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The Psychology Portal

Psychology
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Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior. Others explore the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors.

Psychologists are involved in research on perception, cognition, attention, emotion, intelligence, subjective experiences, motivation, brain functioning, and personality. Psychologists' interests extend to interpersonal relationships, psychological resilience, family resilience, and other areas within social psychology. They also consider the unconscious mind. Research psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. Some, but not all, clinical and counseling psychologists rely on symbolic interpretation. (Full article...)

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The Barnum effect, also called the Forer effect or, less commonly, the Barnum–Forer effect, is a common psychological phenomenon whereby individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them, yet which are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. This effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some paranormal beliefs and practices, such as astrology, fortune telling, aura reading, and some types of personality tests.

Psychologist Bertram Forer originally named it the "fallacy of personal validation". The term "Barnum effect" was coined in 1956 by psychologist Paul Meehl in his essay "Wanted – A Good Cookbook", because he relates the vague personality descriptions used in certain "pseudo-successful" psychological tests to those given by showman P. T. Barnum. (Full article...)

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Baron Munchausen in a fabulated environment, by Gottfried Franz (circa 1896). The character after which Munchausen syndrome is named.

image credit: public domain

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"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact." — William James

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John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878 – September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who popularized the scientific theory of behaviorism, establishing it as a psychological school. Watson advanced this change in the psychological discipline through his 1913 address at Columbia University, titled Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It. Through his behaviorist approach, Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child rearing, and advertising, as well as conducting the controversial "Little Albert" experiment and the Kerplunk experiment. He was also the editor of Psychological Review from 1910 to 1915. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Watson as the 17th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. (Full article...)

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... that psychologist Janis Sanchez-Hucles was only the second person of color to earn a PhD in psychology from the University of North Carolina?
... that, although created to understand Chinese psychological torture of American POWs during the Korean War, Biderman's Chart of Coercion was used by American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay?
... that Susan Silk developed ring theory when a colleague said that Silk's breast cancer wasn't just about her?
... that Fortnite's Tilted Towers was described by critics as the equivalent of "psychological torture" and being "dropped into a meat grinder"?
... that the psychological inner space genre was a rebellion against the traditional focus of science fiction on literal outer space?
... that although Andrzej Żuławski's film Possession is referred to as a psychological drama and horror, its genre is still a matter of controversy?

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...that Julian Rotter developed the locus of control theory, which has been widely used in the psychology of personality?

...that the effects of head trauma on memory can be seen by the post-operative results of HM, a patient who has been unable to form any new long-term memories since a surgical procedure performed in the 1950s?

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Psychology topics

v t e Psychology
History Philosophy Portal Psychologist
Basic psychology	Abnormal Affective neuroscience Affective science Behavioral genetics Behavioral neuroscience Behaviorism Cognitive/Cognitivism Cognitive neuroscience Social Comparative Cross-cultural Cultural Developmental Differential Ecological Evolutionary Experimental Gestalt Intelligence Mathematical Moral Neuropsychology Perception Personality Psycholinguistics Psychophysiology Quantitative Social Theoretical
Applied psychology	Anomalistic Applied behavior analysis Assessment Clinical Coaching Community Consumer Counseling Critical Educational Ergonomics Feminist Forensic Health Humanistic Industrial and organizational Legal Media Medical Military Music Occupational health Pastoral Political Positive Psychometrics Psychotherapy Religion School Sport and exercise Suicidology Systems Traffic
Methodologies	Animal testing Archival research Behavior epigenetics Case study Content analysis Experiments Human subject research Interviews Neuroimaging Observation Psychophysics Qualitative research Quantitative research Self-report inventory Statistical surveys
Concepts	Behavior Behavioral engineering Behavioral genetics Behavioral neuroscience Cognition Competence Consciousness Consumer behavior Emotions Feelings Human factors and ergonomics Intelligence Mind Psychology of religion Psychometrics
Psychologists	Wilhelm Wundt William James Ivan Pavlov Sigmund Freud Edward Thorndike Carl Jung John B. Watson Clark L. Hull Kurt Lewin Jean Piaget Gordon Allport J. P. Guilford Carl Rogers Erik Erikson B. F. Skinner Donald O. Hebb Ernest Hilgard Harry Harlow Raymond Cattell Abraham Maslow Neal E. Miller Jerome Bruner Donald T. Campbell Hans Eysenck Herbert A. Simon David McClelland Leon Festinger George A. Miller Richard Lazarus Stanley Schachter Robert Zajonc Albert Bandura Roger Brown Endel Tulving Lawrence Kohlberg Noam Chomsky Ulric Neisser Jerome Kagan Walter Mischel Elliot Aronson Daniel Kahneman Paul Ekman Michael Posner Amos Tversky Bruce McEwen Larry Squire Richard E. Nisbett Martin Seligman Ed Diener Shelley E. Taylor John Anderson Ronald C. Kessler Joseph E. LeDoux Richard Davidson Susan Fiske Roy Baumeister
Lists	Counseling topics Disciplines Organizations Outline Psychologists Psychotherapies Research methods Schools of thought Timeline Topics
Wiktionary definition Wiktionary category Wikisource Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikinews Wikibooks

