exceed someone's available time, knowledge, skills, or energy.
role playnoun: A practice method involves acting out social situations to explore feelings, understand others, or rehearse useful responses.
role reversalphrase: People switch parts with someone else to better understand that person's thoughts, feelings, and actions.
role setphrase: The people connected to one social position who signal how that position should be acted out.
role shiftnoun: Within a relationship between two people, one person begins behaving in ways usually characteristic of the other.
role takingnoun: A person considers another person's viewpoint to better understand that person's thoughts, feelings, or actions.
role theorynoun: A social explanation proposes that people's behavior partly follows expectations attached to their positions in relationships and groups.
role-enactment theorynoun: A proposed explanation treats hypnosis as unconsciously adopting expected behavior for a hypnotized person within a social setting.
role-playing researchnoun: Researchers study thoughts, feelings, and actions by asking participants to portray assigned characters in specified situations.
rolfingnoun: A deep bodywork approach aims to improve posture and ease tension by manipulating connective tissues and changing body alignment.
ROMabbreviation: The amount a body joint can move through its normal directions.
romance of leadershipnoun: People overestimate a leader's influence on organizational results while overlooking other contributors and circumstances.
romantic lovenoun: A form of love combines emotional closeness with passion, often including physical attraction and an idealized view of someone.
Romanticismnoun: A historical artistic and intellectual movement emphasized imagination, emotion, spontaneity, and personal experience, especially around 1800.
romanticism factornoun: In psychological studies of art, a dimension describes styles emphasizing imagination and novelty over polished formality and traditional order.
Romaziconnoun: A brand name for flumazenil identifies a drug that blocks benzodiazepine effects, including their sedating action.
Romberg’s signnoun: Markedly increased unsteadiness after closing the eyes while standing with feet together can indicate impaired sensory support for balance.
Romeo and Juliet effectnoun: A proposed relationship pattern occurs when perceived outside interference increases partners' affection for each other.
roofienoun: A slang name usually means flunitrazepam, a sedative associated with memory impairment and drug-facilitated sexual assault.
rooming-innoun: A hospital arrangement keeps a newborn and the birth parent together in one room to support early care and bonding.
root cause analysisnoun: A structured investigation traces a repeated problem to underlying causes by asking increasingly focused questions and examining evidence.
root mean square (RMS)noun: A measure of overall magnitude is calculated by squaring each value, averaging those results, and taking their square root.
rooted graphnoun: A network of connected points has one designated root that serves as a starting point for tracing connections.
rooted treenoun: A branching network starts at one root, with every other point having exactly one parent and no loops.
rootednessnoun: In Fromm's theory, people need secure emotional bonds that provide belonging and reduce feelings of isolation and insignificance.
rooting reflexphrase: A newborn automatically turns toward a cheek touch and makes sucking movements to help find food.
rootogramnoun: A modified histogram displays square-root-transformed frequencies vertically, making differences among small counts easier to see.
rootworknoun: Some Southern U.S. and Caribbean healing traditions explain illness through beliefs about curses or spells that traditional healers may remove.
ROPabbreviation: An eye condition called retinopathy of prematurity involves abnormal retinal blood vessel growth in premature babies and can damage vision.
Rorschach Inkblot Testphrase: A personality test using ambiguous inkblots to reveal patterns in how someone thinks, feels, and handles emotions.
Rosenthal effectphrase: A researcher's expectations can unintentionally shape participants' behavior and the study's results.
Rostan typesnoun: A historical classification grouped people by which internal body system was proposed to dominate their build and functioning.
rostraladjective: An anatomical direction points toward an animal’s nose or toward the front end of a body structure.
rostrumnoun: A projecting body structure resembles a beak, including the curved lower front portion of the brain’s corpus callosum.
rotarodnoun: A rotating horizontal rod tests rodent balance and movement coordination by measuring how long the animal stays on it.
rotary pursuit testnoun: This coordination task measures how well someone uses a handheld indicator to track a target traveling circularly or irregularly.
rotationnoun: In factor analysis, turning the factor axes makes item patterns easier to read and interpret.
rotation samplingnoun: A repeated survey replaces part of its participant sample at planned intervals while keeping other participants.
rotation systemnoun: A group therapy method has the therapist work with members one at a time while everyone else remains present.
rotational aftereffect (RAE)noun: After watching something rotate steadily, a person may see apparent movement in the reverse direction when it stops.
rotational errornoun: A copying mistake occurs when a drawn or built figure is turned relative to the original.
rotational nystagmusnoun: Head rotation activates the balance organs, producing repeated eye movements with a slow drift and a quick return.
rote learningnoun: Memorizing through repeated practice stores information without exploring its meaning or connections to other ideas.
rote recallphrase: Remembering something exactly as learned, with all parts in the original order.
rote rehearsalphrase: Repeating information again and again to keep it in short-term memory without really thinking about it.
Rotter Internal–External Locus of Control Scalenoun: A questionnaire measures whether people generally believe outcomes depend on their own actions or on forces beyond their control.
rough-and-tumble play (R ＆ T play)phrase: Energetic social play with friendly wrestling or pretend fighting, usually between children or other young animals.
roughnessnoun: A sensory quality describes a coarse feeling against skin or a harsh sound created by rapid changes in loudness.
roughness discrimination testnoun: A touch test asks someone to compare surfaces and identify which feels more coarse.
round dancenoun: A honeybee’s circular movement pattern helps communicate the presence of a nearby food source to other bees.
round windownoun: A flexible membrane across a cochlear opening moves with pressure changes, allowing inner ear fluid to shift during hearing.
route learningnoun: Learning a path involves remembering its turns, distances, and landmarks as an ordered set of directions.
routes of administrationnoun: The ways a medicine enters or is applied to the body include swallowing, injection, inhalation, and skin application.
routinized behaviornoun: An action becomes so practiced that it can happen with little or no deliberate attention.
routinized thoughtsnoun: Repeated, well-learned thoughts arise automatically without needing deliberate mental effort each time.
ROWEabbreviation: A workplace setup where employees are judged by outcomes, not by hours spent at work.
Royer’s syndromenoun: A historical name describes Prader–Willi syndrome when it occurs together with diabetes mellitus.
RPabbreviation: An electrical brain change called readiness potential can be detected shortly before a person makes a voluntary movement.
rpbother: The point biserial correlation coefficient measures how a continuous measurement relates to a variable with two categories.
rpbisother: The point biserial correlation coefficient expresses the relationship between a two-category variable and a measurement on a continuous scale.
RPEabbreviation: The retinal pigment epithelium is a cell layer that absorbs stray light and supports the retina’s light detectors.
RPE scalenoun: Borg’s rating of perceived exertion scale lets people report how hard physical activity feels to them.
RRabbreviation: A random ratio schedule gives each response the same chance of reinforcement, so the number of responses between reinforcements varies.
RRTabbreviation: The randomized-response technique uses chance to hide which survey question someone answers while allowing estimates about the whole group.
rsabbreviation: A statistic showing how strongly two ranked lists rise or fall together.
RSAabbreviation: A normal heartbeat pattern called respiratory sinus arrhythmia involves heart rate changing with the breathing cycle.
RSH syndromenoun: Another name for Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome describes an inherited condition that reduces cholesterol production and can affect growth and intellectual development.
RSIabbreviation: A repetitive strain injury develops when repeated use or excessive loading affects muscles, tendons, or nerves, causing symptoms such as pain.
RSSabbreviation: The Reinforcement Survey Schedule asks what someone enjoys to help identify possible rewards for encouraging desired behavior.
RSTabbreviation: A model called reinforcement sensitivity theory proposes that personality differences reflect brain systems responding to rewards, threats, and conflicting goals.
RSTSabbreviation: The abbreviation names Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a genetic condition often involving broad thumbs, broad big toes, distinctive facial features, and developmental difficulties.
RSVPabbreviation: A research method called rapid sequential visual presentation displays images or words one after another at high speed.