v t e Cognitive psychology
Knowledge representation	Dual-coding theories Media psychology Mental imagery Numerical cognition Propositional encoding
Serious Gaming	Serious Gaming Educational video game Edutainment Business game Business simulation game Brain fitness Games for Change Game with a purpose Gamification Gamification of learning Global warming game Intelligent tutoring system Serious Games Showcase and Challenge
Lists	Cognitive psychologists
Cognitive psychology Psychology portal

Evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary
processes

Areas

Cognition / Emotion	Affect Display Display rules Facial expression Behavioral modernity Cognitive module/modularity of mind Automatic and controlled processes Computational theory of mind Domain generality Domain specificity Dual process theory Cognitive tradeoff hypothesis Evolution of the brain Evolution of nervous systems Fight-or-flight response Arachnophobia Basophobia Ophidiophobia Folk biology/taxonomy Folk psychology/theory of mind Intelligence Flynn effect Wason selection task Motor control/skill Multitasking Sleep Visual perception Color vision Eye Naïve physics
Culture	Aesthetics Literary criticism Musicology Anthropology Biological Crime Language Origin Psychology Speech Morality Moral foundations Religion Origin Universals
Development	Attachment Bonding Affectional/maternal/paternal bond Caregiver deprivation Childhood attachment Cinderella effect Cognitive development Education Language acquisition Personality development Socialization
Human factors / Mental health	Cognitive ergonomics Computer-mediated communication Engineering psychology Human–computer interaction Media naturalness theory Neuroergonomics Depression Digital media use and mental health Hypophobia Imprinted brain hypothesis Mind-blindness Psychological effects of Internet use Rank theory of depression Schizophrenia Screen time Smartphones and pedestrian safety Social aspects of television Societal impacts of cars Distracted driving Lead–crime hypothesis Mobile phones and driving safety Texting while driving
Sex	Activity Adult attachment Age disparity Arousal Concealed ovulation Coolidge effect Desire Fantasy Hormonal motivation Jealousy Mate guarding Mating preferences Mating strategies Orientation Ovulatory shift hypothesis Pair bond Physical/Sexual attraction Sexuality/male/female Sexy son hypothesis Westermarck effect
Sex differences	Aggression Autism Cognition Crime Division of labour Emotional intelligence Empathising–systemising theory Gender role Intelligence Memory Mental health Narcissism Neuroscience Schizophrenia Substance abuse Suicide Variability hypothesis