RTabbreviation: The interval called reaction time runs from a signal’s appearance to the person’s specific response.
rtetother: The tetrachoric correlation coefficient estimates the relationship between two underlying continuous variables when both are recorded using two categories.
rTMSabbreviation: A method called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation uses repeated magnetic pulses near the head to change activity in targeted brain areas.
RTSabbreviation: A genetic condition called Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome can affect learning and growth and commonly includes unusually broad thumbs and big toes.
rubbernoun: In older sexual terminology, this label described a person seeking sexual arousal through rubbing on others without consent.
rubellanoun: A viral infection can cause rash and fever and, during pregnancy, can seriously affect the developing baby.
Rubin’s causal modelnoun: A framework defines causal effects by comparing potential outcomes for the same person under different conditions, although only one is observed.
Rubin’s figurenoun: An ambiguous picture can appear as a central vase or as two faces looking toward each other.
Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome (RSTS; RTS)noun: A genetic condition affects development and commonly includes broad thumbs and big toes, distinctive facial features, and intellectual disability.
rubrospinal tractnoun: A nerve pathway carries movement signals from the brainstem’s red nucleus into the spinal cord, helping control limb muscles.
Ruffini’s corpusclenoun: A sensory nerve ending beneath the skin is thought to detect stretching and help signal hand and finger position.
rulenoun: An instruction or standard tells people how to act in a situation.
rule learningphrase: Gradually figuring out an unstated standard for what responses count as correct or fit a category.
rule of abstinencenoun: A historical psychoanalytic rule restricted patients’ pleasures because unresolved tension was believed to supply energy for therapy.
rule of double effectnoun: An ethical principle may permit an intended good action with foreseeable harm when harm is unintended and strict conditions are met.
rule of thumbphrase: A practical guideline that often helps with decisions or problems but can still lead to mistakes.
rule-based systemnoun: A computer program represents knowledge as rules linking conditions to actions and applies matching rules to solve problems.
rule-governed behaviornoun: Actions are guided by spoken instructions, written rules, or a person's own words and thoughts.
rules of inferencenoun: Logical guidelines specify which conclusions follow correctly from a given set of starting statements.
ruminationnoun: Repeated bringing up of swallowed food to chew again or spit out, without nausea or illness.
rumornoun: An unverified story or claim spreads among people without its accuracy being established.
rumor intensity formulanoun: A proposed model calculates rumor strength by multiplying the topic's importance by uncertainty about the information.
runnoun: One complete pass through the same set of test items or stimuli in an experiment.
run-in periodnoun: An initial study phase lets conditions settle before an intervention begins and helps researchers detect practical problems.
runaway selectionnoun: An evolutionary theory proposes that inherited mate preferences and attractive traits reinforce each other, exaggerating traits despite possible survival costs.
runner’s highnoun: Some runners experience intense well-being, reduced discomfort, and a feeling that movement takes less effort during running.
running wheelnoun: A rotating wheel lets an animal run in place while researchers count turns to measure activity.
runs testnoun: A statistical test counts consecutive group labels in ordered data to assess whether two samples could share a population.
runwaynoun: A straight path an animal travels from the start box to the goal or maze.
rural environmentnoun: A countryside setting has relatively few residents spread across open land, shaping people's surroundings and social experiences.
rural health clinic (RHC)noun: A designated U.S. health facility provides primary care without overnight stays in a rural community with limited medical services.
rushnoun: A sudden intense burst of pleasure and alertness after a stimulant drug is injected into a vein.
Rush Memory and Aging Projectnoun: A long-term Rush University study follows older adults to investigate memory changes, Alzheimer's disease, and differences in aging.
RVSabbreviation: The Rokeach Value Survey assesses how people rank desired life goals and preferred ways of behaving.
RWAabbreviation: Short for right-wing authoritarianism, this construct combines obedience to authorities, support for authority-approved aggression, and strong attachment to conventions.
RxPabbreviation: Short for prescriptive authority, this means legal permission for appropriately trained psychologists to prescribe psychiatric medication where authorized.
Ryan’s methodnoun: A statistical procedure checks which independent groups have different averages when group sizes match, while controlling errors across comparisons.

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