Related subjects

Academic disciplines	Behavioral/evolutionary economics Behavioral epigenetics/genetics Affective/behavioral/cognitive/evolutionary neuroscience Biocultural anthropology Biological psychiatry Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Ethology Evolutionary biology Evolutionary medicine Functional psychology Neuropsychology Philosophy of mind Population genetics Primatology Sociobiology
Research topics	Cultural evolution Evolutionary epistemology Great ape language Human–animal communication Missing heritability problem Primate cognition Unit of selection Coevolution Cultural group selection Dual inheritance theory Fisher's principle Group selection Hologenome theory Lamarckism Population Punctuated equilibrium Recent human evolution Species Species complex Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance Trivers–Willard hypothesis
Theoretical positions	Cultural selection theory Determinism/indeterminism Biological determinism Connectionism Cultural determinism Environmental determinism Nature versus nurture Psychological nativism Social constructionism Social determinism Standard social science model Functionalism Memetics Multilineal evolution Neo-Darwinism Neoevolutionism Sociocultural evolution Unilineal evolution

Human psychological development

Developmental psychology

Theorists and
theories

Freud (1856–1939) (Psychosexual development)
Piaget (1896–1980) (Theory of cognitive development)
Vygotsky (1896–1934) (Cultural-historical psychology)
Erikson (1902–1994) (Psychosocial development)
Bowlby (1907–1990) (Attachment theory)
Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) (Ecological systems theory)
Kohlberg (1927–1987) (Stages of moral development)
Commons (b. 1939), Fischer (1943–2020), Kegan (b. 1946), Demetriou (b. 1950), and others (Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development)
Evolutionary developmental psychology

v t e Neuropsychology
topics	Brain regions Clinical neuropsychology Cognitive neuropsychology Cognitive neuroscience Dementia Human brain Neuroanatomy Neurophysiology Neuropsychological assessment Neuropsychological rehabilitation Traumatic brain injury
functions	Arousal Attention Consciousness Decision making Executive functions Natural language Learning Memory Motor coordination Perception Planning Problem solving Thought
people	Alan Baddeley Arthur L. Benton David Bohm Antonio Damasio Phineas Gage Norman Geschwind Elkhonon Goldberg Patricia Goldman-Rakic Donald O. Hebb Kenneth Heilman Eric Kandel Edith Kaplan Muriel Lezak Benjamin Libet Rodolfo Llinás Alexander Luria Brenda Milner Karl H. Pribram Pasko Rakic Oliver Sacks Mark Rosenzweig Roger W. Sperry Hans-Lukas Teuber Henry Molaison ("H.M.", patient) K.C. (patient)
tests	Benton Visual Retention Test Continuous Performance Task Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery Hayling and Brixton tests Lexical Decision Task Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological battery Mini–Mental State Examination Rey–Osterrieth complex figure Stroop Test Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Wechsler Memory Scale Wisconsin Card Sorting Task

v t e Social psychology
Interpersonal relationships	Attachment theory Falling in love Mere-exposure effect Similarity Physical attractiveness Triangular theory of love Parenting style Divorce Adoption
Conflict	Prejudice Stereotype Outgroup homogeneity Stereotype threat Implicit association test Minimal group paradigm Realistic conflict theory Discrimination Social dominance orientation
Social influence	Authority Stanford prison experiment Honesty Compliance Foot-in-the-door technique Door-in-the-face technique Conformity Autokinetic effect Asch conformity experiments Passing Persuasion Elaboration likelihood model Pluralistic ignorance Obedience Milgram experiment Reciprocity Self-concealment Social anxiety Social determinants of mental health Social proof Social stress
Group dynamics	Belongingness Social identity theory Social facilitation Social loafing Social cohesion Group development Group polarization Groupthink In-group favoritism False-consensus effect Diffusion of responsibility Social comparison theory Social determinants of mental health Self-enhancement Frog pond effect
Aggression	Violence Deindividuation Anonymity Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Altruism	Bystander effect Prosocial behavior Reciprocal altruism Negative-state relief model Empathy-altruism Cooperation Prisoner's dilemma
Culture	Enculturation Culture shock Cultural relativism Individualism Collectivism
Self-concept	Spotlight effect Cognitive dissonance Choice-supportive bias
Attribution	Explanatory style Counterfactual thinking Framing effect Confirmation bias Observer-expectancy effect Heuristic Representative heuristic Availability heuristic Fundamental attribution error Self-serving bias